Andrew Lipovsky/NBCMeek Mill made a powerful return to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night, one year after getting arrested after performing on the late-night show. In his first interview with Fallon since the arrest, the rapper talked about his efforts to shape prison reform alongside his friend, 76ers owner Michael Rubin. Mill started by explaining that when he was 19, he was arrested and given 10 years probation. "If I was to loiter or get a traffic ticket, I could go to jail for years," he explained. That's what happened last August when police arrested him for riding a dirt bike through the streets of New York City. He was in prison for five months, while the public advocated for his release. He explained that there is a double standard for black Americans when it comes to probation. "You got a group of Caucasians kids, they're like us. A lot of them are addicted to opioids," he said. "They go to treatment. We go straight to jail. People like me get the bad end of the stick." Mill and Rubin are trying to change this with their new organization that aims to cut the population in U.S. prisons in half. Despite being treated poorly by the justice system, Mill told Fallon that he still feels lucky because of the support system he had throughout this journey. "And I feel lucky to be able to shed life -- on a show like this -- for people who are trapped behind walls," he said. Mill closed out the show with a performance of "Dangerous" with Jeremih and PNB Rock. Having one of the worlds top predators take up residence in the middle of your town may not seem like a welcome surprise. But, when that predator is the worlds fastest bird and provides the chance to capture its behaviour at its nest site, courtesy of a top 4K camera from Hikvision, it proved to be too good an opportunity for the people of Taunton and UK peregrine experts to miss. The Peregrine Falcon is a large, powerful, and breathtakingly fast bird the fastest animal on the planet. In normal flight it cruises at 40 mph and can reach 65 mph in a chase. But, on the hunt, it can dive towards its prey at more than 200 mph. The peregrine has little to fear except man, being driven close to extinction in the 1960s due to human persecution and the impact of pesticides in the food chain Taunton Peregrine Project A top predator, the peregrine has little to fear except man, being driven close to extinction in the 1960s due to human persecution and the impact of pesticides in the food chain. With the benefit of stronger legislation and listed species protection, these birds have recovered in their natural strongholds and have now expanded into many urban areas. Just like the urban fox, the peregrine has found our built environment a perfect place to call home, lifelong pairs nesting in their eyries on tall structures and high-rise buildings and feeding predominantly on feral pigeons. St Mary Magdalene Church in Taunton, Somerset, found itself with a pair of peregrine falcons at the top of its 163-foot church tower earlier this year and quickly turned to naturalist and ecologist, Michael Leigh-Mallory, to lead the Taunton Peregrine Project. Monitor Birds behaviour Working with Coomber Security Systems, a total of five Hikvision cameras were installed to monitor the birds behaviour, with all the video feeds wirelessly transmitted to a Hikvision NVR and 4K monitor within the church. Located in the heart of Somersets county town, St Mary Magdalene can trace its history to the early eighth century when Christianity was established in Taunton. Since the 12th century, the church has been built mainly of sandstone and this ancient structure provided the first challenge for the installation team as no drilling or permanent fixing to the listed buildings structure is now allowed. The second challenge to the team: placing all five cameras at a height of more than 160 feet within the confines of the church tower Highest point possible Naturally, the birds chose the highest point possible to establish their perch, providing the second challenge to the team: placing all five cameras at a height of more than 160 feet within the confines of the church tower and in positions that would allow the Peregrine Project to observe the widest possible range of behaviours, including in-flight as they arrived and departed the site. Finally, the ornithologists were determined that the monitoring activities should not disturb the birds. This meant locating the NVR and 4K monitor at ground level at the opposite end of the church. Comprehensive coverage Coomber Security Systems took on the task of designing and installing the bespoke surveillance system, using Hikvision PoE Switches to provide power and data handling for all five IR-equipped cameras that were sited on the tower. The three 4K Vari-focal bullet cameras were mounted on wooden poles and then strapped to the tower to overcome the prohibition on making any permanent change to the church structure. Between the three feeds, the project team can see the birds in the air arriving at and departing from the tower, together with comprehensive coverage of the nest box that they installed in the hope that the birds would be encouraged to breed in the future. A Ubiquiti AC Nano wireless bridge was used to create a secure connection between the top of the tower and the far end of the church Impacting natural behaviour The Projects observation team also capture video and sound from a 4MP Mini Dome IP camera mounted within the nest box and a small 2MP PTZ camera mounted at the top of the tower to capture all round views, and to ensure the birds are not disturbed, a Ubiquiti AC Nano wireless bridge was used to create a secure connection between the top of the tower and the far end of the church. This means the video and sound from the cameras can be recorded and monitored 24/7 without impacting the natural behaviour of the falcons. Providing valuable information According to Michael Leigh-Mallory, Project Leader of the Taunton Peregrine Project, With two months of operation under its belt, the new system has been providing 24-hour coverage of the falcon pair, including highly-resolved images of the peregrines flying in to the perch with their prey. Despite the difficult and potentially hazardous installation on the ancient building, and the use of an unorthodox mounting system that puts the cameras in very exposed positions, the 4K video from the IP bullet cameras is of amazing quality both day and night. The Hikvision equipment has recorded ground-breaking images of a wide range of behaviours, including nocturnal hunting, and all in incredible definition. These 4K images are most probably a first for peregrine observation in the UK. Whats more, this unique 4K footage has been providing valuable information to external Peregrine experts, like Ed Drewitt, naturalist, broadcaster and writer of the book Urban Peregrines. The team plan to raise more money so the views of the birds can be live streamed to the Internet via their web-site Ground-breaking images An Open Day was held at the end of March to allow the local community to see for themselves the result of their donations that fund the entire project. In addition, Somerset Ornithological Society and the BBC Springwatch team have shown great interest in the communities efforts and a large following is emerging on social media. Now, the team plan to raise more money so the views of the birds can be live streamed to the Internet via their web-site, which is currently under construction. Michael Leigh-Mallory, Project Leader of the Taunton Peregrine Project, said, The Hikvision cameras have provided images of incredible definition! We have been able to record ground-breaking images of nocturnal hunting and a wide range of behaviour. The 4K images are probably a first for peregrine observation in the UK and this unique 4K footage has been providing valuable information to Peregrine experts like Ed Drewitt, naturalist, broadcaster and writer of the book Urban Peregrines. Results Ground-breaking 4K images of nocturnal hunting and a wide range of behaviour for the first time. 2 months of uninterrupted operation with cameras operating in very exposed positions. Difficult and potentially hazardous installation on ancient building. Very satisfied End User. HIKVISION Equipment DS-2CD2685FWD-IZS - 8 MP WDR Vari-focal Network Bullet Camera 8MP Ultra HD high resolution 1/2.5" Progressive Scan CMOS Triple stream - Max. 3840 2160@20fps 2.8-12mm motorized vari-focal lens Up to 50m IR distance H.265+ compression IP67 weatherproof 120dB Wide Dynamic Range 3D Digital Noise Reduction Supports on board storage (up to 128GB) DS-2CD2542FWD-IS - 4MP WDR Mini Dome Network Camera 4MP high resolution Full HD1080p video Dual stream 2.8mm/4mm/6mm fixed lens 120dB Wide Dynamic Range 3D Digital Noise Reduction 3-axis adjustment Up to 10m IR range H.264+ compression IP67 weather-proof protection DS-2DE4A220IW-DE - 2MP Network IR mini PTZ Camera 1/2.8" Progressive Scan CMOS 1920 x 1080 20X Optical Zoom WDR 3D intelligent positioning function Up to 50m IR range DS-7616NI-K2/16P NVR Embedded Plug & Play 4K NVR Third-party network cameras supported Up to 8 Megapixels resolution recording Support 1-ch HDMI, 1-ch VGA, HMDI at up to 4K(3840x2160) resolution 8/16-ch network cameras can be connected with 80M/160M incoming bandwidth Up to 2 SATA interfaces Plug & Play with up to 16 independent PoE network interfaces Support dual-OS to ensure high reliability of system running Support various VCA detection alarm and VCA search Support H.265/H.264/MPEG4 video formats 4K Monitor The pharmacy at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital was one of the biggest donors to this year's Stuff the Bus campaign. In this photo, Darrell Willm, pharmacy director, and Kelly Edwards, assistant director, have some fun "driving" supplies collected by the department. Keithfield Plantation on Black River was purchased by James Heyward Trapier in 1853. In 1860, the plantation produced 315,000 pounds of rice. A Keithfield cabin, formerly the home of slaves, was photographed in 1978. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 47F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 47F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Either priest could apply for work in another diocese, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said, but they would likely need to present their Chicago employment records. And for other jobs within the Archdiocese of Chicago outside of the priesthood, both men would need to submit to a criminal background check, the spokeswoman said. An artist's impression of the seven planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system. Most are rich in volatile materials such as water. The seven planets orbiting the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are mostly rocky, with some potentially holding more liquid water than Earth. New research reveals the density of the worlds within this crowded system to a greater precision than ever before. The findings reveal that some of the planets could have up to 5 percent of their mass in liquid water form, about 250 times as much water as found in Earth's oceans. "All the TRAPPIST-1 planets are very Earth-like they have a solid core, surrounded by an atmosphere," Simon Grimm, an exoplanet scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, told Space.com by email. Working with a team of researchers, Grimm precisely modeled the densities of the seven worlds. [Meet the 7 Earth-Size Exoplanets of TRAPPIST-1] In addition to narrowing down the composition of the exoplanets, the researchers also found that one of the worlds could boast some familiar characteristics. "TRAPPIST-1e is the exoplanet which is most similar to Earth in terms of mass, radius and energy received from its star," Grimm said. A special system In 2016, astronomers at The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile identified three planets around the dim star TRAPPIST-1. Less than a year later, NASA announced the discovery of even more worlds, for a total of seven. All of the exoplanets orbit in the habitable zone of their star, the region where water can remain liquid at the surface. The TRAPPIST-1 system boasts the largest number of rocky worlds ever found in a habitable zone of a single star and lies only 40 light-years from Earth. [TRAPPIST-1: How Long Would It Take to Fly to 7-Planet System?] Intrigued by the system, Grimm and his colleagues decided to measure the system using a technique known as transit-timing variations (TTVs). By observing small variations in the amount of time it takes a world to pass between its star and our viewpoint, called a transit, TTVs allow researchers to make some of the most sensitive observations of planetary masses and densities. "Using TTVs is currently the only method to determine the masses and therefore the densities of planets like the TRAPPIST-1 system," Grimm said. Other methods don't work because the planets are too lightweight or the star is too faint, he said. The method allows astronomers to determine the mass of the planets relative to the stellar masses. Combined with the radii measured as the planet transits its star, the technique reveals the densities of each world. The researchers relied on data captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and several of the European Southern Observatory's instruments in Chile to make detailed observations that could reveal the variations in planetary orbits. If one planet traveled around its star alone, then the only gravitational pull it would feel would come from the star. But when a system holds two or more worlds, the planets interact gravitationally, tugging on one another with a force related to their masses. These shifts depend on the planets' mass, distance and other orbital parameters. At the same time, crowded systems like TRAPPIST-1 make it more challenging to tease out the effects of individual planets, as each world tugs somewhat at its neighbors. The TRAPPIST-1 planets are easier to measure because they orbit in sync; together, the seven exoplanets form a resonance chain connecting them all together and suggesting a slow, peaceful evolution. "The TRAPPIST-1 system is special because all the planets are in a resonance condition," Grimm said. Grimm took a simulation that he had previously used to calculate planetary orbits and adapted it to TTV analysis. Using more than 200 transits, his team modeled the mass and densities of the worlds, simulating the orbits of the planets until their modeled transits matched what was observed. The researchers found densities of the worlds ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 times Earth's density. The seven worlds are rich in water, with water levels on some reaching as high as 5 percent of the total mass. In comparison, only about 0.02 percent of Earth's mass is contained in water. TRAPPIST-1b and c, the innermost worlds, are likely to have rocky cores and be surrounded by dense atmospheres thicker than Earth's. Lying close to their star, the hottest worlds probably have thick, steamy atmospheres, while the most distant ones could be covered in ice. TRAPPIST-1d is the lightest of the seven planets, weighing about 30 percent of Earth's mass. Its low mass could be caused by a large atmosphere, an ocean or a frozen icy layer. TRAPPIST-1f, g and h lie far enough from their host star that water could be frozen into ice across their surfaces. The thin atmospheres would probably lack the heavier molecules found on Earth. Then there's TRAPPIST-1e, the most Earth-like of the group. As the only planet slightly denser than Earth, TRAPPIST-1e likely has a denser iron core, and may lack a thick atmosphere, ocean or ice layer. The researchers cautioned that the new results, which were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, do not directly say anything about habitability. However, by helping researchers to better understand the conditions involved in the crowded system, the new research helps to make strides in understanding whether the worlds may be capable of supporting life. Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd, Facebook, or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. An artist's illustration of astronaut pioneers on Mars. Building a self-sustaining settlement on the Red Planet will require taking advantage of native Martian resources, exploration advocates stress. If you know your way around a chemistry lab, you could help humanity set up shop on Mars and make some serious cash in the process. NASA is challenging people throughout the United States to come up with a new and efficient way to convert carbon dioxide into glucose, a simple sugar. CO2 dominates the thin atmosphere of Mars, and energy-rich glucose is a great fuel for microbe-milking "bioreactors" that could manufacture a variety of items for future settlers of the Red Planet, NASA officials said. "Enabling sustained human life on another planet will require a great deal of resources, and we cannot possibly bring everything we will need. We have to get creative, said Monsi Roman, program manager of NASA's Centennial Challenges program, which is running the new $1 million "CO2 Conversion Challenge." [8 Cool Mars Destinations Humans Could Explore] "If we can transform an existing and plentiful resource like carbon dioxide into a variety of useful products, the space and terrestrial applications are endless," Roman said in a NASA statement. The new competition consists of two phases. During Phase 1, applicants submit a detailed description of their CO2-to-glucose conversion system. Interested parties must register by Jan. 24, 2019 and submit their proposals by Feb. 28, 2019. In April, NASA will announce the selection of up to five finalists from this initial crop, each of whom will receive $50,000. Phase 2 will involve the construction and demonstration of a conversion system. Winning this round is worth $750,000, bringing the competition's total purse to $1 million (assuming five finalists are indeed selected from Phase 1). You don't have to win, or even participate in, Phase 1 to compete in Phase 2. The challenge is open to citizens and permanent residents of the United States; foreign nationals can compete if they're part of a U.S.-based team. To register or learn more, go to the CO2 Conversion Challenge website. The Centennial Challenges program, which is run by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, aims to encourage the development of exploration tech by engaging talented and innovative people beyond the traditional aerospace community . Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Why are black holes so hard to study? As astrophysicist and Space.com columnist Paul Sutter explains, it's because black holes represent the intersection of the mathematics of big objects and the mathematics of very small objects and these two systems of math don't match up. Sutter explains more about these weird space objects in the most recent installment of his Facebook Watch video series "Ask a Spaceman," produced in partnership with Space.com. And make sure to tune in next week for part two of his look at black holes. Simply explained, black holes are objects with extreme density. Because black holes have a lot of mass, they have a strong gravitational attraction. That attraction is so strong, in fact, that even light gets trapped when it passes by a black hole. [No Escape: Dive into a Black Hole (Infographic)] There are different kinds and sizes of black holes. Some are smaller, closer to the mass of stars, and result from the aftermath of a supernova or star explosion, while others are much larger than that and can reach millions or billions of star masses. Scientists are still trying to determine how the largest black holes form. They are also trying to figure out the mathematics in the extreme environments that black holes represent. "Black holes continue to attract so much theoretical study [because] this strong gravity acts as a laboratory for new kinds of physics," Sutter says in the episode. In other words, he continues, "black holes are regions where our current knowledge of physics break[s] down." Black holes are spots where scientists can study two different types of physical theories. One is quantum mechanics, or the science of how subatomic particles behave. The science of quantum mechanics is difficult to explain by logic, because it includes weird phenomena, such as particles interacting with one another at extreme distances. The other realm of physics that black holes let us explore is called general relativity. Again, the physics here is complicated, but you can think of general relativity as the science of the very big, Sutter explains. One aspect is interpreting how gravity behaves; according to Albert Einstein, massive objects distort space-time. A large body in space, like a star, pulls other bodies toward it, for example. To think of it more simply, as an analogy, a bowling bowl on a trampoline would dimple the trampoline. Then, any marbles rolled nearby would fall into the dimple. Although black holes are very powerful, Sutter says that they may eventually die just like many other things in the universe. He cites the theory of Hawking radiation, or the mathematics that describes how black holes glow and fade over time, as one of the pieces of evidence for their ultimate demise. For more information, you can read a past Space.com column by Sutter here. The episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT), so "like" the "Ask a Spaceman" Facebook page or check back later to see more. Sutter responds to reader questions in every episode. Also check out that page to learn more about past topics the show covered, such as the Big Bang and Pluto. Sutter is a cosmologist at The Ohio State University and chief scientist at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. He has a long-running podcast, also called "Ask a Spaceman." You can catch all past episodes here. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com . Image of the Day Archives NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University) For older Image of the Day pictures, please visit the Image of the Day archives. Pictured: NGC 2467. Close-Up of Messier 66 Tuesday, May 1, 2018: Bright stars and colorful nebulas glow in one of the galactic arms of Messier 66, an intermediate spiral galaxy located 36 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Also known as NGC 3627, this galaxy's structure is somewhere between a barred and unbarred spiral galaxy. Citizen scientist Kevin Gill processed this image using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hanneke Weitering Stripes of Bedrock in a Martian Crater NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Wednesday, May 2, 2018: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this view of eroded bedrock inside an ancient Martian crater using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. These geologic features can reveal clues about the planet's history, including the presence of water. Hanneke Weitering The Great Lakes Seen from Space Thursday, May 3, 2018: NASA astronaut Drew Feustel snapped this photo of the Great Lakes from roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth at the International Space Station. "On Monday, I captured this amazing image of all the places I called home for the first 32 years of my life," he tweeted. "Many of my family and friends are in this photo, somewhere." Hanneke Weitering 'Star Wars' at the Space Station Mark Vande Hei/NASA/ Twitter Friday, May 4, 2018: Happy Star Wars Day! During a movie night at the International Space Station, the Expedition 54 crew watched a special zero-g screening of "The Last Jedi" on their projection screen. "Space Station movie night, complete with "bungee cord chairs', drink bags, and a science fiction flick!" Vande Hei wrote on Twitter. Hanneke Weitering So Long, InSight! Bill Ingalls/NASA Monday, May 7, 2018: Flames from a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rise from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as NASA's Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations (InSight) mission blasts off on a mission to the Red Planet. InSight launched Saturday morning (May 5) at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT, 4:05 a.m. local California time). Hanneke Weitering Cosmonauts Observe Victory Day in Space Wednesday, May 9, 2018: Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov (left) and Oleg Artymev peek through a window of the International Space Station's Cupola observatory. Shkaplerov tweeted the photo today in honor of Victory Day, a Russian holiday commemorating the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945. "On Red Square in Moscow and in all major cities parades pass, and we @OlegMKS also decided to make a solemn flight over the planet in our space tank," Shkaplerov tweeted. Hanneke Weitering Tracking InSight from Australia Thursday, May 10, 2018: The European Space Agency's 35-meter radio dish in New Norcia, Australia helps NASA track its InSight spacecraft after it launched toward Mars on May 5. This tracking station served as a backup to NASA's own Deep Space Network during the early operations of InSight's journey to the Red Planet, because its location in the southern hemisphere provided "very good visibility of the trajectory to Mars," ESA officials said. Hanneke Weitering Pacific Storm's a Brewin' NASA Friday, May 11, 2018: Storm clouds swirl over the North Pacific Ocean in this photo captured by astronauts at the International Space Station. The crew spotted the storm off the eastern coast of Russia on May 6. Hanneke Weitering Volcanic Eruption Seen From Space Monday, May 14, 2018: Astronauts at the International Space Station spotted the smoke plume from the Kilauea volcano, which has been spewing lava on Hawaii's Big Island since May 3. "It is easy to see the activity on Hawaiis #Kilauea Volcano from @Space_Station," NASA astronaut Drew Feustel tweeted on Sunday (May 13). "We hope those in the vicinity of the eruption can stay out of harms way." Hanneke Weitering Upgraded Falcon 9 Rocket Lifts Off SpaceX Tuesday, May 15, 2018: SpaceX's first-ever "Block 5" version of the Falcon 9 rocket soars to space after lifting off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday (May 11). Following a picture-perfect (albeit delayed) liftoff, the rocket delivered the first Bangladeshi communications satellite, Bangabandhu-1, into orbit. Hanneke Weitering City of Mexico, September 04, 2018 (SPS) - The Saharawi Embassy in Mexico carried out different activities last week, including presentations of Saharawi-themed books and lectures on the current situation of the struggle of the Saharawi people, in particular the situation of human rights in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara. . In the first Book Fair Tlahuac 2018, the book presented: "Journey to the wisdom of the desert", by the writer Ahmed Mulay Ali Hamadi, Representative of the Saharawi Republic in the Aztec nation. The work describes the way in which the Saharawi youth lived in times of colonialism. In the XXXVII International Book Fair, organized by the National Polytechnic Institute, in Mexico City, the book Los Maktubes del desierto presented by the author Ahmed Mulay Ali Hamadi, The work of historical content describes how the Saharawis lived in times of colonialism, their traditions, idiosyncrasies and proverbs. SPS 125/090/TRA Occupied Aaiun (Occupied Territories) Sept 05, 2018 (SPS) - The Moroccan occupation forces has violently assaulted Sahrawi demonstrators leaving dozens of the injuries in the capital city of Western Sahara Aaiun on the eve of the upcoming visit of the Foreign Trade Committee of the European Parliament. The demonstrators protest in response to the appeal launched by the components of the human rights coordination in Western Sahara to demand the Saharawi people's right to self-determination, as well as to put an end to the looting of their natural resources. The Moroccan authorities intervention against Saharawi demonstrators comes on ahead of visit of the Foreign Trade Committee of the European Parliament to the occupied territories of Western Sahara. SPS 125/090/TRA STAMFORD An Ecuadorian man on Wednesday gave his heartfelt thanks to a Stamford police officer who saved his life two weeks ago. On Aug. 20, Pablo Campoverde, 24, had just flown in from Cuenca, Ecuador, and went to stay at an uncles home on Horton Street. He had come to the U.S. on vacation to celebrate getting a job back home as an engineer, and the next day he and his dad planned to take a road trip to Canada to see Niagara Falls. But in the middle of the night, Campoverde inexplicably stopped breathing. Police officer Michael Costello, a 23-year department veteran, heard the emergency radio call - arrived at the home in less than a minute - and began administering chest compressions to Campoverde. Two minutes later, firefighters and medics arrived and were able to get Campoverdes heart beating again. Every paramedic and every doctor told me that if it werent for [Costellos] quick actions... Pablo probably would not be here with us today, Capt. Diedrich Hohn said Wednesday at the home of another Campoverde relative on West North Street, where the family gathered to thank Costello. Hohn is one of three officers who teaches CPR to his colleagues in the Stamford police department. We are grateful Michael also because - thank God - you listened to us in class that day, he said. Sometimes I do listen, Costello quipped. Costello took a good look at Campoverde and said, Good to see you still here. When asked how it felt being a hero, Costello said he was just doing his job. I have five children at home and I would hope someone would be fast enough to help one of mine, Costello said. And he is the same age as one of my sons, and the same birthday, too. When I found out, it really hit me. I have no words to express myself, Campoverde said through officer Adriana Molina, who was interpreting for the family. I am very, very grateful for what you did for me. Campoverdes mother Marcia told Costello, God puts angels in our path and you are one of them. He was headed back home Wednesday night to begin his career as an engineer. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com Editors note: This story was originally published on Sept. 5 at 1:30 p.m. and was updated Sept. 6 at 12:32 p.m. Click here for Entrepreneur's full coverage of PlantLab. Adam Zucker, CEO of PlantLab, a plant-based culinary school formerly owned by celebrity chef Matthew Kenney, faces 35 felony charges after his Aug. 21 arrest. The felonies, outlined in a complaint for an arrest warrant filed by the Superior Court of the State of California, were all allegedly committed by Zucker while he was at a previous job: executive vice president of licensing at Artissimo Designs, a ready-to-hang wall art company. Between January 2011 and July 2015, Zucker allegedly embezzled about $2.4 million, and between April 2012 and July 2015, he allegedly laundered close to $1.9 million. He also allegedly filed false personal income tax returns for the years 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. "When Artissimo discovered Mr. Zucker's wrongdoing, Artissimo reported the matter to the police," said Roger G. Jones, an attorney representing the company. The complaint is dated June 13, 2018 -- more than two months before Zuckers arrest -- and signed by both the district attorney and the investigator, Brandon Browning. The court recommended Zuckers bail be set at $790,000. Meanwhile, the California Department of Consumer Affairs in July opened an investigation into Zucker's company, PlantLab. Following a consumer complaint, the Bureau became aware that PlantLab was operating an unapproved education institution, said Matt Woodcheke, public information officer at the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Woodcheke recommended PlantLab students reach out to the Bureaus Office of Student Assistance and Relief to see what options are available to them online or by calling toll-free (888) 370-7589. Those affected students are significant in number: One Facebook group, PlantLab Scam, has 230 members and counting. On Aug. 29, PlantLab emailed customers to say CEO Adam Zucker -- a former colleague of Kenney and the sole owner of the company -- had been unreachable since Aug. 21, the same day he was arrested. All courses at all locations are canceled until further notice, the company stated, calling Zucker the only person solely responsible for all finances and location payments. Related: CEO of Culinary School Who 'Disappeared' Appears to Have Spent a Week in Jail Zucker forwarded an email to Entrepreneur that he said he sent to employees on Wednesday apologizing for his silence -- and explaining why PlantLab completely imploded. It all seems to boil down to one simple thing: There wasnt enough money, and he wrote that he spent what funds the company did have to bandage problems rather than fix them effectively. He wrote that due to growing financial setbacks such as high weekly expenses and overhead, as well as the need for more capital, he took on soaring debts -- including a number of merchant cash advances (MCA), which offer fast cash in exchange for a percentage of future sales and are typically accompanied by high interest rates. According to Zucker, those debited portions of sales eventually totaled more than $20,000 per day at one point. Between June and August, Zucker wrote, he took loans from his parents, brother-in-law and friends in New York and Los Angeles totaling $470,000. I have no ability to pay [them] back at this point, he wrote. This is all in addition to the money which was loaned to the company from investors. But PlantLabs financial woes werent contained within the company. The hundreds of students who paid for plant-based cooking courses such as Raw Desserts and Essentials of Superfoods are now out thousands of dollars with no promise of a refund. Natalie Golba, an on-site student at PlantLabs Venice location, said she prepaid for three courses and was in the middle of the second when the company emailed students saying courses were discontinued. To get a discount, Golba paid $10,000 in advance for the courses instead of the retail value of $17,000. I paid Adam cash and never got the receipt, which was strange, she said. I wrote to Adam, asked him to give it back but he didnt reply." Another student, who asked to remain anonymous due to a potential forthcoming lawsuit, said she was a student from the Matthew Kenney Cuisine era and has yet to complete the third course she prepaid for. I was never informed when the company changed ownership, nor were any terms and conditions sent to me about this, she said. Ive tried unsuccessfully to reach PlantLab about setting up my Level III course. I was thinking about a career change [but] the whole experience left both me and a colleague with such a bad impression. One student-to-be from Croatia, Dijana Sinovcic, said she had booked three courses at PlantLabs Los Angeles location starting in Jan. 2019. She said she invested the majority of her savings in the tuition -- which cost her almost $10,000 -- and transferred her current business to her partner since she had planned to not be in Croatia. In an interview with Entrepreneur on Thursday, Zucker said not being able to refund students immediately is killing him. I dont have a dollar to my name, he said. Im doing everything possible to make it right by them. One former employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, worked with Zucker during his entire time at Matthew Kenney Cuisine and a few months after he bought PlantLab. The employee said working under Zucker raised red flags -- such as his emphasis on bringing in money fast and a requirement for employees to be available 24/7, as well as his seeming lack of experience in culinary education -- but since no one seemed aware that Zucker was the sole owner of PlantLab, employees werent concerned at the time. It just became a very, very chaotic workplace, and now I know its because he was ... worrying that he was going to be locked up, said the employee, who left a few months after Zucker purchased PlantLab. Former PlantLab employee Shannon Bronson said she resigned from her position Friday after several days of the most stress weve ever felt. Our CEO, Adam Zucker, seemingly disappeared for a week but was actually in jail for multiple charges of money laundering, embezzlement and tax evasion from previous employers, Bronson wrote on Instagram. You can imagine our shock when suddenly he went missing and none of the rents at our academies had been paid, amongst so, so many other terrifying discoveries. He was the only person in charge of the companys money management, and now we can see why. On social media, Bronson wrote that employees were forced to stop operating in a matter of days and the company fell apart quickly. She wrote that she could have never imagined Zucker was capable of this behavior. I have never experienced such a sense of betrayal, manipulation and insanity in my life, she wrote. To all the people hurt in the trail of his mess, Im so very sorry. We are in the same boat and we feel for you. In his Wednesday email to employees, Zucker wrote that he was searching for a company or person who would take over PlantLab, re-hire employees and cure student issues. I would not be involved, he wrote. This story is developing and may be updated. Related: CEO of Culinary School PlantLab Charged With Embezzling $2.4 Million CEO of Culinary School Who 'Disappeared' Appears to Have Spent a Week in Jail The CEO of a Culinary School Is Missing. Students Are Now on the Hook for Thousands Paid in Tuition. Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Laquan McDonald should get justice and will get justice because of people like you, Ramirez-Rosa continued. But lets be clear, this fight goes so far beyond one court case. It goes so far beyond one police officer. This fight is about changing the system. ... We know you can change the skin of the judge, you can change the look of the police officer, you can get a new mayor, but you can still have a racist system. MEXICO CITY - When Jimmy Morales ran for president of Guatemala three years ago, the former TV comedian's campaign slogan was "Neither corrupt, nor a thief." One of the reasons Morales had to make honesty a central issue in his campaign was the work of an unusually powerful group of crime fighters known as the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG. In the face of enormous political pressure, this United Nations-backed organization had conducted rigorous investigations of corruption at the highest levels of Guatemala's government for more than a decade. Its work helped inspire a nationwide protest movement in 2015 and led to the arrest of then-President Otto Perez Molina, then-Vice President Roxana Baldetti and many more. For more than a year, CICIG has been investigating Morales himself, accusing him of accepting about $1 million in illegal campaign donations and earning his ire in return. Last year, Morales tried to expel the head of CICIG, Colombian prosecutor Ivan Velasquez, but the Supreme Court blocked the move. Over the past week, the conflict has flared up again. On Friday, Morales said he would not renew CICIG's mandate, which expires next year. The same day, Guatemalan military vehicles stood guard outside CICIG's offices and descended on a central plaza. On Tuesday, Morales ordered that Velasquez, who has led CICIG since 2013, not be allowed back in Guatemala. "For some time now, there have been efforts to derail anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala and continued attacks against the commission and the commissioner," said Adriana Beltran, a Guatemala expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. Morales's actions, she said, are "his attempt to protect himself, given the continuing probe against him." While Velasquez remains in the United States, the work of CICIG continues, said a spokesman, Matias Ponce. The organization, which has about 200 staff members, is also waiting for the Guatemalan government to renew work visas of CICIG's foreign staff, he said. Apart from blocking Velasquez's entrance into Guatemala, the Morales government this year removed 25 police personnel assigned to guard CICIG, cutting its security force in half. Morales has argued that CICIG, as a foreign body that receives U.S. funding, constitutes a violation of Guatemalan sovereignty and that Guatemala's own judicial institutions should be handling such graft cases. CICIG works in conjunction with the Guatemalan attorney general's office in building corruption cases. In a letter to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week, Morales said CICIG has had more than "sufficient" time over the course of its mandate to achieve its goals. CICIG was set up in 2006 to bolster Guatemala's weak judicial institutions. At the time, impunity was rampant in the country and murders were hardly ever solved. The group, composed of investigators from around the world, used sophisticated investigative techniques, wiretapping and examination of financial records to pursue high-profile crimes. Its work became a model and inspiration in Latin America, where corruption often goes unpunished. But CICIG has also been polarizing. Critics see it as overzealous and manipulated for political reasons. Earlier this year, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., put on hold $6 million in State Department funding to CICIG, saying he was concerned that Russia had "manipulated" the group into pushing for the prosecution of a Russian family in Guatemala. CICIG's investigation against Morales had also been gaining steam. Last month, Velasquez, along with Guatemalan Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras, asked the nation's Congress to strip Morales of his immunity from prosecution. A congressional commission has been formed to weigh the request. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Pakistan Wednesday afternoon, telling journalists on his plane beforehand that he hoped to "turn the page" and "reset the relationship" with the new government. Ties between the longtime security allies have been marked by deepening tensions and sharp disagreements over Pakistan's alleged harboring of anti-Afghan militants. The secretary of state also told reporters that Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador, was traveling with him and would be joining the Trump administration as a special envoy to Afghanistan, with a focus on pursuing reconciliation and peace talks with the Taliban. It was the first official confirmation of widespread reports that Khalilzad would be named to the position, which has been vacant since Trump took office. The atmosphere that greeted Pompeo and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as they prepared to meet with civilian and military officials including new Prime Minister Imran Khan, was one of wary skepticism, indignation and defiance. Ties have been further hit by the Trump administration's decision to cut another $300 million in U.S. military aid just days before the visit. For the past week, Pakistani officials and commentators have been denouncing the United States as a bully seeking to force Pakistan to do its bidding and failing to appreciate its own efforts to fight Islamist terrorism. Khan and his aides have repeatedly insisted that the bilateral relationship must be based on "mutual respect," and that Pakistan's national interests must come first. "The antagonism witnessed now is unprecedented," Zahid Hussain, a columnist for Dawn newspaper, wrote Wednesday. "Washington's demand for unquestionable compliance is unacceptable to Pakistan." Although noting that the two "frenemies" cannot afford to break up, he added, U.S. efforts to "punish" Pakistan with aid cuts and belittle it with "humiliating tweets" will only backfire. Pompeo and Dunford held closed-door meetings with Pakistani officials, during a brief stopover en route to India. While they were in talks, government spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted that the new foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, had told the visitors that the government seeks to improve bilateral ties, but "safeguarding Pakistan's national interests will remain [the] supreme priority." Pakistan's chief national interests include protecting its nuclear arsenal and guarding against aggression by India, its next-door rival. Pompeo, while expressing hopes for "finding common ground" with the new government in Islamabad, was also cautious in his pre-arrival comments, telling reporters the visit was an opportunity to "walk through the complexity" of the relationship and "hopefully begin to make some progress so that we can get back to a set of common understandings." He played down the likely impact of the large new military aid cut on efforts at rapprochement, saying the Pakistani government had been told it would happen in advance and knew why. "This wasn't news to the Pakistanis," he said. "The rationale for them not getting the money is very clear. It's that we haven't seen the progress that we need to see from them." Pompeo was referring to the continued U.S. insistence that Pakistan is sheltering Islamist militants who cross the border to attack Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly denied the charge, but Afghan officials accused Pakistan just last month of sending fighters across the border to attack the city of Ghazni, which was besieged by Taliban forces for four days. Conservative political commentator Jerome Corsi is set to appear Friday before the grand jury investigating evidence in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and expects to be questioned about his communications with Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump. Corsi's attorney, David Gray, confirmed that Mueller's team served Corsi with a subpoena last week and that Corsi plans to cooperate. Corsi, who has contributed to the right-wing website Infowars and is known for promoting political conspiracy theories, provided research to Stone during the 2016 campaign. Gray said the subpoena indicated that Mueller is interested in Corsi's communications during 2016 and 2017. Gray said he believes the special counsel plans to ask about Corsi's contacts with Stone, who has come under intense scrutiny by Mueller's investigators. Corsi shared research with Stone around the same time that the longtime GOP consultant claimed publicly that he had been in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks' releases of hacked Democratic emails. Stone has since denied direct contact with Assange and said he had no specific knowledge of WikiLeaks' material or the group's plans to release it. Gray said Corsi had no contacts with WikiLeaks. He would not comment on what Corsi's communications indicate about Stone or his interactions with WikiLeaks. "They show communication," Gray said. "I'm not going to make any comments about what the special counsel's office thinks of Roger Stone's communications." Gray said he was confident that Corsi has done nothing wrong. "Jerry Corsi made decisions that he would not take actions that would give him criminal liability," he added, declining to elaborate. Asked if Corsi had opportunities to take such actions, Gray said, "I wouldn't say he was offered those opportunities. I would say he had communications with Roger Stone. We'll supply those communications and be cooperative. My client didn't act further that would give rise to any criminal liability." Gray said that Corsi plans to bring his laptop and cellphone with him to the grand jury and make them available to investigators. Corsi's subpoena was first reported by the New York Times. Randy Credico, a New York radio host who Stone has said was his conduit to communications with WikiLeaks, is also set to appear in front of the grand jury Friday. In response to a request for comment on Corsi's subpoena, Stone said that Corsi "has already addressed these issues in his own voice." He pointed to a March 2017 Infowars column in which Corsi said that he conducted research about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, her campaign chairman, John Podesta, and Russia in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. In the column, Corsi speculated that his research might have caused Stone to tweet on Aug. 21, 2016, "Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta's time in the barrel." That tweet came about six weeks before WikiLeaks began posting caches of Podesta's hacked emails. Stone has also said his tweet was spurred in part by Corsi's research, telling the House Intelligence Committee in September that it was "based on a comprehensive, early August opposition research briefing" that Corsi provided him. Stone has said that he did not know WikiLeaks had Podesta's emails. Stone also had communicationsin 2016 with Guccifer 2.0, the online persona that prosecutors have said was operated by the Russian intelligence units they said hacked the Democratic Party and Podesta. Stone has said the contacts were innocuous, and denied knowing Guccifer 2.0 was tied to Russian intelligence. Mueller's team has been scrutinizing Stone for months. This summer,a series of other Stone associates have been interviewed or asked to appear before the grand jury. One Stone aide, Andrew Miller, has been held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena and is seeking to have Mueller's investigation declared unconstitutional. --- The Washington Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia contributed to this report. T he head of one of the UKs biggest food companies on Wednesday raised the prospect of Brexit shortages amid mounting alarm among firms over crashing out of the EU without a deal. Patrick Coveney, chief executive of Greencore, told a conference in Dublin that it was not inconceivable that shortages could strike as a result of logistical problems following a hard Brexit, as lorries queue up at ports. Coveney, whose firm makes two thirds of the countrys pre-packed sandwiches, has around 12,000 staff in the UK. He warned: If you end up with 50-mile tailbacks in Calais and corresponding tailbacks in Dover it wont really matter whether theres a 15% or 20% surcharge on lettuce or fruit or vegetables coming from southern Europe, it will all rot in the container. There is no good answer to that at the moment. Our lobbying effort is entirely aligned with UK retail and UK supermarket chains, who are really pushing hard on this with the British Government. The one thing for sure which would create dramatic and immediate political instability post March is two, three or four weeks or months of real food shortages in the UK, which is not inconceivable with the direction of travel, particularly towards a harder Brexit. He added: British consumers are used to being able to buy fruit and vegetables all year round and frankly absent some very pragmatic interpretations on transition agreement thats going to be a huge problem from next March. His comments came after former Bank of England Governor, the Brexit-supporting Lord King, said talk of stockpiling food and medicines beggared belief and attacked the incompetence of the Governments preparations. The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply also warned business optimism among services firms crashed to a five-month low last month. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at survey compiler IHS Markit, said: Business expectations for the year ahead sank markedly lower, down across all three sectors to one of the lowest levels seen since the EU referendum, largely reflecting increased anxiety over Brexit negotiation. Services activity is holding up, however, despite waning confidence, Cips added. I know were in the dying days of the silly season, but does that really excuse the unnecessary fuss over delaying departure of the Governor of the Bank of England? In case you hadnt been paying attention (for which you can be forgiven), Mark Carney was due to step down a few weeks after Brexit. Given that this could be the most seismic event to hit our economy and financial system for a generation, the Treasury and Carney are planning to delay his replacement for a bit. The point being, why voluntarily impose additional instability at the top of one of our most critical institutions when so much that we cannot control is buffeting us? Critics argue that keeping Carney beyond his allotted time makes the institution of the Bank look weak. As if we couldnt attract anyone else decent enough to run it. Far from it. Surely it would be weaker if we took an inflexible, box-ticking approach to succession planning that could serve against the wider interests of the country. Why jettison a man with unparalleled international standing at a time Britain needs all the foreign friends it can get, when we dont have to? Another thing: the best candidate for the Governors job is the capable and experienced head of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey. Respected and feared in equal measure by the City, he has sound instincts on monetary policy and has proved himself an adept leader. He may not be as close to the likes of European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi as Carney, but he has strong international connections with his fellow regulators. Hes also British which cant be a bad thing. Like Carney, hes international, too not only because hes married to an American and has a house in Idaho; hes been working well with his regulatory peers around the world. But if he were to get the top job just after Brexit, that would mean new leadership at the FCA as well as the Bank. Besides, who knows? Baileys FCA job might go to Prudential Regulatory Authority boss Sam Woods. That would mean wed have new management at all three pillars of the Citys regulatory edifice. Not what we need. Dont Bank on Shriti for Guv Though Bailey is the most suitable candidate for the Bank job, the Prime Minister Theresa May has not agreed his appointment yet. Former deputy governor Dame Minouche Shafik could clearly handle the role and the PM would lose no brownie points for hiring the first woman governor. O n Friday March 13, 2015, I watched Battersea Arts Centre burn down on Twitter. I was on the train and watched in horror as the arts centre I am artistic director of went up in flames. But as quickly as the flames spread, people were quicker to support. Some 80 south London firefighters saved Battersea Arts Centre and ensured we could re-open the front of the building just 24 hours later. Then thousands of other Londoners helped to raise cash, rehouse performances and rebuild the back of the building. This week we re-open the Grand Hall. It marks the final stage of a 12-year renovation of the building, reflecting changes in Londons culture in the past decade. We have created bedrooms for artists in a city which increasingly prices them out, dedicated a large part of the building as flexible co-working space and built a busy play space for under-fives. When I got the job as artistic director if youd told me that the centre I run would have bedrooms, a co-working space for 150 businesses and a family play room, I might not have believed you. But cultural venues are changing. And they need to change more. In recent decades, the conventional model of inviting people to engage with culture has been to come and join in with what we are doing. We are a theatre, orchestra or gallery, so come and act, play or paint! But what if people want to be creative in a different way? In their own way? Ten years ago I met a theatre director in Rio de Janiero from one of the citys favela communities. He was using his theatre-making process to help hundreds of young people build their own businesses. In effect, he offered them a creative process, and they used it to pursue their own passion, and make their own change in the city. In 2013, we brought The Agency to London and every year since we have been helping young men and women from local housing estates create their own business. The Agency has become one of a number of initiatives we run to find out what excites people and how we can creatively support their ideas. When the flames rose 100 feet above the Grand Hall in March 2015 we were quickly overwhelmed by an incredible wave of support. Peoples generosity was an illustration that cultural venues are saturated with peoples memories of performances and experiences. I believe it was those memories which led to such an extraordinary response from Londoners. A mid all the recrimination and residual confusion, one thing is embarrassingly clear: Jeremy Corbyn still doesnt get it. Even as Labours National Executive Committee (NEC) agreed, at last, to adopt in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of anti-Semitism , the Labour leader sought to append a 500-word statement that would have significantly undermined that decision, both strategically and in textual detail. In particular, Corbyn wished to add the following qualification to the IHRA code: Nor should it be regarded as anti-Semitic to describe Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist because of their discriminatory impact, or to support another settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict. This would have been like announcing that you are becoming a vegan and then tucking into a Big Mac. It is essential to the IHRAs definition of anti-Semitism that the existence of a state of Israel not be presented as a racist endeavour, and Labours initial attempt to exclude this specific claim was at the heart of the furore that has overwhelmed the party in recent months. Had Corbyn prevailed, he would have sabotaged the NECs gesture of concession even as it was made. Aware of this peril, his fellow committee members rejected the leaders proposed statement so firmly that he withdrew it before a vote could be held. Instead, the NEC added its own codicil, asserting that its full adoption of the IHRA definition does not in any way undermine the freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians. Though not as inflammatory as Corbyns text, this (unnecessary) addendum undermined the whole purpose of the meeting which had been to provide absolute clarity, and signal to the Jewish community that Labour understood and fully acknowledged its anxieties. Matthew d'Ancona Instead, as the Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge, said: Two steps forward and one step back. Why dilute the welcome adoption in full of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism with an unnecessary qualification? This sense of lingering dismay has naturally been compounded by the re-election to the NEC of Peter Willsman in spite of his previous denunciation of the 68 rabbis who had warned of severe and widespread anti-Semitism in the party and of Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all. The spectacle of the party wrestling with its anti-Semitic demons has been nothing short of extraordinary. Precisely when it should have been presenting itself as a plausible government-in-waiting, Labour has sacrificed an entire summer to a semantic question that would never have troubled an honestly anti-racist party. Even as fresh examples of anti-Semitic conduct past and present were disclosed daily this week Scotland Yard undertook to investigate a new dossier of allegations against 45 party members Labour stuck obstinately to its initial modification of the IHRA code and dug itself into a hole from which it is still struggling to escape. Frank Field, the veteran MP for Birkenhead, resigned the party whip on the grounds that Labours leadership [was] becoming a force for anti-Semitism in British politics. In a statesmanlike intervention on Sunday Gordon Brown declared that the party must adopt the IHRA definition unanimously, unequivocally and immediately. "Labour has sacrificed the entire summer to a semantic question that would not have troubled an anti-racist party" In spite of all this pressure and weeks of contentious argument, Corbyn still wanted to weaken the code significantly. Consider, for a moment, his position: he is the Leader of the Opposition, a party leader who performed surprisingly well in last years snap general election and given the instability of the Brexit negotiations and the challenges facing Theresa May needs to be ready for another such contest at any time. Corbyn ought to be presenting himself to the voters as a prime minister-in-waiting. Instead, he is a terribly diminished figure, his reputation as an anti-racist blighted by a series of disclosures, notably his assertion in 2013 that certain Zionists lacked a sense of English irony despite having lived in Britain all of their lives, which made his claim to be fit for the highest public office more laughable than ever. Part of the problem is the Soviet-style insistence of Corbyns followers that he is axiomatically incapable of bigotry. But there are deeper and more poisonous roots to this particular fixation. As David Hirsh shows in his book, Contemporary Left Antisemitism, the ideological faction, of which Corbyn is now leader, regards Israel as fundamentally racist and its defenders in Britain and elsewhere as complicit in its supposed wickedness. To ask if something said or done is anti-Semitic is to risk placing ones own membership of the community of the good under scrutiny, writes Hirsh. Raising the issue becomes a marker of Blairite, Tory or Zionist obfuscation. In the eyes of Corbynites, therefore, anti-Semitism is detached from other forms of racism. Indeed, it is mostly seen as a charge vexatiously levelled against those who righteously criticise Israel as an apartheid, Nazi or racist state, the epitome of nationalist, imperialist and colonialist criminality. According to this logic, it is the defenders of Israel who are the real racists. It is worth pausing to reflect upon this, and what it says about the rapid transformation of Labour under Corbyn. The party is not just socialist in the traditional sense that it would raise taxes, renationalise the utilities and redistribute wealth. Brodskys behavior in one of the cases cited in the complaint resulted earlier this year in a $50,000 fine levied by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, who also ordered Brodsky to undergo anger management training. He planned to appeal the fine, which his attorney at the time said might have been the largest in Chicago federal court history payable to the District Court itself. P RESIDENT Trumps threat to the World Trade Organisation [Its worst trade deal ever made, August 31] should serve as a timely reminder but also an opportunity for those who believe a WTO-terms Brexit is a great opportunity for Global Britain. The WTO has been under strain since the Doha development round of negotiations failed and recently the US has threatened the functioning of its fundamental dispute settlement body. Current WTO rules will not stop EU border checks after we leave the European Union but will prevent discriminatory checks or tariffs compared to other non-members of the EU. However, some believe the WTO, and these rules, will struggle to survive two terms of President Trump. Paradoxically, the Presidents attitude could be a test of Global Britain in action. Many of those who say the UK can thrive after a WTO-rules Brexit are also advocates of a UK-US trade agreement. They could show the power of independent UK trade policy by making such an agreement conditional on President Trump and the US withdrawing threats to the WTO. It is hard, after all, to see how the UK could thrive globally without established WTO rules and the increased trade these have brought. Many trade experts believe a WTO-rules, no-deal Brexit will be disastrous for the UK. If we are underestimating the UKs power, now would be a good time for this to be demonstrated. David Henig Director, the UK Trade Policy Project EDITOR'S REPLY Dear David Thanks for your novel suggestion, dripping with irony. Of course there is no way Donald Trump would listen to a word of British advice on his boorish threats to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation. The US President wants to take apart power structures such as the WTO to weaken the smaller nations with which the US trades and make it that much easier for him to push around. He detests the organisation because it has an independent dispute resolution system that prevents the US always getting its own way (in fact, the US wins more times than it loses but such details do not seem to trouble this particular President). The same philosophy is behind Trumps support for Brexit: he likes having weaker powers facing him at the negotiating table so that he can ensure the US always gets the best deals. Brexit provides him both with a weaker Britain and a weaker EU. If he destroys the WTO too, hed create a global law of the jungle in which the strongest wins. Gunboat diplomacy. One way to make America great again. Jim Armitage, City Editor Another cause of Crossrail delays AS A lifelong resident of the borough of Ealing, I have to say that Im not surprised that next autumn is now the new start date for the Elizabeth line [Your first Crossrail train willl be delayed... by a year, August 31]. I believe the reasons stated for the delay but would suggest that there are others too. Users of the regularly poor service on the line into/from Paddington provided by GWR, TfL Rail and Network Rail will have seen the state of the four stations in the borough. Work started late on upgrading them and is still ongoing months later. Ealing Broadway, which Id suggest is the most used station west of central London, is still a work in progress. At many times in the evening rush hour the station struggles to accommodate the sheer numbers which will only increase when Crossrail finally starts. The holidays are over and the chill is setting in. What better way to fend off the impending gloom than with some seriously chic sartorial investments? Before you put chip to pin, take a look at our round-up of the key trends to know for autumn/winter 2018. Invest in any of these sartorial statements and you really cant go wrong. Get the Gloss Vinyl, latex, plastic and patent, high-shine and splash-proof is the dominatrix dish du jour this season. Metallics came full-gloss at Chanel, while plaids came patent at Badgley Mischa, and at Miu Miu and Adam Selman red leather was waxed until it shone lyrical. Fendi and Tods meanwhile demonstrated that a high-shine trench could provide a wonderfully glamorous alternative to its gabardine cousin. Spill-proof and rain-proof, as the weather changes dont lament, laminate people, laminate. Tods AW18 / AFP/Getty Images Nicopanda AW18 / Getty Images for Nicopanda Adam Selman AW18 / Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows Miu Miu AW18 / Getty Images Check Please Its back to school, and plaid shows no signs of checking out. In fact, this term the perennially popular print was adopted across the class, from perfectly prim frosty pink plaid maxi dresses at Emilia Wickstead to Clueless-esque clashing yellow and blue kilts and jackets at Versace. For ultimate plaid rad, make like Michael Kors and clash red and yellow tartans with leopard-print trims. Make like Cher Horowitz and play head-to-toe tartan truant for fall. Emilia Wickstead AW18 / Getty Images Mansur Gavriel AW18 / Getty Images Versace AW18 / Getty Images Michael Kors AW18 / Getty Images 80s Cocktail Power Hour Mini skirts, bandage dresses, foil and big shoulders this seasons party wear is all about the 80s va-va-voom. At Saint Laurent exaggerated shoulders on blazers and mini dresses made for perfect dancefloor space makers, while puffball mini skirts at Marques'Almeida were every bit the Material Girl. Embrace sequins and the miniest of minis and pair with a perm, platforms and the sheerest denier you can find. Saint Laurent AW18 / Getty Images Marques'Almeida AW18 / Marques Almeida Chanel AW18 / Getty Images Leather dresses You know those moments in life that demand you look chic, sexy and more than a little bit badass? No? Invest in an autumn runway-approved leather dress and good money says you start experiencing those moments all the time. Belted and zip-embellished at Sonia Rykiel and Alexander McQueen; ankle-length yet tantalisingly seductive at Loewe; shirt-shaped and smart at Hermes, Tod's, and Givenchy, this season the leather dress will become your saviour when it comes to those difficult-to-dress-for invites. Best invest now. Tod's AW18 / Tods Alexander McQueen AW18 (Getty ImagesAlexander McQueen ) / Getty ImagesAlexander McQueen Grandpa Party Been saving your grandad jumper for a country walk? Considered pairing it with jeans for the office, perhaps? Think again. For this season Argyle knits were given a party-ready twist. Erdem threw cable knit cardigans over brocade cocktail dresses and paired a silver sequinned skirt with a Fair Isle knit, while Simone Rocha knotted argyle knits around necks over feminine floral dresses. Meanwhile at Preen they were sliced and diced and pinned over shimmering opalescent gowns. Tory Burch AW18 / Getty Images Erdem AW18 / Erdem Preen AW18 / Preen Cut the slacks Trouser suits were big news for autumn/winter 2017 and while the popularity of a good pastel suit or a broad lapelled tux looks set to be sustained into this season, the real power players will be swapping their slacks for skirts. At Chanel structural boucle jackets cocooned skimpy minis, while at Louis Vuitton demure pencil skirt suits were given energy with leather tasseling and sporty knitwear. Chanel AW18 / Getty Images Taoray Wang AW18 / Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows Louis Vuitton AW18 / Getty Images Priscavera AW18 / Getty Images Brown is the new Black There were many very literal takes on '70s fashion on the A/W 18 runways, but the way it will affect your personal style is via the colour brown. Everyone from Sies Marjan, Rochas, Dior and Etro sent tonal, caramel, chocolate and terracotta hues down the runway, while the Chloe show was an ode to the colour in all its myriad hues. The trick to keeping this all-over sepia sexy? Slashed necklines, raised hemlines and seriously sheer shirts and skirts prove that brick, bronze and bister are there to fawn over. Tod's AW18 / Tods Chloe AW18 Dion Lee AW18 / Getty Images Boss Girl Tweed Last season, every influencer and editor on the front row wore a checked tweed blazer; this season the catwalks firmly confirmed the heritage check's comeback. Flecked with lilac on boyish belted jumpsuits at Emilia Wickstead, blown into exaggerated eighties' proportions at Marc Jacobs, blurred through boucle at Chanel and given pink and black supersized punkiness at Miu Miu, this seasons tweed is best paired with something unexpected; a slouchy granddad jacket paired with a pretty prairie dress a la Calvin Klein, or a prim tweed pencil skirt paired with sporty intarsia knits a la Louis Vuitton. More amoral than Balmoral, this seasons tweed is unapologetically punchy. Marc Jacobs AW18 / Getty Images for Marc Jacobs Miu Miu AW18 / Getty Images Emilia Wicksted AW18 / AFP/Getty Images Chanel AW18 / Getty Images Animal Magic Our collective love-in with animal print shows no sign of slowing for autumn/winter, but after the leopard overload we witnessed over the summer, why not keep things fresh with a dash of zebra or a zing of snakeskin? The runways were awash with pelt and skin prints of all kinds. From neon red, lilac and acid green giraffe prints at Marc Jacobs to seriously sophisticated swooshing snakeskin chiffon at Emilia Wickstead and bold tiger prints seen at Adam Selman and Dolce & Gabanna, this season were on safari. But could the leopard have lost top spot? Carolina Herrera AW18 / Getty Images Dolce & Gabbana AW18 / AFP/Getty Images Adam Selman AW18 / Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows Emilia Wicksted AW18 / AFP/Getty Images Double Coated Have two favourite coats? Luckily this winter theres really no need to choose for the runways have decreed that the best outerwear came in twos. First came Balenciagas brilliantly bonkers double-duvet coat situation, quickly followed by Margiela and Roksanda's equally OTT puffer layering. Elsewhere Alexander McQueen topped mannish blazers with cropped leather biker jackets and Givenchy layered fur capes over tweed. How to avoid looking like a walking duvet? Cinch your waist with a belted underlayer as demonstrated at Rochas and on sunnier days dont discount trench coats, denim and leather. Rochas AW18 / Getty Images Vivienne Tam AW18 / Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows Maison Margiela AW18 / Getty Images Calvin Klein AW18 / Getty Images Alexander Wang AW18 / Getty Images Best Western Lose the suede tasselling and push any oversized flannel shirts to the back of your cupboard, for as the Western trend rides into autumn, summers rough-and-ready rodeo vibes are replaced by an eveningwear-appropriate aesthetic. Embrace sharply tailored full denim looks, like those seen at Tom Ford, seriously svelte satin shirts and high-glam embellishment. Raf Simons continued his fresh take on Americana at Calvin Klein with sheer satin Western shirts and fabulous paint-splattered cowboy boots, while at Chloe, pretty prairie tops were paired with tight riding trousers or chic snakeskin minis. At Fendi, silky prairie dresses were paired with colourful croc cowboy boots and at Dolce and Gabbana, diamante-encrusted cowboy boots gave edge to sequinned suiting, proving this look is less rodeo-girl and more Rodeo Drive. Calvin Klein AW18 / Getty Images Fendi AW18 / AFP/Getty Images H e currently runs a theatre with only 260 seats. For the next act of his career Madani Younis will take a key role in running 17 acres of auditoriums, gallery space and a library. The artistic director who transformed the Bush Theatre in west London is moving to the Southbank Centre. He is joining after the departure of Jude Kelly who ran the arts institution for more than a decade and oversaw its recent multi-million-pound refurbishment. During Youniss time at the theatre in Shepherds Bush, capacity tripled, and shows were transferred to the West End and taken abroad for tours. The Londoner paid tribute to the artists and audiences at the Bush who he said represented the diversity of the city around us. He added that when he becomes creative director of the Southbank in January, he wants to bring world-class art to audiences old and new. In his six years at the Bush, former filmmaker Younis put on the Black Lives, Black Words season a response to the Black Lives Matter movement which began in the US as a protest against police violence. He also served as a creative industries adviser to Mayor Sadiq Khan. Elaine Bedell , Southbank chief executive, said: I know that Madani will bring a new energy and vision to our site and iconic venues. London's best autumn theatre 1 /21 London's best autumn theatre Twelfth Night October 2 - November 17, Young Vic Measure for Measure September 28 - November 24, Donmar Warehouse Company September 26 - December 22, Gielgud Theatre Buy tickets with GO London Dan Kennedy Sylvia September 3-22, Old Vic Theatre Buy tickets with GO London Manuel Harlan I'm Not Running From October 2, National Theatre Pinter at the Pinter From September 6, Harold Pinter Theatre Getty Images The Wild Duck October 15 - December 1, Almeida Theatre PA Hadestown November 2 - January 26, National Theatre The Woods September 5 - October 20, Royal Court Theatre The Village September 7 - October 6, Theatre Royal Stratford East Buy tickets with GO London Getty Images Wise Children October 8 - November 10, Old Vic Theatre Buy tickets with GO London Misty September 8 - October 20, Trafalgar Studios Buy tickets with GO London Helen Murray A Very Very Very Dark Matter October 12 - January 6, Bridge Theatre Dave Benett Heathers September 3 - November 24, Theatre Royal Haymarket Buy tickets with GO London Pamela Raith Holy Sh!t September 5 - October 6, Kiln Theatre Photo by Mark Douet An Adventure September 6 - October 20, Bush Theatre I and You October 18 - November 24, Hampstead Theatre Caroline, or Change November 20 - February 9, Playhouse Theatre Buy tickets with GO London Marc Brenner The Malady of Death October 3-6, Barbican Centre I'm a Phoenix, B**** October 3-20, Battersea Arts Centre A Small Place November 8 - December 1, Gate Theatre We want to provide bold, diverse and ambitious artistic programming here and Madanis arrival signals that we are entering an exciting new era. Kelly, a former artistic director at the Battersea Arts Centre, has left to dedicate herself to the Women of the World festival which she launched at the Southbank eight years ago. Since then, WOW has grown into a global movement with 42 separate festivals in 23 countries celebrating the history and potential of women. Kelly oversaw festivals and big-name appearances from the likes of Hillary Clinton, Motorhead and Yoko Ono, all of whom attracted sell-out audiences. She also oversaw renovations. The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Rooms closed in September 2015 to enable the 35 million refurbishment programme, funded by the Lottery, Arts Council and public donations. A Bush spokesman said it will start its search for Youniss successor today. T he BFI London Film Festival programme is made up of strands groups of films built around themes to help festivalgoers navigate their way through the less familiar titles. The Create strand is the one that takes us into unfamiliar territory or, as the LFF programme puts it, channels the electricity of the creative process. Its about artists making art. The films selected range from a documentary about 1980s pop band Bros after their break-up (When the Screaming Stops); Bergman A Year in the Life, marking the 100th birthday of the late Swedish master; and The Queen of Fear, about an Argentinian actor preparing a one-woman show. But The White Crow, this years Create Gala, aims for the stars. It is scripted by David Hare, based on the book by Julie Kavanagh Hare will be speaking at an LFF Connects event on October 19. The film is directed by Ralph Fiennes and boasts an extraordinary performance by Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko as the legendary Rudolf Nureyev. The setting is Paris in the 1960s, when the Soviet cultural authorities decide to send the Kirov Ballet (principal male dancer, one Rudolf Nureyev) on a trip to Paris to show the French how things should really be done. Five films you have to watch this autumn 1 /5 Five films you have to watch this autumn A Star Is Born In cinemas October 5 First Man In cinemas October 12 Bohemian Rhapsody In cinemas October 24 Peterloo In cinemas November 2 Widows In cinemas November 6 Things start to go wrong when Nureyev sees Parisian artistic life open up before him like a box of chocolates in front of an unruly kid. Instead of boarding the Aeroflot flight back to Moscow, he seeks political asylum. Nureyev, ballet and for that matter Paris would never be the same again. W hether breathing fresh life into an already lauded play or resurrecting a flop, it could be an intimidating prospect for a director to take on a script with so much history behind it. We love seeing old favourites - and new favourites for that matter - coming back to London so weve rounded up some of the best theatre revivals coming up in the city. You can bet that you havent seen the last of any of these fantastic scripts. Company Company set the Tony Award record in 1971 with fourteen nominations. Sondheims musical, which revolves around protagonist Bobbys inability to settle down, has been showered with accolades each time it has returned. The most recent iteration is somewhat different: the upcoming production is led by War Horse, Angels in America and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time director Marianne Elliott, who has changed the lead role to Bobbi, played by Rosalie Craig. Sondheim has given his blessing to the gender-switch for the first time. September 26 to December 22, Gielgud Theatre; gielgudtheatre.co.uk Follies Another Sondheim classic is Follies. First gracing Broadway in 1971, Follies was the most costly production seen so far, running for 500 shows and losing all of its investment. It was ultimately worth it though, returning time and again with stellar casts. Imelda Staunton helped bring the National Theatres 2017 to sell out audiences and Olivier Awards. Its storming success means we will see it return to the London stage in 2019 (albeit with different casting). Opens February 14, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Caroline or Change In 2004, Caroline, or Change bowled over audiences and critics alike, with Aniki Noni Rose in the lead as Caroline. The story is set loosely on Tony Kushners life and the maid of a family in Louisiana, but with added singing inanimate objects. This revival saw Sharon D Clarke steer the musical to rave reviews (five stars from the Standard) at Chichester and Hampstead Theatre. While its not as old as some of the others, it has just as much history and is sure to inspire just as many reprisals in the future. Clarke returns in the lead role at the Playhouse Theatre this November. November 20 to February 9, Playhouse Theatre Summer and Smoke Written in 1948, Tennessee Williams Summer and Smoke didnt quite generate the same hype as his previous smash A Streetcar Named Desire. But a revival a couple of years later starring a legendary performance from Geraldine Page is credited with starting the Off-Broadway movement. The 2018 revival, starring Patsy Ferran and Matthew Needham, sold out its run in February at the Almeida Theatre, prompting a transfer to the Duke of Yorks Theatre. Ferran and Needham play Alma and John, who meet one summer in Mississippi, but their differing desires and obligations clash. November 10-January 19, Duke of Yorks Theatre Summer and Smoke - in pictures 1 /9 Summer and Smoke - in pictures Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Summer and Smoke - in pictures Marc Brenner Twelfth Night Kwame Kwei-Armah takes on Shakespeare for his first season in charge of the Young Vic. This is Twelfth Night with a twist - its a musical adaptation. Combining jazz and R&B melodies with the Bards gender-bending tale of unrequited love and confusion has music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Having premiered in the US with Public Theater in 2016, this production will feature a community chorus from Southwark and Lambeth. October 2 - November 17, Young Vic; youngvic.org Don Quixote Helen Maybanks Originally playing at the RSCs Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to great applause in 2016, this adaptation of Cervantes novel by James Fenton makes a welcome return in its move to London. With David Threlfall in the title role and Rufus Hound playing his long-suffering squire, Angus Jackson directs the production at the Garrick Theatre. Losing his grip on reality, self-styled knight Don Quixote goes off on a farcical adventure with his sidekick Sancho Panza through medieval Spain. October 27-February 2, Garrick Theatre I and You Lauren Gunderson wrote I and You in 2014, winning the American Theatre Critics Association new play award. Last year she was the most produced playwright in America after Shakespeare. Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams makes her stage debut at Hampstead Theatre in this story of how a girl, housebound through illness, with nothing but Instagram for company forms a deep bond with a Walt Whitman-loving teen boy. October 18 - November 24, Hampstead Theatre; hampsteadtheatre.com True West Another Game of Thrones star makes the journey over to stage. Kit Harington isnt new to the West End, but he has been away for a while. Sam Shepards play True West was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1983, and has seen the two leads played by Tommy Lee Jones, John Malkovich, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mark Rylance. Harington stars across from Johnny Flynn as warring brothers Austin and Lee. November 23-February 16, Vaudeville Theatre Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeares play about one of historys most famous couples has been performed time and again - the RSCs production ran at Barbican at the beginning of this year. Now the National are in on the act with this much anticipated show starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo as the fated pair and directed by Simon Godwin. Politics and passion become intertwined when General Mark Antony falls in love with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. September 18-January 19, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Where to watch Shakespeare in London 1 /7 Where to watch Shakespeare in London Hamlet - Young Vic Dean Chalkley Where to watch Shakespeare in London & Juliet - Shaftesbury Theatre Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare's Globe Getty Images Where to watch Shakespeare in London Upstart Crow - Gielgud Theatre BBC/Colin Hutton Where to watch Shakespeare in London Romeo and Juliet - National Theatre Where to watch Shakespeare in London The Taming of the Shrew - Sam Wanamaker's Playhouse (Johan Perrson) Where to watch Shakespeare in London Romeo and Juliet - Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Measure for Measure Another twist on a Shakespearean classic. Measure for Measure at the Donmar Warehouse goes the whole hog with gender-swapping. Hayley Atwell and Jack Lowden will both play Angelo and Isabella, switching halfway through the play. This experimental piece from artistic director Josie Rourke will be a world-first. L ast week, I launched Taste the Emerald Isle in Selfridges, a celebration of Irish food which is on until October 9. I curated a table of my favourite Irish dishes. There were mini baked potatoes with creme fraiche and Goatsbridge Trout Farm sustainable trout caviar, Irish dulse seaweed-crusted potato chips with aioli, Glendalough gin and beetroot salmon gravlax and my favourite Irish soul food, beef with parsley sauce (yes, you call it salt beef here in the UK). As part of the event you can pop into the food hall and meet fabulous Irish producers and sample their delicious food. One of my favourites is a new mix from McCambridges which allows you to make your own soda bread in just a few minutes. There are lots of fun events too that you can get involved in, such as Irelands Best Culinary Talent dinner hosted by yours truly, a Carlingford oyster and Glendalough gin-tasting evening and a dinner hosted by Ballymaloe Cookery School co-founder Rory OConnell. Full details at selfridges.co.uk. But one thing you must do is go and pick up a piece of beef and make yourself the most delicious Irish soul food supper along with a glass of Guinness, of course. Beef with smashed swede and parsley sauce Clodagh McKenna Serves: 6 Preparation time: 20 mins Cooking time: 2 hours 30 mins Ingredients 1 kg silverside beef 2 carrots, chopped 1 onion, chopped For the swede 400g swede, peeled and chopped 50g butter For the parsley sauce 2 tbsp butter 1 onion, finely diced 2 tbsp plain flour 200ml milk 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped 1 tsp English mustard pinch of nutmeg sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Clodagh McKenna Method 1. Place the beef, carrots and onion into a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and skim off the foam that accumulates on the surface. Cover and simmer for about 2 hours, or until the beef is tender. Remove from the liquid, wrap in foil, and set aside. Reserve about 400ml of the cooking liquid. 2. Place the chopped swedes in a saucepan with 200ml of the reserved cooking liquid. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for a further 20 minutes or until cooked. Strain and add the butter, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Smash the swedes roughly using a potato masher. 3. To make the parsley sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the diced onion and cook for one minute. Next stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for about one minute more. Add the remaining 200ml of reserved cooking liquid, milk, parsley, mustard, nutmeg, and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Continue to whisk to get a smooth consistency.Cook for another three minutes, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens. 4. To serve, slice the beef against the grain on to a warmed platter, and place the smashed swedes in a warmed bowl. Finally, pour the parsley sauce into a warmed jug. And let everyone help themselves. I ts not every day you walk into a room filled with 200 kilograms of cabbage. But the team behind the British fermented foods business, Eaten Alive, are obsessed with the stuff and talk with passion about the vegetable: how they buy it, shred it, mix it, and store it. For two years, friends and chefs Pat Bingley and Glyn Gordon have been hellbent on learning how to make their own versions of sauerkraut, the fermented cabbage dish popular in Eastern Europe; kimchi, the fermented cabbage dish eaten across Korea; and a fermented chilli hot sauce. They sell these to London restaurants (such as Tonkotsu, Chick and Sours and Nanban) and delis and, last month, the team celebrated three wins at the Oscars of the artisan food world, The Great Taste Awards. Our eventual aim of Eaten Alive is to turn our office into a showroom for fermented foods, kind of like a wine tasting room - because so many people have so many questions about our stuff, says Bingley, who quotes their mantra: Inspired by tradition, but not bound to it - because we like to put the traditional element [of something] to one side for a moment and do something like, say, tahini with sunflower seeds. So were creative with the basic parts." Gordon adds: Were a little divorced from our traditional food culture here so were not really bound by anything and tend to be able to try things out with food. He compares this with France or Italy, which is so bound to tradition and there is such a reverence for it that it can hamper progress. A former pastry chef at Fera at Claridges, Gordon argues that its the same with pastry or anything that you want to do well your own way. You need to know the basics. People say to us this is the latest thing - but fermentation is the oldest thing! Were doing more of a revival. After a short tour, during which I hear the thundering sounds of trains passing overhead, we sit down at a table dotted with tiny plastic containers, inside which are Gordons projects - things like an incredible smoked Sriracha sauce, and salt-pressed and fermented apricots and plums that are equally sweet and savoury and bizarrely addictive. There are so many flavours that tasting everything makes me feel light headed. Wackiest of all - to me, anyway - are delicious garlic cloves, finally ready after Gordon buried them in miso paste a year ago. These, says Nicola Swift, who has recently joined the team, are like crack - so easy to just eat lots of! Here they tell me how they run their business: Glyn and Pat want you to be as obsessed with fermented foods as they are / Eaten Alive How did Eaten Alive start? Pat: Fermented food was an area that we both found really exciting and there wasnt a huge amount of innovation going on. We found that a lot of people we spoke to didnt understand the role that it plays in foods that theyre excited about - from tea and chocolate to bread and wine. It also fits into a lower fat, lower calorie, more nutrition-aware society. We had thought wed start a restaurant and focus on cultured foods like sourdough, cheeses and so on, and just as we were planning that, a friend asked us if we could develop a vegan kimchi to use in their restaurant. That turned into a food brand that we thought would last a few months, then that turned out to be hugely in-depth! We started everything ourselves with less than 20,000, and after that we raised funds privately for the new space, and are about to take on more for the next stage. Do you still love to eat your products? Pat: "Yes, every day! The spicy kimchi is perfect with rice and an egg, Glyn likes adding kimchi or sauerkraut to cheddar and Stilton toasties. The pink kraut is also great on its own with Emmental or feta cheese. Talk us through the process... Pat: For our kimchi, once weve chopped and shredded the cabbage and made and mixed in the paste, it sits in containers to ferment. The times change depending on the weather, and we taste it every few days and test the pH so that we have control over it. Both of our kimchis tend to ferment for a week or so, but the sauerkraut has a much longer fermentation of around six weeks depending on the ambiance. There is a higher count of microbes on vegetables in the summertime so its more likely that batches wont turn out right then. Glyn: Our main focus is on quality and consistency but obviously there is also a certain amount of luck because every time youre putting your faith in the natural processes. As far as traditional recipes go, I dont think you have to be absolutely in keeping with them, but it has to be a good product - and at the very least its important to research what the real recipe is supposed to be. Weve of course done that, and then weve taken things our own way. Can you describe a week in the life of a fermenter? Pat and Glyn: We tend to do two production days and two market runs per week. On Mondays we pack and get the orders ready, because produce in a market is not that fresh after a weekend. We rely on things being good [so] its important to keep switching who we buy from. On market days well go at 5am, then bring the cabbages back here. On Tuesday well fill that same van with jars and tubs to send out and then well start production. Glyn: And in between all of that, we also squeeze in sales, networking, events, payroll, marketing and PR. Which other London food producers do you admire? "Lots of fermenters! Andy Harris' Vinegar Shed - he has an absolute obsession with making the best vinegars possible, with lots of interesting varietals and flavours. Kappacasein Dairy makes fantastic cheese and yoghurt produced in Bermondsey. We loved Yeast Bakery in London Fields for their inimitable kouign-amann and malted sourdough bread. And we can't not mention Kanpai London in Peckham which produced brilliant traditionally-brewed sake. P odcasts have been making something of a comeback recently, and one of our all-time favourites, Serial, is returning for a third season. Sticking with the same in-depth style of investigative journalism, the latest season will take a broad look at the criminal justice system in the US. Debuting back in 2014, Serial became the fastest podcast ever to reach five million downloads. So what twists and turns does this season hold for us? Here's everything you need to know. When is the new season of Serial released? The new season will debut on 20 September. You can listen to Serial by streaming via their official website or downloading on the podcast app for Apple or Google Podcasts, RadioPublic or Stitcher for Android. What will this season be about? This season will look at the criminal justice systems in the US, using multiple court cases from Cleveland, Ohio to illustrate its successes and failures. The series will examine a wide range of cases from the everyday to the more serious crimes such as murder. The show's host, Sarah Koenig, revealed how she spent a year following individual cases. She said: "I'd seen a litany of things that shouldn't be allowed. It was like a checklist of things reformers complain about: extra changes loaded on to a case, pressure to plead, shabby police work..." What were the last two seasons about? The first season followed the gripping story of Adnan Syed who was convicted in 2000 for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Using compelling evidence, Sarah takes listeners on a whirlwind journey trying to piece together what happened. E veryone dreads getting sick while travelling. People often blame the air con on the plane for picking up colds on their travels, but new research suggests you ought to be just as wary travelling through the airport. The plastic trays at airport security have been found to harbour the highest levels of viruses at airports, according to new research from the University of Nottingham. The study, which was published in BMC Infectious Diseases, was conducted by pandemic experts from the university and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare. They swabbed a variety of surfaces which are frequently touched at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland during the winter of 2016 in search of traces of respiratory viruses. The researchers found evidence of viruses on 10 per cent of the surfaces tested, including rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, but also influenza A virus. The plastic trays, where passengers are required to put their shoes and carry-on luggage before passing through the x-ray machines at security, were found to be the worst offenders, harbouring the highest levels of viruses. Meanwhile, none were found on toilet surfaces. Other places to be wary of are chip and pin machines, staircase rails, passport control counters and childrens play areas, where viruses were also found. Study authors concluded that hand washing and "careful coughing" are essential to controlling the spread of infections in crowded areas like airports. Jonathan Van Tam, professor of health protection, at the universitys school of medicine, said: "People can help to minimise contagion by hygienic hand washing and coughing into a handkerchief, tissue or sleeve at all times but especially in public places. These simple precautions can help prevent pandemics and are most important in crowded areas like airports that have a high volume of people travelling to and from many different parts of the world". Virology expert Niina Ikonen from the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare added: "The presence of microbes in the environment of an airport has not been investigated previously. The new findings support preparedness planning for controlling the spread of serious infectious diseases in airports. The results also provide new ideas for technical improvements in airport design and refurbishment." They note that the results of this study don't prove that viruses found on surfaces and in the air are alive and cause disease, though previous research has shown that microbes can survive on surfaces for up to several days. A teenager has been left in a critical condition in hospital after he was stabbed in north London. The male victim, believed to be 18, was found with stab wounds after an altercation in York Way, near Kings Cross, on Tuesday night. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the scene at 10pm, although a group of suspects had fled. The victim was rushed to hospital where he remained in a critical condition on Wednesday morning, a Scotland Yard spokesman said. The incident comes amid a rise in violent crime in London and parts of the UK. The photos are from a Bank of America surveillance camera at Gateway Plaza, about half a block from where Shane Colombo, 25, was killed around 8:25 p.m. Sunday near Clark Street and Howard Avenue. Police say Colombo was walking toward the Howard "L" station when two men began shooting at each other. I n a major breakthrough into their investigation, police have said there is no doubt the Novichok poisonings of Dawn Sturgess, Charlie Rowely, Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are all linked. Police believe Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley were not deliberately targeted and were rather innocent, tragic victims who were hurt because of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of. Mother-of- three Ms Sturgess died on July 8 after being exposed to Novichok on June 30, having never gained consciousness again. Her partner, Charlie Rowley, who was also exposed, became seriously ill but did make a recovery. Dawn: Mr Rowley described his partner as a 'lovely lady with a big heart' / AFP/Getty Images The 48-year-old fell ill again more recently, having been rushed to hospital after going temporarily blind. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, National Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing said he is confident that all four attacks are linked, because of the nature of the crime and the rareness of Novichok. In a statement, he said: Over the last six months we have meticulously followed the evidence, working closely with specialist forensic teams and scientists, as we have investigated both the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, and the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley. Let me be clear, we have no doubt these two incidents are connected and now form one investigation. Charlie Rowley fell ill in June following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok / AFP/Getty Images He added: We have now linked the attack on the Skripals and the events in Amesbury which affected Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley. It now forms one investigation. We do not believe Dawn and Charlie were deliberately targeted, but became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of. He said one investigation has been formed because the same type of Novichok was used in both cases and is one of the rarest chemical warfare agents in the world. Its discovery in two very close locations, he added, is beyond a coincidence. Two Russian nationals were charged with carrying out the Novichok attack in Salisbury on Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were charged with the attempted murder of former Russian spy Mr Skripal, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey. T his is the first picture of a young man who was found shot dead in a north London graveyard. The body of Ismail Tanrikulu, 22, was discovered near the entrance of Tottenham Cemetery just before 8am on Monday. It is understood he was ambushed after a set up. He had been told to meet an associate at 4.30am and drove to the scene with his cousin. A friend of Mr Tanrikulu said: Before the shooting Ismails mothers Mercedes was smashed up after a group visited the family home and became violent when they discovered he was not there. He received a call to meet in the cemetery at 4.30am. He went and was ambushed. His cousin was in the car and heard the shots. We understand he may have been set up by someone. Ismail Tanrikulu was found dead in a cemetery in Tottenham The exact reason is not clear, whether it was about money or revenge. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his family, from the close-knit north London Turkish community, have been supporting each other. Mr Tanrikulu married about a year ago and has a brother and sister. Friends today paid tribute to the former student of Gladesmore Community School in south Tottenham. Tanesha Melbourne, 17, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in April, attended the same school The victim attended the same school as Tanesha Melbourne, 17, who was shot dead in April / PA A friend of Mr Tanrikulu told the Evening Standard: He was so respectful. He was always caring, he would say, Dont feel shy, if you need help tell me if anyones bothering you, tell me. He was a kind and loving person. A school friend described him as a solid, fun guy who was very popular. He said: He played in goal at school. He was like a rock and had safe hands. He never got into any real trouble. When I saw him recently he was the same friendly person I knew. Scotland Yard could not confirm when Mr Tanrikulu was shot or how long he had been lying in the cemetery, which is closed to the public overnight. There have been no arrests. A rmed police descended on a station in a leafy London suburb after a man was stabbed during rush hour. Emergency services were called to Whitton railway station, in south-west London, just before 6.30pm on Wednesday. The victim, whose age is not known, was rushed to hospital after the incident unfolded in front of shocked commuters. Trains did not stop at the station as police attempted to find the suspect, who was thought to have escaped onto the railway tracks. The suspect was not found. It is unclear whether the stabbing happened inside the station or just outside. Witnesses took to social media as scores of vehicles arrived at the scene near Whitton High Street. Former MP Matthew Gordon Banks said: Something serious happening at Whitton station near Twickenham. Much armed police activity. A British Transport Police spokesman added: As it was believed that the suspect may have entered the station and gone on to the railway tracks, BTP officers - including armed officers and dog unit - searched the area, along with colleagues from the Metropolitan Police. The suspect was not found. The male victim has been taken to hospital with what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries. T he head of the NHS England has hailed a new cancer treatment they will offer to children "game-changing." The new ground-breaking treatment, called CAR-T, helps patients battling aggressive leukaemia where other drugs may have failed. NHS England head Simon Stevens said an affordable price had been agreed with Novartis, the treatment's manufacturer and the NHS. CAR-T currently has a list price of 282,000 per patient. Hospitals could begin administering the drug to children within a matter of weeks. But what exactly is CAR-T and how will the NHS be funding it? Here's everything you need to know: How does CAR-T work? CAR-T works by taking the patient's own white blood cells, re-engineering them in a lab to create ones that are able to fight cancer cells. These new cells are then injected into the body, where they multiply. As well as being used to treat leukaemia, there are also trials looking at CAR-T for myeloma and neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects particular nerve cells. Can CAR-T cure leukaemia? Leukaemia is an aggressive form of blood cancer caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in your body. CAR-T has been known to cure some patients, but it's a relatively new drug so there's no guarantee. Will CAR-T cause side effects? Again, because it's a new treatment, the side effects haven't been well documented. However, according to Cancer Research UK, two possible known side effects include: cytokine release syndrome (fever, dizziness, difficulty breathing) and having no B cells or fewer B cells after treatment with CAR-T cells that target CD19. How will the NHS fund the treatment? The NHS has struck a deal with Novartis that means a CAR-T treatment called Kymriah for patients up to 25 years old who have advanced B-cell lymphoblastic leukaemia and has not been helped by other drugs. This doesn't mean everyone under these circumstances will receive treatment, though. A n architect whose self-built dream home was nominated one of Britains ugliest buildings said it should not be listed among the worst eyesores. Chris Moore, 39, was shocked to learn his three-bedroom Streatham eco-home had been shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup, an annual wooden spoon for architecture. Staff at Building Design magazine described the orange, three-storey property as an alien blot on the streetscape that looks more like an electricity substation than a home. Editor Thomas Lane said the house had the appearance of a red-faced child. But Mr Moore, a partner at Pace Jefford Moore Architects who studied at Londons Bartlett School of Architecture, said he was very proud of it. Architect Chris Moore (ES Local Feed ) / ES Local Feed He added: Im an architect I know what Im doing. The father of one, who lives in the 800,000 house with fiancee Caroline Ingman, 35, and their 20-month-old daughter, said the nomination called into question the awards validity. My house has no impact on anyone other than the few people living on my road, he added. This is at best a local issue, and shouldnt be compared to the other buildings nominated. Mr Moore said the prize would be more useful highlighting large abuses of public space. Previous winners include the Walkie Talkie in the City. Other nominees this year included Lewisham Gateway, and Haydn Tower at Nine Elms Point in Vauxhall. Previous winner: the Walkie Talkie is one of London's most famous skyscrapers / PA After paying 160,000 for the land in 2013, Mr Moore spent about 280,000 building the home. It is energy-efficient, with solar panels and over a foot of insulation throughout. The shutter-like windows help regulate temperature.The orange, he said, was in keeping with the area. Neighbour Ranjeet Brar said: I like it. Its very cleverly designed. A n "urban explorer" was detained by police after being spotted by terrified onlookers dangling from a crane near an east London Tube station. Police were called to the 360 Barking property development, near Barking station, after receiving numerous reports of the man trapped and "hanging" from the crane. A video shared on Snapchat and later posted on Twitter showed a dark figure appearing to dangle from the crane. Barking and Dagenham police later revealed he had been taking pictures from the crane. Police said the 'urban explorer' climbed down / @TellyAddict1/Twitter A spokesperson told the Standard: "The man says he was an urban explorer up there taking photos. He was detained by police when he climbed down. Items found on him when he was detained and searched would indicate he is an urban explorer. He will be attending a police station for an interview. Police were called to the scene on Tuesday evening and were still dealing with the incident in the early hours. A Met Police spokeswoman told the Standard on Tuesday morning that the incident was stood down and no one was arrested. Local cops also had to deal with a serious collision outside the station at the same time. The incidents came days after a man was stabbed in the back outside the station. The man, in his 50s, was taken to hospital but his injuries were not life threatening or life changing. B rits would vote 59-41 in favour of Remain if a second Brexit referendum was held, according to a new poll. The opinion poll, revealed on Wednesday, represents the highest recorded support for EU membership in such a survey since the 2016 vote. The findings were published in an academic-led report on Wednesday by research bodies NatCen and The UK in a Changing Europe, which has been responsible for five such surveys since the referendum. Some 2,048 subjects were interviewed between June 7 and July 8. Jeremy Corbyn brings up Thersea May's dancing over Brexit negotiations The author of the report, polling expert John Curtice, added a note of caution, saying that their panel of interviewees reported they had voted 53 percent in favour of Remain in the original vote a higher proportion than in the actual vote. On June 23 2016, 52 percent of the voters backed leaving the EU while 48 per cent backed staying. Many opinion polls were wrong about the result. But he added: "Nevertheless, this still means that there has apparently been a six-point swing from Leave to Remain, larger than that registered by any of our previous rounds of interviewing, and a figure that would seemingly point to a 54 percent (Remain) vote in any second referendum held now. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 but has yet to secure a deal with Brussels to define future relations and manage the economic impact of ending over four decades of integration with the world's largest trading bloc. Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest 1 /12 Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest Demonstrators head towards Parliament Square. REUTERS Signs include 'I love EU' REUTERS The pro-EU march began in Hyde Park Corner. Si Carrington 'NHS? Brexit Wrexit' Oliver Day The march took protesters through the streets of London. Oliver Day One protester brought along a papier mache Queen, in reference to the blue and yellow hat she wore at the State Opening of Parliament. Peter Bailey 'Exit Brexit' Jonathan Hawley The September sun shone as activists marched through the streets. Martin Tod Roads were blocked during the protest. Maggie Jones The campaigners set off shortly after 11am from Hyde Park Corner. Maggie Jones The rally saw the activists march through the streets of central London. Johann Ketel EU colours of blue and yellow were seen throughout the march. Judi Conner The government has ruled out holding a second referendum. Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Theresa May reiterated this stance before quoting the World Trade Organisation that a no-deal situation "wouldn't be the end of the world". The survey does not fully reflect any change in opinion brought about by the publication of Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating strategy, published in early July. That negotiating strategy has split the Conservative Party and drawn heavy criticism from both Brexit supporters and those who want to retain close ties to the EU. Nevertheless, the poll shows voters thought the negotiations were going badly even before the publication of May's so-called Chequers plan. "Both Remain and Leave supporters have become markedly more critical of how both the UK government, especially, and the EU, somewhat less so, have been handling the negotiations," Mr Curtice said. "They have also become markedly more pessimistic about how good a deal Britain will get." F rances Europe minister dealt a hammer blow to Theresa Mays hopes of saving her Chequers plan today, insisting the EU will not change its rules to accommodate post-Brexit Britain. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Nathalie Loiseau scoffed at British media reports that her boss President Emmanuel Macron was softening to the Prime Ministers proposals. I read the British press on a daily basis and sometimes I wonder whether we live in the same world, she said. Ms Loiseau stated firmly that EU law is not subject to negotiation and accused the UK of asking for more rights than full members. She also backed the tough stance of EU negotiator Michel Barnier, dismissing claims that he might be ordered by the 27 other EU states to make concessions. It is not as if he is a loose cannon from the Commission, she said. Echoing Mrs Mays own slogan that no deal is better than a bad deal, she said France was preparing its businesses and citizens for the possibility of the UK crashing out without an agreement, adding: This is not what we want but we dont want a bad deal either. The firm line from Paris came as Mrs May faced a growing backlash at home over her Chequers blueprint. Scathing assessment: Nathalie Loiseau / AFP/Getty Images Mervyn King, the former Bank of England governor, branded the Governments Brexit preparations as incompetent. He also told the BBC it beggars belief that a major economy was stockpiling food and medicine. A poll suggested a shift in UK public opinion against Brexit, with respondents dividing 59 to 41 for Remain in a second referendum. It was overseen by polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice of Strathclyde University. Mrs May was facing the wrath of Tory Brexiteers determined to attack the Chequers blueprint at the first Prime Ministers Questions since the recess. In her interview, Ms Loiseau warned: We will not redefine our basic principles because the UK doesnt want to belong to the European Union any more. "We have described our priorities and they are not subject to negotiation. The Chequers proposals seek smooth trade for goods and food, based on a single set of customs rules, but no specific deal on services. Ms Loiseau insisted that while a future trade deal must be a special one, it cannot divide the single market. Brexiteers accuse the EU of bringing talks to the brink of collapse with their hardline stance. But Ms Loiseau indicated that for the EUs point of view, the biggest risk was Mrs Mays lack of a majority. We have to consider what the Government proposes and what the British parliament would be ready to ratify, she said. And there, there is an obvious question mark. On the Irish issue, Ms Loiseau claimed that the backstop deal agreed in December means that there have to be controls in the Irish Sea an outcome that Mrs May has ruled out. She said a no-deal Brexit looked more likely due to the lack of progress in recent months, adding: I would not have said that six months ago. She dismissed UK reports that France was punishing Britain by taking a tough line against concessions, and quashed recent claims that Mr Macron had softened. There is nothing true about the French being tougher than others ... indeed, we want a good deal but not at the detriment of the EU27, she said. On the financial sector, she said: We are not trying to steal any energy from London. But we are encouraging people who want to settle in Paris or elsewhere in France. F ewer than one in five voters now expect Britain to secure a good Brexit deal as Theresa Mays plans remain under fire, according to damning new research. The proportion of people expecting a good deal has slumped dramatically from 33 per cent in February last year to just 17 per cent in June 2018, the survey showed. The data was conducted and shared ahead of the publication of the Prime Ministers heavily criticised Chequers plan for the UKs future relationship with the EU. Some 57 per cent of voters now predict Britain will end talks with a bad deal, up from 37 per cent since February 2017. Thats according to the survey for NatCen Social Research. EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is opposed to key parts of Mrs May's Chequers plan / AFP/Getty Images Just over 50 per cent now expect the UKs economy to be worse of as a result of Brexit, while just 38 per cent said Britains departure would mean lower immigration. According to the new figurers, only 13 per cent said the Government had handled negotiations well so far. Thats down from 29 per cent in February last year. Some 64 per cent said it had handled talks badly. There was also very little support for the EUs approach to negotiations, with 57 per cent saying Brussels had handled them badly. Only 16 per cent said it had handled them well. Theresa May: The Prime Minister's Chequers plans are under intense fire / EPA The report, by polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice of Strathclyde University, found that 59 per cent of members of a NatCen panel now say they would vote Remain in a second referendum. Just 41 per cent were backing Leave. However, the researchers cautioned that this apparently comfortable lead for Remain may be skewed by the fact those responding reported voting against Brexit by a margin of 53-47 per cent in the 2016 referendum. Dominic Raab: Government ready to deliver no-deal Brexit The survey found that just 81 per cent of 2016 Leave voters would back Brexit now, with 12 per cent saying they had switched to Remain. By contrast, just 6 per cent of Remain voters have changed sides, with 90 per cent sticking by their original decision. Among those who did not vote in 2016, almost half (49 per cent) said they would now vote against Brexit, compared to 23 per cent who would back Leave in a second referendum. With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to update the House on the investigation into the attempted murder of Sergey and Yulia Skripal - and the subsequent poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley earlier this year. This was a sickening and despicable act in which a devastatingly toxic nerve agent - known as Novichok - was used to attack our country. It left four people fighting for their lives and one innocent woman dead. And I know the thoughts of the whole House will be with the family of Dawn Sturgess in particular, following their tragic loss. In March I set out for the House why the government concluded that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter. I also said that - while we all share a sense of impatience to bring those responsible to justice as a nation that believes in the rule of law we would give the police the space and time to carry out their investigation properly. Since then around 250 detectives have trawled through more than 11,000 hours of CCTV and taken more than 1,400 statements. Working around the clock they have carried out painstaking and methodical work to ascertain exactly which individuals were responsible and the methods they used to carry out this attack. Mr Speaker, this forensic investigation has now produced sufficient evidence for the independent Director of Public Prosecutions to bring charges against two Russian nationals for: the conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal; the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey; the use and possession of Novichok; and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey. This morning, the police have set out how the two Russian nationals travelled under the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov names the police believe to be aliases. They arrived at Gatwick Airport at 3pm on Friday 2nd March, having flown from Moscow on flight SU2588. They travelled by train to London Victoria, then on to Waterloo before going to the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road East London. They stayed there on both Friday and Saturday evenings and traces of Novichok were found in their hotel room. On Saturday 3rd March they visited Salisbury, arriving at approximately 2.25pm and leaving less than two hours later, at 4.10pm. The police are confident this was for reconnaissance of the Salisbury area. On Sunday 4th March they made the same journey, travelling by underground from Bow to Waterloo station at approximately 8.05am, before continuing by train to Salisbury. The police have today released CCTV footage of the two men which clearly places them in the immediate vicinity of the Skripals house at 11.58am, which the police say was moments before the attack. They left Salisbury and returned to Waterloo arriving at approximately 4.45pm and boarded the underground at approximately 6.30pm to Heathrow - from where they returned to Moscow on flight SU2585, departing at 10.30pm. Mr Speaker, this hard evidence has enabled the independent Crown Prosecution Service to conclude they have a sufficient basis on which to bring charges against these two men for the attack in Salisbury. The same two men are now also the prime suspects in the case of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley too. There is no other line of inquiry beyond this. And the police have today formally linked the attack on the Skripals and the events in Amesbury such that it now forms one investigation. There are good reasons for doing so. Our own analysis, together with yesterdays report from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has confirmed that the exact same chemical nerve agent was used in both cases. There is no evidence to suggest that Dawn and Charlie may have been deliberately targeted, but rather were victims of the reckless disposal of this agent. The police have today released further details of the small glass counterfeit perfume bottle and box discovered in Charlie Rowleys house which was found to contain this nerve agent. And the manner in which the bottle was modified leaves no doubt it was a cover for smuggling the weapon into the country, and for the delivery method for the attack against the Skripals front door. Mr Speaker, the police investigation into the poisoning of Dawn and Charlie is ongoing and the police are today appealing for further information. But were these two suspects within our jurisdiction there would be a clear basis in law for their arrest for murder. Mr Speaker, we repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March, and they have replied with obfuscation and lies. This has included trying to pass the blame for this attack onto terrorists, onto our international partners, and even onto the future mother-in-law of Yulia Skripal. They even claimed that I, myself, invented Novichok. Their attempts to hide the truth by pushing out a deluge of disinformation simply reinforces their culpability. As we made clear in March, only Russia had the technical means, operational experience and motive to carry out the attack. Novichok nerve agents were developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s under a programme codenamed FOLIANT. Within the past decade Russia has produced and stockpiled small quantities of these agents, long after it signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. And during the 2000s, Russia commenced a programme to test means of delivering nerve agents including by application to door handles. We were right to say in March that the Russian State was responsible. And now we have identified the individuals involved, we can go even further. Mr Speaker, just as the police investigation has enabled the CPS to bring charges against the two suspects, so the Security and Intelligence Agencies have carried out their own investigations into the organisation behind this attack. Based on this work, I can today tell the House that, based on a body of intelligence, the Government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. The GRU is a highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state. Mr Speaker, the House will appreciate that I cannot go into details about the work of our security and intelligence agencies. But we will be briefing Opposition leaders and others on Privy Council terms and also giving further detail to the Intelligence and Security Committee. Let me turn to our response to this appalling attack and the further knowledge we now have about those responsible. First, with respect to the two individuals, as the Crown Prosecution Service and Police announced earlier today, we have obtained a European Arrest Warrant and will shortly issue an Interpol red notice. Of course, Russia has repeatedly refused to allow its nationals to stand trial overseas, citing a bar on extradition in its constitution. So, as we found following the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, any formal extradition request in this case would be futile. But should either of these individuals ever again travel outside Russia, we will take every possible step to detain them, to extradite them and to bring them to face justice here in the United Kingdom. Mr Speaker, this chemical weapons attack on our soil was part of a wider pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine our security and that of our allies around the world. They have fomented conflict in the Donbas, illegally annexed Crimea, repeatedly violated the national airspace of several European countries and mounted a sustained campaign of cyber espionage and election interference. They were behind a violent attempted coup in Montenegro. And a Russian-made missile, launched from territory held by Russian-backed separatists, brought down MH17. We must step up our collective effort to protect ourselves in response to this threat and that is exactly what we have done since the attack in March, both domestically and collectively with our allies. We have introduced a new power to detain people at the UK border to determine whether they are engaged in hostile state activity. We have introduced the Magnitsky amendment to the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act in response to the violation of human rights. And we have radically stepped up our activity against illicit finance entering our country. We also expelled 23 Russian diplomats who had been identified as undeclared Russian intelligence officers, fundamentally degrading Russian intelligence capability in the UK for years to come. And in collective solidarity and in recognition of the shared threat posed to our allies 28 other countries as well as NATO joined us in expelling a total of over 150 Russian intelligence officers: the largest collective expulsion ever. Since then, the EU agreed a comprehensive package to tackle hybrid threats. The G7 agreed a Rapid Response Mechanism to share intelligence on hostile state activity. NATO has substantially strengthened its collective deterrence, including through a new Cyber Operations Centre. And the US has announced additional sanctions against Russia for the Salisbury attack. Mr Speaker, our allies acted in good faith - and the painstaking work of our police and intelligence agencies over the last six months further reinforces that they were right to do so. Together, we will continue to show that those who attempt to undermine the international rules based system cannot act with impunity. We will continue to press for all of the measures agreed so far to be fully implemented, including the creation of a new EU Chemical Weapons sanctions regime. But we will not stop there. We will also push for new EU sanctions regimes against those responsible for cyber-attacks and gross human rights violations - and for new listings under the existing regime against Russia. And we will work with our partners to empower the OPCW to attribute chemical weapons attacks to other states beyond Syria. Most significantly, Mr Speaker, what we have learnt from todays announcement is the specific nature of the threat from the Russian GRU. We know that the GRU has played a key part in malign Russian activity in recent years. And today we have exposed their role behind the despicable chemical weapons attack on the streets of Salisbury. The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens. And on the basis of what we have learnt in the Salisbury investigation - and what we know about this organisation more broadly - we must now step up our collective efforts, specifically against the GRU. We are increasing our understanding of what the GRU is doing in our countries, shining a light on their activities, exposing their methods and sharing them with our allies, just as we have done with Salisbury. And, Mr Speaker, while the House will appreciate that I cannot go into details, together with our allies we will deploy the full range of tools from across our National Security apparatus in order to counter the threat posed by the GRU. I have said before, and I say again now, that the UK has no quarrel with the Russian people. And we continue to hold out hope that we will one day once again enjoy a strong partnership with the Government of this great nation. As a fellow Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, we will continue to engage Russia on topics of international peace and security. But we will also use these channels of communication to make clear there can be no place in any civilised international order for the kind of barbaric activity which we saw in Salisbury in March. Finally, Mr Speaker let me pay tribute to the fortitude of the people of Salisbury, Amesbury and the surrounding areas, who have faced such disruption to their daily lives over the past six months. Let me once again thank the outstanding efforts of the emergency services and National Health Service in responding to these incidents. And let me thank all those involved in the police and intelligence community for their tireless and painstaking work which has led to todays announcement. Mr Speaker, back in March, Russia sought to sow doubt and uncertainty about the evidence we presented to this House and some were minded to believe them. Todays announcement shows that we were right. We were right to act against the Russian State in the way we did. And we are right now to step up our efforts against the GRU. We will not tolerate such barbaric acts against our country. And - together with our allies - this government will continue to do whatever is necessary to keep our people safe. And I commend this Statement to the House. Despite Emanuels exit, the McDonald shooting still stands to loom over the 2019 election. The scandal shaped the careers of several contenders, and the mayors exit could draw others who have played some role in the controversy. The announced candidates include Garry McCarthy, the former police superintendent Emanuel fired as the political crisis deepened, and Lori Lightfoot, the former Chicago Police Board president who has played a central role in the administrations police reform efforts. C olleagues, friends and fans have paid heartbreaking tributes to incredible BBC journalist Rachael Bland following her death from cancer aged 40. The presenter died on Wednesday following a battle with incurable breast cancer and has been hailed as an inspiration. The other-of-one died peacefully at home surrounded by her family, with her husband, Steve, saying her death has left a huge hole in his life. Her devastated husband and father of the couple's son Freddie, three, said: Rachaels death has left a huge hole in our perfect little family that well never be able to fill. She was an incredibly talented broadcaster as well as a wonderful and much loved daughter, sister, aunt, niece, wife and, most importantly to her, a mother to her precious little Freddie. Rachael Bland, pictured with husband Steve, has died aged 40 / Rachael Bland/Twitter We all take such huge comfort and pride from the amazing and tireless work she has done since her diagnosis to reduce the stigma around cancer and prove that it is possible to live life to the fullest even when facing huge challenges on a daily basis. At the end, even though her body was at its weakest, her voice was at its strongest and most powerful. Rachael was and will always be an incredible inspiration to everyone she met. To us, she was perfect in every way and we will miss her more than words can say. We just ask that everyone respects our familys privacy as we try and come to terms with losing our beautiful girl. Jonathan Wall, Controller of BBC Radio 5 live, said: Rachael was part of the fabric of 5 live and today is a very sad day for all of us and so many of our listeners. She was a very talented broadcaster and a beautiful loyal colleague to so many. More than that, she turned the final year of her life into the finest year of her life delivering the most important broadcasting I have ever heard about living with cancer, and ultimately facing death because of cancer. She has made a profound difference to so many lives. We are all so proud at what she achieved - a truly heroic broadcaster and lovely wife, daughter and mum. Tony Livesey, Rachaels colleague and friend, said: 5 lives lost one of its brightest spirits. Im going into cliche territory now so shell be pressing an alarm somewhere, but she was beautiful inside and out. She was such a lovely person. Rachael Bland - presenter, friend to most of us, inspiration to all. Radio 5 live is broadcasting with a broken heart. We've lost one of our brightest talents. BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: Rachael was a popular and inspiring journalist. Everyone has been moved by her courage and dignity. She will be hugely missed by her many listeners and by staff across the BBC. Our sympathies go out to her family and many friends at this difficult time. BBC Chris Stark, BBC Radio 1 newsreader, said: Rachael Bland is the very best about what the BBC represents. Im so proud to work on the same platform as this incredible woman. BBC broadcaster and journalist Emma Barnett said the radio family were going to "miss and remember her". Presenter Zoe Ball said: All the love to Rachael Bland and her family. A brilliantly beautiful inspirational lady. Radio 5 played previous recordings from Rachaels podcast You, Me and the Big C - presented with Deborah James and Lauren Mahon - about her battle with cancer. Colleagues paid tribute to the presenter live on air following her death. Fans also paid tribute to her on Twitter. Rachael Bland (Instagram ) / Instagram Karen McGovern wrote: "Heartbreaking news - incredibly courageous women. RIP". Katy Parkes said: "So very sad RIP beautiful Rachael Bland." Stuart Matheson added: "A life well lived but stolen away so soon. Love to your family. Freddie should know he has a Mum who made a real difference. Much love, godspeed." Scott Bryan, a journalist for Buzzfeed, wrote: The 'You, Be and Big C' podcast has helped so many people going through treatment, or have experienced cancer. It also helped those who know someone with cancer. B icycle sharing app Mobike is shrinking its operational zones in London and has withdrawn its service altogether in Manchester. The Chinese firm announced that as of September 4, operating areas in the capital will be smaller " to ensure Mobikers can easily find a bike when they need one." Those found parking bikes outside of the zone will be charged a flat fee of 20. Users of the service can locate a bike by looking at a map on the app before scanning a QR code to use it. On its website, the company said: "Mobikers are free to ride outside of this area, but we simply ask that bikes are returned, parked and locked inside this area. Those who park Mobikes outside of this operating zone will be charged 20." The firm announced that it would be cutting its service in Manchester "We are committed to extending this area progressively as we deploy more bikes and we are very much aiming to make Mobike available to more and more Londoners in the future." It comes after the firm announced that it would be cutting its service in Manchester due to an increase in bike losses due to theft and vandalism. The company launched its Manchester service in July 2017. People in Manchester have taken over 250,000 trips and cycled over 180,000 miles. However the company has decided to withdraw from the northern city. Mobike is a dockless app meaning that customers can place the bicycle anywhere in the designated zones Jan Van der Ven, General Manager of Mobike UK said: "As a private company, we have a duty to ensure our revenues cover our costs since unlike some operators we do not use taxpayer money to help balance our books. Unfortunately the circumstances in Manchester have not made this possible." The company says it will conduct a full review of its time in Manchester and intends to submit a proposal to the City of Manchester to offer an alternative affordable future model for bikesharing that could be launched in partnership with local authorities. Last year when Mobike launched in Manchester, 70 out of 1,000 bikes were destroyed by the end of the year. T wo Russians were today charged with carrying out the Salisbury Novichok poisonings in a dramatic breakthrough in the investigation. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov believed to be aliases are accused of the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey. Police said they believe the pair flew into Gatwick two days before the attack, when they checked into the City Stay Hotel in Bow, east London. They then travelled to Salisbury to carry out a reconnaissance mission, and the attack itself the following day. They used a specially adapted counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle to smear the nerve agent on the door of Mr Skripals home, officers said. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been charged over the Novichok attack in Salisbury / Sky News No charges have been brought over the death of Dawn Sturgess or the poisoning of Charlie Rowley. This is because police still have to establish how the perfume bottle reached the charity bin where Mr Rowley believes he found it. The Russians flew back to Moscow out of Heathrow on the night of the poisoning. A series of CCTV images were released showing the men at both London airports, in Bow, and in Salisbury, as counterterrorism officers set out the most conclusive evidence so far of Russian involvement. Alexander Petrov seen on CCTV at Gatwick airport at 3pm on March 2 / Metropolitan Police Announcing the breakthrough today, Sue Hemming, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said that no extradition request would be made for the two men because of Mosofcows past refusal to comply with such orders. However, she said that European Arrest Warrants had been issued to allow for their detention if they travelled again, and that prosecutors were satisfied that there was a realistic prospect of conviction if they could ever be put before a court. Ruslan Boshirov captured in the same CCTV at Gatwick / Metropolitan Police Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said that both men had travelled on genuine Russian passports and had visited the UK before the trip to poison the Skripals. He said that detectives had intelligence and leads about the pairs true identity, but said he was making a worldwide appeal to anyone who recognised them to help officers confirm who the pairs true identites. The perfume bottle recovered by police from Charlie Rowleys address in Amesbury / Metropolitan Police Mr Basu added the poisoning was a remarkably sophisticated attack and a clear assassination attempt. The City Stay Hotel in Bow, where the suspects are believed to have stayed before the attack The poisoning of the Skripals had now been conclusively linked to the later incident in which Ms Sturgess, 44, died and her partner Mr Rowley was injured after inadvertently coming into contact with the nerve agent. Mr Basu also released a comprehensive timeline of the movements of the Russians compiled after analysis of 11,000 hours of CCTV. Both suspects on Wilton Road, Salisbury on March 4 / Metropolitan Police He said the two would-be assassins arrived at Gatwick on a flight from Moscow at 3pm on Friday, March 2, two days before the Skripals were poisoned. The pair, who are believed to have brought the Novichok with them in the perfume bottle, travelled by train to Victoria and then by public transport to Waterloo. They spent an hour there before going to the City Stay Hotel, where they stayed for the next two nights. The suspects seen on CCTV at Salisbury train station / Metropolitan Police On the Saturday they travelled to Waterloo and from there to Salisbury in an apparent reconnaissance mission. After returning to London to stay overnight, the following day they went again early in the morning to Salisbury where they were captured several times on CCTV, before boarding a train back to London and then going to Heathrow to catch an Aeroflot flight back to Mosow the same night. The charges brought today against the two Russians are that they conspired to murder Mr Skripal, 67, and that they attempted to murder him, his daughter Yulia, 33, and Mr Bailey, who fell seriously ill after trying to help the stricken Skripals. Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia both survived the nerve agent poisoning The Russians are also charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Ms Skripal and Mr Bailey. Announcing the charging decisions, Ms Hemming, the CPSs director of legal services, said: Prosecutors from the CPS Counter Terrorism Division have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are Russian nationals. The suspects walk together through the streets of Salisbury / Metropolitan Police We will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of these men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals. Russia has made this clear following requests for extradition in other cases. Should this position change then an extradition request would be made. We have, however, obtained a European Arrest Warrant which means that if either man travels to a country where an EAW is valid, they will be arrested and face extradition on these charges for which there is no statute of limitations. Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the Novichok nerve agent in Amesbury / AFP/Getty Images Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the countrys most senior counter-terrorism officer, said: Today marks the most significant moment so far in what has been one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing; the charging of two suspects both Russian nationals - in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal. This has been a highly complex investigation for UK policing, which would have been impossible without the great staff and abilities of the UK Intelligence Community and the support of the Government. Military personnel at the scene in Salisbury after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned / PA My thoughts remain with Dawn Sturgesss family as they come to terms with their loss, the other victims who fell seriously ill after being exposed to a Novichok nerve agent and the people of Salisbury who have shown tremendous resilience throughout. With regard to the investigation into the later poisonings, detectives are continuing their public appeal for information and hope that todays publication of images of the bottle and its packaging might bring new information that can help to bring additional charges. Andrew Matthews/PA On the continuing risk to public safety, police remain concerned about the possibility that some Novichok could still be unaccounted for and are warning the public in the Salisbury area to avoid picking up any unknown items. In London, Dame Sally Davies, the countrys top public health official, said she was confident that there was no risk to anyone using public transport or the airports, and that those who might have travelled next to the two Russians should similarly not be in any health danger. Yulia Skripal was poisoned alongside her father Sergei / PA The room where the pair stayed at the City Stay Hotel has also been declared safe. A damning book on Donald Trump reveals the drastic measures taken by his aides to stop his potentially dangerous impulses and outbursts. The controversial book titled "Fear: Trump in the White House" by investigative journalist Bob Woodward draws on background interviews to paint an unflattering picture of Trump's presidency, with some top advisers allegedly believing him to be a threat to national security. In this latest scandal to hit President Trump, the book offers a glimpse into the dramas, feuds and continuous interventions between Trump and White House staff. Here's everything you need to know about the book, plus the most telling claims made against President Trump: "Fear: Trump in the White House" by Bob Woodward offers a startling insight into the day-to-day running of the presidency. / AP When is the book released? The 448-page book is due for release on September 11, although many media outlets have already obtained a copy. Who is the author, Bob Woodward? Journalist Bob Woodward has released a damning book on President Donald Trump. / AP World-renowned journalist Bob Woodward has been a reporter at the Washington Post since 1971, where he remains an associate editor. Mr Woodward is most famous for breaking the Watergate scandal, a story that prompted the resignation of former president Richard Nixon in 1974. He's also the winner of two Pulitzer prizes, one for the Watergate scandal and another for reporting on the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. What claims does the book make about Trump? The book narrates a flurry of in-house gossip between Trump's associates - anecdotes which speak volumes to the President's behaviour. Among the most shocking allegations is that former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn stole documents from the President's desk which would have withdrawn the US from a crucial trade agreement with South Korea - minutes before Trump was about to sign it. "I stole it off his desk," Mr Cohn told a colleague, "I wouldn't let him see it. He's never going to see that document. Got to protect the country." In another supposed incident, Woodward describes the President's response to the chemical weapons attack launched by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in April 2018. "Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them," Trump is reported to have said. Woodward also highlights Trump's rocky relationship with Russia, describing a scene in the White House where the President was put through a test to gauge the potential for him to perjure himself should an interview take place with attorney Robert Mueller. Trump reportedly failed the test. The book also claims that: Chief of staff John Kelly described Trump as an "idiot" and "unhinged." Defense Secretary James Mattis described Trump as having the understanding of "a fifth or sixth grader." Trump's former personal lawyer called the president a "f***ing liar," warning Trump he would end up in an "orange jumpsuit" if he testified in front of Mr Mueller. Trump referred to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner." Trump called Barack Obama a "weak d**k" for not acting on Syria. Trump's aides tried to form a Twitter committee to vet the President's precarious tweeting habits Former chief strategist Steve Bannon said to Ivanka Trump: "You're nothing but a f***ing staffer! You walk around this place and you act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!" When Mr Cohn attempted to resign over the controversy surrounding the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump accused him of "treason." How has Trump responded to the claims? President Donald Trump dismissed the claims made in the book, calling them "nasty stuff." / EPA Trump described the book as "nasty stuff" and "just another bad book." The White House dismissed it as "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad." Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly issued a statement denying that "I ever called the President an idiot." What does the book mean for Donald Trump and the White House? Unnervingly, Woodward's book shares similarities to claims made in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury" and Omarosa Manigault-Newman's memoir, all painting a picture of a chaotic and dysfunctional presidency. Woodward's book describes Trump as being largely incompetent when it comes to matters of national security, and that drama with everyone from staff, to family, to the press accompany him wherever he goes. With insults being thrown left, right and centre in the book, Woodward's version of Trump has a reputation for getting a kick out of embarrassing others and a tendency to address matters in a violent rage. Trump will no doubt ride the wave of this media storm like he has every other, and still emerge relatively unscathed. T he daughter of a British couple who died during a holiday in Egypt has said she fears the cause of their deaths is being covered up. Kelly Ormerod said she had hoped her parents John and Susan Cooper's bodies would be released by now, adding that more than two weeks later she is still waiting for answers as to why they died. Tour operator Thomas Cook said on Wednesday that e.coli has been found at the hotel where the couple were staying but that this does not establish the cause of their deaths. Tests commissioned by the firm on the food and hygiene standards at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada identified a high level of e.coli and staphylococcus bacteria. Thomas Cook evacuated hundreds of British tourists from the resort of Hurghada / Matzi/Pixabay But neither the independent specialists who carried out the investigation nor a medical expert "believe that these results shed any light on the still unexplained cause of death of Mr and Mrs Cooper", the company said. Mrs Ormerod, who had been on a break with the pair, from Burnley, Lancashire, has since questioned the Egyptian authorities' investigation efforts, saying the hotel room was not taped off until 24 hours after the deaths. She told ITV News: "When we went into the room on the Wednesday, I noticed that the cleaners had been in. "All the floors had been mopped, all the bedding had been changed and for those 24 hours maintenance were in and out quite often. "If it happened over here it would have been taped off but the room wasn't taped off until I believe the Thursday so everybody and anybody could go in that room on that Wednesday." She said she feared there could have been "crucial" evidence in the room which would now be lost. "There was obviously evidence left over from my Mum and Dad in that room which I think was quite crucial as to why they possibly died," she said. Mrs Ormerod said she now felt "disappointed" and "disheartened", adding: "I thought I'd have the results today and that Mum and Dad could come home." F ormer Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens has said he was so upset after a woman shamed him for working in a grocery store he decided to quit his job. Mr Owens was pictured in a Trader Joes, a chain of grocery stores in the US, while he was working there to make ends meet. The household name said he was devastated during an interview with Good Morning America, saying he had been shamed by media outlets for his latest job. Amid the criticism he received, however, Mr Owens said he was also sent several messages of support, which helped. He said: The period of devastation was so short because so shortly after that, the responses my wife and I started to read [from] literally all over the world the shame part didnt last very long. It hurt, but then, its amazing. On the Cosby Show, Mr Owens played Elvin Tibideaux, the husband of one of the Huxtable daughters, Sandra. Since leaving the successful sitcom, Mr Owens admitted he had not had an acting job that lasted longer than ten weeks. To make ends meet, the actor said he had been working in Trader Joes for 15 months, before photos of him at work appeared on Fox News and the Daily Mail. He said fans of the show still recognise him, and were usually respectful. He said: People recognised me every day and they were very, very cool about it. D onald Trump hit back today at a bombshell book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward in which the president is accused of calling the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions mentally retarded and a dumb southerner. In a Twitter tirade, Mr Trump branded the book a con on the public full of lies and phony sources and denied insulting Mr Sessions, Americas top law official. The US President and some of his Cabinet went on the warpath against the famously well-sourced writer just hours after the Washington Post ran excerpts of his book Fear: Trump in the White House, which paints a chaotic picture of a Crazytown administration in chaos. The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions mentally retarded and a dumb southerner. I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide! tweeted Mr Trump. According to the book, the president launched the attack on Mr Sessions - also allegedly saying he couldnt even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama - because he was angry over the former senators decision to recuse himself from the Russiagate investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Mr Trump also tweeted statements from White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly and Defence Secretary James Mattis refuting quotes attributed to them by Mr Woodward. In the book, Mr Kelly is said to have called the president an idiot and added: Its pointless to try to convince him of anything. Hes gone off the rails. Were in Crazytown. I dont even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job Ive ever had. In his statement, Mr Kelly called the story a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes. Mr Mattis reportedly compared Mr Trump to a schoolboy fifth or sixth grader - the age of 10 or 11 - after allegedly spelling out the basics of world politics, explaining to him that a US early warning system in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea was in order to prevent World War III. He denied the claim today, saying: The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodwards book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility. In a tweet, Mr Trump wrote: The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing? Its just another bad book. Hes had a lot of credibility problems, Mr Trump said of the journalist who, with Carl Bernstein, was credited with breaking the Watergate corruption story that led to President Richard Nixons downfall. Mr Woodward is one of the most respected journalists in US history and has written books on many other leaders, including George W Bush and Barack Obama. Mr Woodward quotes Mr Trump as comparing his former Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus to a little rat, calling his lawyer Rudy Giuliani a baby and saying his former National Security Adviser HR McMaster was like a beer salesman. Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations also denied a claim in the book that Mr Trump had demanded the assassination of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to Mr Woodward, the president called Mr Mattis after Syria launched a chemical attack on its own civilians in April 2017 and said he wanted Mr Assad taken out. Kill him! Lets go in, he is reported as saying. While the defence chief said he would get right on it, he is said to have ignored the order and organised an air strike that Mr Trump later signed off on. Ms Haley said people should take stories written about the president with a grain of salt. She added that she had not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad despite being involved in deliberations over a US response to the Syrian chemical attack. Mr Trumps personal lawyer John Down was said by Mr Woodward to have advised the president not to agree to be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller about allegations of collusion with Russia, reportedly telling him: Dont testify. Its either that or an orange jumpsuit. Mr Dowd issued a statement saying he did not make the remark. The president has also denied a claim in the book that senior aides, including former National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, took papers from his desk and hid them to prevent him from signing them. They supposedly included documents to pull out of NAFTA and a trade deal with South Korea. D onald Trump has described a bombshell new book about his presidency written by a Watergate reporter as nasty stuff as he denied a string of allegations it makes. Bob Woodward, who helped bring down Richard Nixon, angered the White House with his latest book that is laden with explosive anecdotes and concerns about Mr Trump. The Washington Post journalist claims aides to the US leader branded the White House "Crazytown", and that Mr Trump wanted the Syrian president to be assassinated. His book is the latest to throw the Trump administration into damage-control mode, with White House officials estimating nearly all their colleagues co-operated with the journalist. Bob Woodward's book makes a series of claims about the US President and his time in office / AFP/Getty Images The White House dismissed it as "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad". Speaking after the details emerged, the US president described the book as "nasty stuff" and "another bad book". The book, titled Fear: Trump In The White House, quotes chief of staff John Kelly as having doubts about Mr Trump, declaring during one meeting "we're in Crazytown". Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward / AP It also claimed he called Mr Trump an "idiot", an account that Mr Kelly denied. "The idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true," he said in a statement. The book said that Mr Trump's former lawyer in the Russia probe, John Dowd, doubted the president's ability to avoid perjuring himself should he be interviewed in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and potential co-ordination with Mr Trump's campaign. Mr Dowd stepped down in January. "Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit," he is quoted telling the president. Mr Dowd, in a statement, said "no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment"' took place and denied saying that Mr Trump was likely to end up in an orange jumpsuit. Trump has denied several claims made in the book / REUTERS Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis is quoted explaining to Mr Trump why the US maintains troops on the Korean Peninsula to monitor North Korea's missile activities. "We're doing this in order to prevent World War III," Mr Mattis said, according to the book. The book recounts that Mr Mattis told "close associates that the president acted like - and had the understanding of - 'a fifth or sixth-grader"'. Mr Woodward reported that after Syria's Bashar Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Mr Trump called Mr Mattis and said he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying "kill him! Let's go in". The book comes just months after Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury / Getty Images Mr Mattis assured Mr Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they would do nothing of the kind, Mr Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Mr Trump ordered. Mr Woodward also claimed that Gary Cohn, the former director of the National Economic Council, boasted of removing papers from the president's desk to prevent Mr Trump from signing them into law, including efforts to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement. The book also quotes Mr Trump as mocking his attorney general Jeff Sessions, who has been a target of the president's wrath since excusing himself from the Russia investigation. "This guy is mentally retarded," Mr Trump said of Mr Sessions, according to the book. "He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama." Mr Trump did not speak to Mr Woodward until after the book's manuscript was completed. The Post released audio of Mr Trump expressing surprise about the book in an August conversation with Mr Woodward. Mr Woodward tells Mr Trump he had contacted multiple officials to attempt to interview him and was rebuffed. The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's Fire And Fury, which led to a rift between Mr Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist. Mr Wolff's book attracted attention with its vivid anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies. Mr Woodward's work also comes weeks after former White House aide and Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman published an expose on her time in the West Wing. This included audio recordings of her firing by Mr Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Mr Kelly's decision. While White House aides have become increasingly numb to fresh scandals, the book still increased tensions, especially given the intimate details shared and the number of people Mr Woodward appeared to have interviewed. A ll of the money raised for a homeless veteran after he used his final $20 (15.58) to buy a stranded woman petrol has been spent, according to the man's lawyer. Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico from New Jersey, decided to raise money on Go Fund Me in order to thank Johnny Bobbitt and give him a new start. The couple managed to raise $400,000 (311,000). Mr Bobbitt filed a lawsuit against them claiming that they were withholding his money. His lawyer Christopher Fallon told NJ.com that "there is no money left" and that Mr Bobbitt was left "completely devastated" by the news. Ms McClure's boyfriend Mark D'Amico (centre) said he controls the money / Kate McClure/GoFundMe Mr D'Amico and Ms McClure claim that they spent $200,000 (155,000) caring for Mr Bobbitt and last week said that there was over $150,000 left (116,000). They claimed that Mr Bobbitt had been given some cash however he "spent it on drugs." Mr Bobbit came to the aid of Ms McClure in November last year using his last $20 to buy her petrol after she ran out of fuel in Philadelphia on her way home. She decided to pay it forward by setting up a Go Fund Me page for the man. On the page, Ms McClure wrote: "I am raising money for Johnny. With the money, I would like to get him first and last month's rent at an apartment, a reliable vehicle and 4-6 months worth of expenses. He is very interested in finding a job, and I believe that with a place to be able to clean up every night and get a good night's rest, his life can get back to being normal." Mr Bobbitt told ABC News: "I hate that it came to this. I didn't want to be pressured into getting a lawyer because I didn't want to appear ungrateful. He says he spent $75,000 (58,000) on a a truck which was put in the couple's name and later sold. "I had to ask them for everything. They joked that they were like my parents, but the joke stops being funny after a while. The couple have been pictured on luxurious trips to Las Vegas and New York and have also bought a new car which they claim was purchased with their own salaries. H igh levels of E. coli and staphylococcus bacteria have been found at the Egypt hotel where a British couple died, Thomas Cook has said. However the tour operator said the cause of the sudden deaths of John and Susan Cooper at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel on August 21 is still to be established. Thomas Cook issued a statement on Wednesday after commissioning tests of food, water and air at the hotel. It read: It is clear from these results that something went wrong in August at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada and that standards fell below what we expect from our hotel partners. Hundreds of Brits evacuated from Egypt holiday resort It is likely that the presence of E-coli and staphylococcus would explain the raised level of illness reported among guests at the hotel during this time. However the company added it does not believe that these results shed any light on the still unexplained cause of death of Mr and Mrs Cooper. We await the results of the autopsies being conducted by the Egyptian authorities, it said. Thomas Cook commissioned an independent hygiene specialist and air quality specialist to conduct the series of tests at the hotel. Egyptian authorities did not allow the specialists to have access to the Cooper's hotel room. The guests were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada / Steigenberger Aqua Magic Examination of air and water quality "came back clear" and there was no evidence of carbon monoxide, and normal levels of carbon dioxide, in the vicinity of the room. A typical amount of chlorine was found in the swimming pools, while the food and hygiene tests did not detect the presence of shigella, listeria or salmonella. Last month Thomas Cook moved 300 guests out of the hotel as a precaution 24 hours after Mr and Mrs Cooper died after becoming aware of an increased number of illnesses. Chief executive Peter Fankhauser previously confirmed that 13 customers had food poisoning but were not in a serious condition. Mr Fankhauser flew to Cairo last week to discuss the deaths with prime minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly and minister of tourism Rania Al-Mashat. Following the meeting, Ms Al-Mashat said "detailed autopsies" were being conducted by a team of forensic pathologists. The process is expected to be concluded this week. A separate investigation led by Egyptian prosecutor Nabil Sadeq is testing food, water and air conditioning at the hotel. Pritzker floated the idea in January for a tax based on miles traveled as a potential way to fund a new capital bill to pay for public works including roads and bridges. Pritzker told the Daily Herald the idea was worth exploring but has since said he was open to ideas on how to pay for a capital bill and wasnt wedded to a vehicle mileage tax. (Rick Pearson) P rotesters shouted traitor and shame at attendees of Nigel Farages maiden speaking engagement in New Zealand. Those in opposition also expressed their views that the Brexiteer was not welcome in Auckland, according to local reports and reviews. The former UKIP leader is on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, making his first appearance in NZ yesterday. A group named Tamaki Anti-Fascist Action stood out Pullman Hotel in Auckland, where Mr Farage was taking to the stage, holding signs and shouting as people entered. Ahead of the protest, which around 50 people were part of, members said they were showing peaceful opposition to far right speakers. The group invited people to show your opposition to the politics of hatred and bigotry. One sign, photographed by Radio NZ, read: You paid $89 to listen to his RACIST BULLS***. Golriz Ghahraman, a Green MP in New Zealand, told those gathered that Mr Farages views were vile rhetoric. "When people like Nigel Farage come here, and they want to tell us who gets to have rights here and who gets to be included, I just want to remind him, and I might have to use a dirty old C word, that we've already suffered under the kind of vile rhetoric that politicians like him espouse. That word is colonisation," she was quoted as saying by Radio NZ. She thanked those who joined in his stance against Mr Farage and said: "It matters to the communities that are under attack from the kind of rhetoric, from the kind of hate, that Nigel Farage profits from, that Donald Trump profits from. It matters to us that you're here for inclusion, equality and love." The protest group sung a waiata, a traditional song of the maori who are the indigenous people of New Zealand, to end their picket. Some of those heading into the event waved or even clapped those gathered in opposition. One reviewer, writing for Right Minds, gave a review of high praise despite the commotion outside the venue. The writer, Alex Eastwood-Williams, concluded: All in all it was a wonderful evening with any and all attempts to spoil it averted - because as we all know, you cannot barrage the Farage. They described the protestors actions as vulgarity and abuse. Mr Farage is speaking in Brisbane today ahead of appearances in Sydney and Melbourne, which will conclude his six day Australia and New Zealand tour. Protestors at a previous speech in Perth on September 2 chanted Nazi scum off our streets, according to the Guardian. K ind-hearted paramedics in Australia granted a dying man his request for ice cream on his final journey to hospital. Terminally ill Ron McCartney, 72, had "barely eaten anything" in days when his wife called an ambulance to help with his final journey to hospital for palliative care. After being told he had barely eaten, caring paramedics from Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) asked Mr McCartney after initial observations: "If you could eat anything, what would it be?" Mr McCartney, from Gold Coast, replied a caramel sundae and he was then granted his wish as he made his final journey to hospital. Writing on Facebook, a spokesperson for QAS said: "We have been left humbled and tinged with sadness after receiving a message of gratitude that underlines an often-unseen aspect of patient care; the caring. "Last week, Gold Coast resident Sharon called an ambulance for her husband Rons final journey to hospital and palliative care. "Paramedics Kate and Hanna responded and during their initial observations of Ron, Sharon mentioned that he had barely eaten anything over two days. "The officers asked Ron, if you could eat anything what would it be? To which Ron replied, a caramel sundae. "Sharon emphasised the enjoyment Ron received from such a simple action and thanked paramedics for the swift and high level of care and compassion shown to him." Mr McCartney passed away on Saturday morning, his daughter Danielle Smith said on Facebook as she thanked the paramedics for their actions. She said: "Thank you so very much to Hannah and Kate, Dad enjoyed this so much and was the last thing he was able to eat by himself. "Mum and I cannot thank QAS enough for all the help and compassion you have all given towards us each time we have had to call you. "I remember a couple of months ago, the big tall paramedic guy especially, we couldn't get dad out of bed, and couldn't get the gurney near their bed so you picked him up and carried him out the front onto bed. T wo friends in Texas were so peeved that there were no Asians pictured in their local McDonald's, that they put up a picture of themselves - and found it was still there 51 days later. Student Jevh Maravilla, 21, noticed his local branch of the restaurant in Houston was lacking in diversity in the posters that covered the walls, so he concocted a plan with a friend of his to put up their own piece of branded activist art, depicting the two munching fries and a burger as they wandered through high school. "One day my bud Christian and I were in McDonald's, munching on some snack wraps. "I look up and I see a blank wall and I tell Christian "what if we put a picture of us on there," said Jevh, a Filipino-American, on his YouTube channel. "There are literally no Asians in any of these walls. What if we can change that?" he added. "We decided to be students. We took a picture in front of the neighbourhood event centre because for some reason there was a lot of people in front of the school. That same night we edited the picture." They were even able to find a McDonald's shirt in a second-hand shop for $7, and wore ia badge saying "Jeff Bergara, Regional Interior Cooprdinator", so he could fit in at the store where he frequently ate. Asian representation in media is not as prevalent as it should be, the student at University of Houston told local media at KPRC Click2Houston. What motivated me was Crazy Rich Asians, the movie that came out, that boosted my confidence into thinking maybe one day I could be just like that, and if I take a step and do something small like this, it could make a difference. Jevh directs his friends to put up their fake McDonald's poster, while dressed in company attire. / YouTube/Jevh M They documented their daring feat, which showed how they edited the $80 poster to look like the others in the restaurant. And 52 days after they out up the post in July, it has still gone unnoticed. Now, however, their posts about their own advertising campaign have gone viral, with 688,000 retweets. A child was killed when a tree fell on a mobile home as Tropical Storm Gordon barrelled into parts of the US. Police were called to the home in Florida and found the child, whose name and age have not been released, dead at the scene. Escambia County Sheriff's office said no one else was injured in the incident late on Tuesday local time. The storm struck the US Gulf Coast on Tuesday before later weakening into a depression, dumping heavy rains across southern US states and causing roads to flood. A car drives through a road in Dauphin Island, Alabama as it slowly begins to flood / AP The National Hurricane Centre said it hit the coast at 70mph, just short of hurricane strength. The remnants of the storm will likely cause flash flooding across parts of seven states and as far north as Iowa in the coming days. Forecasters said radar spotted possible tornadoes spun off by the storm overnight in southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle, and more are more possible on Wednesday night in Mississippi and western Alabama. Rain of 100 to 200mm has been predicted in the Florida panhandle and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. Rainfall could be even more intense in isolated places, with up to 300mm expected by early on Saturday. Residents fill bags with sand as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches Bay St. Louis, Mississippi / REUTERS The National Weather Service said that the Styx River near Elsanor, Alabama, could reach major flood stage later. There were no immediate injury or significant damage reports, other than the tree that fell on the mobile home in Pensacola, Florida. More than 27,000 customers were without power as Gordon began pushing ashore, mostly in coastal Alabama and the western tip of the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola, with a few hundred in south-eastern Mississippi. Governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all declared states of emergency. Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Centre / AP Mississippi shut down a dozen Gulf Coast casinos, while workers on at least 54 oil and gas production platforms were evacuated. Communities along the coast provided sand and bags, and many worked hard to protect their properties. Gordon is not the only dangerous weather being closely watched by forecasters. Hurricane Florence is some 2,400 miles away from the US, and lining up behind it is another potential storm is likely to form off the coast of Africa. Hurricane Centre director Ken Graham said: "It's the peak of hurricane season. Now is the time to get your plans all set." I n July, President Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative judge from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy in the Supreme Court. Having written almost 300 opinions for the D.C. Circuit in 12 years, Mr Kavanaugh is well-connected to Washington with roots in politics stemming from George W. Bush White House. The 53-year-old Maryland native is a controversial choice for some, his conservative views leaning towards anti-abortion and pro-gun. At a confirmation hearing this week, Mr Kavanaugh appeared to reject a handshake offered by Fred Guttenberg, whose son was killed in the Parkland school shooting in February. Here, we take a look at Brett Kavanaugh's career, where he stands on key issues and how likely he is to be appointed to the Supreme Court: What are Brett Kavanaugh's roots in politics? Judge Brett Kavanaugh has written almost 300 opinions for the D.C. Circuit in 12 years / AP Mr Kavanaugh's Supreme Court connections stem back from 1993 when he worked as a clerk for Justice Kennedy, the man he is due to replace. In 1998, he worked on the Starr report, an investigation of the Clinton administration and the suicide of Clinton aide Kenneth Starr. He then went on to serve five years in the administration of George W Bush, first as an associate counsel and then as staff secretary until 2006. It was Mr Bush who appointed Mr Kavanaugh to his current position on the federal bench. How is a Supreme Court justice appointed? The President will elect someone who generally serves their political interest. Then, the nominee will be vetted by the committee before the first hearing, where the committee asks the nominee questions and the nominee is given a chance to respond. Following that, there's a committee vote. Even if the majority reject the nominee, the tradition is to send the nomination to the full Senate with the recommendation of rejecting. Finally, there's a debate on the Senate floor before the final vote. A simple 51-vote majority is required. Donald Trump announces Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court nominee Where does Brett Kavanaugh stand on key issues? ABORTION U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh meets with U.S. Senator Susan Collins on capitol hill in Washington, U.S., August 21, 2018. / REUTERS Mr Kavanaugh's views on abortion made headlines in October last year when a 17-year-old undocumented immigrant learned she was pregnant whilst in detention. She was initially refused an abortion before a full federal appeals court issued a court order, overturning the initial decision from a three-judge panel which included Mr Kavanaugh. In his dissent, Mr Kavanaugh wrote the Supreme Court has held that "the government has permissible interests in favouring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor and refraining from facilitating abortion." Because of this incident, Mr Kavanaugh's views on abortion are sparking widespread concern about the future of Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion nationwide. However, Republican Sen. Susan Collins said that Mr Kavanaugh told her he now considers Roe v. Wade to be "settled law." GUNS Protesters hold up signs during a rally near Capitol Hill against the confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on September 4, 2018. / AFP/Getty Images In 2011, Mr Kavanaugh favoured against a majority opinion that upheld a ban applied to semiautomatic rifles in the district of Columbia, regarding it "unconstitutional." Mr Kavanaugh has been backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which announced it was to spend $1m on advertising to support the judge's confirmation to the supreme court. GAY RIGHTS LGBT groups are concerned about what Kavanaugh's appointment will mean for gay rights (Mercedes Mehling/Unsplash ) / Mercedes Mehling/Unsplash Mr Kavanaugh's predecessor judge Kennedy expanded the scope of gay rights in the US. In 2015, Kennedy dismissed all bans on same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. Whilst experts say it's unlikely previous laws progressing gay rights will come under threat, some LGBTQ groups are still fearful of what Mr Kavanaugh's appointment might mean for them. What are his confirmation chances? U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh smiles prior to being sworn in during his U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. / REUTERS Mr Kavanaugh will be confirmed if all Republican senators, who have a slim majority in the chamber, support him, regardless of Democratic opposition. And considering no Republicans have announced their opposition, his chances are looking very good. He's set to face the second of his four days of questioning on Wednesday by an independent judiciary set up by the Senate. Raab to be grilled over EU exit talks Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab will be grilled by MPs over progress in exit talks later as the Government's plans face mounting criticism. It comes after Brexit preparations were branded "incompetent" by former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who warned the Government had been left without a credible bargaining position. Mr Raab will appear before the European Scrutiny committee later today. Thousands charged twice in debit card glitch Thousands of people in the UK were charged twice for debit card payments due to a glitch last month. The error occurred due to an issue with a card terminal run by Cardnet, a joint venture between Lloyds Bank and First Data. Money came out of bank accounts twice but transactions showed up only once on many receipts on August 29. New book describes Trump's 'Crazytown' White House Donald Trump has described a new book about his presidency written by a Watergate reporter as nasty stuff. Bob Woodwards latest book is laden with explosive anecdotes and concerns about the president. The journalist claims aides to the US leader branded the White House "Crazytown" and that Mr Trump wanted the Syrian president to be assassinated. The White House has dismissed the claims as "nothing more than fabricated stories. Less than one in five expect good Brexit deal Less than one in five voters now expect Britain to secure a good Brexit deal, according to damning new research. The proportion of people expecting a good deal slumped from 33 per cent in February last year to just 17 per cent in June 2018, the survey showed. The findings come ahead of the publication of the Theresa Mays heavily criticised Chequers plan for the UKs future relationship with the EU. Thousands stranded and nine dead after Typhoon in Japan Thousands of air passengers in Japan have spent the night stranded in an island airport after Typhoon Jebi sparked havoc. At least nine people have died and dozens more were injured as the severe weather continued. Evacuation advisories were in place for more than one million people. First known omnivorous shark discovered The first known omnivorous shark species has been identified by scientists. According to US researchers, the bonnethead, a relative of the common hammerhead, is the first variety of shark to be outed as an omnivore. It has been found to enjoy seagrass, the flowering marine plant that forms subsea meadows in coastal waters. On this day... 1847: American outlaw Jesse James was born near Kansas City. With his elder brother Frank, he led the first gang to carry out train robberies. 1963: Christine Keeler, one of the women at the centre of the Profumo scandal, was arrested and charged with perjury. 1972: Palestinian terrorists, members of the Black September Group, killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 1987: No Sex Please, We're British closed after 6,671 performances over 16 years - the longest running theatre comedy in the world. W hen it comes to investing in our winter wardrobe, we firmly believe that the cosier, the better - and thats where the teddy coat comes in. Teddy combines the comfort of fleece with the sophistication of shearling and the softness of faux fur for the sartorial equivalent of a giant hug. As the fashion world takes a collective move away from fur, there has been a rise in the popularity of cosy alternatives, from faux fur, to the humble teddy coat reimagined everywhere from the high street to the high end. From the catwalk at Miu Miu, to a hugely popular Monki iteration, the failsafe fluffy outerwear has become a reliable, classic coat that you will keep coming back to year after year. The versatile piece is offered in an extensive array of colourways that range from bubble-gum pinks that will bring a pop of colour to your wardrobe or pared back with neutral hues for a cosy coat you can take from day to play. Grin and bear the winter weather with a cosy teddy coat. Samsoe & Samsoe Thyme teddy jacket Get autumn-ready with this stylish jacket from Samsoe & Somsoe. The label who are renowned for their minimalistic Danish aesthetic will help you get on board with the trend with this all-over teddy design. Details include a short collar, flap pockets on the front and tortoiseshell buttons. Pair with a cosy knit, flared jeans and boots for an updated 70s feel. 170 | Selfridges | Buy it now Max Mara Teddy Coat For a sophisticated take on the trend, look no further than outerwear extraordinaire Max Mara with a sumptuously soft teddy coat made from a mix of alpaca, wool and silk. The piece is offered in tonal neutrals of plush white and camel as well as this bold electric blue hue. Its oversized proportions make for good snuggling come rain, snow or whatever British winter will throw at us. 1,860 | Matches Fashion | Buy it now Women Fleece Lined Tailored Coat Wrap up from the cold in this tailored coat from Uniqlo. The piece will ensure you are AW19-ready in the cosiest way with both a fleece outer and inner. The warm outerwear is available in brown, black and beige and in an impressive size range, from XXS to XXL. 34.90 | Uniqlo | Buy it now Faux Shearling Teddy Coat For your everyday warmth but make it fashion, this faux shearling teddy coat will do the trick. It is offered in a pink hue and also in camel and beige and has a plush feel. Invest in this seriously chic outerwear in time for cooler climes. 135 | & Other Stories | Buy it now Stand Marina faux-fur teddy jacket Scandi-chic label Stand may be best known for its range of fluffy bags but the labels outerwear deserves your attention. With the same super soft feel as its accessories, the coat is designed with a cosy and cocoon-like teddy fabric in a powder pink hue that will transform your monochrome winter wardrobe. Pair with everything from smart trousers, trainers or party dresses 250 | Selfridges | Buy it now Oversized faux shearling coat This teddy coat from Monki is available in six highly covetable colourways that you will struggle to choose between. From forest green, off-white and concrete grey, to khaki brown, black and cream, these coats offer both warmth and style. They are composed of recycled polyester and come in size XXS to XL. But best of all? Deep pockets. 65 | Monki | Buy it now Burgundy Teddy Borg Pocket Front Jacket Cosy up to the trend with this jacket that deserves a place in your seasonal outwear edit. It is available in black, white, brown, lilac, red, mustard and our personal favourite burgundy and has a collared neckline. The coat is available in sizes eight to 18. 29.99 | New Look | Buy it now Wednesday's Girl teddy coat For something slightly different than your usual winter coat, this option from Wednesdays Girl is offered in a baby blue hue with a super soft teddy bear texture. With a baggy, relaxed fit, keep in your outerwear arsenal for a subtle pop of colour. It is available in size eight to 14. 45 | ASOS | Buy it now Taylor Teddy Coat Whatever the British winter throw at you, this Taylor coat from Monsoon will help you brave the weather in the most snuggly but stylish way. The piece has a soft teddy outer with a lined inner and a double-breasted button fastening with a tortoiseshell detail. It is available from size eight to 22. 99 | Monsoon | Buy it now Faux Fur Double Teddy Coat This seasonal essential is offered in an array of autumnal hues, including khaki, tan and chocolate brown so you can stock up on some seriously stylish outerwear. This all-rounder can be worn for both smart and casual occasions with a longline fit and double breasted design. It is available in size six to 18. 89 | Warehouse | Buy it now Black Borg Jacket Your new season outerwear should include this versatile jacket from Topshop that will keep you warm without sacrificing on style. Offered in black and burgundy as well as in tall, regular and petite, the cosy coat can be layered on just about anything. 55 | Topshop | Buy it now Curve Boucle Teddy Coat Bang on the teddy trend, this teddy coat is one of the cosiest way to stay warm this winter. Offered in a deep green hue, it is as soft as it looks. 90 | Oasis | Buy it now Powder Pink Double Breasted Teddy Coat Snuggle up with a different type of teddy in the form of this fashion-forward coat. The piece comes in a powder pink with a double breasted front starring chunky buttons. It is available in size eight to 24. 45 | Tu Clothing | Buy it now Faux Fur Longline Teddy Coat The deaths included a man in his 70s who was blown to the ground from his apartment in Osaka prefecture. Police said at least five others died elsewhere in the prefecture after being hit by flying objects or falling from their apartments. In nearby Shiga prefecture, a 71-year-old man died when a storage building collapsed on him, and a man in his 70s died after falling from a roof in Mie, officials said. Wild said in a letter Tuesday that looking back, he would have handled "certain aspects" of those cases differently than he did then. Wild was president of Marquette University from 1996 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2014. The most important discrepancy relates to a meeting he had with Comey. Giuliani has said Trump does not recall asking Comey to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and he does not want the president to be accused of lying about the episode. 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 Most of all, it is time to return to government by the people, not over the people. Several aldermen already use participatory budgeting processes, in which constituents help decide how city money is spent in their wards. We need to expand these types of successful experiments to all 50 wards. When I offered an ordinance to require that in 1978, it was voted down 44-4 in the council. Forty years later, the time is ripe to decide how citizens should participate in shaping the government decisions that most affect our lives. Kavanaugh may not become the most conservative member of the court, but his background suggests he would be the most partisan. Working for Kenneth Starr in the 1990s, he was involved in the Vincent Foster and Monica Lewinsky probes, proposing an explicit line of questioning for President Bill Clinton with graphic queries about genitalia, masturbation, phone sex and oral sex. And as a young lawyer under George W. Bush, Kavanaugh was involved in Bush v. Gore, as well as the probe of Clinton's pardons and legal decisions about torture. The Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies rejected on Wednesday, for the second time, the Liberals' request that Prime Minister Viorica Dancila be invited in the plenum of the Chamber to participate in the "Government's Hour" in relation to the protests that occurred on August 10. The Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies, Georgian Pop, specified that the decision was made after the Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Eugen Nicolicea, explained that the Prime Minister cannot come and talk about a topic that is currently investigated by the Prosecutor's Office. "Mister Eugen Nicolicea explained the reason: the General Prosecutor's Office is conducting an investigation (...) we are creating a very complicated situation, legally speaking," said Pop.The Liberal parliamentary group has requested for the second time that Prime Minister Viorica Dancila come at the "Government's Hour" on the topic: "Repression actions of the peaceful anti-governmental protest, that took place in Victoriei Square, on August 10".The first request was submitted on Monday, on the first day of the parliamentary session, and the Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies rejected it on the grounds that it does not observe the regulations." Germany's Embassy in Bucharest strongly condemns "any form of discrimination, defamation or enmity toward the German minority or any other minority in Romania." The message published on the diplomatic mission's official Facebook page is conveyed in the context of the recent "accusations against the German minority in Romania." "Numerous politicians, representatives of the minorities, of the business environment, groups of the civil society and individuals have voiced their outrage in the last days regarding the defamatory and offensive statements about the German minority and have assured the German minority of their support. Many of these supportive reactions have been transmitted directly to the embassy," the cited source specifies."We want to take advantage of this opportunity to clearly emphasise: we strongly condemn any form of discrimination, defamation or enmity toward the German minority or any other minority in Romania. Accusations as the ones formulated in the last days are groundless and there is no justification for them. We thank those who have firmly taken position against these accusations," the representatives of the diplomatic mission affirm. The gov't passed on Wednesday's sitting the "E-cultura: Romania's digital library" kick off, the Executive's spokesman Nelu Barbu announced. Barbu specified that the project initiated by the Culture Ministry has a 53.242 million lei budget and it is financed from European funds, namely the 2014-2020 Competitiveness Programme, alongside national funds. "This project has in view to digitize the cultural heritage with help of current IT technology, so that the national cultural legacy be preserved, promoted and transmitted to the future generations," Nelu Barbu asserted."E-cultura: Romania's digital library" sees two components: a first one aims at developing an online IT platform of partitioned catalogue and library, called "Culturalia" and available to all of Romania's cultural institutions and the public; a second one, aims to digitize and exhibit online in the "Digital library of Romania" - "Culturalia" over 550k of digital elements (texts, images, audiograms, videograms, 3D digital objects), added the spokesman.The term library in this context is used in the broad sense meaning the traditional library, museum and archive."As many as 200k cultural resources are to be digitized and provided to europeana.eu, the European Digital Library. The project will be completed within 36 months," Nelu Barbu specified.Barbu mentioned that the project will involve 29 institutions, counting for 19 museums, 5 libraries, the National Films Archive, the Romanian Television Society, the Romanian Radio Broadcaster Society, the National Heritage Institute. President Klaus Iohannis firmly condemns the adoption of the budget rectification draft project by the Government, without the opinion of Romania's Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) and publicly asks the Ombudsman to notify the Constitutional Court in order to verify to what extent the emergency ordinance for the budget rectification fulfills the constitutional requirements for approval. In the simple motion titled "PSD truncheons hitting Romanian democracy in the face" filed on Wednesday with the Chamber of Deputies, the Liberals call for the immediate resignation of Interior Minister Carmen Dan and of the Gendarmerie leadership. "From the point of view of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the resignation of IntMin Carmen Dan, who has de facto coordinated the law enforcement intervention on August 10, and of the entire Gendarmerie management, is a national security priority: these people have proven that they are unwilling and unable to secure order and observe the law, including a series of key documents such as the Country's National Defense Strategy - which stresses that ensuring the citizens' safety is a national security interest. Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters have been hit and attacked with tear gas because of a group of provocateurs who couldn't be identified and isolated for hours. And we can also think of premeditation, if we remember that recently Liviu Dragnea and Carmen Dan wanted to vest the Gendarmerie with criminal investigation powers as well as with the guard and protection of the dignitaries. Esteemed colleagues, we cannot allow that our generation too accepts yet another miners' crackdown without holding those to blame responsible. We must never again condone the image of innocent, peaceful Romanians being hit on the heads with rubber truncheons. This is not the country we chose to build at the 1989 Revolution. Each illegal blow dealt on August 10 was actually a blow in the face of Romanian democracy, and the guilty must pay. Carmen Dan must quit today as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the motion reads. "The law enforcement's blunt force intervention even harmed foreign citizens. Four Israeli tourists were dragged out of the cab and beaten by gendarmes, although they explained that they hadn't participated in the protest whatsoever and also showed their passports. Consequently, the Embassy of Israel in Romania announced they will file criminal complaints against the aggressors. Images and footage from the suppression of the August 10 protests have been shown in international media," the Liberals add.The Liberals argue that the gendarmes took action on August 10 with concealed insignia, which is against the regulations, and resorted to intervention methods that are banned for use against a peaceful majority of protesters.The PNL deputies point out that "the obvious goal of the PSD was to quash all debate around the incidents of August 10 and to promote all those involved in the clampdown.""Physical integrity and every citizen's right to opinion and protest are indisputable principles under the rule of law and are guaranteed by the Constitution, but also by the international human rights treaties Romania is a party to. No Romanian can become victim or collateral victim to violent repression, regardless of the invoked justification," the Liberals conclude. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Wednesday said at the beginning of the gov't sitting that over 200 million lei are available primarily to compensate the ones who incurred losses following the evolution of the African swine fever, but also to purchase disinfectants, lab kits and other stuff necessary to the Sanitary Veterinary and for Food Safety National Authority (ANSVSA). "We have taken several measures to financially support all of those who have suffered from the African swine fever, and to combat the virus's spread," said the Prime Minister. The improvement of the medical services is a priority for the gov't, said Viorica Dancila, also at the beginning of the gov't sitting, specifying that several types of ambulances and the related equipment will be purchased from EU funds."Thus, we wish that all the citizens benefit from medical services and equipment capable to enhance the response capacity to emergency situations, in the case of the multiple victims accidents, included. The funds are covered by the 2014-2020 Regional Operational Programme," Dancila stressed. The Government wants a successful Presidency of the Council of the European Union, that should be prepared very well, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila stated on Tuesday. According to a release of the Executive sent to AGERPRES, the Interministerial Council for the Preparation and Exercise of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU carried out a working meeting on Tuesday at the Victoria Palace, chaired by PM Dancila. On this occasion, it was approved the updated schedule of meetings which are to be organised in Romania during the six-month mandate of the Presidency of the EU Council, which includes 239 events in Bucharest and around the country, covering all counties.Thus, Romania enters the final stage of the organisational part of this process for preparing the mandate."It is a very important step. We all want a successful Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which we have to prepare very well, so that, from the moment of taking it over, things go very well, just as we proposed," Dancila stated.Furthermore, during the working meeting also presented were the progresses recorded over the past months, in terms of approaching the European topics, as well as the organisational level for the preparation of this important moment for our country.Equally, it was highlighted the fact that, currently, our country already has the status of "future presidency" in relation to the interlocutors from Brussels and, also, the status of "shadow presidency" in relation to the Austrian partners, which involves additional obligations and responsibilities for Romania, both at political and technical level."Exercising these attribution represent the proof of Romania's commitment in terms of ensuring the continuity of the European agenda, by preparing in advance the transition of the negotiations towards the team of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU," the release mentions.The discussions focused on the files that Romania will manage during its mandate, but they also tackled other topics of interest, such as the Tourism Ministry's Tourist Promotion Plan for the Preparation and Exercise of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Briefings regarding the stages were carried out, including in respect to aspects of public communication, needed for a common understanding and a concrete action of all ministries, both in the internal dialogue and coordination, and in the dialogue with the European partners, the release mentions.The Interministerial Council for the Preparation and Exercise of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU is made up of representatives of the Government, Parliament and the Presidential Administration, being established with the purpose of ensuring the technical and political coordination for the moment when our country holds the Presidency of the EU Council.Romania will exercise for six months, as of 1 January 2019, the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The head of the National Natural Gas Corporation Romgaz, Andrei Bobar, told on Wednesday a press conference that the company will make investments worth 1.6 billion lei in 2018, almost half of the amount being due to be allocated for the construction of a new Thermal Power Plant in Iernut, the Mures County (central Romania). "Our plan is to reach our investment budget, of approximately one billion and a half - 1.6 billion consolidated, 1.5 billion lei Romgaz individually. In our investment plan, we actually have development directions, a large part of the plan for 2018 refers to the construction of a power plant in Iernut, almost half, around 700 million lei, we are talking about money allocated to the construction of the plant in Iernut, the rest of the amounts being allocated to exploration, development and production and certainly the increase of the storage capacity," Andrei Bobar showed. According to the data provided to the media by Romgaz, the amount of 653 million lei was invested in the first semester, three times larger than in the same period of last year (which amounted to 222 million lei), the investments being exclusively funded from the company's own sources.The investment plan is budgeted at 1.6 billion lei for 2018 in its entirety, much higher than the one in 2017, when a total of 782 million lei was invested. The unexpected death of Commissioner Timothy Bradford three days before the Dec. 4 filing deadline left his potential successors insufficient time to collect signatures and submit petitions to run. In a January legal opinion, the office of Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx said that under the circumstances, write-in candidates still could run in this 2018 election cycle for the last two years of Bradfords six-year term. To make the Nov. 6 general election ballot, Davis needed 8,075 primary election Democrats to write in his name. That more than 54,000 Democrats did so is astonishing. Were proud to have strongly endorsed him. To the long list of potential replacements, I urge you to take heed: We dont want the members of the old guard. Theyve had their chance to lead over the last 30 years, and the result has been a city that leaves too many people behind. A candidate completely removed from the Daley-Emanuel era is essential to deliver the changes we need in education, housing and police accountability. The time has come for big ideas and the courage to implement them. Establishment politics have failed Chicago. Its time for our young visionaries to stand up and be counted. All of the Balkans, legendary German Reichskanzler (Imperial Chancellor) Otto von Bismarck famously said, were not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. And Bismarck, a Prussian landowner or junker had nothing but amused contempt for Pomeranian grenadiers who were regarded as a standing joke in the German Army. In 1890, brash, young new German Emperor Wilhelm II fired Bismarck after 28 years as minister-president of Prussia and then first Imperial Chancellor of Germany. He abandoned the priority policy of maintaining warm ties and close communications with Russia that Bismarck had always followed and scrapped the Dreikaiserbund, the League of Three Emperors that Bismarck had created with the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Over the next 20 years, an increasingly isolated Germany became more and more committed to its one remaining ally weak, unstable and inept Austria-Hungary ruled by the Habsburg Emperor Franz-Josef, after his death long revered but in reality a dim dolt. In 1914, Wilhelm II performed his most fatal idiocy: He gave the rulers of Austria-Hungary a blank check to send an ultimatum to Serbia over its suspected invovlement in the assassination of the Habsburg Archduke Franz-Ferdinand in Sarajevo that was bound to lead to war. Afterwards, belatedly realizing what he had done, Wilhelm panicked and tried to pull back from the catastrophe to which he had doomed his country and all of Europe. But it was too late. More than two million young German soldiers died for nothing in that war over the next four years. A needless war fought over allegations of complicity in an assassination cost the bones of a lot more than one, solitary Pomeranian grenadier. The causes of World War I were compulsarily taught to millions of schoolchildren when I was growing up in Ireland and Britain. Today I doubt one American in half a million could explain them. Yet Congress in Washington and the US media are madly urging on the US government to replicate the castastrophe in what could trigger a global thermonuclear holocaust. Assassination! Instead of the suspected involvement of the tiny Serbian government which was indeed deeply involved in the plot (but for which no proof at the time was in fact uncovered) we see the US government following the lead of the UK government in blaming Russia without any evidence whatsoever in the alleged assassination of Sergei Skripal. A reckless stupid commitment! Instead of Wilhelm II giving a "blank check" to the Austro-Hungarian government to start a war with Serbia, provoking reaction by Russia, we see the US Congress pressuring President Donald Trump into imposing ferocious sanctions on Russia. Those sanctions are clearly intended to wreck Russia's 19 years of recovery, prosperity and growth under President Vladimir Putin. A superpower allowing a weak, unstable and irresponsible minor ally to pull it into a destructive war! Wilhelm, the emperor of bluster in the end let himself be led as tamely as an obedient poodle by the reckless adventurers and gamblers in Vienna. Today, Trump is allowing US policy be deformed and national survival threatened by his loyalty to a leader he despises, Prime Minister Theresa May of the disintegrating United Kingdom. Most of all Bismarck knew that tiny squabbling coutnries in the Balkans were not worth the life of a single comic soldier. Bismarck would not have cared a fig for the internal politics of Macedonia, Montengegro or Georgia. He would have laughed at the idea that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania could or should determine the future of global superpowers and world-spanning alliances. Instead, Bismarck sought to quarantine off peripheral regions that historically generated violence, ethnic conflict and assassination away from the major powers. The Iron Chancellor's policies maintained global peace for two generations. Abandoning them brought on the conflagration of 1914 that destroyed European civilization. Today, the United States and its allies need to remember and relearn the wisdom of Bismarck and abandon the fatally infantile enthusiasms of Wilhelm II. The survival of humanity depends upon it. The US Defense Department has made a final decision to cancel $300 million (the Coalition Support Funds) in aid to Pakistan. The official reason is Islamabads failure to take decisive action against the militants who are waging war in Afghanistan: the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban. The move is subject to approval by Congress. It was announced mere days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Pakistan to meet Imran Khan, the countrys new prime minister. It also took place right on the heels of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifs visit to Pakistan, where the leadership expressed support for Iran and the nuclear deal the US abandoned. One is reminded of President Trumps Aug. 7 tweet warning that [a]nyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. The announced decision is part of a broader suspension that was proclaimed at the beginning of the year. The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, President Trump tweeted on January 1, 2018. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more! The statement was followed by announcement that Secretary Jim Mattis was authorized to grant $300 million in CSF funds over the summer if he saw a change of attitude in Islamabad. He didnt. The US has started to suspend its training and educational programs for Pakistani officers. No funds have been provided for the coming academic year. US military institutions, including the National Defense University in Washington DC, the US Armys War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the US Naval War College, the Naval Staff College, and other courses they offered, including cybersecurity studies, eliminated the 66 slots they had reserved for cadets from Pakistan. Its rather symbolic that Moscow and Islamabad signed an agreement on August 7 to train Pakistani military personnel in Russia. With that countrys foreign-exchange reserves plummeting, PM Imran Khan will have to decide whether his government will seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the United States controls more votes than any other member. The alternative would be to turn to China, Russia, and other friendly nations. After the victory of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the 2018 general elections, China agreed to grant a $2 billion loan to Islamabad. On July 30, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that any potential IMF bailout for Pakistans new government must not include funds to pay off the countrys Chinese lenders. Pakistan is pinning its hopes on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Russia and Pakistan marked the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations on May 1, 2018. That relationship has seen its ups and downs, but today it has risen to a new historic high. Moscow and Islamabad see eye-to-eye on the prospects for ending the conflict in Afghanistan. Pakistan has endorsed the Russian-brokered peace talks that exclude the United States but include the Taliban. Pakistan strongly supports Russias Syria policy. Islamabads membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opens up new prospects for cooperation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forward a proposal to create a more extensive Eurasian partnership based on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which would involve China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and those from the Community of Independent States (CIS) that are willing to join. Islamabad is also interested in signing a free-trade agreement with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Pakistan has shown its interest in buying military hardware from Russia, has participated in Russian war games, and has also attended Army exhibitions. In September 2016, Russia and Pakistan held their first-ever joint military exercise. Its been held yearly ever since. Pakistans Chief of Army Staff General Javed Bajwa paid his first visit to Russia in April of this year. In late July, the two countries signed a naval cooperation agreement during the visit of Pakistan's Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat to Russia. The Pakistani military plans to purchase Su-35 fighter jets and T-90 tanks from Russia. Russia is involved in many economic projects, such as the Karachi Steel Mill and Gudhu Power Plants. In 2015, Russia and Pakistan signed a contract to build a 1,100-kilometer gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore (the North-South pipeline) with a capacity of 12.4 billion cubic meters per annum the largest economic deal ($1.7 billion) between the two countries since the USSR built the Pakistan Steel Mills in the 1970s. Delayed several times because of tariff disputes, it will be set in motion this year by a Russian company called RT Global Resource. Pakistan has already invited the Russian Federation to join the $1.16 billion Central Asia-South Asia power project or CASA-1000, which will allow for the export of surplus hydroelectricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2017, Pakistans government gave the go-ahead for the initiation of an agreement with Russia to construct a 600MW Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) power plant in Jamshoro, Sindh. US-Pakistani relations are evidently at a low ebb but every coin has two sides. This is prompting Islamabad to diversify its foreign relationships. There are other partners with a lot to offer that could make that country stronger and much less vulnerable to outside pressure. In South America, Brazil is giving tiny neighbor Uruguay (population 3.5 million) 25 retired M41C light tanks. These will replace 17 M24 light tanks Uruguay has had since 1958. The Brazilian military is the largest and most modern in South America but older military equipment still finds uses because there have not been a lot of wars in South America since the 19th century. In fact, the last major war between two South American nations was in the 1930s, between Bolivia and Paraguay. This Great Chaco War was fought over a desert area thought to contain oil deposits but these were never found. The Chaco region is hot, sparsely populated and a popular tourist attraction. Because of the lack of wars between nations for in South America the military budgets tend to be small and the military, especially the army, is seen as backing for the police. New military equipment is recognized as an unnecessary expense and South American nations have become quite adept at maintaining, often by rebuilding and upgrading, older equipment. The Uruguayan army has 15,000 personnel and the ancient M24 first entered service in 1944 and were retired by the U.S. Army in 1953 and replaced by the 21 ton M41 which entered service in 1951 and was used by the United States until the late 1960s. Many of the 5,700 built were sold or given to American allies and there are at least six nations still using several hundred of them. Uruguay already has 22 M41s which it has upgraded to include a 90mm gun replacing the 76mm gun all M41s originally had. The 25 Brazilian M41Cs are also upgraded but still have the 76mm gun. Most of the Brazilian M41Cs will be used for spare parts to keep about 40 M41s in service for another decades or so. The Uruguayan Army has over 400 armored vehicles, most of them wheeled vehicles. While it has fifteen refurbished (by Israel, after capturing them and selling them to Uruguay) Russian T-54 tanks the most frequently used Uruguayan tanks are the M24s and M41s. Because the wheeled armored vehicles are cheaper to maintain and operate they are the most frequently used armored vehicles. Uruguay armored vehicles dont much use besides training. Some Uruguayan troops do have combat experience, but not in Uruguay. Uruguayan soldiers often serve on peacekeeping missions and the country has not been at war with another nation since War of the Triple Alliance (allied with Brazil and Argentina against neighbor Paraguay) that ended in 1870 with Uruguay losing about 3,000 dead. Paraguay lost much of its territory and over half its population killed. For most of the last 150 years, Uruguay was ruled by elected governments but there was always a strong military, relative to its size, in part because there was one civil wars and major insurrections before elected government became the norm in the 1980s. Nevertheless, the military is more a way to provide jobs than to create a modern military force. That civil service approach tends to work in South America because of the lack of external enemies and the American Monroe Doctrine discouraging nations from outside the Americas from being a threat. The last time there was a war between a South American nation and one from outside the Americas was the 1982 Falklands War when Argentina seized the British Falkland Islands (which Argentina had long claimed) and Britain quickly took them back and that was the end of that. The Americans did not intervene (although they did render some assistance to NATO ally Britain). Uruguay is one of the most prosperous and corruption free nations in South America and, per-capita, the largest contributor of peacekeepers in the world. Yet the failures that can produce sepsis persist and are widespread in Americas nursing homes, according to data on state inspections kept by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Many of the lawsuits allege that bedsores and other common infections have caused serious harm or death. The outcome of these cases is not clear, because most are settled and the terms kept confidential. Click the image above to watch the video In today's forecast we are expecting cloudy periods with the odd shower, especially in the evening. Also southerlies. It's a two-clothing layer day today with a high of 15 and an overnight low of 6 degrees. Humidity is 69 per cent. High tide is at 2.20pm and low tide is at 8.30 pm (Tay Street times). There's a sea swell of .7m with a sea temperature of 15 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 5.53pm. If you're going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 5 and 7pm. In NZ history on this day in 1939 the Prime Minister declared New Zealands support for Britain. When New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3 1939, Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage was recovering from an operation for colon cancer. Acting Prime Minister Peter Fraser issued a statement in his place. In world history on this day in 1666 the Great Fire of London was extinguished after two days. In 1877 the great Sioux warrior Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted at age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. In 1910 Marie Curie demonstrated the transformation of radium ore to metal at the Academy of Sciences in France. In 1977 Voyager 1 space probe was launched. In 1980 the worlds longest tunnel opened; Switzerlands St. Gotthard Tunnel stretches 16.224 km from Goschenen to Airolo. In 1984 the Space Shuttle Discovery landed after its maiden voyage. Today is the birthday of Louis XIV, The Sun King of France who built the palace at Versailles. Born in 1638, he once said Do not assess the justice of a claim by the vigour with which it is pressed. To get involved in some of the many activities happening around the Bay, please check out our What's on page. Have a great day! Police are investigating after a 10-year-old girl reported a suspicious approach by two men after school. The girl was walking near the intersection of Pine Avenue and Anthony Crescent, Hamilton, shortly after 3pm when a van pulled up beside her. The van was described as pitch black with tinted windows, and had a sliding door on the side. One man was driving the van and a second man opened the sliding door and appeared to lunge towards the girl, says acting Detective Sergeant Mike Handley. The girl showed great instincts and immediately ran away. The van then sped away down Pine Avenue in the direction of Urlich Avenue. The girl was unhurt in the incident but is understandably very shaken up. We know that reports of incidents such as these can cause considerable concern for parents and other members of our community, says Mike. We would urge everyone to be alert, not alarmed, and to take the opportunity to have conversations with your children about what they should do if they feel unsafe. Police would like to hear from anyone who saw a black van in the Melville area around the time of this incident, or anyone who has information which could assist our investigation. Anyone who can help should call Hamilton Police on 07 858 6200. New mechanised flood gates being installed on State Highway 26 at Paeroa will enable Waikato Regional Council to provide full flood protection to the community faster. Its expected the gates manufactured in the United Kingdom and being installed adjacent to the Criterion Bridge which crosses the Ohinemuri River will be operational in early-October. Hauraki Zone manager Karen Botting says the new gates will replace stoplogs, which require 10 staff up to 90 minutes to put in place to provide full flood protection. Already this year, council staff have been ready to deploy the stoplogs three times, says Karen. The logs are specially designed pieces of steel that have been in use since 1986. Theyve been very effective, but as a result of this project the community will be protected much faster. It will take two staff just minutes to close the gates. As part of this $900,000 project, well be putting in footings over the next couple of months to enable the gates to open and shut at the flick of a switch. During power outages, the gates will be opened and closed using a winch, says Karen. The wider community benefits from the new gates too. Once the gates are installed, well have more field staff available to deploy to other vulnerable locations during a flood. The project involved a significant amount of site preparation, including modifications to the existing stopbank. But Karen says councils priority throughout the project is making sure the community continues to be protected from flooding. The work will affect pedestrians particularly staff and students who attend the nearby Paeroa College as well as motorists. Traffic management will be in place, with partial road and footpath closures possible on occasion. To minimise disruption to pedestrians, an alternative accessway has been constructed along the stopbank, so people can come and go on foot safely without having to pass close to the construction site. The Kiwifruit Claim group has filed a cross-appeal over the High Court decision which found the Ministry for Primary Industries negligent in letting vine-killing disease Psa-V into New Zealand in 2009, which devastated the kiwifruit industry. This comes just after the Crown recently appealed the High Court decision that found MPI negligent. The High Court decision, released on June 29, partially upheld a claim by the Kiwifruit Claim group of 212 growers for damages over the Psa outbreak in 2010 but did not uphold the claim by the groups second plaintiff Seeka, saying post-harvest operators were one step removed from the direct harm suffered by growers so were less closely connected to the consequences of ministry negligence. Now, the Crown, on behalf of MPI, and the Kiwifruit Claim group which represents the 212 growers as well as Seeka will have to wait until later this year or early-2019 when the Court of Appeal will hear both the Crowns appeal and the Kiwifruit Claim groups cross appeal at the same time. In a statement, dated July 24, 2018, MPI says: The Crown appeal seeks to clarify the scope for government regulators to be sued in negligence. MPI also adds it considers the High Court finding has the potential to significantly impact on the Ministrys biosecurity operations. Now Kiwifruit Claim group chairman John Cameron is calling on the Government to accept the comprehensive High Court decision which found MPI was responsible for the Psa outbreak, saying that growers have been left with no choice but to cross-appeal after the Crown decided to appeal following its loss. We were gutted with the Governments move to appeal, it was devastating to growers. We are confident in the High Courts decision, and believe the Government is taking a massive risk in appealing the Judges clear findings. Enough is enough its time for MPI to accept full responsibility. The Psa incursion caused significant losses to many growers and others and could easily have been avoided if MPI had done their job properly. John says his groups cross-appeal challenges the decision that the Government did not owe a duty of care to Seeka as a post-harvest operator. Seeka suffered massive financial losses during the Psa outbreak, and if we are successful liability will escalate considerably, says John. It will also confirm that MPI was negligent when they failed to inspect the shipment of banned kiwifruit plant material, infected with Psa, when it arrived from China. MPI told the court that inspection was required under the Biosecurity Act and under their own regulations, and admitted that they failed to inspect the package. John says his group is unaware of any other instance where MPI has admitted to being responsible for a biosecurity outbreak when they had the opportunity to prevent its entry. Psa was a known pest and MPI had regulations and protocols in place to ensure it didnt come into the country. It was proven and admitted by MPI in court, that they had failed to follow their own rules and performed multiple acts of negligence which meant Psa was allowed to be brought into the country. John says if MPI had been careful and followed their regulations, like the Australian biosecurity agency did, Psa would not have entered NZ. This is not a case of expecting the biosecurity system to prevent every pest incursion from happening, this is a case of where MPIs actions let a known pest into the country. They could have stopped it and did not. John says growers were in tears when the High Court decision came out. Weve had to fight a long and expensive battle to finally get some accountability for what happened. These growers are not getting any younger, and since the claim was filed in 2014, at least three claimants have died. However, it is our understanding the estates of these claimants will still be pursuing their claim. And the group remains committed to fighting the Government and MPI for growers to be properly compensated for the losses MPI has caused, says John. The Government has declined two offers that were made by the Kiwifruit Claim to settle, which would have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed everyone to move on. Click the image above to watch the video In today's forecast we are expecting occasional rain until midday then fine spells. Also southerlies. It's a three-clothing and one-windproof layer day today with a high of 15 and an overnight low of 8 degrees. Humidity is 83 per cent. Low tide is at 9am and high tide is at 3.20 pm (Tay Street times). There's a sea swell of .7m with a sea temperature of 14 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 5.54pm. If you're going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 8 and 10pm. In NZ history on this day in 1948 NZ citizenship was established. The British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 (the order of the terms showed their relative importance) gave New Zealand citizenship to all current residents who had been either born British subjects or later naturalised. Until this Act came into force, people born in New Zealand were British subjects but not New Zealand citizens. In world history on this day in 1522 one of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellans trip around the world made it back to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines. One hundred years ago today in 1918 the German Army began a general retreat across the Aisne, with British troops in pursuit. In 1936 aviator Beryl Markham flew the first east-to-west solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1941 Germany announced that all Jews living in the country would have to begin wearing a Star of David. In 1953 the last American and Korean prisoners were exchanged in Operation Big Switch, the last official act of the Korean War. In 1972 the world learnt an earlier announcement that all Israeli athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympics had been rescued was erroneous; all had been killed by their captors from the Black September terrorist group; all but three terrorists also died in the shootout around midnight. In 1991 the USSR officially recognized independence for the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Also in 1991 Leningrad, the second-largest city in the USSR, was renamed Saint Petersburg, which had been the citys name prior to 1924. In 1997 the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales took place. Over 1 million people lined Londons streets to honour her and 2.5 billion watched the event on television. Today is the birthday of John Dalton, the English scientist who developed the atomic theory of matter. Born in 1766 he once wrote When we attempt to conceive the number of particles in an atmosphere, it is somewhat like attempting to conceive the number of stars in the universe; we are confounded with the thought. For activities and events please check out our Whats On Page. This mornings video was filmed on Mount Main beach and features a dotterel. Have a great day! The Chicago Bears have lost three straight entering Monday nights game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and Tuesdays trade deadline came and went without any deals. Brad Biggs lists the reasons for that and answers a host of other questions in his weekly Bears mailbag. Former "Coyote Ugly" and "Covert Affairs" star Piper Perabo has been arrested for protesting the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Roll Call reports Capitol Police arrested 70 protesters Tuesday at the first day of Kavanaugh's hearing in Washington, D.C. Sixty-one of those people were charged with disorderly conduct after attempting to interrupt the Senate Judiciary Committee's panel in the Hart Office Building room; the other nine were nine people were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding during "unlawful demonstration activities" on the second floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Perabo said she was arrested for civil disobedience while attempting to encourage senators to vote "no" on confirming the judge. "Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can't be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away," the 41-year-old actress said. I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings. Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I cant be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.#StopKavanaghpic.twitter.com/f3SG7gmVam Piper Perabo (@PiperPerabo) September 4, 2018 Kavanaugh has faced criticism from the Women's March and other groups over his stance on abortion, with some fearing his appointment could overturn Roe v. Wade. ABC reports a group of women silently protested Kavanaugh Tuesday by dressing in "The Handmaid's Tale" costumes, featuring long red dresses and white bonnets. The Hulu series, based on Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, depicts a world where women are denied basic human rights. "We are fighting Brett Kavanaugh's nomination because he represents the greatest threat to the right to legal abortion since Roe was decided. Already in America, the right to abortion is under attack, putting access out of reach for far too many women, especially low-income women and women of color. Brett Kavanaugh would take our current reality and make it worse--much worse," Lori Lodes, an advisor with Demand Justice, told ABC. "If the images of women in Handmaids costumes are striking, good, because this is serious. Women's bodies, futures and lives are literally on the line." Demonstrators protesting against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, wear costumes from the show "The Handmaid's Tale," during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington. Kavanaugh's hearings, expected to take at least four days, has also inspired partisan quarreling thanks to strong Democratic opposition, concerns about the upcoming midterm elections in November, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign. According to the Associated Press, several senators tried to block the proceedings, complaining that more than 100,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents had been withheld by the White House. Some 42,000 pages were released on the evening before of the hearing, prompting complaints about a lack of sufficient time to review the documents. Chairman Chuck Grassley disagreed with the complaints, at times raising his voice over their objections and hitting his gavel as they spoke. Republicans accused Democrats of turning the proceedings into a circus. FULL LIST: 18 cold cases in Upstate NY that stumped police: Murders, disappearances, mysteries On November 8, 1972, 52-year-old Rudy Allen Rothberg was found dead in the cab of his truck at a truck stop on I-81 near Syracuse. Rothberg had been killed with a shotgun, and his wallet was stolen. More than four decades later, Rothberg's killing remains one of dozens of unsolved cold cases that still puzzle investigators across Upstate NY. New York State police regularly publish updates to cold cases in an effort to generate new leads and help find killers, kidnappers and other unknown criminals. A new list from NYup.com details the 18 cold cases updated by NYS Police this year, including Rothberg's killing and other mysterious murders and disappearances. READ MORE: 18 cold cases in Upstate NY that stumped police: Murders, disappearances, mysteries SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Two Syracuse residents have been charged with breaking into two Syracuse University dormitories after they pulled fire alarms, according to the Syracuse Police Department. Abraham Mestre, 19, and Peter Geremia, 17, were each charged with 15 counts of burglary and two counts of falsely reporting an incident, according to the Syracuse Police Department. Court records say each was also charged with grand larceny. Rooms in Watson Hall, 405 University Place, and Lawrinson Hall, 303 Stadium Place, were burglarized on Aug. 27 after someone pulled fire alarms and students evacuated, the SU's Department of Public Safety has said. Mestre and Geremia are not listed as students in Syracuse University's directory. The court records only detail the burglaries at Lawrinson Hall. According to court papers, the two pulled a fire alarm at Lawrinson Hall at about 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 27 before burglarizing 10 rooms once the rooms' residents evacuated the building. The two burglarized five rooms on the ninth floor and five on the 10th floor, court records said. They stole sneakers, sunglasses, headphones, clothing, cameras, miscellaneous jewelry, music speakers, watches and other items, court records said. Each stole more than $1,000 worth in goods, court records said. Mestre, of 811 Burnet Ave., dumped some of the stolen property in a wooded area and trash can on Mather Street in the Syracuse, court records said. Mather Street is near Lincoln Park. Both kept some of the stolen property at their residences, court records said. Geremia, of 443 S. Edwards Ave., is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center on $15,000 bail and $30,000 bond, and is set to appear in court on Thursday, according to inmate logs. Mestre is no longer listed in the justice center inmate logs. Police did not release their mugshots "pending additional identification procedures," a police spokesman said. Police are still investigating the incidents and asked that anyone with information to contact the Syracuse Police Department's criminal investigations division at 315-442-5222. All calls remain confidential. Anonymous tips can also be submitted using the SPD Tips app. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man found dead Tuesday on Syracuse's North Side shot himself, police say. A 30-year-old man was found dead at 3:08 a.m. on a patch of grass in the 500 block of Kirkpatrick Street. His death -- initially considered suspicious -- was a suicide, said Sgt. Richard Helterline, of the Syracuse Police Department. The man was from the New York City area, Helterline said, but had friends near Syracuse. His name was not released. Where to get help If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, these services are available: Former "Hellboy" star Ron Perlman's third movie filmed at the Central New York film hub is getting a release date -- and it's sooner than you think. Deadline reports Momentum Pictures has acquired the U.S. rights to "Asher," directed by Michael Caton-Jones ("The Jackal") and written by Jay Zaretsky. Perlman, 68, stars as Asher, an aging Mossad-agent-turned-hitman who seeks redemption after his last job goes sideways. "He must kill the man he was, for a last chance at becoming the man he wants to be," the publication says. "Asher," also starring Famke Janssen ("X-Men," "Taken"), Peter Facinelli ("Twilight") and Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss, will be released in theaters Dec. 7. It's unclear if the movie will be in limited theaters or get a nationwide release. A trailer has not yet been released. According to Deadline, "Asher" will get a world premiere next month at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. Perlman will be on hand to present the film and accept a reward. "Asher" shot in the Syracuse area last year, with scenes in the Sedgwick Farms neighborhood, a mansion on James Street, inside the Hotel Syracuse, at Green Lakes, and at the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries in DeWitt, N.Y. Perlman and Dreyfuss were both spotted around Syracuse during production. Perlman produced the film under his company Wing and a Prayer Pictures. It's his third time using the DeWitt nano hub, after "Wooden Lake" in 2015 and "Pottersville" in 2016. "Pottersville," starring Michael Shannon, Judy Greer and Perlman, was released last year to mixed reviews. Scenes were also shot in "Wooden Lake," Perlman's forthcoming directorial debut, does not have a release date. He told Spectrum News last year that he hopes to someday shoot as many as five movies a year in CNY. "The governor has, as part of his Startup New York initiative, has a film component here with a pretty attractive tax incentive," Perlman told the news station. "We've been working hand in glove with the state to be one of the pioneer companies that uses the incentive and tries to drive traffic up here in hopes of ultimately building the workforce. A qualified, new generation of filmmakers that are local, and then we'll really have something." The DeWitt film hub, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's signature Upstate economic development plan, was touted as a way to bring "Hollywood to Onondaga." Instead, it has faced much scrutiny for producing few jobs, a lack of some technical equipment, and several convictions on corruption charges in the bidding process for construction contracts. The first movie shot at the film hub, "American Dresser," starring Tom Berenger and Keith David, will be released in theaters and on demand Sept. 21. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Common Councilor Chad Ryan returned to work today after a four-month absence, during which he was in Florida to get treatment for an addiction problem. Speaking with reporters after a council meeting, Ryan opened up about his struggle with addiction and the decision to put his life on hold and seek help. "I've got to own it. I made mistakes," he said, speaking to reporters after a council meeting Wednesday. "I hope everyone can understand and I'm going to try to make up for it." Ryan, 33, represents the 2nd council district on the city's west side. He was re-elected last year to a third term. He comes from a politically active family in Syracuse. He works as a funeral director at the family-owned Edward J. Ryan and Son Funeral Home. Ryan said he had been dealing with addiction for nearly 10 years. He declined to offer specifics on the addiction or any substances he was using. He said it never affected his role on the council, but the lifestyle he was leading wasn't healthy. Outside the council and his job at his family's funeral home, he was miserable, he said. "I wasn't in a good mental space. I wasn't in a good physical space," Ryan said. "And I hope everyone can understand that I needed to do this for myself for my long-term health. I'm back and I can honestly say I'm better than ever." Now that he's home, Ryan said he's moved into a new apartment on Tipperary Hill and plans to seek continuing help for his addiction, including attending meetings and "working the program." And he's excited to get back to work with a new city administration. As he entered the council chambers Wednesday, city staff and other council regulars mostly greeted him warmly, some welcoming him back with a handshake or a hug. Council President Helen Hudson embraced him as he spoke with reporters and thanked him. Hudson removed Ryan from his role as chair of the public works committee last month just before the committee weighed a $38 million plan to purchase the city's streetlights from National Grid. Ryan thanked his fellow councilors who he said took up some of his duties in his absence. And he encouraged anyone else struggling with addiction to seek help, even if it means putting the rest of your life on hold. "There's a lot of guilt and shame that goes along with addiction. There's a stigma with it," he said. "And a lot of people don't want to get out. I would encourage people to do it [seek help]...I fought it for a long time. I said I can't leave the council, I can't leave the funeral home. While I was gone, I can assure you, the world kept turning. And people were okay. Was it ideal? No. But long-term it was the right decision." Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS Corp. and Showtime Networks were sued by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who claims the satirist tricked him into appearing on his "Who Is America?" show and then made him look like a pedophile and sex offender. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington with claims of defamation and fraud. It seeks $95 million in damages. Moore says in his complaint that he's "suffered extreme emotional distress" by being "falsely portrayed, mocked and defamed as a sex offender and pedophile." In "Who Is America?" Baron Cohen adopted personas such as a far-right conspiracy theorist and an ex-convict while interviewing political figures including Vice President Dick Cheney, former presidential candidate Jill Stein and congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Many of the interview subjects later criticized Baron Cohen for misleading them. Showtime, a CBS unit, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore says Cohen and his agents lured him onto the program in February just two months after the Republican judge was narrowly defeated in his race for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. He was dogged by allegations in the election that he'd inappropriately touched under-aged girls while he was in his 30s, which he denied. Moore claims he was told the appearance was sought by an Israeli program called Yerushalayim TV and that during it he'd receive an award for his strong support of Israel, spurring him and his wife to fly to Washington. Yerushalayim TV turned out to be fictional. Once there, Cohen -- in character as former Israeli anti-terrorism agent Erran Morad -- mocked Moore and even subjected him to scanning with a fake army device meant to detect pedophiles. The program, which aired July 29, was televised over Moore's subsequent protests to CBS once he learned the truth. Baron Cohen is no stranger to controversy. The British comedian has had his greatest successes inhabiting personas such as wannabe rapper Ali G, Kazakh journalist Borat and the gay Austrian fashionista Bruno. Two college students sued Baron Cohen over his film "Borat," while a charity worker sued him over his film "Bruno." Moore is represented by conservative political activist Larry Klayman. The husband of Republican operative Zina Bash denounced the people spreading the theory Tuesday that Bash made a white supremacist gesture as she sat behind Brett Kavanaugh during his hearing on Tuesday. John Bash, the United States attorney for Western Texas, called the accusations geared toward his wife, a lawyer who has spent years working in Republican politics, "repulsive" in a series of heated tweets. "Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves," John Bash wrote. "We weren't even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing." Is this woman Zina Bash throwing a white power hand signal?? It sure looks like one pic.twitter.com/k6pIecZwTn Belhar (@Belhar62) September 4, 2018 Bash, who worked in the Trump White House as a special assistant on regulatory reform and legal and immigration policy, currently works as a senior counsel for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. It was the second sideshow to steal attention from the serious and substantive work of Kavanaugh's hearing after trending on social media. Earlier, videos and images of Kavanaugh declining to shake the hand of Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed at the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, went viral, and Guttenberg later made the rounds on cable news shows. The controversy over Bash's hand placement started on Twitter in the midst of the hearing. A few liberal-leaning accounts with large followings who do not work for respected news media outlets had noticed that Bash had been making an OK sign with her hand as it rested on her arm as she sat behind Kavanaugh at the hearing. The OK symbol - yes, that everyday hand sign with thumb-forefinger circle and three fingers splayed upward - is not considered a hate symbol by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, but it has been the subject of a campaign by Internet hoaxsters and trolls to be converted to that use, and inflame the sensibilities of well-meaning people online. Popular Twitter personalities and accounts such as Amy Siskind, Eugene Gu, and the Palmer Report tweeted that Bash had flashed a "white-power" symbol, drawing a flurry of engagement on the social media service. By the evening, her name was trending on the service. The video Gu tweeted out that focused on Bash's hands, originally published by another Twitter account, had been viewed more than 2 million times. Siskind continued to sow doubt about Bash's intent into the evening on Twitter. "Try it for yourself," Siskind wrote of the hand gesture. "If you watch the video you'll see she held it in place for a long time. It's not a natural resting position." John Bash said the assertions were even more infuriating given his wife's mixed race background. "Zina is Mexican on her mother's side and Jewish on her father's side. She was born in Mexico," he wrote. "Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people - never have and never would." Mark Pitcavage, a researcher who studies extremism, shared the feelings of many when he dismissed the controversy in a statement on Twitter. "Out of all the things you should be legitimately concerned about regarding the Senate confirmation hearings in Washington, DC, today for Judge Kavanaugh," he wrote, "handshakes and handsigns ought not be among them. Actual serious constitutional issues are at stake." ashwinprakas Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Kollam Posts: 1,987 Thanked: 6,371 Times Motorcycle Reliability - The elephant in the room The goal of this topic is to help motorcycle enthusiasts both present and potential candidates make better calculated choices as far as motorcycles go. So first off, as far as my understanding goes the factors that result in determining reliability as experienced by myself and communicated by fellow enthusiasts are; 1. Issues faced in general. 2. Recurring issues. 3. Quality of A.S.S. 4. Spare availability. 5. Grievance redressal. 6. Spare Pricing v/s Quality conundrum. Having listed out the major concerns we will go into each point in detail to figure out if the perceived issues are issues in the first place considering that like motorcycles motorcyclists also do come in all forms and factors with varying knowledge and opinions when it comes to motorcycle riding and maintenance. Hence, here we go! Issues faced in general. Weve all experienced a hick-up once in a while, some of them are disconcerting and require attention whereas the majority of concerns are baseless and a result of our misinformation, so to clear those here are a few pointers, but before moving on to them you must realize that your motorcycle is a machine with numerous moving components that get affected by numerous factors internal and external, so a blip here and there like the below are no reason for panic; a. Cold Starting: Weve all heard tales of motorcycles starting in the first go but for the majority of us that is a hit and miss scenario, at times the motorcycle fires up in the first thumb/kick but at times it takes several turns to fire the motorcycle up, which is quite normal as a stock motorcycle is tuned to run fine within a range of atmospheric conditions which as far as India Is concerned is a pretty wide one. A few misconceptions surrounding this area is the use of the choke and kick-starter. You are expected to only use the choke sparingly due the chances of bore wash happening, a scenario where a richer AF mixture can wash away the cylinder lubrication and result in premature wear and tear, so only use the Choke If the motorcycle is absolutely refusing to start otherwise. Concerns regarding battery load is pointless, because a motorcycle battery should ideally be replaced once every 3 years and within this service limit the battery would have no issues pulling several cranks of the starter before actually facing considerable drains, this has been confirmed with a multi-meter, plus it is common sense to load the battery in the convenience and safety of your garage than to end up stranded in less ideal situations. Now comes the use of the kicks-starter, some motorcyclists believe that the first start of the day should be done only using the kick-starter, now this is absolute baseless. And as for a matter of fact the kick-starter is just a fail-safe on motorcycles with a self-starter, which is why it should only be used if the self-starter is unable to start the motorcycle, as otherwise it runs the risk of the kicker seal wearing down which makes a good percent of the having a self-starter in the first place pointless, then the next matter of concern is that kicker mechanisms on some modern motorcycles are not made to take on such daily abuse, so on these motorcycles it is just a matter of time before you break the kick-starter and run the risk of it not being functional when you might actually require it. b. Engine Noise: Unless you hear anything ungodly there is no reason for panic, all components have a predetermined service life and clearance ranges, and as long as replacements and adjustments are made in a timely manner there is no reason to be alarmed over slight changes to engine note, that ideally you wont even notice with a good helmet on. c. Vibrations: Same follows, especially in the case of single cylinder motorcycles, even with counter-balancers being present. As long as all fasteners are periodically inspected and replaced as per recommended intervals all is fine. d. Throttle response: Same thing, slight fluctuations are common and more prominent in the case of carburetted motorcycles, and for the record a stock carburettor on a stock motorcycle should not be fiddled with unless it is completely dismantled and overhauled as too much fiddling would cause premature wear. The idle speed should be adjusted when cold so that the revs doesnt drop below the operating range of the auto-decompressor which ideally is below the 1.1k mark, when the temperature goes up it is fine for the idle to go up and in some occasions when extremely hot almost close to the 2k mark which again is normal and adjusting the idle speed on a very hot motorcycle would only result in idling issues when cold, so leave the idle screw alone. Plus it is common-sense to not let a motorcycle idle for long especially air-cooled motorcycles so its engines off when halting for extended periods. e. Fuel Efficiency: As long as all consumables have been replaced in a timely manner the fuel efficiency of a motorcycle is dependent on the rider and riding conditions, and fiddling with the carburettor would only result in premature wear and component failure. So if youre not satisfied with the fuel efficiency and theres no smoke coming out of the tail pipe then most likely you chose the wrong motorcycle. f. General Rattling: Again, unless you can hear it while riding with a good helmet on, it is best to ignore it, as panels tend to rattle eventually which is inevitable and measures such as double-sided taping, reassembling fairing etc. would only give you limited peace and is not worth the time, money or effort considering the whole scheme of things. Now at times in spite of timely maintenance (provided that actually happens), there would still be issues, now these are things that require your undivided attention, if components fail within the warranty period then you can get them changed under warranty and if the motorcycle is out of warranty then better to go for a complete part replacement than make-shift overhauls as the latter is the prime cause for recurring issues. Now an untimely component failure is something that is exceptionally rare these days so if you do face anything it would be best to think back on what you mightve missed which couldve resulted in the failure than jumping the gun to blame the manufacturer, there are exceptions in this case as at times fault can be with the manufacturer and in which case you should reach out via the former channels to ensure redressal all the while ensuring that you maintain a record of all transactions, such issues usually show up within the warranty period especially if the product in question is new, which would ideally mean that the issue would be resolved with the least possible inconvenience to the rider. All being said and done, do note that minor inconveniences would pop up on brand new motorcycles with odometer readings below the 10,000 kms mark which actually is normal as most motorcycles being mass produced in India it takes some running for some parts to bed-in at times, so dont be worried just because the motorcycles runs rough for the first couple of thousands, which in other words the technician politely tells you that issues would go away as you complete more services when in fact there is no magic going on during regular servicing other than consumables being inspected and replaced. And while were on consumables please be aware that certain consumables may give up any time without warning, hence better to carry spares even in spite of timely replacement, for components such as Control Cables etc, as such components would not be replaced under warranty for obvious reasons. Recurring issues. These without saying are the issues that frequently pop-up, they can be further drilled down to; a. Issues caused by neglect: These are the issues caused by the riders neglect, either by ignoring to follow recommended service intervals clearly mentioned in the ownership manual or by blindly trusting someone else to carry them out for them. The engine oil and air filter is not the only thing that needs to be looked into, every individual component in your motorcycles has a recommended service life/limit after which it has to be replaced, so be proactive to ensure that your motorcycle is not plagued with such issues. And just to note things have changed a lot in the past few decades in favour of reliability, hence when the service limit of a certain component is up, you are expected to replace the component in question than go for a make-shift tips and tricks that would end up causing more harm than good. b. Issues that are not issues in the first place: The service life of certain components vary between motorcycles due to their respective configurations, state of tune and the riding conditions to which they are subjected to, which is why it is unfair to compare apples to oranges. Meaning it is normal for a motorcycle with a single cylinder configuration running a higher compression say at around 12.6:1 to blow a couple of seals or require more frequent clearance adjustments than a lower displacement single cylinder configured motorcycle running a lower compression say 10.7:1, now I know what you might be thinking of next, so hold your horses, with a change in cylinder configuration the service life of components would also change, which is why a parallel twin with more displacement running a 11.5:1 compression would still be more reliable the aforementioned single running a 12.6:1 compression as in the case of the parallel twin, the per cylinder displacement is just half of that of the big displacement single cylinder motorcycle. And it has nothing to do with the big displacement single being made in India or the parallel twin being a CKD or CBU import. I did say from the beginning that I wont be taking names, as the intention is to share information, not opinions, so go figure. And if youre still displeased with the motorcycle in question then the fact remains that youve made a less informed decision by choosing the wrong product, which again is your fault and not the manufacturers as all specifications were made available before purchase. Quality of A.S.S. There are two types of riders when it comes to this; a. Those who care about their A.S.S.: Now these are the folks entirely depend on the Authorized Service Stations, which is ideally how it is supposed to be but given that we live in India, do your research before making the purchase as the quality of service stations are highly subjective to geographies and related factors and any unfortunate experiences could take the fun away from automotive ownership. Which is why it is always recommended to go through the Owners Manual before operation to ensure that you stay better informed in the event that the worst might happen in which case most users simply blame the manufacturer rather than taking into consideration that they mightve skipped due diligence on their part, which I again stress is due to us living in India, after all, it is always better to be safe than sorry. To make things easy you could just observe how a A.S.S services a motorcycle, whether they cut corners or use appropriate tools, my thumb rule is to ask the main service technician if they use a torque wrench, a feeler gauge or any such precision tools because if not then that would be the last of it. b. Those who dont care about their A.S.S: These are the people who do their own maintenance, you seldom hear complaints from these people and that too only when the A.S.S. in question fails to stock spares, which is something that would be addressed in detail in the next pointer. Spare availability. In an ideal world this is something that should not be an issue but as everyone would have realized by now we do not live in an idea world. Having said that some manufacturers offer better support as far as spares go compared to the rest but that doesnt mean that you should not opt for a motorcycle from one manufacturer over the other because this is not a matter concerning the majority of owners, the ones who are affected are the high mileage users who require spares more frequently and in such cases it helps to opt for a manufacturer or product that has better spare availability because it makes sense. For the rest you may got for any motorcycle your heart desires and if you come across a scenario where there is shortage of parts make sure to put in an expedited order, which is something most owners are not aware of as per my understanding, because when it is placed you would be receiving the spare in question within a matter of days, some say that this is manufacturer dependent but personally I have placed expedited orders for parts from a couple of manufacturers and they all have sourced the said part within a matter of days or a week at best. All manufacturers are liable to ensure that spares be available for a certain period of time even after a product has been discontinued and in almost all cases they do, it is the A.S.S. at times that becomes a hindrance, so next time they say that a spare is not available make sure to put in an expedited request and collect receipt after making an advance payment if required, and if you do not hear from them within the stipulated time, escalate! As there is no point in deeming a motorcycle or a manufacturer unreliable simply because of the shortcoming of one irresponsible A.S.S. know your rights and act on it making sure to document each and every transaction. Grievance redressal. In this day and age you might expect to be treated the way you think it would go about in your head, but as always that is not the case. As far as some manufacturers are concerned if the product sells then thats where customer support ends, dont trust me? Tell me about the last time you sent a query to a market leading manufacturer and got a reply? You did? Good for you! For me the experience was mixed, when it came to one Japanese manufacturer that has a reputation of making under tuned (Or as the Indian consumer understands: Reliable) motorcycles neither the official grievance page or contact number worked like literally! The number was non-existent and the link did not work and guess how we ensured they made good on their warranty terms for a product that was barely a few weeks old? We emailed a Japanese dude who ended up making the right calls to get us what was rightfully ours to begin with, the whole ordeal took over a week if I remember correctly. But does that mean all Japanese brands treat customers alike? Well sadly going by the number of reported issues on the internet a majority seems to be doing so but with another Japanese manufacturer who makes budget friendly enthusiast oriented motorcycles the response was swift when the regional A.S.S messed with us by refusing to change consumables that were paid for, an email with pictures were enough for us to get a call from the A.S.S the very next day, same was the case with another indigenous manufacturer who sells re-branded variants of a Japanese manufacturer, within a day of sending an email Id received a call and the A.S.S owned up to making a near fatal mistake while servicing my brand new motorcycle and rectified the issue shortly after, same was the case with 2 other indigenous manufacturers, swift response with confirmation calls to see if the issue was resolved to my satisfaction or if the requested technical information was provided by the respective A.S.S within a matter of minutes. So does that mean indigenous brands are better at grievance redressal compared to their Japanese counter parts? Well going by my experience and the number of instances I would have to say yes. But on this front it would be best to form your own opinion after doing your research by collecting information from reliable sources, Team-Bhp ownership forums being an example over other loosely moderated forums but then technical know-how of the user in question might vary so do proceed with a pinch of salt. Spare Pricing v/s Quality conundrum. Now this is the really misguided part about first time motorcycle ownership and this doesnt usually end with the first motorcycle because I have close friendly who are motorcycle enthusiasts who still believe that paying more gets you better stuff which may be true when it comes to a lot of things but is not always true when it comes to motorcycle parts mostly the cycle part, mechanicals and some consumables because a bush is a bush and a bearing is a bearing and guess what most likely they are manufactured by the same O.E.M supplier and this is something that I am not making up, I have worked on two motorcycles one from an indigenous manufacturer and one from a Japanese manufacturer and have observed that a good percent of the spares were manufactured by the same O.E.M, you could have a closer look at your carburettor or crankshaft or cylinder kit to confirm that. This might not always be the case but when youve ridden a motorcycle over a period of time you might encounter scenarios where youd have to source spares from another manufacturers A.S.S due to various reasons and that is when you realize the impact a brand image has on pricing, and I say this because Ive bought the exact same spare made by the same O.E.M and paid ten times more the price at one manufacturers A.S.S compared to another which was no big deal as the article in question was small to begin with and it wasnt a problem considering the urgency of the spare but in hindsight it does make you think, doesnt it? Now this is right about the time when those still reading would be ready to shoot comparisons of how X manufacturers consumables last more than Y manufacturers consumables well this is true but the reason behind it is not that you get better quality stuff because you paid more but it is due to the fact that state of tune and motorcycle design plays an important part here and as Ive already gone in to the technical aspects I will just add a basic metric for comparison; Tire Wear, you may have used the same tires on two different motorcycles with similar engine configuration and observed that one eats them up whereas on the other they age gracefully, this is what state of tune does and just like how the aggressively tuned motorcycle eats up tires it would eat up all other consumables as well so it is not a matter of price v/s quality but rather that of state of tune. So all being said and done lets explore how subjectivity has a play in a motorcycles reliability, for which we would have to differentiate the type of users; a. High mileage user who is attached to his motorcycle: For this user what matters most is minimal downtime and reasonable pricing, minimal downtime because he cant stand being without a motorcycle for long and reasonable pricing because his spare consumption turnover is high and the real cost of ownership only shows up when youll be swapping more than just consumables which is expected of this user as he is attached to his machine, which would be evident from the several lakhs on his odometer. b. Low mileage user who is attached to his motorcycle: These are the kind of riders whove been riding the same motorcycle for decades without considering a change due to emotional attachment and because of considerably lower odometer readings they would not be fazed by the likes of spare pricing and downtime but what they would in turn lean towards is how well they (more than their motorcycles) are handled by the A.S.S. c. High mileage user who is NOT attached to his motorcycle: These are the users who do not bother much about long term ownership because it is very unlikely that they would keep their motorcycles past the honeymoon period (ideally 30 ~ 50k kms) for these owners what matters most is resale value of their motorcycles and depending on the kms used they expect to get a guaranteed amount when going for the next motorcycle of their choice, which makes sense as a decent resale for your current motorcycle would mean that youd be spending less that the total amount involved In its long term ownership compared to paying the premium involved in getting a new machine that would run maintenance free for another 30 ~ 50k kms before the cycle repeats. d. Low mileage user who is NOT attached to his motorcycle: Now this is the type of user who would get a motorcycle and keep swapping just for the heck of it, this person has no clue regarding ownership costs and consumable replacement intervals, at times even resale value doesnt matter but what does matter is the perceived value of the motorcycle in question meaning if the average Tom, Dick or Harry find it appealing then that is where all further logic ends. Most of time you find a low mileage premium motorcycle on OLX then you should be thanking this guy. Having listed out all factors involved in a motorcycles perceived reliability in as much detail as I possibly could I hope all upcoming and existing motorcyclists would keep an open and educated mind when going for a motorcycle, having even listed the type of owners out there now I hope potential motorcyclist would not go about seeking advice from just about anyone because you might be in it for the long haul whereas your advisor might unfortunately be someone who rides for the bling factor and after the honeymoon period things can start to get weary if youre riding the wrong motorcycle and trust me when I say that irrespective of public perception, brand image or other insignificant criterion's, riding the right motorcycle for you makes all the difference. Happy Riding A.P. This is one of the more subjective areas of motorcycle ownership and since I like everyone else have my own reservations as far as motorcycle brand reliability goes I will take a conscious effort to not let my personal brand preferences dilute the topic at hand, though at times I would be quoting a few examples for the benefit of everyone.The goal of this topic is to help motorcycle enthusiasts both present and potential candidates make better calculated choices as far as motorcycles go.So first off, as far as my understanding goes the factors that result in determining reliability as experienced by myself and communicated by fellow enthusiasts are;Issues faced in general.Recurring issues.Quality of A.S.S.Spare availability.Grievance redressal.Spare Pricing v/s Quality conundrum.Having listed out the major concerns we will go into each point in detail to figure out if the perceived issues are issues in the first place considering that like motorcycles motorcyclists also do come in all forms and factors with varying knowledge and opinions when it comes to motorcycle riding and maintenance. Hence, here we go!Weve all experienced a hick-up once in a while, some of them are disconcerting and require attention whereas the majority of concerns are baseless and a result of our misinformation, so to clear those here are a few pointers, but before moving on to them you must realize that your motorcycle is a machine with numerous moving components that get affected by numerous factors internal and external, so a blip here and there like the below are no reason for panic;Cold Starting: Weve all heard tales of motorcycles starting in the first go but for the majority of us that is a hit and miss scenario, at times the motorcycle fires up in the first thumb/kick but at times it takes several turns to fire the motorcycle up, which is quite normal as a stock motorcycle is tuned to run fine within a range of atmospheric conditions which as far as India Is concerned is a pretty wide one.A few misconceptions surrounding this area is the use of the choke and kick-starter. You are expected to only use the choke sparingly due the chances of bore wash happening, a scenario where a richer AF mixture can wash away the cylinder lubrication and result in premature wear and tear, so only use the Choke If the motorcycle is absolutely refusing to start otherwise. Concerns regarding battery load is pointless, because a motorcycle battery should ideally be replaced once every 3 years and within this service limit the battery would have no issues pulling several cranks of the starter before actually facing considerable drains, this has been confirmed with a multi-meter, plus it is common sense to load the battery in the convenience and safety of your garage than to end up stranded in less ideal situations.Now comes the use of the kicks-starter, some motorcyclists believe that the first start of the day should be done only using the kick-starter, now this is absolute baseless. And as for a matter of fact the kick-starter is just a fail-safe on motorcycles with a self-starter, which is why it should only be used if the self-starter is unable to start the motorcycle, as otherwise it runs the risk of the kicker seal wearing down which makes a good percent of the having a self-starter in the first place pointless, then the next matter of concern is that kicker mechanisms on some modern motorcycles are not made to take on such daily abuse, so on these motorcycles it is just a matter of time before you break the kick-starter and run the risk of it not being functional when you might actually require it.Engine Noise: Unless you hear anything ungodly there is no reason for panic, all components have a predetermined service life and clearance ranges, and as long as replacements and adjustments are made in a timely manner there is no reason to be alarmed over slight changes to engine note, that ideally you wont even notice with a good helmet on.Vibrations: Same follows, especially in the case of single cylinder motorcycles, even with counter-balancers being present. As long as all fasteners are periodically inspected and replaced as per recommended intervals all is fine.Throttle response: Same thing, slight fluctuations are common and more prominent in the case of carburetted motorcycles, and for the record a stock carburettor on a stock motorcycle should not be fiddled with unless it is completely dismantled and overhauled as too much fiddling would cause premature wear. The idle speed should be adjusted when cold so that the revs doesnt drop below the operating range of the auto-decompressor which ideally is below the 1.1k mark, when the temperature goes up it is fine for the idle to go up and in some occasions when extremely hot almost close to the 2k mark which again is normal and adjusting the idle speed on a very hot motorcycle would only result in idling issues when cold, so leave the idle screw alone. Plus it is common-sense to not let a motorcycle idle for long especially air-cooled motorcycles so its engines off when halting for extended periods.Fuel Efficiency: As long as all consumables have been replaced in a timely manner the fuel efficiency of a motorcycle is dependent on the rider and riding conditions, and fiddling with the carburettor would only result in premature wear and component failure. So if youre not satisfied with the fuel efficiency and theres no smoke coming out of the tail pipe then most likely you chose the wrong motorcycle.General Rattling: Again, unless you can hear it while riding with a good helmet on, it is best to ignore it, as panels tend to rattle eventually which is inevitable and measures such as double-sided taping, reassembling fairing etc. would only give you limited peace and is not worth the time, money or effort considering the whole scheme of things.Now at times in spite of timely maintenance (provided that actually happens), there would still be issues, now these are things that require your undivided attention, if components fail within the warranty period then you can get them changed under warranty and if the motorcycle is out of warranty then better to go for a complete part replacement than make-shift overhauls as the latter is the prime cause for recurring issues. Now an untimely component failure is something that is exceptionally rare these days so if you do face anything it would be best to think back on what you mightve missed which couldve resulted in the failure than jumping the gun to blame the manufacturer, there are exceptions in this case as at times fault can be with the manufacturer and in which case you should reach out via the former channels to ensure redressal all the while ensuring that you maintain a record of all transactions, such issues usually show up within the warranty period especially if the product in question is new, which would ideally mean that the issue would be resolved with the least possible inconvenience to the rider.All being said and done, do note that minor inconveniences would pop up on brand new motorcycles with odometer readings below the 10,000 kms mark which actually is normal as most motorcycles being mass produced in India it takes some running for some parts to bed-in at times, so dont be worried just because the motorcycles runs rough for the first couple of thousands, which in other words the technician politely tells you that issues would go away as you complete more services when in fact there is no magic going on during regular servicing other than consumables being inspected and replaced. And while were on consumables please be aware that certain consumables may give up any time without warning, hence better to carry spares even in spite of timely replacement, for components such as Control Cables etc, as such components would not be replaced under warranty for obvious reasons.These without saying are the issues that frequently pop-up, they can be further drilled down to;Issues caused by neglect: These are the issues caused by the riders neglect, either by ignoring to follow recommended service intervals clearly mentioned in the ownership manual or by blindly trusting someone else to carry them out for them. The engine oil and air filter is not the only thing that needs to be looked into, every individual component in your motorcycles has a recommended service life/limit after which it has to be replaced, so be proactive to ensure that your motorcycle is not plagued with such issues.And just to note things have changed a lot in the past few decades in favour of reliability, hence when the service limit of a certain component is up, you are expected to replace the component in question than go for a make-shift tips and tricks that would end up causing more harm than good.Issues that are not issues in the first place: The service life of certain components vary between motorcycles due to their respective configurations, state of tune and the riding conditions to which they are subjected to, which is why it is unfair to compare apples to oranges.Meaning it is normal for a motorcycle with a single cylinder configuration running a higher compression say at around 12.6:1 to blow a couple of seals or require more frequent clearance adjustments than a lower displacement single cylinder configured motorcycle running a lower compression say 10.7:1, now I know what you might be thinking of next, so hold your horses, with a change in cylinder configuration the service life of components would also change, which is why a parallel twin with more displacement running a 11.5:1 compression would still be more reliable the aforementioned single running a 12.6:1 compression as in the case of the parallel twin, the per cylinder displacement is just half of that of the big displacement single cylinder motorcycle. And it has nothing to do with the big displacement single being made in India or the parallel twin being a CKD or CBU import. I did say from the beginning that I wont be taking names, as the intention is to share information, not opinions, so go figure.And if youre still displeased with the motorcycle in question then the fact remains that youve made a less informed decision by choosing the wrong product, which again is your fault and not the manufacturers as all specifications were made available before purchase.There are two types of riders when it comes to this;Those who care about their A.S.S.: Now these are the folks entirely depend on the Authorized Service Stations, which is ideally how it is supposed to be but given that we live in India, do your research before making the purchase as the quality of service stations are highly subjective to geographies and related factors and any unfortunate experiences could take the fun away from automotive ownership. Which is why it is always recommended to go through the Owners Manual before operation to ensure that you stay better informed in the event that the worst might happen in which case most users simply blame the manufacturer rather than taking into consideration that they mightve skipped due diligence on their part, which I again stress is due to us living in India, after all, it is always better to be safe than sorry. To make things easy you could just observe how a A.S.S services a motorcycle, whether they cut corners or use appropriate tools, my thumb rule is to ask the main service technician if they use a torque wrench, a feeler gauge or any such precision tools because if not then that would be the last of it.Those who dont care about their A.S.S: These are the people who do their own maintenance, you seldom hear complaints from these people and that too only when the A.S.S. in question fails to stock spares, which is something that would be addressed in detail in the next pointer.In an ideal world this is something that should not be an issue but as everyone would have realized by now we do not live in an idea world. Having said that some manufacturers offer better support as far as spares go compared to the rest but that doesnt mean that you should not opt for a motorcycle from one manufacturer over the other because this is not a matter concerning the majority of owners, the ones who are affected are the high mileage users who require spares more frequently and in such cases it helps to opt for a manufacturer or product that has better spare availability because it makes sense. For the rest you may got for any motorcycle your heart desires and if you come across a scenario where there is shortage of parts make sure to put in an expedited order, which is something most owners are not aware of as per my understanding, because when it is placed you would be receiving the spare in question within a matter of days, some say that this is manufacturer dependent but personally I have placed expedited orders for parts from a couple of manufacturers and they all have sourced the said part within a matter of days or a week at best.All manufacturers are liable to ensure that spares be available for a certain period of time even after a product has been discontinued and in almost all cases they do, it is the A.S.S. at times that becomes a hindrance, so next time they say that a spare is not available make sure to put in an expedited request and collect receipt after making an advance payment if required, and if you do not hear from them within the stipulated time, escalate! As there is no point in deeming a motorcycle or a manufacturer unreliable simply because of the shortcoming of one irresponsible A.S.S. know your rights and act on it making sure to document each and every transaction.In this day and age you might expect to be treated the way you think it would go about in your head, but as always that is not the case. As far as some manufacturers are concerned if the product sells then thats where customer support ends, dont trust me? Tell me about the last time you sent a query to a market leading manufacturer and got a reply? You did?Good for you!For me the experience was mixed, when it came to one Japanese manufacturer that has a reputation of making under tuned (Or as the Indian consumer understands: Reliable) motorcycles neither the official grievance page or contact number worked like literally! The number was non-existent and the link did not work and guess how we ensured they made good on their warranty terms for a product that was barely a few weeks old? We emailed a Japanese dude who ended up making the right calls to get us what was rightfully ours to begin with, the whole ordeal took over a week if I remember correctly.But does that mean all Japanese brands treat customers alike? Well sadly going by the number of reported issues on the internet a majority seems to be doing so but with another Japanese manufacturer who makes budget friendly enthusiast oriented motorcycles the response was swift when the regional A.S.S messed with us by refusing to change consumables that were paid for, an email with pictures were enough for us to get a call from the A.S.S the very next day, same was the case with another indigenous manufacturer who sells re-branded variants of a Japanese manufacturer, within a day of sending an email Id received a call and the A.S.S owned up to making a near fatal mistake while servicing my brand new motorcycle and rectified the issue shortly after, same was the case with 2 other indigenous manufacturers, swift response with confirmation calls to see if the issue was resolved to my satisfaction or if the requested technical information was provided by the respective A.S.S within a matter of minutes.So does that mean indigenous brands are better at grievance redressal compared to their Japanese counter parts? Well going by my experience and the number of instances I would have to say yes. But on this front it would be best to form your own opinion after doing your research by collecting information from reliable sources, Team-Bhp ownership forums being an example over other loosely moderated forums but then technical know-how of the user in question might vary so do proceed with a pinch of salt.Now this is the really misguided part about first time motorcycle ownership and this doesnt usually end with the first motorcycle because I have close friendly who are motorcycle enthusiasts who still believe that paying more gets you better stuff which may be true when it comes to a lot of things but is not always true when it comes to motorcycle parts mostly the cycle part, mechanicals and some consumables because a bush is a bush and a bearing is a bearing and guess what most likely they are manufactured by the same O.E.M supplier and this is something that I am not making up, I have worked on two motorcycles one from an indigenous manufacturer and one from a Japanese manufacturer and have observed that a good percent of the spares were manufactured by the same O.E.M, you could have a closer look at your carburettor or crankshaft or cylinder kit to confirm that.This might not always be the case but when youve ridden a motorcycle over a period of time you might encounter scenarios where youd have to source spares from another manufacturers A.S.S due to various reasons and that is when you realize the impact a brand image has on pricing, and I say this because Ive bought the exact same spare made by the same O.E.M and paid ten times more the price at one manufacturers A.S.S compared to another which was no big deal as the article in question was small to begin with and it wasnt a problem considering the urgency of the spare but in hindsight it does make you think, doesnt it?Now this is right about the time when those still reading would be ready to shoot comparisons of how X manufacturers consumables last more than Y manufacturers consumables well this is true but the reason behind it is not that you get better quality stuff because you paid more but it is due to the fact that state of tune and motorcycle design plays an important part here and as Ive already gone in to the technical aspects I will just add a basic metric for comparison; Tire Wear, you may have used the same tires on two different motorcycles with similar engine configuration and observed that one eats them up whereas on the other they age gracefully, this is what state of tune does and just like how the aggressively tuned motorcycle eats up tires it would eat up all other consumables as well so it is not a matter of price v/s quality but rather that of state of tune.So all being said and done lets explore how subjectivity has a play in a motorcycles reliability, for which we would have to differentiate the type of users;High mileage user who is attached to his motorcycle:For this user what matters most is minimal downtime and reasonable pricing, minimal downtime because he cant stand being without a motorcycle for long and reasonable pricing because his spare consumption turnover is high and the real cost of ownership only shows up when youll be swapping more than just consumables which is expected of this user as he is attached to his machine, which would be evident from the several lakhs on his odometer.Low mileage user who is attached to his motorcycle:These are the kind of riders whove been riding the same motorcycle for decades without considering a change due to emotional attachment and because of considerably lower odometer readings they would not be fazed by the likes of spare pricing and downtime but what they would in turn lean towards is how well they (more than their motorcycles) are handled by the A.S.S.High mileage user who is NOT attached to his motorcycle:These are the users who do not bother much about long term ownership because it is very unlikely that they would keep their motorcycles past the honeymoon period (ideally 30 ~ 50k kms) for these owners what matters most is resale value of their motorcycles and depending on the kms used they expect to get a guaranteed amount when going for the next motorcycle of their choice, which makes sense as a decent resale for your current motorcycle would mean that youd be spending less that the total amount involved In its long term ownership compared to paying the premium involved in getting a new machine that would run maintenance free for another 30 ~ 50k kms before the cycle repeats.Low mileage user who is NOT attached to his motorcycle:Now this is the type of user who would get a motorcycle and keep swapping just for the heck of it, this person has no clue regarding ownership costs and consumable replacement intervals, at times even resale value doesnt matter but what does matter is the perceived value of the motorcycle in question meaning if the average Tom, Dick or Harry find it appealing then that is where all further logic ends. Most of time you find a low mileage premium motorcycle on OLX then you should be thanking this guy.Having listed out all factors involved in a motorcycles perceived reliability in as much detail as I possibly could I hope all upcoming and existing motorcyclists would keep an open and educated mind when going for a motorcycle, having even listed the type of owners out there now I hope potential motorcyclist would not go about seeking advice from just about anyone because you might be in it for the long haul whereas your advisor might unfortunately be someone who rides for the bling factor and after the honeymoon period things can start to get weary if youre riding the wrong motorcycle and trust me when I say that irrespective of public perception, brand image or other insignificant criterion's, riding the right motorcycle for you makes all the difference.Happy RidingA.P. Last edited by ashwinprakas : 5th September 2018 at 05:30 . Members of an Arlington Heights church where a former associate pastor was sentenced to prison in 2017 for distributing child pornography are facing another controversy this week after its current pastor was charged Monday in Miami Beach for what police described as his involvement in a public sex act. Strong encryption can be a threat to law enforcement and national security, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand said in a statement issued Sunday. The increasing use and sophistication of certain encryption designs present challenges for nations in combating serious crimes and threats to national and global security, maintained the countries, which are known as the Five Eyes based on an agreement they entered to cooperate on signal intelligence. Many of the same means of encryption that are being used to protect personal, commercial and government information are also being used by criminals, including child sex offenders, terrorists and organized crime groups to frustrate investigations and avoid detection and prosecution, they added. The statement sets out three principles the nations agreed to abide by when dealing with encryption within their jurisdictions: Access to lawfully obtained data shall be a mutual responsibility of all stakeholders government, carriers, device manufacturers and over-the-top service providers. All governments should ensure that assistance requested from providers is underpinned by the rule of law and due process protections. Information and communications technology service providers should voluntarily establish lawful access solutions to their products and services. Do It or Else Whether compliance with the lawful access demands of the Five Eyes will be voluntary for long remains to be seen, especially in light of the final paragraph in the statement: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. That language reeks of Australia, noted Nate Cardozo, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy group in San Francisco. For more than a year, Australia has been mulling over legislation aimed at regulating encryption within its borders. Australia is looking to lead the charge against security, privacy and technology, Cardozo told TechNewsWorld. It believes itself to be in a security crisis, and since it doesnt have much hope of getting tech investment, its more likely to do something to the tech sector. Good Guys With Bad Encryption Forcing companies to provide governments access to encrypted data likely will be a losing proposition, both for the governments and the people theyre trying to protect. Bad guys will just be chased to places where strong encryption is available, and good citizens wont have the opportunity to use the best possible encryption, argued Balakrishnan Dasarathy, information assurance program chair at the University of Maryland University College in Largo, Maryland. Good guys will follow the rules and not have all the best technology, he told TechNewsWorld. Although law enforcement has complained about encryption, the technology has failed to prevent it from getting what it wanted in the past. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Time and time again law enforcement gets what it needs without backdoors, EFFs Cardozo observed. Backdoors make law enforcements job easier at the cost of all our security, he continued. Encryption is a magic bullet only if you use it absolutely correctly, which literally no one does. Backdoors Unnecessary There is no way to expose data to friendly spy agencies without also risking exposure of this data to not-so-friendly entities, maintained Craig Young, a computer security researcher at Tripwire, a cybersecurity threat detection and prevention company in Portland, Oregon. The truth of the matter is that backdoors simply make the process effortless and can enable bulk data collection without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing, he told TechNewsWorld. Even without backdoors added into communication protocols, intelligence agencies and law enforcement should generally have other tools at their disposal to gain access to endpoints and thereby circumvent the need to break any encryption, said Young. Listening devices, hardware key loggers, and malware can all effectively defeat end-to-end encryption for an individual without adding risk to the general public, he explained. Encryption is either strong or it is broken, without much of any room for middle ground, Young contended. Encryption Horse Out of Barn Backdoors create great risk to the security of data, noted Young. Widespread deployment of any backdoor creates tremendous risk if a third party were ever to gain access either through legal channels or reverse engineering, he pointed out. Anything you do for the good guys will get into the hands of the bad guys also, said UMUCs Dasarathy. Its only a matter of time. Youre only kidding yourself if you think otherwise. A D V E R T I S E M E N T The Five Eyes attempt to curb the trend toward encryption may be based on an antiquated notion. The cat is very much out of the bag on strong encryption, Tripwires Young said. Anyone with an inkling of technology prowess is capable of building their own private communication scheme. Backdoor keys almost inevitably would fall into the wrong hands, Cardozo suggested. Further they wouldnt enable the good guys to get the bad guys theyre after. Applications with strong encryption would appear online, be downloaded and sideloaded onto phones, he said. It takes only the tiniest bit of technical sophistication to install an app, and thats all it will take to get around a backdoor, Cardozo noted. Whats more, any attacker who is sophisticated enough to recognize a listening device or a physical implant from the NSA is certainly not going to rely on a public communication infrastructure without strong end-to-end encryption, Young noted. Public Distrust of Government If the Five Eyes decide to make good on their threat to force the use of backdoors in encrypted products, they may find themselves at odds with a lot of their citizens. Fewer than half (41 percent) of the 3,000 consumers polled in the U.S., UK and Germany believed laws that provided government access into encrypted personal data would make them safer from terrorists. The survey was conducted last year by Salt Lake City-based Venafi, maker of a platform to protect encryption keys. Skepticsm of government was high in general, with nearly two-thirds (65 percent) suspecting their governments abused their powers to access the data of citizens. That number was even higher in the United States, where 78 percent of respondents held that belief. Giving governments access to encryption will not make us safer from terrorism in fact, the opposite is true, said Venafi CEO Jeff Hudson. Most people dont trust the government to protect data, and they dont believe the government is effective at fighting cybercrime, he added. Its ironic that we believe we would be safer if governments were given more power to access private encrypted data, because this will undermine the security of our entire digital economy. The 11th edition of JEC Asia, the annual event dedicated to composites in Asia Pacific and focusing on end-user market is set to be held in Seoul, South Korea, from November 14-16, 2018. The event is returning to the capital city of the Republic of Korea with a strong programme, not only on the exhibition floor, but also in the conference sessions.We are very grateful for the support of the industry, government bodies, and academics, regarding the evolution of JEC Asia, which has led to the success of the platform. Indeed, 90 per cent of the show floor is already booked which bodes well for the preparation of the event. Around 45 per cent of the exhibitors are coming from outside Asia. JEC Asia will welcome pavilions from Germany, France, Italy, Japan, China, and Singapore, as well as the major composite clusters in Korea, Christian Strassburger, events director Asia for JEC Group said in a press release.The future of mobility is a hot topic for composite materials and JEC Asia will represent, promote, and provide information about the increasing integration of composites in automotive developments. Numerous programmes will be offered, such as a whole day conference on Composites in Automotive, a Leadership Composites Circle, an Auto Planet, showcasing parts, a B2B meetings program, a JEC Innovation Award category, and Composites tours (site visits of composite-related facilities).Finally, for the second time, JEC Asia will host the International Carbon Festival, organised by KCTECH and the Jeonju region, with top-notch conferences and international speakers. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The big picture: DNS servers have been helping us get to websites almost effortlessly for decades now, but Google thinks its time for change. It says URLs have become to complicated and unwieldy and are easily exploited by phishing schemes. It wants to introduce something new, but it's not quite ready to reveal just what that is yet. Google Chrome celebrated its tenth birthday today with a major design overhaul. The browser features a whole new look, better tabs (including customization), and a password manager, among other things. Chrome engineers are far from done though. In addition to considering features and functions it can add to the browser down the road, the team is focusing much effort on finding a way to change URLs. Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs as they are more commonly known, were created to make web IPs more user-friendly. In other words, instead of having to type 184.173.241.66 to go to a website, we can use a URL like "techspot.com." However, over the years URLs have become more complicated and therefore easier to exploit by hackers. People have a really hard time understanding URLs, Chrome's Engineering Manager Adrienne Porter Felt told Wired. Theyre hard to read, its hard to know which part of them is supposed to be trusted, and in general I dont think URLs are working as a good way to convey site identity. Indeed, URLs have become so untrustworthy that I do not even click on links that my bank sends me in its official communications. I will instead visit the banks website from my bookmarks which I know I can trust. Phishing has become sophisticated enough that fake URLs that look authentic are not even hard to create any more. So we want to move toward a place where web identity is understandable by everyonethey know who theyre talking to when theyre using a website and they can reason about whether they can trust them, said Porter Felt. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as were figuring out the right way to convey identity. This idea is easier said than done. Even within the Chrome team, engineers are divided on how to accomplish this. Porter Felt and Chromes Chief Engineer Justin Schuh claim that they have some ideas on how to approach the problem, but it is too early to reveal anything, especially since they cannot agree on what would work best. "Its important we do something because everyone is unsatisfied by URLs. They kind of suck." The focus right now, they say, is on identifying all the ways people use URLs to try to find an alternative that will enhance security and identity integrity on the web while also adding convenience for everyday tasks like sharing links on mobile devices, said Wired. The Chrome team already knows that whatever they propose will be controversial. Change is almost naturally resisted when something new is suggested. This is especially true for long-established protocols. However, reluctance to change is no excuse to continue using something that is inherently broken. I do know that whatever we propose is going to be controversial, said Parisa Tabriz, director of engineering at Chrome. Change will be controversial whatever form it takes. But its important we do something because everyone is unsatisfied by URLs. They kind of suck. Google has considered the problem with URLs before. In 2014 they tested the origin chip, which just showed the name of the website a user was browsing. Clicking the chip would reveal the entire URL. The feature received mixed reviews in the beta period, so they pulled it. The team says it is using the feedback it received back then to inform its current efforts. There is no timeline for when engineers may implement something, but Porter Felt said that they would be more willing to talk about the details later this fall or next spring. What just happened? Were used to seeing big tech companies throwing patent infringement lawsuits at each otherApple and Samsung have been doing it for yearsbut BlackBerry and Facebook were two unlikely rivals that headed to the courts last March when the one-time phone giant sued the social network. Now, Facebook is returning the favor with a lawsuit of its own. In BlackBerrys lawsuit against Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram subsidiaries earlier this year, the company claimed they had copied technology and features from its own BlackBerry Messenger service. According to Bloomberg, Facebook has just filed a 118-page complaint in San Francisco federal court that accuses BlackBerry of infringing on its patented processes, which includes its voice messaging technology. The social network is seeking unspecified damages for infringement of six of its patents. Other patents that Facebook claims BlackBerry is improperly using includes technology for improving graphics, video, and audio on mobile devices, along with one that centralizes tracking and analysis of GPS data. With over 40,000 global patents related to technology, BlackBerry has attempted to make other companies pay royalties for using these patentspart of its money-making strategy. Qualcomm agreed to pay it $940 million in royalty refunds last year, and in February 2017, BlackBerry sued Nokia over alleged infringement of its 3G and 4G wireless technology. BlackBerry licensed its brand to TCL back in 2016; a deal that allows the Chinese electronics giant to design, build, sell, and support all future BlackBerry handsets. A cheaper version of the BlackBerry Key2the Key2 LEwas on show at IFA. Check out our picks from the event here. Samsung is reportedly planning to unveil its foldable smartphone later this year, which is rightfully met with skepticism considering the long wait for the groundbreaking device. Samsung has long been experimenting with bendable OLED screens, with a concept video for a foldable smartphone released in 2013. Will the Samsung foldable smartphone finally be unveiled after five years? Samsung To Unveil Foldable Smartphone In November Samsung recently reiterated that it wants to be the first manufacturer to roll out a foldable smartphone, especially with rivals such as Huawei also making plans for such a device. The rumor is that the Samsung foldable smartphone will be showcased at CES 2019, before the Galaxy S10. It looks like Samsung is planning to lift the curtains on its foldable smartphone much earlier. In an interview with CNBC, DJ Koh, the CEO of Samsung's mobile division, said that details of the company's foldable smartphone will be unveiled within the year. Koh said that "it's time to deliver" on the foldable smartphone after consumer surveys by Samsung revealed that there is interest in such a device. While Koh did not reveal how the folding screen of the smartphone will work, he said that Samsung will ensure that the device will offer a different experience when unfolded compared to using a tablet. According to Koh, more details of the Samsung foldable smartphone may be released at the Samsung Developer Conference, which will be held in November in San Francisco. Koh said that the development process of the device has been "complicated," but Samsung has "nearly concluded" it. Samsung Foldable Phone Launch Date Coming Soon? Koh teased that the Samsung foldable smartphone may be unveiled in November, but he did not state that the device will actually be released this year. In fact, his statements may mean that Samsung will be revealing renders and specifications of the foldable smartphone this year, with a working unit to be shown further down the road. If that is the case, why would Koh tease the unveiling of a device that may not be released any time soon? The obvious answer is that Samsung is trying to distract customers from the upcoming unveiling of Apple's 2018 iPhone models, which will be in an event on Sept. 12. Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 will likely not be enough to challenge the upcoming iPhone XS and the budget LCD iPhone X. A Samsung foldable smartphone may turn more heads, but until the device is really unveiled, customers may be looking mostly at Apple's direction for their next mobile phone upgrade. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A certain security feature is expected to give Android smartphones an advantage over Apple's iPhones in the near future, including the 2018 iPhone models that will be unveiled on Sept. 12. While the feature is already available in a handful of Android smartphones, its most high-profile appearance will be on the Galaxy S10, Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone after the recently released Galaxy Note 9. The Advantage Of The Android Phone vs iPhone The security feature that will give Android phones an advantage over iPhones in the near future is the in-display fingerprint sensor. According to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as many as 170 million Android smartphones with in-display fingerprint sensors will be sold in 2019. The analyst wrote in a note that all major Android smartphone makers believe that the fingerprint-on-display feature is the most important feature to differentiate their devices from Apple's iPhones. Companies that are working on fingerprint-on-display technology include Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo. One of these devices is expected to be the Samsung Galaxy S10, as the in-display fingerprint sensor was pushed back from the Galaxy Note 9. Samsung will not be the first company to offer the feature, but the company's technology is believed to be superior compared to the in-display fingerprint sensors released by Chinese smartphone manufacturers, such as on the Vivo X21. No iPhone In-Display Fingerprint Sensor: Why? Apple and Samsung have long been known to be copying each other when it comes to smartphone features, but the iPhone will apparently not integrate an in-display fingerprint sensor up to at least next year, Kuo said. According to Kuo, the available in-display fingerprint sensors only have limited support for OLED screens, which Apple will use for the upcoming iPhone XS. In addition, the sensors currently only work for a particular location and not across the entire screen, though that may already happen next year. In addition, Apple's iPhones might have lesser need for in-display fingerprint sensors as an authentication method, when the company's Face ID is working out well. The system is in place in the iPhone X, which eschews the fingerprint scanner altogether in favor of the facial recognition technology. It is widely expected that Apple will continue banking on Face ID in this year's iPhone X upgrades, with the possibility of bringing back Touch ID down the road if it ever adopts in-display fingerprint scanners. In-display fingerprint sensors will definitely differentiate Android smartphones from iPhones in the near future, but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to challenge Apple's upcoming 2018 iPhone models. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Claire Wineland, a social media star and cystic fibrosis activist, has passed away after a successful lung transplant. She was 21 years old. The young woman was taken off of life support on Sunday, Sept. 2, after suffering a massive stroke shortly after her surgery. The news was confirmed by Claire's Place Foundation on Facebook. "Our inspirational founder passed away," reads the post. "She was not in any pain and the medical staff said it was the most peaceful passing they had ever witnessed." Her organs were made available for transplant. Who Was Claire Wineland? Last year, Wineland started a YouTube channel to talk about her experience, specifically her struggles with cystic fibrosis. Since then, she gained over 250,000 subscribers. However, in 2017, she had to leave the platform because of her health. Thousands of fans followed her on Twitter and Instagram where she continued to talk about her illness, share life experiences, and advocate for patients with similar diseases. She founded Claire's Place Foundation when she was 13 after waking up from a medically-induced coma. The foundation gives financial and emotional support to families affected by cystic fibrosis. She also authored a best-selling book titled Every Breath I Take: Surviving and Thriving with Cystic Fibrosis. In July 2017, the late social media star did a TEDx Talk called "Don't wait to be healed to start serving humanity," where she discussed in detail her illness and experience with treatment, the life expectancy of patients with cystic fibrosis, and setting up her foundation. "You can suffer and still make something," she told the audience at the time. "That the quality of your life isn't determined by whether you're healthy or sick or rich or poor, not at all, it's determined by what you make out of your experience as a human being, out of the embarrassing moments and the painful moments. It's what you make and what you give from that place." What Is Cystic Fibrosis? Cystic Fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disorder that affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat, and digestive juices. It can cause severe damages to the major organs of the body, including the lungs and the digestive system. A double lung transplant, the surgery that Wineland had undergone a week before she passed away, could alleviate symptoms and extend a patient's life. More than 30,000 people in the United States and an additional 70,000 worldwide were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Until now, no cure for the illness is available. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. 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. Ochsner Health System has finalized an agreement with Christus Health in Lake Charles to create a joint venture in the region, a deal that includes operations of two hospitals, a charitable foundation and other clinics and facilities. The deal was originally announced last summer, and officials said Wednesday the joint venture took effect Saturday. As part of the deal, Ochsner will become a minority member of Christus Health Southwestern Louisiana. "There's been a lot of growth in Lake Charles so there's a tremendous demand for services here," Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Ochsner Health System, said in a conference call with reporters. Christus will manage the hospitals Christus Ochsner St. Patrick and Christus Ochsner Lake Area and Ochsner will manage all physician and clinic operations. Christus said last year it was acquiring the 88-bed Lake Area Medical Center. Physicians and clinic staff will transfer to Ochsner employment. The 13 clinics in the region will be co-branded to reflect the new partnership. The deal also includes an ambulatory surgery center and imaging centers. Officials said the partnership well help with physician recruitment, which has been a challenge at small and mid-sized cities throughout the U.S. "Lake Charles is a smaller community," said Jeffrey Puckett, chief operating officer of Christus Health, noting the difficulties associated with recruiting doctors in similar-sized areas. "The partnership we have with Ochsner will make a big difference at. The scale Ochsner functions at on the physician group side is wildly different than we do in Lake Charles." Inside info on doing business in Acadiana We'll keep you posted on the Acadiana economy. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The health system will be governed jointly, with seats being held by representatives from both Ochsner and Christus, and local members. The venture also aims to bolster telemedicine operations in one of the state's fastest-growing regions, the health systems said. Thomas noted the health systems have partnered for several years, including to bring telemedicine and cancer clinical trials to the Lake Charles region. In 2015, Ochsner launched a health network alongside Christus, St. Tammany Parish Hospital, Lafayette General Health and Terrebone General Medical Center, which gave patients access to 25 medical facilities and more than 3,000 physicians across Louisiana. The Jefferson Parish-based Ochsner is also in the midst of a $100 million building spree to expand its Baton Rouge-area facilities, including its "western anchor," the High Grove facilities off Interstate 10 near the Mall of Louisiana. The announcement comes after approval from regulators, a process that included a public hearing in Lake Charles this summer that brought public officials including U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-Alto. "This is an opportunity to share resources, learn from one another and attract more physicians to the area, so we can expand access to primary and specialty care and better coordinate the delivery of care for patients in southwest Louisiana," said Dr. Dana Smetherman, medical director of Ochsner Lake Charles region. A 39-year-old Livingston Parish man has been arrested for the second time in two months for stealing timber, according to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. The agency said in a news release that Derma Brent O'Neal, 20976 Nevada St., Livingston, agreed to harvest 20 acres of timber for a woman in Amite but did not pay her the full value. The investigation showed O'Neal hauled 19 loads of hardwood timber from the landowner's property from December 2017 to June 2018 and sold it to sawmills in southeast Louisiana, the release says. The timber was worth $7,340, and O'Neal owed the landowner $6,200, according to the release. In July, he was accused of a similar scheme involving a piece of property in Holden. O'Neal is being held in the Livingston Parish Detention Center in lieu of $60,000 bond. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission A former LSU student accused in last September's alcohol-related death of Max Gruver was rebuked by fellow fraternity members for shooting pledges with an airsoft gun less than a week before the fatal hazing, prosecutors say. "Active members who were present observed the defendant's dangerous behavior, were upset and admonished him to stop shooting pledges," East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Morgan Johnson said in a recent filing meant to show Matthew Alexander Naquin had reckless interactions with pledges before Gruvers death. The prosecutor also revealed in the court documents that Naquin, 20, of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, told a Phi Delta Theta pledge sometime between Aug. 20 and Sept. 13 of 2017 that, "Max is always late, I wish I could cut him because he is always late." Among new revelations in the court filings was that Naquin allegedly shot incoming Phi Delta Theta members with an airsoft gun in the days before Gruvers death on Sept. 14. Airsoft guns are low-power air guns used in airsoft sports and are designed to shoot non-metallic projectiles. "Active members who were present observed the defendant's dangerous behavior, were upset and admonished him to stop shooting pledges," Johnson stated in the Aug. 30 filing. Authorities have said Naquin targeted the 18-year-old Gruver the night he died. Johnson alleged in a filing earlier this year that Naquin and other active Phi Delta Theta members ordered pledges to drink several bottles of hard alcohol on Sept. 6, 2017, causing one pledge to become ill, vomit and pass out. The prosecutor also stated in the filing that Naquin was told by fellow Phi Delta Theta members just days before the fatal incident to tone down his "extreme and dangerous" interaction with pledges. Johnson is seeking a state District Judge Beau Higginbothams permission to use the other alleged incidents as evidence at Naquin's trial. A hearing on her request is scheduled for Thursday. The hearing should show that these alleged prior incidents are irrelevant to the issues at the trial, Naquins attorney, John McLindon, said Wednesday. But Johnson, in her filing last week, said the information will allow the jury to make a fully informed decision on Naquins innocence or guilt. He does not have a trial date. +7 LSU hazing prosecutor reveals inconsistencies in witness testimony, deal with cooperating witness The grand jury that indicted a former LSU student on negligent homicide and three others on hazing in the September alcohol-related death of f The State alleges that the defendants interactions with incoming members of Phi Delta Theta in the weeks and days leading up to Maxwell Gruvers death are integral in establishing a pattern of the defendant deviating from the standard of care expected by active members, Johnson wrote. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The fact finder must be made aware of the defendants reckless interactions with incoming members , causing his fellow fraternity members to warn and admonish him, just two days prior to Maxwell Gruvers death, she added. Johnson stated that Phi Delta Theta student board members met on Sept. 11, 2017, and discussed Naquin's actions with pledges as well as possible punishments for Naquin due to his actions. "The board decided to warn the defendant at the Chapter-wide meeting immediately following the board meeting on September 11, 2017, and, if he continued to act in an extreme and dangerous manner with incoming members, the board would take further action," the prosecutor wrote. Johnson said the fraternity's pledge educator also individually addressed Naquin about his conduct with incoming members. "Only two days after warnings by his peers, the defendant forced incoming members (to) drink grain alcohol at the September 13, 2017,`Bible Study' which ultimately led to Maxwell Gruver's death," she stated. In the Bible Study initiation ritual, pledges were quizzed about the history of the fraternity and forced to drink alcohol if they gave wrong answers, authorities have said. +5 Prosecutors want cellphone passcode of ex-LSU student accused of hazing in Max Gruver death In the latest legal skirmish over password-protected smartphones, prosecutors are asking a Baton Rouge judge to order a former LSU student acc Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, had a blood alcohol level of 0.495 percent, or more than six times the legal limit to drive in Louisiana, at the time of his death, an autopsy revealed. Three other former LSU students are charged with misdemeanor hazing in the case: Sean-Paul Gott, 22, of Lafayette; Patrick Andrew Forde, 21, of Westwood, Massachusetts; and Ryan Matthew Isto, 19, Butte, Montana. +7 In Maxwell Gruver hazing case, four ex-LSU students plead not guilty in Baton Rouge court Four former LSU students pleaded not guilty Friday, one to negligent homicide and the others to misdemeanor hazing, in the alcohol-related dea Gruvers family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against LSU, Phi Delta Theta, Naquin, Gott, Forde, Isto and others. The federal suit seeks $25 million in damages. Phi Delta Theta has been banned from LSUs campus until at least 2033. The grand jury that indicted a former LSU student on negligent homicide and three others on hazing in the September alcohol-related death of freshman fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver heard inconsistent testimony from witnesses, a prosecutor has disclosed. The disclosure by East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Robert Savage was unusual for a prosecutor to make in an ongoing criminal court proceeding and one that has implications for the cases defense lawyers are able to mount for their clients. The issue surfaced in a recent court filing in which Savage asked a judge for permission to reveal testimony before the grand jury. Such testimony is normally kept secret. In addition to disclosing that the grand jury heard witness testimony that was inconsistent, the prosecutor wants to make it known that an agreement between a cooperating witness and the District Attorneys Office was read into the grand jury record. The cooperating witness has been identified in other court filings as Sean Andrew Pennison, 21, of Mandeville. He was booked on a misdemeanor hazing count in October, but the East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury that indicted four former LSU students in March did not recommend charges against Pennison. Matthew Alexander Naquin, 20, of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, was indicted on a felony negligent homicide charge. Sean-Paul Gott, 21, of Lafayette; Ryan Matthew Isto, 19, of Ontario, Canada; and Patrick Andrew Forde, 21, of Westwood, Massachusetts, were indicted on misdemeanor hazing. Each man has pleaded not guilty. The trial of Gott, Isto and Forde is set for Sept. 6. Naquin does not have a trial date. +7 In Maxwell Gruver hazing case, four ex-LSU students plead not guilty in Baton Rouge court Four former LSU students pleaded not guilty Friday, one to negligent homicide and the others to misdemeanor hazing, in the alcohol-related dea In the motion he filed May 9, Savage said he is bound by the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure to keep secret whatever occurs in a grand jury proceeding. However, the prosecutor pointed out, he has an ethical obligation to reveal "all inconsistencies in a witness' testimony and any agreements with any witness." The motion asks state District Judge Beau Higginbotham, who is presiding over the case, to order prosecutors to divulge any inconsistencies and any agreements made before the grand jury. If they judge agrees, prosecutors wont be in violation of grand jury secrecy rules by disclosing the information. "We are particularly interested in the inconsistent testimony between witnesses," John McLindon, Naquins attorney, said on Wednesday. "The other pretrial discovery which has been produced by the DA also contains inconsistent witness statements as well as other evidence which shows Matthew Naquin is innocent of these charges." +4 Grand jury probe into LSU fraternity pledge's alleged hazing death indicts 4 men Six months after his death rocked the LSU campus and spurred some state lawmakers to action, an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury that invest Isto's lawyer, Michael Fiser, said his own investigation showed different witnesses recounting different versions of events. "Inconsistencies involving details such as who arrived when, who knew what when, and what was said and done can be the tipping point between innocence and guilt in a case like this," Fiser said. "The fact that at least one witness was given a deal in exchange for testimony is also significant in that it shows the witness had a motive to shade facts." Forde's attorney, Kris Perret, said he commends Savage "for fulfilling his ethical and legal obligations to reveal inconsistent statements and any deals cut in order to obtain the indictments." Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said his office intends to "continue to comply with our obligations." Gott's attorney, Katherine Guillot, raised what she called another issue of importance in the case. "These are challenging cases and this matter is particularly difficult because the statute that governs the offense of hazing is vague as it is difficult to ascertain explicitly what conduct is punishable," she said. Part of the discovery that prosecutors have provided to the defense includes a notification that Pennison's attorney and the state reached an agreement in February that calls for Pennison to "testify truthfully at all appropriate stages of the criminal prosecution." "To that end, the State declined to institute prosecution against Sean Pennison for any criminal matters arising out of the present case," the state's filing says. "Sean Pennison will be a witness at trial in the present matter and is expected to testify truthfully in response to questioning by the State and defense." Pennison's attorney, Franz Borghardt, said his client "has always fully and truthfully cooperated from day one" and has always maintained his innocence. "The District Attorney's Office requested that Sean testify truthfully and honestly, and that is what he has done and will do," Borghardt added. Even though Pennison's identity as a cooperating witness already has been revealed, Savage is seeking Higginbotham's permission to disclose the agreement that was read into the grand jury record. The grand jury heard evidence but was unable to reach a consensus on charges involving three other men accused of hazing, as well as others arrested by LSU police in October in the incident. Gruver, 18, a Phi Delta Theta fraternity pledge from Roswell, Georgia, died Sept. 14 one month into his first year of college at LSU. An autopsy revealed his blood alcohol level was 0.495 percent, or more than six times the legal limit to drive in Louisiana. Anti-hazing legislation, including Max Gruver Act, heading to Gov. John Bel Edwards Louisiana will likely soon have harsher criminal penalties for those convicted of hazing, following last fall's death of an LSU freshman frate The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office said Gruver's death was an accident but could be attributed to alcohol poisoning and also aspiration, meaning he suffocated on his own vomit. Investigators have said senior Phi Delta Theta members targeted Gruver in a hazing ritual they called "Bible study," in which pledges chugged 190-proof liquor when they gave wrong answers to questions about the fraternity. Phi Delta Theta's national office pulled the fraternity from LSU's Baton Rouge campus after Gruver died. Less than a year before his death, the fraternity had been temporarily suspended for complaints about hazing and drinking. Phi Delta Theta has been banned from LSU's campus until at least 2033. Four former LSU students pleaded not guilty Friday, one to negligent homicide and the others to misdemeanor hazing, in the alcohol-related death of 18-year-old Phi Delta Theta fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver on the Baton Rouge campus last September. State District Judge Beau Higginbotham set a Sept. 6 trial date for Sean-Paul Gott, 21, Ryan Matthew Isto, 19, and Patrick Andrew Forde, 21, on the hazing counts. Matthew Alexander Naquin, 20, who is charged with the more serious felony of negligent homicide, will have a motions hearing on that date. +4 Grand jury probe into LSU fraternity pledge's alleged hazing death indicts 4 men Six months after his death rocked the LSU campus and spurred some state lawmakers to action, an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury that invest Naquins attorney, John McLindon, said his client is being singled out. Naquin, of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas; Gott, of Lafayette; and Isto, of Ontario, Canada, entered their pleas in person. Forde, of Westwood, Massachusetts, did not attend the arraignments. His attorney pleaded not guilty for him. The four men were indicted last month by an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury in the alleged hazing death of Gruver on Sept. 14. Investigators have said Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, was targeted by senior members of Phi Delta Theta in a hazing ritual they called "Bible study" that required pledges to chug 190-proof liquor when they gave wrong answers to questions about the fraternity. Gruver's blood alcohol level was 0.495 percent, or more than six times the legal limit to drive, his autopsy revealed. The coroner's office said his death was an accident but could be attributed to alcohol poisoning and aspiration, which means he suffocated on his own vomit. 'Max Gruver Act' to create harsher penalties for hazing in Louisiana swiftly wins House passage, heads to Senate Louisiana could soon be among the states with the strictest criminal penalties for hazing after the death of an LSU freshman last fall has pro Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The problem with alcohol on campuses is bigger than just one person, its bigger than Matthew Naquin, McLindon said outside Higginbothams courtroom. I think hes being singled out. Negligent homicide is punishable by up to five years in prison. Hazing carries up to 30 days in jail. Istos attorney, Michael Fiser, said Isto pleaded not guilty because he is innocent. He is terribly sorry for the pain this tragedy has caused the Gruver family, and we look forward to showing Mr. Istos lack of involvement as the case proceeds, Fiser said. McLindon and Kris Perret, who represents Forde, said they look forward to plowing through the voluminous discovery material in the case and the witness statements. Phi Delta Theta's national headquarters pulled the fraternity from LSU's campus after Gruver died. Less than a year before his death, the fraternity had been temporarily suspended for complaints about hazing and drinking. In a recent policy change that LSU President F. King Alexander said will be enforced with zero tolerance, LSU students caught hazing will be expelled and the involved fraternities or other student organizations will be kicked off campus. The limited video and audio footage from an officer-involved shooting last month that Baton Rouge Police released Wednesday reveals little new information about the early August encounter, but it does seem to support that only one gunshot was fired. The only footage police have that captured any part of the Aug. 7 traffic stop-turned-shooting came from the cop car's rear camera, which recorded only audio because the camera was facing down, and from a neighbor's surveillance video, which caught no audio, police officials said. The officer's body camera and front dash camera were turned off. One gunshot can be heard about two minutes into the more than 25-minute audio recording, which later also captures how the officer initially reports the encounter through police radio. Officer Yuseff Hamadeh tells fellow officers the suspect kept running and that he was armed. A neighbor's surveillance video shared with police officials, which shows the initial traffic stop. Can't see video below? Click here. The video footage from the neighbor shows the initial traffic stop and then at least one person running from the vehicle. Both recordings released Wednesday by the Baton Rouge Police Department captured only small portions of the Aug. 7 traffic stop, which escalated until Hamadeh fired his weapon at the fleeing driver, 21-year-old Raheem Howard. Hamadeh conducted the traffic stop over a missing license plate, but once the car stopped, Howard ran from his car. Initial police reports said Hamadeh fired his weapon only after Howard first shot at him; however, officials said Tuesday there is not sufficient evidence to support that claim against Howard. No one was injured in the shooting. +4 One shot or two? Witnesses dispute claim that driver fired gun at BR officer after traffic stop On this there's agreement: Raheem Howard fled from the traffic stop conducted by Baton Rouge police officer Yuseff Hamadeh on Aug. 7 about 6:3 "The audio and video released confirms what our client and brave members of the community have maintained to be the truth: That there was only one shot fired," Howard's attorney, Ronald Haley Jr., said in a statement Wednesday. "And given that officer Hamadeh admitted to firing his weapon, the gunfire had to come from him." Baton Rouge Deputy Police Chief Jonny Dunnam said Wednesday the footage is the entirety of the video and audio evidence police have from the incident, but noted that it only gives a glimpse of the encounter. He said said "other investigative resources" are being used as they continue their probe. A criminal investigation into the incident and administrative investigation into the officer's actions remain ongoing. The first nine minutes of the audio footage captured on officer Yuseff Hamadeh's vehicle's rear camera. The camera caught no video because it was facing down, police said. Can't see video below? Click here. Howard was initially arrested on counts of attempted first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon, but East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III filed last week to no longer detain Howard on those accusations. Howard, however, remains in Parish Prison on probation violations from two prior, unrelated misdemeanor cases. Moore said Tuesday that after reviewing evidence, including the two recordings, he would not proceed with the case against Howard. Moore said there was not sufficient evidence to prove that any other gun beyond the officer's was ever fired. But the district attorney was clear that further evidence could change what happens to this case in the future. +2 Why DA refuses to proceed with case vs. man accused of firing at Baton Rouge officer A man accused of shooting at a cop following a traffic stop last month wont be prosecuted for the attempted murder of a police officer becaus Upon his arrest, Howard admitted to fleeing the traffic stop, but was adamant he never had a gun. Neighbors and witnesses also said they heard only one shot. Initial police accounts of the incident say both men fired once. The police department released this video and audio evidence four weeks after the shooting, along with dash cam video of a recent but unrelated fatal crash involving another officer. Department officials had previously denied a public records request for footage of the shooting, despite a new policy aimed at increasing transparency that allows the police chief to release footage within 12 days of a critical incident. The release of such footage is under the discretion of the chief. Dunnam said all police units' rear and front dash cameras turn on automatically once lights are activated. Upon activation, the recording picks up the prior 30 seconds, but without sound. Dunnam said police are still investigating why Hamadeh's front dash camera did not turn on during the incident. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up In the beginning of the 26 minutes of footage from the rear camera of Hamadeh's vehicle, sirens and quiet police radio are heard in the background. About 40 seconds after Hamadeh's lights were activated, the noise increases, a screeching sound is followed by a loud bang and the the video rattles consistent with the narrative that Hamadeh stopped his car to conduct the traffic stop, then got out of his vehicle. Then for the next 20 seconds there is little noise, until over the radio it sounds like Hamadeh calls for backup, "2024 17th, come on back here." The house where Howard entered while fleeing, then Hamadeh followed, is 2024 15th St., one street over from North 16th Street, where the traffic stop began. Soon after, the audio captures more calls on the radio, "Where is he?" and then seconds later, "Where you at, bro?" Two seconds later there's a loud clap, which seems to be the gunshot Hamadeh fired. Right after, the audio recorded more radio chatter from officers: "Yea, Yuseff?" and then moments later: "Yuseff?" Someone answers over the radio that Hamadeh's car is on (North) 16th Street, but it seems they cannot locate him. Police and witnesses reported the shooting occurred a street over on North 15th Street in the back of a house where Howard first ran. But then, about two minutes after Hamadeh first activated his lights for the traffic stop, Hamadeh seems to answer the other officers: "F***!," he says, breathing heavily. Another officer answers: "I heard you calling me, where you at?" Hamadeh seems to answer again: "North 16th. I think he ran to the back to the house. Blue shirt, shorts suspect is armed," can be heard on the audio. +4 Man who allegedly shot at BRPD officer arrested on attempted first-degree murder, police say Baton Rouge police captured the man who fired a gun at an officer earlier last week and arrested him on attempted first-degree murder, police Then noise continues to go in and out, mostly catching the hip hop music playing in Hamadeh's vehicle. About 45 seconds later, someone says on the radio that shots were fired. Later someone on the dispatching system says an "officer was shot at" and "they exchanged fire." About 9 minutes later, the radio traffic falls off. The other video released by BRPD was captured on a neighbor's security camera and shows the beginning of the traffic stop, but has no audio. A black car drives down the street, followed closely by a white car and they stop a few houses down. Soon after, the video shows someone running across the street, into a yard out of view. About 30 seconds later, two more white cars come down the street and stop near the traffic stop. Little else happens on that recording, as the shooting occurred off of North 15th Street. The surveillance camera is set up on North 16th Street. Dunnam declined to comment on or confirm what was recorded in either the audio or video clips. Haley, Howard's attorney, said while he is glad to see the footage released by the police department, he still has many questions. +3 Attorney says BR officer who shot at driver should explain his actions to a judge A Baton Rouge police officer who shot at a man he had pulled over for a traffic violation Aug. 7 needs to appear in court and explain his acti "Why didnt the audio pick up the initial interaction between Mr. Howard and officer Hamadeh?" Haley wrote in a statement. "Did he give any verbal commands or was this just chase and shoot? What is troubling is that officer Hamadeh put our clients life in further harm after shooting at him by misrepresenting to the other officers while they were hunting for him that he was armed when in fact he was not." State Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, called the progress in the case a move in the right direction, but said the bigger issue is how Hamadeh has been treated, and will be treated, moving forward. Hamadeh fatally shot another man last year also after a traffic stop. In June 2017, Hamadeh killed Jordan Frazier after police said Frazier pointed a weapon at officers. Im worried about last year with the Jordan Frazier case, was he (Hamadeh) telling the truth last year? James said. "Mr. Howard lived to tell us he's innocent, Mr. Frazier didnt get to tell his side. I just think theres a lot more we need to see before we can say were turning the page." One injured in shooting on Webb Drive near Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge, police say As Tropical Depression Gordon moves over the northeastern tip of Louisiana today and Thursday, the southeastern part of the state will likely see more rain than when the storm made landfall Tuesday night. Louisiana officials declared a state of emergency and activated the Louisiana National Guard, but much of the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas ultimately saw sunny skies on Tuesday evening. Both areas will have higher chances of thunderstorms Thursday as a secondary effect of Gordon. National Weather Service meteorologist Danielle Manning explained that remaining circulation from Gordon is still "drawing in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico," increasing the likelihood of rain. "As far as Gordon is concerned, we could still see a few showers but it's not any sort of significant impact," Manning said. For the Baton Rouge area, there is a 10 percent chance of thunderstorms on Wednesday night and a 50 to 70 percent chance on Thursday, Manning said. The likelihood of storms in New Orleans is a bit higher on Wednesday at 30 percent and about the same as Baton Rouge on Thursday at 60 percent. Can't see video below? Click here. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Louisiana should be in the clear from the flash flooding that forecasters anticipate for the area around Gordon's northwestern path. National Weather Service meteorologists anticipate four to eight inches of rain over parts of the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. Manning, the Slidell-based meteorologist, said Gordon made landfall around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday on the Mississippi side of its border with Alabama, which was inside the forecast cone. There are two other storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean, but there are no immediate impacts expected for the gulf. Hurricane Florence strengthen into a major hurricane on Wednesday morning as it moves northwest, but Manning said it should not enter the Gulf of Mexico. Another disturbance is brewing a couple of hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands with a 50 percent chance of formation int he next 48 hours and a 90 percent chance over the next five days, according to the National Weather Service. Manning said it's too early to tell if that system could affect Louisiana. LSU is preparing to announce its largest freshman class in history, and I want to celebrate this accomplishment with you, the Baton Rouge community, and the entire state of Louisiana. Because it isn't just a win for our institution it's a win for our state after years of only negativity when it comes to the topic of higher education. Preliminary numbers indicate we brought in our largest, most diverse freshman class on record, with 5,770 new students, beating our previous record of 5,725. These numbers will be finalized on Friday, but we know that we increased the number of Louisiana students enrolled, keeping true to our mission as the state's flagship university. We also have broken diversity records with this outstanding class of new Tigers. Additionally, we increased the number of out-of-state students we enroll, bringing in new dollars to support the local and state economy. LSU already delivers a $5.1 billion economic impact to Louisiana, and the infusion of new dollars only increases our return to the state to say nothing of the injection of intellectual capital and raw talent we have attracted to the capital region. But most importantly, we have increased our class size without sacrificing quality or academic rigor. This class has a preliminary mean GPA of 3.5, holding steady from last years class profile. This class has a mean ACT score of nearly 26, also holding steady from last year. In fact, as of today, 18 percent of this class has scored 30 or above on the ACT another university record. In other words, this record-breaking group of students is as strong academically as they are in number. There have been some recent rumblings against the holistic admissions approach, despite the fact that it is used by 80 percent of flagship universities as well as all but two of the nations top 50 public universities, including many of our aspirational peers like UNC-Chapel Hill, UT-Austin, UCLA, and the Universities of Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Berkeley. Group blasts new LSU admissions policy, calls 'holistic' process 'lowering standards' A group headed by a member of the Board of Regents blasted LSU President F. King Alexander on Tuesday for the universitys recent decision to In short, holistic review doesn't lessen our admission standards. It actually increases the level of scrutiny a potential student receives by introducing more than two data points into their evaluation. Change is often difficult to accept, but that doesn't make it wrong, especially when it is grounded in extensive research in student achievement and predictors of long-term success. As is the case with most processes, admission standards continue to evolve as experts continue to better understand true indicators of student success. But it cannot be overstated: the modern approach to successful admissions in today's top-tier research university is holistic review. I hope you'll join me in cheering on our nearly 5,800 new freshmen, just like you root for our Tigers when they take the field. These students are talented, and their potential is limitless. They are invaluable to our campus community and contribute broadly to Baton Rouge and our state. I can't wait to share their accomplishments with you throughout the coming year. And I hope youll also root for LSU as we continue to drive admissions standards in Louisiana forward, just as we did more than 20 years ago, when we were the first university in the state to put admissions standards in place. Geaux Tigers! F. King Alexander is president of LSU. Something I witness every year is the community that comes together to celebrate our culture, he said. I think its really neat that different people from all over Aurora come together for one cause, and that is to remember where they are from either youre from Mexico or you have children and you want to teach them the culture. Contrary to the recent columns by Dan Fagan, which exhibit many misconceptions and contain many inaccuracies, the Southern Rail Commissions proposal to restore passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is about one thing: promoting a thriving regional economy and the transportation choices that will make it possible. This is why the SoLA (South Louisiana) Super Region Committee, representing business leadership from more than 20 parishes in southeast Louisiana, supports passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Simply put, passenger rail service will bring our region together and help our economy grow. A passenger train service between our two largest cities and the vibrant communities connecting them would provide another transportation option for Louisianans tired of sitting in traffic on I-10, losing valuable time that could be better spent. It would also provide a transportation option for many others, from the visiting businessperson whose business takes her west from the Louis Armstrong International Airport, to the New Orleans worker who does not own a car but lands a job at one of the River Region industrial plants, to the Baton Rouge fans who would rather ride the train to the Saints game on Sunday. Dan Fagan: Baton Rouge and Gonzales spending money on a train route that won't materialize There must be something in the DNA of some politicians giving them an insatiable desire to throw good money after bad. How else would you expl Passenger rail will undoubtedly help our region's economic development efforts. No longer do job creators look merely for cheap land and state incentives. Business decisions are being driven by the competition for a skilled workforce and the amenities that will attract them, including transportation. Amazon is but one example of the emphasis business places on these factors in its consideration of the location of its next headquarters. Our proposal to establish passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans would not force anyone to give up their car. Furthermore, train service is certainly not obsolete. In fact, trains are more popular than ever, and Amtrak had its highest ridership ever last year. States and communities across the country are making renewed investments in passenger rail, including states that Louisiana competes with economically like North Carolina and Virginia. Why? Because they realize that a 21st-century economy requires investments in a multitude of transportation options, including passenger rail. Employees, especially millennials, want transportation options other than driving, including passenger rail. Louisiana risks losing out in the 21st-century economy if it doesnt increase the amount and quality of transportation options. It is also important to keep in mind that no public transportation system in the United States, or in the entire world for that matter, survives without public investment. Airlines rely on the federal government to provide $17 billion dollars in taxpayer assistance every year in the form of security, air traffic control and airport capital improvements. Likewise, the gas tax does not come close to paying for road maintenance and improvements. Billions of dollars every year come from both the federal and state general funds in order to keep our interstate and road systems from collapsing. Thanks in part to the work of the Gulf Coast congressional delegation, there are now two new federal programs available to help implement new passenger rail initiatives like the proposed Baton Rouge to New Orleans service. The Southern Rail Commission is actively working with Gov. John Bel Edwards, state legislators and local communities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans to take advantage of these federal grant opportunities. I truly believe that we are closer than ever to seeing economically sustainable passenger rail service restored between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Across Louisiana, citizens support the Southern Rail Commissions vision of passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. In fact, many want the train service to continue to communities north of Baton Rouge. Our fellow Louisianans dont support the train service because of some politician in California telling them they should, or because the train service will solve climate change. Rather, they support the proposal because train service would provide them with a better option than driving, or with a better opportunity to travel if they can't drive, or simply because they understand the economic benefit of having our region better connected through passenger rail service. Restoring passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans would create greater mobility options for Louisianans, reduce traffic congestion on the I-10, and help Louisiana compete in the 21st-century economy. And the federal government is willing to pay for half of the cost. This is a great deal that the state of Louisiana would be foolish not to take advantage of. We once allowed this deal to pass us by, and we cant afford to do so again. Scott T. Whittaker chairs the SoLA Super Region Committee. He lives in Baton Rouge. Artifacts are displayed as conservators and Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser open a time capsule buried at the base of the P.G.T. Beauregard Statue in New Orleans, La., Friday, Aug. 3, 2018. Buried when the monument was constructed in 1913 and excavated when the pedestal was demolished, the capsule contains both American and Confederate flags, currency, bonds, newspapers, medals and coins. The obscure position of 1st City Court clerk, whose main job is to process eviction and small-claims paperwork, rarely draws much controversy Sheets of rain and heavy clouds move into the city ahead of the landfall of Tropical Storm Gordon in New Orleans, La. Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, left, and his brother, Andre Michot, perform at the Acura Stage during the 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Saturday, May 5, 2018. A couple of hours before this weekend's Downriver Festival begins in the French Quarter, Nathan Lott, the director of the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, will lead an interactive walking tour along the Mississippi River waterfront. During the tour, which starts at 9 a.m. at the New Orleans Jazz Museum gates on Esplanade Avenue, participants will meet some of the landscape architects and urban designers helping to reimagine the area between Crescent and Woldenberg parks, and learn more about plans to transform former wharves into public space. We'll talk about the role of the river, in terms of the creation of the city, and how the geography and geology of our region has been shaped by the river," said Lott. The Water Collaborative is a nonprofit whose mission is to promote the wise stewardship of water resources particularly, the ability to manage stormwater with green infrastructure. Downriver Festival Walking Tour When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8 Where: The New Orleans Jazz Museum gates on Esplanade Avenue, behind the Old U.S. Mint (400 Esplanade Ave., 70116) Admission: Free The tour begins in Crescent Park, which is part of the French Market District. The 1.4-mile, 20-acre linear park provides a panoramic view of the city and features bike paths, a dog run and pavilions. As the tour moves upriver and through the French Market, Lott will highlight the commercial history of the riverfront in the French Market area how oceangoing vessels docked alongside oyster boats, and how flat boats sailing from the central portion of the United States delivered goods to the bustling market. But the most timely tour stop examines the plans for the riverfront area between Crescent Park and Woldenberg Park the vast green space adjacent to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and the site of festivals happening throughout the year. The old industrial wharf sheds that currently block pedestrians from the river, off Gov. Nicholls Street and Esplanade Avenue, will make way for a public park. When it becomes a park, you'll have sort of a green ribbon that goes all the way from the Bywater up to the CBD, explained Lott. The Water Collaborative is not directly responsible for the redevelopment of the Esplanade Avenue and Gov. Nicholls Street wharves. Those are now city-owned properties, and the city has entered into an arrangement with the Audubon Nature Institute to manage them, the same way the institute manages Audubon Park and Woldenberg Park. Although the organization does not have an estimated finish date or preliminary or final plans for the space, it has ruled out the possibility of converting it into a concert venue. Officials will seek ideas from the public through community input sessions and host a website containing updates. Overall, the goal is to devise a plan that satisfies both local residents and Audubons obligation to maintain and secure the park. They may have some revenue-generating activities out there to help pay for it. ... there could be some outdoor cafes, Lott speculates. You can ... let your imagination kind of run wild. During the tour, a speaker from Eskew, Dumez + Ripple, the firm retained by Audubon to assist with planning, will discuss the project. KC Guidry, from the Aquarium of the Americas, has also been invited to participate. The walking tour ends in Jackson Square, where the Kinfolk Brass Band will lead a second-line to the Old U.S. Mint and kick off the Downriver Festival. People should leave the tour with a sense of all of the change that's happened on that stretch of riverfront, and an appreciation for how historic that stretch of riverfront is, says Lott. They should also have a sense of what change has yet to come and how they can contribute to it. *********** Downriver Festival Walking Tour When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8 Where: The New Orleans Jazz Museum gates on Esplanade Avenue, behind the Old U.S. Mint (400 Esplanade Ave.) Admission: Free Narada Mealey entered the New Orleans jail last October accused of missing a court date over $420 in unpaid court costs he owed in Jefferson Parish for marijuana possession. He left the lockup two days later on his way to the grave, in a coma and suffering from shock, blood sepsis and cardiac arrest. In between, relatives allege in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, jail deputies and health staffers ignored his cries for help and failed to monitor his vital signs in violation of their own protocols. The suit, which seeks unspecified financial damages, says the 32-year-old died in yet another tragic, unnecessary and preventable death at the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office. It is the latest lawsuit to hit not only Sheriff Marlin Gusman but also the jails health contractor, Correct Care Solutions, a Nashville-based company. Several jail deputies and health care workers are also listed as defendants. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo. The Sheriff's Office declined to comment. Correct Care has said it does not comment on open lawsuits. The complaint provides a nearly hour-by-hour account of a litany of official errors which the plaintiffs say caused Mealeys pre-existing health conditions to become fatal. Mealey was booked into the jail on Oct. 27. Court records show that he was wanted on an outstanding warrant issued by 24th Judicial District Court Judge Scott Schlegel for a missed court date. Mealey was caught with 1.8 grams of pot, the equivalent of three to six joints, in a Woodmere alley in 2015. He was convicted of simple marijuana possession. Two years later, the case was still hanging over him in the form of $420 in unpaid court fees. Schlegel issued the warrant after Mealey failed to appear for a hearing on the fees. Inmate deaths at New Orleans jail highlight grim, ongoing problems under new administrator One New Orleans inmate died last week at age 32 with an ulcer. Another dropped dead Sunday at 27 of "apparent natural causes," according to th At the time of his arrest, Mealey was suffering from chronic ulcer problems. Relatives say he was also addicted to opioids. Mealeys first stop at the jail was the Intake Processing Center, where new inmates are held before they are moved into the main jail or transported to other parishes. The lawsuit says that a day after his arrest, Mealey was still in the intake center. He was never given a place to sleep beyond a chair or the concrete floor, the suit claims. From the night of Oct. 28 until he lost consciousness the next day, Mealey complained about his health over and over, the suit says. At about 9:45 that night, he told a nurse that he had severe abdominal pain and had been vomiting, the suit says. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 29, Mealey repeated his complaint. The nurse still took no action, according to the suit. By 2:30 a.m., Mealey told a nurse that he had been snorting heroin before his arrest and needed to go to the hospital. The nurse told a supervisor, who placed Mealey on the jails opioid withdrawal protocol, the lawsuit says. Health care workers gave Mealey acetaminophen, an anti-diarrheal medication and anti-nausea medications, the lawsuit says. But the suit claims that nurses failed to monitor his vital signs despite a requirement in the withdrawal protocol that they do so every eight hours. Employees on the day shift, which started about 7 a.m. Oct. 29, also failed to check his vitals, according to the suit. A check would have shown that Mr. Mealey was in a medical crisis that required immediate hospitalization. However, these defendants ignored their duties to Mr. Mealey and his repeated pleas for help, according to the lawsuit. Mealey called relatives, telling them he thought he was going to die. Although they called the jail and visited it in person, nothing was done, the lawsuit says. Finally, Mealey collapsed on the floor of the processing center and began vomiting violently about 2 p.m. on Oct. 29. The lawsuit says that 40 minutes later, he was taken to the jail's medical unit, where he again collapsed. At that point the jail sent Mealey to University Medical Center. Doctors there discovered that he had a perforated gastric ulcer that was bleeding, the lawsuit says. He was in a coma and died on Nov. 2. Mealey was the father of four children, whose mothers, Natasha Tolbert and Bridget Armstrong, are listed in the lawsuit as the plaintiffs acting on behalf of the children. The women are being represented by attorneys Stephen Haedicke and Gary Bizal, who have squared off against the Sheriffs Office in civil rights claims in the past. The lawsuit says that Mealeys death was not an isolated error that in case after case the jail and its health care provider have failed to provide adequate medical care due to staffing shortages and shoddy policies. Mealey was one of six inmates to die at the jail in 2017. Last month the sister of inmate Dennis Edwards filed a lawsuit against the jail alleging that health care workers there failed to send him to the hospital in time to prevent his death from hypertensive cardiovascular disease in December. Complaints have also come from the federal monitors assigned to oversee the jail's reform agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. In an Aug. 29 report, those monitors said Correct Care still needs to make "substantial improvement" to its detox response, nearly a year after Mealey's death. The monitors said that "a focused review of patients monitored for withdrawal from drugs and/or alcohol indicated that most were seen every 12 hours instead of every eight hours." Just moments before she was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday, a Covington woman accused driving drunk and causing the crash that killed a Mississippi man last year pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. Olivia Matte, 28, also pleaded guilty to vehicular negligent injury and careless driving, charges that stemmed from an accident on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway that claimed the life of 37-year-old James Blackmond. Blackmond, of Foxworth, was killed when Mattes white Honda struck his 2002 Ford Ranger pickup from behind in the early morning hours of March 23, 2017. The impact of the crash caused a railing to drive through Blackmonds front windshield, killing him. At the time of the accident, Matte who was not hurt registered a blood alcohol content of 0.21, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08, authorities said. The incident marked Mattes third arrest for driving while intoxicated. At the time of the crash, she was driving on a suspended license. Prosecutors asked that Mattes bail be revoked while she awaits sentencing. But 24th Judicial District Judge Glenn Ansardi said he did not consider her a flight risk since she has been out on bail since her arrest and has made it to all of her court appearances. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up In April, Matte pleaded guilty to a first-offense DWI in state court on the north shore and received a six-month suspended sentence and two years of probation. Matte was also arrested for drunken driving in June 2016. In that incident which also took place on the Causeway Matte completed a Jefferson Parish diversion program that is sometimes available to first-time DWI offenders. Relatives and friends of Blackmond packed the first two rows of the courtroom gallery. They did not give victim impact statements, but prosecutors have noted in previous court appearances that 16 written statements had been submitted over the course of the last year. Following the hearing, Blackmond's family exited the courtroom quietly, hugging each other while some wiped away tears. Matte, who will be sentenced on Nov. 15, faces between five and 30 years on the vehicular homicide count. Her attorney, Ralph Whalen, did not immediately return a call for comment. That wasnt just evident in the Safety Town he helped create with the Naperville Police Department to teach kids about safety procedures. Those who knew him far better than most say he often would reach out to kids truly in need, even bring them home for dinner with wife Pat because thats just simply how big his heart was. Environmental groups are calling on the Queensland government to rethink measures used to protect beachgoers after releasing images of endangered sharks hanging dead off baited hooks in the Great Barrier Reef. The images show two scalloped hammerhead sharks dangling lifelessly from hooks used by the Queensland government under its shark control program. A scalloped hammerhead shark found dead at drumlines set off the coast of Magnetic Island. Credit:HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Humane Society International and the Australian Marine Conservation Society say the images, obtained off the coast of Magnetic Island last month and released on Tuesday, are further proof that a new approach is needed to prevent attacks. Nicola Beynon, head of campaigns at Humane Society International, said hooking sharks was an outdated way to prevent shark attacks. "But hey, you aren't one to let facts get in the way of profiting from snake oil," Dr Jen Gunter, wrote. "The claim that they can balance hormones is, quite simply, biologically impossible. Pelvic floor exercises can help with incontinence and even give stronger orgasms for some women, but they cannot change hormones. As for female energy? I'm a gynecologist and I don't know what that is!?" Gunter also warned that sleeping with a jade egg in one's vagina could lead to bacterial vaginosis or toxic shock syndrome, and that walking around with one inside was an equally bad idea. "Overenthusiastic Kegel exercises or incorrectly done Kegel exercises are a cause of pelvic pain and pain with sex in my practice," Gunter wrote. "Imagine how your biceps muscle (and then your shoulders and then your back) might feel if you walked around all day flexed holding a barbell? Right, now imagine your pelvic floor muscles doing this." If Paltrow was moved by the professional medical advice, it wasn't reflected on Goop's website last year, which published a follow-up letter to the editor titled "12 (More) Reasons to Start a Jade Egg Practice" that hit back at jade egg critics for "sexually shaming a woman for sharing her personal experience". A year later, the consumer protection lawsuit in California may have finally succeeded in convincing Goop to tone it down. Though the eggs are still available for sale on Goop's website, gone are the claims on the product pages themselves that they will balance hormones or regulate menstrual cycles. According to California officials, those who purchased the eggs or the flower essence from Goop between January 12 and August 31 of last year are entitled to full refunds by emailing Goop or calling 1-844-WTF-GOOP. (Yes, that is the real phone number.) "The health and money of Santa Clara County residents should never be put at risk by misleading advertising," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "We will vigilantly protect consumers against companies that promise health benefits without the support of good science... or any science." Loading But the Q and A with Shiva Rose and the letter to the editor recommending use of the eggs remain on Goop's website. Though not technically part of the product pages, the Q and A and other articles on Goop.com continue to claim that the eggs "cultivate sexual energy, clear chi pathways in the body, intensify femininity, and invigorate our life force. To name a few!" Disclaimers at the bottom of the articles, added before the settlement, states they are for informational purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Goop maintained in a statement that the settlement does not indicate any liability but rather an "honest disagreement" that the company wanted to settle "quickly and amicably". Such preparation can also be invaluable when it comes to what you do (and dont) pack. Oh, and make sure you have detailed maps of where you want to go. Google Maps can provide an overview, but generally it wont get close to covering the details, nor will a Satnav system. Folding paper maps are essential at the very least as a backup if digital fails. Also consider a UHF radio (get one with the maximum 5W output), something that allows easy communication with travelling companions or fellow adventurers. Tyring stuff A full-sized spare tyre is the minimum for tackling challenging terrain. Any proper off-roader will have one. If youre not an expert on changing flat tyres, do a practice run before you back out of the driveway, so you know where the jack and tools are and how to access the spare. Its also worth packing a solid plank of wood to place under the jack to stop it sinking into soft ground. Another consideration is an air compressor, which allows you to adjust tyre pressures. In sand, for example, much lower pressures (typically 18-22psi) are a must, allowing the tyre to mould around the granules rather than cut through them. Over rocks, sometimes lower pressures will make sense, too. Prepare to get stuck Even the most capable off-roaders can eventually fail to proceed. Its called getting bogged. But if you head off from home assuming youll one day get bogged, youll be much better off if the wheels stop spinning. Your best bet for getting a car out of jam is another car. Know where your recovery points are (dont use the towbar its not designed to take the lateral stresses) and safely attach good quality equipment to get pulled out. Even if that other car cant tow you out, at least youll be able to hitch a ride to the nearest town for help. As a minimum, though, carry some basic recovery gear, such as a snatch strap, which is like a stretchy tow rope designed to spring the car out of a bog. Know what your car can do Proper off-roaders are increasingly using technology to go further more confidently. But it pays to understand what all those buttons and levers do. Traction control is the most basic system; it brakes spinning wheels to effectively divert drive to those with more chance of going in the direction youre trying to head. In many off-roaders the traction systems often linked to other parameters such as throttle response can be tailored to the conditions, whether thats mud, sand, snow or gravel. Its also worth checking when and where you can and should use your four-wheel drive system. Many utes, for example, arent designed to be driven on-road in four-wheel drive, because you risk major damage to the drivetrain. Others, particularly larger off-roaders, have permanent four-wheel drive systems with a low-range mode, usually for steep ascents or descents. Plus, there are some times you want technology to take a back seat. When driving slowly on soft surfaces, for example, some four-wheel drives may need to have their stability control systems disabled, to allow the car to slide gently through mud or sand without the computer electronically reducing power to the engine. For those unsure about the ability of the car, consult the owners manual. Even better, consider a driving course. There are plenty of dedicated four-wheel drive courses, that introduce you to more information about the capabilities and limitations of your car with an expert looking over your shoulder. Take it easy Dont expect to be splashing through creeks or blasting over sand dunes straight out of the garage. Four-wheel driving is generally a driving art attempted at low speeds. In many cases, the slower the better. While there are exceptions to the rule, wheel placement and the angle you attack certain obstacles are far more important than arriving at high speed. And dont be afraid to get out of the car to analyse where it is youre about to drive. Understanding the terrain whether its how deep a water crossing is or how soft the mud is can be crucial. Go off-road and earn your metal of honour in Jeeps limited edition Wrangler Freedom, inspired by the famed Willys Jeep. With star decals and a Granite Crystal painted grille, youll feel like youre a part of an iconic piece of driving history. Embrace your sense of freedom with the Jeep There & Back Guarantee including a 5 Year Factory Warranty, 5 Year Capped Scheduled Servicing and Lifetime Roadside Assist with Scheduled Servicing at Jeep. Explore more at jeep.com.au Does Victoria have a crime crisis involving African-Australian youths? Everyone seems to have an opinion, including many of our politicians, but what are the facts? The most recent data from the Crime Statistics Agency on unique offenders by country of birth covers the period from April 2017 to March 2018. Sudanese people are over-represented in the crime statistics. Credit:Josh Robenstone. It shows there were 82,520 unique offenders during this time, which means about one in every 72 people in Victoria were involved in one or more crimes. While most of these unique offenders 58,798 of them were born in Australia, just over 1 per cent of unique offenders (879 in total) were born in Sudan or South Sudan. Mick Bradley, who is a health patient transportation officer, says there's no way he could have waited until 70 to get the pension and has welcomed the government's backdown. The 62-year-old fell over at home and is off work, and said the nature of his physical work leaves him pre-disposed to back injury. My work involves taking patients from hospital to hospital on stretchers and wheelchairs, and to homes that often entails going up and down stairs its very physical work and very tough on the back, he said. Mick Bradley, 62, has to wait until 66.5 to get the age pension. Credit:Charles Elias On Wednesday Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the governments decision to drop its policy to increase the age pension age to 70. The ACT Greens want to increase the notice period tenants have to be given before being kicked out of a rental property. The Greens housing spokeswoman Caroline Le Couteur said there should be a 12 week notice period for all people who, through no fault of their own, received notices of eviction. The Greens want to see landlords give tenants 12 weeks' notice to terminate a lease in all situations. Credit:Graham Tidy Currently, under the The Residential Tenancies Act, tenants can be kicked out anywhere from four weeks - if the landlord or a relative intend to move in - to 12 weeks, depending on the circumstances. Ms Le Couteur said she had heard troubling stories of "retaliatory evictions", where good tenants requested reasonable repairs or maintenance happen, only to have their landlord terminate their lease with four weeks notice under the auspices of the landlord or a distant relative moving in. Human remains discovered by a passing motorist west of Townsville last month have been identified as missing woman Julie Hutchinson. Mrs Hutchinson went missing in 2015, and her husband Michael Geoffrey Hutchinson was convicted of her manslaughter and fraud on March 31, 2017, and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Julie Hutchinson's remains were found west of Townsville in August. Mrs Hutchinson's remains were first spotted by a passing motorist who was driving along Hervey Range Road, near the Burdekin River about an hour west of Townsville, on August 29. Noticing what appeared to be a human skull, the driver stopped and went back, discovering the skeletal remains and immediately contacting police. A major new study suggests healthy people aged over 75 may not get any benefit from taking statins. The European study, published on Thursday in the prestigious British Medical Journal used data from 46,864 people and the results "do not support the widespread use of statins in old and very old populations". Statins are the most-prescribed drug in Australia. But Australian experts have slammed the study as deeply flawed saying few conclusions can be drawn from such "poor research" which "does not add anything at all to the literature". And the local heart health researchers say that it's vital that patients ignore the study and keep taking their medication. A paedophile who repeatedly raped a Perth girl who had been pimped out by her own father in the so-called 'Evil 8' child abuse ring is appealing his conviction and sentence. Alfred John Impicciatore was the final member of the Evil 8 child abuse ring to be sentenced in WA's courts. Alfred John Impicciatore is appealing his conviction and sentence. Credit:LinkedIn Impicciatore, 48, chatted with the girl's father online before visiting their home in 2015 where he sexually assaulted the girl four times. The father also participated in the abuse. Sapporo, Japan: A magnitude-6.7 earthquake that struck Japan's northern island of Hokkaido early on Thursday left the entire prefecture without any power, forcing all airports and trains to suspend operations and a nuclear power plant to go on a back-up generator. About 3 million buildings lost power after the quake hit at 3.08am, a spokesman for Hokkaido Electric Power Co said, adding it was uncertain when services would resume. The quake's epicentre was east of the city of Tomakomai. It also struck Hokkaido's prefectural capital of Sapporo, with a population of 1.9 million. At least two people have been killed and 32 are missing after the powerful earthquake paralysed the northern island of Hokkaido. Washington: The Trump administration and its closest intelligence partners have quietly warned technology firms that they will demand "lawful access" to all encrypted emails, text messages and voice communications, threatening to compel compliance if the private companies refuse to voluntarily provide the information to the governments. Apple chief executive Tim Cook Credit:Bloomberg The threat was issued last week by the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence. Collectively, they have been frustrated by the spread of encrypted apps on mobile phones and the ability to send encrypted messages through social media and, most prominently, on Apple's iPhones. The statement said the governments of the nations supported "the role of encryption in protecting" personal rights and privacy. Washington: If you take seriously the revelations in Bob Woodward's book Fear - and how can you not, given Woodward's nearly half-century of scoops about Washington's elite? - then it's time for President Donald Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment because he is clearly "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." That will never happen, because the Cabinet is packed with Trump toadies who compete with each other to deliver the most fawning praise of their supreme leader. But on the merits, it should happen. Of course, it doesn't take Woodward's revelations to demonstrate Trump's unfitness for office. Trump demonstrates it on a daily basis with his campaign-rally rants and Twitter tirades. Just in the past day, the president has demanded that the Justice Department drop criminal investigations against his supporters because it could cost Republicans House seats, and suggested that NBC lose its broadcast licence because, in essence, he objects to the criticism he receives on MSNBC. Many officials inside the White House and around the administration had already expected that Mattis would leave his post sometime over the next few months, completing a respectably long two-year stint at the helm of the Defense Department. Of course, in light of Woodward's reporting that Mattis told associates Trump "acted like - and had the understanding of - 'a fifth- or sixth-grader,' " internal speculation about Mattis's potential departure has intensified. (Mattis issued a statement Tuesday calling the book "fiction.") Washington: Well before this week's revelations about President Donald Trump's interactions with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in Bob Woodward's new book , officials inside the White House have been actively discussing who will replace Mattis at the Pentagon - whenever he might step down. "The speculation about who replaces Mattis is now more real than ever," said a senior White House official who was not authorised to speak about internal matters. "The president has always respected him. But now he has every reason to wonder what Mattis is saying behind his back. The relationship has nowhere to go but down, fast." No decisions have been made and a Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on Mattis's plans. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But several administration and congressional officials said that a short list for his successor is already being constructed informally. US President Donald Trump Credit:Bloomberg At the top of the list is retired four-star Army General Jack Keane, administration and congressional officials said. Keane retired in 2003 and served as vice chief of staff of the Army. Unlike Mattis, Keane would not need a congressional waiver to serve as defence secretary because he's been out of military service more than seven years. He is widely respected in Congress, inside the administration and by the president himself. "He has strong relationships across the administration and the president likes his TV profile," the senior White House official said. "He comes across as strong and competent - like a more partisan Mattis." Washington: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday pushed back against Bob Woodward's new book on President Donald Trump, denouncing it as "fabricated" without disputing any of the specifics that have been reported in excerpts so far. "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad," Sanders said in a statement. Sanders contended that Trump has delivered "unprecedented" success for the country and that, while his approach was unconventional, "he always gets results". "Democrats and their allies in the media understand the President's policies are working and with success like this, no one can beat him in 2020 - not even close," she said. Mazda Reports August 2018 Sales Results IRVINE, Calif. (Sept 4, 2018) Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported total August U.S. sales of 25,816 vehicles, representing a decrease of 0.1 percent versus August of last year. Year-to-date (YTD) sales through August are up 9.9 percent versus last year, with 213,865 vehicles sold. With 27 selling days in August 2018, versus 27 the year prior, the company posted a decrease of 0.1 percent on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis. Key August sales notes: Mazda MX-5 had a very strong month, finishing up August with an increase of 29.7 percent month-over-month, with 1,169 vehicles sold. Sales of Mazda CX-9, Mazdas 3-row crossover SUV finished August with a 26.4 percent increase month-over-month with 2,276 vehicles sold and is up 18.3 percent Year-To-Date. Mazda CX-5, Mazdas midsized crossover SUV continues with strong sales with 12,970 vehicles sold during the month of August, an increase of 11.5 percent month-over-month. Sales of the Mazda CX-5 are up 36.1 percent YTD. Sales of Mazdas CX-line remain strong, with CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9 posting increased sales month-over-month in August. Collectively reaching 16,727 vehicles sold in the month of August. This number represents a increase of 12 percent month-over-month, and an increase of 29 percent YTD. Mazda reported Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) sales of 5,201 vehicles in August, marking an increase of 37.7 percent month-over-month. CPO sales are up 20.2 percent YTD. Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported August sales of 5,041 vehicles, up 10 percentversus August of last year. Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom. Spectacular Docket of Vehicles at Barrett-Jacksons 11th Annual Las Vegas Auction, Including a 71 Elvis Mercedes, Goes Live Online on Proxibid OMAHA, Neb. Proxibid, the most trusted way to connect buyers and sellers of highly valued items, will provide live online bidding when the 11th Annual Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction kicks off at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino September 27-29. The auction brings together one of the most remarkable collections of American-built classic collector trucks, 15 cars from the John Staluppi Jr. Collection, and a vast array of rare and unique vehicles for three days of excitement for car enthusiasts everywhere. Collectors from across the globe will line up to bid on a 1971 Mercedes Benz 280SEL (Lot #725), purchased new by Elvis Presley and retained by him through his death. This car went from Presleys garage to a museum, where it was on display for 40 years, and is accompanied by documentation from the purchase, as well as a photograph of the car in front of Graceland. Another beautiful vehicle from the Staluppi Jr. Collection is a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Convertible (Lot #724), which underwent a frame-off rotisserie restoration in 2015. Additional cars of note crossing the block in this auction include: 2017 Chevrolet Camaro Yenko Coupe, one of just 50 limited-edition versions built (Lot #723) 1972 Chevrolet Corvette Custom Convertible Speedvette (Lot #742), a high-end C3 Resto-Mod 1966 Dodge Hemi Charger, a beautiful car meticulously maintained for nearly 5 years, with only three owners since new (Lot #720) Now in its 11th year, our Las Vegas Auction has become a staple for collector car enthusiasts from around the world, said Craig Jackson, chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson. Collecting knows no boundaries, and our partnership with Proxibid makes it possible for bidders located across the globe to participate in our auctions in real-time regardless of their location. Whether you can make it to Las Vegas or plan to bid online, this auction has a tremendous selection of collector cars you wont want to miss. Also on the docket for the Las Vegas Auction is an expansive collection of collectible trucks, including a 1958 Chevrolet Apache (Lot #678), which was a 2016 Battle of The Builders SEMA truck. Other custom trucks cross thing block in Las Vegas include: 1963 Chevrolet C10 Custom Pickup (Lot #463), which recently underwent a two-year frame-off restoration 1950 Chevrolet 3100 5-Window Custom Pickup (Lot #680), fully restored and ready to roll 1972 GMC C10 Custom Pickup (Lot #682), a fully custom short-bed fleetside pickup truck that recently underwent a ground-up restoration and customization Online bidders can rest assured, their transactions are secure when they bid live online on Proxibid. All purchases on Proxibid are backed by the companys comprehensive risk management system, designed specifically to manage high-dollar transactions like the collector cars available in this auction. Proxibids robust online bidding platform is powered by enterprise-level technology and infrastructure, and boasts a 99.9+ percent uptime, making it the safest place to buy and sell highly valued items online. For more information about the Las Vegas Auction, or to register to bid, please visit www.proxibid.com/barrettjackson. About The Barrett-Jackson Auction Company Established in 1971 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Barrett-Jackson, The Worlds Greatest Collector Car Auctions, is the leader in collector car auctions and automotive lifestyle events. The company produces auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona; Palm Beach, Florida; at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and Las Vegas, Nevada. With broadcast partners Velocity and Discovery Channel, Barrett-Jackson will feature live television coverage in 2018, including broadcasts in over 150 countries internationally. Barrett-Jackson also endorses a one-of-a-kind collector car insurance for collector vehicles and other valued belongings. For more information about Barrett-Jackson, visit www.barrett-jackson.com, or call 480-421-6694. About Proxibid Proxibid provides auction companies and asset owners with access to the most trusted way to buy and sell highly valued items online. More than $4 billion in inventory passes through Proxibids Marketplace annually via live and timed auctions, and Buy Now and Make Offer capabilities, across 16 categories that include heavy equipment; industrial machinery; real estate; fine art; antiques and collectibles, and more. Founded in 2001, Proxibid is headquartered in Omaha, NE with offices in London. For more information about Proxibid, please visit www.proxibid.com. Protester at Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearing. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Just 30 minutes into the first day of Brett Kavanaughs Senate confirmation hearing, the energy in the room was already chaotic, with Capitol Hill police escorting groups of protesters out of the room. By the end of the morning session, the law enforcement agency announced that it had arrested and charged nearly two dozen demonstrators, the majority of whom were women; by the end of the day, the number of arrests had more than tripled. Early Tuesday morning, leaders from a number of womens and reproductive rights groups lined up to observe Kavanaughs hearing, as his confirmation would represent a crisis for abortion access, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, and more. Shaunna Thomas, the executive director and co-founder of womens advocacy group UltraViolet, tells the Cut that when she first entered the hearing room with a group of 22 other members of the public, she felt like she was walking in a funeral procession. She described the room as very somber and quiet in a negative way, though the energy quickly shifted after Muslim activist Linda Sarsour became the first protester to get up from her seat, calling to adjourn the hearing. VIDEO: Protesters arrested in the hearing room for Kavanaughs confirmation hearing asking the hearing to end. pic.twitter.com/ZCTcuwq7qZ Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 4, 2018 Following Sarsours move, other protesters including actress Piper Perabo and #VOTEPROCHOICE co-founder Heidi Sieck loudly decried the hearing as a travesty of justice and demanded that Senators cancel Brett Kavanaugh until Capitol Hill police forcibly removed them from the room. You cannot confirm someone who does not represent the majority opinion, cried another, referencing Kavanaughs historically low approval ratings. At this moment, Thomas says, she realized nearly everyone in the room who wasnt a member of the press or a Senate staffer was there to protest Kavanaugh. It was a really affirming experience, she told the Cut. By 11 a.m., Sarsour, Perabo, Sieck, Thomas, and 18 others were arrested and charged with civil disobedience. After she was released, Perabo tweeted, I cant be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away. I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings. Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I cant be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.#StopKavanaghpic.twitter.com/f3SG7gmVam Piper Perabo (@PiperPerabo) September 4, 2018 By 5 p.m., NBC News Congressional reporter Frank Thorp tweeted that 70 people had been arrested during the confirmation hearings, 61 of whom were removed from the committee room in the Hart Senate Office Building, and nine of whom were removed from the Dirksen Senate Office Building. All arrests were related to unlawful demonstration charges. Update: Capitol Police now say that as of 10:19 a.m., 22 individuals have been arrested at the Kavanaugh hearing. The preliminary charge is D.C. Code 22-1321 - Disorderly conduct. Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 4, 2018 In Thomass opinion, this type of action is more necessary than ever. In the 10 to 15 years that she has advocated and organized around womens rights, she adds, she considers this moment to be one with the highest stakes. The outcome of this will impact our generation and our childrens generation, she told the Cut. [Kavanaugh] is on the wrong side of the American people, and we know that if we put him on court, he will overturn Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion, gut the Affordable Care Act, roll back LGBTQ rights, end affirmative action, and chip away at voting rights. There is no community who wouldnt be deeply touched in an incredibly dangerous way. Tomorrow, many of the women who faced charges will be back in the hearing room, prepared to put their bodies on the line again. We are here to be heard!! @lsarsour @PiperPerabo and myself did just that. We will do whatever it takes to #StopKavanagh no matter how many capital police, no matter the amount of arrest. Roe is more popular than you are Kavanaugh. Face it. #CancelKavanaugh #BrettBye https://t.co/xGnpGidQgS Heidi L. Sieck (@HeidiSpeaks) September 4, 2018 Weve also covered day 2 of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. On the first day of the Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Capitol police forcibly removed, handcuffed, and handed civil-disobedience charges to 70 people who had traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest Donald Trumps wildly unpopular SCOTUS nominee. Within the first 30 minutes of the hearing, demonstrators were on their feet, demanding the Senate adjourn the hearing and cancel Brett Kavanaugh; on the second day of the hearing, protesters started their disruption just ten minutes in. Sham president, sham justice, Stop slaughtering our children, and Mother earth, four people yelled including one woman in a wheelchair before police forced them out of the room. The New York Post reports that at least half a dozen protesters have been removed from the hearing room so far (it is unclear whether they too have been charged with civil disobedience). Even with arrest as a potential deterrent, many leaders of progressive organizations say this type of protest is necessary, especially given the Democratic Establishments disappointing response to Kavanaughs nomination. While ostensibly liberal leaders have failed to vocally condemn the conservative judge who activists say would criminalize abortion, gut the Affordable Care Act and chip away at voting rights protesters have been putting their bodies on the line, long before the confirmation hearings even began. We had to take this step because what were seeing is that senators arent doing everything that they can to oppose Kavanaugh, so we have to, Shaunna Thomas, the executive director and co-founder of womens advocacy group UltraViolet, told the Cut after she was arrested on Tuesday. People who understand how high the stakes are are stepping up in ways Ive never seen before. This is what we have to do at this point. 3 Charged in Death of Missouri Woman, 68, Who Retired to Belize Three people have been charged in the death of a 68-year-old woman who was living at a retirement home in Belize. Two men, who are both 18, as well as a 16-year-old minor face murder charges after the body of Sherris Stringham, of Missouri, was found on Aug. 31, according to The Associated Press in a Sept. 3 report. Her body was found in a river in Pomona, which is around 50 miles from the village of Hopkins where she lived. Stringham was reported missing Aug. 27, and her vehicle was found abandoned hundreds of miles away in the Orange Walk District of the Central American county. AP reported that robbery is the suspected motive. Her family had hired a private investigator to search for her and investigate the case, reported the Kansas City Star, which also reported that she was a native of Blue Springs, Missouri. Before her death, She hasnt been seen or heard from since Saturday (we usually get texts from her daily), she missed several outings with friends which is unlike her, her house was in disarray (also very unlike her), wallet empty and left behind, car missing, according to a GoFundMe page. The page said that she retired in Hopkins after decades of working as a school bus driver and working at a grocery store. As of Sept. 5, $15,585 was raised. Before heading to Belize, the woman had scraped together all she had and bravely struck out and retired to Hopkins, according to the GoFundMe page. The U.S. Department of States Overseas Security Advisory Council said: According to the current U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory at the date of this reports publication, Belize has been assessed as Level 2: exercise increased caution. Did you enjoy this article? Continue to read more stories here. A view of the Milky Way from an area of Puyehue National Park near Osorno City, Chile, May 8, 2008. (Reuters/Ivan Alvarado). Amazon Eyes Chilean Skies as It Seeks to Datamine the Stars Amazon.com is in talks with Chile to house and mine massive amounts of data generated by the countrys giant telescopes, which could prove fertile ground for the company to develop new artificial intelligence tools. The talks, which have been little reported on so far and which were described to Reuters by Chilean officials and an astronomer, are aimed at fuelling growth in Amazon.com Incs cloud computing business in Latin America and boosting its data processing capabilities. President Sebastian Pineras center-right government, which is seeking to wean Chiles $325 billion economies from reliance on copper mining, announced last week it plans to pool data from all its telescopes onto a virtual observatory stored in the cloud, without giving a timeframe. The government talked of the potential for Astrodata innovation but did not give details. The government did not comment on companies that might host Astrodata in the computing cloud. Amazon executives have been holding discussions with the Chilean government for two years about a possible data center to provide infrastructure for local firms and the government to store information on the cloud, an official at InvestChile, the governments investment body, told Reuters. For at least some of that time, the talks have included discussion about the possibility of Amazon Web Services (AWS), hosting Astrodata, astronomer Chris Smith said, based on email exchanges he was part of between AWS and Chilean Economy Ministry officials over the last six months. Smith was at the time mission head of AURA observatory, which manages three of the U.S. federally-funded telescope projects in Chile. Jeffrey Kratz, AWSs General Manager for Public Sector for Latin American, Caribbean, and Canada, has visited Chile for talks with Pinera. He confirmed the companys interest in Astrodata but said Amazon had no announcements to make at present. Chile is a very important country for AWS, he said in an email to Reuters. We kept being amazed about the incredible work on astronomy and the telescopes, as real proof points on innovation and technology working together. The Chilean telescopes can benefit from the cloud by eliminating the heavy lifting of managing IT, Kratz added. AWS is a fast-growing part of Amazons overall business. In July it reported second-quarter sales of $6.1 billion, up by 49 percent over the same period a year ago, accounting for 12 percent of Amazons overall sales. Star-gazing To Shop-lifting Chile is home to 70 percent of global astronomy investment, thanks to the cloudless skies above its northern Atacama desert, the driest on earth. Within five years, the South American country will host three of the worlds four next-generation, billion-dollar telescopes, according to Smith. He and Economy Ministry officials leading the Chilean initiative to store Astrodata in the cloud saw potential in more Earth-bound matters. The particular tools developed for the Astrodata project could be applicable for a wide variety of other uses, such as tracking potential shop-lifters, fare-evaders on public transport and endangered animals, Julio Pertuze, a ministry official, told Reuters at the event announcing Chiles aim to build a virtual observatory on the cloud. Smith added that the same technology could also be applied to medicine and banking to spot anomalies in large datasets. Amazon, whose founder and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos is well known for his interest in space, already provides a cloud platform for the Hubble Telescopes data and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia. As Amazon explores the potential in Chiles Astrodata, tech rival Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, is already a member of Chiles Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will be fully operational in Cerro Pachon in 2022. Google also has a data center established in the country. Justin Burr, the senior PR associate for AI and Machine learning at Google, declined to comment on any Google plans around Astrodata or its involvement in other telescope projects. Separately, a Google spokeswoman said last week that the company will announce expansion plans for its Chilean data center on Sept. 12. Giant Database Smith said that what the Chileans are calling the Astroinformatics Initiative to harness the potential of Aastrodata could enable Amazon Web Services access to the research that astronomers are doing on projects like the LSST. We are going to have to go through a huge database of billions of stars to find the three stars that an astronomer wants, Smith said, adding that was not too different from searching a database of billions of people to find the right profile for a targeted advertisement. So a tool that might get developed in LSST or the astronomical world could be applicable for Amazon in their commercial world. Since speaking to Reuters, Smith has moved on from his job heading AURA to a new position at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Amazons role in the Aastrodata project would also give it an entry into a market where it is seeking to expand. Amazon which controls nearly one-third of the global cloud computing business, ahead of rivals Microsoft Corp and Google has struggled to lure public institutions in Latin America, including research facilities, to store their data online instead of on physical machines. AWS declined to provide any information on the size of its regional business in Latin America. Economy Minister Jose Ramon Valente said at last weeks announcement, Chile has enormous potential in its pristine skies not only in the observation of the universe but also in the amount of data that observation generates. By Cassandra Garrison. Chinese students wait in line for lunch in a classroom at a school in Beijing on December 18, 2015. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Parents in China Worry About Toxic Formaldehyde as Schools Begin New Term Parents of school-age children in China are growing concerned about reports that the carcinogen formaldehyde has been found in many nurseries and primary schools. On Sept. 1, thousands of parents gathered in Leiyang, Hunan Province, to protest a government plan to move elementary-school students into renovated private-school classrooms that had unsafe levels of formaldehyde. On the same day, similar concerns resulted in fifth- and sixth-grade students at a Xian primary school not attending class on schedule. In Shenzhen, parents of students at the Nanyou Elementary School reported odd smells in the classrooms. Some students said they felt nauseous. Formaldehyde is a chemical thats used to make building materials such as particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard, as well as many household products, including cleaners, medicines, soaps, and cosmetics. Products that contain formaldehyde release the chemical as a gas or vapor, so people can breathe it in or absorb it through the skin when in liquid form. The toxin can cause cancer and has been linked to an increased risk of asthma and allergies in kids. A parent surnamed Shao in the city of Hengyang in Hunan Province told The Epoch Times that this kind of thing is common. About two years earlier, formaldehyde was detected in the first- and second-grade classrooms of a school, as the renovations had been finished just one day before the beginning of the school term, Shao said. Shao said that she visited the local education bureau and government departments, but was ignored. Later, I printed more than 100 flyers to inform the parents about the risks, she said. I also posted the information on the internet, only then they finally started to do something. According to Shao, because the primary school is one of the top schools in the area and a difficult place to enroll ones children, many parents kept quiet despite feeling dizzy, after staying in the classrooms for about an hour. The school and government simply dont care about childrens safety, Shao said. They basically go for profit and think about how to maximize their own interests. Society has no moral bottom line. The Chinese Communist Partys rule is the greatest torment; it is impossible for people to lead happy and healthy lives. According to mainland Chinese reports, excessive levels of formaldehyde are the primary cause of leukemia in children. A survey found that 90 percent of child leukemia patients had been living in newly renovated homes. Nationwide Concern School buildings are typically renovated during summer vacation. To maximize profits, however, construction companies often use unsafe or low-quality materials. Unsafe levels of formaldehyde are commonly found in renovated classrooms. This summer, reports of dangerous levels of formaldehyde sprung up around the country, including in the cities of Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. In July, parents of students attending the Xiaobei Road Primary School in Guangzhou, in southern China, repeatedly petitioned their school management to express their objection to holding classes in a newly prepared set of classrooms. Many students had reported feeling unwell, and reported symptoms such as nosebleeds and dizziness. Since May, more than a dozen children going to the Golden Sun International New City Kindergarten in Chengdu, in southwestern China, reported fevers, coughing, vomiting, and nosebleeds. Three auditing agencies found that the formaldehyde level in the classrooms twice exceeded safe levels. Such incidents have been reported regularly across China in multiple provinces since at least 2013. One report from a kindergarten in Guangzhou dates back to 2002. The way the incidents were handled can be contrasted with the practice of school administrators in Hong Kong, which is a part of China but enjoys some measure of self-rule. In 2012, before the students moved into new dormitories at the University of Hong Kong, it was found that six of 16 rules of health and safety assessment were below good levels. The university decided at its own cost to transfer almost 100 students to a hotel, and arrange special transportation to and from classes. California Legislature Stops Advancing on Voluntary Drinking Water Tax The bills seeking to create a voluntary drinking water tax on California residents and a mandatory tax on dairy producers and fertilizer manufacturers lost its chance to make it through the state legislature as the Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced a stop to pushing the bill forward on Aug. 31. The Assembly is committed to identifying a sustainable funding source to ensure safe drinking water for all Californians, Rendon said in a statement. But much more needs to be done, and a piecemeal funding approach wont work. This came as another failure for the California lawmakers, who unsuccessfully pushed a mandatory drinking water tax through the legislature in June this year and later tried again by changing from mandatory to voluntary. The bills proposed to establish a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund with the revenue, which will be used to provide safe drinking water in vulnerable areas that are threatened by nitrates, lead, arsenic, and other contaminants. Senate Bill 845 would require that starting from July 1, 2019, a voluntary drinking water tax be automatically added onto California ratepayers bills. Customers would need to opt out via their community water system in order to avoid the tax, which was expected to cost 95 cents for most customers. In addition, Senate Bill 844 proposes a mandatory fee on dairy producers starting in 2021 and fertilizer manufacturers starting in 2019. Gov. Jerry Brown backed these two bills, which were expected to collect as much as $100 million a year. However, opponents of the bills believe it is unnecessary to add additional burden on ratepayers. The State should NOT tax or add charges to something that is essential to life, such as water and food. The public does not support the precedent of starting to tax resources that are essential to life. #YourWater #SB845 || Get the REAL Facts: https://t.co/ddQv9nIi2g pic.twitter.com/wx93sqOflZ MWDOC (@MWDOC) August 30, 2018 Given our current $9 billion surplus, there is ample money in the general fund to pay for clean water projects without this new tax, said Assemblyman Jay Obernolte to The Sacramento Bee. What we lack is the political willpower to spend our existing resources on these vital government services rather than imposing new taxes on our citizens. In the wake of a recent recall of Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who voted yes on the $52 billion gas tax, many California lawmakers are not willing to support any new tax or tax increase. However, the author of the bills, Sen. Bill Monning, expressed his wish to continue working on this issue. I do want to assure you that our fight is not over, he said to The Sacramento Bee. It is not over until we win the support necessary to fulfill the fundamental human right to water for all Californians. California Officer Kills Wife, Then Himself Outside Nutrition Store A California Highway Patrol officer killed himself after shooting his wife dead outside of a nutrition store the officer broke into, authorities said. The deaths took place in Martell in northern California on Monday night, Sept. 3. Brad Wheat, the officer, was off-duty at the time of the shooting, according to the Amador County Sheriffs Office. 911 Call Deputies responded to Get Ripped Nutrition around 10:45 p.m. after the stores owner called 911 and said that he and Mary Wheat, Brad Wheats wife, were locked inside the vitamin store while the officer was outside banging on the door. Deputies rushed over and arrived just minutes later but they heard shots being fired. They found the Wheats dead and the store owner injured, with a gunshot wound to his shoulder, reported the Record Net. The owner is expected to survive. A witness told deputies that Wheat was unable to get through the door so he fired a gun through the stores front window and gained access. Once inside, he shot the owner and struggled with the owner and his wife. The fight moved outside to the parking lot, culminating with Brad Wheat shooting his wife before shooting himself. The Wheats leave behind four children. A tragic scene here in Amador County. Officials are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving an off-duty CHP officer & his wife. They say the man was banging on the locked door last night & eventually fired at the window to get in. https://t.co/A87gT3YCtB @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/wtx9JAT7PF Frances Wang (@FrancesWangTV) September 4, 2018 TONIGHT AT 5: A friend of Mary & Brad Wheat says the entire community is mourning after they were found dead last night. Sheriffs officials say the off-duty CHP officer shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. WATCH @FOX40 for the full story>> https://t.co/3UER8u3UOq pic.twitter.com/l2mv3s5qGp Olivia DeGennaro (@OliviaDeGennaro) September 4, 2018 Investigators Working on Motive Investigators said theyre still probing a motive for the killings but alluded to a relationship between the business owner and Mary Wheat. We believe there was a relationship between the victim, the husband, and his wife, sheriffs spokesman Gary Redman told the Los Angeles Times. Gloria Vallejo, who owns a restaurant near the nutrition store, told CBS that Mary Wheat had been having lunch at her bar on a number of recent days. Lately, Mary had been coming in to have lunch, to have a drink, shell be at the bar just hanging out, Vallejo said. Vallejo said she saw the Get Ripped Nutrition owner having lunch with Wheat on Friday, Aug. 31, three days before the incident. Amador Sheriff Martin Ryan told the Record Net that theres been a lot of talk about the nature of the relationship between the three people involved in the shootings but declined to provide details. There is a lot of speculation on what transpired. We are still working through that, Ryan said. We are concerned about the surviving victim, the children, and the impact on our community. We have few homicides here; this doesnt happen up here with any frequency at all. From NTD.tv Campaign to Rename Dixie School District to Be Addressed on September 4 A decades-long attempt to rename the Dixie School District in San Rafael will be revisited on September 4 at the monthly meeting of the school board, proponents of the rename attempt said. Advocates of the change say the name is a reference to slavery that is out of touch with Marin County values. The campaign to change the name began in 1997 and the last vote on the name change was in 2003. The school board did not pass the proposed change. Members of the Committee to Change the Name will address the board during the public comment period of the boards meeting on September 4 at 380 Nova Albion Way in San Rafael. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. The subject is not on the formal agenda. The move to change the name has similarities with current campaigns across the state and the country to remove Confederate monuments and memorials. The Confederacy does not need an outpost in Northern California, said Marin resident Noah Griffin, who with fellow resident Kerry Pierson has championed the change since 1997. We need to teach our children to have compassion for the pain of others, not to dismiss or trivialize it. Rather than suggesting an alternative name, Griffin said he would like the public to make suggestions, an approach one school board member said she agreed with. Dixie is a synonym for the Confederacy. Dixie does not reflect our communitys values. Its time to change the name, said Marnie Dixon, a school board member. By Janis Mara. U.S. President Donald Trump is greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on the first day of the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, on June 8, 2018. (Geoff Robins/ AFP/Getty Images) Canada Must Join Trump Train or Fall Further Behind Trade standoff an opportunity for introspection, spring cleaning Fresh research offers ominous news for Canada. An index of labor-market performance across U.S. states and Canadian provinces places all 10 of the latter in the bottom half. Its the economy, Canada! For example, the four Atlantic provincesNew Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Islandare in the bottom five out of 60. Only struggling West Virginia, in 58th, stopped these provinces from a clean sweep of the ladders bottom rungs. This comprehensive measure, which includes total employment growth and unemployment rates, draws on 2015-2017 data. You can guarantee that Canada will fare even worse when the 2019 edition is released, and includes data from the tenure of President Donald Trump. Instead of aligning with Trump and pursuing a growth agenda, however, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is virtue signaling to garner Trump hate votes, as explained by Manny Montenegrino, CEO of Think Sharp in Ottawa. Such a stance is set to drive more workers and investment away from the Great White North. Where Trump, Trudeau Part Ways One form of this anti-Trump virtue signaling comes in the no-compromise position on Canadas dairy and poultry cartels, protected by egregious tariffs and domestic-supply quotas. Trudeau and his opposition counterpart, Andrew Scheer of the Conservative Party, are willing to put the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in jeopardy over 11,000 spoiled, inefficient dairy producers. Meanwhile, the Mexican president and president-elect have already overcome any rhetorical and personality differences to hammer out a deal with Trump. The time has come for a reality check before Trudeaus dangerous game of chicken has devastating long-term consequences for the Canadian economy. Retaliatory tariffs from the Trump administration against Canadian-made automobiles threaten 190,000 workers, and that could just be the beginning. Canadian officials need to recognize that one of their nations greatest economic strengths is also her greatest vulnerability. Canada borders the worlds most dynamic, powerful, and successful economy. The United States is a voracious consumer that buys a whopping 74 percent of Canadas exports. Compare that with 16 percent of U.S. exports that go to Canada. The United States needs Canada a lot less than the reverse. This places Canada in a vulnerable position that compels humility. End Supply Management Already The euphemistically termed supply management is just the start of Canada economic malaise. This cartelization happens to be in the crosshairs of NAFTA, since it blocks out U.S. producers. However, as Martha Hall Findlay of the Canada West Foundation points out, supply management ought to go, not because Trump says so, but because it is in Canadas best interests. You might realize that, given the fear-mongering from the cartel members. In a blatant example of the broken-window fallacy, they tout the potentially devastating impact on farmers and the negative ripple effect if this Soviet-style system were to go. What about the positive ripple? At present, Canadians pay inflated prices on the subject items, including milk, cheese, and eggs. The end of supply management, therefore, would be as good as a tax break on grocery items that most Canadians consider to be pantry staples, as highlighted in a Toronto Sun column by Mark Bonokoski. The unseen effect here, not talked about by the cartel members and apologists, is the heightened purchasing power of consumers. They will then have more discretionary income available to spend and invest elsewhere, thus expanding the Canadian economy in a productive manner. There is also a glaring counterexample that supply-management apologists ignore. In 2000, Australia deregulated its dairy industry and abolished the State Marketing Authorities. The results, wrote Jon Berry and Alan Oxley of the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, have been unambiguously positive. Prices fell to the immediate benefit of consumers, and a more dynamic industryunencumbered by the states middlemenrestructured, responded to demand signals, and learned to compete on the world stage. Australia now exports half of her dairy output, and that generates $3 billion annually. Berry and Oxley add that this industry is set for even more growth, as producers embrace trade deals as commercial opportunities rather than threats. Beyond NAFTA, for Canadas Sake The standoff over supply management is a symptom of much deeper problems in the Canadian economy, as evidenced by the Index of Labour Market Performance. Those who feast on the largess of federal and provincial governments stand in the way of overdue market liberalization. The level of cronyism across both major parties came to a head last month when prominent Member of Parliament Maxime Bernier elected to depart the Conservative Party. Bernier of Quebec, who narrowly lost the leadership race in 2017, is now building a new party devoted to the free-market conservative philosophy. There will be no supply management where he is going. The classical liberal, in his resignation statement, wrote that A Conservative party that supports free markets should also advocate the end of corporate welfare. Canadians are tired of paying taxes to bail out Bombardier, Ford, and other businesses. Whether he uses Trumps vernacular or not, Bernier is a threat to the swamp. He also realizes that Canada must work with the United States and, gasp, compete with her, too. Beyond Bernier, though, there is a rising awareness that there are structural problems with the Canadian economy. Most notable among them is the vast feel-good redistribution scheme known as equalization, which explicitly takes from successful provinces and rewards have-not provinces. Not surprisingly, this approach keeps the recipient provinces poor and incentivizes residents to remain where employment prospects are bleak. The current trajectory of inefficiency, if left untouched, will lead Canada further away from international competitiveness. The entire nation will become more depressed like the Atlantic provinces. Two Areas for Change NAFTA negotiations offer an opportunity for Canada to reflect on how to better compete and develop a robust economy. Sealing the deal, of course, is an important first step. However, if free trade is the goalknowing it offers win-win exchangestwo notable impediments remain (in addition to equalization reform). The C.D. Howe Institute, a Toronto-based think tank, recently made the sensible case for further openness and transparency towards foreign direct investment (FDI). Canadas performance in attracting FDI has been lackluster of late, with investment outflows outstripping inflows since 2013. Capital accumulation is pivotal for economic development. It aids trade based on comparative advantage, and foreign firms offer better-paying employment to Canadians. That is why this trend, with a gap of about $60 billion in 2017, is so troubling, and it hasnt happened by accident. Even if Canadians pride themselves on being an open nation, a ranking from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development places Canada 32nd out of 35 member nations for openness to FDI (with an index score on par with Russia). Canada can and should rectify this shortcoming by getting rid of the opaque net benefit test for large FDI transactions and open up more sectors that dont have clear national-security risks. The second problem to dispense with is entirely self-imposed. Not only does Canada have work to do on being more open and hospitable to international trade, the provinces have a myriad of barriers to domestic trade across the country. This led to the famous free the beer court case, in which a New Brunswick man challenged a $220 fine for bringing 14 cases of beer from Quebec. He lost, and so did Canadians. Since the Canadian Supreme Court wont defend the liberties of constituents to shop and travel as they see fit, the responsibility lies with provincial premiers. Many declared their support for removing such barriers, as noted by Marco Navarro-Genie and Alex Whalen of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. However, that talk has come to maybe one small step on alcohola potential raising of cross-border limitsand no leaps at all for liberalization. They offer a cogent reminder to both Trump and his Canadian counterpart, along with the provincial premiers: With the right disposition, any free-trade deal can be written on the back of a napkin. You remove all restrictions and parties can trade unencumbered. Fergus Hodgson is the founder and executive editor of Latin American intelligence publication Antigua Report. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Skyworth AI chip at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in Shanghai on June 13, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images) China Lures Tech Talent from Taiwan with Fat Salaries and Perks TAIPEIA huge pay raise, eight free trips home a year, and a heavily subsidized apartment. It was a dream job offer that a Taiwanese engineer simply could not refuse. A veteran engineer of Taiwans top-tier chipmakers, including United Microelectronics Corporation, took up the offer from a Chinese state-backed chipmaker last year and now oversees a small team at a wafer foundry in eastern China. The engineer joined a growing band of senior Taiwan professionals working in Chinas booming and fast-developing semiconductor industry. Attracting such talent from Taiwan has become a key part of an effort by China to put the industry into overdrive, and reduce the countrys dependence on overseas firms for the prized chips that power everything from smartphones to military satellites. That drive, which started in 2014, intensified this year as U.S.-China trade tensions escalated, according to recruiters and industry insiders, exposing what China feels is an over-reliance on foreign-made chips. China imported $260 billion worth of semiconductors in 2017, more than its imports of crude oil. Home-made chips made up less than 20 percent of domestic demand in the same year, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association. More than 300 senior engineers from Taiwan have moved to Chinese chipmakers so far this year. They joined nearly 1,000 others who have relocated to China since Beijing set up a $22 billion fund to develop the chip industry in 2014, according to estimates from H&L Management Consultants, a Taipei-based recruitment firm. The battle for skilled engineers has raised concerns in Taiwan that the island could lose a key economic engine to its political foe, China. Analysts say China is still years behind Taiwan in terms of chip design and manufacturing, even as it moves ahead in terms of the production of lower-end chips. Chinas semiconductor plans accelerated this year after the United States banned sales of chips to the Chinese telecoms firm ZTE, senior Chinese officials told Reuters in April. Tariffs imposed by Washington on $16 billion worth of Chinas imports have hit Chinese semiconductors, which are now subject to tariff rates of 25 percent. That will make Chinese chips less competitive compared to those from Taiwan and South Korea, and could disrupt Chinas semiconductor ambitions. Beijings aim is to have local chips comprise at least 40 percent of Chinas semiconductor needs by 2025. Underscoring the talent crunch, two state-run institutions said in August that about 400,000 professionals were working in Chinas integrated circuit sector at the end of 2017, far short of the estimated 720,000 workers needed by 2020. While China has also targeted engineers from South Korea and Japan to address that shortage, it has had the most success in Taiwan due to a common language and culture, recruiters say. Lin Yu-Hsuan, a manager at the recruitment firm H&L, said engineers from Taiwan were lured by high pay, perks, and more senior positions at Chinese chipmakers like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) that are flush with cash from Chinas multi-billion chip fund. Many of them said: the money I will earn in China in three years is equivalent to what I could get in Taiwan in 10 years. I could retire earlier, Lin said. Steve Wang, the vice chairman and president of Novatek Microelectronics, a Taiwanese integrated chip designer, said a small percentage of its employees had left for China over the past two years, and acknowledged that it would be difficult to match offers from Chinese rivals. The engineer at the wafer foundry, who declined to be named as the details of his contract were not public, said his Chinese employer offered him a new three-bedroom apartment with a 40 percent discount, on the condition that he worked for the company for more than five years, in addition to a 50 percent pay rise. He declined to give the exact figure. China dares to burn money, whereas Taiwan companies have limited resources, he said. Counter-Offer A senior executive at a newly-established chipmaker in northeastern China, Integrated Circuits Company, said about one-third of its recently recruited 120 engineers were from Taiwan. There is not a lack of money. What we need is talent, said the person, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said the company, led by Richard Chang, the founder of SMIC, Chinas leading chipmaker, offers new hires discounted property and attractive subsidies for bilingual school tuition for their children in the port city of Qingdao. Taiwanese engineers are most experienced and could help us cultivate local talents, the executive said. The movement will continue to escalate. Industry watchers said Taiwans widely respected chip design houses and foundries have been among the hardest hit by the outflow of engineers, and have been forced to ramp up spending to lure workers. The islands leading integrated circuit designers and chipmakers have seen a 35 percent jump in labor costs, including salary and benefits from two years ago, compared with a 21 percent hike in revenue, according to Reuters calculations based on corporate filings from Taiwans 10 largest listed companies by market value. Trade Secret Taiwan has been watching the Chinese recruitment efforts with growing anxiety. It has long barred chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a key supplier to Apple, from moving their most advanced technology to manufacturing operations in China to keep it from falling into the hands of Chinese rivals. A former employee of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was charged with breach of trust and theft of trade secrets, giving them to a Chinese firm, according to an Aug. 30 report by Taiwans the Liberty Times. Many in Taiwan are also concerned that the rapid development of Chinas chip industry could lead to the sort of oversupply and plunging prices that came with Chinese efforts to develop other key industries like solar panels and liquid crystal displays. Chinas integrated circuit design firms have already surpassed their Taiwan rivals in terms of revenue, with $31 billion in 2017, compared with Taiwans $22 billion, according to Mark Li, an analyst at the investment research firm Bernstein. The fears are that the battle for talent will widen that gap further. In a move to retain top talent, Taiwans cabinet in July pledged to relax tax regulations on employee stock ownership. The Chinese Communist Party has been poaching our talent, said Chen Mei-ling, minister of Taiwans policy-planning National Development Council. The government has amended regulations to help companies keep talent. Ho Chan-cheng, legal affairs director at Taiwans Intellectual Property Office, said inappropriate poaching could lead to the leaking of trade secrets and that the government was working to protect the islands core technologynamely the capacity to increase chip yield per wafer. Taiwan companies are also trying to offer their own incentives. Antonio Yu, spokesman for the Taiwan-based chip design house Phison Electronics Corporation, said that while the company does not have the capital to play such a money game, it has tried to create a reassuring environment for its employees. He cited long-standing cash bonuses and programs such as free legal counseling, as well as a monthly town hall meeting with Phisons chairman, Khein-Seng Pua. We treat our employees like family, he said. By Yimou Lee A DJI crop-spraying drone is displayed during the SIMA (Mondial des Fournisseurs de l'Agriculture et de l'Elevage) 2017 at the Parc des Expositions Paris Nord in Villepinte, France, on Feb. 26, 2017. (Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images) Chinese Drone Maker Turns to US International Trade Commission to Settle Patent Dispute A Chinese drone maker has turned to a U.S. federal agency in hopes of settling a patent-infringement complaint against a Chinese competitor, in a case that highlights how a drone maker, through Chinese government subsidies, has risen to be a global leader. DJI, the worlds largest maker of civilian drones, is the target of a complaint filed at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by Autel Robotics USA, a U.S. subsidiary of China-based Autel, according to an ITC notice issued on Aug. 30. Both DJI and Autel are based in Shenzhen, a metropolis in southern China that borders Hong Kong. The complaint alleges that DJI violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a trade law that enforces U.S. intellectual-property rights at the border. If ITC determines that DJI violated Section 337, the import and sale of its drones would be halted and the company would be shut out of the U.S. market. The dispute centers around drones used for aerial photography, videotaping, and agricultural purposes. The unmanned devices have many applications, including mapping and surveying, meaning that they can take aerial photos and analyze farms. When equipped with a small canister, they can be used to spray farms with fertilizers and pesticides. DJI is accused of infringing on some of Autels patented drone features, including rotor assembly; a way to switch out battery packs; and how a drone follows a flight path while avoiding obstacles, according to a Bloomberg report. DJI and Autel have been embroiled in a legal battle in U.S. court for several years. In August 2016, DJI filed a lawsuit against Autel at a federal court in Delaware, saying Autels X-star series of drones infringed on one of its patents, claiming similarities in the drones design compared to the drawing outlines in a DJIs patent. A year later in May, DJI filed another suit against Autel at a federal court for the Western District of Washington. In April, Autel filed its own lawsuit against DJI at a federal court in New York City. Autel accused DJI of infringing on one of its patents across several lines of drones, including the Mavic, Spark, Phantom, and Inspire series, given the similarities in features such as the intelligent braking system and sensors. DJI According to data from market research company Markets and Markets, the international unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) market is expected to grow from $17.82 billion in 2017 to $48.88 billion by 2023. Currently, the top two drone makers in the world are based in China. According to data from the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), DJI held a 72 percent market share in 2017, followed by Yuneec with 5 percent. U.S. drone maker 3D Robotics was No. 3 with 4 percent, followed by French maker Parrot with 2 percent. Autel ranked fifth with 2 percent market share. DJIs dominance in the global market didnt come solely from its own research and development. The company has received millions of dollars worth in subsidies from the Shenzhen government, where the company is based. DJI began receiving Shenzhen subsidies beginning in 2014, according to information from Jin Bo Shi Management and Planning Corporation, a private company that helps Chinese companies file for government subsidy programs, obtain national certification, and file for patents. Jin Bo Shi cites data from the Shenzhen government. In 2015, DJI obtained 2 million yuan ($292,270) in subsidies from the Shenzhen government to develop 3D view technology on drones. The following year, it obtained subsidies of 10 million yuan (about $1.46 million) for research and development purposes. In 2017, the Shenzhen government gave DJI 5 million yuan ($731,325) for development of the drones navigation system, 10 million yuan ($1.46 million) for research and development, and 1.89 million yuan (about $276,440) for a project on drones lifecycle management. Agricultural Subsidies Chinas drone companies also have been boosted by the central governments subsidy program to encourage the use of drones on farms. In September 2017, Chinas Ministry of Agriculture announced that it would provide subsidy funding of up to 10 million yuan ($1.46 million) for each of the five provincesZhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdongand one municipality, Chongqing, to provide local farmers with drones for agricultural purposes including spraying pesticides, according to state-run media Xinhua. Since then, the governments in these six locales have each enacted their own drone subsidy program. For example, in November 2017, the Chongqing government announced that it would subsidize farmers 29,000 yuan (about $259) for the purchase of a single rotor drone, and 16,000 yuan (about $2,340) for a multi-rotor drone. Chris Watts Reportedly Under Suicide Watch in Jail Chris Watts, the Colorado man accused of killing his wife and daughters, is reportedly under suicide watch in prison. The 33-year-old admitted to killing Shanann Watts, 34, but claimed he only did so after seeing her strangle their two daughters at the family home. However, prosecutors have charged him with all three murders. Shanann Watts was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed, and her death came just days before a planned gender reveal party for the unborn baby. Suicide Watch Chris Watts has been placed under a suicide watch protocol, which includes the requirement of a detention officer checking in on him every five to 10 minutes, a jail source told Ashleigh Banfield of HLN. Read More Shanann Watts Struggled to Conceive, Brother Reveals Several times each day, an officer personally enters Watts cell to make sure hes still alive and completely searches the cell. Under the watch, Watts is only allowed out of his cell for one hour per day. He is let into a room where he is the sole occupant. The watch also requires Watts not be given access to television or any reading material, according to HLN. Criminologist Assesses Murders Chris Watts has not entered a plea as of yet but has been charged with five counts of murder, two of which are due to his daughters both being under 12 years of age; unlawful termination of a pregnancy; and three counts of tampering with bodies. Denise Mowder, a criminologist, said that she assessed the case and believes Watts, who was having an affair, had a plan to start a new life with the other woman. I think he had a vision of another life with this other womancarefree, no responsibilities, she told The Denver Channel. Two children and another on the way, thats a big responsibility. Read More Family of Murdered Colorado Mother Shanann Watts Wants Justice In most situations similar to the Watts murders, Mowder said, the man would kill himself as well. Since Watts didnt, she believes he had plans to start over. A piece of evidence that supports her theory is how Watts went on camera after his family initially disappeared and pleaded for them to return. This whole facade he put on right after they started looking for themthat was very odd, and it makes me wonder if he wasnt trying to find an out to be with the girlfriend, said Mowder. Somebody else did it. Im the poor grieving father.' Mowder said Watts claim that his wife strangled the children is false and that she believes some of Watts secrets will be revealed during the trial. From NTD.tv FBI More Interested in Getting Trump Than Russians, Court Documents Show News Analysis The FBI worked hard to prove that a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump lied to them about his exchanges with a supposed Russian contact. But the FBI showed little interest in busting the Russian contact itself. The FBI twice questioned the adviser, George Papadopoulos, and obtained search warrants and subpoenas to get his emails, text messages, internet search history, and other information, which led to his arrest on July 27, 2017. FBI agents intercepted him right after he deplaned a flight from Munich, before he approached customs at the Dulles Airport outside Washington, Politico reported. He was then further questioned on at least four occasions. His crime was that he tried to downplay his contacts with Maltese academic Joseph Mifsudthe supposed Russian contact whose machinations were used by the FBI as a reason to start investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In a January 2017 FBI interview, Papadopoulos said that the Russians had emails of [former State Secretary Hillary] Clinton and claimed that he had learned so in February 2016 from Mifsud before he joined the Trump campaign. In fact, Mifsud had told him about the emails in April 2016, about a month after he joined the campaign, according to the Aug. 17 governments sentencing memo. This was Papadopouloss first lie. Papadopoulos also called Mifsud a nothing who was just a guy talk[ing] up connections or something. The prosecutors called this a lie as well, since Papadopoulos understood the professor to have substantial connections to high-level Russian government officials. Similarly, Papadopoulos downplayed his contacts with two Russians that Mifsud introduced him to: a woman he believed had connections to high-level Russian government officials (she didnt) and a man connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The special counsel prosecutors demanded up to six months in prison and a fine of $9,500 for Papadopoulos. But while Papadopoulos has faced the full power of FBI top counterintelligence agents and no less than three prosecutors from the team of special counsel Robert Mueller, Mifsud still walks free and the FBI has shown little effort to capture him. Mifsud at Large The FBI actually interviewed Mifsud in February 2017. The prosecutors blamed Papadopoulos lies for their inability to effectively question Mifsud and potentially detain or arrest him. But Papadopouloss lawyers disagreed. According to the official FBI narrative, the agents learned about Mifsuds talk about Clinton emails in late July 2016, after Wikileaks started to release emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The agents, apparently conflating Clintons emails with those of the DNC, were so concerned about Mifsuds supposed foreknowledge of the release that they launched a full-on counterintelligence probe. It was still apparent, despite Georges lie, that Professor Mifsud communicated this information to George prior to the stolen emails being made public, Papadopouloss defense lawyers argued. The FBI never asked Papadopoulos to try to confront Mifsud, even though he said he was willing to do so. Moreover, it appears the FBI never tried to reinterview Mifsud, even though he was attending public events and was interviewed by Italian media as late as October 2017. In that media interview, Mifsud emphatically denied Papadopouloss testimony regarding Clinton. I strongly deny any discussion of mine about secrets concerning Hillary Clinton, he said. I swear it on my daughter. If this is to be Mifsuds official testimony, it would appear that he is guilty of lying too, since his account differs from parts of Papadopouloss testimony that the FBI has not disputed. The key appears to be that Mifsud didnt have particularly high-profile contacts in Russia, as The Epoch Times previously reported, and apparently misled Papadopoulos into believing he did. Instead, he had deep ties to a spy school in Rome frequented by national security and intelligence officials of Western nations, including the United States, the UK, and Italy. He was close with prominent European officials. Mifsud was instrumental in trying to establish a link between the Trump campaign and Russia, but his indictment would do little damage to Trump. Supervisory Border Patrol agent Marlene Castro speaks to a group of unaccompanied minors who just crossed the Rio Grande illegally from Mexico into the United States, in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) Feds Not Doing Enough to Keep Unaccompanied Minors Safe: Report WASHINGTONUnder the Obama administration, the discovery that unaccompanied children were entering the country, mostly illegally, across the Southwest border, and subsequently being placed with human-trafficking rings, galvanized a Senate subcommittee to investigate. Three years and many recommendations later, the committee says not enough has changed. In 2014, during an unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border, the Office of Refugee Resettlement placed eight children into the hands of traffickers, according to a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released on Aug. 15. The traffickers put the children into forced labor on an egg farm in Marion, Ohio, the report states. The children worked for no pay for 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, and lived in deplorable conditions. The traffickers threatened them and their families with violence if the children did not comply with them. The traffickers lured the children into the United States over a four-month period, with promises of education and a better life, the report said. After crossing the border and being apprehended by Border Patrol, unaccompanied minors are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within 72 hours. The ORR sits within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which operates a network of just over 100 shelters in 17 states. The ORR is responsible for placing the minor with a sponsor in the United Stateswhich is often a parent who is already in the country illegally, or a relative, or family friend. In the 2014 case, the human traffickers posed as family members or friends of the family to the eight children, and ORR placed them, without conducting background checks or site visits. Six of the seven traffickers have subsequently been convicted, with one case still to be decided. When we last held a hearing on this issue in April, we heard reports of children being placed in homes with people they dont know, who expect them to work to help with living expenses, subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said at an Aug. 16 hearing. We heard about children, sometimes due to a need to send money home or to pay debts to smugglers, working all night and unable to stay awake at school during the day. Committee members said government agencies havent moved fast enough to stop exploitation. These federal agencies must do more to care for unaccompanied minors and ensure they arent trafficked or abused, said subcommittee Chairman Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). He said the subcommittee has provided both HHS and the Department of Homeland Security with a road map for how to improve the unaccompanied minor program and protect the children, yet, they have largely ignored those recommendations. Failing to Appear The committees bipartisan report says the most significant unaddressed problem is that no agency claims any legal responsibility for the childrens well-being once they are placed with sponsorsincluding sponsors who are not their parents or legal guardiansand no agency makes any effort to ensure minors placed with sponsors appear at their immigration court proceedings. Although ORR attempts to conduct a courtesy phone call 30 days after placing the child, that is often the full extent of the followup. HHS said that over a three-month period in 2017, when it made follow-up phone calls, it could not ascertain with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 unaccompanied minors it had recently placed, and 28 had run away from their sponsors, the committee report states. With no one responsible, the number of minors who show up for their immigration court hearings is low. Today, 53 percent of unaccompanied children never show up for their court proceedingsan increase of 12 percent since 2016, said Portman. In recent years, around 6,000 to 7,000 unaccompanied minors have failed to attend their immigration court hearings, each year, according to James McHenry, director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review. He said more than 80,000 unaccompanied minor cases are pending, which is about 11 percent of the overall pending caseload. While failing to appear in immigration court automatically places an alien into removal proceedings, almost no unaccompanied minors are ever removed. The best number we have is that only 3 percent are deported, Portman said. Foster Care System By definition, an unaccompanied alien child is under 18 and has no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Regardless, Homeland Security determined that about 60 percent of the children initially determined to be unaccompanied alien children are released by ORR within an average of 57 days to a parent already living illegally in the United States. More than 10,000 minor children are currently in the custody of ORR; the vast majority of them are sent alone by their parents, who pay smugglers to bring them across the southwest border. Around 80 percent hail from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Most are aged between 15 and 17. Thus far in fiscal 2018, approximately 44,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the United States. Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary at HHS Administration for Children and Families, said the unaccompanied minor program has grown vastly beyond its original intention. The [program] was never intended, however, to be a foster-care system, Wagner said on a May 29 media call. He said the program runs at an immediate cost to the federal taxpayer of over $1 billion a year. Legal Loopholes The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which was enacted to protect minors, has become a loophole for smugglers and for circumventing proper entry. The TVPRA has a provision that says a minor from a non-contiguous country cant be turned back to Mexico or flown back to their home countryeven if the individual isnt a victim of trafficking, nor if their age, identity, credible fear status, or criminal background cannot be verified. The administration wants Congress to amend the TVPRA so that minors who arent genuine trafficking victims can be quickly returned home or removed to safe third countries. In addition, the Flores Settlement Agreement, a Clinton-era settlement of a class-action lawsuit, puts pressure on the relevant government agencies to release unaccompanied minors quickly. This practice has not only led to aliens failing to appear for court hearings, and failing to comply with removal orders, but has also incentivized smugglers to place children into the hands of adult strangers so they can pose as families and be released from immigration custody after crossing the border, said Richard Hudson, acting chief of Law Enforcement and Operations Division at Customs and Border Protection. This creates a safety issue for these children, who have already made an extremely dangerous journey to reach the United States, risking possible trauma, abuse, abandonment, injury, and death along the way. Crimes Aside from being at risk of exploitation, many unaccompanied minors have admitted to crimes such as murder, rape, drug smuggling, prostitution, and human trafficking, according to files obtained by Judicial Watch and released in a report on July 10. During fiscal 2014, more than 68,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended at the Southwest border and 24,680 significant incident reports were filed by HHS, according to Judicial Watchputting the rate of incidents reported at 36 percent, if one incident represents one unaccompanied minor. A significant incident includes crimes committed by unaccompanied minors and crimes committed against them. The report details examples of minors who were raped or molested en route to the United States or once in the United States. The HHS records reveal that one unaccompanied female, once reunited in the United States, told her mother she was pregnant. When the clients mother asked her who the father of her child is, the client reluctantly replied that she was sexually assaulted by her guide several times, the HHS report states. The client stated that the first time he sexually assaulted her was the evening of March 30, 2014. She reported that the guide sexually assaulted her every evening between March 30 to April 6. The client stated that the guide became very protective of her and when picked up by immigration, claimed her as his wife. The client stated through fear of retaliation, she did not report the sexual assault to anyone. Border Patrol agents have said that parents sometimes put their female children on birth control pills prior to the journey north in anticipation that they will be raped along the way. Congress Under the Trump administration, more stringent measures have been implemented to ensure the safe placement of unaccompanied minors. Since June 7, HHS has been required to submit the fingerprints of all potential sponsors to the Department of Homeland Security, which conducts criminal and immigration status checks before a minor is released. But the loopholes in both the TVPRA and Flores agreement will remain open unless Congress steps in. France: 147 Evacuated from Plane Over Cholera Scare A sick child triggered a cholera scare on board a Boeing 737 flight heading from Algeria to southern France on Sept. 5, AFP reported. The child along with 147 passengers on an ASL Airlines flight were kept on the plane for an hour after it landed, the news agency said. The passengers were let off the plane after disinfecting their hands. Officials in Frances Pyrenees-Orientales region told AFP that the child was suspected of having cholera and was taken to hospital for tests along with her mother and other relatives. Algeria has experienced a cholera outbreak in August, the first time in decades, AFP noted. Two people died and dozens were infected, said Algerian officials. Cholera is transmitted via infected fecal matter and often through contaminated food or water. An estimated 2.9 million cases and 95,000 deaths occur each year around the world, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe. Approximately one in 10 infected persons will have severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours. In the United States, cholera was commonplace, but with the advent of modern water and sewage treatment, the risk has been mitigated, the CDC says. However, U.S. travelers to areas with epidemic cholera (for example, parts of Africa, Asia, or Latin America) may be exposed to the cholera bacterium. In addition, travelers may bring contaminated seafood back to the U.S.; foodborne outbreaks of cholera have been caused by contaminated seafood brought into the U.S. by travelers, the agency says. Another Quarantined Plane in NYC It comes just hours after an Emirates Airlines plane was held at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City after reports of dozens of sick passengers on board. As many as 100 passengers complained of illness, including cough, and some with fever, said the CDC, reported USA Today. Emirates Airlines, however, said that only around 10 people were sickened. Emirates can confirm that all passengers have disembarked from flight #EK203. All passengers were screened by local health authorities prior to disembarkation. 3 passengers & 7 crew were transferred to the hospital for further medical care and evaluation, it said on Twitter. All other #EK203 passengers were allowed to leave and clear customs. Our crew & on-ground staff extended full cooperation with the authorities during the onboard screenings & the aircraft has now been handed back to Emirates, according to the company. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that in all, 19 people got sick. All the passengers are off and have been evaluated. 19 sick. 10 to hospital and 9 refused medical attention. Health officials are processing tests now to determine the cause. Symptoms still pointing to the flu, he said on Twitter. Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence service, at a meeting with interior ministers of German federal states, in Saarbruecken, Germany on Nov. 30, 2016. (Oliver Dietze/dpa/ via AP) Germany Concerned About Sleeper Cyber Attacks From China and Other Aggressors BERLINA growing number of countries can hack into private computer networks and install malicious software to sabotage another countrys infrastructure, Germanys domestic spy chief said. China, Russia, and other countries continued to try to break into German companies computers to steal valuable industrial information, said Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency, at a security conference. But intelligence officials are increasingly worried about so-called cyber bombs that could be planted in the network of an unsuspecting company and detonated later. In the case of China, Russia, we clearly see measures like espionage, but it could also be sabotage with the goal of attacking companies in Germanyinfrastructure firms in the widest senseat some future point, Maassen said. That is a scenario that we view with concern. Cyber experts warn that Germanywith its high level of technology expertiseis a particularly attractive target for cyber attackers of all kinds, including state actors. A company could be completely oblivious to a cyber attack that had been used to plant malware, also known as a cyber bomb, Maassen said. Then the bomb could shut down power networks, for example, perhaps during a time of geopolitical tension. He said such attacks could come from a range of countries that have expanded their cyber expertise. In its annual report, the agency cited rapid strides in cyber technology by Iran, although it did not specifically spell out concerns about such sleeper attacks. Germany is also increasingly concerned that China is seeking to gain dominant positions in key technology sectors by investing in German firms as part of its larger Made in China 2025 drive, Maassen said. The plan, released by Beijing in 2015, lists 10 high-tech sectors for targeted development so China can become a high-tech manufacturing giant by 2025. That is a political project in which the government is spending a lot of money, not just to invest, but to buy information for its own technical progress, or to gain a position in specific areas that will make it impossible for others to continue developments there, he said. Maassens remarks come amid a push by Germany and other European Union states to protect sensitive technologies from Chinese takeovers. In December, the BfV also warned about efforts by China to use fake LinkedIn accounts to recruit German business executives and researchers as spies. By Andrea Shalal A woman walks past the logo of Google during an event in New Delhi, India, August 28, 2018. (Reuters/Adnan Abidi). Google Races to Parry the Rise of Facebook in India Google retains only a slight lead over Facebook in the competition for digital ad dollars in the crucial India market, sources familiar with the figures say, even though the search giant has been in the country far longer and has avoided the controversies that have dogged its rival. Facebooks success has shaken Alphabet Incs Google, led by an Indian-born CEO, Sundar Pichai, who has made developing markets a priority. Google officials in India earlier this year were alarmed to learn that Facebook Inc was likely to generate about $980 million in revenue in the country in 2018, according to one of the sources. Googles India revenues reached $1 billion only in 2017. Facebook and Google declined to comment on Indian revenue figures or the competition between the two companies. Google is now pushing back, attempting to lure customers with better ad-buying tools and more localized services. The revamped strategy mirrors initiatives that have succeeded in boosting the time Indian consumers spend with Google services. The battle in India reflects an epic challenge for Google in developing markets around the world that are crucial to the companys long-term growth many consumers in those countries are gravitating to Facebook and its siblings, Instagram and WhatsApp, at the expense of Google search and YouTube, and advertising dollars are quick to follow. Facebook is a far more user-friendly platform even though they havent created features specifically for Indian advertisers, said Vikas Chawla, who runs a small ad-buying agency in India. Facebook ads, compared with those on Google search or YouTube, tend to transcend language barriers more easily because they rely more on visual elements, said Narayan Murthy Ivaturi, vice president at FreakOut Pte Ltd, a Singapore-headquartered digital marketing firm. Pinpointing younger consumers and rural populations are easier with Facebook and its Instagram app, he and other ad buyers said. And Facebook is succeeding in India, which boasts the fastest-growing digital ad market of any major economy, despite the internal turmoil and political controversy. It has been without a country head for the last year, and has faced a series of incidents in which rumors circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp have prompted mob violence. Facebook and Google between them took 68 percent of Indias digital ad market last year, according to advertising buyer Magna. Media agency GroupM estimates digital advertising spending will grow 30 percent in India this year. The Facebook phenomenon is evident close to home for Google. During a recent lunch period, six out of 10 people who walked out of Googles Bangalore offices while looking at their phones told Reuters they were checking WhatsApp. All 10 said they regularly used Whatsapp. Eight Indian ad buyers interviewed by Reuters were divided on whether Facebook would overtake Google in Indian ad revenue. That such a question would even be debated explains why Pichai, Googles chief executive, has pressed to flip the companys approach to emerging markets. India is the most important market for the Next Billion Users initiative, Caesar Sengupta, the head of the effort, told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual Google for India event in New Delhi last week. New Tactics For many years Google designed its services for early adopters of new technology, which tended to be in Silicon Valley, said Nelson Mattos, who oversaw Googles Europe and Africa operations for several years. Over time, as you saw the growth of Facebook, the importance of WhatsApp and other tools in these new markets, and not the same adoption of Google, the company started to realize that maybe they had to change that approach, Mattos said. Shortly after taking the helm three years ago, Pichai mapped a new strategy for places such as India: More services tailored to locals; more marketing on radio, billboards, and TV; more local staff and start-up investment. Googles India workforce has more than doubled since to more than 4,000 employees, or about eight times Facebooks presence, according to a tally of LinkedIn profiles and company statements. Its products evolved too, becoming easier to use with low data plans. Smartphone apps such as Files Go and Tez rebranded last week as Google Pay were aimed at Indians. Theres definitely a sea change, said Asif Baki, a user researcher at Google who oversees two-week immersion trips in developing markets for senior executives and staff. The efforts are bearing fruit. Indian users during the first half of this year spent more time on Google services than on Facebook services, according to estimates from audience measurement firm Comscore. Over a similar period a year ago, Facebook came out on top. Extending those gains to the ad business is a work in progress. A handful of Google executives, including leaders for display ads and small business advertisers, traveled to India earlier this year in a previously unreported trip to better understand the needs of Indian clients. The visit spurred them to consider ideas such as enabling advertisers to reach users only in a particular Indian state, since language and literacy vary greatly around the country, according to a person familiar with the discussions. At the New Delhi event, Google unveiled a plan to bring Indian newspaper content online, to increase the supply of search results and ads available in regional languages. Google still has to reckon with other issues. Small businesses in emerging markets are less likely to have websites, a foundation for Google ad campaigns but unnecessary for Facebook. Executives met with one Indian merchant who recorded product videos on YouTube then messaged the links to potential customers on WhatsApp, said Kim Spalding, the companys general manager and product lead for small business ads. Facebook, meanwhile, is already on to commercializing such behavior. Just weeks ago, it began charging for text-based marketing features on WhatsApp, with video ads expected to launch next year. By Paresh Dave and Sankalp Phartiyal. Illegal Alien Charged in Iowa Students Death Was Known by Alias IOWA CITY, IowaThe Mexican man charged with abducting and killing an Iowa college student was known for years on the dairy farm where he worked by another name: John Budd. The alias has emerged as Cristhian Bahena Riveras employer, a cattle operation owned by a prominent Republican family, faces questions over whether its managers were aware of any warning signs that he was in the country illegally. The name under which Rivera was hired and paid for the last four years was confirmed by three people with knowledge of his employment history. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information during an ongoing criminal investigation. One of the people said Riveras work identity as John Budd appears in official government records. The employer, Yarrabee Farms, declined to confirm or deny Riveras work identity. Lori Chesser, an immigration employment lawyer advising the farm, said that companies cannot discriminate against workers based on how they look or how their names sound. Farm officials have said Rivera presented an out-of-state photo identification and a Social Security number when he was hired in 2014, and they believed he was the person depicted in those documents until his arrest last month. The farm followed legal requirements to examine the documents and determined that they appeared genuine on their face and related to the person presenting them, Chesser said. Questioning a name or other characteristic would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of the law. During his four years at the farm near the small town of Brooklyn, Iowa, Rivera was called and responded to the name he used in the hiring process, Chesser said. He lived in a trailer owned by the farm as a benefit of his employment, as do about half of its 10 workers. Related Coverage Trump Says Media Lost Interest in Mollie Tibbetts Case When Illegal Immigrant Was Arrested The farm did not use the governments voluntary E-Verify system, which allows companies to confirm the identity and eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. Farm manager Dane Lang has apologized for a mistake in falsely claiming to have used E-Verify in an initial statement on Riveras Aug. 21 arrest, hours after he allegedly led police to Mollie Tibbetts body in a nearby cornfield. Its unclear whether E-Verify would have detected any red flags with Riveras claimed identity, but the farm has said it used a different government service to confirm that the name and Social Security number matched. Police say Rivera followed and confronted Tibbetts while she was out for a run on July 18 and later stabbed her to death. He has been jailed on $5 million bond while awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison. The federal government has also filed an immigration detainer, which means he would be subject to deportation proceedings if acquitted. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on whether the agency is investigating Yarrabee Farms, which has said that it received dozens of angry phone calls after Rivera was arrested. Tibbetts father, Rob Tibbetts, has urged the public not to bring his daughters death into the divisive racial debate over immigration. The person who is accused of taking Mollies life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people, he wrote in an opinion piece for the Des Moines Register. Read More Brother of Mollie Tibbetts Scores 3 Touchdowns for Football Team Honoring Her Employers typically do not face legal consequences for hiring a worker under false documents as long as they were not involved in obtaining them and had no other obvious reason to suspect they are fraudulent, said Bob Teig, a retired federal prosecutor in Iowa. Absent unusual circumstances, it would be difficult to show they knew any more than what they were told, Teig said, adding that it would be pretty racist to assume a John Budd could not be Hispanic. Whether anyone else knew Rivera as John Budd is unclear. The 24-year-old had a Facebook page under his real name, and his account listed many friends from the central Iowa area. He has a girlfriend and a young daughter, his former attorney has said. Rivera had neither an Iowa-issued identification under any name nor any known criminal history or interactions with police. Its unclear who owned the car that he allegedly used to circle Tibbetts. Riveras former defense lawyer, Allan Richards, has accused the farm and other employers in the area of turning a blind eye to the reality that many of their workers are in the U.S. illegally and employed under false documents. He has said that Rivera came to the U.S. when he was around 17 and has the equivalent of a middle-school education. By Ryan J. Foley In ChinaUS Trade Dispute, Any Concession Is a Loss for Beijing In late August, a Chinese trade delegation, led by Chinas Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, headed to the United States for a fourth round of negotiations. It was generally expected that there wouldnt be any meaningful results. The Chinese stance is presented in the article A Long-Term View of Chinas Historical Changes and the Current SinoU.S. Confrontationa Record of Dialogue With the Delegation of U.S. Congressional Aides (hereafter referred to as Dialogue Record). The Dialogue Record avoided addressing the disputes over intellectual property rights, showing the outside world that China had no sincere intention to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, the American side was not prepared to make any concessions. On Aug. 20, speaking to Reuters, President Donald Trump said that this round of trade consultations would produce only minimal progress, and that he had long-term plans for resolving the economic conflict between China and the United States. China Refuses to Admit Its Intellectual Copyright Infringement Chen Wenling, the Chinese representative in the Dialogue Record, fills multiple positions: chief economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, deputy director of the Executive Board of the Council, deputy director of Academic Committee, and former director of the Research Office of the State Council. Her credentials indicate that the tone of this dialogue record represents that of the Chinese government. The documents content concerns three main themes: Chinas reform and opening up, Chinas economic development, and SinoU.S. relations. The first, reform and opening up, focuses on the achievements made since 1978, particularly areas in which China has surpassed the United States. For example, the Dialogue Record says that Chinas manufacturing output exceeded that of the United States for the first time in 2010. In 2010, Chinas manufacturing output accounted for 19.8 percent of the worlds total. The United States fell to second place for the first time since World War II, accounting for 19.6 percent of the global manufacturing output. In 2016, Chinas manufacturing output accounted for 25.5 percent of the worlds total. The second theme concerns Chinas economic development. Notably absent is any attempt to address the United States criticism of Chinese theft of intellectual property as a means of bolstering its competitive strength. Instead, the Dialogue Record accuses the United States of fearing Chinas strength and working to undermine it: For a country striving to maintain its apex position, it is fundamentally wrong to maintain this status by suppressing other countries development. The Dialogue Record blames the United States for causing Chinas overcapacity. Referring to the 2009 bailout issued by Beijing, it said that Chinas $4 trillion investment stabilized the world economy and alleviated the financial crisis that following the subprime mortgage in the United States. Third, the Dialogue Record emphasizes Chinas peaceful development and criticizes the United States for its involvement in color revolutions and waging foreign wars. In summary, the document asserts that China has blameless and all its misfortune is a result of the United States looking to start trouble. Chen Wenling concluded, saying she thought that President Trump now regards China as the main target for attack and containment. This is choosing the wrong era, wrong direction, and the wrong opponent. During her discussions with the delegation of U.S. Congressional Aides, Chen named the United States imposition of tariffs on China as trade blackmail and a violation of WTO regulation. Why Xi Is Reluctant to Give Way China has been taking a firm stance in this SinoU.S. trade war. Some observers believe that Xi Jinping has been led to adopt this mistaken policy by think tanks in both China and the United States. The article How to read summer grumbles about Chinas swaggering leader, published by The Economist on Aug. 9, states that according to inside sources, while Trump and Xi are quite friendly in private, Xis team listened to the opinions of the wrong Americans. These wrong Americans include persons with longtime business dealings with mainland China, as well as Trumps assistants and cabinet members, such as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Various reasons led Xi to believe that as long as he made tactical concessions, he would be able to bribe the businessman-turned-president Trumpthe method mainland China had always used to appease angry foreigners. In early August, China began to denounce Hu Angang, the teacher of the nation, for misleading the Chinese Communist Party leadership. Hu had claimed that Chinas comprehensive national strength has totally surpassed the United States, and published a report in April 2017 called Comprehensive National Power Assessment, in which he argued that in terms of overall national strength, China had already surpassed the United States, and that by 2020, would be equivalent to 1.75 times that of the United States. Hus work led to the conclusion that the development of China and the United States was a competition between two different systems, with the Chinese system being far superior to the American model. This conclusion became the subject of a tremendous ideological movement. Never since the Cultural Revolution was an intellectual elite singled out for such promotion. It came as a surprise to many when the authorities suddenly gave up their crusade, since it was widely seen as a means of finding an enemy for Xi Jinping to fight. Why should the movement be brought to halt? Only after the Dialogue Record was published was this question partially answered. The authorities actually did not object to Hu Angangs ideas. They indeed believed that China had already overtaken the United States in some respects, and were about to surpass in others. At the core of the U.S. sanctions against China is the latters large volume of intellectual property thefts, and its production of cheap, counterfeit products to flood American markets. Made in China 2025, which is based on this kind of tactic, has thus been perceived as a threat to U.S. national security. However, China flat-out refuses to admit fault instead it brandishes a propaganda line that is commonly repeated throughout China: the United States is afraid of Chinas strength, and so finds it necessary to try to restrain her. So long as the issue of intellectual property remains unresolved, it will be difficult for China-U.S. negotiations to make substantial progress. China Cannot Afford to Yield on Intellectual Copyright Infringement The United States has two basic demands for China: one, to reduce exports to the United States and two, to immediately commit to stopping its widespread infringement of intellectual property rights. China is able to do neither. If exports to the United States are reduced, the Chinese governments huge foreign exchange reserves the envy of many countries will shrink precipitously. If China were no longer to infringe on intellectual property rights, it would be tantamount to tearing down the foundation of Made in China 2025. For China, conceding to the United States on either or both of these points would mean utter loss. In the event that China refuses to give in and put up an obstinate resistance, the United States will add tarrifs, to which the Chinese can let the yuan depreciate. In this way, a small amount of Chinese goods can make it to export; here, the worst-case scenario still results in the evaporation of Chinese foreign exchange earnings. But there is another advantage to not giving in. Though technology can no longer be stolen from the United States, it can still be extracted from foreign capital in other countries. The Chinese high-speed rail technology (proudly referenced in Dialogue Record) was taken and assembled from Japan, Germany, Canada, and other countries. On Oct. 8, 2010, Great Britains Financial Times noted in the article How China Digests High-Speed Rail Technology that by transferring high-speed rail technology to China, foreign rail companies have in just a few years created multiple low-cost competitors for themselves. Let us further consider: Chinas intellectual property rights violations affect all countries that possess technology worth stealing. If Beijing were to promise not to infringe on intellectual property rights from the United States in particular, it would be equivalent to telling other countries that this promise is only valid for the United States, and that China will continue to steal from them. It would be a blatant admission that China bullies the weak and fears the strong. Therefore, Chinas choice to not concede in the trade war was the result of a studied calculation. It would be disadvantageous either way to agree to the two U.S. demands. By simply refusing to cooperate, the Chinese regime is trying to minimize the damage to itself. Beijing Is Counting on the US to Elect Good News in Mid-November China is still biding its time. In my previous article, Trump Attacks on All Fronts, Intending to Rewrite the Script of Globalization, I talked about Beijings sand table calculations. The Party placed its hopes on three major points. Today, the situation has changed. Some prospects have become bleak, but others have changed for the better, so Beijing is still waiting confidently. First, China hoped that countries across the world would join forces to contain the United States. Previously, it was hoped that the European Union would check the United States. Today, the EU has made it clear that it will stand on the side of the United States, which has also softened its tariff policy toward the EU. Knowing that it can no longer count on the EU, Beijing has placed its hopes on Turkey and other countries with emerging economies to oppose the United States. The diplomatic bickering between the United States and Turkey triggered an economic crisis in Turkey, causing the lira to plunge by 40 percent. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan harshly reprimanded the United States, proclaiming a boycott against all U.S. electronic products in retaliation for the economic measures placed against Turkey. He also called for countries not sanctioned by the United States to avoid trading the U.S. dollar and to use their own currencies in settling accounts. This is an attitude that China greatly appreciates. On July 26, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China provided a $3.6 billion loan to the Turkish energy and transport sector. The second point is the hope that the Republican Party, to which Trump belongs, will lose power in this years November midterm elections. The third point is that other rivals of the United States will continue to create new problems. According to mainstream media reports in the United States, Trump faces obstacles from all sides. More than a thousand chambers of commerce in the United States and Wall Street are vehemently opposed to the trade war. Meanwhile the Democratic Party is riding a blue wave as it has won many supporters in preparation for crushing the Republican Party in the midterm elections. Per such reportage, the Trumpification of the Republican Party has also led to internal division. Two recent events have given China yet more cause for optimism. First, because President Trump has accused the U.S. media of being fake news, the media is furious over the labeling and perception of it as an public enemy. On Aug. 16, nearly 350 American newspapers (mostly belonging to a handful of major media groups) issued an editorial on the same day opposing President Trumps attack on the media. It is common for media to criticize the president for a common fault, but to take coordinated action to denounce a president is a first in American history. Second, Trumps former private lawyer, Michael Cohen, filed a case with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has reached a plea agreement with the federal prosecutor. Cohen admitted that during the 2016 general election, he was responsible for paying a number of hush fees to women who had affairs with Trump. Then, on Aug. 21, the Virginia jury convicted former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on eight counts of financial fraud. Although the charges in the Manafort indictment are not directly related to Russia Gate, U.S. public opinion generally believes this to be a test of credibility for Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor responsible for the Russia Gate investigation. Of course, China also takes concrete actions. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton gave an interview with ABC News on Aug. 18, saying that not only Russia, but also China, Iran and North Korea tried to intervene in the U.S. 2018 midterm elections. How much longer will this war of attrition continue? Only after the results of the U.S. midterm elections in early November will it be time to make a new assessment. He Qinglian is a prominent Chinese author and economist. Currently based in the United States, she authored Chinas Pitfalls, which concerns corruption in Chinas economic reform of the 1990s, and The Fog of Censorship: Media Control in China, which addresses the manipulation and restriction of the press. She regularly writes on contemporary Chinese social and economic issues. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Irwin Cotler (L), chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, speaks at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Aug. 30, 2018. With him is Brandon Silver, the director of policy and projects at the centre. (Limin Zhou/The Epoch Times) Keep Political Prisoner Cases in the Headlines, Cotler Tells Media In launching an initiative to help overseas political prisoners, former justice minister Irwin Cotler said he wants to shatter the silence regarding ongoing arrests of human rights defenders under authoritarian regimes. Now the chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) based in Montreal, Cotler said its important that cases of political prisoners are constantly in the headlines. The media becomes crucial because if the media doesnt report on these cases, it is as if it is not there then, it is as if it never happened, he said at an Aug. 30 press conference on Parliament Hill. So we are here today to effectively sound the alarm with regard to the pain and plight of these political prisoners, to shatter the silence that has been surrounding their imprisonment. Cotler said the lack of outrage on the part of the international community regarding these waves of imprisonment of iconic human rights heroes is also regrettable. What we have been witnessing is, on the one hand, enormous courage by the political prisoners, but regrettably the absence of outrage by the international community with respect to their ongoing arrest and imprisonment, he said. Cotler explained that the international advocacy project launched by RWCHR focuses on pleading cases and causes on behalf of political prisoners whose cases the centre has adopted, and who have a Canadian connection either because they have family in Canada, because their cases have been taken up by the Canadian Parliament, or because they have been represented by Cotler as their legal counsel. He referred to the case of Biram Dah Abeid, a leader in the anti-slavery movement in Mauritania. Abeid was re-arrested this summer because he was a prospective candidate in the upcoming elections. He has been arrested again and again, said Cotler, and he has gone unacknowledged. He also noted the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of Irans most prominent human rights lawyers, who is being held in Tehrans notorious Evin prison on several charges, including espionage. She, too, was re-arrested this summer. These summer arrests dont surprise Cotler. He said that in the 45 years he has been acting as counsel for political prisoners, he has noticed a pattern: that political prisoners tend to be arrested in the summer. They are arrested in the summer because that is when governments are on vacation, parliaments are not sitting, so it is the hope of the imprisoning countries that it will go unnoticed or unaddressed, he said. Vacation time in the West is prison time etc. for elsewhere. In addition to the cases of Abeid and Sotoudeh, RWCHR is engaged in advocacy on behalf of imprisoned human rights blogger Raif Badawi, whose wife and three children live in Sherbrooke, Que.; democratic opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, imprisoned in Venezuela; pro-democracy activist Dr. Wang Bingzhing, detained in China; Canadian citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Sun Qian, imprisoned in China; Alexei Pichugin, the longest-serving political prisoner in Russia; and Ahmed Mahloof, a champion of democracy and human rights in the Maldives. Cotler said he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier that day to discuss a number of issues as well as inform him of the new political prisoner advocacy project and the formation of an international consultative group that is composed of former political prisoners, their families, and lawyers who have been acting on behalf of political prisoners. Sun Yi holding the SOS letter he wrote, which made its way around the world and back to him. (Courtesy Flying Cloud Productions) Letter from Masanjia Moves Ottawa Audience to Tears Documentary tells story of courageous SOS letter-writer exposing horror behind products produced by forced labour in the Chinese prison system OTTAWAThe award-winning documentary Letter from Masanjia moved viewers to tears at Bytowne Cinema on Sept. 3. A true story that changed history in China, it tells of a mans extraordinary courage and hope despite the unimaginable horror he endured as a prisoner in a Chinese forced labour camp. What also hit close to home was the films expose of the human suffering behind products produced by forced labour in Chinese prisons that end up on store shelves in countries like Canada and the United States. This is the most difficult film Ive made so far, Vancouver-based director Leon Lee told the audience after the screening in a Q&A session that drew several rounds of applause and a standing ovation. Partly because I was unable to return to China due to the previous films I made and, on the other hand, Sun Yi did not know how to use a camera, so we two had to pull this off mainly through Skype. But really it was his courage, his determination, that really made this film possible, Lee explained. Leon Lee, director of the award-winning documentary Letter from Masanjia, speaks to the audience after the screening of his film at ByTowne Cinema in Ottawa on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ren/NTD Television) Sun Yi, the films protagonist, is a practitioner of the Falun Gong spiritual faith that has been the target of violent persecution and hate propaganda in communist China since 1999. The documentary highlights a labour camp called Masanjia in northeastern China, where Sun was held for 2.5 years from 2008 to 2010 and where inmates were forced to work 15-hour days seven days a week and suffered torture and abuse by guards. The Most Notorious Labour Camp in China The film begins with an SOS letter from Sun being found by an Oregon woman in 2012, hidden inside the packaging of a Halloween decoration she had bought at Kmart. Sun Yi is reunited with Julie Keith, the woman who found his note in Oregon. (Courtesy Flying Cloud Productions) When Julie Keith publicized the letter, headlines drew intense worldwide attention to the gross rights violations within Chinas decades-old re-education through labour system, which consisted of over 300 camps where people could be held for up to four years without trial. The flood of criticism led to an announcement by the regime in early 2013 that the system would be abolished by year-end. Lee, who said he knew Masanjia to be the most notorious labour camp in China, managed to track down Sun after a three-year search. It turned out Sun had seen Lees previous films on human rights issues in China. He trusted Lee and felt that making a film would be an opportunity to tell his full story to expose the evil of Masanjia Labour Camp. Animated recreation of Sun Yi writing his SOS letter inside the Masanjia Labour Camp. (Courtesy Flying Cloud Productions) Lee trained Sun, an engineer, over Skype on how to use a video camera so that he could shoot live-action footage secretly in China. Lee also used Suns very skilled sketches as a basis for recreating his experience inside Masanjia, developing them into illustrations and then animation. Shows How Brave People Can Be Very moving, very powerful, and shows how brave people can be, said Lorrie Heron, who attended the screening. Its amazing what [Sun Yi] went through and survived, and his dedication in getting the truth out. What bothers me the most is that hes just one person of many that are suffering like this. Its wrong. She said she feels very bad that she has decorations at home similar to those Sun Yi was forced to make. A lot of people do, she said. You dont realize where they are coming from. Sisters Lorrie (L) and Judy Heron attended the screening of Letter from Masanjia at ByTowne Cinema in Ottawa on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ren/NTD Television) I hope other people come to see it, said Jean Good. They will spread the word not enough people know about whats happening in China. As Canadians, we take a lot for granted, such as our freedoms, said Mike Chen. Its very courageous for Sun Yi to tell his story. He experienced family struggle and a big sacrifice for his belief. Despite telling a harrowing story, the film portrays Sun Yis calm strength and peaceful determination, as well as his kindness toward others, even his former torturers. The film also noted that Jiang Tianyong, the lawyer who had defended Sun Yi, was arrested in November 2016. Lee said Jiang was sentenced to two years in prison, and that recent reports indicated he was forced to take unknown medication that caused him to suffer great memory loss. This is a known tactic used by the Chinese authority, so that the lawyers when they leave the prison, they would be no longer able to continue their work, said Lee. Seeking Release of Canadian Citizen Sun Qian Despite ongoing severe rights abuses in China, [the film shows] the united strength of Sun Yi and Julie Keith in helping to bring about the next step in ending the labour camp system, said Lee. They both persevered in the face of difficulties so that Suns story would be widely told, and they never gave up. So I think the lesson, at least for me, is whatever small action that you could take [when you see injustice], it may lead to a good change that you never imagined. Sun Qian, a Falun Dafa adherent who has been illegally detained in China since February 2017, in an undated photo. (The Epoch Times/Handout) Noting the power of a letter, Lee has a campaign on the films website encouraging readers to write to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to urge him to press the Chinese authorities for the release of Canadian citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Sun Qian. Sun Qian, no relation to Sun Yi, has been held in China since February 2017 for her belief. During her detention, she has been shackled, handcuffed to a steel chair, and pepper-sprayed in the face, among other abuses. Over the years, I think Falun Gong is the most persecuted group in China now, Lee said. Former Canadian cabinet minister David Kilgour attended the screening of Letter from Masanjia at ByTowne Cinema in Ottawa on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ren/NTD Television) This kind of film will have a huge impact on people, said former cabinet minister David Kilgour in an interview after the screening. It should be seen by all MPs and senators, he added. Kilgour, along with Winnipeg-based human rights lawyer David Matas, co-authored several books on their investigation into reports of forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China. The two Nobel Prize nominees were the subject of Lees film Human Harvest, which won the prestigious Peabody Award. Lee said he hopes more people can understand the story of the Chinese people by understanding Sun Yis story. The true Chinese spirit is what we see in Sun Yi, he said. The film ends with Sun Yis comment that even though millions of people in China are still being persecuted, in the end, justice will prevail over evil. Following the documentarys four-show run in Ottawa on Sept. 36, locations of upcoming screenings include Los Angeles and New York as well as Calgary, Alberta, and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The audience at a Q&A session with Leon Lee, director of the documentary Letter from Masanjia, after the film screening at ByTowne Cinema on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ren/NTD Television) Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, National People's Congress, at a meeting session in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on March 20, 2018. (REUTERS/Damir Sagolj) Li Zhanshus Upcoming Visit to North Korea May Reflect Chinese Diplomatic Caution In the evening of Sept. 4, Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-run media announced that by invitation by the North Korean regime, CCP Politburo Standing Committee member and National Peoples Congress chairman Li Zhanshu would visit North Korea on Sept. 8 on behalf of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The news seems to confirm speculation by South Korean media that Xis plan to visit North Korea in person had been changed. The news, reported by the Party-controlled Xinhua, didnt mention how long Li Zhanshu would stay in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited China three times this year. According to anonymous sources, during his first trip to China at the end of March, Kim invited Xi to visit North Korea, and Xi accepted his invitation. Later, it was rumored that Xi would travel to Pyongyang in September. On Sept. 3, a day before Xinhua made its report, analysis run by several South Korean media suggested that Xi might not visit North Korea after all, citing a lack of time in Xis schedule, as well as a fear of further antagonizing the United States in the background of ongoing Sino-U.S. trade disputes. According to the Yonhap News Agency and the Chosun Online, the Chinese regime had remained very quiet about plans for its leaders to visit North Korea, despite the fact that there was less than a week remaining before North Koreas 70th-anniversary National Day celebrations. In the past, Chinese state media would typically publish such news a week in advance of the trip. The analysis also cited the difficulty of fitting a North Korea visit into Xis schedule, which had mostly recently been updated on Aug. 31. The CCPs Foreign Office released a notice saying that leaders of the African countries of Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Congo, and others had accepted Xis invitation for them to pay state visits to Beijing between Aug. 31 and Sept. 9. On Sept. 3 and 4, the China-Africa Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing, after which the African leaders are to have separate meetings with Xi. The CCP has put much effort into organizing the forum, under which circumstances Xi would have little time to make any foreign visits. Recently, U.S. President Trump suddenly cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeos visit to North Korea. Trump blamed the CCP for holding back North Koreas denuclearization progress and encouraging Pyongyang to renege on its commitments. This has put more diplomatic pressure on Xi, as Sino-U.S. relations have deteriorated since the outbreak of the trade war. According to South Koreas Dong-a-Ilbo, if Xi were to make a high-profile show of friendship with North Korea, which is widely viewed as a pariah state, it would further push the United States to see China as an adversary with a hand behind North Koreas failure to denuclearize. The analysis said that if Xi were to attend a military parade in Pyongyang, he would likely stand near Kim Jong Un or other North Korean leaders in an apparent gesture of endorsement. This could be compounded if the North Korean regime decided to showcase a new weapon at the parade, as it would indicate Beijings complicity in North Koreas defiance of the United States. Further, Xis visit to North Korea would, as a matter of courtesy, obligate the CCP to provide Pyongyang with gestures of goodwill such as economic cooperation agreements or other forms of aid. But under the circumstances, with China being a participant in international efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula that involve the United States and South Korea, it would be awkward for China to agree to such largess for North Korea, lest it face diplomatic repercussions. Reporting by Ling Yun Marriott Issues Statement After 75 Arrested at Labor Day Protest in SF Seventy-five protesters were arrested on Sept. 3, in San Francisco while demanding improved conditions for hotel workers, police and union officials said. Nearly 1,000 people turned out for the Labor Day protest on Yerba Buena Lane near the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, according to Unite Here Local 2, which represents hospitality workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. By 11:35 a.m., the arrests had begun. Police said the 75 taken into custody were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor failing to obey the lawful command of a peace officer and blocking the roadway. Protesters shut down Powell Street and blocked cable car lines to call attention to what they say is the low pay they receive. The protesters gathered to demand Marriott Hotels set an example for other hotel companies because Marriott is the largest and most profitable hotel chain in the world, according to organizers. One Job Should Be Enough was the slogan associated with the protest, according to Unite Here, which in the United States and Canada represents 270,000 workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. Protesters said they want to be paid enough at their hotel job so they dont need a second job to make ends meet. A Marriott spokesperson said on Sept. 4, in response to the protest, that the companys strength is rooted in our core value of putting people first. We celebrate and thank our associates for their contribution on this Labor Day. The spokesperson said, We also respect our associates right to voice their opinions. Marriott International has longstanding and productive relationships with Unite Here and is negotiating in good faith and in a timely fashion to obtain the best outcomes for our associates and guests. By Keith Burbank and DM Maryland Woman, 64, Killed by Newly Adopted Pit Bull: Police A 64-year-old woman in Maryland was killed by a pit bull that she had adopted, according to local authorities. Robin Conway, of Columbia, was reportedly mauled to death by a recently adopted pit bull that she got from another state, said the Howard County Police Department in a statement on Sept. 4. Police in Howard County were called to a residence for a report that a woman was mauled by a dog that she adopted two weeks ago, said Howard County Police. There, officers found Conways body in the backyard with significant injuries inflicted by the animal. Her cause of death is still pending. An autopsy is slated by the state medical examiner, according to officials. A family member contacted the police after finding Conway injured in her yard with the animal standing over her, said the police department. The witness called 911 and tied the animal to a fence. When police and paramedics arrived on the scene, they found the dog attached to the post. It was barking and lunging on the leash and had to be subdued by animal control officers and ultimately euthanized, the department added. A necropsy will be performed on the pit bull to see if it had rabies or other medical problems that would cause it to attack. There were no previous calls to animal control related to this address prior to this incident. Police do not have information about the dogs adoption, except that it came from out-of-state, according to police. Other details about the incident were not made clear by officials. Most Abused Dogs on Earth Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are the most abused dogs on Earth. Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbersand since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that dont slam the door in the dogs faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined, the group said. Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of The Pitbull Placebo, has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents. She wrote: My study of dog bite-related fatalities occurring over the past five decades has identified the poor ownership/management practices involved in the overwhelming majority of these incidents: owners obtaining dogs, and maintaining them as resident dogs outside of regular, positive human interaction, often for negative functions (i.e. guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status); owners failing to humanely contain, control and maintain their dogs (chained dogs, loose roaming dogs, cases of abuse/neglect); owners failing to knowledgably supervise interaction between children and dogs; and owners failing to spay or neuter dogs not used for competition, show, or in a responsible breeding program. A Microsoft store is pictured in New York City on Aug. 21, 2018. (Reuters/Carlo Allegri) Microsoft Flags Dangers to EU of Plans to Limit Data Use Microsoft said on Sept. 5, that EU lawmakers copyright reforms limiting the use of potentially valuable data to non-profit bodies could damage the European Unions digital development. Companies, research bodies, and organizations such as Wikipedia have stepped up their lobbying ahead of a European Parliament vote next week which will determine its position ahead of talks with member states and the European Commission. Scientists, researchers, and some firms have questioned lawmakers willingness to beef up the Commissions proposal in favor of the creative industries and non-profit bodies. The draft proposal on the table could hold back EU attempts to catch up with Japan, Singapore, and China in data science, research and artificial intelligence and have a great number of unintended negative consequences, Microsoft said. By confining the exception for text and data mining to only a small group of non-profit research organizations, Article 3 cuts off promising research by public and private partnerships and prevent uptake of new technologies by European businesses large and small, it said in a statement. German drugmaker Bayer, which says mining vast quantities of data is invaluable in its efforts to develop innovative drugs against diseases, is similarly critical. Excluding private research, start-ups and companies from reaping the full benefits of this technology will undoubtedly reduce Europes competitiveness, it said in a note seen by Reuters which highlighted Chinese and U.S. rivals. By Foo Yun Chee Mother of Missing 2-Year-Old Florida Boy Admits to Killing Son, Says Report Missing boy case triggered statewide AMBER Alert Charisse Stinson, the mother of a missing 2-year-old Florida boy has allegedly admitted to causing her sons death, police said on Sept. 5. Stinson, 21, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 2-year-old Jordan Belliveau, WFTS reported. The boy was found dead in a wooded area in Largo, Florida, on Sept. 4. An AMBER Alert was activated for the state, and investigators released a composite sketch of an alleged suspect based on Stinsons description. However, according to an arrest affidavit from Largo police, Stinson said she admitted to causing her sons death. The report alleged that Stinson was frustrated and struck Jordan in the face with the back of her hand which in turn caused the back of his head to strike an interior wall of her home. After the blow to the head, the victim suffered seizures during the night, which lead to further decline [in his health], resulting in his death, WFTS reported. The woman didnt go to seek medical help for the boy and instead took him to a wooded area where he died, the report said. Stinson, meanwhile, was ordered by a judge to be held without bond. She will be appointed a public defender. Details of the Case For about a week, several law enforcement agencies were working to try and find the boy. Stinson said that she and Jordan on the night of Sept. 1 entered the vehicle of a man who was giving them a ride. She said that the man hit her in the face, causing her to lose consciousness, adding that when she woke up on Sept. 2, she could not locate her son. Jordan, she told police, was last seen with a man she called Antwan, ABC News reported. On Sept. 2, police said they recovered bloody items from Stinsons apartment, according to the ABC report. THE AMBER Alert for Jordan Belliveau has been canceled. Sadly, the child has been found deceased, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement later said in a tweet. In a press conference on Sept. 2, Largo Police Maj. Stephen Slaughter described Stinson as a struggling single mom and said child protective services investigated her in the past, NBC Miami reported. Slaughter said that she and the boys father, Jordan Belliveau Sr., have a longstanding history of domestic violence. The uncle of the boy said that the father was distraught. I cant speak on how my brother feels because I never lost a child. I just know my brother is devoted right now, said Stephon Davis, the childs uncle, WFTS reported. I just want my nephew to be laid in peace and his mama and whoever involved in this, justice. The Department of Children and Families said that it couldnt release information on the case. It said, The loss of this child is profoundly saddening. We are actively working with the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office and the Largo Police Department during the course of their criminal investigation. Pinellas County Sheriffs Office conducts all child protective investigations in Pinellas County, not DCF, WFTS reported. New Mexico Compound Members Seeking Bail Again ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.Five people from a New Mexico compound who are facing federal firearms and conspiracy charges are seeking bail again, a defense lawyer said on Sept. 4, just days after two state judges and prosecutors dismissed child-abuse charges against the defendants on procedural grounds. The five Muslim defendants made their first appearance in U.S. District Court of New Mexico in Albuquerque on Sept. 4, four days after the FBI charged them with violating weapons and conspiracy laws. The move comes weeks after a state judge received death threats for granting bail to the group accused of child abuse and planning jihad. Last month, police raided the groups makeshift settlement and found 11 children without food or clean water and a cache of weapons. Three days later, police found the body of a toddler. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kirtan Khalsa on Sept. 4 said she would seek additional information from probation officers ahead of making a bail decision in the controversial case. She was due to make a ruling on Sep. 5. It could go either way, it depends a lot on a persons background, federal defense attorney Kari Converse, who is representing three of the defendants, said of the bail decision. Federal prosecutor George Kraehe, speaking at the hearing on Sep. 4, said the U.S. government would seek their detention without bail. The FBI arrested the five in Taos, about 95 miles north of Albuquerque, after three of them had state child-abuse charges dismissed and were released from jail, due to a procedural error by prosecutors. The FBI charged Jany Leveille, a 35-year-old female Haitian national, with being in the United States illegally and unlawfully in possession of firearms. Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; Hujrah Wahhaj, 37; Subhanah Wahhaj, 35; and Lucas Morton, 40, were charged with aiding and conspiring with her. In an affidavit, the FBI said a teenage boy among the group, taken into custody at the compound, told agents Ibn Wahhaj was trying to put an army together to conduct jihad against non-believers, according to federal court documents. The boy told the FBI he watched his mother, Leveille, and her partner Ibn Wahhaj perform a faith healing ritual over the three-year-old boy during which the child choked and his heart stopped, according to the special agents affidavit. Defense lawyers have said the five adults were exercising their rights to practice their religion and own firearms, and they are being discriminated against for being black and Muslim. State prosecutors on Aug. 31 dismissed charges against Leveille and Ibn Wahhaj for the death of the toddler. Taos County District Attorney Donald Gallegos said in a statement that he planned to refile the charges, as well as child-abuse charges against the three other defendants to a grand jury on Sept. 27. By Andrew Hay New York City Comptroller John Liu attends the annual State of the City Address at City Hall on Feb. 9, 2012, in Manhattan. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) NY Senate Candidate John Liu Endorsed by Far-Left Radicals and Socialist Islamists News Analysis Disgraced former New York City mayoral candidate John Liu is attempting a political comeback, with the support of hard-left radical activists and a progressive organization called the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, founded by socialist Islamist Linda Sarsour. Liu previously declared himself as a candidate in the 2013 New York City mayoral election, but was dogged by a scandal from his 2011 comptroller election campaign. Liu served as the 43rd New York City Comptroller from Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2013. While Liu quickly raised more than $1 million dollars in campaign donations in the first half of 2011, suspicions grew as to some of its origin. In an Oct. 11, 2011, front-page story, The New York Times reported that its investigation of Lius donors had uncovered some irregularities. It stated: Canvassing by The New York Times of nearly 100 homes and workplaces of donors listed on Mr. Lius campaign finance reports raises questions about the source and legitimacy of some donations, as well as whether some of the donors even exist. Some two dozen irregularities were uncovered, including instances in which people listed as having given to Mr. Liu say they never gave, say a boss or other Liu supporter gave for them, or could not be found altogether. Liu was closely involved with Asian Americans for Equality, a very wealthy New York City community organization that had its roots in the Pro-China Communist Workers Party. According to sources, it was common practice for New York-based Chinese diplomatic staff to organize fundraising banquets for favored leftist candidates. Since it was illegal for Chinese authorities to donate to American candidates, a work-around was arranged. Hundreds of low-income Chinese-Americans would be invited to lavish dinners and handed packets of money by Chinese government agents. This money then would be passed on to the candidate. It was strongly suspected in Chinatown that at least some of Lius campaign donation money came from Chinese sources through pro-China business people. Two Liu staffers were jailed after an FBI sting in which government agents offered to make over-the-limit donations to Lius campaign. Lius staffers took the money and illegally donated it by dividing it into smaller amounts in the names of fictitious individuals. These revelations dogged Lius mayoral campaign, and a once-top-tier candidate ending up running a disappointing fourth place in the Democratic primary. In September 2014, Liu lost a Democratic primary race for a state Senate seat to incumbent Tony Avella by just 800 votes. Avella had angered progressive Democrats by joining the renegade Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which worked closely with Republican state senators. Bruised and bloodied, Liu rejoined Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs and also began a teaching position at Baruch College. Working With the Hard Left But now Liu is back, this time working with the hard left and Islamic socialist Democrats in another attempt to unseat Tony Avella. Progressive Democrats have vowed to unseat the IDC, despite a pledge by the group to rejoin the main body of Senate Democrats and end its alliance with Republicans. Avella had been the only IDC senator to escape a progressive challenger until activist group True Blue NY recruited Liu at the last minute. One mainstay of True Blue NY is the activist group Rise and Resist, which also endorsed Liu. Rise and Resist made headlines at a July 4 protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when one of its members, Congolese immigrant Patricia Okoumou, climbed the Statue of Liberty. Joy Reid of MSNBC interviewed Okoumou and fellow Rise and Resist protester Jay W. Walker after the event. Neither Reid nor any other mainstream media outlet mentioned that both activists were tied to Refuse Fascism, a front group for the Maoist-extremist organization known as the Revolutionary Communist Party. Liu also has been endorsed by the Muslim Democratic Club of New York. Founded in a Midtown lounge in March 2013, Democratic Socialists of America member Linda Sarsours Muslim Democratic Club of New York has been more leftist than Islamic in outlook. At the founding, which was attended by then-mayoral candidate Liu, co-founders Ali Najmi (later a prominent Bernie Sanders supporter) and Sarsour gave a PowerPoint presentation on the untapped voting strength of Muslim Democrats in the city, especially in Queens and Brooklyn, where Muslims live in comparatively high numbers. While the ultimate goal of the club was to build a field operation powerful enough to influence elections throughout New York City, the Muslim Democratic Club of New York also focused on ending NYPD surveillance of Muslim communities, a goal that was accomplished in April this year. Sarsours organization additionally pushed for the inclusion of Muslim holidays on the public-school calendar, which occurred in March 2015. In March 2013, the Observer reported that Liu was a vociferous critic of the NYPD. It states: I think more than any other community, the Muslim community has some very severe challenges and important issues the city has to deal with, Liu said. We have ongoing issues of surveillance of people just because of their religious faith- thats not right, we should put an end to that. Kids and families have to choose between going to school and observing important holidays in the Muslim faith- that has to change also. Muslim Democratic Club leaders have included Murad Awawdeh, an affiliate of the South Brooklyn chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America; Debbie Almontaser, an occasional panelist with the DSA-initiated Left Forum; and at least one affiliate of the Maoist-leaning Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee. Liu has learned little from his past defeats and humiliations. He is still working with the hard left, seeking to gain political power. Possible Reckless Driving Suspect Killed in Freeway Collision A woman got out of an ambulance on her way to a psychiatric hospital and was killed when a vehicle hit her in the morning of September 3 in Dublin, Pleasanton police said. The woman, whose name is not being released yet, was being taken to John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro after Pleasanton police stopped her for possible reckless driving. Police said officers had placed her on a psychiatric hold after she made it challenging for officers to get her out of her vehicle. Police became aware of the womans possible reckless driving at about 2 a.m. on September 3 when they received several reports of a driver who struck multiple vehicles and a pedestrian near 5300 Case Ave. Officers responded and found the vehicle and a woman standing next to it. Police said the woman got back into her vehicle when she saw officers. So she didnt do any further property damage or cause any other injuries, officers told her to get out of the vehicle, police said. The woman refused and physically resisted officers when they tried to take her out of the vehicle. But with a control hold, the officers were able to remove her. Police said outside of the vehicle she struggled with officers and several times tried to get an officers gun. Two officers shot her with a stun gun and the officers were able to subdue her. She was taken to ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton for a routine medical clearance and at about 7 a.m. a Norcal Ambulance responded to take her to John George Psychiatric Pavilion. At about 7:30 a.m. as the ambulance was on the connector ramp from southbound Interstate Highway 680 to westbound Interstate Highway 580 in Dublin, it stopped on the side of the road because of a problem with the woman in the back of the vehicle. The woman got out and ran into traffic. Police said witnesses told them that the woman tried to run in front of three vehicles. Two avoided hitting her but a third was unable to avoid her. Police said the woman died where she was struck. The California Highway Patrol, Pleasanton police and the Alameda County coroners bureau are investigating the womans death. Anyone who witnessed it or has any information about it is asked to call Lt. Brandon Stocking at (925) 931-5100. Reference to case No. 18-34368. By Keith Burbank and Janis Mara. This older home at 11 N. White St. in downtown Frankfort will be converted to a future commercial use, as part of a redevelopment plan approved by the board that includes a new restaurant, as well as retail and office space, on White Street. (Susan DeMar Lafferty/Daily Southtown) A homeless man lays on the ground after passing out as police try to help him, on Columbus Circle, in Manhattan, on July 23, 2014. (Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times) Prosecuting Homeless for Sleeping Outside May Violate US Constitution: Ruling The U.S. Constitutions prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment bars cities from prosecuting the homeless for sleeping outside on public property when they cannot obtain shelter, a federal appeals court ruled on Sept. 4. Reversing a lower court ruling in the Boise, Idaho case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Robert Anderson and Robert Martin could seek an injunction against enforcement of that citys anti-camping and disorderly conduct ordinances. Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon said sitting, lying and sleeping on the streets was an unavoidable consequence of homelessness, and that it would be an Eighth Amendment violation for cities to punish that conduct when their shelters had too few beds. As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter, Berzon wrote. Boise, which is Idahos capital, in 2014 barred enforcement of the ordinances when its shelters were full. But the appeals court said shelters could still turn away homeless people who exceeded their stay limits or refused mandatory religious programs. Lawyers for the plaintiffs had no immediate comment. The office of Boise City Attorney Robert Luce did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Sept. 4 decision by the Portland, Oregon-based appeals court overturned a September 2015 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush in Boise, and returned the case to him. The lawsuit had been brought by Anderson, Martin, Janet Bell, Pamela Hawkes, Basil Humphrey and Lawrence Lee Smith, who were convicted of violating one or both Boise ordinances. All were sentenced to time served except for Hawkes, who was sentenced twice to one day in jail. Martin and Hawkes were allowed to pursue damages claims. Berzon noted that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had in 2000 upheld a similar anti-camping ordinance from Orlando, Florida, against an Eighth Amendment challenge. But she said that case was different because Orlandos shelters had never reached capacity. Circuit Judge John Owens partially dissented from the Sept. 4 decision, saying injunctive relief was not warranted. By Jonathan Stempel Richard Hammond and Mindy Hammond with the Maserati Levante SUV on June 10, 2018, in Tetbury, England. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Maserati / La Martina) Richard Hammond and Family Gassed and Robbed in French Villa A team of burglars stole from The Grand Tour host Richard Hammond, his family, and his guests after being gassed in Southern France. Richards wife, Mindy, told The Daily Express that she believed everyone was knocked out by anaesthetic gas when their possessions were stolen. A few hours after they hosted a 1920s-themed cocktail party in a San Tropez villa, Mindy and Richard were late to bed that night when she heard a door downstairs shut. She went downstairs to the living room door and heard a male voice. The 53-year-old said, Thought it was another couple staying up and went back to bed. Actually, it was the burglars, said Mindy. Had she walked in and checked the living room, the outcome may have been different. That just makes my blood run cold, she said. After the Robbery The day after the robbery, 15-year-old Willow Hammond couldnt find her watch. They thought it had been misplaced or one of the other children had sleepwalked during the night. What happened to them didnt become apparent until Richard Hammond called out to everyone and asked, Have you looked in your purses? When they all checked their purses and wallets, they discovered that all their cash had disappeared. All their other belongings were still there. Given the events that have occurred so far, Mindy recalled something strange when she woke up that morning. Everyones bedroom doors were open. Convinced that everyone had been gassed, she said it was because the burglars had the confidence to check every part of house; being quite satisfied that people arent going to wake up. They also found out that a nearby property was also robbed. Not long after the realising what happened, they contacted the owner of the villa. The owner and his wife got involved and contacted the police. On that night, the police were patrolling the area and the Hammonds employed security guards to keep everyone safe for the remainder of the holiday. The burglars were caught on camera, and were arrested within 48 hours of the incident. One of them looked quite a lot like Richard! said Mindy. All that was stolen was Willows watch and everyones cash. This incident didnt stop anyone from enjoying their vacation, but it did raise a lot of concern for the children and husbands. It was particularly worrying for the Hammonds as their teenage daughter was unconscious while strangers were searching her room. The other concern involved their wives worrying that their husbands would stay up all night just to protect their families. That could have ended up in a very bad situation if there was a confrontation. There would have been too much emotion involved, said Mindy. Although the Hammonds made an attempt to stay awake to act as lookouts, Richard Hammond started snoring after volunteering for first watch. Seventy-Five Were Arrested During Protest for Higher Hotel Wages Seventy-five protesters were arrested on September 3 in San Francisco demanding improved conditions for hotel workers, police and union officials said. Nearly 1,000 people turned out for the protest, which was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Yerba Buena Lane near the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, according to Unite Here Local 2, which represents hospitality workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. By 11:35 a.m. the arrests had begun. Police said the 75 protestors taken into custody were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor failing to obey the lawful command of a peace officer and blocking the roadway. Protesters shut down Powell Street and blocked cable car lines to call attention to the low pay they receive. The protesters gathered to demand Marriott Hotels set an example for other hotel companies because Marriott is the largest and most profitable hotel chain in the world, according to protest organizers. One Job Should Be Enough was the slogan associated with the protest, according to Unite Here, which in the U.S. and Canada represents 270,000 workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. Protesters want to be paid enough at their hotel job so they dont need a second job to make ends meet. The international president of Unite Here Donald Taylor said, Too often workers welcome guests to Marriott hotels and deliver an unforgettable experience to them, just to leave their shift and go to a second job because working full time for Marriott isnt enough to make ends meet. Marriott Hotels did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By Keith Burbank. Diamondback terrapins in a tank at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, U.S., on August 29, 2018. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri) Shell Game: US Traffickers Smuggle Turtles to China and Beyond to Feed Demand as Food and Pets STONE HARBOR, N.J.A trial begins next week for a man charged with trafficking thousands of protected turtles captured in New Jerseyan unlikely hotbed of wildlife poaching that supplies China with a culinary delicacy that is hard to find in Asia. David Sommers, 64, of Levittown, Pennsylvania is accused of plucking some 3,500 diamondback terrapins and their eggs from the coastal marshes of southern New Jersey and selling them in violation of the Lacey Act, a federal statute that prohibits the trafficking of wildlife captured or killed in jurisdictions where it is illegal. Asia, where native populations of turtles have been depleted, is fueling a surge in turtle poaching across the United States. Rare species are being stolen from our own backyard for the illegal trade, said Rachel Kramer, manager at World Wildlife Fund. Capturing or killing many of the species in highest demand is illegal in states where they range. Many Asian consumers love the taste of turtle meat. But turtles with dramatic-looking shells become pets. Poaching devastates wild turtle populations because the reptiles are slow to mature to reproductive age, said biologist Brian Williamson of The Wetlands Institute in New Jersey. Most diamondback terrapins, a particularly prized species, must survive to age 8 before they can lay eggs, which means evading predators including raccoons, skunks, seagulls, and humans. All kinds of animalsincluding humanslove to eat them. Theyre the potato chip of the salt marsh, Williamson said. Among the U.S. species in high demand are the spotted turtle, a tiny animal with yellow dots on its shell that sells on the black market in Asia for up to $2,000 each, said Ed Grace, head of law enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Smugglers also get top dollar for the alligator snapping turtle, an imposing species from the U.S. southeast with spikes on its shell that resemble a dragon, said Collette Adkins, an attorney with the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity. Diamondback terrapins are prized as pets for their unique markings, which are different for each turtle. Selling for up to $3,000 each, the creatures are considered particularly healthy to eat because turtles symbolize longevity in some Asian cultures, said Williamson. A diamondback can live more than 30 years. The institute, built on a marsh about 12 miles north of Cape May, New Jersey, helps return confiscated turtles to the wild, including the 3,500 reptiles that Sommers is accused of snatching. Sommers, who goes on trial in Philadelphia next week, is also charged with smuggling turtles to Canada in 2014 in a package falsely labeled as a book. Poaching is a growing problem and Sommers case is not an isolated incident. Two China Eastern Airlines flight attendants were fined in July in federal court in California for attempting to smuggle dozens of spotted turtles in their luggage from Los Angeles to China. Five men were indicted in March for trafficking diamondback terrapins and spotted turtles captured in North Carolina waters. They hid the turtles in packages of noodles and candy being shipped to Hong Kong. The full extent of the underground turtle trade is unknown. But wildlife advocates say buyers in Hong Kong and China accounted for 55 percent of legal exports of U.S. live, wild turtles from 2011 to 2015, according to recent data. That trade was worth $31 million. Legal exports have declined in recent years as states tighten protections. In August, Texas became the latest to ban commercial turtle hunts, with only six states still allowing unlimited turtle trapping. By Barbara Goldberg Small Virginia Town Struggles After Local Restaurant Refused to Serve Trump Press Secretary A small Virginia town is struggling to remake its reputation after a local restaurant in June refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family. A regional tourism bureau has decided to use its emergency funds to boost advertising for the area, after the refusal of service at The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, prompted a backlash from Trump supporters, as well as others who believe the restaurant went too far. The Rockbridge Regional Tourism, which also represents Buena Vista and Rockbridge counties, met with the Lexington City Council on Aug. 30, and the localities decided to increase digital marketing and spread positive messages of the area in the wake of the Red Hen incident, The Roanoke Times reported. The tourism bureau is funded through the lodging and meals tax and each year sets aside some $160,000 for emergencies. The bureau has agreed to spend an additional $15,000 through September. Typically the money is saved. But each locality agreed the region was in desperate need of positive coverage, the local paper wrote. In June, the owner of the restaurant in Lexington, about a three-hour drive from Washington, refused to serve Sanders. I was told to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left, Sanders wrote on Twitter following the incident. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so. The bureau was flooded with thousands of calls and emails after the incident, said Director of Marketing Patty Williams. Some people protested in front of the restaurant with signs, while others left bad reviews online. The restaurant even had to close for a few weeks. Just recently, a family in Georgia said in a letter to the bureau they would never come back because of what happened. For a town our size, it was a significant impact, Williams said. Steve Phillips: Meet the Mega-Wealthy Marxist-Leninist Behind Four Potential Governors in November News Analysis Democratic Party power-player Steve Phillips is behind the rise of four potential far-left governors who have already won their primaries. The San Francisco attorney is a mega-wealthy self-identified student of Marx, Mao, and Lenin directing huge resources into socialist and communist-led groups, with the goal of putting his personal far-left proteges into governors mansions in Maryland, Georgia, Florida, and Arizona. Phillips and his partners in the highly secretive group Democracy Alliance hope that by electing far-left governors into four currently Republican-led states, the drive to impeach President Donald Trump and destroy his Make America Great Again agenda will be accelerated. The key element of Phillipss strategy is to push people of color into high office, which will thenso his theory goesenergize minority voters to come out in force. While George Soros and Tom Steyer have gained notoriety for their dedication to pouring massive resources into far-left causes and candidates, Phillips has managed to escape the level of scrutiny someone of his stature deserves. Make no mistake, Phillips is a highly regarded and extremely influential force in the Democratic Party. Who Is Steve Phillips? Originally from Cleveland, Phillips was a student radical at Stanford University in the 1980s, active in the Black Student Union. Phillips was a regular writer for Unity, the newspaper of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (LRS). The 3,000-member-strong Maoist organization was the largest pro-China group in the United States at the time. The LRS was highly secretive and ordered most members to publicly disavow the organization. The Stanford branch of LRS was led by professor Gordon H. Chang (not to be confused with the anti-communist author Gordon G. Chang), who is now a member of Beijings main U.S. influence operation known as the Committee of 100. Phillips, then active in Stanford Out of South Africa (SOSA), a group pushing for disinvestment from South Africa, told Unity in May 1985: Some of the people who have played roles in organizing SOSA have been folks whove worked with Unity and take a Marxist-Leninist perspective. Its really exciting to see the principles of Marxism-Leninism being successful and making a difference. Years later, Phillips co-founded PowerPAC+, a social justice organization dedicated to building a multiracial political coalition. In a December 2012 blog post on the PowerPAC+ website, Phillips confirmed his far-left credentials: First, let me make clear that I come out of the Left. Ive studied Marx, Mao, and Lenin. In college, I organized solidarity efforts for freedom struggles in South Africa and Nicaragua, and I palled around with folks who considered themselves communists and revolutionaries. After being accused of LRS membership in Stanfords student newspaper, Stanford Daily, Phillips retorted that he had no knowledge of the Leagues involvement at Stanford and has not recruited for the organization. In 1990, the LRS split between a small faction called the Socialist Organizing Network and a majority faction called the Unity Organizing Committee. Phillips became a supporter of the latter group, which specifically set out to infiltrate the Democratic Party. Soon after, Phillips married fellow Stanford graduate Susan Sandler, daughter of far-left billionaires Herb and Marion Sandler, whose $2.4 billion fortune was made through the sale of their company, Golden West Financial Corp., to Wachovia Bank. The Sandlers invested $1.3 million into their Sandler Foundation, which supports mainly leftist causes such as Center for American Progress and ProPublica. According to New York Times reporter Matt Bai, the Sandlers, along with Progressive Insurance magnate Peter Lewis and leftist financier George Soros, additionally established the organization America Votes to coordinate various get-out-the-vote drives during the 2004 election. The Sandlers also sent their son-in-law Phillips as their representative to the October 2005 meeting of the Democracy Alliance at the Chateau Elan near Atlanta. Both Phillips and Susan Sandler have played major roles in the Democracy Alliance, in which they were able to interact with the Soros family, Norman Lear of People for the American Way, Democratic Party mega-donor Steyer, and others. Phillips has been very influential inside the Democracy Alliance because he has brought a unique strategic vision that many of the more money-focused members lacked. A Modern Remake of Jesse Jacksons Rainbow Coalition Strategy The League of Revolutionary Struggle joined other communist groups active in Jesse Jacksons Rainbow Coalition in 1984 and 1988. Jackson ran for president twice, with an idea ahead of its time. The Rainbow Coalition strategy was to unite progressive white voters with leftist black, Latino, Asian-American, Native American, and gay activists into a multi-colored electoral coalition. In 1988, Jackson got 7 million votes with this strategy and won several states. Phillips was a delegate to Jacksons 1984 and 1988 campaigns and took a year off from college to serve as the California student coordinator of his 1988 campaign. Today, minorities are a much larger proportion of the population, and some, particularly Asian-Americans, have trended even more Democratic since the mid-1990s. Phillips has been working hard to convince leading Democrats and his Democracy Alliance partners to stop wasting money on trying to persuade white swing voters. Phillips dismisses Trump voters in the Midwest, putting forth the idea that people of color and progressive whites outnumber conservative whites, which he told Democracy Now! are a shrinking sector of the population. Therefore, he claims in a Facebook post, the idea should not be to chase white Trump voters, but to inspire progressives by using the Obama formula: This notion that we should chase the Trump voters in the Midwest is illogical, Phillips states. That focuses on a shrinking sector of the population. The Obama formulainspire people of color and progressive whites to turn out in large numbersis how you win elections. To this end, Phillips created PowerPAC+ to fund candidates of color around the United States and Democracy in Color to propagandize his message to a wide audience. Phillips has also partnered with the hard left to deliver minority votes to the Democratic Party. Phillips and his Democracy Alliance partners have spent millions funding radical voter registration organizations and get out the vote efforts in states with large minority populations. Many of these organizations are led by former members of the disgraced Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or are supporters of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), a successor to the former League of Revolutionary Struggle. Phillips and his wealthy leftist colleagues are also working closely with Our Revolution, the nationwide leftist alliance formed out of the Bernie Sanders campaign. Our Revolution is completely dominated by the largest Marxist organization in the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Our Revolution also has support from Communist Party USA (CPUSA), Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS), and FRSO. The three latter groups support the Chinese Communist Party, as do certain sectors of DSA. Phillips plays a crucial role in raising the money and directing the funds of this electoral army. Electing Far-Left Governors This election cycle, Phillips with PowerPAC.org, a sister organization to PowerPAC+, backed five gubernatorial candidates of color: John Chiang (California, Asian-American), Stacey Abrams (Georgia, black), Ben Jealous (Maryland, black), Andrew Gillum (Florida, black) and David Garcia (Arizona, Latino). California Chiang has been Phillipss only failure so far this cycle. In a crowded progressive field, the former California comptroller (the states financial officer) managed only fifth place. Its hard to understand why Phillips ever wasted time and money on his long-shot candidacy. The fact that Chiang is a member of the very influential and deep-pocketed Committee of 100 may have been a factor. Georgia Abrams of Georgia was Phillipss first success, this cycle. A long-time Phillips protege, Abrams beat her white Democratic primary opponent by more than 50 points. Abrams serves as a board member for PowerPAC+ and was given at least $1 million by Susan Sandler for her primary campaign, with commitments of another $1 million from Sandlers friends. Abrams was endorsed by PowerPAC+ conferences in her successful 2014 Georgia state House re-election campaign. Phillips and Sandler have promised more funds to Abrams for the general election in November. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Phillips said: This is a seminal moment. Thats why were so heavily involved. We see winning 2020 in winning 2018. This is the down payment. The Chronicle article goes on to read: Abrams strategy wont change in the general election, Phillips said. The key is turning out the potential voters they knownot convincing the ones they dont. To win in November, Phillips says Abrams must increase turnout among nonwhites by 230,000about the margin by which Georgia Democrats have lost statewide races to Republicans in recent years. There are 1.2 million eligible nonwhites who arent registered to vote in the state, Phillips said. His organization, PowerPAC Georgia, plans to spend $10 million in the general election to move them. Abrams has her own voter registration organization, the New Georgia Project. She is supported by Our Revolution and enjoys good relations with the Atlanta chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. She is up against conservative Brian Kemp, probably the only Republican in the state who can beat her army and war chest. Maryland Jealous of Maryland won his Democratic primary convincingly against a well-established moderate Democratic opponent. Jealous is a longtime friend and collaborator of Phillips. In 2007 and 2008, Jealous and Phillips worked together to implement an 18-state initiative under Vote Hope that increased communities of color participation in the 2008 election behind Barack Obama. Most of Jealouss money comes through Maryland Together We Rise PAC, whose largest single donor at $250,000 was Susan Sandler. He was also a board member of Phillipss PAC+, the predecessor of PowerPAC+. Jealous is backed by DSA-controlled Our Revolution and by the 23,000-member-strong Progressive Maryland, which is led by DSA member Larry Stafford. Stafford wrote in an article published by OurFuture.org: At Progressive Maryland, weve been on board with Ben from the start and he with us. Back in December, he let us know where he stands on key issues: the $15 minimum wage, workers right to organize, womens rights and Medicare for All. Bens primary victory represents a shift in the balance of power in Maryland politics. It also shows that the path forward for progressive values and working peoples values is through organizing and creating meaningful alliances between populist progressive, white constituency groups and progressive people of color, who want to vote for people who knows [sic] the issues of our communities and who will put forward bold solutions that meet the needs of our constituency. Currently, Jealous is trailing in the polls behind incumbent moderate Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. According to Phillips, however, only 800,000 Democratic voters turned out for Hogans 2014 election, compared to about 1.1 million who turned out to elect former Gov. Martin OMalley. Those voters, Phillips argues, could be swayed to turn out with a progressive agenda of economic and social justice. Jealous is the bridge between the Steve Phillips and Bernie Sanders organizations, where he serves on the board of Our Revolution. He has boasted that as the former president of the NAACP, he knows how to bring out voters. Arizona Garcia of Arizona is a bright hope for the Phillips cabal. Garcia easily won his Democratic primary and is set to face incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in November. Garcia has been backed by Democracy Alliance members Steyer and Phillips. In a column published by DSA-aligned publication The Nation on June 21, Phillips said Garcias candidacy had immense potential to bring more Latino voters to the polls. Electing David Garciaa person who comes from the very community Trump demonizes and who is unapologetically committed to building an inclusive, multiracial democracywill represent a resounding rejection of the nativist, nationalist, and racist impulses lifted up by this president, Phillips wrote. In the same article, Phillips wrote: What Census and electoral data tells us is that the most promising regions in our country for future Democratic wins are in the South and Southwest, where the multiracial ranks of Democratic voters are growing faster than in any other part of the country. Often overlooked in 2016 election postmortems is the fact that Arizona was one of the most closely contested states in the country. Clinton lost by just 3.5 percentcoming closer than she did in Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina, states that slid from the Democratic column after Obama had previously won them. Trump won by just 91,000 votes in Arizona, a state in which 600,000 Latinos who were eligible to vote didnt cast ballots. Many of Garcias supporters come from the Bazta Arpaio coalition, which defeated Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2016. That organization was led by several Freedom Road Socialist Organization comrades and PowerPAC+ board member Randy Parraz. In November 2017, another PowerPAC+ board member, Eddy Morales, hosted Garcia at a fundraising meeting in Portland, Oregon. Garcia is also on good terms with the Arizona branch of Our Revolution and the states four DSA chapters. After Garcias victory, Phillips posted on Facebook: Incredible and inspiring election results last night. Most of the attention went to the upset victory of the awesome Andrew Gillum in the Florida gubernatorial primary, but also historic and important was David Garcias win in Arizona. Re-upping my piece in The Nation on David. A Rainbow Revolution is sweeping this country, and not a moment too soon. Florida Gillum of Florida shocked the country with his come-from-behind victory in the Florida Democratic primary on Aug. 28. It wouldnt have been the least bit surprising had the public known of the extensive voter registration drives and get out the vote campaigns run by DSA and Freedom Road Socialist Organization-led organizations on Gillums behalf. A PowerPAC+ board member and long-time protege of the Democracy Alliance, Gillum is currently the mayor of Tallahassee. The New Florida Majority, led by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, boasts of signing up tens of thousands of new black and Latino voters in south and central Florida. Another FRSO front group, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, vowed to sign up every immigrant in the state. ACORN-descended Organize Florida also pitched in. In 2012, Gillum had trainedlike Jealous before himat the FRSO/ACORN-affiliated activist training school Rockwood Institute in Oakland, California. The Florida Democratic Party Progressive Caucusalso controlled by DSAis also right behind Gillum. The day before his primary election, Gillum was in Miami with Miami-Dade Progressive Caucus leader Thomas Kennedy, who gushed that the election of Gillum would radically change politics in the state. Argentinian-born Kennedy also chairs the Miami DSA, has held leadership roles in The New Florida Majority and Florida Immigrant Coalition, and has past affiliations with FRSO. According to an opinion piece by Kennedy, posted at online media Latino Rebels on Aug. 25: Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is running a bold and progressive campaign for governor that embraces the black and brown voters that statewide campaigns by Democrats in Florida have ignored and taken for granted in the past. Medicare for All. Abolishing ICE. Fighting the NRA. Investing $1 billion on [sic] education. Restoring voting rights for those disenfranchised. Ending stand your ground. Cleaning Floridas waterways. Legalizing marijuana. $15 minimum wage. Those are the popular progressive stances that have allowed Gillum to surge from fourth place to first in a crowded field of five candidates. We have a chance to make history in November by electing Floridas first black governor and radically change politics in the state. Even Bernie Sanders himself came to Florida to campaign for Gillum. Most of Gillums funding comes through the Forward Florida PAC. Contributors include radical actress Jane Fonda and Democracy Alliance members Lear, Soros, and Phillips. In May, when Gillums campaign was almost beyond saving, another Democracy Alliance member, California billionaire Tom Steyer, threw in $1 million worth of organizational and advertising support. Steyers NextGen contributed $500,000 to Gillums political committee, Forward Florida, and it committed another $500,000 to pay for digital ads and 50 paid field staffers to organize a team of 620 volunteers. NextGen claimed it had registered 13,000 Florida voters. As Phillips said, A Rainbow Revolution is sweeping this country, and not a moment too soon. Permanent Socialist Power The new Rainbow Coalition is well underway. Phillips and the Democracy Alliances campaign to elect Abrams, Jealous, Garcia, and Gillum in November is just the tip of the spear. By promoting gubernatorial candidates of color in minority-heavy states. Phillips and his allies hope to increase Democratic voter turnout all down the ticket, especially in congressional races. With relentless and strategically targeted voter registration, financial support from Phillips and his deep-pocketed allies from the Democracy Alliance, and boots-on-the-ground support from Marxist organizations DSA, FRSO, CPUSA, and Our Revolution, the Democratic Party is rapidly becoming a socialist-communist organization. According to Phillips and his allies, the way to permanent socialist power in America is the mass-mobilization of the progressive white vote coupled with the minority vote behind an increasingly radicalized Democratic Party. File photo: A selection of IVF hormone bottles and syringes at the Science Museum on July 23, 2018, in London. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) Teens Born Through IVF May Have Higher Blood Pressure High blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease and stroke Teenagers who were conceived through assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), may be six times more likely to have hypertension compared to those who were conceived naturally, according to new research. Researchers from the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, said this is the first evidence of its kind. There is growing evidence that artificial reproductive technologies alters the blood vessels in children, but the long-term consequences were not known, said the lead author of the study, Dr. Emrush Rexhaj. We now know that this places ART children at a six times higher rate of hypertension than children conceived naturally, Rexhaj said. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, puts an individual at a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including IVF, were developed in 1978 and have helped millions of people who cannot have children naturally. The most common ART methods are IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The findings supported earlier evidence from animal studies, where mice were found to have premature aging of the blood vessels and subsequently hypertension. The Study The researchers followed 97 teenagers in total54 of whom were born through ART, and 43 of whom born naturally. The teenagers in the study were all aged 16 to 17. The teenagers born through ART had an average blood pressure of 119/71, while those who had been born naturally had a slightly lower average of 115/69. The first figure is systolic, and the second is diastolic pressure, which are maximum and minimum pressures, respectively. The systolic pressure coincides with each heart beat while diastolic pressure is measured when arteries relax between the beats. The authors proceeded to see who would be diagnosed as having clinical hypertension, that is, a reading of more than 130/80. Eight out of the 54 ART teensthat is, 14.8 percenthad clinical hypertension, whereas only one out of the 43 naturally conceived teensor 2.3 percenthad hypertension. Dividing 14.8 by 2.3 gives 6.4the figure the authors said is the heightened risk of someone who was born through ART would have for hypertension. Five Years Ago According to the authors, the same group of children had been studied five years ago, then aged 11 to 12. No major differences in blood pressure between ART and naturally conceived children were found at the time. It only took five years for differences in arterial blood pressure to show, Rexhaj said. This is a rapidly growing population (ART-conceived individuals) and apparently healthy children are showing serious signs of concern for early cardiovascular risk, especially when it comes to arterial hypertension (high blood pressure), he added. Limitations and Implications The study acknowledged several limitations, including that all the participants were taken from one birth center, and that only single-birth children were studied. Whilst I laud the efforts to monitor health, this should be done on a population basis not with small biased studies like this one, said IVF expert professor Alaistar Sutcliffe of the University of London told The Telegraph. The study had excluded factors that would heighten cardiovascular disease from the study, including premature babies, low birth weight, and pre-eclampsia. But, noting the above exclusions, Dr. Larry Weinrauch said in an accompanying editorial in the same journal that the studys small cohort may downplay the significance of increased blood pressure found in ART-conceived teenagers. Early study, detection and treatment of ART conceived individuals may be the appropriate course of preventative action, Weinrauch said. We need to be vigilant in the development of elevated blood pressure among children conceived through ART to implement early lifestyle-based modifications and, if necessary, pharmacotherapy. Emeritus professor in Developmental Biology, Tom Fleming, told The Telegraph that since IVF has only been around for 40 years, the majority of those born have not reached middle age, where cardiovascular conditions often arise. As such, Fleming believes more evidence may become available in the future. From a biological perspective, the early embryo is known to be sensitive to environmental conditions that may alter how it develops, affecting later gene expression and physiological condition, and may lead to changes such as hypertension, he told The Telegraph. From NTD.tv Teens Plead Not Guilty of Murder of Elvia Fragstein Two Arkansas teenagers charged with kidnapping and killing a 72-year-old woman both pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Sept. 4. Robert Lee Smith Jr., 16, and Tacori Mackrel, 18, were formally charged with capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft of property, filed by the Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorneys Office. Both teens were charged as adults, despite Smith being 16. The pair were originally arrested on July 16 and charged with kidnapping and theft of property. At a press conference on Sept. 4, Prosecuting Attorney Luke Ferguson and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Carol Crews announced that the capital murder charge had been added in the official filing on Aug. 31, according Faulkner County Sheriffs Facebook postings. The teens were arrested after they were seen on surveillance video. Kidnapped and Killed Fragstein spent the afternoon of July 7 shopping at a mall in Conway, Arkansas, about 15 miles south of her home in Greenbrier. Security videos showed the 71-year-old grandmother visiting several stores, including a Kroger grocery store, a Starbucks, and finally TJ Maxx. Video shows Fragstein leaving the TJ Maxx at about 3:43 p.m. Parking lot cameras then recorded Fragsteins car, a silver 2013 Honda CRV, driving at high speed around the parking lot. Inspection of the video showed a man in a white shirt behind the wheel, with some commotion happening inside the car, according to an affidavit from the Prosecuting Attorneys Office. When his wife didnt return home from shopping as expected, Helmut Fragstein reported her missing to the Faulkner County Sheriffs Department. Sheriffs reviewed all the security camera footage and noticed two young men in a blue PT Cruiser driving oddly through the mall parking lot, parking in numerous different spaces, eventually parking near to Fragsteins Honda. The investigators shared pictures of the two young men with the Jefferson County Sheriffs office and the Pine Bluff police department. The two were identified as Robert Lee Smith and Tacori Mackrel. On July 11, a female body was recovered in Jefferson County. On July 13, the body was identified as that of Elvia Fragstein, according to a Sheriffs Office press release. KATV reported Fragstein had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head and cervical spine as well as strangulation. The Sheriffs Office sent out pleas for information through its various social media channels, and two witnesses came forward, saying they had seen the suspects driving the silver CRV. The identified the suspects by name. The Mysterious Caucasian Investigator Andy Cook and Lt. Chad Wooley from the Faulkner Sheriffs Office learned that Tacori Mackrel had been arrested on unrelated charges and was currently housed in the Jefferson County jail. On July 15, the two officers interviewed Mackrel, who admitted to being one of the men in the surveillance video, then demanded legal counsel. The pair returned the next evening, Mackrel was read his rights, and agreed to discuss the case. Mackerel claimed that shortly before he and Smith committed the crime, an unknown Caucasian male approached the two teens, threatened them with a .357 caliber revolver, and told them to kidnap Fragstein. Mackrel claimed that he and Smith jumped into Fragsteins car after she got in, and bound her with their belts. Then the mysterious white male climbed in and ordered them to drive to Smiths mothers home in Pine Bluff. The unidentified man supposedly took the woman away in a truck, returned alone 10 minutes later, and disappeared. Cook and Wooley swore in the prosecutors affidavit that there was no evidence whatsoever of an unidentified white male being involved in the crime. EXCLUSIVE: Only @KATVNews was there when 16-year-old Robert Lee Smith was arrested today in connection to the Elvia Fragstein case. The 71-year-old woman was found dead along a road in Jefferson Co. #arnews pic.twitter.com/lkcYYaBiWn Marine Glisovic KATV (@KATVMarine) July 16, 2018 Robert Smith was arrested on July 16, and a search of his home turned up the clothes he had been wearing in the security video. The affidavit reports that there were bloodstains on the T-shirt and shoes. Smith admitted to being one of the people in the video but denied any involvement in any crime. If convicted, Mackrel would be eligible for the death penalty. Smith, being under 18, would not. From Colombia to the United States to Murder Victim According to her obituary at Arkansas Online, Elvia Fragstein was born in Huila, Colombia, on May 3, 1946. As an adult she owned and operated two alcohol companies in Colombia. She married Helmut Fragstein in 2000 and moved to the United States first to Wisconsin, and later to Arkansas, to enjoy her retirement. She is survived by her husband, five children, and seven grandchildren. From NTD.tv The Questionable Ties Between Russian Oligarchs, Magnitsky Act, and Steele Dossier Commentary Over two years into the investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, a new picture has started to emerge, one of Russian oligarchs and their connections to some of the key figures responsible for the collusion narrative. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the former head of Russian oil giant Yukos. Famously imprisoned by Putin in 2003 on fraud charges, Khodorkovsky appeared a sympathetic figureportrayed as a victim of Putin retaliation. He was pardoned in 2013 and now resides in London. At the height of his power, Khodorkovsky was estimated to have a net worth in excess of $15 billion. He obtained his wealth in a manner similar to that of many Russian oligarchs. In 1987, he founded Menatep, one of Russias first private banks. He used the bank to acquire stakes in companies that were being privatized at bargain-basement prices. In 1996, Khodorkovsky paid $300 million for a 78 percent stake in Yukos Oil Company through an auction, using Menatep for the purchase. Yukos would be valued in excess of $40 billion in 2003. Menatep also organized the auction. Menatep Bank, owned by Khodorkovsky, organized the auction for Yukos Oil Company, a report from Illinois State University says. Khodorkovsky bought 45 percent of the shares for $150 million and another 33 percent in an investment tender for $150 million with the promise of another $200 million to invest into the company under one of his shell companies. The funding for the purchase of Yukos appeared almost as suspect as the auction process: It was unclear where Khodorkovsky got the money to buy Yukos. He had various international political and financial connections and claimed that most of the money was borrowed from various sources. One former bank official stated that he was buying Yukos with the money Yukos had accumulated from not paying their taxes. The manner in which many acquisitions were made, known as loans-for-shares, was simple and effective. Banks, controlled by oligarchs like Khodorkovsky, would make loans to the government, taking assets, such as factories, for collateral. The banks would run the businesses until the loans were repaid by the government. If the government defaulted, the banks had the collateral. The loans were rarely repaid. Khodorkovsky remains a fierce opponent of Putin. He has also been mentioned as a possible future leader of Russiaan unlikely prospect. During a March 2017 interview with the Washington Times, Khodorkovsky framed the political situationboth here and in Russiain simple and understandable terms: To some extent, [President Donald] Trump is president of the alt-elite, not the mainstream elite, Khodorkovsky said, before connecting the situation to Putins, who he said has targeted alternative elites around the world in influence operations. He tries to be generous to them, to build relations with them. Khodorkovsky, who has many sympathetic supporters within the media, had a simple message for Trump: I would tell him that the current American administration has created a crisis of sorts in the heads of America and the whole world. Khodorkovsky noted that Trumps victory was unanticipated within the Kremlin: If Putin had any objectives whatsoever vis-a-vis that election, it was that when Clinton wonand everybody in the Kremlin was convinced Clinton would winto create a couple of nice visible incidents in the U.S. featuring Trumps losing supporters accusing Clinton of dishonest elections, he said. Your FBI director had more impact on the election than Putin. He was referring to former FBI Director James Comey, who announced, days before the November vote, a renewed probe of then-candidate Hillary Clintons use of an unsecured email server while she was secretary of state. Seven months later, during an interview with NBC News on Oct. 17, 2017, Khodorkovsky was singing a very different tune: I am almost convinced that Putins people have tried to influence the U.S. election in some way. That Putin personally tried to cooperate with the Trump campaign to affect the election is a 9 out of 10. Whether or not that proposal was accepted, I would let the people responsible for investigating the matter answer that question. Khodorkovsky, like most Russian oligarchs, has his own ties to figures in the TrumpRussia narrative. His former head of human resources, Sergey Gorkov, met Jared Kushner at Trump Tower in New York in December 2017a meeting that was used to push allegations of Russian ties. During the interview, Khodorkovsky was careful to mention he believed that Gorkov met with Kushner on orders from either Andrey Kostin or Herman Gref. Both men run Kremlin-backed banks that were sanctioned by the Obama administration. Notably, the two bankers Khodorkovsky cited have been publicly linked to Trump. Gref co-organized a 2013 dinner in Moscow for Trump to meet Russian businessmen. Aras Agalarov, Grefs partner, was directly involved in offering dirt on Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump Jr. during the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016. Kostin was named by Felix Sater, a former FBI informant, as a potential source of funding for a Trump Tower project in Moscow. Kostin hotly disputed Khodorkovskys claims, noting he has never had discussions, or any other kind of communication, with Mr. Gorkov regarding a possible meeting with Mr. Kushner, and doesnt understand the point such a meeting could have had. According to the article, Khodorkovskys aides said this was the first time he has shared these details about Gorkov. Khodorkovsky expanded on his viewpoint that Putin is not the all-powerful, near-mythical figure portrayed by the media, in an interview with Politico. [Putin] does not run Russia outside the inner beltway of Moscow, he said. The pact that he has with those people who actually do run the various regions of the country is a rather simple one: You bring out the level of vote that I need for my purposes, and I let you do what you want to do in your region. Thats how it works. Khodorkovsky, like most Russian oligarchs, has some question marks surrounding his past. In 2015, he was formally accused of hiring an assassin in 1998 to murder Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of an oil-rich town who had threatened to increase taxes on Khodorkovskys oil company. In 2007, Khodorkovskys head of security, Alexi Pichugin, was sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering three murders, including Petukhovs. Khodorkovsky has denied any involvement. Magnitsky Act Khodorkovsky operates a project he has dubbed Dossier Center, which receives anonymous leaks to share with journalists. Unlike WikiLeaks, Khodorkovskys focus is more specific: Our ambition is not simply to expose information in general, but to use material relating to Putins circle and his allies so that they can be put on trial in Russia. Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. during the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, was recently the subject of leaks from the Dossier Center. Interestingly, the Veselnitskaya leaks contained no information regarding the Trump Tower meeting, lending a certain level of credence to Veselnitskayas contention that both parties at the meeting quickly realized it was a waste of time all around. Nor was there any information contained in the leaks regarding Christopher Steele or his dossier. Veselnitskaya has been an opponent of the Magnitsky Act, which has imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials. Some portray the act as an overdue penalty against Russian officials. Others have called it a measure that effectively ended post-Cold War hopes for normal relations between Washington and Moscow. The Magnitsky Act was named after Sergei Magnitsky who, according to billionaire and former American citizen Bill Browder, was a lawyer who died as a result of severe beatings while held in jail. Others have stated that Magnitsky was actually an accountant who died of natural causes as a result of inadequate medical treatment. Interestingly, the Magnitsky Act specifically condemns prosecution of Khodorkovsky, while simultaneously singling out his political enemies for visa bans and asset freezes. It strikes as disturbing that an official act was passed by Congressdirectly affecting foreign relations with a major nuclear powerwhen basic facts surrounding its genesis remain in real question. Browder is the founder of Hermitage Capital Management and was active in Russia during the privatization boom. He has been portrayed by some as a human rights activist, while others have darker views of his activities. He is wanted by Russian authorities in regard to several tax cases and claims of financial fraud. Unsurprisingly, Khodorkovsky and Browder have both been supporters of the Magnitsky Act, which has directly targeted their political enemies and provided a shield from Russian retaliation for themselves. Former State Department official Jonathan Winer was one of the early architects of the Magnitsky Act, as he notes in a recent op-ed for The Daily Beast: When Browder consulted me, he wanted to know what he could do to hold those involved in the case accountable. I suggested creating a new law to impose economic and travel sanctions on human-rights violators involved in grand corruption. Browder decided this could secure a measure of justice for Magnitsky. He initiated a campaign that led to the enactment of the Magnitsky Act. Soon other countries enacted their own Magnitsky Acts, including Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and most recently, the United Kingdom. Russian authorities are still pursuing a case against Browder. As Winer notes, the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty allows Russian prosecutors to ask the U.S. Attorney General to arrange for Americans to testify in criminal caseswith one significant exception, as noted by Winer: The attorney general can provide no such assistance in a politically motivated case. I know this because I was among those who helped put it there. Back in 1999, when we were negotiating the agreement with Russia, I was the senior State Department official managing U.S.Russia law-enforcement relations. As noted in an article by Diana Johnstone for the Ron Paul Institute: Winers clever treaty is a perfect Catch-22. The treaty doesnt apply to a case if it is politically motivated, and if it is Russian, it must be politically motivated. Khodorkovsky, along with Browder, lobbied heavily for passage of the act. Khodorkovsky did so through his Corbiere Trust, which handles his remaining fortune. It also lobbied for passage of Senate Resolution 322, which provided express support for Khodorkovsky and co-defendant Platon Lebedev. The Corbiere Trust is one of APCO Worldwides largest clients. APCO lobbied on behalf of the now-defunct Clinton Global Initiative and was involved, at least tangentially, in the Uranium One transaction, as noted by the Hill: APCO was paid $3 million in 2010 and 2011 to work for Rosatom, Russias state-owned nuclear company. Rosatom paid APCO to lobby the State Department and other federal agencies on behalf of its Tenex subsidiary, which sought to increase its commercial uranium sales in the United States. Johnstone observes that APCOs president and CEO, Margery Krause, is a member of Mikhail Khodorkovskys son Pavels Institute of Modern Russia, devoted to promoting democratic valuesin other words, to building political opposition to Vladimir Putin. Of interest is that Khodorkovsky and Browder knew each other from Browders business dealings in Russia. According to a New York Times article, Browder and Khodorkovsky had some acrimonious dealings over Yukos, and Browder was happy when he was arrested. The relationship changed in 2010 or 2011 as both men began to lobby for the Magnitsky Act. Their relationship appears to have continued. In November 2016, the two men appeared together to testify on the UKs relationship with Russia before the House of Commons. Browder continues to bring up Khodorkovsky in interviews. and he specifically noted Khodorkovskys story during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In some respects, the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting virtually ensured that the Magnitsky Act will remain in force. That one event accomplished more than Browder or Khodorkovsky could have accomplished in years of lobbying. The Trump Tower meeting rendered the Magnitsky Act politically untouchable in the intermediate term. In August 2017, Trump placed additional sanctions on Russia. In July this year, Putin noted during his joint press conference with Trump that he wanted to interview 11 American citizens and foreign nationals in relation to Browder and the Magnitsky Act. In exchange, Muellers special counsel team would be able to interview the 12 Russian intelligence officials they had indicted. Included on Putins list were Browder, Michael McFaul, David Kramer, and Christopher Steele. Kramer and McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia, have both been frequently quoted in The Washington Post and The New York Times criticizing Trumps foreign policy. Kramer, at late Sen. John McCains behest, flew to London to meet with Steele. Kramer then hand-delivered the Steele dossier to McCain, who gave a copy to Comey. At this point, it remains unknown whether Khodorkovsky or Browder have involvement, direct or otherwise, in the production of the Steele dossier. A common link between the participants is Jonathan Winer, who has known Steele for years. Winer lobbied on behalf of Khodorkovsky and the Corbiere Trust. Given Khodorkovskys focus on passage of the Magnitsky Act, a link to Browder is a short hop at best. Winer had direct involvement in the dissemination of the Steele dossier. In September 2016, Winer met with Steele and passed a copy of the dossier along to Victoria Nuland at the U.S. State Department. Winer noted this himself in a Washington Post op-ed: In the summer of 2016, Steele told me that he had learned of disturbing information regarding possible ties between Donald Trump, his campaign and senior Russian officials. In September 2016, Steele and I met in Washington and discussed the information now known as the dossier. Steeles sources suggested that the Kremlin not only had been behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign but also had compromised Trump and developed ties with his associates and campaign. I was allowed to review, but not to keep, a copy of these reports to enable me to alert the State Department. I prepared a two-page summary and shared it with Nuland, who indicated that, like me, she felt that the secretary of state [then John Kerry] needed to be made aware of this material. The level of involvement from Khodorkovsky and Browder is murky at best. But one thing seems fairly clear. The Magnitsky Act, which had a material impact on relations with Russia, has stemmed primarily from the unsubstantiated narratives of two men: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Bill Browder. Jeff Carlson is a CFA charterholder. He worked for 20 years as an analyst and portfolio manager in the high-yield bond market. He runs the website TheMarketsWork.com Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A group gathered to greet Chinese head of state Xi Jinping, mostly made up of students, outside the Old Executive Office Building in Washington on Sept. 25, 2015. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times) The Shadow That Haunts Chinese Students in America Recently, there has been some buzz in the media about President Donald Trumps alleged characterization of virtually every Chinese student studying in the United States as being a spy, despite the fact that he didnt identify the country by name. While the mainstream media might find his words far-fetched, Trump wasnt totally off the mark. On Feb. 13, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified at a Senate hearing that a massive Chinese intelligence espionage network, whether its professors, scientists, students, is in operation at universities across the United States. We see [that] in almost every field office the FBI has around the country. Its not just major cities. Its small ones as well, he said. I think the level of naivete on the part of the academic sector about this creates its own issues. Theyre exploiting the very open research and development environment that we have, which we all revere. But theyre taking advantage of it. There are some 350,000 students from mainland China (about 35 percent of all foreign students in America) currently enrolled at U.S. higher-education institutions. According to Michael Wessel, commissioner of the congressional U.S.China Economic Security Review Commission, Beijing is recruiting some of them to secure technology knowhow. Cases such as Ruopeng Liu, a former Duke doctoral student accused of passing sensitive technology to China, arent uncommon, although often not as sensationally covered as a Russian spy story by the press. The Shady CSSAs Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) exist at virtually all U.S. universities that have enrolled Chinese students. They are influenced and frequently funded by their local Chinese consulates. These are not typical student clubs; rather, they serve to monitor fellow Chinese students and carry out a variety of state missions such as harassing the so-called anti-China speakers on campus and greeting any visiting Chinese leaders, rain or shine, outside their hotels. In 2015, when Chinese head of state Xi Jingping was in Washington, the Chinese Embassy used WeChat and relied on these CSSAs to mobilize some 700 Chinese students from nearby universities to show up, waving red flags to welcome their communist leader, each being compensated later with $20 for their effort; some were even bused into town from locations hours away, such as Virginia Tech. In a jaw-dropping example, hundreds of Chinese students studying in Europe were flown to Iceland when Jiang Zemin made an official state visit there in 2002. The Iceland authorities fell on their knees to receive Jiang, while denying the entry of hundreds of Falun Gong and Tibetan protesters at the ReykjavikKeflavik Airport, using a blacklist provided by Beijing. As if such CSSAs werent bold enough in their missions, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has openly set up its branches on university campuses across America. In an interview with Foreign Policy, a student member of the CCP cell at the University of Illinois said: After we went back to China, we had one-on-one meetings with our teachers. We talked about ourselves and others performance abroad. We had to talk about whether other students had some anti-party thought. Such CCP cells are operating in California, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, North Dakota, and West Virginia. The culture of students spying on one other isnt unique in an Orwellian society. In fact, students are also encouraged to report on their professors. As a result of tip-offs from students, professor You Shengdong of Xiamen University, professor Zhai Juhong of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and professor Tan Song of Chongqing Normal University have all been suspended from teaching for making politically incorrect comments in the classroom. Stockholm Syndrome I once asked a Chinese student, a devoted Christian: Why would you answer the CSSAs call to greet the visiting Chinese leader while your underground church brothers and sisters in China are hiding and being persecuted by this atheist communist regime? If anything, I could understand if you would go and protest on their behalf. He was visibly at a loss, struggling between whether he should fulfill his patriotic duty or defend his personal faith. Neither was he able to differentiate what has become an ambiguous line between China and the CCP, thanks to decades of systematic propaganda that has equated the nation with the party. Some of these active CSSA members may very likely have parents or grandparents who went through a tough time during the Cultural Revolution, but the CCP seems to have succeeded in convincing these students that without the CCP, there is no New China, according to a universal slogan. Dr. Jingduan Yang, an Oxford-trained psychiatrist, was the first Chinese doctor who sought to explain the internal conflict the Chinese people have suffered all these years. At a well-attended Yenching Auditorium at Harvard in May 2006, Dr. Yang used the case of the famous Chinese writer Ding Ling to illustrate how the entire Chinese population has been a victim of Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm syndrome, coined after a 1973 bank robbery that took place in Sweden, is used to describe the paradoxical feelings a victim experiences for his or her abuser. Ding Ling, who barely survived the living hell of the Anti-Rightist Movement in the 1950s and the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, to the surprise of many, ended up vigorously defending the CCPs Anti-Rightist Movement after she was rehabilitated. Of course, Ding Ling wasnt alone in this regard, as an Orwellian society that is sustained by fear and mind control can mass-produce individuals with such distorted thinking. Although no one living in Beijings Zhongnanhai compoundthe headquarters for the CCPmay have ever heard of B.F. Skinner, it appears that they have certainly mastered his behavior-modification model, better perhaps than many counselors in the West. Skinners model, referred to as operant conditioning, is based on the premise that behavior can be shaped by external stimuli. Through multiple experiments, Skinner discovered that such stimulation, specifically rewards or punishments, is most likely to impact behavior in a well-controlled environment. Few regimes have done a better job than the CCP in isolating their citizens to better manipulate and control their thinking and behavior. Often, longtime victims of Stockholm syndrome may not be aware that their thinking is distorted or that they have been victimized. From a young age, Chinese people arent educated with objective facts but instead indoctrinated with ideas the government wants them to believe. This is dangerous for the Chinese people, as well for those living outside Chinas borders. This is not to say that a democratic government is completely free of ideological manipulation, but there is a big difference: The success of a democracy depends on the active participation of its citizens whereas the success of a communist regime depends on the passive adherence of its populace, which can only be achieved through relentless propaganda and a draconian grip on all media, including a well-insulated intranet for its 600 million internet users. Therefore, the only treatment for an entire people held hostage by a massive authoritarian system is a free society. Overcoming the effects of Stockholm syndrome or other types of mind control from years of communist education is perhaps one of the most daunting tasks facing all Chinese people, particularly overseas students who have a decent opportunity to transform themselves in a free society. George Orwell wrote in 1984, Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious. Instead of offering overseas Chinese students scientific and technology know-how exclusively, U.S. universities may find it a worthy cause to invest resources in studying mind control and Stockholm syndrome under the Chinese communist system. Workshops on these topics may help students overcome the traumatic effects of the constant and insidious propaganda to which they were subjected, so that they can feel safe enough to think critically and creatively. Winston Churchill said, The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. If we are to help China become a peaceful and trustworthy nation, nurturing a healthy mind is perhaps a good place to start. Peter Zhang focuses his research on political economy in China and East Asia. He is a graduate of Beijing International Studies University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Harvards Kennedy School as an Edward Mason Fellow. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. So far, hes already had plenty of opportunities to make memories through participation in band, Peer Helpers, Peer Mediators, speech team, and Senior Leaders. He already has earned more than 100 service hours, according to Carla Erdey, director of communications for Consolidated High School District 230. Trump Talks Trade Deals, Terrorism With Emir of Kuwait President Donald Trump welcomed the emir of Kuwait as a friend to the White House on Sept. 5, almost exactly a year after the leaders last visit to Washington. Trump called Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah a very special and highly respected leader in the Gulf region, and said the United States appreciated his friendship. Emir Al-Sabah, who leads a Muslim-majority nation about the size of New Jersey sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, had similar accolades for the United States. I commend the unwavering commitment of the United States to the security and stability of our region as it had demonstrated in its leadership of the international coalition that liberated my country, he said, referring the U.S. involvement in the Gulf War, in which Iraq annexed and occupied Kuwait. We will also discuss means of cooperation to resolve the crisis in the Gulf region and look forward with hope that an end to this crisis will be reached, he said. Emir Al-Sabah pointed to the violence in Yemen and the PalestinianIsraeli conflict as particular areas where the United States was having a positive effect. Trump said: Frankly, were working very hard to bring some stability into the Middle East. Yemen is a tragic situation. Both leaders talked about the important role of investment for the countries relationship, and Trump thanked Emir Al-Sabah for Kuwaits tremendous investments in the United States. The United States exports mainly vehicles, aircraft, and machinery to Kuwait. Trade between the two countries has increased 20 percent since 2016. In 2016, foreign direct investment from Kuwait into the United States reached $1.1 billion. In June, Boeing was awarded a $1.5 billion contract to build 28 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the Kuwait Air Force. Thats jobs for the United States, Trump said. Nobody makes jets, fighters, and all of the different components better than the United States. Weve given them great incentive. But we appreciate the big purchases that youve been making. Most of the leaders private conversation was not publicized, but Trump said that they talked about difficulties in the Middle East. After the meeting, Trump held a working group with the emir and a delegation of officials from Kuwait that he said was to talk about trade and terrorism. Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the name of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Epoch Times regrets the mistake. Trump to Chair UN Security Council Meeting on Iran President Donald Trump will chair a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran this month to spotlight its violations of international law, during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Sept. 4. The United States, which holds the council presidency for September, has unsuccessfully pushed the Security Council to call out Iran. Haley has regularly attacked Iran, accusing it of meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen. Haley told reporters Trump will leading the meeting to address Irans violations of international law and the general instability Iran sows throughout the entire Middle East region. Diplomats said Iran could request to speak at the Sept. 26 meeting, the high-level week of the U.N. General Assembly. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to address the assembly on Sept. 25. The Iranian U.N. mission didnt immediately respond to a request for comment, and Haley said the United States wouldnt object to Rouhani speaking. Russias Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the Iran meeting should focus on the implementation of a 2015 resolution on Iran. We very much hope that there will be views voiced in connection with the U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 international nuclear deal, Polyanskiy told the council. Trump in May withdrew from the accord between Iran and six world powers that is aimed at stalling Tehrans nuclear capabilities in return for lifting some sanctions. Trump ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal. Iran is still subject to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions contained in the resolution, which enshrines the nuclear deal. European powers have been scrambling to salvage the accord. In February, Russia vetoed a U.S.-led bid for the Security Council to call out Tehran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of Yemens Houthi group, a charge that Tehran denies. Several council members on Sept. 4 also expressed opposition to Haleys plan to convene a Sept. 5 meeting on Nicaragua. More than 300 people have been killed and thousands injured in crackdowns by Nicaraguan police and armed groups on protests over government plans to cut welfare benefits. The protests have developed into broader opposition against President Daniel Ortega. China, Russia, Bolivia, and others said the situation in Nicaragua isnt a threat to international peace and security, and therefore shouldnt be discussed by the council. Bolivia is expected to try to block the meeting but doesnt have the minimum nine votes required to do so, diplomats said. Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham; editing by Grant McCool and James Dalgleish UK Brexit Poll Shows 6-Point Swing Toward Remaining in EU LONDONThe latest Brexit opinion poll shows a six-point swing toward remaining in the European Union, in the furthest shift from the narrow referendum result in 2016 that pushed Britain down the road toward a possible exit from the 27-member trading bloc. The new polling showed 59 percent of voters would now vote to remain in the bloc, versus 41 percent who would opt to leave, according to an academic-led report on Sept. 5 by research bodies NatCen and The UK in a Changing Europe. Its the highest support for EU membership in such a survey since the 2016 referendum. On June 23, 2016, 52 percent of those who voted in the referendum opted to leave the EU, and 48 percent voted to stay. Since then, opinion polls have overall shown a slight shift in favor of remaining in the EU, although they have fluttered along with the political winds whipped up by Brexit issues. The UK has yet to leave the EU, and the terms of Brexit have yet to be agreed on between the EU and the UKthe matter that will decide on a hard or soft Brexit. Polls showing support for the EU are often used to bolster growing demands for a second referendum on whether or not to accept the final deal with the EU. Referendums Harder to Predict than Elections The researchers note that the composition of remain-voters and leave-voters in their interview panel didnt quite reflect the percentages of the referendum vote53 percent had voted to remain. Nonetheless, the poll marks a significant shift, said professor John Curtice, a senior research fellow at NatCen. There has apparently been a six-point swing from Leave to Remain, larger than that registered by any of our previous rounds of interviewing, and a figure that would seemingly point to a 54 percent (Remain) vote in any second referendum held now, Curtice wrote. Polls prior to the Brexit vote wrongly predicted that voters would opt to remain in the EU. Polling experts said it is even harder to predict referendums than regular elections. However, the NatCen survey is the latest in a series of five surveys, asking the same questions with the same method. So it more reliably tracks changes in public attitudes, even if it is hard to predict exactly how that shift would correspond to votes cast on the day in a ballot box. The research was carried out before Prime Minister Theresa May put forward her much-pilloried Brexit blueprint. The researchers also compared peoples attitudes toward various other factors often linked to Brexitsuch as immigration. When it comes to predicting whether someone will change their mind about Brexit one thing alone stands out, according to the researchers: the economy. Curtice said, Nothing is more likely to persuade someone who voted Leave in 2016 that perhaps they made the wrong choice than the perception that the UK will economy will suffer as a result of Brexit. Equally, nothing is more likely to persuade someone who voted Remain that perhaps the UK should be leaving after all than the perception that the UK economy might benefit from Brexit. No Credible Bargaining Position Voters have become less concerned about controlling EU migration, and also are losing faith that the UK will secure a good deal with the EU. May has come under fire in recent weeks from all sides for her negotiating tactics. On Sept. 5, former Bank of England Gov. Lord King said that the UK did not have a credible bargaining position because it had not made serious preparations for the no deal scenario. King told the BBC, We hadnt put in place measures where we could say to our colleagues in Europe, Look, wed like a free-trade deal, we think that you would probably like one too, but if we cant agree, dont be under any misapprehension, we have put in place the measures that would enable us to leave without one.' Pigs on their way to market in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, China on March 14, 2013. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images) UN Holds Emergency Meeting in Asia as China Battles African Swine Fever BEIJINGThe United Nations is holding an emergency meeting this week with animal health experts in Asia to discuss the threat of African swine fever. The first outbreak of the disease in the region was discovered in China last month. China has detected eight cases of the highly contagious virus since discovering the first outbreak on Aug. 3, raising concerns about its spread in the worlds largest pork producer and beyond its borders into Southeast Asia. Its arrival in China marked a new front in the battle to control the disease, which has traveled from Europe over the past decade through Russia. First detected in Africa almost a century ago, the virus is often deadly for pigs but does not harm humans. Specialists from China and nine other countries are attending the meeting, running from Sept. 5 to 7 in Bangkok, along with experts from outside the region and participants from the private commercial swine sector. The nine countries are Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, the UNs Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement on Sept. 5. The FAO has repeatedly warned that the arrival of the disease poses a significant threat to Asia. Its critical that this region be ready for the very real possibility that (swine fever) could jump the border into other countries, said Wantanee Kalpravidh, regional manager of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases in Asia. Thats why this emergency meeting has been convenedto assess where we are nowand to determine how we can work together in a coordinated, regional response to this serious situation. Chinese authorities are shutting live markets in infected provinces and banning transportation of live pigs and pork products in and out of those regions. The latest outbreak of swine fever in China was reported in Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province on Sept. 3. Highlighting the challenge though, South Korea had to ramp up quarantine measures at airports after a traveler was found carrying Chinese food infected with the disease. The seminar will review recent research studies and technologies and consider lessons from recent and ongoing episodes in Europe, it said. The disease is transmitted by ticks and direct contact between animals, and can also travel via contaminated food, animal feed, and people traveling from one place to another. There is no vaccine. By Josephine Mason Richard Liu, CEO and founder of JD.com, at a France-Chinese forum on artificial intelligence at SOHO 3Q in Beijing on Jan. 9, 2018. (Reuters/Jason Lee) US Police Say JD.com CEO Arrested on Rape Allegations MINNEAPOLIS/SHANGHAIThe CEO of Chinese online retail giant JD.com, Richard Liu, was arrested in Minneapolis last week following an allegation of rape, according to a police report released on Sept. 4. The disclosure adds detail about the accusation after police said previously he had been arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct. Liu, who through his lawyers has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested late on Aug. 31 during a business trip to the United States. He was released from custody on Sept. 1 without being charged or paying bail. He soon returned to China, appearing at an event on Sept. 4 to sign an agreement with Shandong Ruyi, the owner of Swiss luxury shoe firm Bally. The rape accusation is likely to increase pressure on Liu and the U.S.-listed JD.com, which saw its shares drop 6 percent on its first day of trade since the news of his arrest broke. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder said on Sept. 4 that if there were any charges against Liu, they would not be filed until completion of a criminal investigation, which would not occur before this Friday, Sept. 7. The police report said domestic violence was not involved. Elder said the alleged attack reportedly occurred at 1 a.m. local time on Aug. 31. Liu was taken into custody hours later. Elder declined to disclose whether any accuser was cooperating with police. I wouldnt address that. That goes to the investigation, he said. According to Minnesota law, the maximum penalty if found guilty of first degree sexual assault is 30 years, and the minimum is 12 years. Beijing-based lawyers said that if Liu was charged, there would be few legal channels to force him to return to the United States, but added that it was unlikely he would refuse, given the potential negative impact on his business interests. China does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. They declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Any prolonged absence by Liu could exacerbate risks for the company, given JD.coms unusual rules that require Liu to be present at board meetings for the board to make decisions. It is not clear, however, if he has to be physically present or could participate by teleconference. Liu owns over 15 percent of JD.coms stock and controls nearly 80 percent of the companys voting rights. JD.com said on Sept. 5 it had no comment to make on the case. Danny Law, Hong Kong-based analyst at brokerage Guotai Junan, said that if U.S. police charged Liu, the firms share price would fall further, but predicted there would not be a sharp crash because of an already steep fall so far this year. JD.coms shares, now valued at some $42 billion, have lost around 30 percent since the start of the year on weaker sales amid stiff competition from much bigger rival Alibaba. The company counts Walmart, Alphabet Inc.s Google and Chinas Tencent as investors. If this spirals as a media focus, negative attention could offset some of the positives associated with endorsement by Walmart and Google, analyst Rob Sanderson of MKM Partners said. Negative publicity could also compromise JD.coms ability to attract international brands to its marketplace, which has been a top focus of the CEO over the past two years or so, Sanderson said. The agreement with Shandong Ruyi is part of that effort. Liu talked about the fashion industry in a press release about the deal but did not address his arrest in the United States. Liu lost a court battle in Australia in July to keep his name out of a sexual assault trial. Liu was not accused of any wrongdoing in that case, according to a court document. The case involved a person who had been a guest at a party hosted by Liu at his home in Sydney in 2015, who accused another guest of sexually assaulting her at a hotel. The defendant was found guilty of seven offenses. By Todd Melby and Adam Jourdan. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the National World War II museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Aug. 23, 2018. (Jonathan Bachman/Reuters) Vice President Pence Calls for Release of Jailed Reuters Journalists WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Sept. 4, called on Myanmars government to reverse a court ruling that imprisoned two Reuters journalists for seven years and to release them immediately. The journalists were found guilty on Sept. 3, on official secrets charges in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta until 2011. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were investigating the killing by security forces of Rohingya villagers at the time of their arrest last December and had pleaded not guilty. Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commendednot imprisonedfor their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings. Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy, Pence wrote on Twitter. Pence is the most senior U.S. official to add his voice to an international outcry against the verdict by a Myanmar judge, who said the two had breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents. In Yangon earlier on Sept. 4, the wives of two journalists insisted that the men were innocent and called for them to be reunited with their families. Deeply troubled by the Burmese court ruling sentencing 2 @Reuters journalists to 7 years in jail for doing their job reporting on the atrocities being committed on the Rohingya people, Pence wrote in another tweet. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sept. 4, that the United States would become more vocal about the two journalists situation. Speaking at a news conference in New York marking the U.S. assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the Security Council for September, Haley said the reporters were in prison for telling the truth. Mark Green, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said: these convictions are an enormous setback for democracy and the rule of law in Burma. Mounting Pressure The verdict came amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on security forces in Rakhine State in west Myanmar in August 2017. More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh since then, according to U.N. agencies. The Rohingya, who regard themselves as native to Rakhine, are widely considered as interlopers by the countrys Buddhist majority and are denied citizenship. Neither Suu Kyi nor her government have commented publicly on the case since the reporters were convicted. The journalists were arrested on Dec. 12, while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys and other abuses involving soldiers and police in the village of Inn Din. Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities against Rohingya by its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants. The military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters. A U.N mandated fact-finding mission said last week that Myanmars military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with genocidal intent and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings. The International Criminal Court is considering whether it has jurisdiction over events in Rakhine, while the United States, the European Union, and Canada have sanctioned Myanmar military and police officers over the crackdown. Consumers expect businesses to provide ease of use, efficiency and seamless payment processes. That's especially pressing considering that globally, around two-thirds of the population of 52 key countries are expected to own a smartphone in 2018, as documented by Zenith Media. Unfortunately, as NFIB research shows, many smaller companies still forgo adopting digital solutions. One of my main companies helps small and large businesses with software, and we constantly encounter issues of old and unreliable systems and even an absence of the right software, including ecommerce options. Although this may seem like a no-brainer topic, the research proves that there are still slow adopters and laggards to digital solutions. While there are a host of variables to consider when putting up an ecommerce channel, among the critical decisions to make is choosing a payment system. As shown in this Baymard article, checkout concerns are among the top reasons why online shoppers abandon their purchases. Customers demand a frictionless experience. Related: New to Ecommerce? Save Yourself Thousands Yearly With These 5 Frugal Hacks. It's high time for small business to ramp up their use of digital solutions. Here are five factors you should consider when choosing how to integrate ecommerce into your business. 1. Customer's preference There's a dizzying array of payment methods and solutions that are currently available. However, supporting every method available can be costly and impractical. A good way to approach this is for you to support the methods most preferred by your key customers. This can be based on geography. For instance, Americans typically use cards as funding sources even with digital wallets such as PayPal and Apple Pay. Certain regions in Europe such as the Nordics prefer to use bank accounts. The Chinese use mobile payment solutions such as WeChat and Alipay. Other parts of Asia still prefer cash-on-delivery. Preference can also be based on your particular audience and niche. Working-age customers should have a certain level of financial capacity and would have access to bank accounts and credit cards. Payment services can help you support virtually all these methods but keep in mind that service tiers that accommodate multiple payment methods come with a cost. If you run a smaller operation, consider prioritizing support for the most preferred method by your market. 2. Emerging tech Consider emerging niches as well. There's a growing demographic of the crypto-wealthy who made their money investing in Bitcoin and Ether. Because of the lack of means to exchange cryptocurrencies to local currencies, these people try to spend them instead. This creates an opportunity for you to tap into this market. Services such as Paybear can help you support payments in Bitcoin and other altcoins. However, supporting cryptocurrency payments does have its challenges, after all, cryptocurrency values can fluctuate wildly. For example, Bitcoin can take double-digit swings within a single trading day. Projects like T.OS are developing blockchain-based emoney that can even be pegged to local currencies. Such stablecoins hold their value even if the rest of the crypto market fluctuates, making them suitable for use in commerce. Such options could allow you to work with crypto payments while minimizing the risk of volatility. Developments in logistics and payments have allowed cross-border commerce to grow. So, if you're looking to expand your market across borders or overseas, accommodate the preferred methods in those places. 3. Security of transactions Security is always a concern for anything that involves money and customer data. Payment services providers should be the ones who work towards compliance with security standards. Check if the provider you're partnering with follows industry standards such as the PCI Standards if you're accepting card-funded payments. Related: 5 Hot Trends That Will Continue to Change Your Ecommerce Horizons in 2018 Fraud and chargebacks are also concerns. Criminals often use stolen credit cards for online purchases. If you happen to process orders from such fraudsters, you may be left shouldering the cost of goods and even shipping since card companies typically rule in favor of the cardholders in cases of disputes. Fraud prevention and chargeback protection may be available with your payments provider but they often charge extra for these services. One of the advantages of accepting crypto payments is that transactions can be irreversible and final, which eliminates exposure to chargeback fraud. 4. Ease of use Due to the advances in user experience design, customers now demand speedy and convenient interfaces to use. It would do you well to check if your targeted payments solution will enhance your checkout experience. The fewest clicks or page loads customers have to make, the better. Take note of the ease of use at your end as well. See if the experience will be idiot-proof for your or your staff to handle. Go through the checkout process yourself to confirm. Ask questions about reporting, such as will you gain functionalities such as dashboards and reporting, inventory management, invoicing and bookkeeping integration? Does the new software have plug-ins and integrations for your shopping cart platform (e.g. Magento or Shopify)? You don't want your payment solution to introduce unwanted complications to the way you do business. 5. Fees and costs Among the reasons many small businesses want to stick to cash are the costs associated with supporting other payment methods. Card companies can charge somewhere between 1 to 3 percent for every transaction. Digital payments services that support card payments often pad these rates even more. Crypto payments can charge lower rates. Since they use blockchain, they don't have to route payments through intermediaries such as banks and clearing houses. However, it's a different story if you have to convert crypto coins to traditional currencies. Crypto exchanges charge additional fees and commissions for such transactions. Related: $0 to $1,000 in a Day: How to Create a Community That Keeps Buying and Buying From You Most payment services offer tiered charging depending on the volume of transactions you make. Shop around so that you can find the best option depending on your locality. Crunch the numbers to see which one will give you the best value. As a business owner, you are in the best position to know your business, industry and customers. The success of your ecommerce efforts depends on various factors, but your choice of payments system will play a major part. So evaluate your situation, check out possible providers and do the math to see how these would affect your bottom line. Related: 5 Points to Consider When Choosing an Ecommerce System for Your Business How This Teenpreneur is Making a Fortune by Running an Online Business Single-handedly The 'Hot Vet' of Instagram Shares What He's Learned About Brand-Building, Human Nature and Pet Allergies With His 1 Million Followers Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Blanchette said the Salvation Army, which provides an application to the customer, does most of the legwork determining eligibility, with an in-person interview, but it also helps them if they need assistance in other areas of their lives. Following approval, credits are applied electronically to the customers account. NORWALK Norwalk-area Republicans running for the General Assembly won the endorsement of the Independent Party of Connecticut during a convention in Newtown on Tuesday evening. Their names will appear on both the Independent and Republican Party lines of the Nov. 6 election ballot, according to a statement released by the candidates Wednesday. Republicans have sought the Independent Party endorsement to provide them a second line and offer voters an alternative just as Democrats have sought the endorsement of the Connecticut Working Families Party. State Rep. Gail Lavielle, who is running for re-election in the 143rd District of the state House of Representatives, was among the Republicans candidates backed by the Independent Party. She said the endorsement reflects her approach of considering every issue on its merits, working with people of all political affiliations to get things done, and representing my constituents, who hold a broad spectrum of viewpoints. I am honored that independent-minded people see the value of my work in representing our district, Lavielle said in the statement. Connecticuts persistent fiscal crisis and serious economic issues transcend politics and demand clear and objective thinking, honest working relationships, and transparency for the states residents. Lavielle and state Rep. Fred Wilms, who is running for re-election in the 142nd District, as well as Republicans Frank Page, who is running in the 137th District, and Marc DAmelio, who is running for the 25th District in the state Senate, also received the backing of the Independent Party. Wilms described his nomination by fellow Republicans in May as an honor, but added Connecticuts crisis transcends political labels, thus prompting him to seek the Independent endorsement as well. Connecticut is in the midst of a huge economic and fiscal crisis. GE is gone. Our economy has shrunk 8 percent, Wilms said. We have a hostile business environment, high taxes, massive unfunded liabilities and a $5 billion budget deficit for 2019- 2020. We all need to work together. Page presented himself as a newcomer and independent thinker ready to represent the 137th District and shake things up in Hartford. I know from experience that viewpoint does not fall along party lines, Page said. I am happy to accept support from anyone who shares my vision for Norwalk and I am glad I will be appearing on the Independent Party line. I look forward to campaigning as a nonpartisan community advocate. Republican John Flynn, who is running for the 140th District in the state House, also received the Independent Party's endorsement after collecting sufficient petition signatures from voters in the district. DAmelio said the Independent Partys endorsement of his candidacy demonstrates the hard work that I have put in to earn the support of people across the political spectrum. What defines me is not the party label that appears next to my name, but, instead, the fact that I am running to represent Norwalk and Darien in the state Senate, DAmelio said. The best interests of my community as a whole will determine my approach to the issues. I intend to engage Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike as I campaign, and I pledge to take a similar independent-minded approach in the state Senate. The Republican candidates earlier endorsement by the Danbury Branch of the Independent Party was thrown into question amid a long-running leadership battle within the party. In August, a Superior Court judge sided with the Waterbury faction and ordered the Secretary of the States Office to accept the groups endorsements and nominations. Former state House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr. of Norwalk, who is running for Norwalk Wilton Probate Court Judge, secured the endorsement of the Independent Party after successfully gathering petition signatures of voters in both towns. His name will also appear on two lines on the Norwalk ballot. The Associated Press contributed to this story. NORWALK Life at Norwalk High School appeared routine on Wednesday, the morning after it was revealed a longtime cafeteria worker had been accused of bringing a gun onto school grounds and making threats. Leslie Delaney, 69, of Hamden, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace after coworker told police he made threatening statements last month, police said. School officials said Wednesday he had been placed on paid administrative leave until the end of a police investigation. School security reached out to the School Resource Officer assigned to Norwalk High on Tuesday morning about some threats that security and the school administration had just learned about. The SRO was told that on Aug. 30, a school cafeteria worker was talking to a co-worker when he said if the co-worker ever saw him in his army clothes, the co-worker should leave because he would have an AK-47 and that he could come to finish everything and then off himself, police said. Police said the person identified the person making the threats as Delaney. Officers responded to Norwalk High School and found Delaney in the cafeteria. He was brought outside to be interviewed. During the interview with officers, police said, he admitted to making the comments and claimed they were a joke. Police had Delaney taken to Norwalk Hospital for an evaluation. The officers got consent to search Delaneys car, which was parked at Norwalk High School. While searching the vehicle officers located a .22 caliber Mossberg rifle in the trunk, police said. The rifle was not loaded and there was no ammunition in the vehicle. Delaney was placed under arrest and police got a search warrant for his home. Delaneys bond is set at $75,000 and he will appear in court on Sept. 14. Police said there were no weapons or ammunition at Delaneys home. Based on the investigation, it was determined that there was no immediate threat to students or staff, police said. As a precaution and to provide an added sense of security, additional SROs will be at Norwalk High School on Wednesday. Norwalk Public Schools employees are required to pass an extensive background check that includes fingerprinting, reference checks, verification of past work experience and educational history, according to Brenda Wilcox Williams, the schools public information officer. Principal Reginald Roberts sent an email to parents Tuesday night, outlining the incident. But at 8:57 p.m., there would be no way to contact a school official with questions, said parent, Susan Cortese. I was upset that the news was more informative than the email, Cortese said of media reports. In the email, she said, there was no mention of a weapon or threat. Students referred to Delaney as the nacho guy. He would sometimes act out and yell at students, said Annabella Neilson, a senior at Norwalk High School. Theres no excuse for what he did but working with rude teenagers probably didnt help, she said. Thank God the gun wasnt loaded, said Thomas Volpe, a senior who brings his lunch every day. He praised school administrators for keeping the incident quiet during school hours and not alarming students. School officials are encouraging students to report incidents to administrators or teachers. In a press release, school officials urged students to utilize Anonymous Alerts, an application that was introduced to middle and high school students last fall. The application students to report incidents anonymously. I think they did a great job of responding and getting the guy out of there, said Kevin Mullins, a father who drives his daughter to school. My sympathy is with him and getting him the help that he needs. NORWALK A high school employee was charged Tuesday after he allegedly made threatening statements to a co-worker late last month, police said. Leslie Delaney, 69, of Hamden, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace. School security reached out to the School Resource Officer assigned to Norwalk High School on Tuesday morning about some threats that security and the school administration had just learned about. The SRO was told that on Aug. 30, a school cafeteria worker was talking to a co-worker when he said if the co-worker ever saw him in his army clothes, the co-worker should leave because he would have an AK-47 and that he could come to finish everything and then off himself, police said. Police said the person identified the person making the threats as Delaney. Officers responded to Norwalk High School and found Delaney in the cafeteria. He was brought outside to be interviewed. During the interview with officers, police said, he admitted to making the comments and claimed they were a joke. Police had Delaney taken to Norwalk Hospital for an evaluation. The officers got consent to search Delaneys car, which was parked at Norwalk High School. White searching the vehicle officers located a .22 caliber Mossberg rifle in the trunk, police said. The rifle was not loaded and there was no ammunition in the vehicle. Delaney was placed under arrest and police got a search warrant for his home. Delaneys bond was set at $75,000. Police said there were no weapons or ammunition at Delaneys home. Based on the investigation, it was determined that there was no immediate threat to students or staff, police said. As a precaution and to provide an added sense of security, additional SROs will be at Norwalk High School on Wednesday. The Norwalk Police Tip Line 203-854-3111. Anonymous internet tips can be submitted at www.norwalkpd.com. Anonymous text tips can be sent to CRIMES (274637) by typing NPD into the text field, followed by the message. NORWALK Things should soon return to normal at the Norwalk Senior Center after a summer of reconstructing parking lots. The repaving project, which closed the facility for 10 days last month, is nearly finished, said Beatrix Winter, executive director of Norwalk Senior Center. Once workers complete the project, 13 additional parking spots will be available to senior center members and parents and staff at Norwalk Early Childhood Center, which shares the building. We are thrilled with the work. We are happy it got done, Winter said. Part of the citys budget helped finance the project, Winter added. The senior center, which comprises 2,000 members and has hosted 100 people at events, desperately needed the additional parking spots. The lots hadnt been repaved in 40 years, Winter said. Deering Construction workers, who showed up daily at 7 a.m. and left at 6 p.m., completed the task despite a high heat index and almost 100 degree weather on several days. The center was closed from Aug. 16 to 30 for safety reasons. Seniors at the facility Wednesday said the closure made them appreciate the centers services even more. It really affected the people who come here on a daily basis, said Joan Vitali, a 74-year-old volunteer. When thats disrupted maybe they have more time on their hands than they like. But, she conceded, the center desperately needed the renovations. Even though the Allen Road location of the senior center was closed during major construction, the center continued to provide transportation and meals on wheels to the seniors who needed it most, Winter said. The Norwalk Transit District allowed the senior center to temporarily store its buses at its headquarters and Cranbury Elementary School and St. Peters Lutheran Church hosted the centers meals on wheels program during the closure. And we got a lot of other things, said Vitali. In addition to the repaving, construction workers fixed the centers back door and a new side walk, she said. The senior center offers exercise classes, benefits counseling, scam prevention, and a long list of other services. Different groups met at the center Wednesday morning, including a group of 22 seniors who met there before traveling to Atlantic City. The Social Stitchers, a group which meets weekly to knit hats and scarves, said they were happy to be back at the center. The clothing theyre creating will be donated to veterans and homeless people at an upcoming event. On Aug. 30, seniors gathered at the center for weekly bingo. It was their first time back since the closing of the facility, Winter said. It was like a reunion. This story originally published on Aug. 30, 2018. Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking a closer look at how big corporations treat their workers, especially ones overseen by billionaires such as Amazon and Walmart. Here is what you need to know about the conflict between Jeff Bezoss ecommerce empire and the senator who has built his platform on issues of economic equality. Sanderss inquiry The senator from Vermont posted a form on his website asking Amazon employees to share their experience of working for the company, particularly if they used public assistance programs. Sanders invoked Jeff Bezos in the explanation for why he was seeking these accounts, writing on his website, Amazon is one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, and its owner, Jeff Bezos, is the richest man on the planet, worth over $155 billion. Despite this, Bezos continues to pay many thousands of his Amazon employees wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on taxpayer-funded programs. While Amazon encouraged its employees to to tell Senator Sanders their truth, the companys leadership also took issue with Sanderss characterization of the fulfillment center working conditions, saying that the senator was making misleading accusations. Amazons response In a blog post addressing the inquiry, the company claimed that Sanders had not toured a fulfillment center despite invitations to do so. The post also included details about the companys payment and benefits package, writing that the company created more than 130,000 jobs in the last year. Sanders claims that Amazon's median U.S. salary is $28,446, despite the fact that we've made clear that this number is global and includes part-time employees," the company wrote. "In fact, the median U.S. salary for full-time Amazon employees is $34,123. We encourage anyone to compare our pay and benefits to other retailers. The post also criticized Sanderss use of the term food stamps when referring to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), in part because the lexicon had been phased out in recent years and because those who were participating in the program included 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. Sanderss legislation Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna on Sept. 5 introduced a piece of legislation called Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies, or the Stop BEZOS Act. At the top of a press conference with Khanna, Sanders referenced Bezos, noting his net worth of $168 billion and that since the start of 2018, the Amazon founders wealth has increased by about $260 million daily, and proceeded to read from some of responses his office solicited from former and current Amazon employees who were participating in programs such as SNAP, Medicaid and subsidized housing. Sanders said the aim of the legislation was created to have Mr. Bezos and the Walton family of Walmart and other billionaires get off of welfare and start paying their workers a living wage." He added, Specifically, this bill would establish 100 percent tax on corporations with 500 or more employees equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low-wage workers. Related: What It's Really Like to Work at the World's Second $1 Trillion Company Bernie Sanders Has Named a Bill After Jeff Bezos Amazon Surges to $1 Trillion. 3 Things to Know Today. Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved WASHINGTON (AP) Reality television star Kim Kardashian West, who successfully pushed President Donald Trump to grant a pardon for a drug offender earlier this year, returned to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with senior aides as part of the administrations efforts on criminal justice reform. Kardashian, who may have felt right at home with the drama-infused atmosphere in the West Wing as it grapples with the fallout from Bob Woodwards new book, participated in a listening session on clemency and prison reform with several staffers, including the presidents senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The discussion is mainly focused on ways to improve that process to ensure deserving cases receive a fair review, according to Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary. Among the others in attendance were CNN commentator Van Jones, Shon Hopwood, a lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who has been instrumental in steering Trumps Supreme Court picks, including Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings have begun on Capitol Hill. But the headliner was Kardashian, who last visited the White House three months ago to press for a pardon for 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson. At the time, the reality star, dressed in black, posed for an instantly iconic and seemingly somber photo with Trump in the Oval Office, though there were no plans for her to meet with the president on Wednesday. One week after Kardashians visit, Trump granted Johnson clemency, freeing her from prison after a more than two-decade stint on drug charges. When I looked at Alice, I said we cant just stop with one person. We have to change the laws, Kardashian said in a statement released by #cut50, a group that looks to reduce incarceration time. The pardon for Johnson was one of several instances where the president has used his constitutional power to pardon federal crimes. Trump in May pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh DSouza and suggested he was considering a commutation for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a pardon for lifestyle guru Martha Stewart. He has not yet acted on either front. We are working to build support for prison reform, sentencing reform, and fair treatment of people coming home from prison, said Van Jones. When you have prominent people like Kim helping voiceless people behind bars like Chris Young who she is advocating for today thats incredibly powerful. Kardashian gave an interview this week in which she said she would lobby for Young, who was charged in December 2010 for being involved in drug trafficking in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was later convicted and, due to mandatory minimum sentencing, was given life in prison without parole after being arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession. Kushner has added prison reform to his broad portfolio, though others in the administration namely Attorney General Jeff Sessions support the toughest possible sentences for drug and other convictions. The presidents son-in-law has had an interest in prison reform since his own father, Charles Kushner, was incarcerated for 14 months after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. TMZ first reported Kardashians White House visit Wednesday. The essay prompts themselves are nothing short of inspirational, so that helps. Applicants are asked to reflect on, or discuss, or describe, or share a time when theyve been challenged, or failed, or succeeded, or questioned, or solved, or become enthralled by, or suddenly realized, or finally identified something in a way that is so significant, or troubling, or rewarding, or valuable, or surprising, or disappointing, or defining that it merits acknowledgment and skillful recounting, within the given word limit. Morgan County Sheriff ARRESTS, CITATIONS Christina T. Turner, 23, of 410 E. Morton Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 6:55 p.m. Saturday on charges of driving while license is revoked or suspended and driving without a seat belt. James P. Norville, 35, of 230 E. Pennsylvania Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10:56 p.m. Saturday on a charge of criminal trespass to land. Michael D. Morrow, 38, of 1907 St. Clair Road was booked into the Morgan County jail at 3:02 p.m. Sunday on charges of failure to report an accident and failure to report damage. Latoria M. Freeman, 31, of 637 N. Fifth St., Springfield, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 9:20 p.m. Sunday on charges of driving while license is revoked or suspended, having an obstructed windshield, having no restraint for a child under 4 years old, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and unlawful use of a license permit. Robert L. Halls, 32, of 1067 N. Fayette St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 1:22 a.m. Monday on charges of driving under the influence. Melissa A. Martin-Orr, 48, of Mount Vernon was booked into the Morgan County jail at 4:16 a.m. Monday on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended. Walter L. Frazier, 40, of 328 S. Washington St., Meredosia, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 3:20 a.m. Tuesday on charges of traffic control violation and driving while license is revoked or suspended. Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Claude D. Morris, 36, of 750 E. Chambers Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail on a retail theft charge. Riley J Powell, 21, of 101 Walnut Court was booked into the Morgan County jail at 4:11 a.m. Monday on a resisting a peace officer charge. Joseph M. Avila, 33, of 1011 S. Clay Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 5:13 a.m. Tuesday on a possession of methamphetamine charge. Skee D. Sanders, 24, of 308 N. Church St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 5:27 a.m. Tuesday on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting a peace officer. Jalen R. McBride, 26, of 4020 Treviso Drive, Springfield, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 5:52 a.m. Tuesday on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting a peace officer. Gary D. Williams, 65, of 738 Allen Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 11 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of violating the litter control act. BURGLARIES, THEFTS An undisclosed amount of money was stolen from a home in the 300 block of Northwood Lane between 2 and 9:20 p.m. Monday. South Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Spencer P. Fortney, 45, of 507 W. Fourth St., Beardstown, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 1:09 a.m. Sunday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of narcotic instrument. Caquista C. Pence, 41, of 611 Pine St., Greenfield, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 8:19 p.m. Sunday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Theodore M. Holmes, 48, of 1610 S. Clay Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 11:05 a.m. Monday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Betsy E. Gutierrez, 30, of 1850 S. Main St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 8:41 p.m. Monday on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended. Compiled by Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree and Greg Olson GODFREY Prospective students are invited to learn more about becoming a Trailblazer and experience campus during Lewis and Clark Community Colleges next fall Discover Day, Monday, Oct. 8. Future Trailblazers will enjoy free food, giveaways, fun and games, as well as opportunities to talk with financial aid and enrollment reps, tour campus, find info on the programs theyre interested in and experience campus life. The event will take place from 11 a.m. 1 p.m. on the colleges Godfrey Campus, just behind the Enrollment Center. In the event of inclement weather, the event will move into The Commons. Discover Days are a great opportunity for prospective students to visit our campus and see what being a Trailblazer is all about, said Delfina Dornes, Director of Enrollment and Advising. They will have the chance to visit academic programs, go on tours, talk to our academic advisors and enjoy free food and activities. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. Fill out the online RSVP form at www.lc.edu/discoverdays. Discover Days are held twice per year once in the fall and once in the spring when high schools are not in session but the college is. Discover Days are meant to provide those considering L&C a taste of campus life, while giving them an opportunity to ask any questions they may have, said Vice President of Enrollment Kent Scheffel. Each one is going to be a fun and educational experience. Advisors and experts will be available to talk with potential students, who will also have the opportunity to tour programs and labs. Cant make it? The next Discover Day at Lewis and Clark will be held Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. For more information, contact Enrollment Center Director Delfina Dornes at (618) 468-5200 or ddornes@lc.edu. CSI LA Facebook followers arrested in Koh Tao rape case SURAT THANI: Police have arrested nine of 12 people wanted for publishing or sharing a CSI LA Facebook report about the alleged rape of a 19-year-old British tourist on Koh Tao. crimetechnologypolice By Bangkok Post Wednesday 5 September 2018, 02:36PM Deputy Tourist Police chief Surachate Hakparn (right) says the administrator of the CSI LA Facebook page will be immediately arrested if he ever returns to Thailand. Photo: via Bangkok Post Were tracking down the other three, who included Facebook page administrator Pramuk Anantasin, media reports quoted deputy Tourist Police chief Surachate Hakparn as saying on today (Sept 5). Mr Pramuk was believed to be living in the United States, but if he returned to Thailand immigration officers would arrest him immediately, Maj Gen Surachate said. The swift operation, led by Royal Thai Police technological crime suppression centre, followed the approval of 12 arrest warrants by Samui Provincial Court in Surat Thani on charges of violating the Computer Crime Act. All the detained suspects would be handed over to local police for legal action, Maj Gen Surachate said. CSI LA and Samui Times, an online English news website, have been in hot water since reports of the alleged rape appeared on their pages and were shared. The Samui Times owner, British national Suzanne Buchanan, is also wanted on similar charges. Authorities took action after an initial inquiry found no evidence to support the 19-year-old backpackers claim, in a story carried by the London tabloid The Sun, that she was drugged, robbed and raped on Koh Tao on June 25. She alleged local police would not record her complaint of sexual assault. Investigators questioned her claim that she was drugged at a beach bar and then carried further along the beach, where she was raped. They said the tide was very high along that stretch of beach at the time and her allegation was not believable. The resort island, adjacent to Full Moon Party island Koh Pha-Ngan, was thrown into a negative light by two earlier cases. In 2015, 23-year-old British backpacker Christina Annesley was found dead on Koh Tao, but investigators were not convinced she was murdered because they found no sign of physical assault or rape. In 2014, the scenic islands image was further marred by the murder of two British tourists, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, in September. Two Myanmar men were found guilty and sentenced to death. They have appealed. Read original story here. Mandarin Oriental to open new resort in Phuket PHUKET: The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced that it will manage a new luxury resort on Phuket that is scheduled to open in 2022. transportconstructioneconomics By The Phuket News Wednesday 5 September 2018, 10:35AM The Mandarin Oriental, Phuket will overlook Laem Singh Beach, pictured here when beach vendors were still allowed on the sands. Photo: The Phuket News / file The Mandarin Oriental, Phuket will be located on an undeveloped beachfront site on Millionaires Mile on the west coast. It will occupy a 59-rai of land overlooking Laem Singh Bay. The hotel will feature 105 rooms, including 37 pool villas, with panoramic views of the Andaman Sea, the company announced in a release yesterday (Sept 4). The site itself encloses a white sand beach with rocky outcrops, providing excellent access for snorkelling and swimming, the release added. Facilities will include three restaurants and bars with ocean-front settings, comprising an all-day dining venue, specialty restaurant, sunset bar and a beach club. There will be a range of flexible function facilities, ideal for landmark events, social gatherings or business meetings, Mandarin explained in its release. The Groups signature wellness therapies and treatments will be provided in a spacious Spa at Mandarin Oriental, a well-equipped fitness centre and two outdoor swimming pools. A Kids Club and a host of outdoor leisure pursuits will also be available, it added. James Riley, Group Chief Executive of Mandarin Oriental said, Phuket is one of Asias leading leisure destinations and we are delighted to have found such a special site on which to develop our resort. The Groups established reputation and experience in delivering award-winning service and facilities at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, when combined with this stunning new property, will provide guests a unique proposition for a luxury visit to the entrancing Kingdom of Thailand. We look forward to working with our partners to create this. The project ownership is represented by Grand Larn Luang Co Ltd. Sansrit Yenbamrung, CEO of Grand Larn Luang, said, We are pleased to partner with Mandarin Oriental on this very exciting project, which will provide visitors with a world-class facility, coupled with the renowned service of Mandarin Oriental. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, with a strong pipeline of hotels and residences under development, is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group. Having grown from its Asian roots into a global brand, the the award-winning owner and operator now operates 31 hotels and seven residences in 21 countries and territories. Patong Municipality issues health regulation notice to tattoo shops PHUKET: Patong Municipality yesterday (Sept 4) issued a notice to tattoo shops within the Patong area to strictly adhere to health regulations following Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) health officials closing a tattoo shop in Phra Nakhon district after it was found that it did not follow safe, hygienic practices. healthdeathtourism By Tanyaluk Sakoot Wednesday 5 September 2018, 05:58PM A Patong Municipality health official carries out an inspection of a Patong tattoo shop. Photo: Patong Municipality The temporary closure of the Bangkok tattoo shop followed reports of the recent death of a 22-year old woman from Loei province last month, where HIV was recorded by a doctor as one of the causes. (See story here .) A health official from Patong Municipality, Sirawat Kraingkrai, has also warned tourists to be aware when choosing a tattoo shop and make sure the shop features a Patong Municipal Health Certificate on the premises. Mr Sirawat said, We have issued this warning following the report that four female friends recently died of AIDS-related illnesses after having tattoos together at Klong Lot market near the Grand Palace, Bangkok in March. For health protection for tattoo customers, Patong Municipality is requesting tattoo operators strictly follow specific guidelines. We hold clean and safe tattoo training every three years and check tattoo shops every year, he said. There are about 70 approved tattoo shops in the Patong area already and there are a further 10 awaiting their certification from us. We want to repeat to them to be clean in their business to avoid any risk of infection. We sent the following notice to tattoo shops on Sept 4, which was signed by Patong Deputy Mayor Banyong Kebsup. 1. All tattoo operators must be clean and sterilise all equipment, which must be one-time-use only and then thrown away. All equipment must be neat and sterilised before use. 2. All tattoo operators must always clean the tattoo shops using sterile liquids. 3. All tattoo needles, ink, cotton pads and gloves must be used only one time (they must not be reused). All of these items must be thrown in a bin specifically for infectious items and sent to the health office who will destroy them. 4. All tattoo operators must ask their prospective customers about their personal health problems before giving a tattoo. Any customer suffering diabetes or hemophilia must not be serviced. 5. All tattoo operators must advise their customers after having of things to ensure there are no avoid infections such as not going into the sea. Please follow this regulations seriously, the notice read. Phuket surf rescues continue, loved dog latest victim at Nai Harn PHUKET: The dangerous surf and rip currents continue to endanger swimmers along the west coast with rescues at Nai Harn Beach yesterday, while at Nai Thon Beach on the northwest coast lifeguards are saddened by the drowning of a much-loved local dog at the beach earlier today (Sept 5). animalsdeath By The Phuket News Wednesday 5 September 2018, 05:18PM Attempts by lifeguards at Nai Thon Beach to revive Thae were unsuccessful. Photo: Ohm NaiThon lifeguard The dog, 8-year-old male Thae, belonged to a lady who sells fruit shakes on the beach and was very popular with people along the beach. Apparently, Thae had a fever and ventured near the water, possibly to cool off, Daren Jenner explained to The Phuket News today. Lifeguard Ohm Chnachaitaruearaksa saw the dog in distress and rescued it, he said. Nai Thon lifeguards attempted canine CPR, however, the dog did not respond, and died, he added. The death has deeply affected the lifeguards Just like a human drowning, there is profound sadness for this innocent animal, Mr Jenner explained. The death of an innocent animal. It's difficult to erase those terrible images from your mind, he added. The death of Thae comes as lifeguards along the west coast continue to pull people, including tourists, from the surf, with rescues at Nai Harn yesterday still overwhelming lifeguards there. (See here.) Big Sioux River canoe, kayak access approved by city council Canoe and kayakers will soon have an access point onto the Big Sioux River in Watertown. Several alcoholic beverage licenses were presented. National leaders of all stripes have complained for decades that Washington keeps too many secrets. Too much of the governments information is classified, the argument goes, making it nearly impossible for Americans to know what their leaders are doing. Secrecy is a mode of regulation, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote in 1997, when the congressionally created board he headed, the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, released a report. In truth, it is the ultimate mode, for the citizen does not even know that he or she is being regulated. Moynihan hoped that a culture of openness would develop to balance the culture of secrecy. It didnt happen. A dozen years later, in 2009, The New York Times editorialized that the federal governments creation of 107 different categories of restricted information seems designed not to protect legitimate secrets but to empower bureaucrats. Still more recently, when the House held hearings on secrecy in 2015, the journalist Terry Anderson testified, The Moynihan commission recommended some changes in the law, including an office of declassification. Nothing was acted upon. Today, the culture of secrecy is keeping the public from learning some basic facts about the Trump-Russia affair, even as newscasts and newspapers are filled with reporting, speculation and debate about it. When it comes to allegations that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to fix the 2016 election, the Justice Department and other agencies have withheld information from the public because such information is classified, or because it is purportedly critical to an ongoing investigation, or because officials just want to keep the departments secrets secret. Remember the Comey memos? Starting in the transition, then-FBI director James Comey wrote notes on each of his encounters with President Trump. Later, he leaked some of them to the press in hopes of setting off a firestorm that would result in the appointment of a Trump-Russia special counsel. His plan worked. But even after that, the Justice Department kept the Comey memos tightly under wraps, as if they were one of the nations highest-level secrets. When members of Congress of both parties demanded to see the memos, the Department would allow only a few lawmakers a glimpse and then only with an FBI minder present, and no copying or note-taking allowed. The situation changed only when Comey began a book tour, with much of his presentation clearly based on the memos. After that, even the Justice Department couldnt come up with a reason to keep them secret. The public finally got to see the memos, and the country and the investigation survived. This year, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes wrote a memo, based on classified information, about the FBIs rationale for wiretapping the Trump campaigns volunteer foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The FBI and Justice Department protested that releasing the memo would endanger both lives and national security. President Trump ordered it released, and the public finally learned that the FBI had used the opposition research known as the Trump dossier as part of its wiretap application. The country and the investigation survived. Then there are the Michael Flynn papers. On Jan. 24, 2017, just four days into the Trump administration, the FBI went to the White House to interview Flynn, ostensibly on the suspicion that during the transition he might have violated a never-enforced law on U.S. contacts with foreign officials. It was that interview that led Flynn to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. But Comey told Congress the agents who interviewed Flynn did not think he lied to them. The public has no idea what happened a situation that could be remedied by release of the write-up, known as a 302, that the agents did immediately after the interview. But the Justice Department, along with the special counsel, is steadfastly refusing. There are also the Sally Yates emails. Congress has asked for emails to and from Yates, an Obama appointee who played a role in sending the FBI to question Flynn. Even though Congress limited its request to just 10 days of emails, the Justice Department said no. Finally, there are the remaining parts of the Carter Page wiretap application. Some, but not all, of it was released in the wake of the Nunes memo. Now, Republicans claim some critical information is still being withheld. The public has no way of knowing. The need for the government to stop reflexively classifying and keeping secrets is especially acute in a case like Trump-Russia, when there is endless public debate over every aspect of the case, and some of the presidents adversaries hope to use the affair to remove him from office. Nothing could be of greater public interest and benefit than the release of more facts. But for the moment, too many people are too set in their ways to bring a culture of openness to this politically charged affair. That group can even include journalists. Back in 1997, when the Moynihan commission report was released, The Washington Posts E.J. Dionne wrote: A journalist can win acclaim by publishing a secret report leaked by a government official who also benefits from the transaction. But other citizens robbed by secrecy of any knowledge beyond what was leaked have no way of judging what the published account means. That was true in 1997. And it is true today. (Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.) Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. is planning to return about $1.2 billion to shareholders from its sale of the contentious Trans Mountain oil pipeline to the Canadian government. The board also voted to approve a plan for a reverse stock split of the restricted voting shares and special voting shares on a one-for-three basis, the unit of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. said in a statement Tuesday. The Trans Mountain extension project, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government bought for $4.5 billion, suffered a major setback last week after a Canadian court nullified its approval. The line, which takes crude from the oilsands to the countrys Pacific Coast, faces strong opposition in British Columbia, the province it crosses to reach the shore. The payment to holders of restricted voting shares will take place Jan. 3, with the reverse stock split to follow, if the plan is approved. The proposals will be voted on at a special shareholder meeting during the fourth quarter of this year. Here are other key take-aways from the statement: Kinder Canada expects to maintain a dividend of $0.1625 per restricted share in the third quarter and expects to pay the dividend before the reverse split. For the fourth quarter, the first entirely without Trans Mountain, Kinder Canada expects its remaining assets in the pipelines and terminals segments to generate adjusted earnings before certain items, or Ebitda, of just over $50 million. The company expects to finish the year with little or no debt. John Schlosser was named president, and he continues to serve as president of Terminals for Kinder Morgan Inc. Kinder Morgan said it plans to vote in favour of Kinder Canadas board proposals. Read more: Opinion: Trudeau gave Kinder Morgan a good problem to have Liberals say they need more time to review court decision before next move on Trans Mountain pipeline Trudeaus youth council challenges Kinder Morgan pipeline bail out Read more about: HALIFAXA new study shows Atlantic Canadian businesses have the hardest time in the country when it comes to hiring employees. According to Labour Shortage: Here to Stay, a survey of 1,208 entrepreneurs released Wednesday by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), 50 per cent of small to medium-sized businesses in the Atlantic region reported difficulty hiring new employees. That puts the Atlantic region ahead of British Columbia at 45 per cent as well as the national average of 39 per cent. Pierre Cleroux, BDCs chief economist, said in an interview he was not that surprised to see Atlantic Canada come out on top because during visits with employers this summer he often heard that they have a very tough time hiring people. As for the reason, Cleroux said Atlantic Canada is facing a more severe version of a problem emerging across the country: an aging population. Its a bit worse in the Atlantic provinces because over the last decade a lot of young people left the region to work in the west part of the country. So as a result, your pool of young workers is smaller and thats probably explaining the number we see in the report, which is quite high, Cleroux said. The BDC also hears from employers that feel the labour shortage is a temporary problem but Cleroux said its quite the opposite. He said the baby boomer generation is retiring in such large numbers that there arent enough people entering the workforce to make up the difference. Its important that you have different strategies, that you change the way youre managing your human resources, because this situation is for the next decade, Cleroux said. Its important to be aware of labour shortages and how to address them because they often limit the growth of an economy, he said. Theres a strong demand from the rest of the world, so our exports are increasing, but what is very clear from this research (is) a lot of companies are not able to respond to this stronger demand. So they refuse contracts, they limit the number of services they offer, Cleroux said. According to the studys analysis, a company affected by labour shortages is 65 per cent more likely to be a low-growth company: one with an annual sales growth of less than 10 per cent. The study also sought to understand what employers are doing to mitigate labour shortages. The most common hiring strategies are using less-qualified workers or younger workers; 43 per cent of the employers said they use the former strategy, and 40 per cent said they use the latter. Cleroux said larger companies focus more on automation and technology. However, the study says hiring less-experienced people comes at a cost because the additional time and effort required to train junior employees keep senior staff away from higher value tasks, such as developing client relationships or new projects. One strategy the study suggests to address the labour shortage would be to tap into underused demographics, such as immigrants. Right now thats one of the least-used strategies, with only 18 per cent of respondents saying theyre looking to hire immigrants due to a shortage of labour. Although Atlantic Canada as a region has the worst labour shortage, Nova Scotia itself is really interesting because we are hiring more immigrants than other parts of the country are, Cleroux said. Plus, its the only province where the unemployment rate is almost the same when comparing immigrants and Canadian-born workers. Nova Scotia saw an 8.2 per cent unemployment rate for Canadian-born residents vs. 8.1 per cent for landed immigrants in 2017, according to Statistics Canada, while the national rate was 6.2 per cent for Canadian-born residents and immigrants were slightly higher at 6.7 per cent. Cleroux said provincial offices around N.S. helping immigrants get closer to the job market and organizations like the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia seem to be having an impact that other provinces could follow. On the one hand, you have companies who are looking for workers; on the other hand, you have immigrants who have difficulties to join the labour force so theres a real opportunity there, Cleroux said. Employers in the study didnt offer reasons as to why they tend not to look to immigrants as a labour shortage solution, Cleroux said, but he suggested its a question of perception. One important message of this report is the labour force is changing, so we have (to) as business people change the way we recruit people, Cleroux said, adding that we can do much better to hire more Indigenous and disabled workers who are also underrepresented in the labour force. The Canadian sectors hardest hit by the shortage include manufacturing (56 per cent say its hard to find workers), retail trade (54 per cent) and construction (48 per cent). The study is based on an online survey of 1,208 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and eight phone interviews with entrepreneurs across Canada. The results were weighted by region and company size to ensure that findings are representative of Canadas economy as a whole. A spokesperson with BDC said SMEs in Atlantic Canada represent about 7 per cent of all Canadian SMEs, so the number of business owners BDC surveyed in Atlantic Canada is proportional to that of the actual Canadian SME population. The survey was carried out between April 30 and May 11, 2018. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Read more about: HALIFAXTextbooks and pocketbooks alike are opening this week as university students return to classrooms and pony up to pay tuition, with those in Nova Scotia facing some of the highest fees in the county. Nova Scotia universities and colleges are charging some of the highest tuition fees in Canada for the 2018-19 academic year, according to new Statistics Canada figures released Wednesday. Based on data from an annual survey of all public degree-granting institutions in Canada, Statistics Canada found that this years tuition fees at Nova Scotia universities and colleges are above the national average in the top four fields of undergraduate study. Nova Scotia is the most expensive spot in the country to get an undergraduate education in three of the top four fields: humanities; social and behavioural sciences, and legal studies; and physical and life sciences and technologies. The average tuition cost in the province for each of those fields, respectively, is $7,113, $7,162 and $7,831, whereas the national average in each field is $5,773, $5,893 and $6,395, respectively. In the fourth field business, management and public administration Nova Scotia institutions charge an average of $7,782, again above the national average of $7,409. The fee is second only to Ontario, where average fees are $10,570. The lowest fees in the country for all the top four undergraduate fields are found in Newfoundland and Labrador. Fees on the easternmost province range from $2,550 to $2,805. Statistics Canada says undergraduate tuition fees in Nova Scotia increased 5.6 per cent from the 2017-18 academic year, compared to the national average of 3.3 per cent. Fees increased in every province, although Alberta almost held fast, increasing only 0.1 per cent. Share your thoughts The Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia (CFS-NS) also sent a news release Wednesday morning regarding tuition fees, with data from the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC). While Statistics Canada does not break down its data by institution, MPHEC does. According to the MPHEC data, every university and college in Nova Scotia increased undergraduate tuition fees by at least 2.99 per cent, with students at NSCAD University incurring an increase of more than 10 per cent. Aidan McNally, chairperson of CFS-NS, says in the release that students are suffering because of the increasing tuition fees in the province, and she believes the province is in a position to intervene. This fall is a crucial moment for students and all Nova Scotians. The agreement that determines tuition fees and government funding for universities is up for renegotiation. The provincial government has an opportunity to take bold action to put Nova Scotia on course for a sustainable future where students are not burdened by debt, students can stay in the province after graduating, and young people are able to access the education that is increasingly necessary in todays economy, she said in the release. McNally refers to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Province of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Universities, which came into effect in April 2015 and expires at the end of March 2019. The MOU currently allows universities to increase their undergraduate tuition fees up to 3 per cent annually, in addition to a one-time market adjustment in order to charge similar amounts for similar programs at peer institutions. Of course, as the Statistics Canada figures suggest, institutions in Nova Scotia already surpass tuition fees at most of their peer institutions around the country. According to MPHEC, full-time tuition fees for undergraduate arts programs in Nova Scotia are: Acadia University: $8,673 Cape Breton University: $7,800 Dalhousie University: $7,638 Mount Saint Vincent University: $7,701 NSCAD University: $8,670 Saint Marys University: $7,670 St. Francis Xavier University: $8,570 University of Kings College: $7,638 Universite Sainte-Anne: $7,560 According to MPHEC, full-time tuition fees for undergraduate science programs in Nova Scotia are: Acadia University: $8,673 Cape Breton University: $7,800 Dalhousie University: $8,677 Mount Saint Vincent University: $8,083 NSCAD University: n/a Saint Marys University: $8,240 St. Francis Xavier University: $8,570 University of Kings College: $8,667 Universite Sainte-Anne: $8,680 Read more about: OTTAWAThe federal Liberals are being accused of withholding secret documents in the politically charged case against one of the militarys most senior leaders, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, whose criminal trial is set to run through next years election. Normans high profile lawyer, Marie Henein, issued the complaint against the government during a hearing Tuesday inside an Ottawa courtroom packed with supporters, including a number of former military officers and industry representatives. The military suspended Norman in January 2017 as the second-in-command of the Canadian Armed Forces. He was charged earlier this year with one count of breach of trust for allegedly leaking government secrets known as cabinet confidences to a Quebec shipyard. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Opposition Conservatives and many of Normans supporters have accused the Liberals of political interference in the case, with some suggesting Norman has been charged unfairly. Henein said she has repeatedly asked the government to be able to access documents labelled as cabinet confidences so that we can defend this case and so that we can see the full story. But she said she has yet to receive a response from the government, and that she is prepared to address the issue with the court if the government continues to drag its feet. Its quite an extraordinary prosecution where really the complainants deciding what we get to look at, whats important and what's not, she said outside the courthouse. Documents protected by cabinet confidence are considered political secrets. Usually prepared for ministers to help with government deliberations and decision-making, theyre legally protected from unauthorized release. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjans spokesperson, Byrne Furlong, refused to comment on Tuesday as the matter is with the justice system. Normans trial is scheduled to start Aug. 19, 2019, and is expected to last seven or eight weeks. The federal election is on or before Oct. 21, 2019. Justice Norman Boxall noted the court could hear the case earlier, but he ultimately agreed to Henein's proposed schedule meaning much of the trial will coincide with next year's federal election. Henein denied wanting the trial at a time that would be politically sensitive for the Liberals, saying the schedule was intended to allow other court procedures in the case to play out. She wouldnt say whether she intended to call politicians or other military officers as witnesses. When asked how the trial could be affected by its concurrence with the election campaign, Henein said: I dont know. Youd have to ask the prime minister about that. For his part, Norman said he was happy dates had been set for the trial even as he thanked the literally thousands of Canadians out there who are supporting me. This has been a really difficult time and its going to continue to be a real challenge, he said. And I just want to know how much that support means to me and my family. Norman was charged with one count of breach of trust earlier this year for allegedly leaking the Liberal governments decision to pause and review a $700-million shipbuilding project for the navy in November 2015. The secrets were allegedly leaked to Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding in what the RCMP has suggested was an attempt to pressure the Liberals into continuing the project, which involved converting a civilian ship into a new resupply vessel for the navy. The Liberals ultimately decided to continue with the project and the vessel is now being used on naval operations. This summer, the government contracted Davie to convert and sell three used icebreakers to the Canadian Coast Guard. Norman was replaced as vice-chief of the defence staff in July, but remains a member of the military pending the results of his trial. WASHINGTONPrime Minister Justin Trudeau held firm Tuesday to the lines drawn in sand three decades ago as the latest push to preserve a North American Free Trade Agreement one that still includes Canada was poised to unfold. Trudeau said Canadians will not sign onto a deal that does not include a dispute resolution mechanism and exemptions for cultural industries two positions that were among the pillars of the original 1988 Canada-U.S. free trade deal. The prime minister staked out Canadas ground as a fresh Oct. 1 deadline and the encroaching American midterm elections cast a shadow over Wednesdays resumption of negotiations in Washington. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is to resume talks with U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer, whom she has praised as a good faith negotiator in the face of President Donald Trumps Twitter barrages. Faced with an unpredictable U.S. president ready to strike on Twitter, Trudeau said the dispute resolution mechanism in Chapter 19 ensures trade rules are followed. Read more: Will Chapter 19 be a deal-breaker for Canada in NAFTA talks? Trumps NAFTA threat leaves Trudeau locked in high-stakes game of poker Donald Trump threatens to terminate NAFTA if Congress stands up for Canada Weve said from the very beginning that we need a dispute resolution mechanism like Chapter 19 and we will hold firm on that, Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver. We will not sign a deal that is bad for Canadians and, quite frankly, not having a Chapter 19 to ensure that the rules are followed would be bad for Canadians. Chapter 19 allows for independent panels to resolve disputes between companies. The Trump administration views it as an infringement of U.S. sovereignty. It was the hill that former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney was willing to die on during the final hours of the original Canada-U.S. free trade deal in 1988. After consulting with Mulroney over the weekend, Trudeau made clear he shares that view. The prime minister also said his government wont sign an updated free trade accord with the U.S. and Mexico if the deal doesnt continue exemptions for Canadas cultural industries, which aims to protect Canadas publishing and broadcast industries. That too was entrenched in the original Canada-U.S. free trade deal that preceded NAFTA. Giving up the exemptions would be tantamount to giving up Canadian sovereignty and identity, Trudeau said. It is inconceivable to Canadians that an American network might buy Canadian media affiliates, whether its newspapers or TV stations or TV networks, he said. So weve made it very clear that defending that cultural exemption is something that is fundamental to Canadians. Canada and the U.S. need to present a text to the U.S. Congress by Oct. 1 in order to join the deal the Trump administration signed with Mexico last week, trade analysts say. The overall goal is to reach a deal by Dec. 1 so Congress can give its approval to a new NAFTA before Mexicos new president takes office. Otherwise, Trump is threatening to move ahead on a deal with Mexico that excludes Canada. Canada enters Wednesdays talks with some strength on preserving Chapter 19 because American companies need its anti-dumping safeguards more than Canadas, according to Toronto trade lawyer Cyndee Todgham Cherniak. Foreign companies seeking relief through Canadas Federal Court of Appeal are often repeatedly coming up empty-handed, said Todgham Cherniak, a former federal tax court adviser. She said thats because a recent ruling by the court emphasized that it did not have jurisdiction under the Special Import Measures Act to change so-called dumping margins. Canadian negotiators are also trying to protect Canadas dairy sector from American demands in NAFTA renegotiations. The two sides broke off talks Friday as Trump formally notified Congress of the deal with Mexico, saying Canada might join later. But in recent days he has become more aggressive towards Canada on Twitter bluster that some trade experts are dismissing as a predictable negotiating tactic. On Saturday, Trump said there is no political necessity to keep Canada in NAFTA and he warned Congress not to interfere or he would kill the pact. U.S. business and labour leaders have warned Trump not to dump Canada from NAFTA. Trumps bombastic rhetoric ought to be ignored because he has no power to override the opposition in Congress to exclude Canada, and he needs 60-days notice to terminate NAFTA, said Derek Holt, vice-president and head of capital markets at Scotiabank Global Economics. Holt wrote in a Tuesday note that Congress will not allow Trump to skirt past Canada in NAFTA negotiations given the long lineups of members of Congress Democrats and Republicans saying they will not support a bilateral deal with Mexico. With the U.S. mid-terms eight weeks away, and Trump facing pressure to maintain the Republican hold on the House and Senate, the influence of Congress will permeate the resumption of Wednesdays talks. Congress must approve any rewrite of the deal and could refuse to endorse an agreement that excludes Canada. But thats not set in stone, said Dan Ujczo, an Ohio-based trade lawyer with Dickinson Wright. Congress will support Canada throughout September, he said. After that, Congress will have a tough choice to make in terms of going forward with a good deal with Mexico, opening Mexicos agricultural markets as we brace for the long haul with China. Read more about: MONTREALIf U.S. president Donald Trumps threat to exclude Canada from a post-NAFTA U.S.-Mexico trade deal was meant to drive a wedge within Justin Trudeaus free trade coalition it has so far failed. In the days since Trump formalized his intention to submit to the U.S. Congress new trade arrangements with Mexico that might not include Canada, it is the president and not the prime minister who has endured significant public pushback. Some of that pushback has come from a number of influential U.S. constituencies at the union and the corporate levels. By comparison, Canadas federal-provincial front is holding. The big tent Trudeau built to weather the Trump-driven trade storm is still standing. Late last Thursday the prime minister briefed the premiers on the state of NAFTA negotiations. It is safe to assume that whatever he told his vis-a-vis has since been communicated to Canadas main opposition parties and beyond. The first ministers table is a politically diverse one with direct connections to most non-Liberal constituencies right across the country. As a result, first ministers venues usually function more like sieves than sealed boxes. For the purpose of disseminating information, they often tend to rank second only to the issuing of a press release. That at least had been the experience of those of us who covered the free-trade negotiations of the late eighties and that eras constitutional wars. And yet on this particular occasion, the prime ministers update was followed by a radio silence that is as exemplary as it is extraordinary in the current federal-provincial climate. Read more: Cohn took papers from Trumps desk to protect NAFTA, Woodward book alleges Protecting Canadian culture a surprise sticking point at NAFTA talks Trudeau criticizes Trump, arguing Canada needs an independent NAFTA dispute system because the U.S. president breaks the rules These days, the prime minister and many of the premiers do not see eye to eye on a variety of non-NAFTA issues. The list has been lengthening with every recent provincial election. Trudeaus government is on a collision course with Ontario and Saskatchewan over its carbon-pricing plan; it has been feuding with British Columbia over the federal commitment to expand Canadas pipeline capacity. The first ministers teleconference came only hours after a federal court had thrown a wrench in the Ottawa/Alberta relationship by ordering the suspension of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The day before Trudeau brought the premiers into the latest NAFTA loop, Quebecs Philippe Couillard had warned his federal counterpart from the campaign trail to steer well clear of opening more of Canadas dairy market to the U.S. The Trudeau briefing did not alter Couillards unequivocal support for the supply-management system but it did put an end to his sabre-rattling. The premier has since qualified his stance somewhat by vouching to oppose any deal that did not have the support of Quebecs agricultural community. TOP STORIES. IN YOUR INBOX: For the days top news from the Stars award-winning journalists, sign up for our daily headlines newsletter. Perhaps what the prime minister had to report about the state of the American demands at the NAFTA table was so dire that none of those he briefed could see his or her interest in claiming the role of backseat driver. The latest polls suggest Trudeau still very much enjoys the benefit of the doubt in his dealings with Trump. At this juncture, the president and not the prime minister would bear the brunt of the Canadian blame for the end of trilateral North American trade arrangements. Most political leaders would rather not climb on a sandbox if it rests on quicksand. The most notable exception has been Maxime Bernier. As the former Conservative MP sets out to build a breakaway party, he is using his social media feed to alternatively chastise his former caucus seatmates and their leader and/or to shoot at Canadas negotiating position from the sidelines. By contrast, the bulk of Canadas political class on the right as on the left of the Liberals seems to have opted to wait and keep dry most of the powder it could use against Trudeaus handling of NAFTA. That is not to say that the prime minister is not under pressure from a variety of potentially conflicting constituencies to limit the potential damage of the ongoing talks to Canadas trade position and its economy or that a resolution would not come with a political price tag. But it is Trump and not Trudeau who is, at this juncture, negotiating with knives sticking out of his back. On that score, the latest sharp object came in the shape of excerpts from an upcoming book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame. It is too early to know whether this will make Trump belatedly reach out for the low-hanging fruit of mutually profitable trade arrangements with Canada or hit out at the neighbour that seems to have become his default punching bag. Chantal Hebert is a columnist based in Ottawa covering politics. Follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert Read more about: OTTAWANewly unsealed court documents are giving a window into a custody battle between a Canadian man and his American wife who were kidnapped and held hostage in Afghanistan for five years. The family court documents detailing the dispute between Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman over their three children, all of whom were born in captivity, were previously covered by a publication ban. Coleman, who was kidnapped with Boyle while the two were backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012, sought the courts permission to leave Canada and return to the U.S. with the couples children. Boyle tried to prevent his wife, who is expecting a fourth child this month, from relocating and asked that his parents and sisters have access to the children. Justice Tracy Engelking dismissed Boyles requests in July. Engelking gave Coleman temporary sole custody and allowed her to relocate the children to Pennsylvania, where her parents live, pending the results of the custody battle. Read more: Kidnapped Canadian-American family freed in Pakistan gun battle after 5 years in captivity Joshua Boyle, Canadian hostage in Afghanistan, arrested and faces list of charges in Ottawa After a lifetime in captivity, the children of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman begin to heal Boyle is currently free on bail awaiting a separate criminal trial over charges of assault allegedly perpetrated after the family was rescued in Pakistan and returned to Canada last October. Boyle denies any wrongdoing and the charges have not been tested in court. Read more about: OTTAWAThe secretive, tight-knit culture of Canadas special forces units where information is shared only on a need-to-know basis and outsiders are viewed with suspicion undermined accountability and impeded an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by its soldiers during the Afghan conflict, a military inquiry has found. An overemphasis on operational security and strong cultural barriers prevented reporting serious and significant issues in a clear and unambiguous language, a report released Wednesday said. In dealing with allegations of assault and even murder arising from operations in Afghanistan, special forces soldiers and their commanders were reluctant to raise the potential misconduct with military outsiders. It was only after the allegations of numerous criminal acts were raised with the ombudsmans office in 2008 that a military police investigation known as Project Sand Trap was launched. It concluded in 2011 that there was no evidence of wrongdoing and that personnel had acted within the rules of engagement. A second phase examined allegations that Canadian troops had failed to report serious crimes committed by soldiers of other nations also turned up no evidence to support criminal charges. But a separate board of inquiry launched in 2009 flagged problems with what it painted as an overly secretive culture of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. The inquirys 63-page executive summary heavily censored in parts was released Wednesday by the defence department under access to information legislation, five years after it was completed. The inquiry, which made 32 recommendations, urged special forces to better balance operational security to encourage more openness and transparency. Maj.-Gen. Pete Dawe, commander of the special operations forces command, told the Star Wednesday that the military has gone to great lengths to address the concerns. We took the lessons very much to heart, implemented them right away and I can tell you that were a much better force today for that experience, he said. At the time in question, the special forces command had just been created, born out of a single special forces unit Joint Task Force 2 that had a domestic counter-terror mandate. Dawe conceded that administrative processes in the fledgling command were not as sophisticated as they should have been. In the years since, the command has grown to add other capabilities such as a special operations forces regiment, an aviation detachment and a biological and chemical team. It took a bit of an adjustment and perhaps we didnt have that really right at the front end of the campaign in Afghanistan, Dawe said. In keeping with evolution of this command, we were kind of learning as we went. Today, he says he has no doubt that similar concerns would be quickly sent up the chain and properly investigated. He says all soldiers in the field have an obligation to report even perceived violations of the law of armed conflict. Weve gone to great lengths to continue to refine and to improve the way that we educate and train the members of the command, Dawe said. The report offers a window into the ethos of special operations forces, a shadowy branch of the military, which has grown significantly in recent years as Canada adapts to new threats at home and abroad. Details of the allegations were censored from the report but they involved potential violations of use of force and rules of engagement in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. At the time, Joint Task Force 2, a unit within the special forces command, was deployed to the Kandahar region, in part to target Taliban leaders responsible for the deaths of Canadian and allied soldiers. One complaint appeared to arise from an operation where there were significant EKIAs, short for enemies killed in action, because of the unexpected number of insurgent fighters. The inquiry examined how those allegations were handled by the military. It heard from 124 witnesses and reviewed 40,000 pages of records. It concluded that the special forces command of the day did investigations internally, informally and superficially without the preparations of any reports. The report drives home the special forces mentality to zealously protect information about operations, personnel and capabilities, a view forged by close bonds in the unit. As a result, information, allegations and concerns were passed along lines of trust and friendship, around the formal chain of command. Those bonds also make soldiers reluctant to speak out for fear of being viewed as disloyal, the report said. The decision by a soldier to disclose critical information is a difficult one, even trickier when the matter concerns a close comrade, it said. It found a tendency by special forces members to use imprecise terminology and vague language, often relying on verbal rather than written reports and a reliance on operational security and a need to know principle to limit the sharing of operational information. While the report acknowledges that operational security is vital, it cannot be used to weaken accountability. The mere fact that (special forces) claims something to be a matter of operational security does not necessarily make it so, the report said. It urged the Armed Forces to regularly question claims of operational security when it suspects that special forces is trying to evade oversight and accountability. Dawe conceded that operational security can be challenging. Youre trying to strike that balance between ensuring a successful mission while being as transparent as you need to be, especially in a democratic context, he said. He said that special forces has matured and evolved significantly in that regard and noted visits by media, including the Toronto Star, with special forces soldiers deployed to Iraq. Read more about: For the second year in a row, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti missed nearly half of all votes taken at Toronto city council. Mammoliti was absent for 48.7 per cent of 1,048 votes taken in the chamber in 2018, a Star analysis of councils voting record shows. And Michelle Holland again ranked near the top of the list for worst attendance. Missing 42.1 per cent of the votes, she came in second for worst attendance. That was a slight improvement for both the suburban councillors over 2017s attendance numbers, when Mammoliti (Ward 7 York West) missed 49.2 per cent of votes and Holland (Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest) missed 50.8 per cent, topping the list. For the entire term 2014 to 2018 Mammoliti and Holland ranked first and second of the most truant councillors, missing 43.1 per cent and 37 per cent respectively of 4,526 votes cast over 46 meetings. Mammoliti, who represents Ward 7 (York West), told the Star that both of his parents have been quite ill this term. He also noted he is typically at public meetings in his community during the evening and has missed council for that reason. He refused to answer further questions. The votes Mammoliti missed included ones on funding out of the cold programs for those experiencing homelessness, and on designating school zones as part of a Vision Zero pedestrian safety plan. Holland told the Star in an interview that several deaths in her family this term made it difficult to attend all of the meetings, which typically last for a number of days one week of the month, and can stretch into the evenings after running all day. Its been a really tough term in terms of my family, she said, noting some evenings she was needed to care for an elderly, widowed family member. Holland also said theres a lot of weight on the portfolio given to her by Mayor John Tory when he appointed her as the citys advocate for the innovation economy at the end of 2016. The votes that I missed had nothing to do with my ward, she said. It was more about downtown fence exemptions or downtown related items that werent of a broader citywide issue. Hollands vote record for 2018 shows she missed votes about the Vision Zero community safety zones for schools, a policy on car-sharing services, adopting a new community council structure and future uses for Old City Hall, among others. Follow the Toronto Star on social media: Councillor Justin Di Ciano, the only first-term councillor to make the top 10 list of worst attendees for both 2018 (42 per cent of votes missed) and for the whole term (24.3 per cent), said in an email he has come to realize council sessions are nothing more than pure theatrics and a complete waste of time. I always voted on the most important issues affecting our city, Di Ciano said, noting work he did outside the council chamber on behalf of various boards and committees and his Ward 5 (Etobicoke Lakeshore) residents. Councillor Stephen Holyday (Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre) was the best in class, missing no votes in 2018. Over four years, he missed only four votes, all of which he was obligated to be absent for after he declared an interest in the items they were about. You certainly plan around the meetings, Holyday said of how he is always in the chamber for the hundreds of votes per meeting. I pack my lunch or a snack with me. If you do need to take a bowel break, you try do to that when theres a break in council. Holyday noted that its kind of become his thing not to miss votes. Its something I believe very strongly in, that the public expects us to be there to vote, he said. Thats the privilege that weve got as a councillor, thats a duty. The median was Councillor Neethan Shan, who missed 12.6 per cent of the votes. Mayor John Tory ranked higher, missing 28.1 per cent of the votes. Tory missed 19.4 per cent of the votes all term, better than his predecessor Rob Ford, who missed 23 per cent. The Star calculated council attendance by reviewing vote records maintained by the city clerks office. Every time a councillor is not in their seat to push a button to vote, they are marked as absent. The Star tallied all the absences for council meetings the only meeting all council members are required to attend. The votes recorded are not reflective of every single vote taken. There are some votes done by a quick show of hands and it is not recorded whether members are absent. Lately, nothing in the lives of Miruna Suntharalingam and Amira Brown has been routine. They and their families are among those displaced from the highrise apartment towers at 650 Parliament St, where a fire two weeks ago caused major damage. On Tuesday morning, the two 10-year-old Grade 6 students, and dozens of other displaced kids, found comfort in the first day of school at Rose Ave. Junior Public School. A return to friends. A return to some degree of predictability. And, for these two, a chance to meet a bunch of reporters. School is like the calm place, the relaxing place, because our friends are here, so you can kind of express (things) to them and kind of be distracted from all that, said Suntharalingam, before she gamely faced a row of cameras to talk about her experience and to thank all those who have reached out to help. School, explained, Brown, is kind of the same as it was last year, except that it takes longer to get here, and when Im leaving, it takes longer to get back. She was last allowed into her familys apartment on Monday and took nearly everything out. Browns family has been living in a hotel, but on Wednesday will be moving into a house belonging to a friend of her mothers, which, she says, will be cool because Ive always wanted to live in a house. The commute will be even longer, since the house is in Ajax. Suntharalingam, her older sister and her parents are living at the Regent Park Community Centre. Instead of a short walk to get to school, she now takes the TTC. Read more: City says it learned from 2010 apartment fire, but displaced Parliament St. residents still frustrated It will be Thanksgiving at the earliest before some residents of the St. James Town building can return Long lines, anger and frustration as residents of highrise emptied by fire wait to collect belongings More than 120 students from the building, attend 14 Toronto District School Board schools, but none more so than Rose Ave., where about 70 students come from 650 Parliament. Of those, about 50 made it for the first day of classes. Residents of the north tower could be out for six more weeks, and those living in the south tower, could be out 16 weeks, according to the City of Toronto. After news of the fire, the extent of damage and the long wait for residents to return, public school board and school officials met to discuss how to offer immediate support, said area TDSB superintendent John Chasty. A parent family literacy program started a week early. Principals at all affected schools reached out to every student to ask how they could support them, through, for example, enhanced nutrition programs and transportation. We continue to work with those families, Chasty told reporters. The displacement is very unusual, and its unsettling, said Chasty, and on a scale without precedent, he believed. Students are so excited about coming to the first day of school, he said. They so look forward to it ... and then to have that impacted for some of our families who are still trying to figure out where theyre going to be residing, and how they can come to their home school. Jyodi Sethiya, who lives at 650 Parliament, delivered Kesha, her 4-year-old son to Rose Ave. for his first day of junior kindergarten Tuesday. That alone can be traumatic, for mom and child. Being without a home the family is living with a friend for now made it more difficult. Im not feeling well, actually, because right now we dont even have accommodation, said Sethiya, and that is causing stress for her son. Hes missing his home, and he does not have any toys and other things. Displaced families are spread out across the city. TDSB students in Grade 6 and above will be helped with TTC tokens. For younger students, the board will work with parents to try to get them to home or area schools. Social and settlement workers were at Rose Ave. school Tuesday to support families as they dropped off their children. In the gymnasium, donated clothing and other items, such as toys, filled a stage area and spilled out on to the gym floor. One item in demand but in short supply was underwear, said one social worker. The Community Matters program is extending its after school program for students and family to 7 p.m. It is also handling the donations that are pouring in to the school. Rose is really viewed as the heart of this community, said Rose Ave. principal David Crichton, so we take that responsibility very seriously. Meetings have been held with parents. Gift cards were being handed out, along with the TTC tokens. Breakfast, lunch and dinner programs are available. Were really trying to tailor the need to that of the individual families, said Crichton. Thats one of the challenges. The families are all over the city. They want their children to be here. Parents are desperate to try to make arrangements that bring stability, but also some routine for their children. Along with donations from citizens, there have been corporate boosts, including a financial donation from Manulife and backpacks with back-to-school supplies from Bell. Gift cards will allow parents to buy what they need. In one hallway of the school is an internal donor board in the shape of 650 Parliament, giving unaffected students and parents an outlet to help. A group of Torontonians, in conjunction with Islamic Relief Canada, have also set up a GoFundMe campaign, which is offering charitable receipts. As of Tuesday, it had raised more than $100,000. Another campaign, has been set up by Ryan Peterson, principal at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, where 65 student have been displaced by the fire. On Tuesday, 650 Parliament, taped off with emergency tape and metal fencing, was teeming with workers of all sorts. Wellesley Parliament Square Property Management is allowing tenants to break leases, allowing for an opportunity to find other housing. The property manager, the city said, has assumed responsibility for communication to displaced residents and coordination of services. Residents, the city said, can reach the company at 647-760-7339, through email at 650helpline@wpsq.ca, and on Twitter via @650parliament. A woman has been rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a shooting in Scarborough Tuesday evening. Shortly after 10 p.m., Toronto police responded to a call of a woman suffering from a gunshot wound at Birchmount Rd. and Laura Secord Walk, in the area of Kennedy and Ellesmere Rds. Paramedics found the victim, who is in her 30s, and took her to hospital in critical condition. Suspect information is not available at this time, police spokeswoman Katrina Arrogante said. A man who fatally shot his father-in-law, mobster Rocco Zito, in their North York home has been sent to prison for almost six years. Domenico Scopelliti, 54, smiled tightly as Madam Justice Faye McWatt delivered the sentence at the University Ave. courthouse on Wednesday before more than a dozen members of Zitos family, including his widow, daughters and grandsons. Zito, 87, was killed shortly after suppertime on Jan. 29, 2016, in the Playfair Ave. bungalow where three generations of his family lived. At his trial, Scopelliti testified that he was acting in self defence when he shot Zito three times at close range using an illegal .25-calibre pistol that was fitted with a silencer. He said he killed Zito after the older man pulled a gun on him and threatened his life. Scopelliti was convicted of manslaughter in June, but found not guilty of the more serious offences of first- and second-degree murder. During his trial, the court heard that Zito was a local Mafia leader, loan shark and convicted underworld killer. McWatt noted that Scopelliti had a university education and strong letters of support from community members. Generally, the letters cast him as an involved father, a kind and gentle man whose character does not fit the crime he has committed, McWatt said in her written sentencing decision. The defendant has no criminal record and the offence is out of character in terms of his history, McWatt wrote. He has expressed remorse for the shooting, the judge continued. The Crown candidly admitted that the defendant would have entered a guilty plea to manslaughter before the trial if the Crown had consented. Zito was considered by police to be a figure of significant power and authority within organized crime, specifically the Italian Mafia throughout his adult life, according to an agreed statement of facts submitted by the Crown and defence. Scopelliti has been in custody since just hours after the shooting, when he surrendered to police after destroying the pistol he used. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but with credit for time spent in custody before the trial, he will now serve slightly more than five years and eight months. Defence lawyer Brian Ross had called for a penitentiary term of seven years while Crown Attorney Anna Stanford said 11 years would be more appropriate. The court heard that Zito was in poor health in the final days of his life, and that he required afternoon naps, a cane and occasionally a walker for mobility and help navigating stairs. Zitos ailments included diabetes, poor vision in one eye, chronic diarrhea, hardening of the arteries, unstable legs, headaches and mental health challenges. His granddaughter described him as a confused, often angry man who experienced some signs of dementia and wandered about at nights confused. Scopelliti testified that he deeply regretted killing his father-in-law. We went from celebrating my daughters birthday that day to mourning her grandfathers death, he said at his trial. I cant say how much I regret it. Scopelliti and his then-wife Laura lived in the bungalow with their four children at the time of the shooting. They have since divorced. His trial heard that things had been particularly tense in the home for a number of days before the shooting, after Zito announced he had changed his plans on how he wanted his estate divided. Stanford suggested Scopelliti killed Zito because he was enraged over the planned changes to the will. A bank statement in the home showed Zito had more than $1 million in a Toronto account. Court heard Zito also had $2 million or $3 million in Italian bank accounts and that his house was mortgage free. Scopelliti nodded and smiled to family members but said nothing before he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs on Wednesday. A man in his 50s is dead after being pinned between a dump truck and a vehicle, Toronto Police say. The incident happened around Twenty Sixth St. and Elder Ave., near Etobicokes Long Branch neighbourhood, around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday. The victim was found unresponsive, and was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead at hospital. Twenty Sixth St. is closed in both direction from Laburnham to Elder Aves. With files from Ilya Banares Steve Bannon will take centre stage in Toronto at the November Munk Debate, days after being dropped from the New Yorker magazines festival. U.S. President Trumps former White House chief strategist will debate Atlantic senior editor David Frum at the prestigious debate on Nov. 2 at Roy Thomson Hall, organizers announced Wednesday. The two will take on the rise of populism, with Bannon on the pro side and Frum on the con. Throughout the Western world, politics is undergoing a sea-change, reads the description of the debate on the website for Munk Debates, a charitable initiative that pits two opposing figures against each other on polarizing issues. Does this surging populist agenda in Western nations signal a permanent shift in our politics? Or, is it passing phenomenon that will remain at the fringes of society and political power? Bannon was dropped as a headliner from the New Yorker magazines October festival, after several other high profile speakers at the event, including Judd Apatow and Jim Carrey, said they would pull out if he appeared, the New York Times reported. Frum, a Canadian-American who worked as a speech writer for George W. Bush, tweeted Wednesday morning about the debate. On the Friday before the most important midterm elections of our lifetimes, I will debate Steve Bannon at Canadas @munkdebate and argue that his politics will lose and liberal democracy prevail across the Western world, he wrote. Vote now: The Munk Debates past debaters include Henry Kissinger, Glenn Greenwald and Tony Blair. Read more about: Ontario is open for business and soon there will be massive sign on the Canada-U.S. border to tout that. Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Jim Wilson confirmed Wednesday that Premier Doug Fords election promise of signage near the New York frontier will be kept. You dont think hes going to allow me to make that announcement today, do you? quipped Wilson, as he announced province-wide consultations on reducing red tape to boost business in Ontario. Its coming soon, he said, emphasizing the sign would not be manufactured by Deco Labels and Tags, the family company founded by the premiers father. During the June 7 election campaign, Ford vowed that if he defeated Kathleen Wynnes Liberals he would make a big show of the provinces intentions to lure businesses across the border. Today, Buffalo and Niagara are bragging about all the jobs theyre taking from us, because of Kathleen Wynnes high hydro rates, high taxes, and red tape, the Tory leader said on May 14. Were going to put up a big sign on the border that says Ontario is open for business. Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser pointed out the provinces borders have always been open for business and that his party left the economy in good shape after almost 15 years in power. The Conservatives have inherited one of the strongest economies in the world, said Fraser, adding that Ontarios economic growth has outpaced all G7 countries and other provinces and it currently enjoys its lowest unemployment rate in a generation. I really find it strange that theyre trying to create this image of Ontarios economy not being strong, he said. Starting next week, Wilson said there will be red-tape reduction round-tables on cutting some of the provinces 380,000 regulations. The push to slash red tape follows a similar initiative by the Liberals that was led by Ed Clark, who is no longer serving as the premiers business adviser. Clark, the former TD Bank chair and Wynnes privatization czar, was part of a post-election purge by Ford. But Wilson maintained the Liberals did not follow the respected bankers advice on cutting the regulatory burden on business even though the previous government passed legislation to do so. Frankly, from the briefings I had, nothing happened. Mr. Clark made his report, (it) sat on the shelf. It was purely lip service. Last year, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business awarded the Ontario government an honourable mention in its annual golden scissors award for reducing red tape. The group praised then-Liberal minister Brad Duguid for introducing the red tape challenge as part of Ontarios business growth initiative. The challenge is conducted through an online portal where Ontarians may submit ideas to cut red tape within seven industry sectors. Consultations for two sectors have already been completed and the government has received hundreds of submissions covering more than 200 regulations, the business federation said at the time. Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: BENGHAZI, LIBYAThe death toll from more than a week of fighting between armed groups in Tripoli has climbed to at least 50 people, including civilians, Libyan authorities said Tuesday, as the UN expressed alarm over the fate of detained migrants and Libyans already displaced by years of unrest. Fighting erupted last week when the Seventh Brigade, militias which hail from Tarhouna, a town about 60 kilometres south of Tripoli, attacked southern neighbourhoods of the capital. The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigades and the Nawasi Brigade militias which support the UN-backed government have come to the citys defence. In addition to those killed, another 138 people, including civilians, have been wounded, the Health Ministry said. Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that overthrew long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi and led to his death. The country is currently governed by rival authorities in Tripoli and the countrys east, each of which are backed by an array of militias. Other armed groups have carved out fiefdoms across the country, with many profiting from smuggling and extortion. On Tuesday, a shell landed inside a former U.S. embassy compound in Tripoli, setting off a fire that ignited a fuel tank, an embassy official said. No one was wounded and the fire did not reach the building itself, said the official, who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity. The embassy, which was relocated to Tunisia during heavy fighting in 2014, tweeted that the compound was not impacted in todays fuel tank fire, which occurred in the vicinity. The UN high commissioner for human rights in Geneva has voiced concern about the impact of the fighting on migrants and internally displaced people. Spokesperson Liz Throssell said Tuesday that some of the nearly 8,000 arbitrarily detained migrants are trapped in detention centres in areas where fighting has taken place, without access to food or medical treatment. She said at least 21 civilians have been killed, including two women and two children, since Aug. 26. The UN Refugee Agency called on all sides to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure and allow safe passage for those seeking refuge in safer areas. The UN-backed government has declared a state of emergency in and around Tripoli. Delegations from the warring parties met Tuesday in the town of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, to try to reach a UN-brokered cease-fire, the UN mission in Libya said. Issandr el-Amrani, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said theres a risk of other militias entering the fighting, including powerful groups from the city of Misrata. He said the fighting could also empower forced loyalists to Khalifa Hifter, the leader of a powerful militia in the east allied with the government there. Hifter has long opposed the UN-backed government in Tripoli. The Tripoli government is losing ground and the little legitimacy it has, el-Amrani said. Escalation of fighting could mean that the government loses control the capital. Mohamed Buisier, an analyst and former political adviser to Hifter, said the fighting was expected as armed groups in Tripoli were getting larger portions of financial incentives. This is a normal thing after years of failure, he said. We are in a new phase where nobody can strip the militias from their arms. Libya needs an international peacekeeping force. Read more about: WASHINGTONA man whose teenage daughter was killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting tried to shake the hand of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a break in Tuesdays confirmation hearing. Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime died in the February 2018 attack, approached Kavanaugh after he rose from the witness table for a lunch break. He put out his hand to Kavanaugh, who paused for a moment before turning away as a security guard stepped in. Afterward, Guttenberg tweeted that Kavanaugh pulled his hand back, turned his back to me and walked away. I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence. White House spokesperson Raj Shah said security intervened before Kavanaugh could shake the hand of the unidentified individual. He shared a video clip of the moment, saying it showed that as the Judge was leaving and had already turned away and begun walking, security intervened and ushered the Judge away. Guttenberg pushed back on Twitter, saying: Incorrect. I was here all day and introduced by Senator Feinstein. No security involved. He turned and walked away. After the encounter, Capitol Police talked with Guttenberg. He was again sitting in the hearing room for the afternoon session. The Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead. Read more: Kavanaughs confirmation hearing starts off with a bang WASHINGTONA new book by Bob Woodward, the longtime Washington Post reporter, portrays a White House with relentless infighting and a work culture so toxic and volatile that many of President Donald Trumps top advisers and cabinet members became accustomed to working around their boss, whom they described as unstable and uninformed. Fear: Trump in the White House, which is set for a public release next Tuesday and already sits atop Amazons bestseller list, is one in a series of insider accounts published this year that have drawn the ire of the West Wing. Fire and Fury, by the writer Michael Wolff, and Unhinged, by the former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, also reported the kind of hostility and interpersonal feuding that Woodward depicts. Trump reacted to both books with numerous tweets targeting the authors. On Tuesday, after copies of Woodwards book leaked to reporters, Trump told the Daily Caller that parts of it may have been made up. Its just another bad book. Hes had a lot of credibility problems, Trump said of Woodward. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, called it nothing more than fabricated stories. Read more: Cohn took papers from Trumps desk to protect NAFTA, Woodward book alleges Trumps NAFTA threat leaves Trudeau locked in high-stakes game of poker Donald Trump, Carl Bernstein tangle on Twitter over CNN story Here are some key takeaways from the book. The Russia investigation is a constant source of anxiety for Trump, and for his lawyers. In late January, Woodward wrote, Trump sat down with John Dowd, then an outside lawyer advising the president on the White Houses interactions with Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. The idea was to stage a mock interview between the president and Mueller, who was angling to question Trump. During the session, Trump repeatedly lied and contradicted himself, insulted the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, then exploded in anger, ranting for a half-hour about the investigation being a hoax. Dowd tried to demonstrate why their meeting was reason for Trump not to do an interview with Mueller, citing the presidents schedule demands. Its not that youre lying or youre bad or anything like that, Dowd told him. Given your daily intake just look what weve done this afternoon. Dowd handed him a letter addressed to Mueller asserting the presidents right to terminate the investigation. Trump loved it. The day after, a gleeful Trump called Dowd. I slept like a rock, the president said. I love that letter. By March, little progress had been made with Mueller. On March 5, Dowd met with the special counsel and one of his deputies and explained why he was trying to keep Trump away from them. Im not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot, he said. Later that month, Dowd told Trump why he should avoid an interview: Its either that or an orange jumpsuit. Mueller engaged in lively conversations for months with Trumps lawyers. The book offers the first extensive look at dialogue between Mueller and those involved in the Russia investigation. Woodward recounted Dowds zigzagging relationship with the special counsels office, and the lengths he went to to build a rapport with Mueller in the heat of negotiations over an interview with Trump. Dowd fluctuated between credulity and outrage, at one point telling Trump after an especially trying meeting with Mueller that the president may have been right about the special counsel all along. Woodward wrote that Dowd would tell Mueller that the president did not have time for the inquiry while he was juggling the responsibilities of his new job. Im very sensitive to that, Mueller reportedly responded. Im doing the best I can. Still, Mueller at one point told Dowd that he could acquire a grand jury subpoena, which Dowd interpreted as a threat. Im not trying to threaten you, Mueller reportedly told Dowd. Im just thinking of the possibilities here. In one meeting with Mueller, Dowd, to make plain just how much he feared that Trump would commit perjury, asked Jay Sekulow, another one of Trumps lawyers, to re-enact Trumps practice session from January. Sekulow, playing Trump, imitated an answer to a question about Comey. Sekulows answer was classic Trump an answer spun out of thin air, with contradictions, made-up stuff, anger, Woodward wrote. A perfect performance. A perfect Trump. Trumps advisers are repeatedly stunned by the presidents lack of interest in and knowledge of major issues. Woodward used several defence-related meetings to illustrate the presidents problem grasping his own administrations policy, including a July 2017 gathering at the Pentagon between Trump, military brass and members of his cabinet. When are we going to start winning some wars? Trump groused as those around him tried to clarify the purpose of the war in Afghanistan. Weve got these charts. When are we going to win some wars? Why are you jamming this down my throat? Trump attacked the generals and cabinet members in the room, leaving Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson exasperated. Hes a moron, Tillerson reportedly said once Trump had left, using an expletive. At a January meeting of the National Security Council, Trump asked why the United States was spending so much on the Korean Peninsula. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis replied that the administration was trying to prevent World War III. After Trump left the room, Woodward wrote, Mattis told people that Trump understood the topic like a fifth or sixth-grader. In another episode, Gary D. Cohn, the former chief economic adviser to Trump, stole a letter from Trumps desk that the president had planned to sign, withdrawing the United States from a trade deal with South Korea. Woodward wrote that Cohn told a colleague that he had to protect the country. Trump apparently never realized the letter had disappeared. In his interview with the Daily Caller, Trump denied that Cohn had taken the letter. There was nobody taking anything from me, he said. Woodward also prints a summary of the July 2017 meeting written by a senior White House official who spoke with its attendees. It seems clear that many of the presidents senior advisers, especially those in the national security realm, are extremely concerned with his erratic nature, his relative ignorance, his inability to learn, as well as what they consider his dangerous views, it read. Trump himself was not a primary source for the book. Woodward conducted most of his interviews on deep background, meaning he could incorporate the material without citing from whom it came. Throughout the book, he described settings and events with exhaustively reported detail, incorporating what he said in a note in the book were hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand participants. But, Woodward said in the same note, Trump declined to be interviewed, leaving the tale largely his advisers telling. The Washington Post published audio of an 11-minute call between Woodward and Trump in which Woodward warned the president that his book would be severe, and expressed regret that he never had a chance to incorporate Trumps view of his own job. Trump sounded incredulous that he never got to sit for an interview and defend himself to the author. Woodward told him that he made the request to at least a half-dozen people close to the president, and that it was never granted. On the call, Trump sounded worried, repeating his refrain that it would be a bad book for him, and that Woodward did not understand just how successful he had been in office. So were going to have a very inaccurate book, and thats too bad, Trump said. Its going to be accurate, I promise, Woodward responded. Yeah, O.K., Trump said. Well, accurate is that nobodys ever done a better job than Im doing as president. John F. Kelly, the chief of staff, quickly soured on Trump. Kelly, who has long been rumoured to be close to resigning, once called Trump an idiot and said the White House staff was operating in crazytown, according to the book. Its pointless to try to convince him of anything, Kelly bemoaned in a meeting. Hes gone off the rails. Trump came to be suspicious of Kellys scrupulousness, finding workarounds, such as calling members of Congress when Kelly was not in the room. When Cohn tried to resign over comments Trump had made after a white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017, Trump belittled him but persuaded him to stay. Kelly then pulled Cohn aside to express his dismay over how Cohn was treated. That was the greatest show of self-control I have ever seen, Kelly said. If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times. Still, Kelly shared some of Trumps paranoia about bad press. Im the only thing protecting the president from the press, Woodward quoted Kelly as saying in a meeting. The press is out to get him. They want to destroy him. And Im determined to stand in the way, taking the bullets and taking the arrows. On Tuesday, Kelly denied in a statement that he had ever called Trump an idiot. Read more about: MEXICO CITYWhen Jimmy Morales ran for president of Guatemala three years ago, the former TV comedians campaign slogan was Neither corrupt, nor a thief. One of the reasons Morales had to make honesty a central issue in his campaign was the work of an unusually powerful group of crime fighters known as the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG. In the face of enormous political pressure, this United Nations-backed organization had conducted rigorous investigations of corruption at the highest levels of Guatemalas government for more than a decade. Its work helped inspire a nationwide protest movement in 2015 and led to the arrest of then-President Otto Perez Molina, then-Vice President Roxana Baldetti and many more. For more than a year, CICIG has been investigating Morales himself, accusing him of accepting about $1 million (U.S.) in illegal campaign donations and earning his ire in return. Last year, Morales tried to expel the head of CICIG, Colombian prosecutor Ivan Velasquez, but the Supreme Court blocked the move. Over the past week, the conflict has flared up again. On Aug. 31, Morales said he would not renew CICIGs mandate, which expires next year. The same day, Guatemalan military vehicles stood guard outside CICIGs offices and descended on a central plaza. On Tuesday, Morales ordered that Velasquez, who has led CICIG since 2013, not be allowed back in Guatemala. For some time now, there have been efforts to derail anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala and continued attacks against the commission and the commissioner, said Adriana Beltran, a Guatemala expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. Moraless actions, she said, are his attempt to protect himself, given the continuing probe against him. While Velasquez remains in the United States, the work of CICIG continues, said a spokesman, Matias Ponce. The organization, which has about 200 staff members, is also waiting for the Guatemalan government to renew work visas of CICIGs foreign staff, he said. Apart from blocking Velasquezs entrance into Guatemala, the Morales government this year removed 25 police personnel assigned to guard CICIG, cutting its security force in half. Morales has argued that CICIG, as a foreign body that receives U.S. funding, constitutes a violation of Guatemalan sovereignty and that Guatemalas own judicial institutions should be handling such graft cases. CICIG works in conjunction with the Guatemalan attorney generals office in building corruption cases. In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week, Morales said CICIG has had more than sufficient time over the course of its mandate to achieve its goals. CICIG was set up in 2006 to bolster Guatemalas weak judicial institutions. At the time, impunity was rampant in the country and murders were hardly ever solved. The group, composed of investigators from around the world, used sophisticated investigative techniques, wiretapping and examination of financial records to pursue high-profile crimes. Its work became a model and inspiration in Latin America, where corruption often goes unpunished. But CICIG has also been polarizing. Critics see it as overzealous and manipulated for political reasons. Earlier this year, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., put on hold $6 million in State Department funding to CICIG, saying he was concerned that Russia had manipulated the group into pushing for the prosecution of a Russian family in Guatemala. CICIGs investigation against Morales had also been gaining steam. Last month, Velasquez, along with Guatemalan Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras, asked the nations Congress to strip Morales of his immunity from prosecution. A congressional commission has been formed to weigh the request. ISLAMABADPakistans newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was optimistic he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the countrys alleged failure to combat militants. You know Im a born optimist, said Khan, a former cricket star who was sworn in last month. A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks hes going to win. Pompeo spent just four hours in Pakistan, his first visit to the country. At the airport before leaving for neighbouring India, he said he was hopeful that a foundation had been laid to move forward. Weve still got a long way to go, lots more discussion to be had, he said. Its time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitment Weve had lots of times where weve talked and made agreements, but we havent been able to actually execute those. Pompeo held meetings with Khan, Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the powerful Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum, economic, business, commercial, Pompeo said. He said they also discussed the work that we all know that we need to do to try to develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan that benefits certainly Afghanistan, but also the United States and Pakistan. Im hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward, he said on the tarmac before leaving. The United States last weekend cancelled a $300 million Coalition Support Fund payment to Pakistan after long complaining that it was not doing enough to combat the Taliban and other militants who attack Afghan and U.S. forces across the porous border. Pakistan has rejected those allegations, saying it has played a key role in the U.S.-led campaign against extremists that began after the 9-11 attacks. On the plane to Pakistan, Pompeo announced his appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran diplomat who is unpopular in Pakistan, as the new U.S. special adviser on Afghan reconciliation, which could further complicate relations with Islamabad. Khalilzad has been very critical of Pakistan in the past and his appointment will not help move things forward, said Zahid Hussain, a defence analyst and the author of two books on militancy in the region. Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan and served as U.S. special envoy to the country following the collapse of the Taliban from 2001-2003 and then as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003-2005. He has been critical of Pakistan, often blaming Afghanistans deteriorating security and countrywide chaos on Pakistans military and powerful ISI intelligence agency, accusing them of harbouring and aiding Taliban insurgents. Khalilzad has been criticized for his role in cobbling together an Afghan government of warlords headed by Hamid Karzai following the Talibans collapse. Afghanistans corruption-plagued government and, by some accounts, poorly trained security forces have frustrated Afghans and contributed to the countrys deteriorating security situation. Neither the U.S. nor Pakistan can afford a complete rupture in relations, but Hussain said Islamabad is frustrated that the relationship has been reduced to a single issue: Afghanistan. The United States seems only to see Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan, he said. The main thing is we would like to be allies with the U.S. but with dignity. As an opposition leader, Khan often chastised Pakistans reliance on U.S. financial assistance. He briefly stopped trucks supplying fuel and other goods to U.S. and NATO troops from crossing into Afghanistan to protest U.S. drone strikes in Pakistans tribal regions along the border. In a speech following the July 25 elections that propelled him to power, Khan said Pakistan would not participate in the U.S. war on terror, instead advocating a peaceful end to the protracted war in Afghanistan. Khan has flatly rejected a U.S. strategy that advocates a heavy military hand to force Afghanistans Taliban to the negotiating table. Pompeo arrived shortly before 8 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. EDT) in the Indian capital of New Delhi. Read more about: NEW YORKA plane has been quarantined at New Yorks Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. The Emirates flight landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. The airline says about 10 passengers were sick and were getting medical attention as a precaution. Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. Representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene. Eric Phillips, a spokesperson for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted that the flight stopped in Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak, and early indications point to that as a possibility. A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a medical situation. Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing Wednesday, where he was defending his judicial independence amid questions over how he would treat U.S. President Donald Trump on the high court. Senators have pressed Kavanaugh on guns, abortion and regulation, as well as some tantalizing questions over purloined emails. Each senator has 30 minutes to interrogate Kavanaugh. Protests continue intermittently. On stolen Senate emails and Kavanaughs knowledge of them Sen. Patrick J. Leahy raised two Bush-era scandals with Kavanaugh, and he suggested that Bush White House emails in the Judiciary Committees possession may contradict testimony the nominee made more than a decade ago if only they could be released publicly. The exchange was tantalizing but incomplete. One of the scandals was the disclosure in late 2003 and 2004 that a Republican Judiciary Committee staff member had infiltrated the Democrats confidential internal files about which of President George W. Bushs judicial nominees to try to block and with what tactics. The other was the disclosure that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to intercept Americans phone calls and emails without obtaining the judicial warrants seemingly required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Read more: U.S. Supreme Court nominee turned his back on Parkland shooting victims father Kavanaugh confirmation hearing riddled with protestors Kavanaughs confirmation hearing begins as a partisan brawl At his appeals court confirmation hearing in 2006, Kavanaugh who had worked as an associate White House counsel in the Bush administration told senators that he did not know anything about the infiltration of Senate Democrats files on judicial nomination fights or about the warrantless wiretapping program before they eventually became public. But Leahy indicated that documents marked committee confidential show that Manuel Miranda, then a Republican staffer on the Judiciary Committee, had sent Kavanaugh emails about Leahys private concerns about a judicial nominee whose hearing was coming up and a draft letter Leahy had not yet sent. He also suggested that the files may show that Miranda made a reference to having a mole on the committee or spying on Democrats and that Miranda may have suggested meeting outside of their workplaces. The senator also indicated that Kavanaugh may have had some involvement with a memo written by John Yoo, who was an attorney in the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel who wrote opinions secretly blessing the surveillance program as lawful. Kavanaugh insisted that everything he had testified before was 100 per cent accurate, but indicated that he was not sure what Leahy was referring to. Leahy asked Grassley to lift the confidentiality protections over the emails in question so he and Kavanaugh could discuss them in his second round of questioning, and Grassley indicated he would look at them. I am concerned because there is evidence that Mr. Miranda provided you with materials that were stolen from me, Leahy said. And that would contradict your prior testimony. It is also clear from public emails and Im refraining from going into nonpublic ones that you had reason to believe materials were obtained inappropriately at the time. Kavanaugh says hell respect abortions precedent on precedent. Kavanaugh, under attack from progressives and Democrats who say he will roll back abortion rights, asserted that he understood the significance of the issue and would respect the Supreme Courts precedent on precedent. I dont live in a bubble. I understand I live in the real world, he said, after Feinstein reminded him of the death tolls in this country among women who tried to end their own pregnancies before Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. I understand your point of view on that, and I understand how passionate and how deeply people feel about this issue, he said. Feinstein did not ask him the operative question Does he believe Roe was correctly decided? but even if she had, he had already told Grassley it would not be appropriate to answer it. She did ask him what he meant when he told Sen. Susan Collins that he believed Roe was settled law. At that, he launched into a discourse on the value of precedent. Kavanaugh said Roe was settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court, and as such, deserves respect from judges who took note of it. But then he noted a subsequent case, the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which narrowed the scope of Roe, at the same time that it reaffirmed Roe as a precedent. Casey, which gave states the authority to regulate abortion so long as those regulations do not pose an undue burden on the woman, is precedent on precedent, he said. His comments were a reminder that, as Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, has often pointed out, precedents are only settled law until the Supreme Court unsettles them. Democrats complain that previous nominees have pledged to respect precedents, only to narrow or overturn them once seated on the court. What about this abortion precedent? One opinion of intense interest to Democrats is Kavanaughs dissent in the 2017 case Garza v. Hargan, which involved a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant, who was in the country illegally, whom the Trump administration tried to block from having an immediate abortion. Kavanaugh sided with the administration in arguing that the teen should have been transferred to the care of an immigration sponsor a family member or friend before being allowed to terminate her pregnancy. Under questioning from Sen. Richard J. Durbin, he said he was only following Supreme Court precedent, though he conceded, There is no case on exact point. So, Kavanaugh said, he rooted his dissent in Supreme Court cases that have permitted states to require pregnant teens to obtain the consent of their parents for an abortion. Durbin objected, suggesting that Texas, where the girl was housed in an immigration facility, had imposed no such requirement on her. You are adding a requirement here, the senator said. Im not adding. Im a judge. The policy has been made by others, Kavanaugh replied. Im deciding whether the policy is consistent with Supreme Court precedent. I did my level best in an emergency posture, he added. Can Trump pardon himself? Hmm. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy put that question directly to Kavanaugh. If Leahy thought he was going to get a direct answer to the direct question, he was mistaken. The question of self-pardons is something Ive never analyzed, Kavanaugh said, adding: I cant begin to answer in this context as a sitting judge and a nominee to the Supreme Court. Leahy pressed anyway, asking whether the president could pardon associates to keep them from testifying against him. Again, Kavanaugh dodged the question, saying that as a judge, he would normally receive briefs and arguments from both sides before coming to a conclusion. Im not going to answer hypothetical questions of that sort, he said. Can a president be subpoenaed? No comment Pressed by Feinstein, Kavanaugh refused to say whether he would rule that the U.S. Constitution permits a sitting president to be subpoenaed for testimony. He said that as a matter of judicial independence, he would not give the Senate a precise answer on a hypothetical that might come before me. The potential for a legal fight over a presidential subpoena has become a hot topic amid speculation that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russias interference in the 2016 campaign, may issue a subpoena for President Donald Trump. Lawyers for the president and the office of the special counsel have been negotiating for months over whether Trump will voluntarily sit for an interview, so far without success. In 1974, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in United States v. Nixon that a sitting president in that case Richard M. Nixon could be subpoenaed for documents and records like the Watergate tape recordings. But the court has never addressed the question of whether a sitting president could be forced to answer questions, which raises additional issues about the time it would take to prepare and the potential distraction from carrying out his constitutional duties. Noting that Chief Justice Warren Burger, who wrote the ruling, had been appointed by Nixon, Kavanaugh said he thought the Watergate tapes ruling was one of the greatest moments in the Supreme Courts history because it stood up for judicial independence in the face of political pressure, but how that precedent would apply to other hypotheticals like whether a subpoena for presidential testimony in a criminal investigation should also be upheld, was something he should not address, citing the practice of previous Supreme Court nominees. Kavanaugh was a prosecutor working for Ken Starr when the independent counsel issued a subpoena to President Bill Clinton. But Clintons legal team negotiated a deal whereby he testified voluntarily before a grand jury, and Starr withdrew the subpoena, so the issue was never adjudicated. Years later, after working in the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 attacks, Kavanaugh said that he thought presidents should be temporarily shielded from criminal investigation while they were in office, although he left it ambiguous as to whether he thought that was a change Congress should make or that the Constitution might already allow. Kavanaugh cites Nixon to assert his independence Answering the first question Wednesday, from Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chair, Kavanaugh said he would be an independent justice. He cited three Supreme Court landmarks to make his case. Two were predictable: Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that ruled segregated public schools unconstitutional, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the 1952 decision rejecting President Harry S. Trumans attempt to seize the nations steel mills to aid the war effort in Korea. The third was notable: United States v. Nixon, the 1974 decision in which Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to comply with a subpoena seeking tapes of his conversations in the Oval Office. Kavanaugh has not always been unequivocal in his support for the decision. In a 1999 transcript of a round-table discussion, he said, Maybe Nixon was wrongly decided heresy though it is to say so. His allies have said he meant the statement as a critique of the legal strategy of Clintons lawyers. On Wednesday, Kavanaughs said the message of the decision, which he called one of the greatest moments in U.S. judicial history, was clear. No one is above the law in our constitutional system, he said. Kavanaugh says he is not anti-regulation An abstract but important part of Kavanaughs judicial philosophy is his skeptical approach to so-called Chevron deference, the principle that when a statute granting a regulatory agency the authority to make rules about a certain topic such as protections for the environment, consumers, or workers are ambiguous, the courts should accept the agencys interpretation that it has the power to make a rule. Corporations opposed to what they see as overly burdensome regulations want the Supreme Court to overturn or narrow the Chevron ruling, making it harder for executive agencies to expand into new areas. Questioned about his view of the powers of administrative agencies by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Kavanaugh touted several rulings in which he had upheld environmental regulations rather than striking them down, but he gave little sign of support for Chevron deference, insisting instead that executive branch agencies must not be permitted to rewrite laws passed by Congress to expand its authority. Ive heard it said that Im a skeptic of regulation, he said. Im not a skeptic of regulation at all. Im a skeptic of unauthorized regulation, of illegal regulation, of regulation that is outside the bounds of what the laws passed by Congress have said. Kavanaugh defends his earlier testimony about torture Back in 2006, Kavanaugh testified during his appeals court confirmation that he was not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants while working in a Bush administration that was wrestling with the handling of terrorism suspects. Instead, he said, his portfolio focused on civil justice issues like terrorism insurance. Durbin was having none of it. It has since emerged that Kavanaugh was involved in a Bush White House discussion about whether U.S. citizens being held as enemy combatants should get access to lawyers, the senator said, and that the nominee had volunteered to prepare a Justice Department official for testimony about monitoring attorney-client conversations of terrorism-related federal inmates. He also said Kavanaugh had privately admitted involvement in a December 2005 signing statement by Bush that asserted a right to bypass a newly tightened torture ban. You went further than you should have, Durbin said. In the three specific instances I gave you, you clearly were involved in questions about rules governing detention of combatants. But Kavanaugh defended his testimony as accurate. Among other things, he said his statement that he was not involved which came in response to a question 12 years ago from Durbin was a reference to the Bush administrations so-called enhanced interrogation program, not terrorism prisoners generally. I was not read into that program, he said. I told the truth about that. He also said that while, as White House staff secretary in December 2005, he passed the torture ban signing statement onto Bush for his signature, it was the White House counsel Harriet Miers who controlled the text of that document. I cant recall what I said about the torture ban signing statement, Kavanaugh said. I do recall that there was a good deal of internal debate about that signing statement, as you can imagine there would be. I remember that it was controversial internally. Sham president, sham justice The second day of Kavanaughs hearings started with still more protests just as Grassley opened with a hope that the proceedings would be under more control than Tuesdays divisive opening. One woman was led out shouting, Sham president, sham justice. In his opening remarks, Grassley accused Democrats who plotted strategy for the hearing on a conference call Monday of colluding with protesters to disrupt the hearing. NBC News reported that Democratic members of the committee plotted with minority leaders to disrupt the hearing yesterday, he said. Democratic senators interrupted the hearing 63 times before lunch, and in the audience, 70 people were arrested yesterday who were following their lead. But one of the protesters took exception to Grassleys assertion, since, she said, she was calling out Democratic leaders such as Durbin for their tepid efforts to thwart the nominee. And a spokesman for Schumer said there was no coordination. Ken Starr redux In the 1990s, as a prosecutor in Starrs Monica Lewinsky investigation, Kavanaugh supported aggressive questioning of former president Bill Clinton about his sexual relations with the former White House intern. Years later, however, Kavanaugh expressed regret about that view, suggesting that sitting presidents should not be subjected to the kind of distracting investigations that helped subject Clinton to part of the Starr investigation. That shift in views has prompted Democrats to assert that Kavanaugh would try to protect Trump from Muellers Russia investigation. Feinstein pressed Kavanaugh on that point Wednesday. Kavanaugh said his views changed after he watched Bush deal with the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the aftermath, and concluded that presidents should not be distracted from important crises like that by having to respond to investigations like the one Clinton faced. September 11 thats what changed, he told Feinstein. He added, however, that his comments about potential changes to the statutes governing investigations of presidents do not reflect his thinking on the question of whether the Constitution would allow such investigations to proceed. If a case came up where someone was trying to say this was a constitutional principle, I would have a completely open mind on that, he said. A gut punch on sexual harassment but no guilt by association Critics of Kavanaugh have noted that he clerked for former U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski, who has been accused of sexually harassing more than a dozen women. They assert that Kavanaugh must have known about the allegations long before they were made public. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch came to Kavanaughs defence, calling such accusations against Kavanaugh guilt by association, but asked a series of gentle questions designed to give the judge an opportunity to deny them. He did just that, seeking to put distance between himself and any hint that he knew of or condoned the judges behaviour. Did you know anything about these allegations against Kozinski? Hatch asked. Nothing, Kavanaugh responded, adding a moment later: When they became public, the first thought I had was no woman should be subjected to harassment in the workplace, including in the judiciary, especially in the judiciary. He went on: It was a gut punch for me. It was a gut punch for the judiciary. I was shocked, disappointed, angry, swirl of emotions. Overall, Kavanaugh has gone out of his way to extol his record on women. He said he has made an aggressive effort to hire female clerks. Twenty-five of the 48 clerks that Kavanaugh has hired during his 12 years on the appeals court have been female, and 21 have gone on to clerk at the Supreme Court, he told the committee. He said he was spurred to do so by an article in The New York Times by Linda Greenhouse, the newspapers former Supreme Court correspondent, who wrote in 2006, the same year Kavanaugh joined the court, about the paucity of female clerks on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh said that troubled him, calling it unacceptable. He hired three women (out of four clerks) for his first year on the bench, adding that the next generation of leaders and Supreme Court justices will be drawn from the ranks of that generation. Its something Im very focused on at all times, he said. Kavanaugh and Osama bin Ladens bodyguard Kavanaugh touted his ruling in a 2012 appeals court case reversing the military commissions conviction of a former Guantanamo detainee, Salim Hamdan, as evidence that he would be independent and could resist public and political pressure when it came to deciding cases. Hamdan, a Yemeni man who served as a driver and bodyguard for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, had been convicted in 2008 before a military commission on a charge of providing material support for terrorism. His lawyers challenged the conviction on the grounds that material support is not a recognized international war crime at the time of his actions, and tribunals are generally for war crimes. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 listed that charge as a war crime that the tribunals could handle, but Kavanaugh and the appeals court ruled that it did not apply retroactively and overturned the conviction. You will never have a nominee who has ruled for a more unpopular defendant than ruling for Salim Hamdan, Kavanaugh said. And why did I do that in that case? Why did I rule for someone who had been involved in the September 11th? Its because the law compelled it. Still, Hamdan, who had already served his sentence and been repatriated back to Yemen by 2012, was not accused of advance knowledge of or involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. And in many other important cases involving Guantanamo detainees, Kavanaugh sided with the government including ruling in ways that made it harder for detainees to win habeas corpus lawsuits challenging the basis for their indefinite wartime detention without trial; arguing that the appeals court had no jurisdiction to hear challenge brought by military commissions defendants before the tribunal issued a final judgment; and maintaining that international law cannot be enforced in court as a constraint against what Congress and the president do with tribunals. WASHINGTONMexico and the U.S. hinted Wednesday that a NAFTA deal was possible within days even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dug in on his key demands and criticized President Donald Trump as a breaker of trade rules. Trudeau, who has usually taken pains to avoid direct shots at Trump over NAFTA, argued that Trumps behaviour makes it especially important for Canada that any deal include an independent dispute resolution system. We need to keep the Chapter 19 dispute resolution because that ensures that the rules are actually followed. And we know we have a president who doesnt always follow the rules as theyre laid out, Trudeau told Edmontons 630 CHED radio. Trump did not respond directly. He suggested that he was optimistic about the talks, hinting that there could be a deal by the weekend. A lot of people are saying, How are you doing with Canada? Well let you know. We should know over the next two or three days. Maybe even today. But you will be the first to know, Trump said at the White House. Trump added, though, that it would be fine for the U.S. and wont be fine for Canada if no deal were reached. Mexican chief negotiator Kenneth Smith Ramos told an aluminum industry event in Mexico that he hoped Canada and the U.S. would come to an accord by Friday or Saturday. He repeated the statement on Twitter. Caution is warranted. Several previous eruptions of deal-is-near optimism over the past year have not been followed by a deal, and the Canadian government was unwilling to offer a prediction on Wednesday. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the days talks had been constructive, but she declined to say how close the two sides were. Freeland said she would return to the table on Thursday morning after lower-level officials worked into the evening and probably late into the night. We are making good progress. We continue to get a deeper and deeper understanding of the concerns on both sides, Freeland said after her second meeting of the day with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other U.S. officials in Washington. Trump said the U.S. has a very strong position in the talks with Canada. He argued that Canada and other countries have been taking advantage of the United States for many years. Were really, right now, in very intense negotiations with Canada. Well see how it works out. And if it doesnt work out, thats going to be fine for the country, for our country. It wont be fine for Canada. But we love Canada. Theyre our next-door neighbour. Weve had a great relationship with them for many, many years, Trump told reporters at a meeting with the emir of Kuwait. Any Canada-U.S. agreement would not be the end of the process. Smith Ramos said Mexico would have to rejoin the talks at least briefly to complete a three-country deal. And any formal agreement would not be final until approved by the three countries legislatures including the U.S. Congress, which has sometimes taken four years or more to vote on trade deals reached by the president. Trump seemed enthused about the possibility of a deal, telling reporters that he had come up with a new name to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement he dislikes. Trudeau called the Chapter 19 system one of his red lines. The system allows import duties imposed on Canada by the U.S. government to be challenged at independent panels made up of people from both countries rather than in the U.S. court system. The U.S. and Mexico can also use the Chapter 19 panels to challenge Canadian duties outside Canadian courts. Trudeau said Wednesday, as he did Tuesday, that his other red line is the preservation of NAFTAs cultural exemption, which allows Canada to maintain a system of regulations and subsidies meant to protect Canadian content. Trudeau said the exemption is needed to allow Canada to block American companies from trying to take over Canadian media entities. We cant imagine a situation in which an American TV company or network could come up and buy radio stations or buy, you know, CTV for example. That would not be good for Canada. It wouldnt be good for our identity. It wouldnt be good for our sovereignty, Trudeau said. Trudeau made clear that he was open to making incremental concessions to the U.S. on dairy. He vowed again to defend Canadas protectionist supply management system, which uses quotas and tariffs to shield Canadian farmers from foreign competition. But he noted that Canada has shown a certain amount of flexibility on dairy in other trade negotiations. In the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada agreed to open 3.25 per cent of the domestic dairy market to imports. These are things were always willing to look at, Trudeau said, though that depends on the kinds of negotiations we have. Canada and the U.S. blew past a non-binding Trump deadline of last Friday for Canada to sign on to the preliminary deal between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump officially notified Congress on Friday of a deal with Mexico, starting a ticking clock that might allow him to sign a final deal with Mexico alone as soon as the end of November. But it is not clear whether Congress would be willing to grant him permission to proceed with Mexico alone. Senior Republicans, along with business and labour leaders, have insisted that the deal include Canada, and they have said that a Mexico-only process could violate trade law. Read more about: LONDONA tentative deal was reached Wednesday to resolve a conflict over scallop fishing rights off Frances coast, British and French officials said. Officials and industry representatives said after talks in London that an agreement on the principles of a deal has been reached with details to be ironed out in Paris on Friday. A joint statement said that a previous agreement involved British boats 15 metres and over will be renewed. In addition, the agreement calls for smaller vessels to be included in the deal subject to a reasonable compensation package still to be finalized. In the meantime, there is a voluntary agreement for all U.K. vessels to respect the French closure period in the disputed area, officials said. The talks follow an incident last week in which French and British fishermen angrily bumped boats over access to fisheries off the French coast near Normandy. About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters during the incident. British Fisheries Minister George Eustice said the goal of Wednesdays talks was to reach a new agreement that would prevent more confrontations. An agreement reached in 2013 had broken down, leading to the clashes. Read more: French, British fishing boats skirmish over scallops VALIER, MONT.The searchers rummage through the abandoned trailer, flipping over a battered couch, unfurling a stained sheet, looking for clues. Its blistering hot and a grizzly bear lurking in the brush unleashes a menacing growl. But they cant stop. Not when a loved one is still missing. The group moves outside into knee-deep weeds, checking out a rusted garbage can, an old washing machine and a surprise: bones. Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, a 20-year-old member of the Blackfeet Nation, was last heard from around June 8, 2017. Since then her older sister, Kimberly, has been looking for her. She has logged about 40 searches, with family from afar sometimes using Google Earth to guide her around closed roads. Shes hiked in mountains, shouting her sisters name. Shes trekked through fields, gingerly stepping around snakes. Shes trudged through snow, rain and mud, but she cant cover the entire 1.5 million-acre reservation, an expanse larger than Delaware. Im the older sister. I need to do this, says 24-year-old Kimberly, swatting away bugs, her hair matted from the heat. I dont want to search until Im 80. But if I have to, I will. Ashleys disappearance is one small chapter in the unsettling story of missing and murdered Native American women and girls. No one knows precisely how many there are because some cases go unreported, others arent documented thoroughly and there isnt a specific government database tracking these cases. But one U.S. senator with victims in her home state calls this an epidemic, a long-standing problem linked to inadequate resources, outright indifference and a confusing jurisdictional maze. Now, in the era of #MeToo, this issue is gaining political traction as an expanding activist movement focuses on Native women a population known to experience some of the nations highest rates of murder, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Just the fact were making policy-makers acknowledge this is an issue that requires government response, thats progress in itself, says Annita Lucchesi, a cartographer and member of the Southern Cheyenne Tribe who is building a database of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the U.S. and Canada a list of some 2,700 names so far. As her endless hunt goes on, Ashleys sister is joined on this day by a cousin, Lissa, and four others, including a family friend armed with a rifle and pistols. They scour the trailer where two no trespassing signs are posted and a broken telescope looks out the kitchen window. One of Ashleys cousins lived here, and there are reports its among the last places she was seen. Were following every rumour there is, even if it sounds ridiculous, Lissa Loring says. This search is motivated, in part, by the familys disappointment with the reservation police force a common sentiment for many relatives of missing Native Americans. Outside, the group stumbles upon something intriguing: the bones, one small and straight, the other larger and shaped like a saddle. Its enough to alert police, who respond in five squad cars, rumbling across the ragged field, kicking up clouds of dust. After studying the bones, one officer breaks the news: Theyre much too large for a human; they could belong to a deer. There will be no breakthrough today. Tomorrow the searchers head to the mountains. For many in Native American communities across the nation, the problem of missing and murdered women is deeply personal. I cant think of a single person that I know who doesnt have some sort of experience, says Ivan MacDonald, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and a filmmaker. These women arent just statistics. These are grandma, these are mom. This is an aunt, this is a daughter. This is someone who was loved and didnt get the justice that they so desperately needed. MacDonald and his sister, Ivy, recently produced a documentary on Native American women in Montana who vanished or were killed. One story hits particularly close to home. Their 7-year-old cousin, Monica, disappeared from a reservation school in 1979. Her body was found frozen on a mountain 20 miles away. No one has ever been arrested. There are many similar mysteries that follow a pattern: A woman or girl goes missing, theres a community outcry, a search is launched, a reward may be offered. There may be a quick resolution. But often, theres frustration with tribal police and federal authorities, and a feeling many cases arent handled urgently or thoroughly. So why does this happen? MacDonald offers his own harsh assessment. It boils down to racism, he argues. You could sort of tie it into poverty or drug use or some of those factors (but) the federal government doesnt really give a crap at the end of the day. Tribal police and investigators from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs serve as law enforcement on reservations, which are sovereign nations. But the FBI investigates certain offences and, if theres ample evidence, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecutes major felonies such as murder, kidnapping and rape if they happen on tribal lands. Former North Dakota federal prosecutor Tim Purdon calls it a jurisdictional thicket of overlapping authority and different laws depending on the crime, where it occurred (on a reservation or not) and whether a tribal member is the victim or perpetrator. Missing person cases on reservations can be especially tricky. Some people run away, but if a crime is suspected, its difficult to know how to get help. Where do I go to file a missing persons report? Purdon asks. Do I go to the tribal police? In some places theyre underfunded and undertrained. The Bureau of Indian Affairs? The FBI? They might want to help, but a missing person case without more is not a crime, so they may not be able to open an investigation Do I go to one of the county sheriffs? If that sounds like a horribly complicated mishmash of law enforcement jurisdictions that would tremendously complicate how I would try to find help, its because thats what it is. Sarah Deer, a University of Kansas professor, author of a book on sexual violence in Indian Country and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, offers another explanation for the missing and murdered: Native women, she says, have long been considered invisible and disposable in society, and those vulnerabilities attract predators. Its made us more of a target, particularly for the women who have addiction issues, PTSD and other kinds of maladies, she says. You have a very marginalized group, and the legal system doesnt seem to take proactive attempts to protect Native women in some cases. Those attitudes permeate reservations where tribal police are frequently stretched thin and lack training and families complain officers dont take reports of missing women seriously, delaying searches in the first critical hours. They almost shame the people that are reporting, (and say), Well, shes out drinking. Well, she probably took up with some man, says Carmen OLeary, director of the Native Womens Society of the Great Plains. A lot of times families internalize that kind of shame, (thinking) that its her fault somehow. The result: Some families start their own investigations. Matthew Lone Bear spent nine months looking for his older sister, Olivia using drones and four-wheelers, fending off snakes and criss-crossing nearly a million acres, often on foot. The 32-year-old mother of five had last been seen driving a Chevy Silverado on Oct. 25, 2017, in downtown New Town, on the oil-rich terrain of North Dakotas Fort Berthold Reservation. On July 31, volunteers using sonar found the truck with Olivia inside submerged in a lake less than a mile from her home. Its a body of water that had been searched before, her brother says, but obviously not as thoroughly, or they would have found it a long time ago. Lone Bear says authorities were slow in launching their search it took days to get underway and didnt get boats in the water until December, despite his frequent pleas. Hes working to develop a protocol for missing person cases for North Dakotas tribes that gets the red tape and bureaucracy out of the way, he says. The FBI is investigating Olivias death. Shes home, her brother adds, but how did she get there? We dont have any of those answers. Other families have been waiting for decades. Carolyn DeFords mother, Leona LeClair Kinsey, a member of the Puyallup Tribe, vanished nearly 20 years ago in La Grande, Oregon. There was no search party. There was no, Lets tear her house apart and find a clue, DeFord says. I just felt hopeless and helpless. She ended up creating her own missing persons poster. Theres no way to process the kind of loss that doesnt stop, says DeFord, who lives outside Tacoma, Wash. Somebody asked me awhile back, What would you do if you found her? What would that mean? It would mean she can come home. Shes a human being who deserves to be honoured and have her children and her grandchildren get to remember her and celebrate her life. Its another Native American woman whose name is attached to a federal bill aimed at addressing this issue. Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, 22, was murdered in 2017 while eight months pregnant. Her body was found in a river, wrapped in plastic and duct tape. A neighbour in Fargo, N.D., cut her baby girl from her womb. The child survived and lives with her father. The neighbour, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to life without parole; her boyfriends trial is set to start in September. In a speech on the Senate floor last fall, North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp told the stories of four other Native American women from her state whose deaths were unsolved. Displaying a giant board featuring their photos, she decried disproportionate incidences of violence that go unnoticed, unreported or underreported. Her bill, Savannas Act, aims to improve tribal access to federal crime information databases. It would also require the Department of Justice to develop a protocol to respond to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans and the federal government to provide an annual report on the numbers. At the end of 2017, Native Americans and Alaska Natives made up 1.8 per cent of ongoing missing cases in the FBIs National Crime Information Center database, even though they represent 0.8 per cent of the U.S. population. These cases include those lingering and open from year-to-year, but experts say the figure is low, given that many tribes dont have access to the database. Native women accounted for more than 0.7 per cent of the missing cases 633 in all though they represent about 0.4 per cent of the U.S. population. Violence against Native American women has not been prosecuted, Heitkamp said in an interview. We have not really seen the urgency in closing cold cases. We havent seen the urgency when someone goes missing We dont have the clear lines of authority that need to be established to prevent these tragedies. In August, Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, asked the leaders of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to hold a hearing to address the problem. Lawmakers in a handful of states also are responding. In Montana, a legislative tribal relations committee has proposals for five bills to deal with missing persons. In July 2017, 22 of 72 missing girls or women or about 30 per cent were Native American, according to Montanas Department of Justice. But Native females comprise only 3.3 per cent of the states population. Its one of many statistics that reveal a grim reality. On some reservations, Native American women are murdered at a rate more than 10 times the national average and more than half of Alaska Native and Native women have experienced sexual violence at some point, according to the U.S. Justice Department. A 2016 study found more than 80 per cent of Native women experience violence in their lifetimes. Yet another federal report on violence against women included some startling anecdotes from tribal leaders. Sadie Young Bird, who heads victim services for the Three Affiliated Tribes at Fort Berthold, described how in one and a half years, her program had dealt with five cases of murdered or missing women, resulting in 18 children losing their mothers; two cases were due to intimate partner violence. Our people go missing at an alarming rate, and we would not hear about many of these cases without Facebook, she said in the report. Canada has been wrestling with this issue for decades and recently extended a government inquiry that began in 2016 into missing and murdered Indigenous women. A report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded that from 1980 to 2012 there were 1,181 Indigenous women murdered or whose missing person cases were unresolved. Lucchesi, the researcher, says she found an additional 400 to 500 cases in her database work. Despite some high-profile cases in the U.S., many more get scant attention, Lucchesi adds. Ashley has been the face of this movement, she says. But this movement started before Ashley was born. For every Ashley, there are 200 more. Browning is the heart of the Blackfeet Nation, a distinctly Western town with calf-roping competitions, the occasional horseback rider ambling down the street and a hardscrabble reality. Nearly 40 per cent of the residents live in poverty. The down-and-out loiter on corners. Shuttered homes with Meth Unit scrawled on wooden boards convey the damage caused by drugs. With just about 1,000 residents, many folks are related and secrets have a way of spilling out. Theres always somebody talking, says Ashleys cousin, Lissa, and it seems like to us since she disappeared, everybody got quiet. I dont know if theyre scared, but so are we. Thats why we need people to speak up. Missing posters of Ashley are displayed in grocery stores and the occasional sandwich shop. They show a fresh-faced, grinning woman, flashing the peace sign. In one, she gazes into the camera, her long hair blowing in the wind. One of nine children, including half-siblings, Ashley had lived with her grandmother outside town. Kimberly remembers her sister as funny and feisty, the keeper of the family photo albums who always carried a camera. She learned to ride a horse before a bike and liked to whip up breakfasts of biscuits and gravy that could feed an army. She was interested in environmental science and was completing her studies at Blackfeet Community College, with plans to attend the University of Montana. Kimberly says Ashley contacted her asking for money. Days later, she was gone. At first, her relatives say, tribal police suggested Ashley was old enough to take off on her own. The Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated, teaming up with reservation police, and interviewed 55 people and conducted 38 searches. There are persons of interest, spokesperson Nedra Darling says, but she wouldnt elaborate. A $10,000 reward is being offered. The FBI took over the case in January after a lead steered investigators off the reservation and into another state. The agency declined to comment. Ashleys disappearance is just the latest trauma for the Blackfeet Nation. Theda New Breast, a founder of the Native Wellness Institute, has compiled a list of missing and murdered women in the Blackfoot Confederacy four tribes in the U.S. and Canada. Long-forgotten names are added as families break generations of silence. A few months ago, a woman revealed her grandmother had been killed in the 1950s by her husband and left in a shallow grave. Everybody knew about it, but nobody talked about it, New Breast says, and others keep coming forward perhaps, in part, because of the #MeToo movement. Every time I bring out the list, more women tell their secret. I think that they find their voice. Though these crimes have shaken the community, there is a tendency to be desensitized to violence, says MacDonald, the filmmaker. I wouldnt call it avoidance. But if we would feel the full emotions, there would be people crying in the streets. His aunt, Mabel Wells, would be among them. Nearly 40 years have passed since that December day when her daughter, Monica, vanished. Wells remembers every terrible moment: The police handing her Monicas boot after it was found by a hunter and the silent scream in her head: Its hers! Its hers! Her brother describing the little girls coat flapping in the wind after her daughters body was found frozen on a mountain. The pastors large hands that held hers as he solemnly declared: Monicas with the Lord. Monicas father, Kenny Still Smoking, recalls that a medicine man told him his daughters abductor was a man who favoured Western-style clothes and lived in a red house in a nearby town, but there was no practical way to pursue that suggestion. He recently visited Monicas grave, kneeling next to a white cross peeking out from tall grass, studying his daughters smiling photo, cracked with age. He gently placed his palm on her name etched into a headstone. I let her know that Im still kicking, he says. Wells visits the gravesite, too every June 2, Monicas birthday. She still hopes to see the perpetrator caught. I want to sit with them and say, Why? Why did you choose my daughter? Even now, she cant help but think of Monica alone on that mountain. I wonder if she was hollering for me, saying, Mom, help! Ash-lee! Ash-lee!! Ash-lee! Ash-lee!! Some 20 miles northwest of Browning, the searchers have navigated a rugged road lined with barren trees scorched from an old forest fire. They have a panoramic view of majestic snowcapped mountains. A womans stained sweater was found here months ago, making the location worthy of another search. Its not known whether the garment may be Ashleys. First Kimberly, then Lissa Loring, call Ashleys name in different directions. The repetition four times by each woman is a ritual designed to beckon someones spirit. Lissa says Ashleys disappearance constantly weighs on her. All that plays in my head is where do we look? Whos going to tell us the next lead? That weekend at the annual North American Indian Days in Browning, the family marched in a parade with a red banner honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women. They wore T-shirts with an image of Ashley and the words: We will never give up. Then Ashleys grandmother and others took to a small arena for whats known as a blanket dance, to raise money for the search. As drums throbbed, they grasped the edges of a blue blanket. Friends stepped forward, dropping in cash, some tearfully embracing Ashleys relatives. The past few days reminded Kimberly of a promise shed made to Ashley when their mother was wrestling with substance abuse problems and the girls were briefly in a foster home. Kimberly was 8 then; Ashley was just 5. We have to stick together, shed told her little sister. I told her I would never leave her. And if she was going to go anywhere, I would find her. The New York Times on Wednesday took the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. U.S. President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. Its not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trumps leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hell-bent on his downfall. The dilemma which he does not fully grasp is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them. To be clear, ours is not the popular resistance of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic. Read more: Trump blasts gutless op-ed from anonymous U.S. official Key takeaways from Bob Woodwards upcoming book on Trump White House Cohn took papers from Trumps desk to protect NAFTA, Woodward book alleges That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trumps more misguided impulses until he is out of office. The root of the problem is the presidents amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making. Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright. In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the enemy of the people, President Trumps impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic. Dont get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more. But these successes have come despite not because of the presidents leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective. From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chiefs comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims. Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back. There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next, a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision hed made only a week earlier. The erratic behaviour would be more concerning if it werent for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful. It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do whats right even when Donald Trump wont. The result is a two-track presidency. Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations. Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals. On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putins spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behaviour. But his national security team knew better such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable. This isnt the work of the so-called deep state. Its the work of the steady state. Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until one way or another its over. The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility. Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation. We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example a lodestar for restoring honour to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honourable men, but we should revere them. There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favour of a single one: Americans. Read more about: There are a legion of reasons why uploading the TTC subway system to the province is a bad idea. Its more mindless political tinkering when there are far more important governance issues to address if our transit ridership is ever going to be seamless, affordable and time-competitive with the car. Uploading may allow the province to borrow at a slightly lower rate than the city for subway expansion. But it raises more questions than it answers. How are the fares across a fully integrated system to be shared? Who pays for the maintenance of the subway and rolling stock? Ford has pledged $160 million annually to maintain the rail network. The TTC says it will average $327 million a year. Its forecast is based on years of experience. The province is deliberately lowballing its offer in what will surely descend into the Brexit of provincial-city politics. The current value of Torontos subway system is about $2.3 billion. Its one of the citys biggest assets. Does Ford plan to compensate the Toronto taxpayers for their asset? Or, is he going to somehow expropriate it? How will this upload impact the citys efforts to plan its own future urban form when Queens Park controls its subway infrastructure? The more important question is how to best govern and deliver transit services across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The GTHA is now one large, contiguous urban megalopolis stretching from Durham to Hamilton with a population of over seven million. Instead of one, region-wide, operator there are currently 12 different transit fiefdoms. They compete with each other for funding and political advantage, while struggling to deliver even the most basic transit services. Despite population growth, ridership on the TTC has stalled since 2014. Its evidence that the current, fragmented area service delivery system needs to be reexamined and soon. Its an opportunity for Premier Ford to go beyond mere tinkering and look at how other successful North American cities are making transit more car-competitive. The premier seems to value the views of the business community above all else. So I suggest he begin by looking at a study done last year by the Toronto Regional Board of Trade (TRBT). It examined the advantages for the rider of what they called Superlinx a single regional transit agency focused on delivering a superior rider experience. Riders would only have to deal with one fare. The complex multiple, schedule system would be unified. First and last mile service would improve dramatically. And bus, subway, light and commuter rail would all be fully integrated. The study also concluded that Superlinx would be better equipped to introduce region-wide transit innovation and fast-track transit expansion across the whole region. The operating and capital funding model developed by the TRBT study uses fares, current provincial funding and other forms of income from real estate and commercial revenues. Superlinx would be able to lift the burden of delivery and funding off the shoulders of local municipalities, allowing them to address other pressing issues. Ford need only look south of the border to see how far behind we are when it comes to delivering transit services that are more car-competitive. Many of the major cities we compete with for investment and economic growth have already regionalized their transit systems. Business Insider, the largest business news site on the web, ranks Chicago, Boston, Vancouver and Montreal far ahead of Toronto in their analysis of The best transit systems in North America. Regional transit agencies have been tested around the world in cities like London, Hong Kong and many more. The templates are there to examine, modify and apply across the GTHA. Metrolinx is the provincial agency established on the principle that regional transportation issues require regional solutions. It manages the GO Transit commuter rail network and is responsible for planning and delivering a seamless, integrated transit network across the GTHA. But with a dozen other operators delivering local transit in the area, the promised integration has not materialized. Rider experience has suffered and we endure some of theworst congestion on this continent. The regional operator recommended by the TRBT could be overseen by Metrolinx. That would finally bring the planning, delivery and funding for GTHA transit under one agency, responsible to the provinces and rider for making transit more attractive. One-fifth of all Canadians live in the GTHA. Instead of playing around the edges, Ford needs to get serious about moving more of these people out of their cars and into transit. R, Michael Warren is a former corporate director, Ontario deputy minister, TTC chief general manager and Canada Post CEO. Read more about: U.S. President Donald Trumps image of a great U.S. president, other than himself of course, is Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Eisenhower years, Trump has suggested, were a time when his slogan Make America Great Again was redundant. America was then great. So what might Trumps favourite predecessor tell him about dealing with Canada at a time of unprecedented tension over NAFTA? What kind of instructions did Eisenhower give his own negotiators on the most important bilateral issues? It was to go the extra mile for the United States closest neighbour and ally. When youre trading with those Canadians, be so fair that you could move on their side of the table and feel comfortable in your bargaining, Eisenhower exhorted his officials concerning the biggest bilateral initiative of the era construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was then the worlds largest construction project and stood for decades as the largest trans-border water control project ever undertaken. Now, Eisenhowers team drove a harder bargain than their presidents words implied, knowing that the Seaway was more important to Canadian economic development than American. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent was criticized for having not looked after Canadian interests adequately. But the Eisenhower philosophy of continent building still stands in sharp contrast to Trumps beggar-thy-neighbour, zero-sum, win-at-all-costs approach to Canada, which is virtually unprecedented in terms of bilateral relations. Even some Trump supporters in the U.S. Congress, who have fallen into line on past controversies, appear to be taken aback by White House tactics vis-a-vis Canada. Trumps tactics also stand out compared to another favourite predecessor of his Ronald Reagan, who ran for president on a platform that included a North American accord for freer cross-border movement of goods and people. When negotiations for the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement were hitting the rocks in 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney threatened to call Reagan and ask how it was that the United States could have just concluded a nuclear arms deal with the Soviet Union but couldnt do a trade deal with Canada. If you couldnt do a trade deal with Canada, with whom could you do a trade deal? That simple question seems even more relevant now with U.S. and Canadian negotiators back to the bargaining table, ostensibly to build on Mulroney and Reagans handiwork but with the U.S. side showing every sign they want a more protectionist pact than what came before. It remains striking that it is Canada that appears in the crosshairs a country with whom the United States has balanced trade that has quadrupled in value in the past generation. Not Mexico, after Mexico gave ground on the terms of U.S.-Mexico auto trade. Nor, for that matter, the European Union, after the EU and the White House ostensibly agreed over the summer to work toward the elimination of tariffs, subsidies and other trade barriers. This same offer was made to Canada at the G7 summit in June by Trump; only to be ignored, likely because the idea wasnt viewed as credible. It may be that Canada is in the crosshairs out of convenience. Canada has always lacked a strong constituency in the United States; among other things, efforts to rally the one million-plus Canadians living there to help to build mutually advantageous bilateral ties have always fallen flat. It may be that Canada hasnt given adequate ground in these negotiations, especially on reform of the protectionist supply-management system of dairy production, which has long been a bugaboo of U.S. negotiators. And it may just be that mutual economic interest is hostage to this most prickly of U.S. presidents and resentment of criticism of him by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (At least Trudeau hasnt been grabbed by his lapels and told that you pissed on my rug after another prickly president, Lyndon Johnson, took umbrage at Prime Minister Lester Pearsons criticism of his Vietnam policies.) In the days of the St. Lawrence Seaway negotiations, the challenge of working out a deal with Washington was described well as being caught between two fires, by Pearson, who was then external affairs minister. And so it is too today. One fire was about national interest. The other fire was about relations with the worlds predominant power. Canadas NAFTA negotiators face those same flames now, but theyve only grown hotter. Drew Fagan is a professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Read more about: Eye-opening disclosures from Bob Woodward's new book "Fear," about the Trump presidency were revealed in The Washington Post on Tuesday. In today's climate, that means at least one thing in the pop culture world: The comedic weaponry of network television's late-night hosts was loaded with fresh ammunition. And boy, did they use it. Here's what the late-night hosts had to say. - "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" A (somewhat) bearded Colbert talked about his (kind of) beard for a moment before diving in by saying, "It seems like an explosive book about the White House comes out every few minutes at this point." The one he wanted to talk about, though, was Woodward's "Fear," which he said is "a book named after the emotion Trump feels whenever he sees a book." Of all the late-night hosts, Colbert dug the deepest into the recently published revelations, milking them for about five full minutes of jokes. First, he took issue with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly claiming his current position is the worst job he's ever had by saying the worst job Kelly will really ever have "will be explaining to your grandkids why you worked for the big, orange baby-cager." Colbert also used a portion of the book reported in CNN in which Trump yelled at his generals about Afghanistan, "You should be killing guys. You don't need a strategy to kill people." "Yes! And who needs a strategy in war," Colbert quipped. "We all remember what Eisenhower said at D-Day: 'Helter Skelter, little piggies!' " Colbert also used a quote in which, Woodward wrote, Mattis said Trump, "had the understanding of - 'a fifth- or sixth-grader'" for a gag featuring a photo of comedian Jeff Foxworthy and Trump with the text, "Are You Smarter Than the President?" - a reference to Foxworthy's game show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" The fictional game show is "the show where everyone's a winner," Colbert joked. The comedian also brought up part of the book in which Trump mocks Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an Alabamian, by calling him "this dumb Southerner." "You know what? As a South Carolinian, that is a hurtful stereotype, sir. Not all Southerners are dumb," he said. "Just the ones willing to work for you." Colbert closed by reiterating one of the anecdotes from the book: that Trump's former lawyer John Dowd and his lawyer Jay Sekulow conducted a practice interview with Trump about the Russia investigation. They were so appalled by how it went that, according to the book, they met with special counsel Robert Mueller III and re-enacted it as proof that Trump wasn't fit to testify. "Those are his lawyers trying to help him not go to jail," an incredulous Colbert said before impersonating a fictional lawyer. "Your honor, my client could easily take the stand and say he never killed anyone, but if we let him in here, he will kill everyone." - "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" As is his wont, Fallon kept his commentary on the book brief, simply using one of the more distressing revelations as a bridge to make a silly joke about Trump's son. He points out that Trump, in a profane matter, called condemning the white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, one of his biggest mistakes. "Then Trump looked at Don Jr. and said, 'Actually, second-biggest mistake,' " Fallon joked, before impersonating the president and adding, "I'm sorry, Donny, come back Donny!" - "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Kimmel, meanwhile, simply repeated excerpts from the book and laughed, before saying, "It's a good thing Donald Trump doesn't read books, because I think this one would make him very upset." "Of course, these guys are all denying they said any of this stuff," Kimmel added, referring to the immediate backlash the book has received from the White House. "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Whatever said that the book is 'nothing more than fabricated stories made by former, disgruntled employees told to make the president look bad,' " Kimmel continued before adding his own commentary. "Right, otherwise he'd look great if it wasn't for this. ... At this point, the Trump administration has had more men-tell-alls than 'The Bachelorette.' " - "Late Night with Seth Meyers" Meyers wasted no time getting to the book, merely asking his studio audience how they were before jumping in. "I don't think Trump's going to like it, because it's a book," he joked. "According to Woodward's new book, Trump once told Rudy Giuliani that he was a baby. And then, out of habit, he added, 'But I'm not the father,'" Meyers said. The comedian later brought it up in his "A Closer Look" segment, playing part of the recorded phone conversation between Trump and Woodward. During the conversation, Woodward explained that he spoke to many people and that the resulting book is "a tough look at the world and your administration and you." "Right, well, I assume that means it's going to be a negative book," Trump responded. "Oh my God," Meyers laughed. "He's like a guy who doesn't understand why he's being dumped." Meyers then assumed the voice of the fictional woman dumping him. "'I'm breaking up with you because you're dumb, annoying, selfish, ugly, and I don't like you, and I'm not attracted to you in anyway,'" Meyers said, before assuming the voice of the dumpee. "'So it sounds like you're on the fence about going to prom with me?'" EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) Insurance giant State Farm on Tuesday reached a $250 million preliminary settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit claiming the company funneled money to the campaign of an Illinois Supreme Court candidate. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis alleged Bloomington-based State Farm secretly funneled money to the campaign of Supreme Court Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier while he was a candidate for the high court in 2004. In the 2005 case of Avery v. State Farm, Karmeier cast the deciding vote to reverse a $1.06 billion judgment in 1999 against State Farm for its use of aftermarket car parts in repairs. The court ruled the nationwide plaintiff class was improperly certified by a Williamson County trial judge. It also contended using aftermarket parts was not a breach of State Farm policyholders contracts. The class-action lawsuit sought nearly $10 billion from State Farm in a trial that was scheduled to begin Tuesday. The plaintiffs alleged State Farm covertly supported Karmeiers campaign in order to secure his win and reversal of the Avery lawsuit decision. U.S. District Judge David Herndon of the Southern District of Illinois certified the lawsuits class action status last year. The class representative, Mark Hale, is a New York resident. In a joint statement issued by State Farm and the plaintiffs, the insurance company said it agreed to settle with the plaintiffs because both believe it is in the best interest of all the parties and to avoid protracted litigation and appeals that could continue for several more years. Despite the settlement, State Farm continues to deny any liability. In its statement, the company said it considers the claims in the lawsuit without merit. As a part of the settlement, the lawsuits plaintiffs agreed to dismiss, upon final approval, their Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations claims and unjust enrichment claims. The lawsuit claimed millions of dollars were funneled through donations to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which then sent the money to a political action committee and the Illinois Republican Party for use in Karmeiers 2004 campaign. Karmeier and his Democratic opponent, Gordon Maag, spent a combined $9.3 million in their battle for the southern Illinois seat on the Supreme Court. It was the most expensive judicial race in American history at the time, experts said. In a court filing supporting the settlement, State Farm wrote it believes it could win at trial. Plaintiffs lawyers, in their filing of support, cited the monetary payments to about 4.7 million members of the class action. After two decades of litigation, the members of the class action suit are gratified State Farm is finally paying the damages that are due, Robert A. Clifford, lead counsel for plaintiffs in the case and senior partner of the Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices, said in a statement late Tuesday. He added: This settlement is a victory for the little guy against a national corporation with incredible power, influence and resources. Members of Illinois congressional delegation are touting the importance of maintaining locks and dams in helping move agricultural products, but theres some caution moving forward. U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, said there are billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance needs in the locks and dams system and if any of them fail, farmers would take a massive hit. We need to address it, Bustos said. It has been this fix-as-fail mentality, weve got to be more proactive than that in a system that was built in the Depression era. She plans an information session for her constituents in January to update people on the issue. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Bustos is right. Locks and dams must be maintained. Its one thing to talk about doing it like the Obama administration did, Davis said. Its another thing to invest the $10 million in making it happen like the Trump administration is doing. The Trump administration announced $10 million for the LaGrange Lock in Cass County. The lock last underwent rehabilitation in 1988. U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, said agriculture is the No. 1 industry in his district. He said with Illinois being connected to major rivers and waterways, locks and dams are crucial in getting agriculture products around the world. There is not a more efficient or effective way to send grain than on barges, LaHood said. But you have to have that infrastructure. You have to have those locks and dams. LaHood praised the Trump administrations $10 million investment in the Lagrange Lock in west-central Illinois. U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said policy makers must keep a check on any public-private partnerships moving forward. So that we make sure we dont cause our grain prices, the transfer of our grain, to cost so much that we cant compete in a world market, Bost said. Bost cautioned about increased grain transfer prices if the private sector takes too much control. WOOD RIVER Riverbend-area police are warning residents of potential abduction attempts in store parking lots after another attempt was made Monday in the Wood River Walmart parking lot. The Wood River Police Department took a report from an individual who reported he was at Walmart, 610 Wesley Drive, on Monday when a female approached him in the parking lot. The female told the male she was locked out of her vehicle, according to Wood River Police Chief Brad Wells, but one of the windows was open. She wanted to know if one of the children with the male could climb into the vehicle and unlock the door. The assassination of the German diplomat Ernest von Rath in Paris in November 1938 by 17-year old Herschel Grynszpan, a young Polish-Jewish refugee, gave the Nazis a pretext to launch Kristallnacht when Germans mounted a widespread attack on Jewish people and property. The name refers to the shards of broken glass shattering the streets from Jewish-owned stores, building and synagogues with the death toll mounting into the hundreds. Erwin Weinberg, a 16-year-old Jewish boy, along with thousand of others, was thrown into the infamous prison of Buchenwald, which later on became known as a place of terror. It was the beginning of the program designed to exterminate or at least force all Jews out of Germany. As Weinberg recalled, It wasnt an extermination program, that didnt come until later. Upon obtaining permission to go to England or America, Jews who had been taken into custody were permitted to leave the country. Commencing in 1936, while residing in Fulda about 100 miles northeast of Frankfurt the Weinbergs made repeated attempts to depart. However, it was not until 1940 when Erwins mother was given permission to go to England, while Erwin emigrated to America, where he began making Army uniforms in a factory in Philadelphia. Though the boy was determined to fight against Nazi Germany, his status as an alien made it impossible, and it was not until 1943 he was allowed to join the Army Air Force. Though only a private, Weinberg felt certain he could provide valuable information about military targets in his hometown back in Germany. After talking with both his first sergeant and his company commander, he was sent to John H. Simone, a major in the U.S. Strategic Air Forces. The major expressed great interest when Weinberg pinpointed promising targets in his hometown: the ball bearing plant Gebaur and Moller, the rubber plant Gummiwerke Fulda AG and an enamel factory almost certainly producing goods of war. Though the intelligence was aware that Fulda offered promising targets, Weinberg had actually lived in the city and using pencil and paper, the private provided a rough sketch of the area that included the plants and factories. The officer assured Weinberg the information he had provided would prove invaluable, however, the Air Force would be unable to take appropriate action until after the invasion of France. Though Weinberg was anxious for the raid on his hometown, months went by before the major called him back in his office. Producing reconnaissance photos of Fulda, he asked, Can you pinpoint those targets? Without hesitation, Weinberg marked the ball-bearing factory, the rubber plant and the plant making enamel, while suggesting other targets in the area. Anxious for the Air Force to act upon the information, more than six months went by before the major called the enlisted man into his office. With obvious pleasure, the officer displayed superb reconnaissance photos showing the results of the bombing attack upon the city of Fulda, including the factories Weinberg had suggested, along with substantial damage to the citys extensive railway yards. The young soldier was enormously pleased with the photos provided by the major showing widespread damage to Fulda; however, the picture the private found most impressive was one showing a direct hit upon the house his father had owned the one commandeered by the Nazis. Though the Air Force had dispatched only 100 four-engine bombers on that first raid, it was a splendid operation on behalf of a single GI. Robert Underbrink is a Jacksonville writer. As part of its never-ending resistance to the Trump agenda, the California legislature has just passed a bill to reinstate the discredited concept of net neutrality for access to the internet. A bill described as the nations strongest form of net neutrality awaits the signature of lame duck Governor Jerry Brown. Net neutrality is as phony as free trade, in that both are wonderful only for those getting the better end of the deal. Google, Facebook, and other California companies have been getting a free ride on net neutrality because it enables them to avoid paying their enormous share of internet traffic. Net neutrality is a fiction invented by Silicon Valley monopolies to stop cable companies from charging them for their huge amounts of traffic. Yet these same monopolies do not believe in neutrality in how they conduct business, by censoring political content they dislike. The many billions in profits flowing to the Silicon Valley companies is partly due to how they hog traffic on the internet for free, without paying their full costs. They avoid paying, for example, the many billions of dollars needed to bring internet service to peoples homes. Imagine a toll road where big trucking companies did not have to pay a dime. This would result in overuse of the toll road by trucks, and underfunding of road improvements. The free market would be far superior to the phony net neutrality that enriches only Silicon Valley, because the free market enables the owner to charge fees based on use of its property. Free enterprise is also better in protecting free speech and preventing censorship. Once the favoritism is ended, whether on the internet or roads, then better facilities would be built and more efficient usage would occur. The internet could be light years ahead of where it is now, if net neutrality stopped giving billionaire companies a free ride. Without net neutrality, the public would have far better and faster internet service than we have today, because cable companies could raise money from the traffic hogs to improve the service. Instead, billions of dollars line the wallets of Silicon Valley executives who invest very little of it in improving internet service. Under the superior, free-market-based approach adopted by President Trump, companies that carry internet traffic would be able to negotiate with the traffic hogs to compel them to pay their fair share of costs rather than freeload off others. Google and Facebook would then no longer be able to discriminate against conservatives and shift their costs to us, too. The public who pays the cable costs could then insist on access to the content that they want, which they cannot do now as Silicon Valley censors it. The Silicon Valley companies do not want any rules of neutrality to apply to them, of course, as they exclude conservatives to appease their liberal base. They demand net neutrality only when it favors them, and oppose any requirement that they be fair to content with which liberals disagree. The California legislators know who butters their bread, and their Democrat majority just passed a bill that interferes with President Trumps better approach of allowing competition to rule the internet. SB 822 is being sent to Governor Jerry Browns desk, and he has not yet said whether he will sign it by his deadline of Sept. 30. This new California law would prohibit cable companies and other internet service providers from charging high-traffic users more. This ban is an encroachment on the rights of private property, because the owner of the internet service should be able to require traffic hogs to pay rather than freeload on the private property. Under the California law, cable companies and their millions of customers could not tell Google and Facebook to stop discriminating against content that people want. The California law inverts the internet by allowing Silicon Valley to dictate content on the internet, when internet users and internet providers should be able to tell Google to stop discriminating against Dennis Prager and other conservatives. It is Google and Facebook that block access, and they want leverage to continue doing so. That is backwards as Trump and his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognize, and hopefully they will sue in federal court if California Governor Brown signs this ill-advised bill into law. Meanwhile, Congress is holding a hearing this week to review San Francisco-based Twitters bias against conservatives. The FTC could be investigating Googles unfair business practices, Sen. Orrin Hatch points out. Internet service providers may sue to overturn the California law, which would establish one system in that State which is different from most other States. California is essentially trying to force its self-interest on the rest of us with respect to the internet, to which California has no special claim of right. John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. Job Title: Public Relations and Communication Officer Organisation: Edes & Associates Duty Station: Uganda Kampala,Uganda Reports to: and Corporate Affairs Manager Administrationand Corporate Affairs Manager About US: Associates is a global professional services firm, providing quality, tailored and innovative audit, assurance and advisory services to both public and private sector institutions at local and international level. The firms expertise in financial management and project management consultancy and advisory work in developing economies is unrivaled. With offices in Kampala, Abuja and London and an extensive network of associate consulting firms worldwide, Edes & Associates is able to swiftly mobilise multi-disciplinary expert teams in several countries to assist you and your business. They are recruiting for a client who is committed to improving lives through providing efficient and sustainable health care supply chain management solutions through delivering life-saving medicines equipment and other medical supplies to over two million Ugandans. Edes &Associates is a global professional services firm, providing quality, tailoredand innovative audit, assurance and advisory services to both public and privatesector institutions at local and international level. The firms expertise infinancial management and project management consultancy and advisory work indeveloping economies is unrivaled. With offices in Kampala, Abuja and Londonand an extensive network of associate consulting firms worldwide, Edes &Associates is able to swiftly mobilise multi-disciplinary expert teams inseveral countries to assist you and your business. They are recruiting for aclient who is committed to improving lives through providing efficient andsustainable health care supply chain management solutions through deliveringlife-saving medicines equipment and other medical supplies to over two millionUgandans. Job Summary: The Public Relations and Communication Officer will spearhead, plan and coordinate strategic initiatives, public relations and communications to promote a positive image of the Organization. The Public Relations and CommunicationOfficer will spearhead, plan and coordinate strategic initiatives, publicrelations and communications to promote a positive image of the Organization. Key Duties and Responsibilities: communications. Plan and Implement publicity strategies. campaigns andcommunications. positive image of the Organization. Liaise with both external and internal stakeholders to promote apositive image of the Organization. and supported protects Ensure public knowledge of the services provided by the Organizationand supported protects . brochures and calendars Develop effective press releases, media kits inclusive of policies,brochures and calendars . Develop and maintain an up to-date Organization website. Innovations and successes, best practices and program report Support documentation and disseminate publications on OrganizationsInnovations and successes, best practices and program report for disseminations to various stake holders Liaise with various departments to develop communication materialsfor disseminations to various stake holders Identity. Develop and maintain the Organizations corporate image, brand andIdentity. organizations. Respond to public enquiries from the press and stakeholderorganizations. tours and visits. Organize promotional events such as press conferences, exhibitions,tours and visits. Government officials and media representatives Establish and maintain effective working relationships with donorsGovernment officials and media representatives . . communication. Develop policies and procedures related to public relations andcommunication. Maintain company archives of various communication and PR materials. Qualifications, Skills and Experience: Media Studies, Marketing or any other related field. The applicant must hold a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication,Media Studies, Marketing or any other related field. related field. Postgraduate qualification in Public relations or any other business related field. medial broadcasting, in a reputable public relations organization. At least five years of work experience working as a journalist, inmedial broadcasting, in a reputable public relations organization. techniques and methods Knowledge of media production, communication and disseminationtechniques and methods . including the meaning and spelling of words rules of com position, and grammar. Knowledge of the structure and content of the English languageincluding the meaning and spelling of words rules of com position, andgrammar. Public communication principles Knowledge of Public Relations principles Excellent communication skills both oral and in writing Excellent interpersonal skills Computer prociency High level creativity and initiative Ability to prioritize and plan effectively Ability to maintain confidentiality and good ethical conduct Ability to work under pressure How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates should submit their detailed Curriculum Vitae to The Human Capital and Business Manager, Edes & Associate Consultants Limited, Plot 22 Entebbe Road, Bound Plaza, 6th Floor, P.0 Box 21984 Kampala-Uganda . Or email them to: HR@edes.com Deadline: 21st September 2018 by 5:00pm NB: Our Client is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity within the work place. Our Client does not in any way encourage or facilitate any form of canvassing for jobs, solicit for money or gifts from anyone that is applying for a job. Should anyone contact you for any money, facilitation or gift to procure a vacancy, they MUST be immediately reported to the relevant authorities. Please include that disclaimer for each job. latest jobs, please visit find us on our facebook page For more of thelatest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline Platinum Credit is aleading Regional Micro Finance Company providing emergency loans to employedindividuals in Eastern Africa. We have a wide spread branch network in Uganda,Kenya and Tanzania. Platinum Credit (U) Ltd has introduced a new productavailable to formally employed persons working in the Private Sector. PlatinumCredit (U) Ltd is a subsidiary of Platcorp Holdings Ltd. Streets of the national capital witnessed a red wave from early morning on Wednesday. Close to a lakh protesters, comprising of peasants, farm labourers and anganwadi workers from several states marched to gherao the Parliament on Wednesday. The rally was conducted as part of the 'Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally' backed by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Agriculture Workers Union (AIAWU) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). The September 5 rally was announced by AIKS in March this year, subsequent to which participants in a number of states were reached out by the farmers' union. The primary demands of the protesters are about changes made to labour laws, minimum wages for farmers, lack of employment opportunities for youth and recognition of anganwadi and ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) as workforce. The CPI(M) claimed on its website that more than one lakh people from states like Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Telengana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Tripura attended the rally. "This is the biggest rally in the history of Delhi after independence," the CPI(M) statement said. The party claimed that the rally was the first of its kind when peasants, agri-workers, anganwadi workers and unemployed youth took to street together. Left leaders like Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat, and a host of leaders from states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura addressed the rally. A protester holds a boy on his shoulder during a rally in Delhi | Arvind Jain Invoking Urdu poet Faiz's lines about the worker seeking his rights from the rest of society, Ashok Dhawale, president, AIKS said: "This worker-peasant alliance is a challenge to the Modi government who had always followed anti-farmer and anti-worker policies." "Modi had made promises of doubling farmers' incomes and providing jobs to our youths. Yet, farmers are selling their crops below minimum support prices. Youth and farmers in the country are committing suicide after facing the economic humiliation they were subjected to by this government," said Dhawale. Those attended the rally also included a number of farmers who had flooded the streets of Mumbai with a red wave in March. "We are seeking farming rights on the forest land that we have tilled for generations," said Yogi Satpute, a farmer from Nashik's tribal block Peint. "The BJP-led Maharashtra government fooled us in March promising a loan waiver. We have come to Delhi to register our protest against the BJP government," said Satpute, who came along with his son-in-law and brothers' sons. Another farmer, Swarup K. Ravindran, 31, from Palakkad, came to attend the rally despite the devastation from floods in Kerala. "I, along with my three friends, came riding motorcycle and meeting farmers across many states to reach Delhi," Ravindran said about his seven-day long journey. "The farmers in the country are in extreme distress. The time has now come to seek their rights," said Ravindran. He was seen leading a contingent of protesters from Kerala, who had assembled and camped at a mud and slush filled Ram Lila Maidan for the past two nights. Women formed a large part of Wednesday's protest gathering. "As an anganwadi worker, I am responsible for implementation of 18 government initiated health schemes," said Neha Chandravanshi, hailing from Gopalganj, Madhya Pradesh. "My salary should be minimum Rs 18,000 per month and not Rs 1,000 per month," she said. Peasants attending Wednesday's rally are also seeking a Rs 18,000 per month minimum pay from the government. "The Mazdoor Kisan Mahsangharsh rally does not end here. This was just the trailer and we will be organising more such rallies in a number of states as well as in the capital till March 2019," said Tapan Sen, general secretary, CITU. From September 10 onwards, left parties would be taking out similar rallies in all major cities and districts of West Bengal, to protest against the policies and governance of Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee. "This rally also has another focus and that is to raise our voice against the environment of communalism and casteism and in defence of secularism and democratic values," said Sen. The major demands of Wednesday's march are: 1. Curb price rise; universalise public distribution system; ban forward trading in essential commodities 2. Concrete measures for generation of decent employment 3. Minimum wage of not less than Rs 18,000 per month for all workers 4. Stop anti-worker labour law amendments 5. Remunerative price for the peasants as per Swaminathan Committee recommendations; ensure public procurement 6. Debt waiver for peasants and farm workers 7. Comprehensive legislation for farm workers 8. Implementation of MGNREGA in all rural areas; amendment to the Act to cover urban areas 9. Food security, health, education and housing for all 10. No contract system in workers' employment 11. Grant of universal social security 12. Land re-distribution; stop forcible land acquisition 13. Relief and rehabilitation for victims of natural calamities 14. Reversal of neo-liberal policies of Modi government, which benefited only large corporates and scamsters Ever since Malayalam actor Mohanlal met Prime Minister Modi, speculations have been rife about him joining the BJP. Reports claimed the RSS wanted Mohanlal to contest Lok Sabha polls from Thiruvananthapuram on a BJP ticket. Putting an end to speculations, Mohanlal said he wasn't aware of himself contesting the polls and refused to comment further on the matter. Talking to Manorama Online, Mohanlal said: The meeting with Prime Minister Modi was scheduled a long time ago. It was to discuss about an organisation that had a great vision. The actor had recently met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inviting him to appear at an event held by the former's charity foundation in Wayanad, which had set tongues wagging. After the meeting, Mohanlal tweeted that PM Modi assured all possible assistance for Kerala, which is currently reeling under destruction caused by floods. "He has assured all support and offered to participate in the Global Malayalee Round table that can formulate futuristic solutions for a New Kerala. Hon. PMO India has also appreciated our vision to set up a Cancer Care Centre to cater to the needs of the under-privileged," Mohanlal tweeted. Kerala BJP president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, on Tuesday, told THE WEEK that the state unit was not aware of any such move. There has been no official communication on the matter yet. I also heard the rumour, he said. But, he added that they would be thrilled if Mohanlal joins the party. We will be very happy if he agrees to join us. We garnered 2,80,000 votes in Thiruvananthapuram in the last Lok Sabha polls. If Mohanlal stands as BJP candidate, it will be a sure seat for us, he said. Mohanlal also said that he had met other prime ministers also earlier, and even met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also a couple of times. Such speculations keep coming. I am just doing my job now, he said. -with inputs from Unni K. Varrier The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite... BJP leader Tarun Vjiay has had an impressive career as an editor and spokesperson for Sangh Parivar causes over the years. So it was a surprise when he landed in a spot on Tuesday night over a series of tweets that were perceived to be critical of the BJP's attacks on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's decision to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Not surprisingly, Vijay deleted the tweets and blamed one of his staffers for the issue. Screenshots of some of the tweets have been widely circulated, including by Congress spokespersons Manish Tewari and Randeep Singh Surjewala. One of the tweets says, Making cheap comments on Rahul's Kailash Yatra are wrong. Not what a Hindu should do. Another criticises the arrogance of an unnamed person. As debate over Vijay's deleted tweets raged, the BJP leader put up another tweet at 12AM on Wednesday, saying I am on morning walk and I am Ok. Sacked person who was handling my tweets. The tweet evoked surprise given the time it was posted. While some of Vijay's tweets later on Wednesday gave the impression that he was in Singapore, the small difference between India and Singapore would still make a morning walk implausible at the time he tweeted! Later on Wednesday, Vijay tweeted that the deleted tweets were sent when he was shifting his home and he had filed a police complaint over the issue. Thank you friends for showing faith in us and not believing the wrong tweets. It happened when we were shifting home. Password misused and I am filing a police complaint. Changed password. Thanks to the huge number of friends who stood by me, he tweeted. Not surprisingly, Vijay's tweets were received with suspicion, scepticism and amusement on social media. However, Vijay declared his dedication to the BJP. In a statement to a news agency, Vijay declared he would live and die for Modi and party chief Amit Shah. Vijay even compared the duo to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Syama Prasad Mukherjee! However, his protestations didn't seem to be enough to deter the trolling. In a tongue-in-cheek comment, Tewari lauded Vijay, tweeting, Accounts do get hacked if you support @RahulGandhi. We do understand The Conscience has a funny way of driving fingertips my friend. Well done .@Tarunvijay. Tewari also poked fun at Vijay's 'morning walk' tweet, saying, I would love to do a LOOOOOOOOONG MORNING WALK AT 12.11 AM. 11 MIN PAST MIDNIGHT. This is Mota Bhai Motivation. Surjewala posted screenshots of two deleted tweets of Vijay and implored him to be courageous in what he wrote about Gandhi's Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. In August, Union Minister K.J. Alphons trotted out a defence similar to Vijay, when he said a photograph of him sleeping at a relief camp for Kerala flood victims was posted by his staff. Alphons had been severely trolled over the incident. Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was arrested Wednesday by the Gujarat CID in connection with a 22-year-old case of alleged planting of drugs to arrest a man, police said. Bhatt and seven others, including some former policemen attached with the Banaskantha Police, were initially detained for questioning in the case. Shortly after being questioned, Bhatt was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department, while others are still kept under detention, Director General of Police, CID, Ashish Bhatia said. Bhatt had several run-ins with the BJP government in the past over the issue of the 2002 post Godhra riots. He has been a vocal critic of the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platforms. Bhatt was the Banaskantha district superintendent of police in 1996. He was dismissed from the service in 2015. As per the case details, the Banaskantha Police under Bhatt had arrested one Sumersingh Rajpurohit, an advocate, in 1996 on charges of possessing around one kg of drugs. At that time, the Banaskantha Police had claimed that drugs were found in a hotel room occupied by Rajpurohit in the district's Palanpur town. However, a probe by the Rajasthan Police had revealed that Rajpurohit was allegedly falsely implicated by the Banaskantha Police to compel him to transfer a disputed property at Pali in Rajasthan. It had also found that Rajpurohit was allegedly abducted by the Banaskantha Police from his residence at Pali in Rajasthan. Following the Rajasthan Police's investigation, former police inspector of Banaskantha, I B Vyas, had moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding a thorough inquiry into the matter. In June this year, the high court had handed over the probe in the case to the CID while hearing the petition. The high court had asked the CID to complete the probe in three months. Bhatt was in August 2015 sacked by the union home ministry on grounds of "unauthorised absence" from service. Bhatt had last week met Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who is on an indefinite fast since August 25 at his residence demanding reservation for his community and farm loan waiver. Recently, the BJP-ruled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation razed illegal construction at Bhatt's residence in Ahmedabad after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea seeking a stay on the demolition. In a major embarrassment to the Edappadi K. Palaniswami government in Tamil Nadu, the CBI officials conducted day-long searches in Chennai and other districts in connection with a bribery case involving Health Minister Vijaya Bhaskar. The chief minister, who chose to retain his cabinet colleague even after the Income Tax searches last year in the similar case, has now been pushed to show him the door. Palaniswami is also likely to replace his all-time blue eyed boy and Tamil Nadu Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran, who is also facing allegations in the case. According to highly-placed sources close to the chief minister's office, the raids and the simultaneous searches have brought a black mark against the already unpopular government. "The chief minister will take a call on this soon," a senior bureaucrat told THE WEEK. This is the second time Bhaskar comes under an investigating agency's scanner. In April 2017, days before the countermanded RK Nagar bypolls, the Income Tax department conducted searches in his residences and quarries in Pudukottai. Though Bhaskar and his cabinet colleagues brushed aside the raids as a routine happening, the opposition DMK demanded his resignation. And when the gutkha scam report was leaked to the media, the opposition party stepped up its demand. However, the chief minister chose to retain him in the cabinet. However, after the CBI raids at Bhaskar's residences on Wednesday, sources say Palaniswami has been pushed to take a call on retaining him in the cabinet. Bhaskar is likely to call on the chief minister soon to discuss in the consequences of the raids. Sources also say that Bhaskar will soon be summoned by the CBI for interrogation, as the agency has registered a fresh case, rather than taking the report from the investigating agencies in the state. "If Bhaskar is summoned for interrogation, it will bring much more damage to the government," says the officer. On the other hand, the pertinent question now is if Tamil Nadu DGP T.K. Rajendran will be replaced? He is the first serving officer to come under CBI radar. It may be recalled that in 2017 when the Income Tax department conducted searches at former chief secretary Rama Mohana Rao's residence, he was replaced. He was kept in waiting list for a few weeks and then transferred to the Entrepreneurial Skill Development Department. He subsequently retired. Sources say the chief minister has been discussing with officials in the home department to replace the top cop. The CBI probe may ultimately lead to a rejig in Tamil Nadu cabinet and the bureaucracy. Amidst political slugfest over Rafale fighter jet deal with France, deputy chief of Indian Air Force came out in defence of fighter jet by saying that Rafale once inducted into the Indian Air Force would revolutionise airpower in our sub-continent but is discussed for the wrong reasons. Deputy Chief of IAF R. Nambiar, who is involved in the negotiations of 36 Rafale jets, highlighted the depleting squadron strength of the IAF which is down to just 31 squadrons and said the core procurement focus now is for a multi-role combat fighter. Our future inductions, as is well known, being discussed for the wrong reasons. Rafale is likely to come in from next year onwards into our inventory and will continue to be procured till we reach the number of 36 by the year 2022, Air Marshal Nambiar said, while adding on its capability, he added, The Rafale gives us full spectrum capabilities to a large extent and would revolutionise airpower in our sub-continent having capabilities which do not exist Nambiar was addressing a seminar on aerospace industry organised by Centre for Air Power Studies and the Confederation of Indian Industry in national capital. Supporting Nambiar's argument, vice chief of IAF Air Marshal SB Deo says," All these discussions (Rafale allegations) are happening because people do not have information. People should first read Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP) and offsets. Rafale is a beautiful and capable aircraft and we are waiting to it fly it." India has contracted for 36 Rafale jets from France in an inter-governmental agreement at cost of 7.87bn (6,542 cr approx). Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on September 5, agreed to hear next week a PIL seeking stay on the Rafale fighter jet deal between India with France. While considering the plea filed by advocate ML Sharma, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud considered the submissions. Sharma was seeking his PIL to be listed for urgent hearing, which alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought a stay on it. Petitioner is seeking an inquiry by a Supreme Court monitored Special Investigation Team. The Rafale is a beautiful aircraft that will give India "unprecedented" combat capabilities, the Indian Air Force said Wednesday amid escalating controversy over the Rs 58,000 crore deal. The statement came on a day that the Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea seeking a stay on the deal. Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S.B. Deo also said those criticising the Rafale deal must understand the laid-down norms and procurement procedure. "It is a beautiful aircraft... It is a very capable aircraft and we are waiting to fly it," he said on the sidelines of an event when asked about the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal. The air marshal said Rafale jets will give the IAF unprecedented advantage over its adversaries in the region. The Modi government had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019. The Congress has raised several questions about the Rafale deal, including the price of the aircraft, but the Narendra Modi government has rejected the charges. SC hearing next week The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week a plea seeking a stay on the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud considered the submissions of advocate M.L. Sharma that his plea be listed for urgent hearing. In his petition, Sharma has alleged discrepancies in the Rafale deal with France and sought a stay on it. Sharma has claimed in his plea that the inter-government agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an "outcome of corruption" and not ratified by Parliament under Article 253 of the Constitution (Parliament has power to make any law for implementing any inter-government agreement). The petition has also sought that an FIR be registered and prosecution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then defence minister and current Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, business tycoon Anil Ambani and French armament firm Dassault, along with recovery of the paid amount. A similar plea was filed in the Supreme Court in March this year seeking an independent probe into the Rafale deal and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament. The plea, filed by Congress leader Tehseen S. Poonawalla, had sought issuance of a direction against the Modi government as to why the Union cabinet's approval was not sought as part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) before signing the procurement deal with France on September 23, 2016. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is most likely to dissolve the state assembly post cabinet meeting on Thursday morning. Hectic political activity was witnessed throughout Wednesday in Hyderabad as the chief minister held closed door meetings with senior party leaders and government officials. It was widely speculated that the ruling party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, wants to go for an early election. The state elections are scheduled to be held simultaneously with the general elections in 2019. If the assembly is dissolved, the state may go for polls along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and other states at the end of the year. The chief minister instructed all the cabinet ministers to be present in Hyderabad and also met some of them in the evening. He also consulted the assembly secretary and chief secretary of the state on legal issues. He is expected to meet Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in the evening. It is learnt that the chief minister was advised by the religious priests to dissolve assembly on Wednesday or Thursday, considering the auspicious time. Amidst these developments, the TRS party is gearing up for a number of meetings in the coming few weeks. After their mammoth public meeting held on Sunday on the outskirts of Hyderabad, the party is organising another meeting on Friday. According to TRS sources, the first list of Assembly candidates will be announced at this meeting. During the public meeting held on Sunday, the chief minister and TRS supremo expressed confidence that people will support him in case he takes any political decision. During a press meet held last month, he had hinted at early elections. The wives of the Reuters journalists who were jailed for seven years have said that the men were innocent and called for their release. The men were sentenced to seven years in prison by the Myanmar court for violating the Official Secrets Act. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested while they were investigating the killing of villagers from the Rohingya Muslim minority by security forces and civillians in Rakhine State. The case is seen as test of progress and freedom of speech in the country. The journalists had pleaded not guilty. Kyaw Soe Oo has a three-year-old daughter, and Wa Lones wife, Pan Ei Mon, gave birth to their first child last month. The duo were only allowed to see their daughters and families outside of prison visits and court hearings ever since their arrest in December. The wives, alongside Wa Lones brother, Thura Aung, and their defence lawyers, spoke to reporters at a news conference in Yangon on Tuesday. The defence can appeal the conviction, and the lawyers told the news conference they were considering all options. Kyaw Soe Oos wife, Chit Su Win, said she had expected the two reporters to be acquitted on Monday. I believed that we would be able to go home together, she said, adding that later she almost went crazy. They are innocent. They were doing their jobs as journalists, Chit Su Win said, She said she feared their daughter, Moe Thin Wai Zan, would be traumatised by the ordeal. Wa Lones wife, Pan Ei Mon, said she wanted the journalists to be released as quickly as possible. I never thought such a harsh verdict would be handed down, she said of the seven-year sentence. Since I became pregnant, I stayed strong on the hope that Wa Lone would be released. After yesterdays verdict, if feels like my hopes have been destroyed. Pan Ei Mon said she was disappointed that Myanmars government leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, had appeared to speak against the reporters ahead of the verdict. Suu Kyi told Japanese television station NHK in an interview in June that the reporters were not arrested for their reporting on Rakhine, but because they broke the Official Secrets Act. Neither Suu Kyi nor her governments main spokesman have commented publicly on the case since the reporters were convicted. (With inputs from Reuters) The latest book to cause consternation in the White House, Fear: Trump in the White House, has been tagged as a "con on the public" by the subject himself. US President Donald Trump condemned the book written by renowned Watergate journalist Bob Woodward. The book is scheduled for release on September 11 and reveals a chaotic administration on the brink of a "nervous breakdown of executive power". The book is being considered the ultimate report on what happens inside the White House. It is based on accounts given by Trump's closest aides, who are often quoted as calling the president an "idiot" and a "liar". The book raises questions on Trump's adequacy as a president as most his own staff deem him to be lacking in many factors. According to BBC, which quotes an early excerpt of Woodword's book, staff have hidden documents and removed papers from his desk to keep him from signing them. Woodward describes these acts as "no less than an administrative coup d'etat". John Dowd, who was the president's personal attorney, staged a mock interview session with Trump to demonstrate what would happen if Trump were to meet with special council Robert Mueller's investigation team looking in to the 2016 election meddling case. As expected, the demonstration did not go well and Trump at one point angrily called the investigation "a goddamn hoax". Dowd told Mueller that Trump won't be meeting him as he did not want to let the president "look like an idiot" and embarrass the nation on the world stage. Dowd resigned when the president changed his mind and decided to testify. Another quote that catches the eye is one on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in which he says, "Let's [expletive] kill him. Let's go in." After the US believed the Syrian government had launched another chemical attack in April 2017, Mr Trump told Defence Secretary James Mattis to assassinate President Bashar Assad. "Let's kill the [expletive] lot of them," the president reportedly said. Mr Mattis acknowledged Mr Trump's request then, after the conversation, told an aide he wouldn't do "any of that". Even chief of staff John Kelly seems to have had enough when he says, "We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had." Chief of Staff Kelly repeatedly calls Mr Trump an "idiot" and said that "it's pointless to try to convince him of anything". Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told an aide that the president has the foreign policy understanding of a "fifth- or sixth-grader" (an 11 or 12-year-old). Woodward is a widely respected and veteran journalist who helped expose President Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. This itself grants the writer and the book the credibility and authenticity that is required for such an explosive book. Meanwhile, Trump has send out a series of tweets in an effort to discredit Woodward's book silently calling it a move by the Democrats to damage the chances of Republicans during the November midterm elections. New Delhi, Sept 5 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours: FGN19 PAK-2NDLD POMPEO Pompeo, Qureshi discuss 'bilateral, regional and international issues': FO Islamabad: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday discussed "bilateral, regional and international issues" during their crucial talks, in a bid to reset the strained bilateral ties on basis of "mutual trust and respect". By Sajjad Hussain FGN8 INDOUS-DIALOGUE-LD POMPEO US, India to discuss 'big and strategic' items during first 2+2 Dialogue: Pompeo Washington: The US and India have "big and strategic" items to discuss during the first 2+2 Dialogue, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who asserted that the primary focus of the meeting was not about India's plans to buy a Russian missile defence system and oil from Iran. By Lalit K Jha FGN20 UK-SPY-LD RUSSIANS UK charges 2 Russians with poisoning former spy Skirpal, his daughter with deadly nerve agent London: Scotland Yard on Wednesday said there was "sufficient evidence" to charge two Russian nationals for the nerve agent poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK earlier this year. By Aditi Khanna FGN21 PAK-ZARDARI-JIT Pak SC orders formation of JIT to probe Zardari's involvement in fake accounts case Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the alleged involvement of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister in a Rs 3,500 crore money laundering and fake bank accounts case, according to a media report. FGN16 PAK-PRESIDENT-RESULT Pak's election commission officially declares Dr Arif Alvi as 13th president Islamabad: Pakistan's election commission Wednesday officially declared Dr Arif Alvi as the 13th president of the country after an official count showed he had secured 352 votes -- 44 more than his two rivals could collectively obtain. FGN18 AFGHAN-US-LD KHALILZAD US ropes in veteran diplomat for peace efforts in Afghanistan Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has roped in high-profile former American ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table and help America on the reconciliation efforts in the war-torn country. By Lalit K Jha FGN17 PAK-SUMMON Pakistan summons Indian envoy over 'ceasefire violations' Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner to protest the "unprovoked ceasefire violations" across the Line of Control by the Indian forces that resulted in the death of a Pakistani villager. PTI AMS AMS Kolkata, Sep 5 (PTI) Thousands of people residing in the south-western suburbs and vast areas of South 24 Parganas district faced travel woes Wednesday owing to closure of the arterial Diamond Harbour Road after Tuesday's collapse of a section of the Majerhat bridge, the police said. A traffic police officer said vehicles that usually move to and from the city through the Majerhat bridge have been diverted through various other roads. A section of the over 50-year-old Majerhat bridge on Diamond Harbour Road in south Kolkata collapsed Tuesday, snuffing out one life, trapping several people and crushing many vehicles. Though traffic snarls were reported at various points in the morning in the south-western parts as diversions of a few kilometres in both direction were imposed leading to pressure on these roads. The situation is likely to worsen as the day progresses. Train movement below the Majerhat Road Over Bridge (ROB) is normal, Eastern Railway spokesman R N Mahapatra said. "Train services in both Circular Railway and the Sealdah-Budge Budge line are being run normally," he said. Eastern Railway had stopped movement of trains on these lines on Tuesday following the collapse of the bridge as a precautionary measure. Services on the Sealdah-Budge Budge section resumed from 9 pm on Tuesday. The closure of a part of the arterial Diamond Harbour Road that connects the city to the shores of Bay of Bengal at Frazerganj over 120 km away, connecting many hamlets and towns, would affect thousands of people travelling to work, schools and colleges, and other purposes. Patients from these places travelling to hospitals in the city would also have to face the woes of travelling a longer distance until the bridge is restored. West Bengal Transport Principal Secretary B P Gopalika said that additional state buses have been pressed into service to mitigate the problems being faced by the people in these areas. "Wherever there will be need for more buses, we will provide," he said. Traffic police officials said that vehicles, including buses, are being diverted via Kidderpore, CGR Road to Taratala as also through Judges Court Road and also from Diamond Park in far south, as per requirements. People travelling from the southern district and suburbs to the city for work in the morning had to leave early to reach on time. "I am now trying to chalk out a proper route to reach my destination since this situation is likely to continue for months till the bridge is repaired and normal traffic movement is restored through Diamond Harbour Road," said Jayanta Mukherjee, a resident of Thakurpukur area, who travels to his workplace at Park Circus daily. Oishiki Mukherjee, who travels to her college at Park Street from Behala, said the longer distance and excess travel time that may continue for months, will impact her studies. "I only hope the bridge is repaired and the road is restored as early as possible," said Sailendu Rakshit, another resident of the south-western suburbs. PTI AMR JM DV DV New Delhi, Sept 5 (PTI) Thousands of farmers and workers took out a protest march in the national capital Wednesday demanding remunerative prices for farm produce as per the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, loan waiver and a minimum wage of not less than Rs 18,000 a month. Organised by Left-wing farmers' and workers' outfits, the 'Mazdoor Kishan Sangharsh Rally', began from the Ramlila Maidan and culminated at the Parliament Street. Carrying red flags and shouting slogans against the policies of the Central government, the participants, who came from across the country, also assailed the BJP's "communal and divisive" agenda. Leaders of trade unions and farmers' organisations addressed the rally at the Parliament Street. PTI CSN TIR TIR Chennai, Sep 5 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar faced on Wednesday a second central agency probe in two years, with the CBI knocking at his doors after the Income Tax raid last year. Vijayabaskar is the first state minister to come under the IT and CBI scanner, with both the raids being carried out in the post-Jayalalithaa era. The Tamil Nadu health minister, state police chief T K Rajendran and a former senior police official were among those whose premises were searched by the CBI on Wednesday as part of its probe into the Gutka scam, involving alleged payments to officials by a gutka manufacturer. The raids began around 7 AM with the sleuths swooping down on the premises of those under its radar. The minister could not be contacted for a response, even as his residence remained out of bounds for the media. The Income Tax sleuths had visited him as part of a coordinated state-wide searches in April last year over alleged tax evasion. The IT raids were conducted in full media glare following information that black money was allegedly being pumped in for the R K Nagar assembly bypoll scheduled that month. The April 12 bypoll, necessitated following the death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December, 2016, was later rescinded by the Election Commission over complaints of money distribution. Rajendran, said to be the first serving police chief to face CBI raids, also could not be contacted. Sources in the state police headquarters said he has not come to office "so far." The DMK, PMK and CPI(M) have demanded the minister's ouster from the cabinet and also wanted the government to remove Rajendran as DGP. The Gutka scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutka (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutka and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013. During the raids, the IT department sleuths had seized a diary containing names of those who had been allegedly paid by the gutka manufacturers. The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader. This was challenged in the Supreme Court by a Tamil Nadu health official but the apex court sided with the order of the Madras High Court and asked the agency to register a case. The probe agency had registered an FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. PTI SA BN NSD NSD Lucknow, Sep 5 (PTI) As a gift on the occasion of Teachers' Day, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to give 7th pay commission pay scale to teachers and professors of state colleges and universities. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved the implementation of the seventh pay scale at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by him Tuesday. The decision was taken in the light of revision of pay scales of Central Government employees on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. According to an official spokesman, the government will bear financial burden of Rs 921.54 crore for this hike and the state will bear 50 per cent of the burden. The new pay scale to the state and related cadre teachers will come into force from January 1, 2016. It will cover 18 state varsities, which also includes one law university, one deemed and an open university. The spokesman said the registrar, financial officer, controller of examination, pro VC and VC will not be covered under this. PTI SMI DV DV EC could consider scheduling T'gana polls with other states: Ex-CEC Hyderabad,Sep 5(PTI) There is a reasonable possibility of the EC considering scheduling Telangana Assembly elections along with the four States where polls are due later this year in case the House is dissolved, former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy said Wednesday. There is heightened speculation in political circles that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is all set to recommend dissolution of the House, with an aim to club the state elections with that of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, due in November-December. A meeting of thestate Cabinet has been convened for tomorrow where it may consider adopting a resolution recommending dissolution of the House. "Yes, that's what is happening. (CM may consider recommending dissolution of the Assembly)," a senior leader of the ruling TRS told PTI. Assembly elections are originally scheduled to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in April-May next year, but the chief minister is keen on "uncoupling' the two polls, seeing it as an advantage for the ruling TRS. "If the Assembly is dissolved by the chief minister, the Election Commission will certainly consider bunching along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. Generally, the idea is to bunch them. If it's dissolved, the EC will certainly consider bunching them," Krishnamurthy told PTI. "If they (Telangana government) dissolve it (the Assembly) round about the time (before the EC announces poll schedule for the four states) they are going to bunch it," he said. But if it's one or two days before the announcement, it may be difficult for them (EC) but they will consider, the former CEC said. Generally, the intention is to bunch as far as possible, it's easy for them, he added. However, he said the election schedule depends on "ground realities" in Telangana. "If there are special difficulties, they may not be able to do. It depends on local conditions," Krishnamurthy said. "If it's around the time (before the announcement of poll schedule in the four states), they will certainly bunch it," he said. According to him, electoral rolls are prepared as on January one. Normally, the rolls hold good but if the EC feels there is a need for a special drive to "weed out or include" names, they can do it by giving a window of 15 days or three weeks, he said. "If it's dissolved, they will consider bunching. There is a reasonable possibility of bunching. If local conditions are different, if there are special problems relating to the state, they may hold it even 15 days later. There is a reasonable possibility of bunching if it's dissolved," he said. PTI RS SS RBS RBS Indo-US 2+2 dialogue to deepen trade ties: US industry Mumbai, Sep 5 (PTI) The US Chamber of Commerce Wednesday said the upcoming '2+2 dialogue' between India and the US will deepen trade ties and help achieve the USD 500-billion bilateral trade volume target by 2025. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis from the US will be holding the first 2+2 dialogue with defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj Thursday. "You can't do defence without economic strength and the 2+2 will set the groundwork for something that will not only improve our defence ties but will clearly take us towards the USD 500 billion (target)," said Thomas J Donohue, president and chief executive officer, US Chamber of Commerce. "Security goes hand in hand with prosperity. Efforts to strengthen our security ties will help us as we work to tighten our economic ties," he said speaking at a US-India Business Council event. He said after some difficulties, the trade ties between the two countries are in a state of "jog", at USD 125 billion now, but there is a need for them to "sprint". "There is a general agreement in the US government that our relationship is a significant priority... India is at the centre of the administration's vision for seizing opportunities in Asia and truly worldwide," he added. The dialogue in New Delhi will only act as a "further confirmation" of the same tomorrow, he said. According to news reports, trade is not on the agenda for the 2+2 dialogue, even though there may be some mention on the ties. Donohue said this is the first of its kind engagement for India; inclusion of India in a select list of countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia with whom the US is having such a dialogue makes the intentions very evident. He said it is time for establishing a trade agreement between the two countries and pointed out that such a pact will particularly help the startups thrive in the innovation economy of the future. "The pact can specifically help establish more power for intellectual property rights and also a rules-based system," he added. Donohue said both Washington DC and New Delhi need to work on many facets in order to leverage the trade potential. He said India needs to continue unleashing more free market oriented reforms which will make it easier for companies to invest and operate in the country. For the US, Donohue pointed out that his home country needs to be more open in welcoming immigrants, especially the high-skilled ones. He said the US is staring at "demographic pain" in the future and while it will work at re-skilling the domestic work force, it will have to rethink on its immigration policies for being more open. PTI AA SS SS SS RDS RDS NEW YORK/LONDON September 4, 2018 The Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters (NYSE/TSX: TRI) today announced that Brian J. West has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Refinitiv effective November 5, 2018. The Financial & Risk business will be known as Refinitiv on October 1, 2018, after the closing of Thomson Reuters sale of a 55% majority stake in the Financial & Risk business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone. As we get ready to begin the exciting journey as an independent business, our relationships with the financial community, both private equity and debt investors, shift considerably, said David Craig, President of Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk. I am pleased that Brian will be joining Refinitiv at a crucial time in our evolution, adding to our leadership team a deep understanding of the investment community and a proven track record of growth and operational excellence with both established companies and fintech start-ups. Brian will be joining Refinitiv from Oscar Insurance, an innovator in US health care, where he is Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations. Prior to Oscar, Brian spent nine years at Nielsen as Chief Financial Officer and then Chief Operating Officer. Previously, he held various CFO and other finance leadership positions over 16 years at General Electric. Thomson Reuters announced on January 30 that it had signed a definitive agreement to enter into a strategic partnership with Blackstone. As part of the transaction, Thomson Reuters will sell a 55% interest in its Financial & Risk business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone. An affiliate of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and an affiliate of GIC will invest alongside Blackstone. About Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters is the worlds leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking, including the companys expectations regarding the timing for closing of the proposed Financial & Risk transaction and Mr. Craigs comments and statements regarding the future Financial & Risk business. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and reflect our companys current expectations. As a result, forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. There is no assurance that a transaction involving all or part of the Financial & Risk business will be completed or that other events described in any forward-looking statement will materialize. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which reflect expectations only as of the date of this news release. Except as may be required by applicable law, Thomson Reuters disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. CONTACT Kate Reid Vice President, Business Communications Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk Office +44 (0) 207 542 2215 Mobile +44 (0) 7917 200 737 kate.reid@thomsonreuters.com American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. 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 7 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Cineworld Group in the last twelve months. There are currently 2 sell ratings and 5 hold ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" Cineworld Group stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in CINE, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Cineworld Group or view top-rated stocks. The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe (Services) Limited, AIG Europe Holdings S.a.rl., AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Insurance Company (Switzerland) Ltd, AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG Shared Services Corporation, AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE EOLA LLC, AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American Home Assurance Company Escritorio de Representacao no Brasil Ltda., American International Group Inc., American International Group UK Limited, American International Overseas Association, American International Overseas Limited, American International Realty Corp., American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A., American Security Life Insurance Company Limited, Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Avondhu Limited, Blackboard Customer Care Insurance Services LLC, Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Services LLC, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., Chartis Takaful Enaya B.S.C. (c), Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Fortitude Group Holdings LLC, Fortitude Life & Annuity Solutions Inc., Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd., Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Group Risk Services Limited, Group Risk Technologies Limited, Illinois National Insurance Co., Jefferson Eola Venture LLC, Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, MG Reinsurance Limited, Mt. Mansfield Company Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Private Joint-Stock Company AIG Ukraine Insurance Company, Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SA Affordable Housing LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc., SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Thai CIT Holding Company Limited, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., Western World Insurance Company, and Western World Insurance Group Inc.. 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 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. 7 hours ago Stocks rise after Fed says it will dial back aid for economy Stock indexes on Wall Street shrugged off a downbeat start and notched more record highs Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced plans to begin reducing the extraordinary aid for the economy it has been providing since the early days of the pandemic. Read Article American Electric Power Co., Inc. engages in the business of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission & Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco and Generation & Marketing. The Vertically Integrated Utilities segment engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers through assets owned and operated by its subsidiaries. The Transmission & Distribution Utilities segment engages in the business of transmission and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers through assets owned and operated by its subsidiaries. The AEP Transmission Holdco segment engages in the development, construction and operation of transmission facilities through investments in its wholly-owned transmission subsidiaries and joint ventures. The Generation & Marketing segment engages in non-regulated generation and marketing, risk management and retail activities. The company was founded on December 20, 1906 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA. NORRISTOWN As a convicted Norristown juvenile killer seeks a reduction in his 48-year prison term on grounds it is excessive, a legal battle is brewing between public defenders and prosecutors regarding the disclosure of sealed documents related to funding for defense experts in the case. The commonwealth seeks to unseal and compel disclosure of all information related to the defendants engagement of experts for resentencing purposes and payments for such services, including relevant defense filings, invoices and court orders, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and co-prosecutor Lauren Marvel wrote in court papers, claiming disclosure of the information is needed so prosecutors can adequately address convicted killer Terrell Lamar Clarys latest request for reconsideration of his sentence. But defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, chief homicide lawyer for the public defenders office, argued Steeles request should be denied and that the court-approved funding distribution for defense experts was appropriately under seal. The commonwealths reason for asking for the disclosure is its tenuous claim that somehow the amounts paid by the court is necessary to determining whether or not the sentence imposed was proper, Allman responded in court papers to Steeles request. The propriety of the sentence must be reviewed based on the evidence of record, namely the actual testimony presented over three days of a hearing, not the amount paid to such experts, Allman maintained. Allman argued prosecutors, dissatisfied with simply waiting for Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy to rule on the issue, on Aug. 29 filed several Right-To-Know requests with various county agencies to improperly obtain some of the documents. The commonwealths actions, in blatantly and quite boldly, disregarding the basic procedural requirements of the Right-To-Know Law is of grave concern and sends a chill down counsels spine. Any attempts to explain their actions as an oversight or an innocent blunder would lack all credibility, Allman and Keisha Hudson, deputy chief public defender, wrote in court papers. While Demchick-Alloy considers the legal battle over the disclosure of information regarding defense experts and funding she is also weighing Clarys request for a reconsideration of his sentence. On May 9, Demchick-Alloy sentenced Clary, now 35, formerly of the 500 block of Norris Street, to a total sentence of 48 years to life in prison on a charge of first-degree murder for the Nov. 25, 1999, gunshot slaying of William Six, 39, in Palm Alley, and on a charge of attempted murder for the Nov. 24, 1999, shooting and wounding of Juan Watson, 36, outside of Watsons West Basin Street home. The sentence means Clary wont be eligible for parole for the first time until the year 2047, when he is 65 years old. Demchick-Alloy imposed the new sentence after a three-day hearing in county court, which was marked by highly emotional testimony from Sixs survivors, who tearfully expressed the grief they suffered, and Clarys relatives, who candidly discussed Clarys failings and dysfunctional upbringing but who hoped for his release one day. Clary, who was convicted by a jury at an August 2000 trial and initially was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in November 2000, was granted a re-sentencing hearing in light of the U.S. Supreme Courts 2012 ruling that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional for juveniles. In 2016, the high court said the ruling should be applied retroactively. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a separate ruling, said prosecutors bear the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the juvenile offender is incapable of rehabilitation. During the hearing in May, Steele and Marvel asked the judge to re-instate the life prison term against Clary or in the alternative impose a sentence of 50 years to life. Prosecutors argued Clary demonstrated that he poses a substantial risk to the community and has not made significant strides toward rehabilitation. But Allman and Hudson sought a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for Clary, arguing he is not incapable of rehabilitation and is not permanently incorrigible. During the hearing, Allman presented four experts who testified about brain development and the differences between juveniles and adults as well as about Clarys background and the question of permanent incorrigibility. In the latest request for a reconsideration of Clarys sentence, Allman argued the minimum 48-year prison term imposed against Clary is manifestly excessive and unreasonable and failed to consider the steps Clary had taken toward rehabilitation. Mr. Clary was determined to not be permanently incorrigible yet given no meaningful opportunity for parole, Allman wrote in court papers, renewing the request for a sentence of 25 years to life. ALBANY - Nick Grimm said he was on Facebook on Aug. 20 when he found out that there had been another police involved shooting in the city. But it would not be until later that night that he would receive a phone call and learn that the person shot was his 19-year-old brother, Ellazar Williams. "I was speechless," Grimm told the Times Union Tuesday. "I never thought that the person would be my little brother." Grimm is now seeking answers as to what exactly happened that day, he wants to see the surveillance video of the shooting and he wants to hear the 911 calls associated with the shooting. He is not the only one. Grimm and nearly 100 community members gathered at the Malcolm X Community Park in Albany Tuesday evening to protest last month's shooting and demand more information from police. "We believe there is more to the story than what has been released and we want it," Marquinn Jennings, the chair of a group called Justice or Else, which organized the protest, said. "We want to know who called police and why. We want to know who said there was a gun. We want to know why the police report was so horribly written. We want to know who the shooter is and why he shot. We want to know why the information, in regards to the investigation, is taking so long to be released. We want to know what the new chief is going to do about this. We want to know the mayor's thoughts about this incident. Finally, we want to know why this black man was shot in the back." Williams, who was paralyzed from the waist down in the shooting, was shot at least once by Detective James Olsen on Aug. 20 in the rear of the Tony Clemente Education Center on Elk Street. Police said Williams had been involved in a fight at a store on Central Avenue and fled when police arrived. Police said three detectives pursued Williams because he matched the description of a man who had displayed a gun during the fight. Olsen fired at Williams after the teen displayed a knife, refused to drop it and began to run toward Olsen, police said. No gun has been recovered, but police said they found a large hunting knife near Williams after the shooting. Grimm said his brother had been shot once in the back, where the bullet was lodged in his spine. As the investigation continues, little information about the incident has been released, including surveillance video. "The only information that I had by Wednesday was that no gun was found at the scene and that the man was shot in the back," Anthony Muhammad, who spoke at the rally, said. "That is not enough information for me to sit down and not do anything, because I felt the pain." Community members took turns talking into the microphone, encouraging others to step up, ask the police for answers and some chanting "Enough is Enough." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "It just didn't sound right,"Councilman Derek Johnson said to the crowd. "What I'm asking our community to do is, if it doesn't sound right then people need to speak up. Don't wait for a situation where it hits your home to start speaking up, because then it's too late." Williams, who has been charged with felony menacing and misdemeanor weapons possession, remains in the hospital, but Grimm delivered a message to the community on his behalf. "My little brother Ellazar, wants me to tell the public that he is in good spirits, currently undergoing rehab and he is determined to walk again," Grimm said. Grimm described Williams as a good kid who liked to play video games and sports. He said he never would have thought his brother would be in this situation. And although Williams is a Binghamton resident, that didn't matter to the Albany community. "We want everybody to know that we got the back of our brother, Ellazar Williams," Jennings said. "It doesn't matter why he was or where he's from, he is a resident of Albany that second he set foot here. We got his back." Jennings said they are planning on holding another rally for Williams soon. "We want to make sure this 'incident' is on the forefront of people's minds," Jennings said. "This could be anybody. This could be your cousin. Your auntie. Your grandmother. It doesn't matter the gender. It doesn't matter the age. It doesn't matter the education. It doesn't matter your job title. You could be the next victim." New York Amazon on Tuesday became the second publicly traded company to be worth $1 trillion, hot on the heels of iPhone maker Apple. Launched as an online bookstore in 1995, Amazon.com has changed the way people shop for toilet paper, TVs and just about anything else. In its two decades, the company has expanded far beyond those bookseller beginnings, combining its world-spanning retail operations with less flashy but very profitable advertising and cloud computing businesses. It's now expanding into the health care industry and increasing its brick-and-mortar presence. The company's rise has boosted the fortunes of its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos: His 16 percent stake in Amazon is now worth about $160 billion. Forbes magazine placed him at the top of its 2018 billionaires list for the first time, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Amazon stock has increased almost 600 percent in the past five years, including a 70 percent surge so far in 2018 alone. On Tuesday, the stock climbed enough to push the company's valuation past the $1 trillion mark, although it dropped back slightly after that. Apple topped the $1 trillion mark in early August. Saudi Arabia's national energy company, Aramco, is widely believed to be worth much more than either Amazon or Apple. Bezos left a hedge fund job in 1994 to start an internet business. He decided to sell books, and called Amazon "earth's biggest bookstore." It quickly added more products, and then eventually opened up a marketplace where others could sell their products. Amazon has cemented customer loyalty through its Prime membership program, offering fast, free shipping as well as music and video streaming perks. In April, Bezos disclosed for the first time that Amazon had more than 100 million paying Prime members around the world. Wall Street has become very enthusiastic about Amazon's other businesses. Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing services to companies and governments, and Amazon's advertising division makes billions by selling ads to companies that want their products to show up when shoppers search on the site. Those profitable businesses have helped offset the high costs associated with running its online store. Amazon saw its quarterly profit soar past $2 billion for the first time earlier this year as the online shopping, cloud computing and advertising businesses all kept growing. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. More recently, Amazon has started to build up its physical presence. Last year's purchase of the Whole Foods grocery chain gave Amazon hundreds of stores at which to promote its gadgets and offer discounts tied to Prime memberships. It has also formed partnerships with many old-line retailers, selling the Kenmore washing machines traditionally found at Sears and opening shops inside Kohl's stores where people can bring returns and look at Amazon devices. Amazon also has opened more than a dozen brick-and-mortar bookstores, and has plans for more cashier-less Amazon Go convenience stores. It's also has been looking for a while to find a way to have more control over how its packages are delivered. Under a program announced this summer, contractors around the country can launch businesses that deliver Amazon packages. The move gives Amazon more ways to ship its packages to shoppers without having to rely on UPS, FedEx and other delivery services. The company is moving into health care. It has formed a venture with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to figure out ways to attack rising health care costs for their U.S. employees and possibly for many more Americans. It also announced plans to buy the online pharmacy PillPack. Bethlehem School's Out in Bethlehem is proposing an innovative way to turn a horse farm on Kenwood Avenue into its main off-school site. The non-profit, which provides before- and after-school care to elementary school students in the Bethlehem Central School District, wants to buy the home and horse farm of John and Holly Lutz to replace its so-called "storefront" site on Delaware Avenue. The Lutz property is located in an area of farms and homes near the Tri-Village Little League fields and the Delmar Bypass. The Delaware Avenue location is the only one that School's Out operates that is not located at one of the district's elementary schools. It is used for the School's Out summer program as well as for holiday camps and overflow for the other sites. School's Out would need a zoning variance in order to use the Lutz property, which the Lutzes used to train and stable horses before they moved to Florida. The Lutzes have been trying to sell the property, which includes an indoor horse riding arena and barns in addition to the house. Under a plan submitted to the town, School's Out would turn the house into "co-living" space for School's Out employees, who would share meals and chores and run the property as a farm. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The non-profit, which is under contract to buy the property should the plan receive town approval, would also build a new building that would have classrooms for School's Out's before- and after-school and summer programs. School's Out calls the plan an "immersive incubator for student educators" who work at the non-profit to fulfill their internship requirements or others who want to work in agriculture. It would also provide an affordable housing option for School's Out staff as well, including a resident manager who would oversee the facility. The plan would also include offering up a portion of the 13-acre site to connect to a proposed trail system in Bethlehem. The new building would not be visible from the road, and School's Out would build a parking lot for employees and parents and a new circular driveway for bus pick-up and drop-off. It's a sweet and beautiful thing when I have the opportunity to learn from my children. Lucy, from a young age, taught me to be kind and loving to all living creatures (even spiders, and I'm still working on that one) and Zoe inspires me to be strong and stand up for myself. I love that about her. And then there's Elliot, my soulful 14-year-old son, who is devoted to mountain biking and video games in equal measure. He is also newly passionate about fishing, and from this I have learned a lot. I've watched Elliot fish a few times, his gangly arms and legs reflecting on bright water, and observed the slowness of it all. I take in the way he pulls back his rod and casts out, again and again. There is quiet beauty and determination in his movements. When I sat back and thought about what I could glean from him and apply to my own life, it wasn't hard for me to put those lessons together with how I cook. My favorite cooking method involves nothing more than vegetables, a good, sharp knife and a steaming hot wok. It's all done in about a minute, then I add herbs and hot chiles, slide it onto a plate, and dinner is ready. There's no patience or reflection involved. But I cannot make chopped and stir-fried vegetables for my family every single day. Sometimes, they want crisp, roasted meat and tender, caramelized vegetables. That is where grilling comes in. A new series Join Caroline Barrett in introducing five classic cooking techniques. There will be one each month, with tips, recipes and a story or two to go along with it. This month: grilling. Barrett is a freelance writer who lives in Delmar. Reach her at cvbarrett@verizon.ne-t. See More Collapse The thing about grilling real and proper grilling is that it takes talent, practice and, most of all, patience. Kinda like that fishing thing. There's no rushing in fishing or in grilling. No impatience, no instant gratification. Those fish, they refuse to be rushed to the hook, in exactly the same way a bird refuses to be rushed into juicy, tender meat and crispy skin on the grill. Both take time. So I watch Elliot, with his pole set over the water, being patient. I take that lesson to my kitchen. Grilling is how most of the food is cooked at my house between May and September. Maybe, if you are like me, you've taken for granted the care and even the art that goes into perfectly grilled food. There is, without any doubt, an art to grilling. Take the recipe here for piri piri chicken. There is beauty in the history and ingredients of this dish, for sure. It's Portuguese in origin, with roots in North Africa and based on a chile pepper called piri piri. There are as many recipes for piri piri chicken as there are cooks who make it. Ingredients vary, of course, but most often contain a fiery hot chile pepper, plenty of garlic, onion, ginger and paprika. Don't be afraid of the heat in the sauce here. Most of it burns off, leaving a nice warmth that balances with the sweet bell pepper and crispy chicken skin. Make the paste, rub it all over the chicken, then put the whole thing on the grill. Then, stand back and let it roast, slowly. Turn it over a few times, and yes, it's supposed to be a little blackened here and there. This isn't weeknight cooking. Remember what I said about patience and time? You'll need it here. There will be reward, as the meat is sweet and juicy, the skin crisp, salty and full of flavor. Then, there's grilling that doesn't take a lot of time but still needs finesse. Grilled eggplant takes standing before the grill, tongs in hand, waiting for the perfect char. You'll need to know where the hot coals are and judge exactly the right amount of time it takes before the eggplant is burned and overcooked. Once you have perfectly grilled eggplant, it's a great match for fattoush. Fattoush is a Middle Eastern salad, beautiful in its rusticity. Tear and chop the vegetables, cheese and bread however you wish, then toss them together with garlicky lemon and olive oil. The result is a marriage of texture, flavor and color. I especially love crisp, raw vegetables together with the soft, spongy grilled eggplant. There's a little magic there. Not wanting to leave dessert out of the grilling recipes, I've included a particular favorite: grilled peaches. We're close to the end of peach season in New York, so I buy as many as I can and have peaches with my granola, peaches in my lunchtime salad, peaches for dessert. I cannot get enough. Grilled peaches takes a fruit that's already pretty perfect, and makes it even better. A quick brush of olive oil and a few minutes over very hot coals yields a warm, soft piece of fruit, with a touch of smoky char. The simple gingersnap crumble has a spicy kick that goes well with the super-sweet peaches and an easy scoop of vanilla ice cream. Fresh basil adds an earthy sweetness. You could leave it off, but why would you? Elliot is getting in as much fishing as he can before school starts, before summer ends, before he has to stop doing things like casting a rod into the water again and again and start doing math homework, writing assignments and practicing his trumpet. While I can, I'm going to sit and watch him cast his line out, patiently waiting for a bite, and teaching me life lessons, all the while. Grilling 101 Clean your grill, and often: It's really important to have clean grates on your grill. Keep a wire grill brush close by, and give them a good scrub down before you grill. This ensures nice grill marks. Oil the grates: Use tongs to rub paper towels dipped in canola oil to oil the grates of your grill. That way, food won't stick. Season your food before grilling: Generously salt meats before grilling, as this creates a crust that seals in flavor. Grill vegetables and meats separately: Meat and vegetables cook at different times. Put them on separate skewers. Don't overcrowd: Give meat and vegetables space around them for heat to circulate. Too much food on a grill and it won't cook evenly. PIRI PIRI CHICKEN Serves 5 One 3-pound whole chicken, spatchcocked (see note) Kosher salt For the marinade: 3 garlic cloves red onion 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped 1 poblano pepper, stemmed 1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed 1 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and stems cup red wine vinegar cup olive oil 1 heaping teaspoon paprika Combine the marinade ingredients in a food processor and puree until a smooth paste forms. Remove cup and set aside. Set the chicken in a large glass baking dish and pour the marinade over. Rub the marinade into the skin on both sides, then set in the refrigerator for an hour. Light a grill to medium heat. Place the chicken on the grill and turn down the burner that's directly under the chicken, so the bird is exposed to indirect heat. Allow the chicken to cook for 1 hour, turning occasionally. Check the temperature and when the interior temp is at 160 degrees, baste with the remaining marinade and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from the grill and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice the meat, keeping the skin intact (it's the best part!) and serve warm. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Note: A spatchcocked chicken has its backbone removed and is butterflied. Ask the butcher to do it for you. GRILLED EGGPLANT FATTOUSH WITH CHEESE AND HERBS Serves 5 1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half Juice of 1 lemon 1 large eggplant, sliced into rounds -inch thick Kosher salt Olive oil seedless cucumber, chopped 1 large tomato, cored and chopped 1 cup mozzarella, torn 1 large handful fresh flat leaf parsley leaves 2 stale naan or pita breads, toasted and torn cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped 1/3 cup olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste Stir the garlic clove halves into the lemon juice and set aside. Lay the eggplants on a work surface and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt. Allow to rest for 30 minutes or so, until they sweat. Blot dry with a clean towel. Light a grill to medium. Brush both sides of the eggplant generously with olive oil and grill for five minutes on the first side, or until deep brown marks appear. Flip and cook for another five minutes. Remove from the grill and cool. Chop into bite-sized pieces. Combine the cucumber, tomato, mozzarella, parsley, olives, bread and eggplant together in a salad bowl. Remove the garlic cloves from the lemon and discard. Whisk the olive oil into the juice, then season with salt and pepper. Pour just enough over the salad to moisten, and serve the rest on the side. GRILLED PEACHES WITH GINGERSNAP CRUMBLE AND FRESH BASIL Serves 6 25 gingersnap cookies cup flour cup brown sugar cup butter, cut into chunks teaspoon kosher salt 3 ripe peaches Olive oil 1 pint vanilla ice cream Basil springs Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ginger snaps, flour, brown sugar, butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the cookies are crumbs. Spread out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring once. Cool. Slice the peaches in half and remove the pits. Brush generously with olive oil and grill over direct medium high heat on clean and oil grates, cut side down. Grill until deep brown and soft throughout, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a minute or two. To serve, place half peach in a shallow bowl and top with a scoop of ice cream, cup gingerbread crumble and a basil sprig. Washington President Donald Trump so alarmed his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, during a discussion last January of the nuclear standoff with North Korea that an exasperated Mattis told colleagues that "the president acted like and had the understanding of a 'fifth- or sixth-grader.'" At another moment, Trump's aides became so worried about his judgment that Gary Cohn, then the chief economic adviser, took a letter from the president's Oval Office desk authorizing the withdrawal of the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. Trump, who planned to sign it, never realized it was missing. These anecdotes are in a sprawling, highly anticipated new book by Bob Woodward, which depicts the Trump White House as a Byzantine, treacherous, often out-of-control operation "crazytown," in the words of the chief of staff, John Kelly hostage to the whims of an impulsive, ill-informed and undisciplined president. The New York Times obtained a copy of the book, "Fear," which will be published next Tuesday by Simon & Schuster. Woodward, a longtime Washington Post reporter and editor, has turned the internal dramas of several previous White Houses into best-sellers. In taking on Trump, he faced the challenge of an unusually leaky administration, which has already provided grist for countless news articles and one megabest-seller, "Fire and Fury" by Michael Wolff. But Woodward's book has unsettled the administration and the president, in part because it is clear that the author has spoken with so many current and former officials, although all on the condition that they not be cited as sources for the information. Trump, after initially brushing it aside as "just another bad book," accused Woodward of making up quotes from Mattis and Kelly, and perpetuating a "con on the public." In a tweet, he suggested that the author was a Democratic operative who had timed the publication to hurt the president politically before the midterm elections. The White House, in a statement, dismissed "Fear" as "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees. After hours of saturation news coverage on cable networks, "Fear" rocketed to No. 1 on Amazon. Some of the freshest details in the 448-page book involve Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who has been viewed as a stable anchor in Trump's Cabinet. Woodward portrays Mattis as frequently derisive of the commander in chief, rattled by his judgment, and willing to slow-walk orders from him that he viewed as reckless. Mattis issued his own statement denying he ever used the "contemptuous words" that Woodward attributed to him. "While I generally enjoy reading fiction," he said, "this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility." Woodward's reporting adds another layer to a recurring theme in the Trump White House: frustrated aides who sometimes resort to extraordinary measures to thwart the president's decisions a phenomenon the author describes as "an administrative coup d'etat." In addition to Mattis and Cohn, he recounts the tribulations of Kelly and his predecessor, Reince Priebus, whose tensions with Trump have been reported elsewhere. Cohn, Woodward said, told a colleague he had removed the letter about the Korea free trade agreement to protect national security. Later, when the president ordered a similar letter authorizing the departure of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Woodward said, Cohn and other aides plotted how to prevent him from going ahead with a move they feared would be deeply destabilizing. "I can stop this," Cohn said to the White House staff secretary at the time, Rob Porter, according to the book. "I'll just take the paper off his desk." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. He found a sympathetic ear in Kelly, another retired Marine general, who frequently vented his frustration to colleagues about the president, whom he labeled "unhinged," an "idiot" and "off the rails." Kelly's reference to Trump as an "idiot" has been reported before. "We're in crazytown," Kelly said in one small meeting, according to Woodward. "I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had." Kelly also issued a denial on Tuesday, saying that "the idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true" and repeating his earlier insistence that he and Trump had "an incredibly candid and strong relationship." In Woodward's account, Trump rarely returns the loyalty of his subordinates. He derided Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of his earliest political supporters, as "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner," mimicking his accent and making fun of his halting answers during his Senate confirmation hearing. Trump referred to Priebus as a "little rat" who just "scurries around." For his part, Priebus described the White House as a Hobbesian world, in which officials delight in sticking knives into one another, according to the book. "When you put a snake and rat and falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal into a zoo without walls, things started getting nasty and bloody," said Priebus, whom Trump frequently ridiculed, before ousting him and leaving him on a rain-slicked tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base. Woodward did not interview Trump for the book. The author said he tried fruitlessly to get access to the president. After he had completed the manuscript, Trump called the author to express regret for not talking to him, blaming it on aides who he said had failed to inform him of Woodward's interest. In a transcript and tape of the call published Tuesday in the The Post, Woodward told Trump he interviewed many White House officials outside their offices and gathered extensive documentation. "It's a tough look at the world and the administration and you," he told Trump. "Right," the president replied. "Well, I assume that means it's going to be a negative book." ALBANY - Eric Hawkins start as the citys new police chief was like any other first day, filled with meetings, human resources paperwork and other tasks. But the pressure is about ramp up, as the department is expected to unveil the results of its investigation into the shooting of 19-year-old Ellazar Williams sometime in the next few days. Ahead of that, Hawkins laid out his plans for the beginning of his tenure as the head of the roughly 300-member Albany Police Department. On Wednesday he met with command staff, was briefed on specific crime issues the department is handling and met with some community leaders. I see a great city and a great police department, he said. Its been fairly busy. The Michigan native has served as chief in the Detroit suburb of Southfield since 2012, after rising through the ranks of the department for almost three decades. At 10 a.m. on Friday hell be sworn in as Albanys chief. Over the coming days he said he plans to learn more about the issues facing the department, as well as continuing to reach out to other law enforcement and community leaders to ensure open communication, he said. Its important that they know those traditions continue, he said. Hell also be looking at the citys programs and policies built around community policing to determine which programs should continue and which ones should be changed. Hawkins, 50, takes over for Acting Chief Michael Basile at the tail end of a violent summer. The city this year has recorded 43 shootings and nine homicides as of Wednesday, as well as a police shooting that paralyzed a 19-year-old two weeks ago. There are also issues with the citys police union, whose leadership is distrustful and skeptical of Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Earlier this year the union's vice president, Greg McGee, wrote a controversial post on the unions Facebook page that criticized Sheehan and an anti-violence group in the city just days after one of the groups employees was fatally shot during a party in the citys South End. The post drew swift condemnation from Sheehan and former police chief Robert Sears, and laid bare the rough feelings between the city administration and leaders of the departments rank-and-file. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Hawkins said one of his objectives will be to let the departments officers know they have a leader who supports them. I have to reassure the men and women of the department that they have a leader in place that supports them and that Ill be their biggest advocate, he said. But one of the first issues for Hawkins will be the investigation of the Aug. 20 police shooting of Ellazar Williams. Detective James Olsen shot Williams behind the Tony Clemente Center for Education after a brief chase from Central Avenue to Elk Street. Hawkins declined Wednesday to go in to further detail on the investigation. Police said Williams matched the description of man who displayed a gun during a fight and fled when detectives tried to stop him. Police said Williams produced a knife when confronted by Olsen and that Olsen fired twice when Williams ran toward him. At least part of the incident was caught on video surveillance, but the department has not said what the tape shows or how much of the shooting was caught on tape. Olsen and two other detectives are on administrative leave while the department investigates the shooting. Officers said they recovered a knife at the scene, but no gun was found. On Tuesday, dozens of community members protested the shooting at Malcolm X Park, calling on the department to quickly release further information. Williams brother, Nick Grimm, said Williams was shot once in the back. COLONIE Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wants his re-election bid to be judged on the economy, progress on social justice issues and public construction projects initiated during his two terms in office. "Are there other things that we need to do? Yes. Are there things I would have liked to do, but I couldn't get done? Yes," Cuomo told the Times Union editorial board on Tuesday. "But have we moved the ball ahead remarkably? Yes." In a wide-ranging 76-minute conversation, Cuomo delved into his "unprecedented" commitment to upstate's economic fortunes and his opposition to President Donald J. Trump's policies. The governor also answered questions about corruption in his administration, a federal probe into one of his donors and unfulfilled pledges. Cuomo did not mention Cynthia Nixon, his opponent in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary, or Marc Molinaro, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. The governor touted $36 billion in spending on economic development projects for upstate New York, including $92 million to modernize the Albany International Airport. "I brought an unprecedented focus to upstate New York," he said. Cuomo argued the investment has paid off, pointing to unemployment rates of 4.3 percent for upstate, which is down from 7.9 percent in June 2010. During the same period, the national unemployment rate dropped from 9.5 percent to 3.9 percent. He claimed no other state had matched New York's ambitious social agenda, including the legalization of same-sex marriage, a paid family leave program, minimum wage increases, aggressive renewable energy standards and a more progressive income tax structure. "We're passing more laws that are actually of national significance, not just traffic-light laws," Cuomo said. He also highlighted the creation of an outside ethics body and financial disclosure requirements, while acknowledging unfinished work in the realms of transparency, campaign finance and curbing outside income for elected officials. He claimed these were "thorny legislative issues" and predicted a Democratic majority in the state Senate would help advance stalled priorities with the caveat that campaign promises from those in the minority conference were often at odds with actions made after they win the majority. State legislators blamed the governor's surrogates for torpedoing a potential pay increase in 2016, and his Democratic allies in the state Assembly blocked economic development transparency reforms during the past legislative session. In November 2016, following the arrest of then-SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros on bid-rigging charges, Cuomo pledged to take unilateral steps to eliminate conflicts of interest in the state procurement process, including ordering his campaign to stop taking donations from companies seeking state contracts through the request for proposal (RFP) process. Asked about the pledge on Tuesday, Cuomo said, "I don't even remember the issue, to tell you the truth." He took a measure of responsibility for his administration's high-profile corruption scandals, which resulted in the felony convictions of his former close aide Joe Percoco and Kaloyeros, as well as several development executives who donated to his campaigns. "The buck stops on my desk," he said, while discounting the idea that the situations reflected poorly on his judgment. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Referring to Kaloyeros, he said, "I still don't even understand what happened there. I mean, nobody says he put a dollar in his pocket, right? There's no enrichment to him, but they proved that there was tampering with an RFP." Cuomo rejected the idea that he allowed consultant Todd Howe, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges and became a federal witness, to have access to top-level staff in his administration. The governor maintained that Howe's access stemmed from past working relationships. "Todd Howe is irrelevant to me. Todd Howe was on the periphery. Todd Howe never worked for me here," Cuomo said. The governor held up the 2013 SAFE Act, legislation enacted in response to the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, as a model for what comprehensive gun control should look like. Despite objections at the time and criticisms since it was enacted, Cuomo said New Yorkers retained their Second Amendment rights and the state was still able to ban assault weapons, limit magazine capacities and the create a mental health database that now has 77,000 people. "I was right," he said. When pressed on a deal struck in 2015 by his administration with Senate Republicans to stymie the creation of an ammunition database authorized by the legislation, the governor maintained it wasn't "a significant aspect of the SAFE Act." David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87 TROY A Rensselaer County State Supreme Court justice is expected to rule from the bench Thursday on defense motions to vacate the July murder and arson conviction of a 50-year-old man the judge convicted of setting a blaze that killed two teenagers 32 years ago. Rensselaer County Judge Andrew Ceresia is scheduled to sentence Richard J. Wright Thursday on four counts of second-degree murder and one-count of first-degree arson. It is the second time he's been convicted in connection with the case. The motions filed by Wright's attorney, Michael P. McDermott, ask Ceresia to overturn the guilty verdict the judge rendered after Wright opted for a bench trial rather than taking his chances with a jury. Ceresia deliberated for three days before finding Wright guilty. It was the second time that Wright was found guilty of killing Tara Gilbert, 14, and Meredith Pipino, 13, by setting the fire on Sept. 1, 1986 on a rear porch at 17 108th St. in Lansingburgh. Wright has been imprisoned since he was arrested in 1987. Ceresia ordered a new trial for Wright and set aside his 1988 conviction on the four murder and one arson counts. Ceresia took this action after the defense presented new evidence that undermined the initial forensic evidence in the case. McDermott argued that the new verdict should be vacated due to the "ever-changing testimony"of primary prosecution witness Martin "Danny" Williams regarding Wright's confession to him about the fire. He argued Special Prosecutor Jasper Mills instructed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Mark Meeks against writing a report that would have been turned over to the defense. McDermott also took issue with Mills' closing argument and told the judge the special prosecutor failed to take the oath of office. Williams drew most of McDermott's attention both during the trial and in his motions. "His credibility is non-existent. He has lied for 32 years and been caught in his lies by his own prior testimony and police records. The benefit he received for his false testimony was undeniable, an incredible 24 felonies were not pursued against him for his testimony against Mr. Wright," McDermott said in his filing. McDermott pointed to Williams introducing a "bottle of gas" as the means for Wright setting the fire as evidence of his changing story. Williams never mentioned the bottle at the original 1988 trial nor in any previous statements to police. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "According to Northwestern University Law School's Center on Wrongful Convictions, the leading cause of wrongful convictions in capital cases in the United States is false informant testimony. This is exactly what happened in this case," McDermott wrote. "Without this testimony, there is no evidence implicating Mr. Wright in the crime and the verdict should be set aside," McDermott said. Mills countered that Williams' testimony was supported by other prosecution witnesses. "Furthermore, as the defendant has attempted to attack the credibility of Martin Williams both at trial and in his moving papers; the defense has failed to mention how witnesses whose credibility has not been questioned by the defendant corroborated Mr. Williams' testimony at trial," Mills said. Mills also denied the issue of an improper summation and the issue of the oath of office. Mills further said that McDermott was given all of the evidence collected by Meeks and had an expert witness he consulted about Meeks testimony as it occurred. ALBANY Students returning to school this week across New York state should have plenty of room and no problem finding a seat. Thats because enrollment numbers are expected to be at an all-time low since the early 1970s. There were 2.6 million students in public schools last year, down from a high of 3.5 million in the early '70s and from another high of 2.9 million during a population rebound for the 1999-2000 year. But since then, the states pupil enrollment count has been dropping steadily, according to a report released Tuesday by the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative government watchdog group. (The report also noted that statewide nonpublic school enrollment has been decreasing even faster than public school enrollment in New York.) Despite this, education costs are still climbing in New York. Only 100 of New Yorks nearly 700 school districts have had net enrollment growth since 2007-2008, according to the report. That downward trend is expected continue, if one looks at U.S. Census data, birth rates and migration trends. At this rate, New York states student population will soon be at levels last seen during the 1950s. The dropping enrollment continues even as pupil numbers in the rest of the country continue to rise, underscoring the ongoing population loss in upstate New York. While New Yorks enrollment fell by 10 percent since the turn of the 21st century, the national pupil count has risen 7 percent, noted E.J. McMahon, the Empire Centers founder and research director who authored Tuesdays report. The drop in part reflects the ongoing out-migration of New Yorkers to other states. And it raises questions about why education spending in the state keeps growing even as there are fewer students to teach. New York tops the nation in school spending at more than $22,000 per pupil, which is 90 percent above the national average, according to U.S. Census data. McMahon said the report suggests that its time for policymakers to think of innovative solutions. Lets stop debating finances, management and policy in a vacuum, he said. He believes that more flexibility for rural schools or regionalization could be one answer as would easing some of the regulations surrounding teaching hiring and assignments. Whats troubling is that it just goes up, Jonathan Drapkin, president of the research group, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, said of education costs. McMahons report, which uses state Education Department data, also depicts a tale of two states. While upstate is steadily losing pupils, New York Citys pupil numbers have remained stable over the years, hovering at just over 1.1 million. Thats the nations largest single school district and its reflective of New York Citys ongoing growth, fueled largely by immigration. Immigration has also helped bolster pupil numbers in a few select upstate cities that havent seen large losses over the years including Albany, which serves about 9,500 students. Areas in central and western New York, though, have seen notable drops with many losing between 10 percent and 25 percent of their students over the last decade. The loss is especially acute in some the smallest, more remote districts. The Long Lake school district in the Adirondacks is starting this year with 71 pre-K-12th grade students, down from 130 in the 1980s. Numbers in the Capital Region overall have dropped slowly, according to the report. But even Saratoga County, with heavy real estate development, has seen a slight loss of pupils over the past decade. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Likewise, in the Hudson Valley, which includes Columbia and Greene counties, numerous elementary schools have closed over the past decade, Drapkin noted. The report notes that outside of New York City there have been pockets of growth that are either in affluent suburbs like Rye and Mamaroneck in Westchester County or in struggling upstate cities such as Albany and Syracuse, as well as some inner ring suburbs. Enrollment in Albany hit a low of 8,170 in the 2008-09. But over the next eight years the district grew by nearly 1,500 students, spokesman Ron Lesko said. The district also has had an influx of immigrant and refugee students. Many need extra help learning English, which adds to the cost. That helps explain why education costs are rising in many districts, said Michael Borges, executive director of the state Association of School Business Officials. "Increases in high need students, like English language learners, students with disabilities and those living in poverty, have offset the overall decline in the number of students, he said. But he added that schools also face increases in employee benefit costs like pensions and health care, which have negated any savings from fewer students. Contracts for teachers and other unionized school employees typically include fringe benefits that have to be bargained if they are going to be reduced. Additionally, most teachers contracts include annual longevity increases that run for 20 years. Similar contracts are in place for other public-sector unions such as municipal police and fire departments, noted Drapkin. That adds yet another legacy cost that communities are saddled with even if as fewer and fewer taxpayers contribute to the system each year. If you keep losing population, Drapkin said, its not sustainable. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518-454-5758 ALBANY Footage from a video surveillance camera shows two men shooting Equan Fallen, 20, in front of his Livingston Avenue home earlier this year. According to a criminal complaint, the video showed Trayron Palmer, 21 and Shaquille Moore, 26, fire multiple shots, striking Fallen at least once in the chest. The complaint doesnt specify where the camera was located, but does say the footage shows the entire incident. Greenport The body found last week in a car in a Walmart parking lot was a Greene County man who died of a drug overdose, according to Columbia County Sheriff David Bartlett. The dead man was identified as Thomas W. MacGregor, 59, of Athens. On Aug. 29, State Police contacted the Sheriff's Office for help in investigating McGregor's disappearance. His last known cell phone coordinates were in the area of Fairview Avenue and Joslen Boulevard in Greenport. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Deputy David Pulcher located MacGregor's vehicle in the parking lot of the Greenport Walmart with MacGregor's body inside. Video surveillance provided by Walmart showed the vehicle arrived in the parking lot Aug. 20 and did not leave, the sheriff said. Based on evidence at the scene and the medical examiner, MacGregor's death was ruled a presumed heroin overdose, the sheriff said. Rensselaer County Sheriff Patrick Russo, whos been criticized for his controversial cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check county jail inmates for immigration violations, met with President Donald Trump at the White House and was on Capitol Hill Wednesday urging passage of legislation to improve border security. Russo is the only sheriff in New York state, to join the 287(g) program run with ICE. Russo was among 44 sheriffs in Washington D.C. from across the country meeting with congressional representatives and attending a White House roundtable discussion, according to a release issued by the Rensselaer County Sheriffs Office Wednesday afternoon. "We're down here telling Congress to get something done. Create a path for citizenship. You have to prioritize," Russo said Wednesday night in a telephone interview from Washington D.C. The Republican sheriff met with both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to the White House. Russo was there when Trump was asked about an anonymous New York Times opinion piece written by a member of his staff. "He just said what he always says -- 'another anonymous source,'" Russo said. " He was joking with us. A blip on the radar. I don't think he lost his cool." Russo said the sheriffs met with top Border Patrol and ICE leaders as well as administration attorneys. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The sheriffs were attending the discussion hosted by the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Topics covered were immigration, border security, "and the critical need for collaboration between local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies," according to the sheriff's office. We as sheriffs view this opportunity to push for meaningful immigration reform as a way to uphold our promise and commitment to the people who elected us to protect them, Russo said in a statement. Russos decision to opt into the ICE program resulted in him going to New York City in April where he was interviewed at Fox studios by Brian Kilmeade on Fox & Friends. Russo has said the program is another tool to protect county residents. He has emphasized that the program is only happening at the county jail in Troy. The New York Civil Liberties Union and some county residents have condemned Russo's decision to participate. A woman accused of smuggling contraband into a downstate prison is among the fugitives State Police say they are looking for as part of their Warrant Wednesday effort. Julisa Viera, 49, is wanted by State Police in Hawthorne for allegedly smuggling contraband into Sing Sing Correctional Facility. She's also charged with bail jumping and unlawful possession of marijuana. Ronald J. Brdeja, 55, is wanted by State Police in Clarence on a charges of drug possession, false impersonation and aggravated unlicensed operaiton of a vehicle. The warrant was issued in the city fo Albany. Dazzell Middleton, 22, is wanted by State Police in Haverstraw on a misdemeanor drug charge. State troopers said he as a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped at a police roadblock and caught with Xanax. Julisa Viera, 49, is wanted by State Police in Hawthorne for allegedly smuggling contraband into Sing Sing Correctional Facility. She's also charged with bail jumping and unlawful possession of marijuana. Akil T. Wright, 22, is wanted by State Police in Oneonta on a charge of criminal contempt that accuses him of violation an order of protection issued in Laurens Town Court. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Robert F. Young, 35, is wanted by State Police in Schuyler on a bench warrant that accuses him of driving while intoxicated on the Thruway three years ago. Young was initially charged during an Aug. 10, 2015, traffic stop for an alleged traffic violation. Alexander Valenti, 34, is wanted by State Police in Rochester on a driving while intoxicated charge. Joe A. Flores, 53, is wanted by State Police in Farmingdale on a driving while intoxicated charge from 2007. Troopers said is wanted for violating the conditional discharge in his case. The first phase of the massive redevelopment of the former O'Connors Shopping Centre site in Nenagh is due to open this Thursday when German discount giant Lidl opens its doors to the public. The retail unit will be the flagship project in the rejuvenation of Martyr's Road by Two-Mile Borris developer Martin Healy, with the former shopping centre having lain idle since it closed suddenly in 2011 with the loss of around 70 jobs. Mr Healy bought the 5.5-acre site in 2015 and subsequently turned it into an eight-acre site. Lidl will be the anchor tenant in the 12m redevelopment, moving from their original shop at the back of Martyr's Road to the front section, and, in the first of its kind in Ireland, will have a plaza to the front. And, we understand that the German retail giant has further plans for other major developmens in the county also. Developer Mr Healy told the Tipperary Star that when Lidl moves out of their old premises he will take possession of it and lodge a planning application with Tipperary County Council for a 30,000 square foot office premises, which will be developed at a cost of 2.5m. He paid tribute to contractors Mannings Construction Ireland, who, Mr Healy said, had been exemplary in their work throughout the build. I also want to acknowledge and thank Tipperary County Council and the people of Nenagh for their co-operation, which has been unbelieveable, he said. The site was developed in keeping with Tipperary County Council's strategic plan for that part of Nenagh, which will also see new plans for Mr Price and the former Sheahans yard Miroslav Kokot, store manager said: We are delighted to open our new store in Nenagh after six months of construction. Lidl has hired extra staff for the new store, giving local employment a boost. Nenagh MDC Cathaoirleach and county chair Cllr Mattie Ryan welcomed the opening, saying it was a substantial investment for the town. He said that it would tidy up an area that had become an eyesore and would be a link to the primary retail centre of Nenagh. Chamber vice-president Denis Finnerty said the development would be a great boost to the town centre. It can do nothing but good for the town. Mr Finnerty welcomed the plaza aspect of the development, saying it would provide a public space from where people could filter into town. It is another step in the right direction. We just need to bring it to another level. The development has also been welcomed by Deputy Alan Kelly. Meanwhile, Mr Healy revealed to the Tipperary Star that he is in the process of submitting a new planning application to develop the former Munster Hotel in Thurles, which he also owns. Tipperary Fine Gael candidate Mary Newman Julian has said has said that 5 community groups and schools in Tipperary are to benefit from additional Government funding through the CLAR programme. This announcment comes on top of 7.5 million for 240 projects of this nature approved earlier this year, bringing to 9.1m the total investment in these facilities under the CLAR programme in 2018 Speaking about the purpose of the funds Mary said: By supporting improved safety around schools and other community facilities, and providing play areas in disadvantaged rural areas, CLAR funding is helping to make these areas more attractive places for families to live and to settle in. Tipperary has been allocated a total of 124,200 in this round of CLAR funding. Measure 1 in CLAR 2018 is for funding of safety measures in communities. There is now 124,200 of funding allocated under CLAR measure 1 for Tipperary. Areas in Tipperary to benefit are, Lorrha Dorrha GAA - 27,900, Ballyporeen - 20,700, Newtown NS - 45,000, Hollyford NS - 18,000 & Templederry NS - 12,600. The CLAR Programme forms a significant part of Fine Gaels Action Plan for Rural Development which was launched in January 2017. Tipperary projects that received funding already in 2018 under CLAR measure 1 include the pedestrian crossing at Lisvernane National school and footpaths in Hollyford as well as safety measures at Knock National School, Kilruane National School and the speed radar warning signs in Silvermines village. The playground in Gortnahoe and the Drangan & Cloneen community playground as well as the national school in Cloughjordan have also received CLAR funding in 2018 under measure 2. Earlier this month Minister Ring launched a further CLAR Measure to recognise the role that volunteer organisations play in the provision of vital services to provide transport services to and from medical support services for those with significant mobility issues, and to and from designated cancer treatment hospitals and centres under the National Cancer Care Programme. The closing date for this measure is today, Friday 31st of August. I have worked with the Irish Wheelchair Association in both Tipperary Town and Roscrea to complete the CLAR funding applications to support the purchase of new wheelchair accessible vehicles which are much needed to continue the provision of vital transport services to people with mobility issues. If any group or community group would like assistance in submitting applications for CLAR funding I would be delighted to help them and they can contact me at maryfortipperary@gmail.com or www.MaryforTipperary.ie Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Food and Horticulture, Jackie Cahill has said that Minister Creed must come to this weeks Agriculture Committee meeting which is focused on the current fodder crisis with answers to three main issues. Deputy Cahill, who requested that the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee meet to discuss this crisis, has said that rural Ireland is struggling to deal with the implications of the ongoing fodder crisis. He said that there were three main areas that must be dealt with head on. First, we need low cost credit facilities rolled out to struggling farmers. Secondly, we need to secure new export markets for dairy cross-cattle to reduce demands on fodder and finally, the Department must actively start important large quantities of fodder into the country in advance of winter, he said. Deputy Cahill sadi that farmers, merchants and contractors were struggling with cash flow. The Government must roll out low cost credit facilities, he said. Deputy Cahill said that Bord Bia must be refocused to actively seek out new live export markets for dairy cross-cattle. He said that the Department must start importing large quantities of fodder now and not wait any longer. Minister Creed must grasp the urgency of the crisis, he said. Cashel Town Centre Forum and Cashel Chamber of Commerce have sent out an open invitation to the people of Cashel to meet with the judges at a presentation to the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Town Awards in which Cashel has an entry in the Small Town category. Bank of Ireland's National Enterprising Town Awards aims to assist in the promotion of enterprise across the country by bringing business and community groups together to showcase to a panel of judges, the spirit of enterprise in their local area. Cashel Town Centre Forum and Cashel Chamber of Commerce would like to offer an open invitation to the Cashel Community to attendance and support at the days events. The events in Bru Boru will include the following: *30 minutes presentation by the town starting at 2pm sharp. *30 minutes question and answer session with the judges. *20 minutes for the judges to meet with people socially. We would appreciate it if persons were in a position to attend and support Cashel's presentation to the Judging Panel, to please RSVP to cashelchamber2015@ gmail.com before 7th September, said President Cashel Chamber of Commerce, Mr Martin Lynch. Cashel Chamber can be messaged on facebook at www.facebook.com/CashelChamber [September 04, 2018] Fujitsu Introduces fi-7300NX, the New Image Scanner for Flexible Distributed Capture SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu, the world's leading scanner manufacturer, today announced the launch of the fi-7300NX , an innovative image scanner that connects directly to client systems, as the newest image scanner solution for business use in the age of digital transformation. In recent years, new developments in the IT industry have caused a dramatic shift from PC-based systems to environments using smart devices and thin clients. Business applications have also seen transitions from client-server model applications to those utilizing the web, smart devices, cloud, and Robotic Process Automation. With increasing demand for products to adapt to such trends, "We are introducing a solution that adapts with flexibility to each organization's unique IT infrastructure to enable more efficient and productive capture environments resulting in simpler installation and operational cost savings," said Chief Executive Officer and President, Yasunari Shimizu, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.*1 Key features: Seamless integration into business systems Users can begin scanning from the scanner's touch screen or from various applications on smart devices to suit all business needs. SDK utilization allows direct data transfer to client-unique web systems, authentication, and scan requests. Strong data encryption also enables constantly secure data transfer. Scan without the computer With the fi-7300NX, users can now scan and save documents without any requirement for a local computer. Users simply login to the scanner using NFC*2 authentication and select from their personalized job menus on the fi-7300NX's touch screen. Customized job menus are displayed with user authentication, and ensure efficient and secure decentralized data capture is possible for each user. Scan from your smart device to any business platform*3 Deploying the fi-7300NX with Fujitsu's new PaperStream NX Manager server software option allows users to scan from mobile or web applications opened up on smart devices or thin client terminals. Seamless integration into client systems enables the use of a variety of devices for scanning operations. 3 types of SDK to suit user environments The PaperStream NX Manager SDK is provided to enable integration with various client systems and applications. The fi-7300NX will support a variety of partner integrations to enable seamless process workflow. Three types of SDK are offered: a REST API for web application development, Authentication API for validating credentials by NFC or authentication server, and a Connector API that links PaperStream NX Manager with other enterprise systems and doument management software. Reduce operating costs with centralized management The user authentication function, customized job menus for each user, and other scan settings can all be centrally managed with PaperStream NX Manager and Scanner Central Admin . With the fi-7300NX's server software, there is no need for a conventional single client computer to control the scanner. This reduces the total burden on IT professions for installation, expansion, operation, and management. Manage jobs and process images with PaperStream NX Manager PaperStream NX Manager carries out user authentication, job management, image processing of scanned data, and data output for the fi-7300NX. PaperStream NX Manager allows automatic sharing of authentication methods and job settings to up to 1,000 fi-7300NX scanners. Monitor scanner operation with Scanner Central Admin Scanner Central Admin specializes in centralized management of multiple scanners, including batch updates of scanner settings and firmware, as well as monitoring of errors and consumables status on up to 1,000 scanners per server. User-friendly hardware Consistent, high-speed scanning Inheriting the fi Series legacy of high-speed, consistent paper feeding, the fi-7300NX boasts a speed of 60 ppm/120 ipm for letter size documents*4. Documents folded in half and carbon-copy sales slips are also easy to scan with Manual Feed Mode. As the first standalone scanner in the industry*5 to support Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz bandwidth*6, the fi-7300NX reduces data transfer time. Intuitive 4.3 inch touch screen for easy control and scan verification The touch screen enables users to intuitively perform operations such as scanning and verifying data as thumbnails. The screen also displays messages or instructions with illustrations to provide guidance to users. Put it anywhere with Wi-Fi flexibility The fi-7300NX introduces PaperStream IP Net, the PaperStream IP scanner driver for Fujitsu image scanners with network connectivity. Connection without the USB cable allows the scanner to be positioned wherever needed, to improve user productivity, reduce interruptions, and make more room for other used equipment. Both advanced driver and software, PaperStream IP and PaperStream Capture, enable users to fully enjoy simple scanning operations and high quality images. Pricing & Availability The Fujitsu fi-7300NX available now through authorized resellers, VARs, and distributors including Ingram Micro, NewWave Technologies, Inc., and Tech Data Corporation. Fujitsu has priced the fi-7300NX scanner at $1,395 list price. About Fujitsu Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com. About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. is an established leader in the Document Imaging industry, delivering innovative scanning solutions and services that enable our customers to solve critical business productivity issues and streamline operations. Fujitsu provides cutting-edge document capture solutions for business and personal environments, backed by a comprehensive portfolio of service and support programs. For more information about Fujitsu document imaging, visit us.fujitsu.com/fcpa. Trademarks Product names and company names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective companies. Note Installation requires tools such as fi-7300NX Rollout Tool, Network Setup Tool for fi-7300NX, and Scanner Central Admin. NFC authentication includes Type-A and Type-B. User authentication with username and password input on the touch screen is also available. Integration required for mobile device scanning. A4 size documents fed in vertically, 200/300 dpi. Based on a 2018 study by PFU Limited on scanners with Wi-Fi connectivity. 5 GHz Wi-Fi availability may vary across regions. Contact: Gabrielle Kur, 516-567-3036, fcpa@bamcommunications.biz View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fujitsu-introduces-fi-7300nx-the-new-image-scanner-for-flexible-distributed-capture-300706575.html SOURCE Fujitsu [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 04, 2018] Eight-time GRAMMY Winner Dolly Parton to Be Honored as 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year Eight-time GRAMMY winner Dolly Parton will be honored at the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, it was announced today by Neil Portnow, President/CEO of MusiCares and the Recording Academy. Proceeds from the 29th annual benefit gala will provide essential support for MusiCares (www.musicares.org), a charity founded by the Recording Academy that ensures music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical, and personal need. The tribute will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center two nights prior to the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180904005946/en/ Photo Credit: Kii Arens Parton will be the first artist from the Nashville music community to be honored by MusiCares. She is being recognized as the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year for her considerable creative accomplishments and her longtime support of a number of causes through her Dollywood Foundation, including the Imagination Library, which, since 1996, has provided more than 100 million books to children from birth to 5 years of age in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. "Dolly Parton has always been and continues to be a courageous trailblazer and indomitable inspiration for creators and artists-so for us to have the opportunity to honor her at our annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala is to pay tribute to a true pillar of strength and someone who we all look up to and cherish," said Portnow. "With her legendary talent, she has forged a career that spans decades, and her gifts as a performer resound on both stage and screen. Dolly also knows the power of philanthropy and she has used her stardom to contribute to a wide range of causes from natural disasters to education and literacy programs." "I am so excited and humbled to be honored as MusiCares Person of the Year," said Parton. "It's even more special knowing the gala benefits music people in need. I can't wait to hear all of the great artists singing my music." Remarks Parton's manager Danny Nozell, CEO, CTK Management, "I couldn't think of anyone more deserving to be the first MusiCares Person of the Year representing the Nashville music community. It's been a privilege to witness her generous heart firsthand for the last 14 years." "With each passing year, the goal of MusiCares remains clear: to do more and serve more music people in need," said Michael McDonald, MusiCares' Board Chair. "Over the course of our last fiscal year, we provided more than $6.4 million to more than 8,500 members of the music industry-the largest number of clients served and dollars distributed in a single year in our charity's history. We are confident that our 2019 Person of the Year tribute to Dolly Parton will help us raise the funds that sustain and expand our mission." The MusiCares Person of the Year tribute ceremony is one of the most prestigious events held during GRAMMY Week. The Person of the Year gala will begin with a reception and silent auction offering an exclusive and unparalleled selection of luxury items, VIP experiences, and one-of-a-kind celebrity memorabilia for bidding guests. The reception and silent auction will be followed by a gala dinner sponsored by AEG; a live auction; a tribute concert featuring renowned musicians and other artists; and the award presentation. The celebration culminates with the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. The telecast will be broadcast live on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Established in 1989 by the Recording Academy, MusiCares offers health and human services and programs to members of the music community, including emergency financial assistance for basic living expenses such as rent, utilities, and car payments; medical expenses, including doctor, dentist and hospital bills; and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, hepatitis C, and other critical illnesses. MusiCares offers nationwide educational workshops covering a variety of subjects, including financial, legal, medical, and substance abuse issues, and programs in collaboration with health care professionals that provide services such as flu shots, hearing tests, and medical/dental screenings. MusiCares provides access to addiction recovery treatment and sober living resources for members of the music community. Staffed by qualified chemical dependency and intervention specialists, MusiCares offers Safe Harbor Room support, sponsored in part by the Bohemian Foundation, to provide a network to those in recovery while they are participating in the production of televised music shows and other major music events. MusiCares holds weekly addiction support groups for people to discuss how to best cope with the issues surrounding the recovery process. For more information, please contact MusiCares at 310.392.3777 or personoftheyear@musicares.org. ABOUT DOLLY PARTON Dolly Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum, and multiplatinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. In 2014, the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide-and in 2016, her album Pure & Simple, which topped the Billboard Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts and debuted at No. 1 in the United States, Canada, U.K., and Australia, added to that massive tally. She has garnered eight GRAMMY Awards, including a 2016 win with Pentatonix for their collaboration on her iconic 1974 hit "Jolene"; nine Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; 13 Academy of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer of the Year; four People's Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, Parton launched her return to touring on a global scale with Backwoods Barbie World Tour, the first of many sold-out arena tours, returning her to Billboard Boxscore's Top 10 Country Tours of the Year. Her 2016 movie Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love, was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. In 2017, Parton released her first children's album, I Believe In You, on Dolly Records through her partnership with Sony Music Nashville; the project's proceeds benefit The Dollywood Foundation's Imagination Library, a nonprofit that, since 1996, has provided more than 100 million books to children from birth to 5 years of age in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. In 2018, Parton received her first two Midsouth Emmy Awards as the organization recognized her lifetime of giving with the Governors Award and the award for Best Community Service Program, lauding her 2016 telethon "Smoky Mountains Rise," which raised more than $13 million for her My People fund, which provided financial assistance to victims of massive wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Parton is currently collaborating with producer Linda Perry on the soundtrack for the film Dumplin' starring Jennifer Aniston and Danielle MacDonald with Parton as the executive producer. And Parton's Dixie Pixie Productions is partnering with Warner Bros. Television to produce a series of television films to premiere on Netflix in 2019. Next year will mark the 33rd anniversary season for Dollywood, her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., which since 1986 has hosted more than 2 million visitors annually. ABOUT MUSICARES A friend and ally of the music community, MusiCares was established by the Recording Academy to safeguard the health and well-being of all music people. A four-star charity and safety net in times of need, MusiCares offers confidential preventative, recovery, and emergency programs to address financial, medical, and personal health issues. Through the generosity of our donors and volunteer professionals, our dedicated team works across the country to ensure the music community has the resources and support it needs. For more information, visit www.musicares.org, "like" MusiCares on Facebook, and follow @MusiCares on Twitter and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180904005946/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 04, 2018] Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit against Philip Morris International Inc. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/philipmorris/) today announced that a class action has been commenced by an institutional investor on behalf of purchasers of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) common stock during the period between February 8, 2018 and April 18, 2018 (the "Class Period"). This action was filed in the Southern District of New York and is captioned City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement System v. Philip Morris International Inc., No. 18-cv-08049. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Philip Morris common stock during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Brian Cochran of Robbins Geller at 800-449-4900 or 619-231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/philipmorris/. /p> The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding the Company's business and prospects, including that Philip Morris was experiencing a faster decline in overall cigarette and e-cigarette (or "heated tobacco") sales volumes during the first quarter of 2018 than investors had been led to believe, that its much-lauded sales initiatives had stalled, and that it was experiencing adverse sales headwinds in key markets. As a result of these misrepresentations, Philip Morris stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $109 per share. In addition, while the Company's stock price was artificially inflated, the Company's CEO sold 49,000 shares of his Philip Morris stock at these artificially inflated prices for proceeds of more than $5 million. Then, on April 19, 2018, Philip Morris issued a press release announcing disappointing results for the Company's first quarter of 2018. Against its easiest prior-year comparison, the Company reported that combined cigarette and heated tobacco unit shipment volume had declined by 2.3% during the quarter. The Company also stated that key sales initiatives had stalled, as the Company's heated tobacco unit growth had plateaued due to market demographics and faltering consumer conversion tactics and, further, that cigarette shipments had fallen by 5.3% during the quarter, signaling persistent adverse trends in the business. On this news, the price of Philip Morris stock declined $15.80 per share, or more than 15%, to close at $85.64 per share on April 19, 2018. Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Philip Morris common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud. Robbins Geller is one of the world's leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information. https://www.linkedin.com/company/rgrdlaw https://twitter.com/rgrdlaw https://www.facebook.com/rgrdlaw https://plus.google.com/+Rgrdlaw/posts View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180904005947/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 04, 2018] A Big Shot Joins Tongdun International Southeast Asian Market HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As a service provider dedicated to becoming a world leader in intelligent risk management and analysis decision-making, Tonghun Technology is comprehensively promoting its international strategic layout. Since the establishment of "Tongdun International Pte. Ltd.", the subsidiary in Singapore at the beginning of 2018, the company has accelerated the construction of the international team and successively introduced Lawrence Lu, Vice President of Tongdun International, Lock Kwee Yoong, Senior Technical Director of Tongdun International and other high-end talents. Recently, Jean Reksodiputro officially joined Tongdun International as the Head of the Indonesian Market of Tongdun International. Jean Reksodiputro has more than 20 years' experience in IT development and nearly 10 years' experience in large compny management. He also has great comprehensive management capabilities in finance, information technology and government relationship management. He was a member of the Board of Directors at Asosiasi FinTech Indonesia and served as the coordinator of the credit infrastructure working group. Prior to joining the company, Jean was the Director of the PEFINDO Credit Bureau, which was prepared by PT PEFINDO, Indonesia's oldest independent credit rating agency, in 2014 for providing banks and other financial institutions, individuals and SMEs with comprehensive credit reporting services. Since the establishment of PEFINDO Credit Bureau, Jean has been dedicated to the construction of the bureau from scratch through efforts like coordinating and planning of company strategies, business processes and information systems. During the period, he took the lead in the construction of a data application process automation system, as well as the design, development and implementation of the bureau's credit scoring, credit reports, credit warnings, credit analysis, etc., empowering local financial institutions through its products, technologies and services to promote the construction of Indonesia's credit system. In recent years, with the increase in the bilateral trade between China and Southeast Asian countries, the increasing scope of cooperation, the open attitude of the Southeast Asian market to foreign investment and the huge demand for financial services, Tongdun International has been provided with favorable conditions to go global and a pivot to open the entire international market. In the future, Tongdun's overseas business will be based on the full expansion in Southeast Asia, and will further expand to Africa, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, South America and other markets. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180904/2227145-1 SOURCE Tongdun Technology [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 04, 2018] GSMA: Free Flow of Data across Borders Essential for Asia's Digital Economies Governments in Asia can expand the region's digital economy and unlock further socio-economic benefits for their citizens by removing unnecessary restrictions on the movement of data internationally, according to a new report released by the GSMA (News - Alert) today at the Mobile 360 - Digital Societies conference in Bangkok. The study, 'Regional Privacy Frameworks and Cross-Border Data Flows', reveals that striking the right balance in the region's data privacy regulations could significantly enhance economic activity and future innovation in 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Over the past decade, international data flows have increased global GDP by 10.1 per cent, and their annual contribution to global GDP has already surpassed US $2.8 trillion1 - a larger share than the global trade in goods. The ability to transfer, store and process data enables commerce, spurs innovation, and drives the development of new technologies, platforms, services and infrastructure. Although the Asia Pacific region has made good progress in the development of data privacy frameworks that protect consumers while also allowing data to flow across borders, the report highlights that variances in data privacy laws across countries is holding back trade and innovation. The report also calls for better links at a regional level between Asia's two main privacy frameworks - the ASEAN Framework on Personal Data Protection and the APEC Privacy Framework - to enable cross-border data flows. "The immense economic opportunities arising from the digital economy and data flows are indisputable," said Boris Wojtan, Director of Privacy, GSMA. "Working towards a pan-Asian approach to data privacy is critical to protecting the rights of individuals and unlocking this economic potential, not only in Asia, but around the world. Regulating people's personal information by a patchwork of geographically bound privacy laws will only restrict how Asian companies can innovate and bring better products and services to consumers in the future. Now is an important time for all countries to take actions to bridge the differences in thei privacy regulation and achieve greater alignment." The study evaluated various regional data privacy frameworks and their key principles, while diving down into individual countries to identify national approaches to privacy regulation. It highlights specific steps that all countries, including less developed states, can take to support greater alignment across Asia. Some of the key recommendations included in the report are: APEC and ASEAN governments should consider the options outlined in the study to bridge the differences between their respective privacy frameworks and seek interoperability with other regional frameworks; Countries should advance the alignment of national-level privacy regimes by conducting a landscape analysis to see where they stand in terms of data privacy and reviewing the experience of other governments in the region to understand common paths forward; Policymakers in government and privacy enforcement authorities should support deeper collaboration and cross-learning across the region; and Governments should also draw on non-government privacy experts in the private sector and academia to inform their approaches. The GSMA also today released its report, 'Cross-Border Data Flows: Realising Benefits and Removing Barriers', which describes the benefits of global data flows for individuals, businesses and governments, and explores the damaging impact of increased data localisation measures, which can either require companies to store data locally, or even prohibit companies from transferring personal data altogether. The report calls for governments globally to commit to removing unnecessary localisation measures and enable data to flow cross-border through improved approaches to protecting people's data. The 'Regional Privacy Frameworks and Cross-Border Data Flows' report is available here in English. The 'Cross-Border Data Flows: Realising Benefits and Removing Barriers' report is available here in English. -ENDS- Notes to Editors: 1. McKinsey Global Institute, 'Digital Globalisation: The New Era of Global Flows' (2016) About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with over 350 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) , Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series of conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter (News - Alert) : @GSMA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180904005374/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 04, 2018] Alipay Seeks Japanese Partners to Strengthen Cashless Experience across the Country for Tourists before 2020 Alipay, the world's leading mobile and online payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group ("Ant Financial"), today announced that it will collaborate with a wider range of local Japanese partners to build a cashless environment for tourists coming to Japan, in particular for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. This will allow the large number of visitors coming from China the chance to enjoy easy payment methods that they are familiar with and provide business opportunities for local merchants in Japan. In addition, efforts will continue to extend Alipay coverage throughout Japan as one of the most popular tourist destinations for travelers from China and other Asian countries. "Alipay is dedicated to enhancing user experience and creating value for small and micro businesses through technology. The Tokyo Olympics and the hike in visitors that this will bring is a good target for us, to ensure that the Alipay platform is the bridge between inbound visitors and local merchants here in Japan. It is also important that we are collaborating with partners not only in the metropolitan areas and big cities but also in smaller cities with popular tourist attractions. We look forward to working with a wide range of Japanese partners to achieve this ambition, and in doing so contribute in some way to driving the local economy of areas across Japan," said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan continues to increase year over year. Close to 7.35 million people came to Japan in 2017 with a y-o-y growth rate of 15.4% (? 1), and the inbound consumption from this group reached 1.6 trillion yen (US$14.3 billion, ? 2). This trend is likely to continue and the Olympic Games in 2020 are expected to be a peak with visitors attracted to the international sporting spectacle as well as the country's famous locations. Alipay is expanding its services across the country in Japan which reflects the needs of increasingly adventurous Chinese tourists. Specific collaborations to date with regional banks, such as Hida Credit Union and Kyoto Shinkin Bank, have allowed Alipay to make its payment services available in tourist spots and shops out of the major cities. To further expand its merchant network, Alipay is also seeking to work with more small and micro merchants by cooperating with local mobile payment platforms in Japan such as Line Pay and Paypay. Alipay, which currently has over 700 million active users in China, was introduced to Japan to provide services to Chinese visitors at local merchants in December 2015 and is currently available in all 47 prefectures across the country. It is available in a wide range of outlets to support tourism including airports, department stores, restaurants and popular attractions. ? 1: Source (News - Alert) : Japan Tourism Board (JNTO) "Trends in the number of customers outside Japan" (Https://www.jnto.go.jp/jpn/statistics/since2003_tourists.pdf) ? 2: Source: Tourism Agency "Survey on consumption trends of foreigners visiting Japan" Heisei 20 (2017) annual value (Final) (Http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001226297.pdf) About Alipay Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world's largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently works with over 200 domestic financial institution partners. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay's in-store payment service covers over 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 29 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180904005976/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Namecheap Surpasses 10 Million Domains Under Management PHOENIX, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Namecheap, one of the fastest-growing American companies according to the 2018 Inc. 5000, today announced it has reached more than 10 million domains under management, cementing its place as one of the world's top domain registrars. CEO Richard Kirkendall founded Namecheap in 2000 with a mission to make building a website accessible and affordable for everyone. Now, 18 years later, Namecheap is the second biggest retail domain registrar in the world, and a burgeoning technology company with a diverse, growing portfolio of products for web professionals, small businesses, and independent Internet users. "I'm truly humbled that we have reached this incredible milestone. In under two decades, we've managed to evolve from a startup into a global company with more than 10 million domains under management, millions of customers, and an expanding portfolio of products, including web hosting, EasyWP managed WordPress hosting, and other online services," said Richard Kirkendall, Namecheap CEO. "Our customers are at the center of everything we do, and I'd like to say thank you to them and stay tuned for more exciting news on the horizon!" Since its launch in 2000, Namecheap has remained a private company, and has grown consistently and organically without Super Bowl-sized markeing budgets. Namecheap's unique culture can also be reflected in its long history of fighting for Internet freedom and Net Neutrality. To date, Namecheap has raised almost $500,000 to support Internet freedom causes with its annual Move Your Domain Day. With more than 1,000 team members across 10 countries, and still growing, the future is set to be very exciting. Additionally, Namecheap is committed to providing exceptional products coupled with unparalleled service and low prices for its millions of customers, helping them to establish their place on the Internet. Recently, Namecheap was named the first company to surpass 1 million verified customer ratings online. Namecheap's friendly and knowledgeable Customer Support team are on hand 24 hours a day to seamlessly assist all customer questions. Visit namecheap.com today to purchase a domain for as little as $0.88 (with free WhoisGuard privacy protection for life), web hosting for only $2.88 per month, and don't forget to check out some of the hottest products in the Namecheap marketplace including EasyWP for top-notch managed WordPress hosting. About Namecheap Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar and technology company founded in 2000 by CEO Richard Kirkendall. Celebrating nearly two decades of providing unparalleled levels of service, security, and support, Namecheap has been steadfast in customer satisfaction. With over 10 million domains under management, Namecheap is among the top domain registrar and web hosting providers in the world. To learn more about Namecheap, visit namecheap.com. Contact: Derek Musso 917-334-5005 derek.musso@namecheap.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/namecheap-surpasses-10-million-domains-under-management-300706684.html SOURCE Namecheap [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] WISeKey Ramps Up Semiconductors and Blockchain Operation in China WISeKey Ramps Up Semiconductors and Blockchain Operation in China WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.2 billion secure chips (since 2010) in virtually all IoT sectors - autonomous cars, smart cities, drones, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, mobile phones, etc. WISeKey International Holding Ltd ("WISeKey" or the "Company") (SIX: WIHN) (OTCQX: WIKYY), a leading cybersecurity and IoT company, today announced that is joining the 2018 Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin. More than 2,000 leaders from government, business, science and civil society will join the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, People's Republic of China, taking place on 18-20 September 2018. 111 countries will be represented. WISeKey was originally nominated as one of the founding members of the New Champions community back in 2007 in China with already 12 years of deep engagement with the Forum as member of its Expert Network and member of the PACI, Cyber Resilience and Global Agenda Council. During the past years, the New Champions event in China has provided an excellent platform for WISeKey to exchange insights and practices with multi-stakeholders in China, which has greatly accelerated our WISeKey China operations. The main objective of Summer Davos is to create a global community to ensure that emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and the internet of things are used to benefit society and that they remain human-centered. This requires global collaborative efforts to define the necessary principles of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the standards to ensure global interoperability. WISeKey has already started the localization of the its IoT semiconductors in China, having as a goal the ramp up of its secure chip install base to 10 billion within the next 3 years, with a new Secure Microprocessor for IoT, Blockchain, AI and WISeCoin. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.2 billion secure chips (since 2010) in virtually all IoT sectors - autonomous cars, smart cities, drones, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, mobile phones, etc. VaultIC407 features an outstandingly rich set of Security Protocols and Security Functions tailored to IoT applications. While WISeKey will continue manufacturing chips in other countries in Asia and Europe, its new plant in China will become the main manufacturing center for Asia. WISeKey China has the goal of becoming one of the leading providers of Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain services for the growing Chinese market. The over-arching objective of the new company is to establish a market foothold with credible in-country leaders to maximize revenue in the near-term and realize reputable category position in the sectors of: retail, financial transaction, automotive, smart cities, consumer products, healthcare, smart card, industrial, transportation, and IT infrastructure, in the long-term. Trusted Semiconductors are the building blocks of the IoT, found in everything from autonomous cars, smart cities, drones, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, mobile phones, etc. Although China has mastered the art of assembling products with semiconductors produced elsewhere (the iPhone is the most famous example), the aspiration is for technology companies in China to move from being mere assemblers to manufacturers of semiconductors, therefore there is huge opportunity for WISeKey to become one of the first global companies to establish its semiconductors manufacturing facility in mainland China. The world is beginning to feel the effects of the explosive development of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is a driving force for social development, powering industrial transformation: smart cities, transportation, finance, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, smart home or consumer electronics, and offering the potential for Communications Service Providers to capture new services and revenue - estimated to reach 15 billion connections by 2020, and over $2 trillion in overall market revenue. China has the world's fastest rate of growth in total IoT connections. By 2020, the number of IoT connections in the country alone will reach 8 billion. An estimated 1.08 billion of these connections will be delivered over cellular networks. China's trying to reduce a reliance on some $200 billion of annual semiconductor imports, which it fears undermines national security and hampers the development of a thriving technology sector. The country envisions spending about $150 billion over 10 years to achieve a leading position in design and manufacturing This is a great revenue opportunity for WISeKey as China is currently the world's largest chip market, but it manufactures only 16 percent of the semiconductors it uses domestically. Currently, China imports about $200 billion worth of chips annually - a value exceeding its oil imports. To cultivate a domestic industry, the government of China has slashed taxes for chip makers and plans to invest as much as $32 billion to become a world leader in design and manufacturing. To take advantage of these opportunities in China, WISeKey made the strategic decision to localize the production of VAULTIC, a Vault in a secure Integrated Circuit. Combined with the Application Microcontroller in the IoT Edge Device, VaultIC407 brings premium security level. WISeKey Secure Elements provide secure storage and usage of sensitive assets. The firmware running on the WISeKey chips, is built with unique features able to secure storage, cryptographic calculations and digital signatures, and is specifically designed to execute sensitive calculations, without leaking information such as power consumption patterns or electromagnetic emissions to the outside world. The data is stored deep down within the protected memory of the chips, which are designed with unique capabilities not to allow other software to run on them and are equipped with various hardware sensors and protection mechanisms making them resistant to hardware attacks. Of note, would these WISeKey Secure Elements have been used for sensitive data storage for the Application Microcontrollers affected by the recent 'Meltdown' and 'Spectre' attacks, they would have never been successful. For more than twenty years, WISeKey has been providing a range of Common Criteria certified tamper resistant microprocessors that can be implemented on IoT devices to provide secure storage and usage of sensitive assets, and to uniquely identify, authenticate and protect devices in the field. These assets can be managed through a Webtrust certified Public Key Infrastructure on premises or as an operated service. WISeKey Semiconductors has been busy developing the latest VaultIC407 Secure Microprocessor enabling the new secure chip to be deployed in all business areas. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.2 billion VaultIC chips in virtually all IoT sectors (smartcards, smart cities, drones, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, mobile phones, etc.). WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as VaultIC semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens. Imagine an intelligent car with a system processing authenticated data for each of the vehicle's components, being able to detect if/when various parts will require service and to digitally sign all the logs required to prove that service was provided. This platform can be used in multiple industrial applications, allowing for optimized productivity across industries through predictive maintenance on equipment and machinery, creating truly smart homes with connected appliances, and providing critical communication between devices including self-driving cars and smart homes. The possibilities that IoT brings to the table are endless. WISeKey's technology creates a platform that helps connected devices to become intelligent devices that can learn from attacks, defend themselves, and transfer this intelligence to other devices in the network. About WISeKey: WISeKey (SIX: WIHN) (OTCQX: WIKYY) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying via a Virtual Platform large scale digital identity ecosystems. WISeKey's Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") and IoT Microchips provide secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com. To receive WISeKey's latest news, subscribe to our Newsletter or visit the WISeKey Investors Corner. Press and investor contacts: WISeKey International Holding Ltd Company Contact: Carlos Moreira Chairman & CEO Tel: +41 22 594 3000 info@wisekey.com WISeKey Investor Relations (US) Contact: Lena Cati The Equity Group Inc. Tel: +1 212 836-9611 lcati@equityny.com Disclaimer: This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Afrique Telecom Commended by Frost & Sullivan for Developing Internet Connectivity Solutions Aimed at Underdeveloped Areas The elasticity of the solutions makes them cost effective, modular, and ideal for deployment in rural areas LONDON, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) communications services market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Afrique Telecom with the 2018 Sub-Saharan Africa Enabling Technology Leadership Award. The company's broadband connectivity solutions SpaceDSL and TAMTAM help businesses, governments, and consumers deliver cost-effective, high-bandwidth Internet access to areas facing last-mile connectivity issues. "Afrique Telecom's SpaceDSL and TAMTAM stand out from other communications service providers' solutions as they give customers the flexibility to choose consumption variables like data volume, time, and speed," said Fadzai Deda, Best Practices Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "In addition to these two solutions, Afrique Telecom is preparing to commercialise its new solution, Broadband Africa, which will deliver a best-in-class customer experience to consumers all over the continent." Afrique Telecom's SpaceDSL largely addresses the issue of the lacking fixed-line infrastructure in SSA . SpaceDSL is a kit consisting of a small 35-kilogram satellite dish and a modem that businesses or individuals can deploy quickly. Space DSL allows users to choose the connectivity timeframe, ranging from 30 to 90 days, as well as the connectivity speed and data volume. Furthermore, it does not tie users to any subscription contracts. Meanwhile, the TAMTAM solution helps create a more connected ecosystem in SSA by combining satellite and Wi-Fi to create Internet hotspots. Each TAMTAM system can extend connectivity up to a few 100 metres radius round the hotspot and up to six kilometres by using additional repeaters or long-distance customer-premises equipment. TAMTAM can deliver speeds of 10 megabytes per second (Mbps) and will soon support 100 Mbps. This solution allows Afrique Telecom to cater to a variety of stakeholders such as UNICEF, which has already deployed it to give Internet access to schools in Cameroon. "Lastly, Afrique Telecom's yet-to-be-released connectivity solution, Broadband Africa, comes with built-in flexibility that allows users to increase or decrease connection speed, set limits for data volume consumption, and set the connection duration," noted Deda . "Broadband Africa will use last high throughput satellite technology to deliver connectivity of up to 100 Mbps across SSA." For delivering the best consumer experience with its advanced technologies, Afrique Telecom is richly deserving of the 2018 Sub-Saharan African Enabling Technology Leadership Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that developed a pioneering technology that not only enhances current products, but also enables the development of new products and applications. The award recognizes the high market acceptance potential of the recipient's technology. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Afrique Telecom Afrique Telecom founded in 2005, listed on Stock Exchange in Paris, develops innovative solutions for the African continent based on satellite connection. Afrique Telecom's motivation is to reduce the digital divide in Africa by offering everyone the opportunity to connect to the global network at a lower price. Thus, Afrique Telecom contributes through it distributor's network , to the integration and approval of ICT's, for the development of several activities in african community. Contact: Virginie Tintignac P: +33 3 86942641 E: vtintignac@afrique-telecom.com About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion. Contact: Samantha Park P: 210.247.2426 F: 210.348.1003 E: samantha.park@frost.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/afrique-telecom-commended-by-frost--sullivan-for-developing-internet-connectivity-solutions-aimed-at-underdeveloped-areas-300706800.html SOURCE Frost & Sullivan [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Malls Resurge, but E-Commerce a Threat in Tier-2/3 Cities - ANAROCK Report MUMBAI, September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 91% Indian retail sales driven by brick-and-mortar stores, but smaller cities remain underserved Good quality mall stock to increase by 10-15%; mediocre-to-weak stock to decline by 5-10% While e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores will continue to co-exist in India, e-commerce currently has a definite edge over physical retail in India's tier II and tier III cities, warns ANAROCK Retail's report 'Rebirth of Retail Malls: New, Improved and Revitalized'. The report, which was released at the India Retail Forum (IRF) in Mumbai today, mentions that India's tier-II / tier-III cities will also be key contributors to the country's retail growth going forward. The organized retail market is growing at CAGR of 20-25%. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/701435/ANAROCK_Logo.jpg ) "Nearly 100 million people out of India's 300-400 million-strong middle class currently live in tier-II and tier-III cities," says Anuj Kejriwal, MD & CEO - ANAROCK Retail. "This indicates that a significant portion of Indian retailers' target clientele lives in the non-metro cities. In cities such as Jaipur and Surat, household incomes are expected to cross Rs. 800 billion and 26 other cities will cross Rs. 400 billion by 2020. Considering the rising purchasing power and the consumption pattern in these cities, the slow deployment of physical organized retail there is worrisome." Tier-II cities alone received investments of more than USD 6,000 million between 2006-17 and tier-III cities received around USD 500 million. Tier-I cities collectively saw USD 1,300 million investments in the same period. The numbers speak for themselves. "Investors and mall developers are beginning to realize the massive potential of these 'smaller' markets and trying to make their presence felt," says Kejriwal. "However, the speed of quality retail deployment must pick up a onsiderably faster pace to leverage the huge opportunities India's tier-II and tier-III cities offer." The report warns that the lack of physical outlets is allowing e-commerce to flourish in these towns and cities. This main competitor to physical retail is growing rapidly and is expected to cross USD 100 billion of value by 2020. The major share of online shoppers in India includes millennials (Gen Y) aged 18-35 who currently account for 34% of the population. The high purchasing power of this online shopping population is insufficiently tapped in these cities due to the lack of good quality physical retail spaces. The report emphasizes that retailers have several advantages in tier-II and tier-III cities over tier-I counterparts: Location charges 30-40% lower than in metros than in metros Rental values in the range of Rs. 40-80/sq.ft. in prime locations as against Rs.150 -250/sq.ft. in equivalent metro locations in the range of Rs. 40-80/sq.ft. in prime locations as against -250/sq.ft. in equivalent metro locations Operating costs 30-50% lower than in metros While retail sales density in smaller cities will be lower than in metros, adoption of innovative models and diverse product mixes assures retailers not only of survival in tier-II and tier-III cities but also of steady growth. On a larger scale, the report confirms that the Great Indian Mall Story is alive and growing rapidly. As much as 91% of retail sales in the country are driven by brick-and-mortar stores in India. With respect to the quality of the operational mall stock, around 40-45% meet 'good quality' requirements, 30-35% of them are in the mediocre range, while the remaining in the weak category. In the next 5 years, good quality stock will increase by 10-15% while the mediocre and weak stock may decline by 5-10%, respectively. The report also examines the syndrome of failed and struggling malls, and envisages re-inventing strategies for retail malls to strengthen their positioning in the evolving digital era. It makes a strong argument for the Technology Imperative as physical retail's only viable means to counter e-commerce competition. In a country like India that boasts of a population of 1.35 billion and the rapid adoption of the tech-savvy culture, modernization and innovation are critical for the survival of brick-and-mortar stores. In the final analysis, the advantage that physical retail has over e-commerce is essentially the 'experience' factor. By uniting conventional methods with key success elements of digital experience, brick-and-mortar retailers can offer consumers an experience surpassing that of online shopping. Click here to download the report Rebirth of Retail Malls - New, Improved and Revitalized About ANAROCK Property Consultants: The ANAROCK Group is India's leading specialized real estate services company with diversified interests across the real estate value chain. Anuj Puri, the Group's chairman, is a highly-respected industry veteran and India's most prominent thought leader in the real estate domain. He has over 27 years' expertise in leveraging Indian and global real estate opportunities. ANAROCK Group's key strategic business units are Residential Broking & Advisory, Retail Transactions & Advisory, Capital Markets, Hospitality, Investment Management, and Research & Consulting. ANAROCK's growing business teams account for 1500 of the real estate industry's most qualified and experienced professionals. With operations across all major Indian markets and dedicated services in Dubai, ANAROCK also has global business coverage via over 80,000 hand-picked channel partners. Every facet of ANAROCK's rapidly-expanding business portfolio is governed by the Firm's core assurance to its clients and partners - Values over Value. Visit: http://www.anarock.com Media Contact: Arun Chitnis arun.chitnis@anarock.com +91-9657129999 Head - Media Relations ANAROCK Property Consultants [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Linius Signs Commercial Deal with Newstag Deploying Linius Video Search Technology MELBOURNE, Australia and STOCKHOLM, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Linius Technologies (ASX: LNU) -- the only cloud platform that transforms static video into interactive intelligent content with its world-first Video Virtualization Engine (VVE) -- has reached an agreement with Stockholm-based video news service Newstag, to deliver hyper-personalized news experiences with a social impact. View the video overview of the Linius - Newstag announcement here: https://www.linius.com/linius-signs-commercial-deal-with-newstag-deploying-linius-video-search-technology/ Newstag is an award-winning news platform that aggregates content for more than 20 broadcasters and agencies around the world, including leading news producers such as AP, AFP, CNN and Bloomberg. Newstag is a world leader in the use of data to learn and tailor content experiences for users in more than 150 countries. In the first instance, Newstag will deploy the Linius Search Solution across the Newstag site, allowing users to search news archives and generate their own personalized news experience, creating value through Newstag's Infinite Heart Program. The Linius technology will also be deployed to the Newstag workflows providing both improved efficiency and enhanced personalization to news feeds currently being provided to broadcasters around the world. Linius will receive monthly license fees, in addition to US$1 per video virtualized and US$40 per thousand videos assembled (discounted to US$10 per thousand until a future commercial deal is signed). "Linius is in the commercialisation phase of our business and is targeting market leaders in the news, sports, education and corporate communications sectors, with our video hyper-personalization capability," aid Linius CEO Chris Richardson. Once deployed, Linius and Newstag will work together to sell the capability to the thousands of news broadcasters and news content providers around the world, including but not limited to existing Newstag clients. Planning for the second phase rollout has already commenced. Separately, Linius intends to appoint the chairperson of Newstag, Ph.D Camilla Dahlin-Andersson, to the Company's Advisory Board to facilitate the combined go-to-market plan. "Newstag is excited about working with Linius to rapidly scale our personalised video news content offering, helping users to find relevant content more efficiently," said Dr Dahlin-Andersson. "Linius' technology will allow us to gain market share in this rapidly evolving market." The market opportunity According to Nielsen's Total Audience Report 2016, news consumption is showing significant growth. In the US alone, adults over 18-years-old watched more than 27 billion minutes of national cable television news programming per week. While cable TV saw the largest increase, news consumption across all media, including radio, traditional broadcast TV and smartphones rose by 18 percent, compared with a year earlier, to 73.5 billion minutes per week. According to Deloitte Global, by the end of 2018, at least 50 percent of adults in developed countries will have at least two online-only media subscriptions. This is expected to double by the end of 2020. "Our strategy has been to seek a leading brand to commercially validate the Linius solution and a channel partner to rapidly scale our business. The agreement with Newtag gives us a strong foothold into the booming news sector," said Mr Richardson. Linius will continue to work with existing global channel partners to roll out the company's world leading video virtualisation capability. Revenue to be generated under this agreement is dependent upon take-up of the service and will commence on deployment. About Linius Technologies Limited: Linius Technologies Limited (ASX: LNU) has invented and patented the Video Virtualization Engine (VVE), which is available on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are investing billions in virtualizing video services (technologies) and Artificial Intelligence in the cloud. It is arguably the biggest battle on the internet, given that video accounts for nearly 80 percent of internet traffic. Only Linius can expose the data that makes up the video file, making cumbersome video as flexible as all other forms of data. Accessing the data within the video file is the missing link for video cloud service providers, creating unparalleled value across the internet video industry. Linius has the potential to transform many multi-billion-dollar markets, and is initially focused on: Anti-Piracy: Applying proven data protection methods to video to solve piracy Applying proven data protection methods to video to solve piracy Search: Search within videos and compiling new videos on-the-fly Search within videos and compiling new videos on-the-fly Security and Defense: Intelligent search and immediate distribution of security footage Intelligent search and immediate distribution of security footage Personalized Advertising: Hyper-personalized to individuals, time slots and content For more on Linius Technologies, visit www.linius.com. For regular news and updates, follow Linius Technologies on Twitter (@linius_tech), LinkedIn (Linius Technologies Ltd), Vimeo (Linius Technologies) and Facebook (@linius). For further information or interview requests, please contact: Lachlan James, Director of Marketing and Communications, +61 (0)431 835 658, ljames@linius.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/739445/Linius_Logo_Positive_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] DragonVein launches its new VR+Blockchain product SHANGHAI, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ -- VlaVR, DragonVein's exclusive subject of operation in China, signed strategic partnership with Nibiru, one of the world's largest VR operation system suppliers of AI/AR/VR at the N+ International Technology Summit. Vlavr, as the partner of China Mobile in 5G application, supported DragonVein's DVC hardware project. Vlavr's latest VR hardware, DVBox and MiniVR, were recently unveiled. On site, VlaVR and Nibiru jointly launched the MiniVR, the world's lightest VR goggles weighing only 105g and the DvBox adopting Nibiru's latest N+ 3.0 operation system and distributed storage based on blockchain technology developed by Dragonvein. According to the agreement, Nibiru will provide technically innovative solutions based on N+ Creator, the VR content maker software, while VlaVR will contribute its professionalism in cloud-based distributed storage solutions and its token mechanism based on blockchain technology. "The main pain points VR indutry suffering are the significant cost of content, the stutter videoplay experience caused by underspeed network and piracy violations," said VlaVR. "With N+ creator, every user can create their own VR content. The advantages of UGC (user generated content), such as low cost, has already been proven successful in online video platforms like YouTube. On the other side, our distributed storage solutions and 5G application capabilities will fully leverage the value of N+ creator. Blockchain is able to protect creators from piracy violation as data are stored separately under distributed storage system. Applications of 5G network ensure a smooth experience. This cooperation will create great synergies and become an innovational power in the industry." Further cooperation will be proposed in 5G VR cloud-based games and an in-depth study on performance optimization. Both parties will work closely to build the next generation of AR/VR edge network service platform based on 5G network. Yamamoto Shuto, head of DragonVein, regards this cooperation as a milestone for the DragonVein Family Entertaining Ecosystem Chain supported by VlaVR. This is open for future worldwide cooperation. About DragonVein: DragonVein is a pioneer and innovator in VR+BlockChain field. DragonVein aims to bring innovative solutions to DRM (Digital Rights Management) using blockchain technology. DragonVein has built an integrated ecosystem with all elements including hardware, content creators and a token mechanism for users. http://www.dragonvein.io/ http://www.vlavr.com/ View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dragonvein-launches-its-new-vrblockchain-product-300706878.html SOURCE DragonVein [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Accomplished Hospitality Professional Erika Bucsi Joins Knowland to Support Rapid Expansion of European Operations ARLINGTON, Virginia, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowland, the industry leader in market intelligence for hotels, venues, and convention and visitor bureaus, today announced Erika Bucsi has joined the company as the enterprise director of sales in Europe. In her new role, Erika will be leading sales and customer success activities in the European market, which is also supported by sales veteran Mattia Melillo and Betty Huang, a dedicated service manager. Erika joins Knowland as the company increases its footprint in Europe. Recognized as an industry innovator, Knowland has significantly expanded its product offerings in the last 18 months by introducing a series of next-generation, analytics-based solutions that help customers find, evaluate, pitch, and win the best groups and meetings business. Combining the release of these new products with a series of several strategic acquisitions, Knowland is poised to accelerate their European operations and undergo rapid expansion. With more than a decade of hospitality experience, Erika brings a wealth of industry knowledge to her new position. Most recently, she served as regional director of sales in Europe for Cvent, where she oversaw sales of Cvent Hospitality Cloud solutions for MICE and Business Transient (formerly Lanyon) to new prospects, while managing an impressive roster of existing accounts. Prior to Cvent, Erika was the regional salesmanager in Central Europe for Amadeus Hospitality, a leading technology provider for global hospitality organizations and proud partner of Knowland. Tracking group activity at more than 7100 venues in 200 of the busiest markets in the world, Knowland has amassed the industry's largest database of actualized events, including more than 15 million events across nearly a million organizations. Knowland started gathering data in Europe in 2011 and today collects event details from 436 properties across 29 markets in Europe and the Middle East alone. Powerful analytical and predictive technology queries this database to deliver customers a steady flow of pre-qualified leads fitting their need periods, to automatically score and prioritize inbound leads that are a best fit for a property, and to provide sales teams with deep account insights that can be leveraged to deliver winning sales pitches. "It's a thrilling time to join Knowland given the innovative products they have recently introduced and the acceleration of their adoption in the European market," said Erika. "I am excited to introduce the hospitality community to these amazing solutions and to show sales teams how they can truly sell smarter and capture a competitive edge with Knowland's products." Erika is well versed in the challenges and opportunities facing group sales leaders in hotels today. She previously led conference and event sales, revenue, and strategy for leading hospitality organizations, including Accor Hotels, Park Plaza Hotels Europe and Hilton Hotels. Erika also participated in special projects throughout her time in hotels, such as new openings, team restructures, system implementations and integrations. "Erika brings deep knowledge of hospitality technology, as well as years of hands-on group sales and revenue management experience to Knowland. As a result, she is uniquely able to provide our customers with phenomenal insight into how they can optimize their group sales processes and maximize revenue by partnering with us," commented Tim Hart, chief executive officer of Knowland. "Her experience and connections will be instrumental as we expand our presence in Europe and we are delighted to welcome her to our team." Erika studied hotel management at MODUL, the Hospitality University in Vienna (Austria). She is passionate about triathlon, diving, and animal welfare, and fundraises for organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and Cats Protection in her free time. About Knowland Knowland enables hotel properties, hotel brands, management companies, CVBs, and other meeting venues to achieve their group sales goals by delivering deep market intelligence and innovative technology. By combining powerful analytics with the industry's largest historical database of actualized events, we deliver insights that drive more revenue, accelerate the sales cycle, and optimize processes. See why thousands of organizations trust our solutions to sell smarter and maximize their revenue. To learn more, please visit knowland.com or call 202-312-5880. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Williams Lea Tag Acquires Taylor James to Build Leading Global Presence in Digital Production LONDON, September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Williams Lea Tag, the leading independent global marketing activation partner, announced today that it is adding Taylor James to its portfolio of integrated digital marketing execution services providers, turning creative ideas into reality for global brands worldwide. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/739062/Williams_Lea_Tag_Logo.jpg ) Taylor James is a leading digital production house on the cutting edge of technology. Founded in London in 1999, the company is predominantly US and Europe-focused and offers high-end capabilities in CGI, animation, design and VFX to brands and their creative agencies to produce engaging, photo-real digital content across all channels. Clients include American Express, Lexus, Jack Daniels, Ford, Progressive, Dell, and Honda, among others. David Kassler, Group CEO of Williams Lea Tag, commened: "I am delighted to welcome Taylor James into the Williams Lea Tag family - Glen Taylor and his highly-talented team will help us to broaden our strategic relevance to the world's leading brands. We share common goals in using better technology and process to reduce cost and waste in our clients' marketing budgets, plus they have the scale and expertise to match our global ambition. As the first acquisition to be made under Advent International's ownership, this is an important milestone for Williams Lea Tag - with Advent's support, we will continue to proactively explore further synergistic acquisition opportunities." Glen Taylor, CEO and co-founder of Taylor James, added: "As a creative and design-driven studio, it was important for us to join an independent group focused on inventive ways to service clients' changing needs. Williams Lea Tag helps a wide variety of clients from many sectors, which closely echoes the skills and experiences we have gained over the last two decades. We are building a true strategic partnership that creates great opportunities for our business and people to grow. Advances in technology are helping us further explore what is possible, using bespoke tools and expert craftsmanship. We are excited to push creativity, helping brands and agencies best reach their audiences in today's ever-changing media landscape." WILLIAMS LEA TAG is the leading independent marketing activation partner trusted by global brands worldwide to turn creative ideas into reality. http://www.wlt.com TAYLOR JAMES - a production studio that connects brands with audiences in an expertly designed way. http://www.taylorjames.com ADVENT INTERNATIONAL - one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. http://www.adventinternational.com SOURCE Williams Lea Tag [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Segula Technologies Confirms Talks About a Potential Strategic Partnership with Groupe PSA/Opel PARIS and COLOGNE, Germany, September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This project would lead to the creation of a core engineering campus in Russelsheim, supporting the automotive industry worldwide Global engineering group SEGULA Technologies ("Segula") today confirms talks about a potential strategic partnership with Groupe PSA/Opel, aimed at the creation of a European engineering campus and Center of Excellence in Russelsheim, Germany. This would include a takeover of up to 2,000 employees of the current Russelsheim R&D Center. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/679987/Segula_Technologies_Logo.jpg ) This project would create, for one of the first times in the industry, the capacity to combine complete vehicle development and testing, as well as powertrain engineering and testing under one roof. The project would be a "Triple Win" for Opel, Segula and those employees involved. Segula would become PSA/Opel's development partner in Russelsheim and Dudenhofen and expand the Center's activities to other sectors and new customers in the coming years. Laurent Germain, Group Managing Director, SEGULA Technologies, said: "This project would be very good news for the European automotive industry, involved employees and local communities. The recognized skills of the Opel engineers combined with Segula's know-how, would allow us to set the standard and contribute to the development of the local economy in the long run,to meet our customer expectations. Establishing this campus of Engineering Excellence would also encourage the settlement of further engineering companies in the Russelsheim and Dudenhofen area, and would promote a thriving and globally recognized campus of engineering expertise." Martin Lange, Managing Director SEGULA Technologies Germany, added: "We are looking forward to engaging in fruitful dialog and to reaching an agreement with the social partners. Segula is willing to continue the protection against dismissal agreed until July 2023. Our plan is not only to secure a sustainable future for the people that would join us from Opel, but we also plan to increase our footprint at the site in line with the technological changes required by the market. Together with our customers, partners and all the employees involved, we would accelerate our contribution to the future of the automotive industry as well as to other industrial sectors." Segula follows a clear growth strategy and has developed into a leading engineering group, supporting around 300 customers in all major industrial sectors, in 28 countries. The potential strategic partnership is in line with Segula's strategic ambitions which consider Germany as a corner stone, aiming at becoming the world's leading automotive solutions provider by 2023. In Germany, through the previous acquisitions of Technicon Design and EK Design, the 550 employees of Segula are already carrying out engineering activities in product and process development throughout the field of body components with car manufacturers and their tier one companies, as well as in the industrial vehicle, rail and other sectors. In June 2018, Segula also announced a cooperation in strategic projects with ESG Mobility, based in Munich, geared towards the mobility of tomorrow. About Segula Technologies SEGULA Technologies is an engineering group with a worldwide presence, helping to boost competitiveness within all the major industrial sectors: automotive, aerospace, energy, rail, naval, pharmaceutical and petrochemical. Operating in 28 countries and with 140 offices worldwide, the Group fosters a close relationship with its customers thanks to the expertise of its 11,000 employees. As a leading engineering specialist placing innovation at the heart of its strategy, SEGULA Technologies undertakes large-scale projects, ranging from technical studies to industrialization and production. For more information, visit: http://www.segulatechnologies.com Follow SEGULA Technologies on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] LiveU Expands its Global Hybrid IP Satellite and Cellular Service Across Europe and North Africa Working with Eutelsat, this new solution will bring the best in HEVC cellular bonding and Ka-band satellite connectivity to Europe HACKENSACK, New Jersey, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LiveU has announced plans to expand its affordable, hybrid global IP satellite service, which works in combination with its HEVC bonding technology. Increasing the range of options, the new solution, based on Eutelsat's KA-SAT, will allow customers to use satellite or cellular connectivity seamlessly, streamlining both the billing structure and workflow. LiveU will be offering its customers in Europe Ka satellite airtime in combination with its current cellular roaming data packages. Using this hybrid solution, operators don't have to choose manually which network to use; the connectivity choice is made automatically based on a combination of signal strength and cost-effectiveness. LiveU will be working with Eutelsat whose KA-SAT satellite wide beam footprint extends right across Europe and parts of North Africa. The collaboration utilizes NewsSpotter, Eutelsat's state-of-the-art Satellite News Gathering (SNG) product, developed in response to an increasing demand to transfer rich media content from the field. NewsSpotter is highly efficient via extremely compact satellite terminals and also innovative as it provides native bidirecional IP connectivity, facilitating integration with modern news production and media content management workflows. Being Ka-band-based, NewsSpotter terminals are both compact and portable enough to fit in a backpack and be mounted on a small car. Customers can now take advantage of LiveU's LU600 HEVC solution to use satellite connectivity whenever desirable. This is a fully bundled service with a single-point-of-contact for support and a single bill. A range of packages are available. Zion Eilam, Regional VP Sales (EMEA), LiveU, said, "This is a truly integrated service offering, bringing together the best of both worlds via market leaders in their respective fields. Making this as seamless and effortless as possible for our customers was essential, ensuring that they can concentrate on bringing high-quality live content to their viewers. Partnering with Eutelsat has achieved that, complementing our existing hybrid Ku-satellite service solution." "Undoubtedly the contribution market, especially news, has changed significantly in recent years, with speed of deployment and mobility at realistic price points increasingly taking center stage. NewsSpotter was a clear response to that and this collaboration with LiveU is the natural next step", said Gerry O'Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Global TV and Video of Eutelsat. Visit LiveU at IBC on stand 3.B62 and Eutelsat on stand 1.D59 to learn more about this solution. About LiveU LiveU is driving the live video revolution, providing live video streaming for TV, mobile, online and social media. Let your audience become part of your story with high-quality and flawless live video, transmitted from anywhere in the world, through the use of our patented bonding and video transport technology. LiveU creates a consistent bandwidth and a reliable connection so you can acquire, manage and distribute high quality remote live broadcasts over IP. Our broad portfolio of products sets the industry standard for live video production. From backpacks to smartphones, and satellite/cellular hybrid to external antenna solutions, LiveU offers a complete range of devices for live video coverage anytime, anywhere. In addition, LiveU offers extensive cloud-based management and video distribution solutions. With over 3,000 customers in 100+ countries, LiveU's technology is the solution of choice for global broadcasters, online media, news agencies and social media. For more information, visit www.liveu.tv, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram. Contacts: Joss Armitage (Int'l) +44-7979-908-547 joss@jumppr.tv Joyce Essig (US) 201-742-5229 joyce@liveu.tv Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/267684/liveu_logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Maxar Technologies to present at Upcoming Investor Conferences WESTMINSTER, CO, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Maxar Technologies (the "Company" or "Maxar", formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.), (NYSE: MAXR; TSX: MAXR), a global technology innovator powering the new space economy, announced today that members of senior management will present at the following investor conferences: 2018 RBC Capital Markets Global Industrials Conference Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Las Vegas September 6, 2018 11:30 a.m. PDT There will be no webcast available for this presentation Morgan Stanley 6th Annual Laguna Conference Ritz-Carlton, Laguna-Nigel, Dana Point, CA September 13, 2018 8:45 a.m. PDT Webcast available below: https://cc.talkpoint.com/morg007/091218b_as/?entity=13_SG76ORV During the presentations, representatives of Maxar's senior management intend to discuss the Company's: Growth strategy, operations and outlook; Robust pipeline of large, new business opportunities, including the EnhancedView Follow-On contract option announced yesterday; Ongoing delivery of revenue and cost synergies following the acquisition and successful ongoing integration of DigitalGlobe; Ongoing exploration of strategic alternatives for its GEO communications satellite line of business; and Strategic and capital allocation priorities. If indicated, webcasts of the presentations will also be accessible on the Investor section of the Maxar website, http://investor.maxar.com/events-and-presentations/default.aspx About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) is t 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. Forward-Looking Statements "Certain statements and other information included in this release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. Statements including words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "plan", "potential", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate" or "expect" and other words, terms and phrases of similar meaning are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as well as other statements referring to or including forward-looking information included in this release. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this release. As a result, although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities, which are available online under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, under the Company's EDGAR profile at www.sec.gov or on the Company's website at www.maxar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such forward-looking statements are based upon data available as of the date of this presentation or other specified date and speak only as of such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this release as a result of new information or future events, except as may be required under applicable securities legislation." Investor Relations Contact: Jason Gursky Maxar VP Investor Relations 1-303-684-2207 jason.gursky@maxar.com Media Contact: Turner Brinton Maxar Media Relations 1-303-684-4545 turner.brinton@maxar.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maxar-technologies-to-present-at-upcoming-investor-conferences-300706825.html SOURCE Maxar Technologies Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Ladenburg Thalmann Annuity Insurance Services (LTAIS) Acquires Certain Assets of Kestler Financial Group's Insurance Distribution Business Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF, LTSK) ("Ladenburg"), a publicly-traded, diversified financial services company, announced today that its Ladenburg Thalmann Annuity Insurance Services LLC ("LTAIS") subsidiary has purchased certain assets of the insurance distribution business operated by Kestler Financial Group, Inc. ("KFG"), a leading independent distribution company (" IDC (News - Alert) ") located in Leesburg, Virginia. Under the terms of an asset purchase agreement, LTAIS purchased certain KFG assets, including the rights to the "Kestler Financial Group" name and brand, as part of an ongoing strategy for LTAIS to reinforce its position as a leading distributor of annuity solutions for independent financial advisors throughout the country. The acquisition is expected to generate important benefits for the Ladenburg insurance and annuity platform, which consists of LTAIS and Ladenburg's complementary subsidiary Highland Capital Brokerage, a leading independent brokerage of life insurance solutions nationwide. Founded in 1993 by father and son Tom and Jason Kestler, KFG has established itself as one of the nation's leading distributors of annuities, life insurance, long term care insurance and disability insurance by identifying, recruiting, and training independent insurance agents, registered representatives and financial planners nationwide. The firm brings strong client relationships to Ladenburg's insurance and annuity platform, including selling agreements with over 20 independent broker-dealers, RIAs and other firms representing more than 3,000 affiliated financial advisors. Richard Lampen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ladenburg, said, "We are very pleased to welcome the Kestler team to the Ladenburg family. This is a significant step forward in our strategic vision for LTAIS and the entire Ladenburg insurance and annuity platform, especially with respect to reinforcing our leadership position in the independent financial advice space at a time when insurance and annuity solutions are becoming increasingly important to individuals and families across the country." Jim Gelder, CEO of LTAIS, said, "Kestler Financial Group has a long, successful history in the fixed index space working with the financial advisors of independent broker-dealers across the country. Jason and Tom Kestler are well-known and highly respected thought leaders in this market, and we're excited to bring them into our organization. With the longstanding client relationships the Kestler team has formed and the industry-leading capabilities they bring to our organization, the Ladenburg insurance and annuity platform will be exceptionally well-positioned to shape the future of this space." KFG is one of the few IDCs with a service model that effectively addresses the needs of insurance-only advisors, registered representatives and investment advisor representatives in the RIA space. LTAIS will benefit from KFG's deep and specialized expertise in marketing, sales and operations in the annuity and insurance sector.The acquisition will also enable LTAIS' existing sales team to expand and strengthen the support it provides advisors affiliated with Ladenburg's independent advisory and brokerage (IAB) subsidiaries, by giving the LTAIS sales team access to robust lead generation capabilities through social media, seminars and other channels. The Kestler team will operate from their current headquarters in Leesburg, Virginia, as part of LTAIS. Effective immediately, Jason Kestler will become part of the Highland executive management team, while also serving as President of the Kestler Financial Group Division within LTAIS. Jason Kestler, President of KFG, said, "This announcement marks the start of an exciting new period of growth for our insurance distribution business. We've established our organization by focusing on creating one-to-one relationships with our advisors, built on a foundation of mutual respect and exceptional service. It's very clear to us that LTAIS, Highland Capital and Ladenburg share the Kestler team's longstanding focus on advisor service, and that becoming part of the Ladenburg family of companies will amplify our ability to assist advisors in growing their practices in an area that is crucial to millions of households, business owners and individuals across the country who are seeking to maximize their financial security over the long run." About Ladenburg Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF, LTSK) is a publicly-traded diversified financial services company based in Miami, Florida. Ladenburg's subsidiaries include industry-leading independent advisory and brokerage (IAB) firms Securities America, Triad Advisors, Securities Service Network, Investacorp and KMS Financial Services, as well as Premier Trust, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, Highland Capital Brokerage, a leading independent life insurance brokerage company, Ladenburg Thalmann Annuity Insurance Services, a full-service annuity processing and marketing company, and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., an investment bank which has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange for over 135 years. The company is committed to investing in the growth of its subsidiaries while respecting and maintaining their individual business identities, cultures, and leadership. For more information, please visit www.ladenburg.com. About LTAIS Ladenburg Thalmann Annuity Insurance Services LLC ("LTAIS") is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. LTAIS is a full-service annuity processing and marketing platform offering advisors proprietary and industry-leading technologies, contracting and licensing, and in-house annuity experts. The company's sales support team works in close coordination with financial advisors to ensure that the products being offered are in the best interest of the client. For more information, visit the LTAIS website at ladenburgannuity.com. About Kestler Financial Group Kestler Financial Group, Inc. ("KFG") is a valued resource for thousands of independent advisors nationwide. KFG delivers products and tools built on a robust platform for their clients to run and grow their practices more successfully. Members of the KFG team have a rich history of being thought leaders in the annuity distribution channel, and the firm has found its niche providing insurance and annuity solutions within the securities industry. For more information, visit the KFG website at kestlerfinancial.com. This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding future growth, growth of our independent advisory and brokerage business and growth of our insurance and annuity business. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to changes in economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors, including the SEC's (News - Alert) proposed rules and interpretations concerning the standards of conduct for broker dealers and investment advisers when dealing with retail investors, future cash flows, a change in the Company's dividend policy by the Company's Board of Directors (which has the ability in its sole discretion to increase, decrease or eliminate entirely the Company's dividend at any time) and other risks and uncertainties affecting the operation of the Company's business. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include those set forth in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and other factors detailed from time to time in its other filings with the SEC. The information set forth herein should be read in light of such risks. Further, investors should keep in mind that the Company's quarterly revenue and profits can fluctuate materially depending on many factors, including the number, size and timing of completed offerings and other transactions. Accordingly, the Company's revenue and profits in any particular quarter may not be indicative of future results. The Company is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005181/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Shailesh Rao to Lead TPG Growth and The Rise Fund in India and Southeast Asia TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity investment platform of global alternative asset firm TPG, announced today that it has named Shailesh Rao Head of TPG Growth and The Rise Fund for India and Southeast Asia. Rao has been serving as a Senior Advisor to TPG Growth and The Rise Fund since October 2017 and will assume this newly created role beginning September 15. "TPG Growth and The Rise Fund have assembled a dynamic global portfolio-from companies focused on energy-saving solutions to fast-growing consumer internet platforms," said Bill McGlashan, Founder and Managing Partner of TPG Growth and Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise Fund. "As we continue to build businesses with leaders across India and Southeast Asia, Shailesh's regional expertise and global operating experience will be invaluable. In addition to sourcing new regional opportunities, we look forward to advancing our technology investment activity worldwide with the help of Shailesh's connections in the technology sector." Rao has nearly 20 years of experience spanning some of today's most renowned technology companies. Prior to joining TPG as a Senior Advisor, Rao spent four years leading international operations at Twitter (News - Alert) . During that time, Rao helped the company significantly expand its presence, revenue, and user-base beyond the US to Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East/North Africa. Prior to joining Twitter, Rao spent over seven years at Google as a Vice President, leading YouTube (News - Alert) in Asia. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director for Google India. "I am looking forward to joining a world class team and to accelerating the great work they have done to-date," said Rao. "Leveraging my operating experience from Google (News - Alert) and Twitter, I see tremendous opportunity to work with founders and business leaders to scale their businesses across and beyond Asia." In his role leading TPG's groth and impact investing platforms in the region, Rao will work closely with Puneet Bhatia and Ganen Sarvananthan-who continue to serve as co-managing partners of TPG Capital Asia-to provide leadership to TPG's growing activities in the region. Shailesh will join the Boards of BookMyShow and Fourth Energy Partners upon joining the firm. About TPG TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with more than $84 billion of assets under management and offices in Austin, Beijing, Boston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, and Singapore. TPG's investment platforms are across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, growth venture, real estate, credit, and public equity. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its investors while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across its investment strategies and the performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com. About TPG Growth TPG Growth is the middle market and growth equity investment platform of TPG, the global alternative asset firm. With approximately $13.2 billion of assets under management, TPG Growth targets investments in a broad range of industries and geographies. TPG Growth has the deep sector knowledge, operational resources, and global experience to drive value creation, and help companies reach their full potential. The firm is backed by the resources of TPG, which has approximately $84 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit www.tpg.com. About The Rise Fund The Rise Fund is the world's largest global fund committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns -what we call "complete returns." The Rise Fund is managed by TPG Growth, the global growth equity and middle market buyout platform of alternative asset firm TPG. The Rise Fund is led by a group of influential thought leaders with a deep personal and professional commitment to driving social and environmental progress. The board includes: Bill McGlashan, TPG Growth Founder and Managing partner; Bono, Jeff Skoll, Mo Ibrahim, Laurene Powell Jobs, Anand Mahindra and Pierre Omidyar. The Rise Fund's objectives align with the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals. The Rise Fund invests in education, energy, food and agriculture, financial services, growth infrastructure, healthcare, and technology, media, and telecommunications companies that deliver complete returns. For more information, visit therisefund.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005336/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Gartner Announces ReimagineHR 2018 Conferences in London and Orlando Gartner (News - Alert) , Inc. (NYSE:IT): What: Gartner ReimagineHR Conference 2018 When/Where: September 5-6, 2018 - Tobacco Dock, London, U.K. October 28-30, 2018 - Hilton Orlando, Orlando, FL Details: Gartner ReimagineHR is the premier event for HR leaders around the world. Join Gartner and senior HR executives to hear key insights and learn actionable strategies necessary to support organizational performance. Gartner ReimagineHR will be held September 5-6 in London, and October 28-30 in Florida. Follow news and updates from these events on Twitter (News - Alert) using #GartnerHR. Through six conference tracks, attendees will learn about: The Next Frontier - HR's Role in Leading Digitalization Future of Work Scenarios 2035: How Will Leaders Manage in a Majority-Bot Workforce World? What CEOs Need from HR Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Recruiter Effectiveness The Gig Economy: Implications for Recruiting Critical Talent How to Build a Vibrant Internal Labor Market Using Talent Analytics to Compete in the Complex Labor Market Emerging HR Technology Trends and What to Do About Them Global Perspectives on Tackling Pay Equity Getting Ahead of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Keynotes: Opening Keynote: The Next Frontier - HR's Role in Leading Digitalization - Brian Kropp, Group VP, Gartner's HR Practice Guest Keynote: Radical Inclusion - What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership - Ori Brafman, Author, Radical Inclusion Guest Keynote: Closing the Gender Gap in Technology - Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO, Girls Who Code (U.K. only) Guest Keynote: People-Centered Future of Work - Dr. Eddie Obeng, Innovator, Educator, Author (U.K. only) Guest Keynote: The Day After Tomorrow - Peter Hinssen, Author, Entrepreneur and Expert on Disruptive Innovation (U.K. only) Guest Keynote: Next Gen Talent - Unleash the Power and Perspective of Every Generation - Seth Mattison, Internationally renowned expert, author and futurist, FutureSight Labs (U.S. only) Guest Keynote: Grit to Great - How Perseverance, Passion and Pluck Take You From Ordinary to Extraordinary - Linda Kaplan Thaler, Business Leader, Author, Communications Expert (U.S. only) Guest Keynote: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World - Adam Grant, Professor and Author (U.S. only) The Exhibit Showcase at the event will bring together the world's leading partners and service providers at the forefront of HR and provide attendees with exclusive access in a variety of settings. A listing of current exhibitors is available on the ReimagineHR U.K. Exhibitor Directory and the ReimagineHR U.S. Exhibitor Directory. For complete event details, please visit Gartner ReimagineHR U.K. or Gartner ReimagineHR U.S. Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Mary Baker at mary.baker@gartner.com. Join the discussion on social media using #GartnerHR. About Gartner Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We're trusted as an objective resource and critical partner by more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries - across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size. To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit www.gartner.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005009/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Radian's Jill Cadwell and Dave McCormick Named HousingWire Insiders Award Winners Radian (News - Alert) Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN), today announced that Jill Cadwell, senior vice president of operations at ValuAmerica, and Dave McCormick, senior vice president of inside sales for Radian Guaranty, have been named 2018 HousingWire Insiders Award winners. The HousingWire Insiders Award program recognizes organizations' operational all-stars; the insiders that are a company's best-kept secret, yet vital to its success. "This year's group of Insiders exemplify what it means to get the job done and done right," Online Editor Caroline Basile said. "Each of the mortgage and housing professionals we honored made incredible contributions to their companies' successes and we're excited to recognize their achievements." This year's HousingWire Insiders Award winners include 40 "go-to" team members in their companies and represent a wide range of occupations within the housing industry, from lending and servicing to investments and real estate. The Insiders are professionals their companies turn to with their most important or challenging projects because their contributions and hard work lead to superior results. The senior vice president of operations at ValuAmerica, a Radian company, Cadwell is the team's newest, forward-thinking executive leader who takes pride in her industry and team. With more than 30 years of experience in the national title and closing market, Cadwell looks to disrupt the title business with new and innovative technology platforms, catering to both consumers and lenders. With a passion for both her staff and customers, her skills and background have made noticeable changes to the title services Radian has to offer. Since joining Radian in March 2018, Cadwell has helped build a strategy that will continue to make Radian a pioneer in the industry. Cadwell is based out of Radian's Pittsburgh office. "Jill's innovative and technology-driven mindset makes her an invaluable asst to the Radian team," said Eric Ray, senior executive vice president, technology and transaction services for Radian. "With more than three decades of experience, Jill is equipped with a vast amount of title and closing knowledge and her team is continually learning and growing from her leadership." Another strong asset to the team, Dave McCormick, is the senior vice president of inside sales for Radian Guaranty. He has been instrumental in establishing a high-quality, centralized inside sales function for Radian's core mortgage insurance business that, balanced with its traditional field sales presence, provides a more cost effective, yet equally productive, means of supporting customer needs. McCormick has spent the past year introducing an enterprise-wide inside sales coverage model to meet customers' needs across the mortgage continuum. McCormick's efforts support the broader Radian focus of diversifying revenue streams with an array of products and services. Each day, McCormick continues to implement innovative and creative ways to keep both himself, and his team, competitive and strategically supporting enterprise-wide sales, showcasing himself as the ultimate team player. "Dave is a team player who continuously motivates everyone at Radian with his positive, can-do attitude," said Brien McMahon, chief franchise officer at Radian. "Because of his responsibilities, he is always thinking of every aspect of our business and how Radian can support our customers and their clients. He is a true leader who has fun, inspires others and is really one of our best kept secrets here at Radian." For more information on the HousingWire Insiders Award, visit: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/46713-hw-insiders-2018 ABOUT RADIAN Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN), headquartered in Philadelphia, provides private mortgage insurance, risk management products and real estate services to financial institutions. Radian offers products and services through two business segments: Mortgage Insurance, through its principal mortgage insurance subsidiary Radian Guaranty Inc. This private mortgage insurance helps protect lenders from default-related losses, facilitates the sale of low-downpayment mortgages in the secondary market and enables homebuyers to purchase homes more quickly with downpayments less than 20%. Mortgage and Real Estate Services, through its principal services subsidiary Clayton, as well as Entitle Direct, Green River Capital, Red Bell Real Estate, LLC and ValuAmerica. These solutions include information and services that financial institutions, investors and government entities use to evaluate, acquire, securitize, service and monitor loans and asset-backed securities. Additional information may be found at www.radian.biz. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005064/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Mexico's State of Puebla Eases Public Transportation for 2.7 Million City Inhabitants with Conduent Transportation FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Conduent Transportation, a business unit of Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT), today announced that it is helping the state of Puebla in Mexico address a top complaint from public transportation riders outdated payment technology. Growing its existing relationship with the state, Conduent is extending its contactless smart card payment system to all riders on Puebla's Red Urbana de Transporte Articulado (RUTA) Bus Rapid Transit lines. Conduent first implemented its automated fare technology on RUTA Line 1 in 2016, completed an expansion to Line 2 this January in a record 75 days without service interruption, and is expanding to Line 3 throughout this summer. Conduent's automated fare technology works with the new Puebla contactless transit card to replace old cash fares and allow users to board any RUTA line with a simple tap-and-go experience. Thousands of riders are now using the fare collection system every day on Lines 1 and 2, with more expected as soon as it is running on Line 3. Ridership of Puebla's RUTA system is up thanks to shorter payment lines and improved transaction processing; the implementation of Conduent technology will give riders a new means of payment by tapping their phones into Conduents new validators, which will be installed across all three lines. In addition, RUTA and Conduent will be implementing an external reload network that will allow riders to reload their pre-paid cards in more places across the city, outside of the three lines. "Meeting the needs and expectations of citizens is key to any technology overhaul but doing so without disruption of service is even more important," said Mick Slattery, CEO, Conduent Transportation. "We want those who ride the RUTA lines and use Puebla's touristic train system daily to enjoy the enhancements to the system and the first step to getting them onboard with the implementation is to provide a seamless transition." The new centralized payment system replaces all existing field equipment, including free-standing ticket vending machines, inspector terminals, validators and access control gates. All three lines are also receiving new fleet management capabilities that provide a real-time look at fleet performance. This capability will allow RUTA to have a better and quicker response when an interruption in service occurs or during an increase in service demand. Scheduling services will become easier and decision-making processes will improve, providing better ridership experience to the citizens. Ina separate contract with Carreteras de Cuota, the state agency in charge of mass public transportation, Conduent is implementing the same fare collection technology used on RUTA on the touristic train that runs from Puebla City to Cholula. Additionally, Conduent is working to integrate other bus operators offering inter-urban services into the system. Both of these steps are integral in continuing to make transportation easier for residents and tourists in the state of Puebla. "Growing our relationship with Conduent was an easy decision, especially after the increased ridership we saw following Line 1 implementation," said Cinthia Chavez, director of Mass Public Transportation in the state of Puebla. "The automated fare collection system provides a convenient and consistent user experience, and we aim to bring that to as many people as possible." Conduent Transportation is a leading provider of public transportation and mobility solutions including electronic toll collection, parking management, and advanced transit and safety systems that offer automated, analytics-based and personalized services for government agencies and their constituents. The company has been helping transportation clients for more than 40 years and operates in 27 countries. Click to Tweet LinkedIn About Conduent Conduent creates digital platforms and services for businesses and governments to manage millions of interactions every day for those they serve. We are leveraging the power of cloud, mobile and IoT, combined with technologies such as automation, cognitive and blockchain to elevate every constituent interaction, driving modern digital experiences that are more efficient, helpful and satisfying. Conduent's differentiated offerings touch millions of lives every day, including two-thirds of all insured patients in the U.S. and nearly nine million people who travel through toll systems daily. Whether it's digital payments, claims processing, benefit administration, automated tolling, customer care or distributed learning Conduent serves a majority of the Fortune 100 companies and more than 500 government entities. Learn more at www.conduent.com. Note: To receive RSS news feeds, visit www.news.conduent.com. For open commentary, industry perspectives and views, visit http://twitter.com/Conduent, http://www.linkedin.com/company/conduent or http://www.facebook.com/Conduent. Conduent is a trademark of Conduent Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mexicos-state-of-puebla-eases-public-transportation-for-2-7-million-city-inhabitants-with-conduent-transportation-300706722.html SOURCE Conduent Incorporated [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] FlexTrade Rolls Out Multi-Asset, Strategy Back-Testing Framework FlexTrade (@FlexTrade), a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems, today introduced a new Back-Testing framework designed to gauge and adjust the performance of past trading strategies for real-time use in trading equities, FX and futures. "Just because a trading strategy worked successfully in the past, doesn't mean it will show the same results in the present," said Vijay Kedia, President and CEO of FlexTrade. "There are countless variables - old and new - that could impact performance in unanticipated ways. That's why using an advanced back-testing framework can make all the difference in running a winning strategy." Available via the FlexTRADER EMS and FlexTrade's order management solution, FlexOMS, the Back-Testing framework includes: A fast framework designed to allow traders to test an unlimited number of financial instruments in parallel; Testing for single security, cross asset, multi-leg and portfolio-based trading strategies; A flexible fill simulation module for traders to tailor the exchange simulation logic to their target market; The ability to replay past orders alongside market data and track the algo performance under various market conditions; The ability to replay Top-of-Book and Depth-of-Book Market Data. According to Kedia, the speed in which the Back-Testing replay occurs is quite extraordinary. "One day's worth of data can be back-tested in less than 30 seconds, while a full year's worth of data can be back-tested in less than a day," he said. "It's revolutionary in scope and simplifies the trading strategy development for the trader into a three-step process: first, build your strategy; second, test against past performance factors and adjust; and lastly, deploy." About FlexTrade Systems, Inc. Founded in 1996, FlexTrade Systems, Inc. is the industry pioneer in broker-neutral algorithmic trading platforms for equities, foreign exchange and listed derivatives. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, FlexTrade has a worldwide client base spanning more than 225 buy-side and sell-side firms, including many of the largest hedge funds, asset managers, commodity trading advisors, investment banks and institutional brokers. For more information, visit FlexTrade Systems at www.flextrade.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005167/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] RF Filter Market to Grow at a Stellar Value CAGR of 17.3% During the Period Forecast 2018-2026 - Persistence Market Research NEW YORK, September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Persistence Market Research forecasts the RF filter market to grow at a stellar value CAGR of 17.3% during the period of forecast, 2018-2026 Growth of RF filter market is largely influenced by several industry-specific factors including rising demand for satellite phones and increasing penetration of smartphones worldwide. With an upswing in digitization, the semiconductor scenario has drastically changed, paving significant pathways of growth for RF filter, according to the report. Persistence Market Research forecasts the RF filter market to grow at a stellar value CAGR of 17.3% during the period of forecast, 2018-2026. RF filter sales are estimated to touch a value of around US$ 25 Bn by the end of the period of assessment. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661339/Persistence_Market_Research.jpg ) 5G on the Go - Trend Fueling Sales of RF Filter 5G has witnessed noteworthy acceleration since the past few months on the back of rising demand for high bandwidth from internet users worldwide. This has translated into increasing 5G field trials and deployments as service providers are sprinting to provide high speeds and next generation services to subscribers. Against this backdrop, semiconductor manufacturers are investing in developing their offerings for 5G-capable infrastructure. Manufacturing of 5G chips is expected to create potential opportunities for manufacturers of RF filter in the coming years, in turn pushing the growth of the RF filter market. This factor is expected to accelerate the use of RF filter in mobile phone communications, making it an attractive application area that RF filter manufacturers can leverage to gain profitability. Request For Report Sample: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/24187 RF Filter Demand from Aerospace Industry to Push Global Sales Use of RF filter technology in aircraft such as Boeing and Airbus, for enhancing electronic surveillance, RADAR systems, navigation, GPS, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and data exchange is expected to auger well for the growth of the RF filter market. Moreover, rising demand for improved conversations between ground staff and pilots has fueled the sales of RF filter technology in the aerospace sector at a substantial rate. RF Filter Market Segmentation (By Type - Band-pass, Low-pass, High-pass, Band-stop; By Application - Navigation, Radio Broadcast, TV Broadcast, Mobile Phone Communication, Satellite Communication, RADAR, Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Sare, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2018-2026: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/rf-filter-market.asp China Likely to Emerge as a Lucrative Regional Market for RF Filter Manufacturers Developed economies of North America, particularly the United States, have showcased higher adoption of RF filters since the past few years. According to the report, sales of RF filter in North America are projected to swell at a significant pace, making North America a highly lucrative market for RF filter. On the other hand, sales of RF filter in China and Japan are expected to soar at a high rate, with China at the forefront. Growing demand for RF filter in China can be attributed to the increasing shipments of smartphones in the country coupled with rising purchasing power parity of the Chinese people. Manufacturers of RF filter can expect a steady stream of opportunities from China and the United States in the years to follow. Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/24187 Overcrowding Leading to Frequency Interference - Factor Limiting Revenue Growth of the RF Filter Market Technological advances in the semiconductor industry have facilitated increased production of radio frequency devices since the past two decades. However, mushrooming growth of new technologies has translated into crowding of the RF filter spectrum thereby increasing complexities. Special RF filters are used in smartphones and communication technology, which are essentially SAW (Surface Acoustic Waves) filters. However, as bands are closely allocated with each other, the system is likely to project a lag or delay of around one minute causing interference of frequencies. This is expected to confine the growth of the RF filter market during the period of forecast. Get full Report Now: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/24187 More from PMR's Electronics and Smart Devices Intelligence: Portable Battery Pack (Power Banks) Market Segmentation (By Battery Type - Li-ion (Lithium ion) Battery, Li-polymer (Lithium-Polymer) Battery, Nickel Metal Hydride Battery, Ni-Cd (Nickel Cadmium) Battery; By Capacity - 1,000 mAh to 2,500 mAh, 2,500 to 5,000 mAh, 5,000 to 7,500 mAh, 7,500 to 10,000 mAh, Above 10,000 mAh; By Product Type - Mobile Phones, Tablets, Others (portable media players and other electronic devices); By Price Range - Low, Mid, High) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016-2024https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/portable-battery-pack-market.asp Analog IC Market Segmentation (By Product Type - Application Specific IC, General Purpose IC ; By Application Type - Communication, Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Industrial, Medical and Healthcare, Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016-2024: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/analog-ics-market.asp Air Cargo Security & Screening Systems Market Segmentation (By Size of screening systems - For small cargo, For break and pallet cargo, For oversized cargo; By Technology - Narcotics trace detectors, Non-computed tomography, Explosive detection systems; By Applications - Narcotics detection, Explosive detection, Metal & contra band detection) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016-2024: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/air-cargo-security-screening-systems-market.asp Persistence Market Research Overview Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes. Contact Persistence Market Research U.S. Sales Office: 305 Broadway, 7th Floor New York City, NY 10007 +1-646-568-7751 United States USA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com PMR Latest News: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/news [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Pluribus Networks Extends Support for New DELL EMC Open Networking Switches Pluribus Networks announced the release of Netvisor ONE 3.1 with support for additional Dell EMC (News - Alert) Open Networking switches, enabling new interface speeds, greater intelligence and the extension of its unique software-defined network fabric architecture from the data center to the network edge. This brings the total number of Dell (News - Alert) EMC Open Networking switches supported by Pluribus Networks to nine. Building on the previous Netvisor ONE Network Operating System (OS) integrations with the widely-deployed Dell EMC Z- and S-Series switches, Pluribus has added support for the Dell EMC S4148F- ON (News - Alert) , S4148T-ON, S4128F-ON, S4128T-ON, and S5048F-ON models. These high-performance Open Networking switches, designed for enterprise and service provider data center and network edge deployments, deliver increased capacity and support for 25 GbE and 100 GbE interfaces to meet the increasing demands of virtualized and multi-cloud operations. "Our strategy is providing customers with choice for accelerating adoption of disaggregated network solutions that support their next-generation networking requirements," said John Hultman, vice president for global sales, Dell EMC Networking & Solutions. "The Pluribus Netvisor ONE OS brings a unique set of differentiated capabilities to Dell EMC customers with a simple, controllerless SDN fabric architecture for scalable, distributed, multi-location deployments." Networking disaggregation is changing the way networks are built and enable organizations to break free from the closed legacy networking model to take advantage of best-of-breed open technologies and challenge incumbent vendors. The transformational Open Networking model is predicated on a combination of a strong hardware foundation with a robust networking OS to build next-generation networking systems. In this new architectural model, the network operating system software matters as it is the critical enabler of rich new services and capabilities that enable IT transformation. Netvisor ONE is Pluribus Networks' deployment-proven third-generation Open Networking OS that delivers best-in-class advanced networking services to power the next-generation, agile and programmable software-defined network. Netvisor ONE virtualizes the network and powers the Adaptive Cloud Fabric architecture to build a holistic, distributed network that provides single-network OS to challenge Arista and Cisco (News - Alert) . Simple to deploy and interoperable with existing networks to support brownfield deployments, the Adaptive Cloud Fabric operates without a controller to deliver a more dynamic, resilient, and elastic network that adapts to change and streamlines operations to optimize service delivery, improve efficiency and lower operational costs. Intrinsic automation, API-driven programmability and deep integrations with VMware vCenter enable integrated end-to-end management and provisioning from compute and storage in the data center to the network edge. "As organizations are transforming their networks to support next-generation multi-cloud architectures, the operational value and economic benefits of disaggregated Open Networking strategies have become increasingly compelling," said Steven Shalita, vice president, marketing and business development for Pluribus Networks. "As Dell EMC continues to lead the global adoption of Open Networking, we are proud that our combined solution enables our joint customers to build scalable, automated, and distributed networks that improve business agility, efficiency and operational simplicity, challenging the legacy incumbents." Availability The Pluribus Netvisor ONE OS version 3.1 with support for the Dell EMC Open Networking hardware is now available for immediate deployment globally through Dell EMC and its channel partners. About Pluribus Networks Pluribus Networks is simplifying the software-defined enterprise with its simple, dynamic and secure Adaptive Cloud Fabric architecture, enabling organizations to build scalable private and public clouds that improve service velocity, performance, and reliability. The innovative Netvisor ONE Operating System software virtualizes open networking hardware to build a holistic, distributed network that is more intelligent, automated and resilient. The company's Insight Analytics platform leverages embedded telemetry and other data sources to enable pervasive visibility across the network to reveal network and application performance that speeds troubleshooting and improves operational and security intelligence. Pluribus Networks has received venture funding from Temasek Holdings, NEA, Menlo Ventures (News - Alert) , and AME Cloud Ventures. Pluribus Networks is headquartered in San Jose, California, with development and support centers in Bangalore, India; Phoenix, Ariz.; Dallas, Texas; and Hong Kong, PRC. For additional information contact Pluribus Networks at info@pluribusnetworks.com, or visit www.pluribusnetworks.com. Follow us on Twitter @pluribusnet. Netvisor is a registered trademark, and Pluribus Networks, the Pluribus logo, and Adaptive Cloud Fabric are trademarks of Pluribus Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005389/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Toshiba Empowers the Art of Business at LEAD 2018 Toshiba America Business Solutions and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions are teaming up to empower its business partners during LEAD (Learn, Engage, Act and Deliver) 2018 Sept. 5 and 6 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. LEAD 2018's theme of Empowering the Art of Business, celebrates the notion that each company is a unique collection of people, ideas, language, culture and brand. This concept epitomizes Toshiba's (News - Alert) collective belief that every client is unique. Their work is their art, their employees the artist. More than 1,600 LEAD 2018 attendees - comprised of customers, resellers and technology partners as well as industry media and analysts - will receive a first glance at Toshiba's 13 just-introduced e-STUDIO multifunction printers (MFPs). The seven color and six monochrome additions to Toshiba's award-winning e-STUDIO multifunction printer (MFP) line deliver up to 50 pages-per-minute to tackle the print, document management and workflow applications today's organizations demand. Toshiba's new products all incorporate Elevate, the company's customizable user interface (UI) enabling clients to enjoy a completely custom-tailored experience supporting each customer's unique requirements. Elevate enhances an organization's overall efficiency and productivity by enabling document workflows and common tasks at the push of a button. The event's 35 information-jammed educational sessions are tailored to help resellers increase profits while assisting organizations operate more efficiently, effectively and affordably. Attendees are also welcome to listen to LEAD 2018 keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling author, Shawn Achor, who will iscuss the connection between happiness and success. Other noted speakers include Keith Kmetz, program vice president of imaging, printing and document solutions, IDC (News - Alert) and Judy Spitz, founding program director, Initiative for Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York. "Our team is excited to host an event where key decision makers and industry leaders converge to collaborate, plan and prepare our resellers, customers and business partners for success," said Bill Melo, Chief Marketing Executive of Toshiba America Business Solutions and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. "Beyond the informative sessions on trending topics on office printing, document workflow, digital signage and retail commerce technology, our resellers and customers are encouraged to personally review our latest product innovations." While this is the eighth LEAD, this year marks the third time that Toshiba America Business Solutions and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions have combined to host the event. Five of Toshiba's previous six LEAD events have been recognized with Stevie Awards, the world's top honor for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals. About Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) provides multifunction printers, managed document services and digital signage for businesses of all sizes throughout the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. The company's award-winning e-STUDIO copiers and printers provide quality performance with the security businesses require. Complementing its hardware offering is a full suite of document workflow, capture and security services including Encompass, the company's industry-acclaimed Managed Print Services program. Encompass enables clients to print less and optimize workflow while improving energy efficiency. TABS' Ellumina digital signage offering includes all of the hardware, software and services needed to implement dynamic and interactive digital signage installations. TABS provides content creation and management, displays, integration, installation and project management services as well as financing for solutions ranging from a single screen to the biggest arenas and stadiums. For additional information, please visit www.business.toshiba.com. Follow Toshiba: Facebook (News - Alert) : https://www.facebook.com/ToshibaBusiness/ Twitter (News - Alert) : @ToshibaBusiness LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ToshibaBusiness YouTube (News - Alert) : https://www.youtube.com/ToshibaBusiness Newsroom: http://business.toshiba.com/usa/about/press View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005393/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Infiniti Research Highlights the Technology Trends Influencing the Future of Banking Infiniti Research, a world-renowned market intelligence solutions provider, has announced the completion of their latest article on the technology trends that are influencing the future of banking. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005515/en/ Technology Trends That Will Transform the Future of Banking. (Graphic: Business Wire) The future of banking will be significantly different from what we see now. At present, fintech firms are capturing more of the retail banking's value chain, offering services such as payments, checking, and even savings accounts that could erode the traditional bank's revenues to a large degree in the foreseeable future. This is encouraging many retail banking organizations to think over the options to improve their services and move to platforms that give a "more digital" experience to the customers. Customer expectations and behaviors are quickly moving to more personalized and immediate services that are provided first on their mobile devices. Modern retail banking customers wish to remove processes such as having to go to branches to get bank-related work done. Rather, they want financial data and the ability to transact at their fingertips. To know more about the scope of our research engagement, request a proposal "The future of banking is expected to witness the advent of innovative technologies such as contactless payments in ATM," says an industry expert from Infiniti. Future of banking: Upgraded ATMs: One of the largest technology trends in the retail banking industry that has transformed the whole banking system since their beginning in 1967 is advanced ATMs. The future of banking is anticipated to witness contactless payments in ATMs. Customers will be able to perform contactless ATM transactions using a mobile phone. Numerous innovations in this space have previously been applied; for example, the iris recognition used at Qatar National Bank ATMs and biometric authentication have already been executed in many ATMs in India. These technologies improve retail banking security and stop hacking and such illegal practices. To know more about our portfolio of market intelligence solutions , get in touch One of the largest technology trends in the retail banking industry that has transformed the whole banking system since their beginning in 1967 is advanced ATMs. The future of banking is anticipated to witness contactless payments in ATMs. Customers will be able to perform contactless ATM transactions using a mobile phone. Numerous innovations in this space have previously been applied; for example, the iris recognition used at Qatar National Bank ATMs and biometric authentication have already been executed in many ATMs in India. These technologies improve retail banking security and stop hacking and such illegal practices. , Wearables in banking: Wearable technology is all set to go mainstream in the future of banking. Retail banking can use smart watches to push personal greetings to customers through Bluetooth beacons when they enter a bank's location. Smart-glasses for bank tellers is also an innovation that is being considered for implementation. This can be used to process customer banking information for the employee as the employee is instantaneously doing other customer service tasks. To know more about our portfolio of solutions , request a proposal Wearable technology is all set to go mainstream in the future of banking. Retail banking can use smart watches to push personal greetings to customers through Bluetooth beacons when they enter a bank's location. Smart-glasses for bank tellers is also an innovation that is being considered for implementation. This can be used to process customer banking information for the employee as the employee is instantaneously doing other customer service tasks. , Use of extended reality: Extended reality refers to all real-and-virtual united environments and interactions of human-machines that are produced by computer technology or wearables. This comprises virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Using these technologies could help form more meaningful customer engagements and also improved workforce performance. For example, South Korea's Hana Bank is bringing mobile mortgages to customers through augmented-reality applications on their phone. Such practices create immersive and engaging experiences for customers, also making banking less of a chore in the minds of customers. Extended reality refers to all real-and-virtual united environments and interactions of human-machines that are produced by computer technology or wearables. This comprises virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Using these technologies could help form more meaningful customer engagements and also improved workforce performance. For example, South Korea's Hana Bank is bringing mobile mortgages to customers through augmented-reality applications on their phone. Such practices create immersive and engaging experiences for customers, also making banking less of a chore in the minds of customers. Get in touch, to know more about the technology trends in the future of the banking industry Infiniti Research is a global market intelligence company offering strategic insights to help look beyond market disruptions, study competitive activity, and develop intelligent business strategies. Listed below are the technology trends in the future of the banking industry. View the complete list of the technology trends in the future of the banking industry: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/thoughts/fast-forward-technology-trends-will-transform-future-banking About Infiniti Research Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. With 15+ years of experience and offices across three continents, Infiniti Research has been instrumental in providing a complete range of competitive intelligence, strategy, and research services for over 550 companies across the globe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005515/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Measure 2A passes. Will allow for over $10 million in road repairs. Pueblo voters passed Ballot Measure 2A, which will allow the city to use excess sales tax funds for road repairs. [September 05, 2018] CrediVia Introduces New Hotel Financing Experience Today, CrediVia announced the launch of its hospitality financing marketplace. Designed to drive smarter decisions and stronger engagement, the cloud-based platform securely connects interested lenders and qualified borrowers through a simpler, faster and more transparent loan experience. See our concept video. The inspiration behind CrediVia stems from the founders' personal financing frustrations. Built by lenders and borrowers, CrediVia is a collaborative platform designed to yield a greater potential for mutually successful loans. The redefined process reduces common challenges found across commercial real estate borrowing and lending, uniquely focused for now on the riskiest of CRE assets - hotel loans. Anuj Mittal, co-founder and CEO of CrediVia, explained, "It took me nearly a year to secure financing for my first hotel: six months of searching for a lender who would work with me and another three to six months of back and forth to get through underwriting. I realized that my challenges were part of a greater industry problem that needed to be fixed. I've spent years since then identifying the right partners to join with me in creating a solution that could make hotel financing as easy as it is in Monopoly." CrediVia centralizes all data for the borrower and digitizes lenders' application workflow on a single platform. Borrowers enter application data once before being connected with multiple lenders looking for candidates who meet their criteria. Lenders receive a complete loan package right from the tart that helps expedite decisioning and approvals, and have access to valuable reporting and analytics to support their underwriting and loan review. Plus, the comprehensive borrower data entered at the beginning drastically reduces unnecessary iterations between borrower and lender, easing burden for both parties. Find out more benefits specific to lenders and borrowers. Ajay Jain, CrediVia's co-founder and chief product officer, added, "Our intent with this marketplace is to blend a customized, meaningful loan request with a detailed business plan - saving time, effort and money for everyone touching the deal. We're taking out a lot of the guesswork that interrupts the typical loan process, while also providing lenders and borrowers a more secure way to exchange data. Efficiency and simplicity were leading drivers in building CrediVia, supported by protecting our users with a level of platform security and data privacy that gives them the confidence to move lending forward." The CrediVia name stands for the way to credit. The platform can be a reliable source for borrowers seeking new financing or wanting to refinance, and lenders can trust it to source qualified leads specific to their loan portfolio criteria, every time. Mittal adds, "As a borrower I can attest that we're frustrated with lenders' processes and delays, which cost us money. However, I also recognize that lenders get frustrated with our general lack of data and preparedness. There is a human element to lending that has been buried in all of this. CrediVia is here not to aimlessly match borrowers and lenders, but to expose the deeper story - the personal need - behind every loan request." About CrediVia CrediVia is a cloud-based platform that directly connects hospitality lenders and borrowers, allowing them to have the greatest potential for mutual success. The online marketplace keeps the application process simple, fast and transparent without sacrificing the loan's integrity. CrediVia becomes borrowers' return source for new financing, and lenders' reliable partner for loan relationships right for their portfolio. Visit CrediVia.com or follow @CrediVia for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005510/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Nominees Announced - 4th Annual CanBIM Innovation Spotlight Awards TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ - The Canada BIM Council (CanBIM) Announces the Nominees for the 2018 Innovation Spotlight Awards on Tuesday September 4th. Established in 2008, CanBIM is in its 10th year of building a community of technology leaders within the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Owner & Facility Management (AECO) industries. The CanBIM Innovation Spotlight Awards recognizes technology leadership and innovation within the AECO industry. The CanBIM Innovation Spotlight Awards takes place on September 20th, 2018 - 6-10PM, in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. CanBIM recognizes industry leaders in eight (8) award categories: Technology, Academics, General Contractors, Trades, Design & Engineering, Owners & Facility Management, International, Trailblazer (Volunteer of the Year) and Professional Achievement. Top honours are presented to the Best In Innovation, candidates for this category will be selected from the winners of each of the award categories. Nominees for the 4th Annual Innovation Spotlight Awards are as follows: Visit CanBIM Website for a full listing of Nominees and Award Sponsors Trailblazer Award Nominees Harsh Vyas Fanshawe College Sergey Grushko George Brown College International Awar Sponsored by Bluebeam An award of distinction for an international project. Academic Award Nominees Sponsored by Global eTraining Carleton Immersive Media Studio - Library of Parliament Fanshawe College - Practical Evaluation of BIM IPD Owners & Facility Management Award Nominees Sponsored by B+H Architects Alberta Infrastructure Digital Project Delivery Requirements IBI Group Head Office Facility Management Design & Engineering Award Nominees Sponsored by SolidCAD DIALOG Calgary Cancer Center Entuitive Corporation Unnamed Healthcare Project Stantec Royal Columbian Hospital Project Phase 1 Zenit Consulting Multidiscipline BIM Implementation General Contractors Award Nominees Sponsored by Brownlee LLP EllisDon York University New Student Centre EllisDon YYC Baggage Handling System Gillam Group Inc. Farquharson Life Sciences Renovation Kenaidan Contracting Bramalea GO Station PCL Constructors Inc. National Arts Centre Architectural Rejuvenation Pomerleau Place Ville Marie Repositioning Tucker HiRise/TLogic Massey Tower Technology Award Nominees Sponsored by Glaholt LLP Assemble Systems BIM & Co - OnFly BIM Track Open API IBI Group - InForm Revizto The CanBIM Professional Achievement Award nominees and Best In Innovation will be announced at the event on September 20th. Registration is still open to attend the Awards Dinner & Presentation. Visit the CanBIM website for details. Website: www.canbim.com CanBIM Social Media: @CanBIM YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. About CanBIM - http://www.canbim.com/about-canbim Serving as the business voice of Canada's BIM community, CanBIM represents, supports and advocates on behalf of the entire AECOO and educational community to build a positive business environment for the effective deployment of BIM, not only for our member firms, but for all engaged in utilizing BIM in Canada. About CanBIM Awards - http://www.canbim.com/about-canbim-awards CanBIM recognizes excellence in BIM/VDC through an Annual Awards presentation to those CanBIM Member companies and or individuals that demonstrate leadership and innovation through the implementation of technology, processes and methodologies. SOURCE CanBIM [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Vainu Labs Builds A.I. to Read and to Understand What Is Being Said About Companies on the Web NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vainu's mission is to build the most comprehensive database of all the companies in the world. A crucial part of this mission is having the ability to determine when companies are being mentioned in natural language. Named Entity Recognition (NER) is a subset of natural language processing that focuses on understanding when an entity is mentioned in free text. For example, a sentence like "Apple's logo is beautiful but why has the apple been bitten?" Has named entity: organization (Apple) and word "apple" in different contexts. Many companies have names that are also words of their own and therefore searching with text pattern only is not a sufficient way to detect when companies are being mentioned in text. State-of-the-Art Neural Network Predictions with Mind Blowing Amounts of Training Data Earlier, Vainu used to leverage Google's NER technology, but it soon became evident that instead of only recognizing linguistic patterns, a more advanced solution could be made using company data. Vainu analyzes approximately 1.5 million news stories about companies on a daily basis; it houses data from about 120 million companies in its database. The raw data to create the training set was always there. By creating effective tools using huge amounts of human workers and carefully using cross-validation in which the same piece of information was evaluated by different workers, Vainu Lab's team converted the raw data into a massive, structured training set. From there, employing current state-of-the-art deep learning technology and validation of results enabled Vainu to create the most accurate company NER in the world today. "Like with most of the machine learning tasks in the world, the largest task for us has bee generating the training set that meets our quality standards and creating the technology to build it," said Tuomas Rasila, CTO and co-founder of Vainu. What is the value of this technology? "Beyond the original usemcase of collecting vast amounts of publicly available information about companies of the world, this technology could potentially be used for a number of tasks like searching companies in unorganized textual databases through corporate databases and emails," said Riko Nyberg, Head of A.I. Vainu Labs. The technology is currently being used as a part of Vainu's company intelligence platform and offered as a part of its technology stack for corporate customers, but it may possibly find its way to wider audiences in upcoming releases, according to Rasila. Test results: How Vainu's NER fairs compared to global benchmarks As described, recognizing the correct companies is the most crucial element for Vainu's company-centered service. Thus, to serve the overall mission of Vainu, the one measure where Vainu's NER must crush all other services is the recognition of companies. And this is the case in all the languages in which Vainu processes unorganized textual data. Widely respected benchmarks for NER services are the Google NER and the Stanford NER. However, they do not provide solutions in Finnish, Swedish or Norwegian, so based on purely that fact Vainu NER performs better in these languages and sets the bar. For context, in Swedish, Vainu NER's F1 score in recognizing companies was already as high as 85.89%. And how about English the most researched language in named entity recognition? The overall F1 score of Vainu NER vs. Stanford NER using the English test set provided by Stanford was 94.20% vs. 92.99% Vainu outperformed Stanford's NER. For more information on Vainu Labs, visit vainulabs.com. About Vainu Labs A subset of Vainu.io, VainuLabs provides commercial data teams with the building blocks for machine learning projects, from making accurate predictions on company trajectories to scoring and segmenting companies based on desired outcomes. The company's goal is to make B2B collaboration as advanced as its B2C counterparts, using the data that is readily available for smarter business interactions. As a privately owned, founder-led company, we're able to work fast and respond to our customers needs without anything getting in our way. For more information, visit vainulabs.com. Media contact: Bob Spoerl 201125@email4pr.com 773-453-2444 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vainu-labs-builds-ai-to-read-and-to-understand-what-is-being-said-about-companies-on-the-web-300707085.html SOURCE Vainu [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Solace and NEC Announce Partnership to Accelerate Data Connectivity Solutions TOKYO and OTTAWA, Ontario, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ -- Solace Corporation, creators of PubSub+, an advanced event broker technology that enables smart data movement, today announced a strategic business alliance with NEC Corporation, a leading global systems integrator, to accelerate NEC's data connectivity solutions. In recent years, thanks in part to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the need for businesses to pursue digital transformation (DX) to remain competitive, information technologies have evolved in their complexity and overall business importance. These technological advances, coupled with increasingly empowered consumers, have dramatically increased not only the type and size of data, but the need for enterprises in a variety of industries to securely and efficiently move that data. Today's IT architects understand that a real-time, event-driven architecture is key to meeting these demands. NEC has led the market as one of the world's leading providers of connectivity solutions for public institutions, enterprises, service providers, mobile operators, and other customers in and outside of Japan. To keep pace with the rapidly growing demands of today's market, NEC is committed to creating the next generation of its connectivity infrastructure based on network technologies. As the first step in the partnership, NEC will implement Solace's technologies in the cloud to provide messaging functions as part of their service portfolio. The resulting solution will provide NEC customers with a variety of interfaces and protocols in cmbination with an access line, including a mobile phone network and a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA). "NEC has an accomplished history of providing connected value, primarily through networks, to enterprises and public institutionsincluding domestic and international telecommunications carriers. This partnership with Solace enables us to further expand our connected value to the data domain, where one-stop connectivity can be offered from the edge to the cloud," said Takashi Sato, General Manager, Digital Services Solution Division, NEC. "By combining Solace's advanced messaging technology and NEC's broad network solutions, we are confident that we can quickly, easily, and flexibly contribute to the realization of our customers' IoT and DX business operations." "We are excited about this collaboration with NEC, a leading provider of a wide range of global data connectivity solutions," said Les Rechan, CEO, Solace. "We are confident in our smart data movement technologies and honored to contribute to NEC's goal of 'orchestrating a brighter world.'" The collaboration will accelerate digital transformation initiatives through the creation of smart, scalable, and robust connectivity platform solutions. About NEC Corporation NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and fairness of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com. About Solace Solace is the only advanced event broker that supports publish/subscribe, queueing, request/reply and streaming using open APIs and protocols across hybrid cloud and IoT environments. The company's smart data movement technologies rapidly and reliably route information between applications, devices and people across clouds. Established enterprises such as SAP, Barclays and American Express as well as high-growth companies such as VoiceBase and Jio use Solace to modernize legacy applications and successfully pursue analytics, hybrid cloud and Internet of Things strategies. Learn more at https://solace.com/ Press contact for Solace: Lori Niquette SHIFT Communications solace@shiftcomm.com 617-779-1800 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solace-and-nec-announce-partnership-to-accelerate-data-connectivity-solutions-300706776.html SOURCE Solace [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Altair Semiconductor and Ethertronics Announce High-Performance Small Antenna Technology, Paving Way for Tiny IoT and Wearable Devices HOD HASHARON, Israel, September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Semiconductor (altair-semi.com ), a leading provider of cellular IoT chipsets, and Ethertronics (a subsidiary of AVX) a leader in high performance antenna system solutions, today announced a new small antenna technology, which will be demonstrated within a new cellular IoT wearable concept at Mobile World Congress Americas. The technology is a significant breakthrough that combines Ethertronics' ultra-small antenna with Altair's ALT1250 dual-mode Cat-M1/NB-IoT chipset algorithms to reduce the size of cellular wearable devices without sacrificing performance. "Ethertronics is a recognized leader in antenna design and tunable components, making it an excellent partner for developing this concept," said Dima Feldman, Head of Product Management for Altair. "Combining Altair's modem algorithmic capabilities with a world class antenna designer has resulted in the smallest antenna design for cellular wearable devices and other tiny IoT devices, setting a new standard for antenna performance that improves coverage, power efficiency and overall user experience." The ALT1250 is the market's most highly integrated dual-mode Cat-M1/NB-IoT chipset, with lowest power consumption and enabling longest battery lif. It includes GNSS location positioning, a RF front-end supporting all commercial LTE bands within a single hardware design, a hardware-based security framework and an internal application subsystem. "Until now, wearable device manufacturers have struggled to reduce the size of their products without sacrificing cellular coverage and overall performance," said Olivier Pajona, Chief Scientist for Ethertronics. "Altair's antenna tuning algorithm and leadership in integrated solutions, together with our expertise in antenna design, paves the way to developing the smallest and highest performing wearable devices." The prototype will be demonstrated by Altair at Mobile World Congress Americas from September 12 to 14 in Los Angeles. About Ethertronics Ethertronics is a global leader and innovator in ultra-high performance smart antenna system solutions for wireless communications. Ethertronics Active Steering Antenna technology provides performance enhancements for throughput, range, efficiency and reliability across a range of applications, from 5G to Wi-Fi and the Internet of Things. Ethertronics has shipped over 1.8 billion antenna systems that are being used by leading wireless handset and device manufacturers worldwide. Ethertronics is a subsidiary of AVX, a global electronic component supplier & manufacturer. For more information, visit http://www.avx.com/ethertronics About Altair Semiconductor Altair Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, is a leading provider of LTE chipsets. Altair's portfolio covers the complete spectrum of cellular 4G market needs, from supercharged video-centric applications all the way to ultra-low power, low cost IoT and M2M. Altair has shipped millions of LTE chipsets to date, commercially deployed on the world's most advanced LTE networks including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Softbank and KT (Korea Telecom). The company's customer roster includes some of the world's leading OEMs and ODMs, such as Hewlett-Packard, ASUS, D-Link, WNC, Sierra Wireless and Murata, as well as the majority of Asian ODMs developing LTE products for global markets. For more information, visit http://www.altair-semi.com. Follow Altair on Twitter: @AltairSemi Media/Analyst Contact: Finn Partners Israel for Altair Semiconductor Glenn Jasper Email: goel.jasper@finnpartners.com Twitter: @goeljasper +1-929-222-8002 SOURCE Altair Semiconductor [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Medical Properties Trust Completes Joint Venture of 71 German Hospitals Medical Properties Trust, Inc. ("MPT" or the "Company") (NYSE:MPW), today announced that it has completed the previously announced joint venture among certain of its European affiliates and affiliates of Primonial Group ("Primonial"). As previously disclosed, the joint venture agreements establish a value of the 71 assets of 1.63 billion, reflecting an unlevered internal rate of return exceeding 15% since MPT's acquisition of the assets. Total proceeds to MPT, including its portion of secured debt, are approximately 1.14 billion. The company expects to use such proceeds to repay balances under its revolving credit facility, make investments in additional U.S. and European hospital assets and for other corporate purposes. "This partnership with Primonial demonstrates MPT's unique expertise and ability to create long term value for our shareholders, reduce our cost of capital and provide permanent capital for reinvestment to create additional highly attractive hospital real estate portfolios," said Edward K. Aldag, Jr., MPT's Chairman, President and CEO. "Already we are highly focused on reinvestment of proceeds to acquire hospital real estate leased to high-quality operators in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere." MPT also disclosed that the joint venture has entered into a 655 million secured financing arrangement with a consortium of lenders, including Societe Generale S.A. Frankfurt Branch as Mandated Lead Arranger and affiliates of AXA. Provisions of the financing agreement include a term of seven years and a swapped fixed rate of approximately 2.3%. About Medical Properties Trust, Inc. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the changing trends in healthcare delivery by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. MPT's financing model helps facilitate acquisitions and recapitalizations and allows operators of hospitals and other healthcare facilities to unlok the value of their real estate assets to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades and other investments in operations. Facilities include acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and other medical and surgical facilities. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.medicalpropertiestrust.com. About Primonial Group Primonial Group, specialized in all aspects of wealth management, selects, combines and offers comprehensive solutions for wealth management professionals and their clients. It is supported by a large number of specialists in residential property investments and real estate funds, life insurance and annuities, structured products and asset management, and has assets under management (managed or advised) of 23.44 billion. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.primonial.com. The statements in this press release that are forward looking are based on current expectations and actual results or future events may differ materially. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "will," "should" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the Company or future events to differ materially from those expressed in or underlying such forward-looking statements, including without limitation: the satisfaction of all conditions to, and the timely closing (if at all) of pending transactions; the amount of acquisitions of healthcare real estate, if any; results from potential sales and joint venture arrangements, if any; capital markets conditions; estimated leverage metrics; the repayment of debt arrangements; statements concerning the additional income to the Company as a result of ownership interests in certain hospital operations and the timing of such income; the payment of future dividends, if any; completion of additional debt arrangements, and additional investments; national and international economic, business, real estate and other market conditions; the competitive environment in which the Company operates; the execution of the Company's business plan; financing risks; the Company's ability to maintain its status as a REIT for income tax purposes; acquisition and development risks; potential environmental and other liabilities; and other factors affecting the real estate industry generally or healthcare real estate in particular. For further discussion of the factors that could affect outcomes, please refer to the "Risk factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and as updated by the Company's subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC (News - Alert) filings. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update the information in this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005522/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] SetSchedule Launches Impactful, New Machine Learning Product and Leads with Startup Sponsorship at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SetSchedule, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven real estate technology company, will showcase its innovative lead-generating execution platform as a sponsor at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018. As the premier event for technology startups, TechCrunch Disrupt features on-stage interviews, startup competitions, a virtual hackathon, workshops and unparalleled networking opportunities with companies and thought leaders from around the globe. As a startup sponsor, SetSchedule represents a select group of game-changing companies younger than five years which have launched an MVP. SetSchedule announced today the rollout of exciting new product enhancements and a propriety platform that will truly exemplify the event's theme of disruption. Today agents will be introduced to the world's first machine learning, AI-based dynamic real estate data marketplace to help them select the best data, pick the best leads and secure the best scheduled opportunities. Real estate professionals will be able to access the platform online, on location and on demand to help them run their territory in a new way anytime, anywhere. SetSchedule has already disrupted the real estate industry with advanced data analytics and AI technology that connects real estate professionals with homebuyers and sellers. The platform features AI-powered predictive data, timely, accurate markt insights and advanced digital marketing and business development features. Homebuyers can take advantage of real-time property estimation tools and algorithmically match with the perfect agent to suit their unique needs. "We believe that more than anything, we are a technology company, and understanding the foundation of data enrichment, machine learning and AI, and how we can harness those capabilities in the real estate space is extremely important," said Roy Dekel, CEO of SetSchedule. "TechCrunch Disrupt hosts some of the most forward-thinking entrepreneurs and investors in the space, and our enthusiastic participation in this event lets us collaborate with those thought leaders and keep our finger on the pulse of innovation." Dekel and the SetSchedule team will also participate in Disrupt's many networking opportunities. Networking with industry visionaries and entrepreneurs is the event's key attraction, from exploring the exhibits of Startup Alley to enjoying the after parties hosted at the city's hottest spots. TechCrunch Disrupt will be held at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, California from Sept. 5-7, 2018. To learn more about SetSchedule's tremendous growth, innovative solutions and how their platform has helped more than 7,400 active agents close more than $265 million in deals by using predictive analytics, please visit www.setschedule.com. About SetSchedule SetSchedule is a first-of-its-kind technology-based real estate marketing firm that connects Realtors with local homeowners, home buyers, and investors who are seeking to buy and sell properties. The company identifies potential sale properties before they even reach the market with its innovative, multi-patented matching engine that leverages AI-powered predictive data, insider market insights and automated marketing software tools. Founded in 2014, SetSchedule is based in Irvine, California. Learn more at setschedule.com. Media Contact: Laura Waldron Interdependence PR for SetSchedule 201085@email4pr.com (949)777-2485 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/setschedule-launches-impactful-new-machine-learning-product-and-leads-with-startup-sponsorship-at-techcrunch-disrupt-sf-2018-300706761.html SOURCE SetSchedule [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Nav Awards Mobile, Solar-Powered Bait & Tackle Business Owner $10,000 Grant SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Nav, a free site and app for small business owners to access their business credit scores and get matched to financing options, announced Chris Jones, the owner and operator of CJ's Bait & Tackle, as the grand prize winner of its second Small Business Grant. CJ's Bait and Tackle is the Mississippi Gulf Coast's first mobile, solar-powered bait and tackle shop. Located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, patrons can purchase a variety of items including snacks, cold drinks, bait, fishing accessories, and life jackets. Stemming from an idea Jones and his father-in-law had, the mobile and solar-powered shop came to fruition in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "Having the ability to pick up and go when necessary and on relatively short notice is important for our business and family," said Jones. "By going tiny and being mobile, we're able to take our livelihood with us if we ever have to evacuate again. We're also able to be where the people need us and do business in places that wouldn't have been possible with a brick and mortar operation." While Jones' father-in-law was not alive to see the business open, Jones is using the business as a way to connect and make memories with his own sons. To be considered for the Nav Small Business Grant, business owners were asked to share a challenge their business is facing. When Jones applied for the Grant earlier this summer, he shared that access to capital was a primary challenge for his business. "Much like other families in our area, we live paycheck-to-paycheck and have scraped together every extra penny, and even bartered and traded to obtain the resources we needed," shared Jones. "Now that we've opened, we realize we need to add to our existing systems to be completely off the grid and grow. Unfortunately, we do not have the capital to take the next step." Jones' challenge s a common pain point for small business owners. In the first round of Nav's first Small Business Grant this summer, winner Rachel Irons, owner of Founding Foods, shared a similar challenge with her business. "Access to capital and financing is one of the most frustrating aspects of running a business," said Levi King, Nav's CEO and co-founder. "Chris' story is one that we've heard often, and I've personally experienced many times. Chris is very deserving of this Grant, as his business is smart, well-conceived and has great potential to succeed. We look forward to seeing Chris use this money to help his dream thrive." With the Grant, Jones plans to upgrade equipment, add additional solar panels and upgrade inventory. "This is absolutely life changing for us," remarked Jones after learning he won the Grant. "We can now grow our business into what we envisioned. Thank you so much to everyone at Nav for this opportunity. We have truly been blessed." Jones will be awarded the $10,000 check by Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell on September 13. "Pascagoula loves small businesses," said Mayor Maxwell. "We've attracted some now-famous entrepreneurs, and I have no doubt that CJ's Bait & Tackle is another one of those Pascagoula-born companies that will create a big buzz on the Gulf Coast and beyond. What a great concept a mobile bait and tackle shop! We're a city that loves our waterways and fishing and I'm proud we could help them launch this business right here, at our beautiful Beach Park, and Nav is providing the capital for them to grow this business." More information about CJ's Bait & Tackle and Jones' vision for the future of his business is available in Nav's latest blog post. Two other small businesses were also awarded grants. Caffeine Corps, a veteran-owned caffeine shop in Alabama received $2,000, and Calyan Wax Co., a boutique, mission-driven candle company, was given $1,000. The third round of Nav's Small Business Grant will launch on October 15, 2018. It will feature a $10,000 grand prize and prizes for runners-up. More information about the Grant is available here: https://www.nav.com/business-grant-contest/. About Nav More than 400,000 small business owners use Nav to get more funding, lower their costs and save time so they can create the business of their dreams. It gives free access to business credit scores, cash-flow analysis, and tools to help build business credit. Nav's online marketplace offers more than 100 financing products, including loans and credit cards, and uses a lender-neutral algorithm to help business owners find the best financing options for their needs before they apply. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and Salt Lake City. For more information visit: nav.com. CONTACT: Amanda Triest Nav PR Manager 201103@email4pr.com 801-890-5024 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nav-awards-mobile-solar-powered-bait--tackle-business-owner-10-000-grant-300706950.html SOURCE Nav.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] OneDigital Health and Benefits Acquires LMG International, Expands Global Benefits Solution OneDigital Health and Benefits, the nation's largest company focused exclusively on employee benefits and HR, has acquired LMG International in Tysons, Virginia. Managing Principal Jeff Gentile and his team will join OneDigital, strengthening the international benefits division by providing innovative and competitive solutions to meet the needs of employers serving both U.S. and global employees. LMG International is one of the leading international employee benefits and global causality consulting firms in the Mid-Atlantic, servicing companies with a multinational workforce and specializing in the U.S. Government Contractors, Defense, and Aerospace sector, a unique capability in the industry. LMG International's approach centers on duty of care to help employers protect their most valuable asset, their employees. By joining OneDigital, LMG International's clients will have access to ERISA counsel, compliance, health and wellbeing, HR consulting, enhanced claim analysis for pharmaceutical insights and actuarial support. "Being part of a larger organization gives us the resources we need to navigate through all of the ongoing industry changes," says Jeff Gentile, president of LMG International. "I am thrilled for our clients as well, who will be the main beneficiaries of the newly available resources through OneDigital. I ultimately chose OneDigital because I felt their culture, strategy, commitment to growing globally and resources would allow us to continue to deliver to existing clients." The expnsion of the global benefits division further complements OneDigital's comprehensive advisory services and market-leading solutions that are offered in over 74 offices throughout the country. OneDigital focuses on building a disruptive competitive advantage by partnering with like-minded leaders and teams, who fit the culture, love the benefits business and embrace the latest advances in the industry. "OneDigital is committed to providing industry leading and integrated solutions to help clients attract, retain and motivate their teams," says Chris Schutt, regional managing principal, OneDigital Mid-Atlantic. "This is why we are thrilled to welcome LMG International on board. Jeff's team of global experts will allow us to expand our expertise through their strength in global risk advisory services, assuring our clients can take care of their employees, no matter where they are located." About OneDigital Health and Benefits OneDigital Health and Benefits, the nation's largest company focused exclusively on employee benefits and HR, combines people and technology to power your business with exceptional benefits and HR. Serving companies of all sizes, OneDigital offers employers a sophisticated combination of strategic benefit advisory services, analytics, compliance support, human resources management tools and comprehensive insurance offerings. Headquartered in Atlanta, OneDigital has over 1,400 employees throughout the country, serves 38,000 clients and manages nearly $4.5 billion in premiums. OneDigital has been named to the Inc. 5000 List of America's fastest-growing companies each year since 2007. Currently listed as 13th in EBA's Top 50 Brokers in the Large Employer Group, OneDigital's experience offers a fresh-thinking and strategic perspective that will improve all aspects of plan design and performance. About LMG International LMG International is an internationally recognized benefit consulting and brokerage firm, established to service government contractors with the development or restructuring of their employee benefit plans and foreign casualty risks on a global basis. The firm is the broker of choice for many U.S. Department of Defense contractors and the focus on U.S. Federal Government contractors is unique within the industry. LMG International's mission is to strive to provide clients with the best available employee benefits programs allowing them to attract and retain the most talented employees on a local and global basis. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005144/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] MinerEye AI-Powered Data Classification Solution in New U.S. Distribution Agreement with Promark, an Ingram Micro Subsidiary TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MinerEye today announced it has signed a major distribution agreement with Promark, a premier, U.S.-focused value-added distributor (VAD) and wholly-owned subsidiary of Ingram Micro Inc., the world's largest technology distributor and global leader in IT supply-chain and mobile device lifecycle services. Promark will now offer resellers and system integrators MinerEye's DataTracker, an AI-powered data governance solution that now enables companies to continuously identify, classify and track vast information assets - including undermanaged, unstructured and dark data, and to fast track their businesses into the cloud. Data classification is a vexing process that systems integrator's clients are confronting as they seek to identify, classify and tag data as part of cloud migration, and for GDPR and other compliance requirements. "Promark/Ingram Micro and MinerEye will enable companies to conduct accurate and rapid data classification, to reduce security risks and as part of cloud migration initiatives - which virtually all integrators are incorporating into their data storage approach," says Yaniv Avidan, chief executive officer of MinerEye. "We're pleased to add MinerEye's Data Tracker to our roster of world class technology partners that provide solutions to meet the most demanding needs of our customers," says Jeff Brown, President/GM, Promark. "Data Tracker is easily installed and maintained with no agent, an insignificant network and CPU footprint - a single virtual machine manages 120 terabytes - and fast dployment that delivers exponential ROI for our reseller's customers." About Promark Technology Promark Technology, an Ingram Micro company, is one of the premier value-added distributors (VAD) in the United States. Promark's core technology focus is distributing data storage and virtualization products and solutions through a two-tier distribution channel to value added resellers (VARs) and system integrators. Promark leverages its direct relationships with world class technology partners to provide solutions that meet the most demanding needs of its customers. Promark also offers a Public Sector Business Program that helps resellers navigate the government selling process and expand the reach of their Business. The program provides authorized resellers the ability to leverage Promark's GSA Schedule to market and sell products and solutions into both federal government and state and local organizations. Promark offers professional services in application integration, backup and recovery, network optimization, storage implementation and disaster recovery. To learn more about Promark Technology call 800-634-0255 or visit www.promarktech.com. About MinerEye Powered by Interpretive AITM, MinerEye technology sees and continually tracks data by its essence, regardless of its form and information content type, wherever it resides. With MinerEye's unique approach, companies can now discover, organize and track vast information assets by scanning enterprise data repositories at the byte and pixel level. Sensitive data is mapped, tagged and secured according to data protection and compliance regulations including GDPR, HIPPA, PCI-DSS, SOC2, and EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. Employing machine learning and computer vision, MinerEye's flagship product DataTracker is helping companies significantly reduce data storage, monitor and fast-track cloud migration activities, protect previously undetected, unclassified and undermanaged data against security breaches, and continuously audit their information to maintain regulatory compliance. For more information, visit www.minereye.com, or watch a video on our solution. Press Contacts: Andrew Lavin A. Lavin Communications +1-516-944-4486 alc@alavin.com Kelley Smith Promark Technology 240.280.8030 x31039 kelleys@promarktech.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minereye-ai-powered-data-classification-solution-in-new-us-distribution-agreement-with-promark-an-ingram-micro-subsidiary-300707104.html SOURCE MinerEye [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] More than 20 participants from seven African countries demonstrated Chinese martial arts at a gala on Monday night welcoming African leaders to the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The performance was a way for them to celebrate their graduation from a three-month training program at the Shaolin Temple, a Buddhist monastery in Henan province that is also revered by devotees of kung fu. It was the sixth set of training sessions exclusively for African students. From Egypt's pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza to the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, pictures of breathtaking African scenery were juxtaposed in the media center of the FOCAC Beijing Summit. Many Chinese journalists passing by couldn't help staring at the landmarks and murmuring: "I really want to go there one day." A two-day summit in Beijing is short, but these glimpses may create lasting ties between Chinese and African people's hearts. "Tourism has become a flag carrier in China-Africa people-to-people connectivity," according to a report released on Monday by the China Tourism Academy, the data analysis center affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and several leading Chinese tourism websites. The report said China and Africa together had 1.42 million cross-visits in 2017, including 797,800 Chinese visits to Africa and 628,300 the other way around. The first seven months of this year saw a 70 percent increase of Chinese visits to Africa over the same period last year. A boom has also been seen in cross-border cultural activities. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism listed 168 major cultural communication projects between China and Africa since 2016, including exchange exhibitions, visits of art troupes and symposiums. About 200 African scholars and 500 African youths come to China for cultural exchange programs annually. As platforms for cultural communication, 54 Confucius Institutes, mainly in universities, and about 30 Confucius Classrooms set up in elementary and high schools, have been opened in 41 African countries. They have enrolled 1.4 million students and contributed to establishing Mandarin as part of the national education systems of 14 African countries. President Xi Jinping announced on Monday that China will set up an institute of African studies and enhance exchanges with Africa on civilization. He said China welcomes Africa's participation in the Silk Road International League of Theaters, the Silk Road International Museum Alliance and the Network of Silk Road Art Festivals. "Africa is the wellspring of human civilization," said Wang Heng, deputy director of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. "It's also an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. People-to-people exchanges are becoming more frequent." Wang's institute is the first comprehensive research institute on Africa at a Chinese university. "The FOCAC Beijing Summit presents a new horizon for people-to-people exchanges in the future," she said. "The communication will become more abundant in content and will be well-planned through sincere, pragmatic approaches." [September 05, 2018] Security Compass Expands Support for Operational Security, Adding Microsoft Azure to its Knowledge Library TORONTO, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Security Compass , a software security company that provides organizations with the knowledge, training and technology to make software secure, today announced it has expanded on operational security (OpSec) requirements available in the SD Elements' knowledge library, with support for Microsoft Azure and other application deployment environments. As the leading policy-to-procedure platform, SD Elements makes it easy for agile development teams to manage the security considerations of the entire technology stack both the software itself, as well as the OpSec requirements of the Web server, application server, database server, and operating system. Since announcing in October 2017 Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the initial set of OpSec requirements available SD Elements, Security Compass has expanded its content library to include support for the Apache Tomcat Server, Apache HTTP Server, Microsoft IIS Server, and Microsoft Azure. Support for the MySQL Database Server is coming soon. Application security (AppSec) and OpSec unite in SD Elements to embed security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) earlier on, helping to eliminate potential threats and vulnerabilities, before code is written. This helps to maintain a safe production environment. Whereas AppSec builds security into the development process, OpSec protects applications in their runtime environments by ensuring that configuration and deployment settings are secure. Together, organizations can leverage the efficiencies of DevOps, without sacrificing security, to realize the greater benefits of DevSecOps. "SD Elements provides ngineering teams with a holistic solution for managing software security requirements in a DevSecOps environment, allowing them to release and maintain software with more efficiency and fewer flaws," said Ehsan Foroughi, VP of Product at Security Compass. "These production-environment capabilities, combined with our existing AppSec and just-in-time training, enable agile organizations to achieve a continuous and comprehensive software security program, which allows for better risk management and data protection." Key features and functionality of the SD Elements OpSec extension include: Secures the production environments of applications, also known as the "configure and deploy" stage of the DevOps cycle. Can be used to manage the security requirements of the deployment configuration settings alongside the requirements for the application itself to achieve DevSecOps. Features industry-standard benchmarks for securing application deployments from the Center for Internet Security The new content from Security Compass is being welcomed by existing clients. An executive sponsor for the AppSec program at a Fortune 50 company remarked, "We rolled out SD Elements based on the promise that our software teams wouldnt run into any more issues. It worked as expected on the application side, but there were still issues from the deployment and configuration side. The new OpSec coverage allowed us to stand by our original promise by covering the operational aspect of the deployment hardening." About Security Compass Security Compass is a leader in helping customers proactively manage cybersecurity risk without slowing down their business. Offering Advisory Services , Training , and SD Elements , an award-winning Policy-to-Procedure platform for security and compliance. Security Compass enables organizations to rapidly and efficiently deliver technology thats secure by design. Security Compass serves some of the worlds largest businesses including seven of the 15 largest financial institutions and four of the 10 largest technology companies in North America. The privately held company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with global offices in the United States and India. Follow Security Compass on Twitter @securitycompass or visit https://www.securitycompass.com/ Media Contact: April H. Burghardt PR Consultant for Security Compass april@gabdata.com 646-246-0484 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] bitWise Announces Next Generation Adaptive eLearning Platform Allowing Students to Learn Applied Computer Science and Emerging STEM Technologies at Their Own Pace FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- bitWise Academy, a venture-backed eLearning company that enables personalized and adaptive eLearning courses for students in schools and colleges, today unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI) driven adaptive eLearning platform for STEM education. The new bitWise platform harnesses AI and machine learning algorithms to enable students, in grades K-12 through college, to learn applied computer science and emerging STEM technologies in a progressive, self-paced manner. These interdisciplinary courses are designed for students of all ages to complement their existing school curriculum or provide extracurricular instruction in these specialized STEM subjects. Unlike other eLearning programs which typically offer a one size fits all teaching style delivered through traditional static videos, the new bitWise platform integrates the power of AI and machine learning to personalize the course content and create a cognitive blueprint for each student based on their individual learning style, mastery of the subject, and other behavioral factors. The bitWise platform provides a unique and immersive learning experience tailored to each individual student. The bitWise engine is the worlds first eLearning platform led by on-demand chatbots. These chatbots are an integral part of the adaptive learning process by encouraging students to ask questions so that they can better retain the subject matter. Enrolled bitWise students can access the suite of interactive online courses, participate in ommunity discussion groups, engage the chatbot "study buddy" and avail of other self-help tools all in one centralized location. Parents and teachers receive detailed analytics and reports giving them insight into their students unique learning style and mastery rate for each specialized subject. The upcoming version of the AI platform will further enable students to share their progress and achievements with their friends by creating private social networks and advanced communications. bitWise represents the next-generation of distance education by allowing every student to have an opportunity to pursue emerging technologies at their own pace in a practical and affordable way, said G Venkat, president and founder of bitWise. bitWise gives students control over their own learning path and empowers them to maximize their individual learning potential regardless of age, gender, or geography. System Requirements bitWise is an online platform that is compatible with any computer and can be accessed by a browser. The platform supports the xAPI eLearning standard. Pricing and Availability After parents and teachers register their accounts, they can purchase subscriptions and add students. Detailed reports and analytics are available to monitor student progress. bitWise subscriptions are currently available worldwide for a promotional introductory price of $100 per year for an individual student. The annual subscription includes access to all online courses during the year. About bitwise Academy Headquartered in Fremont, Calif., bitWise Academy is a venture-backed eLearning company dedicated to developing the next generation of AI-driven eLearning technology. The core belief of bitWise is that applied computer science and multi-disciplinary STEM education should be a fundamental skill taught to all students, from grades K-12 through college. The companys mission is to bring a progressive and integrated emerging technology curriculum to complement the current educational system. More information can be found at www.bitwiseacademy.com . Media contacts: Belinda Young BYPR 206-932-3145 byoung@bypr.com Jeremy J. Young BYPR 714-403-8733 jyoung@bypr.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Open Networking Summit Europe Offers 100+ Sessions on AI, Edge Computing, NFV, SDN, White Boxes and More, Plus Exciting Event Experiences for Attendees SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the schedule of onsite experiences and activities for Open Networking Summit Europe, taking place September 25-27 in Amsterdam. This is the first time the now semi-annual event has taken place outside of North America in the past seven years. Open Networking Summit (ONS) is the industry's premier open networking event, gathering enterprises, service providers and cloud providers across the ecosystem to share learnings, highlight innovation and discuss the future of open source networking, including SDN, NFV, edge, orchestration, the automation of cloud, network and IoT services and topics related to AI, containers, cloud native and other important technologies. Event experiences include: Partner Reception - September 25 All-Attendee Reception - September 26 5K Fun Run - September 26 Fun Run - Morning Yoga - September 27 Features and add-ons include: Demos from Sponsors, Open Networking Foundation and others including 10 demos from the LF Networking community of projects that cover different areas of collaboration and innovation across the open networking stack. LF Networking Unconference Track - Programming for this track will be developed by attendees themselves, providing opportunities to discuss topics not covered elsewhere at the event. Networking Mobile App - This app will recommend other attendees with similar interests, and enable attendees to schedule times to meet face-to-face onsite. Women in Networking Lunch/span> - September 25 - All attendees who identify as women or non-binary are welcome to join this lunch. Support #YesWeCode - Oakland -based non-profit #YesWeCode aims to help 100,000 young women and men from underrepresented backgrounds find success in the tech sector. The Linux Foundation encourages event attendees this year to donate to this great organization. -based non-profit #YesWeCode aims to help 100,000 young women and men from underrepresented backgrounds find success in the tech sector. The Linux Foundation encourages event attendees this year to donate to this great organization. Complimentary Child Care - This service provides child care to registered attendees during conference hours. Diversity and Needs-Based Scholarships - These scholarships help enable individuals who could not otherwise attend to come to Open Networking Summit Europe. Diversity & Inclusion Resources, including: Travel funding assistance Nursing room Quiet room Communications stickers All-gender restrooms The keynote speaker lineup includes: Helen Chen , Principal Architect, Huawei , Principal Architect, Huawei Axel Clauberg , Vice President, Aggregation, Transport, IP (TI-ATI) & Infrastructure Cloud Architecture, Deutsche Telekom AG , Vice President, Aggregation, Transport, IP (TI-ATI) & Infrastructure Cloud Architecture, Deutsche Telekom AG Lingli Deng , Senior Project Manager, China Mobile , Senior Project Manager, Dr. Paul Doany , Chief Executive Officer, Turk Telekom , Chief Executive Officer, Turk Telekom Rajesh Gadiyar , Vice President, Data Center Group & Chief Technology Officer, Network Platforms Group, Intel , Vice President, Data Center Group & Chief Technology Officer, Network Platforms Group, Intel Alla Goldner , Director, Technology, Strategy & Standardization, Amdocs , Director, Technology, Strategy & Standardization, Amdocs Fran Heeran , Head of Cloud & Automation, Vodafone Group , Head of Cloud & Automation, Vodafone Group Arpit Joshipura , General Manager of Networking, The Linux Foundation , General Manager of Networking, The Linux Foundation Dr. Feng Junlan, Chief Scientist, China Mobile Heather Kirksey , Vice President, Ecosystem & Community, The Linux Foundation , Vice President, Ecosystem & Community, The Linux Foundation Dan Kohn , Executive Director, Cloud Native Computing Foundation , Executive Director, Cloud Native Computing Foundation Catherine Lefevre, Assistant Vice President, Network & Shared Services, AT&T Xinhui Li , Senior Architect, VMware , Senior Architect, VMware Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, Chief Technology Officer, Orange Group Network Dr. Catherine Mulligan , Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, Imperial College London , Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, Imperial College London Bill Ren , VP, Network Industry & Ecosystem Development, Huawei The full lineup of 100+ educational sessions can be viewed here. The Linux Foundation events are where the world's leading technologists meet, collaborate, learn and network in order to advance innovations that support the world's largest shared technologies. Members of the press who would like to request a press pass to attend should contact Dan Brown at dbrown@linuxfoundation.org. Open Networking Summit Europe is made possible by Diamond Sponsor Intel, Platinum Sponsors Huawei and Red Hat, and Gold Sponsor Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Additional Resources YouTube: Why Attend Linux Foundation Events (https://youtu.be/X_rLxfmLlYY) Recap: Open Networking Summit North America 2018 (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/open-networking-summit-north-america-2018/) About The Linux Foundation The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org. The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Media Contact: Dan Brown The Linux Foundation 415-420-7880 pr@linuxfoundation.org View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/open-networking-summit-europe-offers-100-sessions-on-ai-edge-computing-nfv-sdn-white-boxes-and-more-plus-exciting-event-experiences-for-attendees-300707017.html SOURCE The Linux Foundation [September 05, 2018] Radiant Earth Foundation Releases First Earth Imagery Platform for Global Development WASHINGTON, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radiant Earth Foundation (formerly known as Radiant.Earth) announced today the release of its new open Earth imagery platform, fundamentally changing the way humanitarian aid workers, policymakers, researchers, journalists, and others use satellite images to understand and serve their communities. The platform is the first of its kind to offer instant, secure, and free access to Earth observation data on the cloud and help the global development community apply the data to real-world problems. Today, there are more than 600 Earth observation satellites orbiting the planet, each one generating an estimated 6.4 terabytes of data each day. From seeing the scale of natural disasters to supporting Ebola outbreak responses, this data can measure global changes in near real time, leading to better-informed interventions and investments from the public and private sectors. However, the current growing market for Earth observation data is highly fragmented and often cost-prohibitive for NGOs, multilateral organizations, government agencies, and others focused on social entrepreneurship. Working with organizations such as NASA, the European Space Agency, the Group on Earth Observations, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, and private companies around the world, Radiant Earth Foundations platform brings together billions of dollars worth of satellite imagery and makes it available to the global development community. Additionally, the platform provides user-friendly analytical tools and support, empowering a range of users to consume and analyze the data in their everyday work. As global threats like climate change rapidly grow, observation systems and analytical technologies such as machine learning allow us to analyze landscapes and communities at a scale that was previously impractical and inaccessible to global development practitioners, said Anne Hale Miglarese, founder and CEO of Radiant Earth Foundation. And while satellite imagery offers a front row seat to humanitys footprints, data alone doesnt advance solutions. Our platform has been built by and for the development community, providing the best of todays technology tools and insights to support the people who need it mostfrom a refugee camp in Myanmar to a small island nation in the Pacific. During its beta phase, Radiant Earth Foundation served mor than 100 organizations including the World Bank and Catholic Relief Services and developed use cases that will be available to the public at large. The platforms open API also allows users to integrate non-imagery data, including air quality, population, and weather statistics. Ive been using drones to help low-income farmers across Botswana analyze crops, but I struggled with incomplete data, let alone data storage, said Mmoloki Morapedi, a 2017 Mandela Fellow who uses Radiant Earth Foundations platform in his work as a drone designer, pilot, and analyst. The platform allows me to streamline my drone data and help farmers better understand when and where to plant their cropsultimately increasing their potential revenue and reducing food insecurity in Botswana. With funding from Omidyar Network and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Radiant Earth Foundation serves as a neutral, not-for-profit organization helping the growing satellite imagery industry balance bottom lines and higher purpose. The opportunity to create positive change through Earth observation data has never been greater, said Peter Rabley, venture partner at Omidyar Network. Radiant Earth Foundation is truly democratizing access to and use of satellite imagery, bringing clarity to an industry that has been confusing and costly for the global development community. The platform has the potential to spark solutions for some of societys most entrenched issuesfrom rapid, unchecked urbanization to environmental degradation and more. Radiant Earth Foundations platform is now available to the public at app.radiant.earth through secure self sign-up or integrated social sign-on via Twitter, Facebook, GitHub, or Google accounts. Radiant Earth Foundation will host a webinar on September 26, 2018, at 11 a.m. EDT to demonstrate the platforms unique features to users. To attend the webinar, please register here: http://bit.ly/REFPlatformWebinar . About Radiant Earth Foundation Founded in 2016, Radiant Earth Foundation (formerly Radiant.Earth) is a nonprofit organization committed to aggregating the worlds open Earth imagery and providing access and education on its use to the global development community. Radiant Earth Foundations open technology platform helps people discover and analyze the vast resources of Earth imagery, improving decision-making and fueling new solutions, discoveries, and innovations for society. Radiant Earth Foundation also offers a robust, integrated community development program to guide people in the use of Earth imagery, geospatial data sets, and tools. Visit us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , Medium , and GitHub . Media Contact: Louisa Nakanuku-Diggs Louisa@radiant.earth +1.202.596.3603 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Local Fire Departments, Colleges And Universities Selected To Educate Communities On Fire Safety, Install Alarms AURORA, Ill., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- First Alert, the most trusted brand in home safety*, Campus Firewatch and the Michael H. Minger Foundation have selected 25 organizations to participate in the second annual Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project to raise awareness about fire safety. The initiative pairs firefighters with local colleges and universities to raise awareness among students and community members across the country about the importance of working smoke alarms and help to improve fire safety in homes. The chosen organizations represent an array of entries from coast to coast, and each organization will receive 100 donated smoke or carbon monoxide (CO) alarms from First Alert to install with students during home safety visits in at-risk communities during the fall semester: Colorado Colorado Springs Fire Department North Carolina Wilmington Fire Department Durham Fire Department Connecticut Willimantic Fire Department North Dakota Fargo Fire Department Georgia Griffin Fire-Rescue Oregon Corvallis Fire Department Idaho Bannock County Rural Fire Department Pennsylvania Factoryville Fire Company Indiana Fort Wayne Fire Department West Lafayette Fire Department South Carolina Charleston Fire Department Iowa Waldorf University Tennessee Chattanooga Fire Department Kentucky Richmond Fire Department Texas San Antonio Fire Department Mississippi Lafayette County Fire Department Oktibbeha County Fire Department Virginia Danville Fire Department Nebraska Lincoln Fire Department Vermont Castleton Fire Department Nevada Truckee Meadows Fire Department Washington Spokane Fire Department New York City of Cortland Fire Department West Virginia Morgantown Fire Department "The Town/Gown project promotes fire safety education and collaboration between students, fire departments, universities and their surrounding communities," said Tarsila Wey, director of marketing for First Alert. "By partnering with Campus Firewatch and the Michael H. Minger Foundation, we are positively impacting the long-term safety for students and communities." College students living independently for the first time with new academic challenges and social distractions may not view fire safety as a top priority. The Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project encourages students to learn about and take responsibility for their personal safety, while also supporting the local community. "By helping to install alarms in their communities, the students see first-hand the importance of working smoke and CO alarms," said Ed Comeau, founder of Campus Firewatch. "They are learning fire safety by doing fire safety, and making their communities safer at the same time." According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a fire is reported every 24 seconds on average across the country and fire departments responded to 1.3 million fires in 2016. Three of every five home fire deaths result from fires in homes without smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms according to the NFPA. In the fires where a smoke alarm was present, but did not operate, half of them had missing or disconnected batteries. "Teaching simple steps about fire safety paired with community outreach can not only help prevent tragedies, but also improve the well-being of the whole community," said Gail Minger, president of the Michael H. Minger Foundation. "We are thrilled to offer students this unique volunteer opportunity through the Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project." To learn more about fire safety, visit the First Alert website at www.firstalert.com, the Campus Firewatch website at www.campus-firewatch.com or the Michael H. Minger Foundation at www.mingerfoundation.org. You also can follow the Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project on Twitter and Facebook via #TownGownFire. *First Alert Brand Trust Survey, February 2018 Results are based on the responses of 1,000 adults, ages 25 and older, living in the United States who completed an online survey, February 15-19, 2018. Results are statistically significant at a 95 percent confidence level and can be generalized to the entire adult population in the United States within those statistical parameters. For more information or a copy of the complete survey results, contact Tim Young at LCWA: 312/565-4628 or tyoung@lcwa.com. About Campus Firewatch Campus Firewatch is a social entrepreneurship focused on helping to save lives at our nation's campuses. For more information, visit http://www.campus-firewatch.com. Facebook | @campusfirewatch About Michael H. Minger Foundation The Michael H. Minger Foundation was formed following the death of Michael Minger in a residence hall fire. The Foundation focuses on fire safety for all students, including students with special needs such as physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities. More information is available at www.mingerfoundation.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/mingerfoundation. About BRK Brands, Inc. BRK Brands, Inc. (Aurora, IL), is a fully owned subsidiary of Newell Brands. For 60 years, BRK Brands, Inc. has been the manufacturer of First Alert-branded home-safety products, the most trusted and recognized safety brand in America. BRK Brands designs and develops innovative safety solutions including Tundra Fire Extinguishing Spray, Onelink by First Alert smart home products, a comprehensive line of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers and escape ladders to protect what matters most. Such products are also marketed under the BRK Electronics brand, The Professional Standard for the builder and contractor audiences. BRK Brands, Inc. products are found in more than 30 countries worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.firstalert.com, http://www.brkelectronics.com or http://www.newellbrands.com. About Newell Brands Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Paper Mate, Sharpie, Dymo, EXPO, Parker, Elmer's, Coleman, Marmot, Oster, Sunbeam, FoodSaver, Mr. Coffee, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Graco, Baby Jogger, NUK, Calphalon, Rubbermaid, Contigo, First Alert, and Yankee Candle. For hundreds of millions of consumers, Newell Brands makes life better every day, where they live, learn, work and play. This press release and additional information about Newell Brands are available on the company's website, www.newellbrands.com. 2018 BRK Brands, Inc., Aurora, IL 60504. All rights reserved. First Alert is a registered trademark of The First Alert Trust, Aurora, IL 60504. BRK Electronics is a registered trademark of BRK Brands, Inc., Aurora, IL 60504. NYSE is a registered service mark of NYSE Group, Inc. Contacts: Lindsey Lucenta or Rebecca Raudabaugh L.C. Williams & Associates P: 312-565-3900 or 800-837-7123 E: llucenta@lcwa.com or rraudabaugh@lcwa.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/local-fire-departments-colleges-and-universities-selected-to-educate-communities-on-fire-safety-install-alarms-300706767.html SOURCE First Alert [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Bambu Global Expands Executive Team With Addition Of Sean O'Brien LOWELL, Mass., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bambu Global, a family of innovative companies advancing disruptive technologies to "improve life throughout the world," announces today that Sean O'Brien has joined the company as Senior Vice President, Product Management. O'Brien will be responsible for the product vision, product architecture, go-to-market strategy and rollout of products and solutions across the Bambu Global family of companies. He will also help drive product marketing, supply chain, manufacturing and partner channel development. "Our mission is to make life better with innovations across industries from coatings that repel the sun's heat to LED lighting that helps mitigate the blue light epidemic," said Bambu Global's CEO, Robb Osinski. "Sean's leadership and knowledge in product strategy and growing distribution and partner channels will be critical to our success in bringing these innovations to market. We're thrilled to have him as pat of the Bambu team." "It's not every day you have the opportunity to work with a true industry disrupter, let alone several under one roof," added O'Brien. "Bambu Global and its family of companies are going to reshape a number of industries, and I couldn't be more excited to be part of that evolution." O'Brien brings more than 28 years of B2B/B2C experience in product development, marketing, sourcing, retail and sales to Bambu Global. Prior to joining Bambu, he served as President of Honeywell Global Retail, where he was responsible for developing and executing strategic growth plans for all Honeywell retail brands globally. Previously, O'Brien served as the Senior Director of Product Merchandising for Converse brands, a Nike company. His experience also includes senior product marketing roles with Wilson Sporting Goods and New Balance. About Bambu Global Bambu Global is a family of innovative companies with a portfolio of advanced technologies designed to disrupt the life science, lighting, renewable energy, safety, tattoo and defense industries throughout the world. Located in Lowell, Massachusetts, the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution, Bambu Global draws on the inspiration of the city's rich history and the brightest minds of technology-rich Massachusetts to advance its mission. With a creative perspective and cross-discipline team of scientists, Bambu Global is advancing disruptive technologies to "improve life throughout the world." Learn more about Bambu Global at www.bambuglobal.com. Media Contact : Jackie Dunn 781.749.0077 ext. 21 Jackie@hollywoodagency.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bambu-global-expands-executive-team-with-addition-of-sean-obrien-300707020.html SOURCE Bambu Global [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Cappasity Platform Brings 3D Technology to American Greetings 3D technology startup, Cappasity, is providing its full-package 3D imaging SaaS (News - Alert) solution to American Greetings, a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products and the leader in e-greetings. This new technology will help reimagine the way consumers shop for and interact with social expressions products online, and consumers can begin to experience this technology with most greeting cards on www.americangreetings.com. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005169/en/ Cappasity's platform currently serves more than one million views of 3D content per month. Its proprietary 3D streaming format allows users to load and browse products with a 360-degree view, four times faster than other similar technologies. Cappasity's strength lies in its unique combination of production software and SaaS platform that allows rapid creation and upload of hundreds or thousands of 3D product images per day - a process that would have previously taken hours or days, producing large files that wouldn't play smoothly on most internet connections. This is a revolutionary step in the standardized incorporation of 3D content for large e-commerce sites. With the ongoing emergence of e-commerce retailing, American Greetings is developing new ways t deliver a more compelling and immersive online shopping experience for their products and the Cappasity technology is a part of its solution. "Replicating the traditional shopping experience for greeting cards online is challenging with the current merchandising tools available," said Rob Matousek, GM - Direct to Consumer e-commerce at American Greetings. "The Cappasity technology will help consumers see and appreciate the creative design and quality craftsmanship of our products when shopping for greeting cards on amerciangreetings.com." Cappasity technology bridges an important gap in online greeting card merchandising; product features frequently present on greeting cards such as glitter, foil, embossing, and other attachments can be difficult to appreciate with traditional, flat photography. "Cappasity's innovative product restores the in-store browsing experience to online retail, allowing you to examine each card, inside and out, and get a true feel for the quality of the greeting card you're ordering," said Kosta Popov, CEO at Cappasity. CAPPASITY Cappasity was founded in 2013 with the aim of developing a technological standard and an easy, scalable platform for creating, embedding, and analyzing 3D and AR/VR content. The company successfully raised over $4.9M and launched its platform and 3D digitizing software in 2017. Cappasity brings an in-store browsing experience to online retail through interactive and photorealistic 3D images that can be easily embedded into websites, mobile apps, and AR/VR applications. Their clients report 30%+ increase in conversion rate and fewer returns. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, the company is now also working with luxury brands at Station F in Paris. AMERICAN GREETINGS As the leader in meaningful connections, American Greetings is committed to making the world a more thoughtful and caring place. Founded in 1906, the creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products offers paper cards, digital greetings, gift wrap, party goods and more to help consumers honor the people and moments in life that really matter. The Company's major greeting card brands are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and PAPYRUS. AmericanGreetings.com is a go-to destination for connecting, shopping and celebrating with its offering of paper cards, ecards, printables, party supplies and gift wrap along with inspirational content, gift guides, DIY tutorials, a What to Write series, and party planning tips. The 112 year-old Company is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.corporate.americangreetings.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005169/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Creative. Caring. Compassionate. Regions Bank Associates Find New Ways to "Share the Good" in September In Missouri, the program will build wheelchair ramps for people with disabilities. In Indiana, the program will fight malnourishment by discreetly placing food in the backpacks of children in need. In Tennessee, the program will support at-risk students and the educators who provide them a high-quality education. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005189/en/ Share the Good initiatives are coordinated by Regions associates who use their relationships in the community to identify ways the bank can make a difference - from collecting thousands of boxes of crayons and other school supplies to donations of food and any number of additional outreaches. (Photo: Business Wire) The program is called Share the Good. The program is powered by associates from Regions Bank. The program will reach countless people spread across the Southeast, Midwest and Texas, throughout the month of September. Now in its ninth year, Share the GoodSM connects Regions associates with nonprofits to address a variety of pressing needs. This year, there are dozens of localized community engagement initiatives taking place as part of Share the Good. Among examples: In Huntsville, Ala., Regions associates will support a program raising awareness and funds to help connect foster children with healthy, stable home environments. In Nashville, Tenn., Regions associates will donate essential supplies for women and children who have survived domestic violence and are beginning a new chapter. In St. Louis, Mo., Regions associates will roll up their sleeves and build wheelchair ramps in conjunction with Paraquad, a nonprofit that serves people living with disabilities. In Bato Rouge, La., financial professionals from Regions will spend time training eighth-grade students how to manage money, spend wisely and avoid common financial mistakes. In Knoxville, Tenn., Regions will provide financial support to the Knoxville Museum of Art's Community School program, which provides at-risk students with access to art education, abstract thinking and problem-solving lessons designed to help young people tap into their potential to excel. In Birmingham, Ala., Regions associates across all Regions headquarters facilities will collect food to be distributed through local food banks to families in need. In Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla., Regions associates will volunteer with the Feeding the Gulf Coast food bank to connect people with vital nutrition. Regions associates in Indianapolis will do the same; however, there, they will place the food in the backpacks of children who need a source of nutrition during nights and weekends when they're away from school. "Share the Good is a program that empowers our teams at Regions to serve communities in creative ways that people may never have expected from a bank," said Leroy Abrahams, head of Community Affairs for Regions. "Some of the most powerful ways we can make a difference include supporting education, promoting financial wellness and staying constantly in touch with local issues that we can help address. Our commitment to community engagement is year-round; Share the Good gives our teams a special opportunity to develop new and innovative ways to serve." Community engagement is part of the culture at Regions and is fostered through a variety of ongoing programs. For example, every year, Regions offers each of its associates a paid day off to volunteer in his or her community. Associates are also able to match their skills and interests with nonprofit service opportunities across communities where they work. Additional examples of Regions' commitment to social responsibility are illustrated on regions.doingmoretoday.com and are also detailed in the company's annual Social Responsibility Report, which is available in the Community Engagement Section of Regions.com. About Regions Financial Corporation Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), with $125 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services. Regions serves customers across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates approximately 1,500 banking offices and 2,000 ATMs. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005189/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Sarcos Robotics Raises $30 Million in Series B Funding Sarcos Robotics, a global leader in robotic systems that augment, rather than replace, humans working in the industrial, public safety and military sectors, today announced that it has secured $30 million in Series B funding from a consortium of investors co-led by DIG Investment and Alex. Brown & Sons. Each of the Company's Series A investors also participated in this round, including Caterpillar Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund, GE Ventures, Microsoft (News - Alert) , Schlumberger and Sarcos' chairman and CEO, Ben Wolff. This Series B funding will be used to expand Sarcos' team, scale the production and deployment of its Guardian S mobile IoT inspection and surveillance robot, and prepare for the launch of the commercial versions of its powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton Guardian XO product line in late 2019. "Sarcos is growing rapidly - we've doubled our workforce in the last year as we realize our vision of delivering robotic systems that simultaneously reduce the risk of workplace injuries, while also increasing productivity and efficiency," said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics. "This new funding will allow us to continue to grow our team, scale our production and deliver our unrivaled products to customers around the globe to address the unmet global demand for robotic systems that create the safest, most productive workforce possible." Sarcos' powered, full-body exskeletons augment human productivity and safety by combining the best of what man and machine have to offer - the intelligence, intuition and instincts of humans and the strength, endurance and precision of machines. Sarcos' Guardian GT system, the largest in its line of powered exoskeletons systems, can be custom ordered to meet customers' specific requirements and needs. The Guardian XO and Guardian XO Max will be the first autonomously powered, full-body industrial exoskeletons that materially increase strength and stamina, allowing workers to work more safely and more productively than ever before. In March, Sarcos announced the formation of an industry-focused Exoskeleton Technical Advisory Group ("X-TAG") that is comprised of executives from leading companies across a variety of industries, with the goal of identifying key performance and safety requirements necessary to bring powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton systems to the workforce. Sarcos has also launched its next generation ground-based surveillance and inspection robot, the Guardian S, that is uniquely capable, cost-effective and man-portable. The Guardian S has been designed for wide applicability in industries including manufacturing, construction, mining, oil & gas, power, aerospace, maritime, petrochemical, mining, defense and public safety. "Sarcos represents one of those rare opportunities where an incredibly talented team with a proven track record has developed an entirely new category of products that address an enormous global need," said Sanjan Dhody, managing director at Alex. Brown. "In this case, the need is driven by the growing shortage of skilled workers and the skyrocketing social and economic costs associated with workplace injuries. I am very pleased to have been able to work with Sarcos to bring together a consortium of prominent investors who are well-positioned to assist Sarcos with expansion into new industries and new geographic regions." For more information about Sarcos, its leadership team, board of directors and investors, visit https://www.sarcos.com/company/. ABOUT SARCOS Sarcos Robotics is the world's leader in mobile, dexterous, tele-operated robots that combine human intelligence, instinct and judgment with robotic strength, endurance and precision to augment worker performance. Leveraging more than 25 years of research and development, Sarcos makes revolutionary robotics products designed to save lives, reduce injury and improve productivity, including the Guardian S, Guardian GT, and Guardian XO. Sarcos is revolutionizing a myriad of industries by deploying robots that will create the safest, most productive and cost-effective work force in the world. Sarcos' investors include Caterpillar, GE Ventures, Microsoft, and Schlumberger (News - Alert) . Sarcos is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with additional offices in the Seattle area. For more information please visit www.sarcos.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005323/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Data-driven Technology Solutions Help Fuel Offerpad's Rapid Growth Within three short years, on-demand homebuyer Offerpad has seen 3x growth year-over-year, and is on pace to achieve $2.5 billion in annual real estate transactions. The company's solution of providing certainty and ease when buying and selling a home was built on the backbone of decades of real estate experience and led by real estate agent innovator, Brian Bair. "We understand every pain point that occurs for the consumer during this process, and we are constantly striving to develop new solutions that will eliminate stress when purchasing a home. Our real estate background gives us this perspective, and our technology allows us to do it even more successfully," said Bair. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005270/en/ Gint Grabauskas, Offerpad CTO (Photo: Business Wire) Ongoing efforts to enhance the customer's experience through data-driven technology solutions includes an announcement of Gint Grabauskas as Offerpad's chief technology officer. Grabauskas will oversee the company's engineering and IT teams, and be responsible for quality assurance, system development and technology-powered product enhancements, including Offerpad's Instant Access mobile app. He brings 20+ years of technology leadership with him, most recently as chief technology officer at Arizona-based Vixxo. Grabauskas also served as vice president of engineering with GoDaddy, where he led the hosting business unit. Under his leadership the unit experienced significant growth which contributed to GoDaddy's IPO in 2015. "I am really excited to be part of the Offerpad team. Our technology stack is well-positioned to enable significant growth in the business," said Grabauskas. "My goal will be to amplify this growth by focusing on a friction-less customer experience, and a world-class, scalable platform." ATTOM Data Solutions recently covered Offerpad's data-fueled disruption in the marketplace. "We've been watching Offerpad and others in the industry use technology and data to feed insights into their operations over the recent years. As this new industry is being defined, we believe the companies who focus on technology to align with consumer needs will be the ones that experience brand awareness and growth," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM Data Solutions. The demand of Offerpad's solution is driving the company's uptick in hiring across eight markets. The company has nearly doubled its employee pool since August 2017, recently announcing Offerpad's COO & Chief of Staff, Rahim Lakhani and Chief of Product & Analytics Officer, Arindam Bose. To learn more about Offerpad's solution and open employment positions, visit www.offerpad.com. ABOUT OFFERPAD Offerpad is revolutionizing the real estate industry by providing an innovative and convenient way to sell or buy a home. Founded in 2015, the leadership team brings decades of real estate experience that collectively has purchased, renovated and rented or sold more than 100,000 homes. Offerpad is a privately held company, headquartered in Arizona, with markets in Atlanta, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Tampa. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005270/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Cultural exchanges between China and Africa have a history going back centuries, and music is increasingly becoming a part of that. In recent years, African drums like the djembe have gained a huge fan base in the country. With their energetic rhythms and one-of-a-kind sound, the African drum traditions are winning over Chinese hearts and sparking curiosity in people old and young. Every Sunday afternoon, an African drum show makes a splash near Beijing's bustling Houhai Lake. Liu Yong, who makes a living by selling and playing djembes, initiated the Houhai drum group 10 years ago. To his great surprise, a whopping 5,000 drummers have joined him ever since, trying their hands at challenging rhythms. "Rain or shine, we will meet up and play drums together. That's our goal," said Liu. Liu said in the beginning, they had only a couple of people playing together and many of them were passersby. "But now, people from all walks of life are playing here," he said. In Africa, hand drums are more than just musical instruments. They are an indelible part of the continent's heritage. But for Chinese people, the newly-found obsession with the beats is another story. "Every Sunday, Liu Yong and I help each other to carry our drums to Houhai by car," said a drummer who has played with Liu for six years. "When I play the drums, I feel purely happy and calm." "I have played the djembe for almost a year and it makes me more confident, " added another drummer, who bought his drum with the signature of an African drum master. [September 05, 2018] Esker Continues Its International Development With New Subsidiary in Hong Kong Esker (News - Alert) , a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, announced today that it has opened a new subsidiary in Hong Kong, further strengthening the company's international development strategy. Esker is one of the few mid-sized French companies that has achieved international success - generating 61 percent of its sales outside of France and featuring 13 subsidiaries worldwide with more than 20 employee nationalities. This achievement is all the more exemplary in an industry where leading players are often American or Nordic. Joining the existing Southeast Asian subsidiaries in Malaysia and Singapore, Esker's Hong Kong office will meet several objectives, including: Provide an nsite presence for an increasing number of customers, particularly in the luxury sector, including Kering, Esquel, QNet, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Watch and Jewelry and LVMH Fashion Group particularly in the luxury sector, including Kering, Esquel, QNet, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Watch and Jewelry and LVMH Fashion Group Strengthen its global presence in Asia, with locations in Hong Kong and Singapore, the two markets with the most decision-making centers in Asia "From the onset, Esker has looked to expand internationally. Today, our goal is to anticipate the emergence of new, high-growth markets," said Jean-Michel Berard, CEO at Esker. "Hong Kong, like Singapore, is a key location that will allow us to further our reach into the Asia-Pacific region. This new subsidiary will also allow us to approach the Chinese market more strategically." About Esker Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software, helping financial and customer service departments digitally transform their order-to-cash (O2C) and purchase-to-pay (P2P) cycles. Used by more than 6,000 companies worldwide, Esker's solutions incorporate technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter (News - Alert) @EskerInc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005220/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Indegy CEO to Discuss How Attackers are Compromising Industrial Control Networks at SCADA Tech Summit 2018 Indegy, a leader in industrial cyber security, today announced Co-Founder and CEO Barak Perelman will discuss how to safeguard industrial control networks from cyber attacks and malware at the SCADA Tech Summit on Wednesday, September 12. WHO: Barak Perelman is CEO and Co-Founder of Indegy, a leading industrial cyber security company. Prior to founding Indegy, Barak led several multi-million dollar cyber security projects for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He is a graduate of the elite Talpiot military academy, as well as the esteemed 8200 Unit, and has over 15 years of hands-on experience in cyber security and protection of critical infrastructures. WHAT: Contrary to popular belief, industrial control networks are easy to attack, yet extremely difficult to defend. A confluence of events has caused this "perfect storm" phenomenon. Namely, SCADA environments are increasingly being connected to the Internet, exposed to mobile access and leverage Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies. Recent incidents at a Ukrainian electric utility involving the Industroyer malware and Middle Eastern oil and gas refinery where TRISIS malware was identified illustrate the growing threat weaponized malware poses to industrial environments. In this presentation, Barak will explain how SCADA and industrial control systems are attacked, the damage that can occur, and the steps necessary to safeguard ICS environments against cyber attacks, unauthorized activity and human error. WHERE: SCADA Tech Summit 2018 at the Double-Tree Oak Brook, 1909 Spring Road, Oak Brook, Illinois. WHEN: Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 4:00 PM CDT (News - Alert) . HOW: To schedule a conversation with Barak Perelman contact Marc Gendron at marc@mgpr.net or 781-237-0341. For more information visit: http://scadatechsummit.com/schedule/safeguarding-scada-and-industrial-control-networks/. About Indegy Indegy, a leader in industrial cyber security, protects industrial control system (ICS) networks from cyber threats, malicious insiders and human error by providing visibility and control. The Indegy Industrial Cyber Security Suite arms security and operations teams with full visibility, security and control of ICS activity and threats by combining hybrid, policy-based monitoring and network anomaly detection with unique device integrity checks. The Indegy ICS Suite is deployed by manufacturing, pharmaceutical, energy, water and other industrial organizations around the world. For more information visit www.indegy.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005577/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Persistent's low-SWAP mobile ad hoc networking Embedded Module receives new security validation NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Persistent Systems, LLC ("Persistent") announced today that its Embedded Module, a low-size, -weight and -power mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) unit for sensors and unmanned vehicles, received a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Level 2 security validation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This achievement confirms that all Persistent's main products have achieved this level of validation, increasing usability for users with nonnegotiable requirements for FIPS 140-2 Level 2. The new FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validation means the Embedded Module not only meets its Level 1 cryptographic data security requirement, but it also has in place physical security mechanisms, such as tamper-evidence, allowing it to handle sensitive data transmission. "Now, all of our main products running the Wave Relay MANET routing protocol are FIPS 140-2 Level 2," said Eric Stern, Director of Engineering at Persistent Systems. "This is critical for our customers in the federal government, U.S. military and special operations, who require extremely secure networking." Persistent's suite of Wave Relay MANET products have been engineered to meet information assurance requirements in any use case, whether it is a person carrying an MPU5 or an Embedded Module built into a UAV, UGV, or sensor. This is especially important for Wave Relay Ecosystem partners who have incorporate Wave Relay MANET radios into their products and are competing for government programs with FIPS requirements. The Wave Relay Ecosystem is an alliance of industry-leading companies that develop and build products connected via the Wave Relay MANET. Persistent products have consistently met strict security requirements, with every product achieving both Level 1 and Level 2 FIPS 140-2 validation. Persistent's principal product is the handheld MPU5 MANET radio. The MPU5 allows users to transmit and relay voice, video, text, and sensor data in a true peer-to-peer fashion, without the need for external communications infrastructure. In July, it received its FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Security validation. The Embedded Module, now likewise validated, delivers the same data networking capabilities, but in a smaller form factor, which can be built into an unmanned aircraft, ground robot or sensor. "This validation marks the Embedded Module as the go-to Wave Relay MANET integrator for all systems and sensors," Stern said. Certificate numbers and information for each FIPS 140-2 validated Wave Relay MANET product are as follows: Certificate #3183 MPU5 Level 1 Certificate #3234 MPU5 Level 2 Certificate #3180 Embedded Module Level 1 Certificate #3259 Embedded Module Level 2 About Persistent Systems, LLC Headquartered in New York City since 2007, Persistent Systems, LLC is a global communications technology company that develops and manufactures a patented and secure Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET) system: Wave Relay. Wave Relay transmits and receives data, video, voice and other applications under the most difficult conditions. Their suite of products is utilized in Commercial, Military, Government, Industrial, Agriculture, Robotics, and Unmanned Systems markets. Please visit http://www.persistentsystems.com to learn more. Follow Persistent Systems on Twitter to get updates on the latest developments @pswaverelay View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/persistents-low-swap-mobile-ad-hoc-networking-embedded-module-receives-new-security-validation-300706637.html SOURCE Persistent Systems, LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Tektronix PRISM Now Includes IP Connectivity as Standard BEAVERTON, Ore., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IP networks are the future of broadcasting. Just this month, TV Technology magazine reported "an upturn in momentum behind IP infrastructure deployments" and "expeditedinvestment plans in IP solutions." The pace of the industry evolution is quickening. As the market moves toward widespread adoption, new tools are needed to ensure the delivery of quality content to viewers. Looking towards the future, new models of the industry-leading Tektronix PRISM now come standard with IP connectivity and a feature set, allowing customers to effortlessly identify the number and content of IP multiple streams, ensure presence of PTP messages, quickly debug IP systems in hybrid environments, and perform quality checks on content. The PRISM also arrives packed with basic editing features like Waveform, Vector, and Diamond. "Tektronix has been an integral part of the first wave of IP system deployments," said Charlie Dunn, General Manager of Tektronix's Video business unit. "We believe that IP is the future of our industry and as a leader in this space, we want to remove the price premium for IP monitoring capabilities to facilitate all-IP system deployment." The following IP capabilities now come standard with the PRISM media monitoring and analysis tool: IP to SDI bridging through the AUX SDI Output The standard 10GE PRISM comeswith the ability to bridge SMPTE ST2022-6/7 or ST2110-20 inputs to an AUX SDI output. This provides the capability to drive external SDI equipment and simplify total system configuration. Identification of streams and content in an IP System - A single 10G ethernet link can carry multiple streams, making it difficult to determine what content is being carried on each stream. PRISM offers a range of tools to quickly identify streams, showing the protocol, source IP address and port number, destination IP address and port number, Source MAC, Destination MAC, PTP Domain, RTP Seq Error, RTP Clock Freq, and RTP Marker Freq of all streams in a 10G link. PTP System Setup Verification PRISM allows engineers to ensure the settings of the PTP system are correct by displaying the PTP traffic with domain information to check for the presence of PTP messages giving confidence that the PTP system has been deployed correctly. Event Log Troubleshoot hybrid IP/SDI systems quickly. PRISM offers time-stamped error detection capabilities for both the IP layer and content layers, allowing customers to quickly isolate the root cause of an error and take corrective action. Video Sessions Instantly check that your video content is correct using familiar tools that show the start of active video, end of active video, bit checks, and CRC errors. Availability IP capabilities are included as standard features in the new models of PRISM: the MPI2 and MPX2 which are available now globally. For more information, go to: tek.com/PRISM. Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook. About Tektronix Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise, and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights, and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM/VIDEO. Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tektronix-prism-now-includes-ip-connectivity-as-standard-300704659.html SOURCE Tektronix, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Unified Office Launches Total Connect Now Dental Management SuiteSM (TCNDMSSM) To Help Dental Practices Dramatically Improve Patient Experience Integrates with leading Dental Practice Management Software Solutions and Unified Offices Industry Leading, Reliable Voice Communications Platform to Bring Customer Service, Scheduling and Worker Productivity to a New Level Dallas, TX, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Unified Office, Inc , a leading managed services provider offering reliable hybrid cloud-based virtual communications services and business analytics to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), announced today that they are extending their award-winning communications and analytics service offerings to the dental industry with their Total Connect Now Dental Management SuiteSM (TCNDMSSM). Unified Office will exhibit this new offering at booth 333 at the Southwest Dental conference Sept. 6th through 8th, 2018 in Dallas. We are so happy to have found Unified Office, said Dr. Daniel Fanikos, DMD, Fanikos Salib Dental Care. At Fanikos Salib Dental Care we are obsessively dedicated to delivering the highest quality care to our patients. Similarly, Unified Office listens to our problems and then develops concrete, customized solutions that meet the unique needs of our rapidly growing practice. We are very pleased with the high reliability and high quality of their business communications services in addition to the superior customer support we have received from Unified Office. Because we dont have to worry about the reliability and quality of our communications services, we are able to focus more on the overall effectiveness of our practice so we can continue to deliver the highest quality of care and customer service to our patients. Thank you, Unified Office! Unified Office provides a highly reliable, high quality, always available voice communications system with unique integrations into the leading dental practice management software platforms such as Dentrix, Opendental and Eaglesoft. More importantly, Unified Office enables dental practices to easily create and modify their own unique workflow choreography and to create their own virtual office communications environment, in addition to providing them with performance analytics and automated appointment confirmation and scheduling. All of this is delivered to them in the form of a managed service where Unified Office takes responsibility for all of our customers services 24 x 7. Dental office staff can now easily forward calls to different locations at different times of the day in order to keep up with their mobile workforce that frequently movesbetween multiple offices or even within the same office. TCNDMSSM also provides an easy to use centralized administration solution for their communications systems across all of their offices and can be accessed by the device of their choice no matter whey happen to be. The dental industry landscape is undergoing rapid change, the pace of which is largely unprecedented, said Ray Pasquale, Founder & CEO of Unified Office. Dentists live in a highly competitive marketplace. For example, consumers have come to expect a one stop shopping experience where they receive all the services they need from a single dental practice. We also live in a real-time world today where consumers expect immediate attention. Missing an inbound call or putting someone on hold or even worse, putting them through to voicemail can result in missing a new patient opportunity or an appointment from an existing patient, both of which can result in lost revenue opportunities and potential reputational harm. Summary of Benefits for Dental Practices: Uniformity of services enables their staff to easily bring their offices with them, wherever they happen to be on any given day. A hybrid, on premise and cloud-based solution that enables the highest quality VoIP offering available with the most reliable and resilient service platform converting calls into dollars. Business continuity that eliminates down time by finding and fixing problems in most cases before the customer becomes aware of them. Automated notifications and scheduling. Superior customer service, 24X7, provided by Unified Office in the US. Integration with best-in-class dental practice management software. Rapid installation of their services without interrupting their business. Cost savings experienced over other options from eliminating the need for costly legacy T1 lines and/or MPLS circuits. A single end-to-end managed service solution provided by one vendor means one call gets it all done with one partner should an issue arise. Unified Offices core mission is to help businesses of all types monetize their communications service and solve problems that are unique to them. Unified Office does this by providing them with reliable, high quality, business class, voice communications, and simple and elegant, easy-to-use services and applications that help them improve the effectiveness of their business operations. These services include real-time performance analytics and automated notifications for appointment confirmations and scheduling. Total Connect Now ? is an easy to use managed business communications service that integrates voice and video communications, messaging, service-level monitoring, business continuity, and business analytics tools into a seamless, high quality, reliable communications service that can be configured to meet the unique needs of any business. Unified Office provides an at-a-glance view of customer service responsiveness in real-time, along with on-demand and scheduled reporting, and real-time analytics for any single or multilocation business. All of this can be viewed, configured and accessed remotely via the Unified Office fully integrated TCN? Operational Management Suite (TCNOMS) web-enabled portal on any device. Unified Office is a managed services company that takes total responsibility for its customers business communications services. Proactive service monitoring and business continuity backup around the clock ensures a worry-free experience. With Unified Offices extensive interoperability testing, users can rest assured that their service provides outstanding reliability and is available whenever and wherever they need it. About Unified Office Unified Office, Inc. is a leading provider of SDN-based, hybrid cloud, managed, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and Unified Communications services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Unified Offices Total Connect Now? service architecture was purpose-built to deliver the highest quality of experience and availability, leveraging the latest in extensible business VoIP communications technology and cloud-based infrastructure to enhance SMB workforce productivity. Their cloud-based intelligent network incorporates Unified Offices unique adaptive Highest Quality Routing Protocol (HQRP) for end-to-end service quality, and Business Continuity shadowing to ensure high availability operation over one or more redundant broadband links. The Unified Office Visual Performance Suite and IoT service platform provides a real-time view of changes in operational performance levels and actionable intelligence for SMBs, store managers and business owners, enabling them to readily determine real-time business performance, take immediate actions, and apply continuous operational improvements. This results in higher customer satisfaction, increased customer retention, and increased revenues and profitability. For more information visit www.unifiedoffice.com . Contact: Cathy Clarke CNC Associates Ph.: 508-833-8533 Email: cathy@cncassocs.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Shoptalk Announces Preliminary 2019 Agenda, First 100+ Speakers And Unprecedented Educational Programs NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Shoptalk, the world's largest retail and ecommerce conference with more than 8,000 attendees, including over 750 CEOs, today released its preliminary 2019 agenda and initial lineup of more than 100 speakers that includes: Nordstrom Co-President, Erik Nordstrom Co-President, Gap Inc. President & CEO, Art Peck President & CEO, Canada Goose CEO, Dani Reiss CEO, Crate and Barrel CEO, Neela Montgomery CEO, Pinterest Co-Founder & CEO, Ben Silbermann Co-Founder & CEO, Tapestry CEO, Victor Luis CEO, DSW CEO, Roger Rawlins CEO, Lowe's Chief Marketing Officer, Jocelyn Wong Chief Marketing Officer, Mattel, Inc. Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Sid Mathur Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Taubman Centers , Inc. Chief Operating Officer, Bill Taubman Chief Operating Officer, Ulta Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer, Dave Kimbell Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer, lululemon , EVP, Americas, Celeste Burgoyne , EVP, Americas, Walmart VP & GM of Walmart Media Group, Stefanie Jay VP & GM of Walmart Media Group, KFC Global Chief Digital Officer, Ryan Ostrom Global Chief Digital Officer, ipsy Co-Founder & President, Jennifer Goldfarb The final agenda will feature a total of more than 350 speakers. Shoptalk will be held on March 3-6, 2019 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Shoptalk also today announced two new groundbreaking education initiatives that will launch with the 2019 event: A standardized set of agenda sessions called the Core Curriculum, representing courses that will be offered every year, but with updated perspectives. An Annual Retail Education Certificate which is awarded each year to those individuals who complete at least 10 credits of approved continuing education at Shoptalk. "As Shoptalk gears up for its fifth show, we continue to set new standards for the industry and break new ground with our agenda and unprecedented onsite programs," said Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Shoptalk. "Learning has become criticl to being a leader and key contributor in the retail industry. To succeed, retail leaders--and aspiring leaders--must now focus on their professional development to deepen their knowledge of retail trends and technologies. Our new Core Curriculum and Annual Retail Education Certificate are designed to empower the entire retail industry with the absolute best continuing education opportunities at this critical time." Introducing Shoptalk's Core Curriculum Shoptalk has created a standardized set of sessions called the Core Curriculum. Starting in 2019, approximately half of Shoptalk's 40-minute track sessions will form the standardized Core Curriculum. Core Curriculum courses (sessions) include many of the fundamentals of retail that will remain relevant for years to come. Courses in the Core Curriculum cover a wide range of topics, from Innovations in Store Design to Hiring and Training Digital Talent, and from Selling on Marketplaces to Next Generation Supply Chains. These courses will be offered every year, but with updated, current perspectives. Other sessions on the agenda--those outside the Core Curriculum that may not be repeated--address topics that are just as critical, but may be covered differently in future years. This groundbreaking new approach to standardizing industry education enables retailers and brands to get a fresh perspective each year on the core issues they must continue to address, and to learn from companies at the forefront of change. Announcing the Annual Retail Education Certificate Shoptalk also launched an Annual Retail Education Certificate which is awarded to those individuals who complete at least 10 credits of approved continuing education at Shoptalk. Starting in 2019, individuals can earn credits onsite during the event by attending main stage and track agenda sessions as well as taking part in other Shoptalk learning programs including: Tabletalks - Interactive peer group discussions among retailers and brands Interactive peer group discussions among retailers and brands Techtalks - Overviews of technology innovation presented by tech company executives - Overviews of technology innovation presented by tech company executives Hosted Retailers & Brands Program - Meetings with tech company executives The Annual Retail Education Certificate helps recipients distinguish themselves at a time when retail industry professionals there is a significant divide in retail industry professionals' knowledge of digital innovation. Any attendee can qualify for an Annual Retail Education Certificate and Shoptalk is working directly with employers to help teams across their organizations participate in the annual certificate program. Shoptalk's 2019 preliminary agenda is available at: https://shoptalk.com/agenda and the initial speaker lineup can be viewed at https://shoptalk.com/speakers. Those interested in speaking can apply at https://shoptalk.com/speakers/apply. About Shoptalk Shoptalk is the world's largest conference for retail and ecommerce innovation. Held annually in Las Vegas, Shoptalk is an unprecedented global gathering of individuals and companies reshaping how consumers discover, shop and buy. The event provides a platform for large retailers and brands, startups, tech companies, investors, media and analysts to learn, collaborate and evolve. Shoptalk will be held on March 3-6, 2019 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.shoptalk.com. Follow @shoptalk. Like facebook.com/shoptalk. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shoptalk-announces-preliminary-2019-agenda-first-100-speakers-and-unprecedented-educational-programs-300707034.html SOURCE Shoptalk [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] APCON Expands Global Presence With New Director of EMEA Operations WILSONVILLE, Ore., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- APCON, a leading provider of intelligent network visibility and security solutions, today announced its new Director of EMEA Operations, Mike Simmonds. APCON's data center monitoring and security solutions offer complete visibility to service providers and enterprises seeking network insights for enhanced investigation, threat detection and response. Simmonds will lead a team to drive sales and build brand recognition across the EMEA region. He will be responsible for supporting business activities focused on technical customer support and revenue generation. "Mike's industry knowledge and experience is a great fit for APCON's expanding presence in EMEA," said Richard Rauch, president and CEO of APCON. "His expertise in network security and visibility is a huge asset for APCON and will help bolster our international business. We're delighted to have him on our team." Simmonds is intimately familiar with network performance and security and has already been established as a leader in the market. Prior to joining APCON, he led the technical team at Axial Systems, a long-standing APCON reseller. Additionally, he has held numerous positions within the data communications industry throughout his career, including executive positions, product evangelist, hardware design, sles, support and software engineer. "I am very pleased to be joining APCON, an innovative company I have known for many years," said Simmonds. "I look forward to working with the EMEA team to further position APCON as the top network visibility solution on the market." Simmonds and his team will attend IP EXPO Europe, taking place on Oct. 3 4 2018 at ExCeL, London. About APCON For more than 20 years, APCON has consistently delivered smart, stable and scalable technology solutions that provide an unparalleled level of confidence to service providers and businesses seeking total data center visibility and security. Its customers range from midsize companies to Fortune 1000 enterprises in more than 40 countries. APCON assures superior network monitoring while supporting traffic analysis and streamlined network management and security. For more information, visit us at www.apcon.com or follow us on Twitter: @apcon. Media Contact Sydney Hirshberger 503-682-4050 sydney.hirshberger@apcon.com Related Images mike-simmonds.jpg Mike Simmonds Mike Simmonds - Director of EMEA Operations, APCON apcon.jpg APCON APCON provides the visibility needed to improve security in any network environment. Related Links APCON Solutions Overview APCON Products Overview View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/apcon-expands-global-presence-with-new-director-of-emea-operations-300707035.html SOURCE APCON Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] ElmTree Funds Bolsters Investor Relations Team with Strategic Hire ElmTree Funds, LLC, a leading real estate private equity firm, is pleased to announce Annie Hsieh has been hired as Executive Vice President of Investor Relations. In this role, she will be leading the firm's capital raising and investor relations functions and will be based in New York City. "Annie's in-depth knowledge of the real estate markets and longstanding industry relationships will play a key role in advancing our strategic growth priorities and broadening our global investor base," said Jim Koman, managing principal at ElmTree Funds. "With this hire, we are further enhancing our fundraising and investor support capabilities." Before joining ElmTree, Ms. Hsieh covered U.S. institutional investors as a Director on the Client Relations team at ZAIS Group. Prior to this, she managed both Investor Relations and Business Development for Five Mile Capital where she focused on real estate and fixed income assets for U.S. and Asian institutional investors. Her background also includes a variety of investment, fundraising and trading positions at firms such as Barclays Capital, Credi Suisse and Citigroup, where she focused on a diverse set of industries and geographies. Ms. Hsieh commented, "ElmTree is one of the most experienced real estate investment management firms focused on the net lease, sale-leaseback, and build-to-suit sectors and I look forward to having an immediate positive impact on the business. Net lease is a very stable and predictable asset class that investors like due to its recurring cash flows, and we see significant opportunity to grow the ElmTree platform as institutional investors continue to allocate more capital to real estate." Ms. Hsieh holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business, as well as an MBA from Columbia Business School. About ElmTree Funds: ElmTree Funds, LLC is a leading real estate private equity firm and seasoned fund manager to institutional and private investors. ElmTree's investment philosophy focuses on creating attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors in the commercial real estate net lease, sale-leaseback, and build-to-suit sectors. Since its founding in 2011, ElmTree Funds has acquired, developed or financed more than $6 billion of office, industrial and healthcare properties. ElmTree Funds targets investments in secondary and tertiary markets across the United States that are leased to investment grade tenants on a long-term basis. ElmTree Funds is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information please visit www.elmtreefunds.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005213/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Cambridge Mobile Telematics and Aioi Nissay Dowa Launch Telematics Platform in Southeast Asia Global insurer Aioi Nissay Dowa and Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world's largest smartphone-centric telematics provider, brought their longstanding partnership to Southeast Asia through Aioi's new subsidiary, Singapore-based AIS Asia. AIS Asia recently launched Visual-drive, a multi-language mobile telematics app for personal line and commercial insurance. "One of our missions is to provide a telematics scheme to local insurers quickly and reasonably in Southeast Asia, who would like to develop telematics insurance like UBI," said Susumu Tategami, AIS Asia's managing director. Visual-drive works in conjunction with the optional tag (News - Alert) , a Bluetooth tracking device attached to the user's car. Aioi and CMT have worked together since 2016 when they brought Visual Drive to Japan. "Southeast Asia consists of over 10 countries and CMT's solutions are very universal, so they can meet our demands," said Tategami. In 2017, Aioi launched CMT's DriveWell Fleet program to enable commercial fleet owners and insurers to reduce claims, improve employee safety and increase operational efficiency. AIS Asia is planning to provide the Visual-drive program to comercial fleet owners in Southeast Asia as well. "We are excited to work with Aioi to expand our global reach to new markets that are embracing smartphone-centric telematics, by offering our services and products to insurers in Southeast Asia," said Katherine Wellman, CMT's vice president of product and marketing. Since 2016, telematics has become more universally prevalent with increased demand from consumers and companies across the globe. About AIS Asia Aioi Nissay Dowa Services Asia (AIS Asia) was established in October 2017 and is 100 percent owned by Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Japan. AIS Asia provides telematics services and data analysis services related to insurance in Southeast Asia. About Cambridge Mobile Telematics Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) makes roads and drivers safer around the world. Founded in 2010 by two MIT (News - Alert) professors and experienced entrepreneurs, CMT pioneered telematics for behavior-based insurance (BBI) and deployed the first solution to provide both traditional vehicle-centric UBI and BBI. With over 40 customers in 20 countries, CMT has a proven record of changing driver behavior: an average reduction of 35 percent in phone distraction, 20 percent in hard braking, and 20 percent in at-risk speeding all within less than 30 days of using the program. For more information, please visit cmtelematics.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @cmtelematics. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005243/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) Adds Six Distributors Across North and South America to Meet Increasing Demand for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), a leading global supplier of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), today announced five new distributors in the US, Mexico and Argentina to help meet the ever-increasing demand for its robots worldwide. MiR, whose North American sales account for nearly a quarter of its worldwide growth, added Allied Automation, based in Indianapolis, Indiana; Empire Automation System in Rochester, N.Y., known as MASEAS; Lydey Automation in Maumee and Brecksville Ohio; i3 Mexico in Monterey Mexico, Murten S.L.R., in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Macon, in Tierra del Feugo, Argentina. This brings the total number of MiR distributors to 143 in 40 countries. "Automating internal transport with mobile robots is proving to be a key element for manufacturers to optimize production and increase competitiveness," said Ed Mullen, general manager - North America, Mobile Industrial Robots. "This is especially true within multinational corporations that have successfully tested our robots within a few facilities and now want to optimize their internal transportation throughout their plants worldwide. By expanding our distribution network throughout the US and Latin America, we can help even more companies reap the benefits." Increased Demand Requires New Distributors, More Focus on Latin America MiR has grown quickly since its founding in 2013, with sales rising by 500 percent from 2015 to 2016, and 300 percent from 2016 to 2017. MiR added its second US office in San Diego this spring, which includes an entire team focused exclusively on growing sales in Latin America. "Not only are US companies benefitig from our autonomous mobile robots, but there is great potential for growth in Latin America, since many of our multinational customers in the automotive, consumer goods and electronics industries have production plants in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina," Mullen added. "This provides distributors with ready-made customers, while providing local examples of successful use cases to share with potential customers to demonstrate how automating logistics with mobile robots is helping them save money and increase productivity overall." MiR Showcases AMRs for Light and Heavy Transport Needs at IMTS 2018 Each member of the family of MiR AMRs is flexible, easy to program and safe for both heavy and light internal transport, enabling companies to optimize logistics throughout the entire production chain, from the warehouse to the delivery of goods. The MiR100 and MiR200 AMRs, which can autonomously transport up to 100 kg (220 lbs) and 200 kg (440 lbs) respectively, were joined in June by the MiR500, which satisfies the industry need for a bigger, stronger and faster AMR. MiR will demonstrate all three AMRs at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2018) at booth #121468. Demonstrations include: The new MiR500, with a lifting capacity of 500 kg (1102 lbs), which is designed to transport pallets in manufacturing floors and warehouses, and can automatically collect, transport and deliver pallets with speeds of 2 miles per hour. The MiR200 with a Universal Robots UR5 robot arm and OnRobot RG2 gripper, which demonstrates how the robots can pick up, autonomously transport and deliver circuit boards, allowing the UR5 to service multiple work stations. To meet the task's precise requirements, the MiR200 connects to a docking station built into a stationary table. The MiR200 with a MiRHook, which can tow carts weighing up to 500 kg (1102 lbs). "Aligning with MiR was an easy call," said Don David, president and CEO of Minuteman | Empire Automation Systems. "Not only does MiR fit into our existing portfolio of high-tech products, but as an innovative and forward-thinking company, MiR exemplifies everything we look for in a strategic partnership. Its commitment to R&D and marketing will ensure that our customers end up with not just a quality product, but one that is flexible enough to meet the needs of an ever-shifting industrial landscape. The entire team at Minuteman | Empire Automation Systems is very excited to embrace MiR as we explore new opportunities with customers old and new." According to Dan Lydey, president of Lydey Automation Company, "As so many of our customers are trying to apply collaborative robotics to automate their manufacturing processes, MiR provides a platform that offers a clear and short path to ROI with exciting new tools for productivity and growth. The robot interface is very intuitive, the autonomy and safety of the robot is impressive, and the handling capabilities are very industrial. MiR is a logical choice for our customers who would rather be spending less time learning, and more time using, collaborative robotics." About Mobile Industrial Robots: Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) develops and markets the industry's most advanced line of collaborative and safe autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that quickly, easily and cost-effectively manage internal logistics, freeing employees for higher-value activities. Hundreds of mid-sized through large multinational manufacturers, along with several hospitals and nurseries around the world, have already installed MiR's innovative robots. MiR has quickly established a global distribution network in more than 40 countries, with regional offices in New York, San Diego, Singapore, Dortmund, Barcelona and Shanghai. MiR has grown quickly since its founding in 2013, with sales rising by 500% from 2015 to 2016, and 300% from 2016 to 2017. Founded and run by experienced Danish robotics industry professionals, MiR is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, and was recently acquired by U.S. company Teradyne (News - Alert) , the leading supplier of automated test equipment. Three years ago, Teradyne also acquired the Danish company Universal Robots. For more information, visit http://www.mobile-industrial-robots.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005605/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] China's Ministry of Education has released an announcement requiring universities to work harder to end academic misconduct in bachelor's theses, including plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, ghostwriting, as well as buying and selling theses, the ministry said Tuesday. The announcement, in a bid to restore order to undergraduate education, asked for revised management systems to strengthen supervision over all steps in the thesis process including topic selection, proposal, and defense, as well as strict enforcement of plagiarism detection and spot checks on bachelor's theses. It also called for more challenging and better quality curriculum, adding that formative assessment performance should comprise a higher proportion of a student's total score. The current evaluation system applied on college teachers also needs to be revised, as required by the announcement, which said teaching quality should be a major consideration when reviewing teacher performance. [September 05, 2018] ComEd, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Partner to Support 21 Public Safety Projects Throughout Northern Illinois In support of innovative public safety initiatives that are essential to local communities across northern Illinois, ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus today announced grants of up to $10,000 each to 21 communities to fund local public safety projects. Each of the 21 projects to receive a Powering Safe Communities grant proposed a unique way to improve the efficiency and delivery of public safety programs, increase community resiliency, and address unmet safety needs. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus - a council for Chicagoland's chief elected officials to collaborate on public policy issues - reviewed all applications. "At ComEd, safety is our number one priority - not just for our employees and our customers, but for the greater communities where we live, work, and play," said Terence R. Donnelly, president and COO of ComEd. "For the last few years, we've delivered on that promise by partnering with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to carry out the Powering Safe Communities Program. We are pleased to see proposals from this year's grantees to invest in innovative technologies that will strengthen their response to critical safety and health concerns." ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus share a commitment to ensuring that residents of northern Illinois are protected in their communities. Working together through the Powering Safe Communities partnership, they have put this commitment into action, delivering more than $500,000 in funding to 70 public safety projects in the last three years. ComEd has provided funding for the program since its inception four years ago, and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus has served as the program administrator for the last three grant cycles. "The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus knows that we are stronger as a region because of the tireless work of our public servants. That's why it's so important to us that our local municipalities have the resources they need to keep both our public servants and the community members they protect safe and secure," said Joseph Mancino, Mayor of Hawthorn Woods, Ill., and Chairman of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. "Thanks to ComEd's generous support, we are once again able to realize this goal and assist over 20 local communities as they pursue tailored public safety solutions." Information on the Powering Safe Communities Program can be found here: http://mayorscaucus.org/initiatives/environment/psc/. The 21 Powering Safe Communities grant recipients for 2018 are: Village of Alsip This grant helps fund equipment, goods, and services for the recently approved volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) run by the Village of Alsip's Department of Emergency Preparedness (DEP). CERT educates individuals about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Village of Arlington Heights This grant allows the Village to purchase a Smart Board display to enhance disaster preparedness and community resiliency. In combination with other equipment that will be funded by the Village, the Smart Board display will augment the decision-making process in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Village of Barrington This grant funds the purchase of two Lucas CPR mechanical assist devices. These battery-powered units enhance paramedics' lifesaving efforts for cardiac arrest patients through automated chest compressions, allowing paramedics to concentrate on more advanced resuscitative skills, such as IV access, medication delivery, defibrillation, and advanced airway management. Village of Bull Valley This grant helps purchase a front-end loader, a tailgate mounted salt spreader, and a ditch bank mower, three pieces of equipment that will improve the safety of Village roads. Funing from the Village will also aid in the purchase and provide safety training for employees who use the equipment. Village of Cary This grant allows the Village to purchase two solar-powered RADAR message signs with trailers. The Village currently possesses only a single arrow board that does not have the capability to display other messages. The new units will serve as replacements for both the arrow board and radar trailer, providing greater flexibility for the Public Works and Police Departments. City of Countryside This grant helps purchase and install high-definition video cameras at the City's most attended parks, Ideal Park and Countryside Park. This modern equipment will capture vital evidence in the event of a serious criminal incident, while bringing a heightened sense of safety and security to the neighborhood. Village of Crete This grant supports the purchase of three Thermal Imaging Cameras, two for the Police Department and one for Crete's Emergency Management Agency ( EMA (News - Alert) ). The cameras will be installed on specific patrol vehicles to greatly enhance the ability to see at night by combining night optics with heat sensing ability. City of Crystal Lake This grant enables the City to install electronic speed limit displays along Country Club Road to aid in calming traffic. The road, which is in a residential area, currently experiences a high incidence of speeding, with measurements at various locations showing speeds between 36 and 39 miles-per-hour (mph) when the posted speed limit is 25 mph. Village of Elburn This grant assists in purchasing traffic speed monitoring and safety signs. The signs will be used in neighborhoods, business areas, and around schools in the Village to monitor speeds and provide visual reminders to motorists. City of Elgin This grant allows the Elgin Police Department to equip two parks that experience a high level of youth engagement with pole-mounted security cameras. The new cameras will improve the overall safety and security of the area for teens and young children, as well as disincentivize activity in the parks after they close. Village of Flossmoor This grant funds two portable, programmable, and energy-efficient speed display signs to be used at multiple locations throughout the Village. The signs will allow the Village to set sign configurations, schedule operating modes, and gather traffic data for analysis. The Village's goal is to increase motorists' awareness of their traveling speed in school zones and achieve better adherence to speed limits on residential streets. Village of Glendale Heights This grant funds the purchase of a portable 10-print fingerprinting system, which will allow the Glendale Heights Police Department to provide safe and private fingerprinting services to community members, local businesses, and school districts. It will also provide a private, secure location for juvenile offenders to be printed. Currently, the Department has only one stationary fingerprinting machine located in the adult section of its holding facility. Village of Hebron This grant allows the Village to purchase a new squad car to provide full-time police protection coverage. The Village recently added two full-time officers and made the chief of police a full-time position; however, its current squad cars are not reliable and break down often. With the grant, the Village will purchase a new 2018 Dodge Charger Pursuit through the NWMC Suburban Purchasing Cooperative. Village of La Grange This grant helps fund the purchase of four solar-powered speed display signs to be placed throughout the Village of La Grange. The display signs will not only provide a visual reminder to drivers of their current speed, but they also can be used to determine the amount of traffic in an area so that the La Grange Police Department can deploy its officers more efficiently. Village of Minooka This grant funds the purchase of a speed display sign and LED school zone sign. The signs will be used in conjunction to visually notify vehicle drivers of their speed and alert drivers that they are entering a school zone by displaying bright LED blinkers. City of Northlake This grant aids with the installation of a backup, natural gas fired, electrical generator at the public works facility. The generator will allow the facility to operate during power outages. It is the last City-owned building that does not have a backup power source. City of Oak Forest This grant helps expand the City's AED (automated external defibrillator) program from nine to 20 units to help diagnose and treat community members suffering from life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. The City will replace existing AED units and deploy 11 AEDs in public buildings and on the street in police, fire, EMA, and public works vehicles. City of Polo This grant allows the City to update the electrical services at Millard Deuth Park, as the City is a small community that does not have a park district to cover the costs. The update will turn off electrical currents when the breaker is shut off, decreasing the likelihood of a dangerous fire outburst. City of Rolling Meadows This grant helps fund the City's Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) Acquisition project through the purchase of six LIFE PAK CR Plus Semi-Automatic AEDs. Currently, none of the City's patrol squads are equipped with AEDs. The grant will help enable patrol personnel of the Rolling Meadows Police Department to safely, effectively, and quickly administer and deploy life-saving external defibrillators to anyone suffering from cardiac arrest. Village of Willowbrook This grant funds the purchase and installation of 12 solar-powered LED stop signs at specific locations throughout the Village to improve the safety of both drivers and pedestrians. The 12 locations, including two near elementary schools, currently have traditional, unlit stop signs and are in need of upgraded signage. Village of Worth This grant funds the replacement of 12 tower type computers for the Worth Police Department. The new computers will allow the Department to effectively communicate with other public safety agencies in the region using a new "Superion Public Safety Records Management System." The enhanced technology, through the speed and accuracy of data acquisition, will also improve the Department's ability to comply with its mission of serving and protecting community residents and visitors. About ComEd Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. About Metropolitan Mayors Caucus The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is a membership organization of the Chicago region's 275 cities, towns and villages. Founded in 1997 by then Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and leading mayors from nine suburban municipal groups, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus pushes past geographical boundaries and local interests to work on public policy issues. The caucus provides a forum for metropolitan Chicago's chief elected officials to collaborate on common problems and work toward a common goal of improving the quality of life for the millions of people who call the region home. For more information visit http://mayorscaucus.org/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005608/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Garrett Motion Inc. To Host Investor Conference In New York City MORRIS PLAINS, N.J., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced that Garrett Motion Inc., the spin-off of Honeywell's Transportation Systems business, will be hosting an investor conference in New York City on Thursday, September 6, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Olivier Rabiller, Garrett President and Chief Executive Officer, and other members of the Garrett leadership team will present. A real-time audio webcast of the presentation can be accessed at http://www.honeywell.com/investor, where related materials will be posted prior to the presentation and a replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days following the presentation. Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 software-industrial company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace and automotive products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help everything from aircraft, cars, homes and buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom. Contacts: MEDIA: INVESTOR RELATIONS: Michael Stoller Mark Macaluso Paul Blalock Garrett Motion Honeywell Garrett Motion +1 734 392-5525 +1 973 455-2222 +1 862 812-5013 michael.stoller@garrettmotion.com mark.macaluso@honeywell.com paul.blalock@garrettmotion.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/garrett-motion-inc-to-host-investor-conference-in-new-york-city-300707173.html SOURCE Honeywell Mastercard & Bank of America Support Small Business Growth with Launch of Second Annual "Grow Your Biz Contest" Sixty percent of small businesses nationwide are planning to grow their businesses over the next five years*. Mastercard and Bank of America want to help them do just that with the launch of the second annual Grow Your Biz Contest, a call to action for small business owners from across the country to pitch their business for the opportunity to win $25k and business consultation with industry experts.** "At Bank of America, we're committed to supporting the ideas, goals and unique banking needs of small businesses throughout the nation," said Sharon Miller, head of small business at Bank of America. "Grow your Biz is a great opportunity to consult an expert and access capital for your business. Every minute matters when you run a business, so we've made participation as simple as possible. I look forward to hearing from small businesses across the country about their plans to grow." To enter the Grow Your Biz Contest, small business owners must answer the simple question, "How will you grow your small business?" by submitting a video (up to 1 minute) online. From the submissions, four finalists will be identified for their creativity and business strategy to receive a $1,000 Mastercard prepaid card, one-on-one business consultation with industry experts and the opportunity to pitch their businesses to the Grow Your Biz Panel during the final event in New York City on November 8, 2018. "We are thrilled to take the Grow Your Biz Contest to a national level and extend this opportunity to small businesses across the country," said Ginger Siegel, Head of North America Small Business, Mastercard. "By collaborating with Bank of America, we can provide small businesses with holistic solutions and tools to meet their business, consumer and community needs." We've gathered a panel of expert judges for the Grow Your Biz Contest finalists to present to including Create and Cultivate CEO Jaclyn Johnson, host of CNBC's "Cleveland Hustles" Bonin Bough, Head of North America Small Business for Mastercard Ginger Siegel and Northeast Small Business Divisional Executive for Bank of America Kevin Kelly. The judges will provide all finalists with individual consultation sessions and select one grand-prize winner who will receive $25,000 to pursue their business plan. Last year's Grow Your Biz Contest focused on the Boston market where four finalists demonstrated great enthusiasm the desire to grow and grow smart. From Intriguing Hair's beautifull styled hair, Birch Baby's organic baby products, Paddy Wagon's inflatable pubs, and the Grow Your Biz Contest winner More to Love's inspiring mindfulness, each finalist showed their unique value and how they planned to take their business to the next level - all they needed was a jump start with the proper tools and resources. Mastercard and Bank of America continue to make it a priority to deliver the right resources that help give small business owners the competitive advantage to grow smart and expand successfully, including small business rewards and benefits as seen through the recently introduced Bank of America Relationship Rewards. About the Grow Your Biz Contest **NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Open to small business owners in the 50 US and DC, 18+. Ends 9/30/18. Restrictions apply. Click here for Official Rules. About Mastercard Mastercard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities - such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances - easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau. About Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,400 retail financial centers, including more than 1,700 lending centers, more than 1,900 Merrill Edge investment centers and more than 1,300 business centers; approximately 16,100 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with approximately 36 million active users, including 25 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom. Click here to register for news email alerts. * As sourced in the spring 2018 Bank of America Small Business Owner Report View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005625/en/ [September 05, 2018] Momentum Telecom Becomes Member of Telarus' TrustedSky Alliance BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Momentum Telecom has announced that they have joined the Telarus TrustedSky Alliance in a step that further distinguishes the companys status as the industrys customer experience leader. Having already completed the necessary modifications and enhancements in their data centers, Momentum is ready to provide partners with an even greater control along with increased insight and more tools for managing Momentums cloud-based communications solutions. TrustedSky is a web-based testing platform that ensures businesses are receiving the best possible experience by enabling partners to test and diagnose their customers network capabilities and performance. This functionality provides the crucial knowledge that IT staffs and partners need to act both independently and autonomously and will inherently lead to faster and more comprehensive service resolutions. This simple, yet powerful technology firmly places visibility and insight in the hands of partners, said Momentum EVP of Technology, Mark Marquez. Now, a few mere clicks performs a pitch and catch test that sends test VoIP packets over the network all the way to the Momentum data centers and then quickly returns results that can be used to identify the correct party, whether its the internal IT department, the ISP or Momentum, to contact for assistance. In addition to the network management benefits, through TrustedSky, Momentum will have a larger portfolio of tools that will continue to simplify and expedite the provisioning, implementation and deployment process of their solutions. At Momentum, we are known for our unmatched customer experiene with white glove implementation, training and ongoing support, said Momentum Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Chuck Piazza. So adding Telarus' TrustedSky to our already celebrated network was a natural step forward for us in our continued our commitment to having both the industrys most satisfied and empowered customers and partners. For more information about Momentum Telecom or the TrustedSky announcement email sales@momentumtelecom.com or call 877-251-5554. About Momentum Momentum Telecom is a premier provider of Business Voice , BBX Broadband Management and Unified Communications solutions . Momentums solutions offer smart, customizable cloud-based applications including voice, video and collaboration tools that enhance business productivity and efficiency for direct customers and more than 500 nationwide white label and channel partners. Momentum Telecom is committed to delivering best-in-class products backed by a geo-redundant network paired with industry-leading uptime and customer service. Headquartered in Birmingham, AL, Momentum Telecom has regional offices actively serving customers across the United States. To learn more visit momentumtelecom.com or connect with us on Facebook , Google Plus , Twitter , LinkedIn or visit our blog . At Momentum Telecom, our mission is to enable others to thrive by combining smarter technology with seasoned experts while delivering unmatched customer experience. About Trusted Sky TrustedSky is a joint alliance of leading service providers in the Cloud and Unified Communications market. TrustedSky was formed to solve the broken Cloud support model. Hosted Cloud applications guarantee that no single support group can satisfy an end user when it comes to performance problems. The goal of TrustedSky is to bring transparency to this process and create a self-service workflow that accelerates the time to solution between an end-user, the end-users IT staff and the Cloud provider. Media Contact Beth Hildreth bhildreth@momentumtelecom.com 315-579-7112 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Audra Brown Joins Splash Worldwide as Client Services Director Global creative technology company Splash Worldwide today announced the addition of marketing veteran Audra Brown as Client Services Director. Based in Splash's Portland, Oregon office, Brown will drive all client engagement and project management functions for North America as well as oversee operations in the Portland location. "Audra brings an impressive trifecta of integrated expertise, a thorough understanding of the digital and social landscapes, and broad connections to both the agency and the brand spheres," said Erik Semmelhack, Chief Revenue Officer, Splash Worldwide. "She strengthens Splash's presence in North America, and will be a valuable asset in strategically growing our business and bolstering our client engagement initiatives." With twenty years of experience in developing and executing marketing strategy and communications programs for clients across retail, tech, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brown has worked with leading brands including Subway Restaurants, Intel (News - Alert) , HP, Dell, CLIF Bar, CenturyLink, Daimler, nd many more to drive growth and create memorable brand interactions for customers. She joins Splash Worldwide from Portland agency CMD, where she worked for the past eight years, most recently serving as Group Account Director. Previously, Brown spent twelve years at HMH Agency, running a variety of consumer and B2B accounts. "Splash has a very well defined set of services and offers proven expertise in key areas, which to me is very refreshing in today's trend toward overextension," shared Brown. "Splash's client roster and track record - not only with creative and production services but also with its robust technology offering for asset management and distribution - really proves the value and effectiveness of what we bring to the table. I'm very excited to work with the entire team here at Splash to continue to make sure our clients are at the center of everything we do." About Splash Worldwide Splash is a creative technology company that unleashes creativity for everyone, everywhere. With multi-disciplinary insight, creative, production, technology, consulting and innovation teams, we collaborate with clients to create impactful content and distribute it within the right ecosystems. Our offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Singapore serve the world's largest brands and bridge the gap from concept to delivery. https://splashworldwide.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005224/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Express Logic's X-Ware IoT Platform Provides Turnkey Support for the Microsoft Azure IoT Software Development Kit (SDK) Express Logic, provider of the industry-leading X-Ware IoT Platform powered by the stalwart ThreadX RTOS, today announced seamless safe and secure support and integration of the Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure IoT SDKs. This new support complements the existing direct X-Ware IoT Platform support for Azure. Extending Options For Azure IoT Express Logic's X-Ware IoT Platform provides another option for Azure IoT customers who seek to quickly and easily develop devices and applications that connect to and are managed by Azure IoT Hub services. X-Ware IoT Platform was created entirely in house and designed from the ground up to be industrial grade. This enables Azure developers using the X-Ware IoT Platform to leverage its size, performance, safety, security, ease of use, and other advanced features to create best-of-class IoT sensors, devices, edge routers, and gateways. Express Logic's high-performance ThreadX RTOS is at the heart of the X-Ware IoT Platform. With more than 6.2 billion deployments, as certified by VDC Research, ThreadX is arguably one of the world's most widely deployed RTOS. ThreadX provides embedded developers with priority-based preemptive scheduling, preemption-threshold scheduling, optimized context switching, real-time event trace, downloadable memory-protected application modules, and full determinism, all accessible through a highly intuitive API. The X-Ware IoT Platform leverages the near-wire-speed performance and small footprint of Express Logic's NetX Duo to provide direct IoT cloud connectivity using Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and NetX Secure TLS/DTLS to provide a fast and secure connection solution. Complete IoT Development and Connectivity Solution X-Ware IoT Platform is more than just an RTOS with some connectivity capabilities. It is built upon the powerful, safety-certified NetX Duo dual IPv4/IPv6 stack and includes the safety-certified FileX embedded FAT-32/exFAT file system, the GUIX GUI development and embedded runtime framework, and the USBX embedded host/device USB stack. Embedded developers can leverage the entire X-Ware IoT Platform solution to create IoT applications that necessarily must do far more than simply communicate with the cloud. In addition to the performance and size advantages of the X-Ware IoT Platform, Express Logic's ThreadX FileX and NetX Duo have attained the highest level of safety certifications, including IEC (News - Alert) 61508 SIL 4 (the highest, most dependable level as determined by IEC), IEC 62304 Class C, ISO 26262 ASIL D, EN 50128 SW-SIL 4, UL 60730-1 Annex H, CSA E60730-1 Annex H, IEC 60730-1 Annex H, IEC 60335-1 Annex R, and IEC 60335-1 Annex R, 1998. "Cloud-networked IoT devices by their very nature require reliable, safe, and secure connectivity all within a limited amount of memory and processing power," said William E. Lamie, President, Express Logic. "By leveraging X-Ware IoT Platform, Microsoft Azure IoT customers can easily build, deploy, and connect billions of devices using virtually any popular microprocessor - almost instantly." Sam George, Director, Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp., said, "Microsoft Azure is committed to meeting the next-generation demands of connected devices to empower businesses to benefit from IoT. The X-Ware IoT Platform works great with Azure IoT services, enabling our customers to rapidly develop and manage devices without compromising security or performance." About Express Logic and ThreadX Headquartered in San Diego, CA (News - Alert) , Express Logic offers the industry's most advanced run-time solutions for deeply embedded applications, including the popular ThreadX RTOS, the high-performance NetX and NetX Duo embedded TCP/IP stacks, the FileX embedded FAT-compatible file system, the USBX Host/Device embedded USB protocol stack, and the GUIX embedded graphical user interface development toolkit. Most Express Logic products include full source code and are available free of run-time royalties. For more information about Express Logic solutions, please visit www.expresslogic.com, call 1-888-THREADX, or e-mail sales@expresslogic.com. ThreadX, TraceX, FileX, and X-Ware IoT Platform are registered trademarks, and Safety-Critical Certification Pack, NetX, NetX Duo, USBX, GUIX, GUIX Studio, LevelX, preemption-threshold, picokernel, and UDP (News - Alert) fast path technology are trademarks of Express Logic. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005178/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Sacramento, CA- Based Financial Advisory Firm, Towerpoint Wealth, Expands with the Addition of Advisor Jonathan LaTurner Towerpoint Wealth is pleased to announce that the firm has expanded with the addition of financial advisor Jonathan LaTurner. Mr. LaTurner joins the firm from Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Advisors in Sacramento where he worked as a financial advisor since 2012. He managed approximately $50 million in client assets. Based in Sacramento, CA (News - Alert) , Towerpoint Wealth was launched in July 2017 by financial advisor Joseph Eschleman. Towerpoint Wealth is a member of the Dynasty Network of Advisory firms. Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. LaTurner worked for First Citizens Bank. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from California State University at Sacramento and his MBA from Drexel University's LeBow College of Business. Mr. LaTurner has a focus on professional private fiduciaries including conservatorships, special needs trusts, estate administration, guardianships, court blocked accounts and tribal trusts. "As an independent advisor at Towerpoint Wealth, I will be able to provide more extensive services to this important client base of Professional Fiduciaries. I specialize in helping families or individuals with complex needs that require special attention and expertise. From helping investors who are incapacitated and don't have family nearby, to working with their third party trustee to manage their affairs, assisting a family that might include a special needs child, or executing a complicated family trust.," said Mr. LaTurner. Towerpoint Wealth is an independent financial advisory firm with a client focus on pre-retirees, retirees, business owners, corporate executives, industry professionals (technology in particular), and individuals who have recently experienced a significant life event, such as the death of a spouse, a divorce, or a job or career change. "We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to Towerpoint Wealth. Hebrings extensive experience in the growing area of private professional fiduciaries," said Mr. Eschleman. "At Towerpoint, we see significant potential to expand our business in rapidly-growing Sacramento. There is a real opportunity in this region for a truly independent investment advisory firm to serve entrepreneurs, corporate executives and high net worth families." For more information, please visit Towerpoint Wealth at: www.towerpointwealth.com www.facebook.com/TowerpointWealth/ www.linkedin.com/company/towerpointwealth/ About Dynasty Financial Partners Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates management capabilities for some of the industry's leading independent investment advisor firms. Dynasty's integrated platform services delivery chassis offers a customized, open-architecture wealth management solutions and technology platform, supporting advisors as they protect and seek to grow their clients' wealth. Dynasty's core principle is "objectivity without compromise," and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. Dynasty Financial Partners has corporate offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. Visit our website for more information: www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com. Also visit Dynasty on social media: LinkedIn (News - Alert) : https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynasty-financial-partners Twitter (News - Alert) : @DynastyFP Youtube: http://bit.ly/1MKXhC8 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005134/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Corporate Synergies Names Robert Flicker Regional Vice President of Account Management in New York Corporate Synergies, a national insurance and employee benefits brokerage and consultancy, has named industry veteran Robert Flicker Regional Vice President of Account Management for their Long Island, New York office. Flicker joins Corporate Synergies to provide guidance in developing, implementing and managing strategies for a team of benefits consultants. He brings expertise in negotiation, product design, funding options and personalized cost-control strategies based on client needs, honed over 28 years of experience in the field. "Rob has built a tremendous reputation in the employee benefits industry. He shares our dedication to delivering the highest level of benefits expertise and responsive account management," said John Turner, CEO of Corporate Synergies. "We're excited to have him on board." Under Flicker, CorporateSynergies' Long Island office will continue working hand-in-hand with their Manhattan group, led by Mike Lisa, Executive Vice President and Regional Manager, Northern Region. "Rob's reputation and core beliefs truly make him an extraordinary leader. His market knowledge and experience are second to none. I know he will fit perfectly into our corporate mission and apply his vision to drive success for our clients," said Lisa. Before joining Corporate Synergies, Flicker served as Area President, Long Island at Gallagher Business Services (GBS) where he managed clients and oversaw a team of Directors, Account Executives and Account Specialists. "I'm thrilled to be joining a team of experienced insurance professionals in a growing company like Corporate Synergies," said Flicker. "Their unique service model and commitment to bringing a deeper understanding to employers' specific situations makes them stand out in the employee benefits space." About Corporate Synergies Corporate Synergies is a national insurance and employee benefits brokerage and consultancy. The firm delivers strategies that control costs, relieve administrative burdens and mitigate risk. Its experts develop a deeper understanding through established listening posts in all areas of their competencies, fueling the ability to better execute. The company operates from five U.S. locations, including the headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, and regional offices in New York City; Melville, New York; Bethesda, Maryland; and Orlando, Florida. corpsyn.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005083/en/ Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Appoints Michael Quinn as Managing Director, Head of Corporate Coverage Canada Michael Quinn has joined Credit Agricole CIB as Managing Director, Head of Corporate Coverage for Canada, effective August 20, 2018. Based in Toronto, Michael is a member of the Credit Agricole CIB Canada Management Committee and reports locally to Xavier Roux, Senior Country Officer for Credit Agricole CIB Canada. Michael is a seasoned banker with more than 15 years' experience in global corporate and investment banking in Canada. He graduated with an MBA from the Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, and holds an undergraduate degree from Brock University. About Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Credit Agricole CIB) Credit Agricole CIB is the Corporae and Investment Banking arm of the Credit Agricole Group, the world's n13 bank measured by Tier One Capital (The Banker, July 2018). The Bank offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services structured around six major divisions: Client Coverage & International Network Global Investment Banking Structured Finance Global Markets Debt Optimisation & Distribution International Trade & Transaction Banking The Bank provides support to clients in large international markets through its network with a presence in major countries in Europe, America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit the website at www.ca-cib.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005700/en/ [September 05, 2018] TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 Announces Startup Battlefield Competitors TechCrunch, the leading technology media property dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news, today announced 21 participants will compete in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2018, the biggest Disrupt event yet. Each year, the event brings together tech titans, noted thought leaders and experienced entrepreneurs to offer unique insights into industry topics-of-the-moment. At the very heart of TechCrunch Disrupt, Startup Battlefield launches promising, under-the-radar companies from all over the world to a global audience on tech's biggest stage. TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 will be held at Moscone West in San Francisco on September 5-7 and will stream live on TechCrunch.com. Starting on Wednesday September 5 and continuing throughout the week, Startup Battlefield will gather founders to demo their new, never before seen products in front of a world-class panel of innovators and investors. This year's Startup Battlefield judges include the top and brightest of the venture world. The competition has become the world's leading authority in debuting revolutionary startups, introducing game-changing technologies and discussing what's top of mind for the tech industry's key innovators. "We have so many great new startups surfacing around the world and this year's Startup Battlefield once again will showcase the best of the best," said Samantha Stein, Startup Battlefield Editor for TechCrunch. "Startup Battlefield has always provided startups a platform to gain recognition across the entire tech industry and this year with our international expansion we are expecting the caliber to be even higher. We're looking forward to announcing this year's competitors and we are eager to watch them pitch our judges, TechCrunch Disrupt attendees and viewers around the world who tune in to the livestream." Since appearing on the TechCrunch stage, more than 700 Startup Battlefield alumni have collectively raised more thn $8 billion in funding and more than 100 have achieved exits. Notable competitors that have launched on the Startup Battlefield stage include major brands like Mint, Yammer, Dropbox, and Fitbit. The new Startup Battlefield winner will be announced at the closing awards ceremony Friday, September 7 at 4:15 p.m. PT. The winner will walk away with a $100,000 prize and the highly coveted Disrupt Cup. The list of Startup Battlefield participants include: Binary Bubbles/PopBase Carma CB Therapeutics Crossing Minds D-ID Elevian Fibre Forethought Kegg Kinta KidSense Lori McCarthy Mira Nutrigene Origami Labs PoLTE Stealthy Labs Unbound Wingly Vtrus The list of 2018 Startup Battlefield judges include: Aaron Patzer, Vital Software Aileen Lee, Cowboy Ventures Catherine Ulrich, FirstMark Capital Cyan Bannister, Founders Fund Ellie Wheeler, Greycroft Hans Tung, GGV JD Vance, Revolution (News - Alert) , LLC Jeff Clavier, UnCork Capital Jeremy Liew, Lightspeed Venture Partners Jim Adler, Toyota AI Ventures John Borthwick (News - Alert) , Betaworks Julie Grant, Canaan Partners Kirsten Green, Forerunner Ventures Lo Toney, Plexo Capital Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch Megan Quinn, Spark Rebecca Kaden, Union Square Ventures Roelof Botha, Sequoia Capital Samantha O'Keefe, Google (News - Alert) Cloud Sarah Cannon, Index Ventures Sarah Guo, Greylock Shauntel (Poulson) Garvey, Reach Capital Susan Lyne (News - Alert) , BBG Ventures For more information about TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 and Startup Battlefield, please visit https://techcrunch.com/startup-battlefield/ Social: @TechCrunch #TechCrunch #Disrupt About TechCrunch Disrupt TechCrunch Disrupt is the world's leading authority in debuting revolutionary startups, introducing game-changing technologies and discussing what's top of mind for the tech industry's key innovators. Disrupt gathers the best and brightest entrepreneurs, investors, hackers, and tech fans for on-stage interviews, the Startup Battlefield competition, a virtual Hackathon, hundreds of startups in Startup Alley, Workshops, and legendary networking at After Parties. The biggest TechCrunch Disrupt SF event ever will be held September 5-7, 2018 at Moscone Center. For more information, visit TechCrunch.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005284/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The southwestern US state of New Mexico boasts its stuccoed constructions, among which one building stands out. Located in Albuquerque, the largest city in the state, the Chinese Culture Center is constructed of reinforced concrete, radiating grandeur. In the main hall stand various instruments of wushu, a synonym in Chinese pronunciation of kung fu or martial arts, and a placard on the wall clearly states the philosophy, rules and etiquette of martial arts. Billy Jack Davidson, 14, is warming up by performing a set of kung fu motions, a convention before his martial arts class. "I've found it so entertaining to perform, move around and be active," said Davidson, adding that his favorite artist is Jackie Chan, a Chinese kung fu movie star known across the world. It has been 10 years since the high school student started to learn wushu at the center. Davidson is among the 100 or so students now at the center. His bond with martial arts and the training school has roots in his grandmother, who was also a member of the center. Every day, local kung fu fans like Davidson come to the epicenter of wushu in the US state with the hope of a step further toward "the essence of martial arts", a motto at the training center. 'Magic of culture' Founded in 1974, the center is one of the oldest martial arts schools in the southwestern United States. It offers ongoing classes on a variety of martial arts including qigong, a system of breathing and exercise designed to benefit both physical and mental health, tai chi as well as Shaolin kung fu. Its founder, Charles Lin, a Chinese-American, had practiced the arts for more than 50 years. Master Lin used to be the only kung fu teacher in the school. During his four-decade teaching career, he had traveled to China 10 times and learned from other masters in order to further improve his skills and knowledge. Lin expressed his hope of introducing the art of Chinese kung fu to local people. "Martial arts is not just sparring, on the contrary, it's more about internal disciplines." The training center has drawn in over 3,000 kung fu fans since it was started. The majority of them chose to stay for more than 10 years. They also called in their relatives and friends, mainly due to "the magic of Chinese culture". So far, the school has organized three tours to China, helping about 200 students realize the dream of exchanging views and skills with masters from Shaolin and Wudang, the cradle of Chinese martial arts, during those pilgrimages. [September 05, 2018] Class Action Launched on Behalf of Residents of 650 Parliament Street The law firms of Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP and Charney Lawyers PC have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the approximately 1500 residents of the apartment building located at 650 Parliament Street in Toronto, Ontario. On August 21, 2018, an electrical fire occurred in the building. All of the residents were evacuated, and none of them have been able to return to their homes as a result of the extensive damage caused by the fire, except to briefly gather some belongings. Residents may be entitled to compensation for loss of use and enjoyment of their homes, physical injury including smoke inhalation, emotional injuries, damage to property, costs of repair and cleanup of their property, expenses for mileage, food, and the costs of purchasing new clothing and essentials, costs of obtaining alternative accommodations and lost income. "A class action will provide access to justice for all tenants and their families," said Ted Charney of Charney Lawyers PC. "Our goal is to obtain compensation for the residents of 650 Parliament Street. I implore the residents to save their receipts for expenses incurred, record their mileage for extra driving and track days missed from work for the purposes of proving their losses," said Sharon Strosberg of Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP. Mr. Charney and Ms. Strosberg will hold a town hall information meeting for the residents on Tuesday September 11 at 6:00 pm at Saint Luke's United Church located at 353 Sherbourne Street (Carlton & Sherbourne). Residents are encouraged to attend the meeting to meet the lawyers and learn more about the class action. Mr. Charney and Ms. Strosberg are experienced class action litigators with particular expertise in residential tenancy class actions. As co-counsel, they were successful in obtaining compensation for residents in class actions arising out of fires/explosions at apartment buildings in Toronto on Secord Avenue and Kingston Road. They were also co-counsel on the Sunrise Propane class action which was resolved in a $23 million settlement. Residents of 650 Parliament Street are encouraged to register to receive more information about the class action at https://www.strosbergco.com/class-actions/parliament. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005776/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Panel of Data Security Experts to Discuss Best Practices for Accelerating Incident Response During Code42 Live Webinar Code42, a leading data security company, today announced that it will host a complimentary live webinar entitled "Code42 Security Panel: Accelerating Incident Response in a Changing Data Security Threatscape." The webinar will bring together skilled practitioners from Code42's security team to share firsthand insights into some of the most pressing issues in cybersecurity today. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, September 11 from 1-1:45 p.m. CDT (News - Alert) . Registration for the webinar is now open. With the volume and variety of cybersecurity threats on the rise, investigations are getting more complicated and incident response is taking longer. Security teams are juggling more technologies and are overloaded with more log sources, events and alerts. During this webinar, the panel will discuss ways to quickly cut through the noise, including how to: Create tighter collaboration between security and IT teams to shrink response times. Identify the threats most likely to impact your organization. Handle sensitive data security incidents, such as insider threat. Get near real-time answers to complicated data security questions by using Code42 Forensic File Search in concert wit other security tools. About Code42 Code42, a leading data security company, secures the ideas of more than 50,000 organizations worldwide, including the most recognized brands in business and education. Because Code42 collects and indexes every version of every file, the company offers security, legal and IT teams total visibility and recovery of data - wherever it lives and moves. With real-time alerts and forensics, these teams can easily detect, investigate and rapidly recover from any data incident, such as ransomware, lost or stolen devices, and insider threats. Supported by a global state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure, the Code42 platform safeguards hundreds of petabytes of data and helps organizations comply with evolving regulatory requirements. Founded in 2001, the company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and backed by Accel Partners (News - Alert) , JMI Equity, NEA and Split Rock Partners. For more information, visit code42.com, read Code42's blog or follow the company on Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005843/en/ [September 05, 2018] Aetna Offers Assistance to Members Affected by Tropical Storm Gordon Aetna (NYSE: AET) is offering resources to members who have been affected by Tropical Storm Gordon in Louisiana, the counties of George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Peal River and Stone in Mississippi, and the counties of Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and Washington in Alabama. Aetna members can refill their prescriptions early, if needed. Those members who use Aetna's mail-order pharmacy can either get a prescription at an alternate delivery location or refill a prescription that may have been lost, damaged or destroyed. In addition to helping with prescription refills, Aetna can help members who have been evacuated from their homes find care and behavioral health support, among other services. Aetna is also extending claim and appeal filing times. Aetna professionals who have experience dealing with traumatic events are also available to help. The company has opened its Resources for Living services to those affected by Tropical Storm Gordon, regardless of whether they are Aetna members or not. Individuals can call 1-833-327-AETNA (1-833-327-2386) for assistance with finding available shelters, accessing government resources and seeking referrals or help coping with the emotional impact of Tropical Storm Gordon. Aetna members affected by Tropical Storm Gordon can also seek emergency care anywhere, as needed. The company will monitor the impact Tropical Storm Gordon has on its network doctors, hospitals and other health care providers, and make further modifications to its policies as necessary to ensure members have access to care. If any additional local, state o federal disaster executive orders or regulations are issued related to these catastrophic event, Aetna will adjust its policies to comply. Aetna members and health care providers affected by the hurricane who need care or other assistance can reach the company at the following toll-free numbers: Aetna Member Services: Call the number printed on your ID card*. If ID card is unavailable, call 1-800-443-AETNA (1-800-443-2386). Call the number printed on your ID card*. If ID card is unavailable, call 1-800-443-AETNA (1-800-443-2386). Rx Member Services and Aetna Rx Home Delivery Customer Service: 1-888-RX AETNA (1-888-792-3862) 1-888-RX AETNA (1-888-792-3862) Aetna Specialty Pharmacy Customer Service: 1-866-782-ASRX (1-866-782-2779) 1-866-782-ASRX (1-866-782-2779) Aetna Student Assistance Program: 1-877-351-7889 1-877-351-7889 Aetna Dental: 1-877-238-6200 1-877-238-6200 Health care providers should contact the Provider Service Centers: - Indemnity and PPO-based benefit plans: 1-888-MD-AETNA (1-888-632-3862) - HMO benefit plans: 1-800-624-0756 - Indemnity and PPO-based benefit plans: 1-888-MD-AETNA (1-888-632-3862) - HMO benefit plans: 1-800-624-0756 Coventry Health Plans: Commercial HMO and PPO Plans 1-866-847-8235 Medicare Advantage Plans 1-800-847-3995 Coventry National and First Health Plans 1-800-937-6824 * Members can find replacement ID cards and access to a Personal Health Record on Aetna's secure member site Aetna Navigator. Log in on Aetna's home page. About Aetna Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 38.8 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna's customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com and learn about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005880/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Superion, TriTech, Zuercher, and Aptean's Public Sector Business Merge to Form CentralSquare Technologies Created by the merger of four innovative software businesses, CentralSquare Technologies launched today as an industry-leading provider of public sector software. The completed merger brings together the capabilities of Superion, TriTech Software Systems along with Zuercher Technologies, and the public sector and healthcare business of Aptean. CentralSquare today provides technology solutions that help over 7,500 public sector agencies deliver vital safety and administrative services to 3 out of every 4 residents of the U.S. and Canada. CentralSquare's mission is to innovate on behalf of the public sector to create the broadest and most agile software platform to help solve some of the most pressing issues facing local governments today. The formation of CentralSquare Technologies comes at a critical time in the public sector. The number of law enforcement personnel and local government employees across North America has increased by less than 0.05% in the past decade. However, public safety concerns, such as active-shooter incidents have increased by over 30 times since 2000. And, wildfires such as the recent one in British Columbia have destroyed more than a million acres in 2018 alone. This is also coupled with rising citizen demands, such as the expectation to have immediate, seamless interactions with local government. In such an environment of increasing demands and limited resources, it becomes critical to rapidly deploy smart technologies, incorporating recent advances in cloud-based solutions, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence/machine learning which can have a multiplier effect on the work done by public sector agencies. "Every one of our clients-and by extension, the communities thy serve-wins. By coming together as CentralSquare, we strengthen our commitment to delivering the broadest, smartest, and most unified software platform for public safety and public administration agencies," said Simon Angove, CEO of CentralSquare Technologies. "Our combined experience and resources, a deep bench of talent, and a sharp focus on innovation solely for the public sector will enable us to provide solutions that build safer and smarter communities." CentralSquare Technologies will support all current products from each business while investing in the development of new and advanced technology solutions. Further, the merged company will be able to provide even better customer service through a much larger support organization that can smartly address customer needs across geographic areas and time zones. Over the coming weeks, CentralSquare will be hosting a number of webinars and roadshows to further communicate upcoming innovations across all product lines. The name, CentralSquare Technologies, emphasizes putting citizens at the center of everything the new company offers. A central square is a place where citizens interact with their government, whether it be at city hall, a police or fire station, or a hospital. "To square" reflects taking communities to the next level, and the four corners of a square refer to the four brands that are coming together to form CentralSquare Technologies. Learn more at www.CentralSqr.com About CentralSquare Technologies Formed by the merger of Superion, TriTech along with Zuercher, and the public sector and healthcare business of Aptean, CentralSquare Technologies is an industry leader in public safety and public administration software, serving over 7,500 organizations from the largest metropolitan city to counties and towns of every size across North America. Its technology platform provides solutions for public safety, including 911, computer aided dispatch, records management, mobile, citations, evidence management, and corrections. For public administration agencies, CentralSquare provides software for finance, human capital management, payroll, utility billing, citizen engagement, asset management, regulatory compliance, and community development. For hospitals and clinicians, it provides patient information, compliance, and analytics software. CentralSquare's broad, unified and agile software suite serves 3 in 4 citizens across North America. More information is available at www.CentralSqr.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005895/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Duos Technologies Receives Award to Develop Mechanical Inspection Algorithms Agreement Provides for Development of Enhanced Algorithms to Monitor Potential Defects on Rolling Stock at Rail Inspection Portals JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (Duos or the Company) (OTCQB: DUOT), a provider of intelligent security analytical technology solutions, was awarded a Software License and Application Models Agreement from a leading North American Class-1 Transportation and Logistics company. The Agreement covers the development and licensing of seventeen artificial intelligence-based detection algorithm models. Noel Heiks, President and COO of the Companys wholly owned operating subsidiary Duos Technologies, Inc., added: This Agreement allows rail operators to deploy sophisticated algorithms which will force-multiply and streamline their overall inspection process. Ultimately, with these algorithms fully implemented, rail operators will be able to increase the speed and accuracy by which potential mechanical defects can be identified as well as corrected. Duos Chairman and CEO Gianni Arcaini stated: This agreement will allow us to demonstrate how significantly our automated inspection strategies can impact rail operations in general and, in particular, the safety and efficiency of traditional mechanical inspection practices. We anticipate the development and deployment of many additional detection algorithms in the near future, which wil go hand in hand with the deployment of our constantly improving inspection portal technologies. About Duos Technologies Group, Inc. Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (OTCQB: DUOT), based in Jacksonville, Florida, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Duos Technologies, Inc., provides advanced intelligent security and analytical technology solutions with a strong portfolio of intellectual property. The Companys core competencies include intelligent technologies that combine machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced video analytics that are delivered through its proprietary integrated enterprise command and control centraco platform. The Company provides its broad range of technology solutions with an emphasis on mission critical security, inspection and operations within the rail transportation, retail, petrochemical, government, and banking sectors. Duos Technologies also offers professional and consulting services for large data centers. For more information, visit http://www.duostech.com . Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking terminology such as believes, expects, may, will, should, anticipates, plans, or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause Duos Technologies Group, Inc.s actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 1A in Duos Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, and other factors as may periodically be described in Duos filings with the SEC. Contacts: Duos Technologies Corporate Tracie Hutchins Duos Technology Group, Inc. 904-652-1601 tlh@duostech.com Investor Relations Matt Glover or Tom Colton Liolios 949-574-3860 DUOT@liolios.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Insight School of Minnesota Set to Begin 2018-2019 School Year on September 10 Students and teachers at Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) will start the 2018-2019 school year on September 10, simply by turning on their computers. An online public school, ISMN is a tuition-free education option for students across Minnesota in grades 6 through 12. ISMN combines innovative technology, a rigorous curriculum and dedicated staff to support each student's academic and personal success. "We are eager to get the new school year underway at Insight School of Minnesota," said John Huber, head of school. "As a trusted public education partner to families throughout the state, we are proud to provide an innovative online learning platform and supportive teachers to help each student set and meet their academic goals." ISMN offers an engaging curriculum, and provides students with a personalized learning experience. Minnesota-licensed teachers facilitate lessons during live, interactive online classes. Through the state's Postsecondary Enrollment Options Program, eligible ISMN students can earn college credits at higher education institutions throughout the state while they work towards earning a high school diploma. ISMN's Student Success Program, which includes social and emotional learning resources, family support, remediation programs and college and career counseling, helps students build cofidence and independence as they prepare for life after high school. To keep students on track towards graduation, ISMN deploys a Family Academic Support Team ( FAST (News - Alert) ) of licensed social workers and other school personnel. FAST offers integrated support to families, teachers and students with the goal of improving academic outcomes. Along with community partners, FAST aims to prevent and eliminate the barriers that can leave students vulnerable to falling behind, before such needs arise. Throughout the year, ISMN builds a sense of community through in-person field trips, community service opportunities and social outings. Graduating seniors are celebrated at an in-person commencement ceremony each spring. ISMN alumni have gone on to enroll in two- and four-year colleges and universities, join the Armed Forces and enter in-demand careers. ISMN is still accepting enrollment applications for the 2018-2019 school year. Families are encouraged to attend an online or in-person information session hosted by the school. To learn more about enrollment and for a schedule of upcoming events, visit mn.insightschools.net or download the K12 enrollment app for iOS and Android (News - Alert) devices. About Insight School of Minnesota Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) is a tuition-free, full- and part-time online public school program of Brooklyn Center School District that serves students in grades 6 through 12. As part of the Minnesota public school system, ISMN is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of proprietary K-12 curriculum and online education programs. For more information about ISMN, visit mn.insightschools.net. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005925/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Predictive Technology Group Announces Updated Presentation Time at the H.C. Wainwright 20th Annual Global Investment Conference SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Predictive Technology Group, Inc. (OTC/PINK: PRED), a life-sciences technology company, announces that its presentation time at the H.C. Wainwright 20th Annual Global Investment Conference has been changed to Thursday, September 6, 2018 at 3:50 p.m. Eastern time (12:50 p.m. Pacific time). Bradley Robinson, President and CEO, will present a corporate update at the conference, which is being held at the St. Regis New York. A live webcast and replay of the presentation will be available on the events section of the Companys website at www.predtechgroup.com/investor-relations . About Predictive Technology Group, Inc. Predictive Technology Group aims to revolutionize patient care through predictive data analytics, novel gene-based diagnostics and companion therapeutics through its wholly owned subsidiaries Predictive Therapeutics and Predictive Biotech. These subsidiaries are focused on endometriosis, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease and human cell and tissue products. The subsidiaries use genetic and other information as cornerstones in the development of new diagnostics that assess a persons risk of illness and therapeutic products designed to identify, prevent and treat diseases more effectively. Additional information is at www.predictivetechnologygroup.com, www.predrx.com and www.predbiotech.com. Contact: Investors LHA Investor Relations Jody Cain jcain@lhai.com Kevin Mc Cabe kmccabe@lhai.com 310-691-7100 [September 05, 2018] DHI Releases Sapphire Touch, the International Mobile Hotspot with Advanced CloudSIM Technology Today, DHI Telecom CEO, Wallace Davis announced the world-wide release of Sapphire Touch, just one year after the release of the original Sapphire International Mobile Hotspot, which sold tens of thousands of devices. What's new is a touchscreen that monitors the data level, and 15 hours of battery life on one charge, which also works as a USB Power Bank. Both devices use the secure, CloudSIM platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005955/en/ The Sapphire Touch is $179 and comes in graphite black or white with a gold band. All Sapphire hotspots come with 500 free megabytes of international data. It takes only a minute to connect and just a few minutes to set up an account online. Sapphire devices are sold in stores at 35 military bases, including select Army & Air Force Exchange Services. They are sold online at ShopMyExchange.com and at SapphireGo.com. DHI Telecom started in 2007 and built its reputation on developing reliable, commercial internet solutions in war zones where troop deployments are made with little notice. Traditional ways of getting cellular service were difficult 11 years ago and remain so. It involves purchasing SIM cards and local data plans for each country. "The wasted hours add up while looking for a mobile store, sometimes in bazaars, and even from unscrupulous sellers. Sometimes, the data is stolen from hackers within hours of buying it," Davis explained. Sapphire mobile Wi-Fi hotspots create a secure hub that connect five devices to the internet. This technology enables soldiers and DoD personnel to take the internet with them to stay in touch with their family and friends back home. No SIM cards are needed, and international data plans for 100+ countries are instantly available online for downloads. The hotspots connect to the strongest cell signal creating a private 4G Wi-Fi hub. In addition to the military, international business and vacation travelers are an emerging market for Sapphire devices. Davis specified, "For our armed services, a Sapphire hotspot is not just the internet, it's a lifeline." DHI Telecom is an official U.S. government telecommunications solutions provider, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, Advanced Telecom Division concession, and a Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command internet supplier. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005955/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] Leidos Health Named Top IT Consultant by Black Book Survey RESTON, Va., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, today announced it was named by Black Book Market Research as the 2018 Top Health Information Technology (IT) Consultant according to polls taken by nearly 2,000 healthcare providers and organizations. The company rated highest overall for client experience and satisfaction across a variety of segments, and was ranked No. 1 in the Go-Live Support and Cerner Implementation categories. Since 2009, Black Book has surveyed the client experience of healthcare software and services users for trends and industry insights. Black Book measures customer satisfaction across 20 consultant-centric, performance indicators such as innovation, level of advisory expertise on subject matter, scalability, engagement successes, and return on investment. Leidos also ranked in the top 10 for other Black Book IT Consultants & Advisor categories. These include: Enterprise Resource Planning (No. 3); IT Assessment and Vendor Selection (No. 3); Revenue Cycle Management Optimization (No. 5); System-Wide Technology & Digitalization Strategy (No. 5); Epic Implementations (No. 6); Financial Strategic Planning (No. 7); Clinical Workflow Optimization (No. 9); and Value Based Care Transformation & Strategy (No. 10). With innovative solutions that span from the research bench to the patient bedside, the Leidos Health Group provides a 360 degree approach to helping federal, military, life sciences, and hospital customers solve their most critical healthcare challenges. "Our team brings deep systems integration and healthcare IT expertise to both commercial and government customers," said Leidos Health Group President, Jon Scholl. "This recognition underscores both the breadth and value of the consulting services we provide to our hospital and health system customers." In total, 142 consultant firms received crowd-sourced evaluations from the polls conducted Q1 to Q3 2018. The survey methodology and full listing of healthcare consultant and advisory firm rankings in each category can be found at Black Book's website: https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/it-consultants-and-advisors. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 31,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 29, 2017, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Contact: Melissa Koskovich Jason Kello (571) 526-6850 (571) 526-6011 Koskovichm@Leidos.com Jason.Kello@leidos.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leidos-health-named-top-it-consultant-by-black-book-survey-300707515.html SOURCE Leidos [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2018] UnitedHealthcare and Optum Take Action to Support People Along Gulf Coast Affected by Tropical Storm Gordon UnitedHealthcare and Optum, the health benefits and services companies of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), are taking action to help people in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Gordon. Support includes assisting health plan participants who may need to make alternate arrangements to access care and early prescription refills, as well as offering a free emotional-support line to help people who might be affected. Help Finding a Network Care Provider, Early Refills: Plan participants who need help finding a care provider in the UnitedHealthcare network or obtaining early prescription refills can call customer care at the number located on the back of their medical ID cards. Plan participants who need help finding a care provider in the UnitedHealthcare network or obtaining early prescription refills can call customer care at the number located on the back of their medical ID cards. For plan participants who may have misplaced their medical ID cards , call 866-633-2446, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. (in the local time zone), Monday through Friday. People enrolled in Medicaid, employer-sponsored and individual health plans (except Medicare) who have a smartphone can download the free Health4Me app , which provides instant access to their ID card, network care providers, their personal health benefits and more. The Health4Me app is available as a free download at the Apple (News - Alert) iTunes AppStore and the Android (News - Alert) Market on Google Play. , call 866-633-2446, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. (in the local time zone), Monday through Friday. People enrolled in Medicaid, employer-sponsored and individual health plans (except Medicare) who have a smartphone can download the free , which provides instant access to their ID card, network care providers, their personal health benefits and more. The Health4Me app is available as a free download at the Apple (News - Alert) iTunes AppStore and the Android (News - Alert) Market on Google Play. Free Help Line: Optum, a leading health and behavioral health services company, is offering a free emotional-support help line. Along with the toll-free help line, emotional-support resources and information are available online at www.liveandworkwell.com. About UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health care company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and helping to make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp 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/20180905005977/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Fotang ancient town was once a hive of activity, bustling with as many as nine ports. It was part of the Qiantang River system that goes all the way to Hangzhou, 150-kilometers to the north, which then connects to Beijing through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Local produce, like brown sugar, dates and ham, was exported to the rest from China. However, the town was most noted for one commodity salt. During the peak of Fotang's prosperity, up to 500 ships would dock overnight. As water routes have been replaced, this riverside port has had to find itself a new competitive edge. Fotang ancient town has found a way to preserve its trading heritage manufacturing and selling traditional wedding items. Traditional wedding accessories are still made by hand in Fotang ancient town. An item such as a traditional wedding couplet could take an experienced craftsman an hour to sew if not interrupted. Even now a lot of young Chinese couples prefer to have a traditional style Chinese wedding in traditional Chinese outfits. Even with the increasing pace of life, there's still a market for nostalgia in China. [September 05, 2018] Canada's G7 Presidency Advances Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the Energy Sector TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ - Canada's Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, has made gender equality a priority for Canada's G7 Presidency, dedicating one of five main themes to Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. Canada's energy industry remains gender-imbalanced, with women making up just 24 percent of the workforce. Women's representation in clean energy is only slightly higher at 25 percent. The Government of Canada is committed to addressing the gender imbalance in our energy sector. Women in Renewable Energy today hosted a panel discussion and networking event aimed at increasing women's participation and leadership in the energy sector. The event sought input on ways to advance women's participation in the energy sector, including in the cleantech industry, and promote female role models in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The event, which was held in advance of the G7 Ministerial Meetings on Climate Change, Oceans and Clean Energy later this month in Halifax, Nova Scotia, featured an esteemed panel of experts who provided their perspectives and insight as influential voices in the area of gender equality. The event also included a keynote address by Dr. Imogen Coe, former founding Dean of Science at Ryerson University and expert in equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM. As well, Dionne Pohler, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, moderated a panel with Jane Travers, Vice-President of Strategic Operations Renewable Generation, Ontario Power Generation; Michelle Branigan, CEO of Electricity Human Resources Canada; and Michael Kaufman, a G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council member. The panel discussed the barriers that women face in the energy sector and explored possible solutions including organizational culture and the role of men in the gender equality revolution. At the close of the event,CUTRIC and Ontario Waterpower Association signed on to the Equal by 30 Campaign, joining more than 30 Canadian and international signatories who have committed to work toward equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunities for women in the clean energy sector by 2030. Canada will continue to make gender equality in the energy sector a priority through initiatives such as the Women in Cleantech Challenge and internationally with the launch of the Equal by 30 Campaign at the 2018 Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM). Quotes "Canada is leading by example to address the issue of gender equality in the G7 energy agenda. We will continue to engage key private sector and public sector leaders on this important issue and take actions to improve gender equality, particularly in the energy sector. We want to influence current and future leaders of Canadian industry to commit to meaningful action in the area of gender equality." Amarjeet Sohi Canada's Minister of Natural Resources "Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE) is excited to partner with Natural Resources Canada to promote the Equal by 30 Campaign. WiRE supports the Equal by 30 Campaign as it provides organizations a practical framework to develop concrete commitments and take action to make their cultures more inclusive. The campaign is also creating a community of organizations that can share, learn and grow together while keeping each other accountable." Joanna Osawe WiRE Chair, Executive Director and Co-Founder Associated Links Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE) Equal by 30 G7 Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Leadership Accord for Gender Diversity Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. Follow WiRE on Twitter: @WiRE_Canada SOURCE Natural Resources Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber. Not a subscriber? Annual membership costs only $55 per year for individuals ($33 for students) and organizational subscriptions start at $141 per year. Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). PopSockets PopMount 2 review If youre a PopGrip user the PopSockets PopMount 2 is the only phone holder youre going to need and it even works on your desk. The streets and sidewalks in Westport should be open and accessible on weekend nights. But if stakeholders remain committed to the new security measures put in place to improve public safety in the district, they may need to develop better solutions to address issues in the area Otherwise, the decision to privatize some sidewalks in the district may prove cumbersome for customers - and could lead to unrest in the streets. While Opioids Grab The Spotlight, The Meth Epidemic Grows Worse Than Ever Starting in the mid-1990s, Capt. Dan Cummings worked as an undercover cop going after meth suppliers in his hometown of Independence, Missouri. He had grown up seeing what meth could do, so for him the work was personal. "When I was a kid, a cousin brought a bag of this white powder in and said, 'Man, hey, you gotta try this stuff. If there's a theme for this year, it's that junkies come from all walks of life . . . Accordingly, this news update reminds us that meth continues to be a problem that impacts working-poor whites and Latinos with growing frequency . . . Even worse, the home grown epidemic is now part of the local culture. Stagnant wages andhas created not just an underground economy but an outlaw community that rejects the values of the mainstream and would, seemingly, opt for the illicit drug trade rather than daily grind.Read more: Victims' advocate doubts Missouri's church investigation will match Pennsylvania's Kansas City lawyer Rebecca Randles wonders how effective a state investigation will be in uncovering sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Randles represents alleged victims of abuse by priests. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is less than two weeks into his investigation of the St. Louis Archdiocese. This local advocate doesn't seem too confident about a crisis of faith and the widespread demand for accountability among local victims. Read more: Kansas City Suffers Scooter Tech Crime Bird scooters damaged, vandalized in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Bird scooters have been popular since they arrived in Kansas City. Recently, some have complained about them being damaged and vandalized. "I have probably ridden it about 10 times now," said Mike Townsend. By now you have probably seen Birds speeding past you. KCMO 2nd Story Man Wanted Rooftop burglar sought in Kansas City Kansas City, MO - Police are looking for the public's help to identify a man who has been breaking into businesses through the roof.Det. Eric Johnson with KCPD's East Patrol Property Crimes Section says the pictured burglar is linked to several break-ins in recent months. Looking For Answers After Jezzy Creezy Lookalike Suspicion Questions remain about Shawnee Christian school's future as founder sits in jail for alleged sex crimes SHAWNEE, Kan. -- There are questions Tuesday morning about whether a Shawnee school will open just days after prosecutors charged its founder with sex crimes against children. Oaklawn Christian School at 47th and Woodlawn has taken down its website along with the Oaklawn sign out front. JoCo Slice Of Life Testimony Man testified he chopped up wife's body to keep his children During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, 36-year-old Justin Rey testified that dismembered his wife's body at a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel in October 2017. Nasty Lurks In The Stax KC man gets 10 years for printing child porn at library Kansas City, MO - A man previously convicted of possessing child pornography was sentenced to 10 years in prison for printing off images of child porn from a Kansas City library in 2017. Court records show that David R. Right now we contemplate an eternal party of news links along with some of today's alleged crime and misdeeds.But first, here's a bit of pop culture news as we patiently await a sequel:Closer to home, these news links dominate our discourse . . .Developing . . . China said it will encourage and attract private investment to help build more general aviation airports, to provide more comprehensive services such as public transportation and social services, and further promote the growth of the sector. The government will encourage policy-based and commercial financial institutions to provide diversified financial services to support the construction of general aviation airports, and reduce the financing costs of enterprises, according to the statement released by the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday. Local governments are encouraged to adopt models like franchising and government purchasing services, to prevent local government debt risks, according to the statement. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the Civil Aviation Administration of China will appropriate civil aviation development funds to the building of one to two general aviation airports in different provinces. Those airports should be dedicated to short-distance transportation, emergency relief and medical assistance, the statement said. In urban clusters with high market demand, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta, the local governments should lay out comprehensive general aviation airports, to ease the non-core business of hub airports, and provide more personal and highly efficient services. Besides, those city clusters should build general airports near hospitals, and gradually set up general aviation medical assistance networks, enabling the distances between hospitals and airports to be reduced to 30 minutes. In addition, more general aviation airports should be built in areas with frequent natural disasters and near national highways to enhance emergency rescue capability by air, the statement said. "For long, the limited number of general aviation airports and inadequate support facilities have been one of the restrictive factors that hampered the growth of the general aviation sector," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at Carnoc, one of China's largest civil aviation websites. It is projected that by 2020, China will have 500 general aviation airports, and more than 5,000 general aviation aircraft will be in operation. The industry's value will exceed 1 trillion yuan ($1.5 billion), according to CAAC. Currently, the United States has around 20,000 general aviation airports, and more than 70 percent of general aviation aircraft globally are delivered to the US, according to data from Qianzhan Institute for Industrial Research. "The new policy will be beneficial to attract more social capital to be involved in the building of general airports, and help to improve the infrastructure of general aviation sector. Yet, the attraction of private investments not only needs the encouragement of government policies, it also requires profit incentives," Lin said. Drive in to the Blue Ridge Community College Transylvania Campus on Saturday, Sept. 22, to see a wide variety of vehicles on display at the car show, taking place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the parking lots of Blue Ridge Campus on Oak Park Drive. It is free and open for public viewing. Vehicles on display will be a variety of makes and models and will include antiques, performance, motorcycles and unique designs. Trophies will be awarded for winners in each category. Participants may register their car show vehicles early for $15 or on the day of the show for $20. Call Eric Stephens at 694-1659 or email him at [email protected] to sign up. Car show registration proceeds will benefit Blue Ridge automotive technology students and other technical students as they compete in state and national SkillsUSA competitions. The money will help students with competition costs such as transportation, food, lodging and registration. Automotive technology instructors Eric Stephens and Johnny Galloway are excited about the car show and the way the Blue Ridge automotive program has grown over the years. Stephens came to Blue Ridge Community College as a student at the main campus in Henderson County after Coats American closed their plant in Rosman. Stephens, who had been an electrician at Coats, decided to study automotive technology. "Being an electrician helped me transition into automotive because a lot of vehicles are electronic based," he said. During his last semester in 2004 Stephens was hired as an instructor. In 2008 Stephens transferred to the Transylvania County Campus to start the automotive program inside the newly built Applied Technology Building. Stephens attributes Blue Ridge Community College for providing him an education which allows him to support his family and have a successful career in Transylvania County. Galloway came through the Blue Ridge Community College automotive technology program, starting when he was a senior in high school as one of the original dual-enrollment students, leaving Rosman High to take automotive courses. Galloway continued his studies under instructor Stephens at the Transylvania County Campus, earning an associate degree in automotive systems technology. Due to the phenomenal growth of the auto program, an instructor position came open and Galloway began teaching dual-enrolled high school students in 2013. "The program gave me the skills and confidence to work in the industry and to teach the next group of automotive technicians. I appreciate the opportunities that Blue Ridge has provided me and my family," said Galloway. Over the years the program has grown from five to more than 40 students. Stephens instructs the curriculum students majoring in automotive systems technology, and Galloway instructs students from Davidson River, Rosman and Brevard high schools. Students spend about 70 percent of time working on cars in the automotive lab, and 30 percent learning in the classroom. It is a very hands on program. Stephens and Galloway teach students how to diagnose and repair cars effectively, as well as teaching them soft skills such as good workmanship and good work ethics. The Blue Ridge automotive program is NATEF (National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation) certified and the instructors, Stephens and Galloway, are ASE (Automotive Society of Engineers) certified. The instructors spend 40 hours minimum a year in training to keep up on the latest automotive technology. Students who graduate from the Blue Ridge Community College automotive systems technology program have a wide array of career choices ahead of them. In addition to being a service technician in a shop or at a dealership, graduates can work in the industry in positions such as service manager, sales, design, manufacturing and driveability testing, or they may choose a specialty such as transmission repair or engine rebuilding. Blue Ridge graduates have been hired widely by local employers. Stephens remembers one student success story. "Russell Shoemaker has been hired on full-time at BMW in Greer, S.C. When Russell started our program here, he went through three programs before finishing in the automotive program," he said. Tours of the BRCC automotive lab and machining lab will take place on the Saturday of the car show, Sept. 22. (Handy is a member of the BRCC staff.) The 2018 College Night will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Blue Ridge Conference Hall at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock. The public is invited to attend. Representatives from more than 50 colleges and universities will be available to talk with high school students and their parents about post-secondary educational opportunities. The representatives will also provide applications and promotional materials for their schools. While most of the colleges attending will be from North Carolina, there will also be a number of schools from Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Although College Night is held primarily for the benefit of local high school juniors and seniors and their parents, college students who are interested in transfer opportunities are also encouraged to attend. For more information about College Night, contact Student Services at Blue Ridge Community College at (828) 694-1800. Participating colleges and universities (as of Aug. 28): Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Bennett College, Berry College, Blue Ridge Community College, Bluefield College, Brevard College, Bridgewater College, Campbell University, Carolinas College of Health Sciences, Carson-Newman Uni-versity, College Foundation, Inc. (CFNC), Columbia International University, Converse College, East Carolina University, Florida Institute of Technology, Gardner-Webb University, High Point University, Hollins University, Johnson & Wales University, King University, Lander University, Lees-McRae College, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Liberty University, Mars Hill University, Mid-Atlantic Christian University, Montreat College, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University, North Greenville University, Pfeiffer University, Piedmont College, Queens University of Charlotte, Saint Augustines University, Southwestern Community College, The Citadel, Universal Technical Institute, University of Mount Olive, University of North Carolina at Asheville, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, University of Tennessee, Visible Music College, Warren Wilson College, Western Carolina University, William Peace University, Winthrop University, Wofford College, and Young Harris College. On Wednesday, Aug. 29, The Greystone Inn hosted its first "Friends of the Greystone" event with Southern Living's Rebecca Lang. At the event, Lang hosted a cooking and wreath making demonstration in the Lakeside Dining Room with Lake Toxaway in the background. The guests in attendance were local residents who were thrilled to learn new cooking techniques and tricks, as well as how to make their own wreath. Guests were able to sample each of the recipes that Lang demonstrated and left the event with recipe cards, as well as a signed copy of Lang's book, "Southern Vegetables." Recipes demon... HAITI'S LE PLAZA: MORE THAN JUST A HOTEL General manager builds resilience into hotel operations MIAMI (September 5, 2018) - Blessed with generations of family leadership - and having overcome the challenges of natural disasters as well as underfunded governments and economic instability - the executive management at Le Plaza Hotel know as much about resilience, creativity and the power of networking as they do about hospitality. Located in the central part of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, the iconic hotel weathered the catastrophic earthquake that wreaked havoc on the Caribbean nation in 2010, but was spared the devastation suffered by much of the capital and surrounding businesses. As a result, the property was able to house relief and recovery workers from many countries. Under the leadership of the Pierre-Louis family, the Le Plaza team learned many lessons from the earthquake and its aftermath - most notably the importance of strong community partnerships and the need to have back-up plans in place. "So, we tend to be extremely resilient and have a variety of contingency plans to ensure our staff and guests are well taken care of," noted general manager Marc Pierre-Louis, who assumed the reins of the hotel from his older sister Agnes Pierre-Louis, now a tourism consultant working throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Pierre-Louis observed that over the years Haitian hoteliers have developed coping mechanisms: "All the hoteliers and basically all the businesses have a culture of extreme self-reliance ... we work with the government, but also rely on each other," he said, adding "you're only as strong as your community network." Le Plaza has often been described as "an island within an island" because its secure structures and location make it a haven during crises. "In the hurricane season, we put in contingency plans with our staff. Certain members of our staff might not have secure shelter so we'll accommodate them and their families at our hotel. If it's a different kind of disruption, we'll put in plans so that shifts can sleep overnight." He also recalled being able to fly to the aid of those stricken in other Caribbean islands: "This was kind of ironic. Haiti is usually on the receiving end of aid. But, when a hurricane hit Turks and Caicos last year, a friend and I chartered a small Cessna aircraft to fly in a generator and some tarps. Nothing was working, so within 48 hours of the hurricane hitting we managed to get in and provide some support. And that was probably the first outbound Haitian-aid flight ever!" To Pierre-Louis, regional conferences such as the Caribbean Hotel Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF), organized by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) this summer, are opportunities to build relationships that could save lives throughout the Caribbean. "You really have to cultivate relationships and see where can you find the right help at the right moment. There are different phases to a disaster - there's the immediate action and then there's recovery and rebuilding. So for different phases you need different skill sets and you definitely have to be aware of what are you going to need at different times, what's missing in your Rolodex, in your network, and look actively for people to help you build that out," he said. "No man is an island. We are strong together and must continue to build partnerships at all levels - local, regional and international," said Pierre-Louis. Ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing will shut down most of its nighttime services, including taxis and web-hailing, for a week while it improves safety, the company said on Tuesday. The move comes after a female passenger was allegedly killed by a Didi driver in August. The shutdown-from 11 pm to 5 am-will start on Saturday and end on Sept 15. Didi said it has upgraded the "emergency help" function on the passenger version of its app to "press the button to report to police", and a "safety center" will enable passengers to share trip routes in the event of an emergency. The upgraded system, introduced on Tuesday, will also remind passengers to add emergency contacts to their profiles. The company will also record entire rides made using web-hailing services, starting from Saturday. A 20-year-old woman using its "hitch" service was allegedly raped and killed by a Didi driver in Zhejiang province at the end of last month. The company has been harshly criticized and questioned about the safety of its services in the wake of her death, as the woman texted a friend for help after she got into the car. Her friend and family called the company's customer service line, asking for information about the driver, but were shuffled around. The family later called police and the police asked the company to hand over the driver's information, but they still had to wait for some time. Netizens accused the company of being responsible for the woman's death because of the delay in handing critical information to police. The statement said the platform handled 2.12 million complaint calls every day in August. The company has 5,000 employees at its customer service department and another 10,000 outsourced personnel to handle complaint calls. The company will hire another 3,000 customer service staff by the end of this year, the statement said. It was the second such killing this year. In May, a flight attendant using the hitch service was killed by a Didi driver in Zhengzhou, Henan province. In a statement published on the company's Sina Weibo micro blog account last month, the company's founder and CEO, Cheng Wei, and its president, Liu Qing, apologized for the latest incident. Didi will make passenger safety the core value in the company's growth and development, rather than sheer size and profit, that statement said, adding that more emphasis will be placed on customer service. It said Didi will re-evaluate its business model and service logic, and its online hitch ride service will remain deactivated until such time as its security measures are accepted by the public. Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 4 The UT Traffic Police will start challaning women two-wheeler riders without helmets from Wednesday. A police official said the field staff would keep an eye on women two-wheeler riders and issue challans to those not wearing helmet. The new rule applies to the pillion riders as well, the police official added. The Administration had issued a notification on July 6, making helmet compulsory for women. Only Sikh women wearing a turban will be exempted from wearing helmet. The Traffic Police in the past ran a campaign, Helmet Pehnao, Beti Bachao, to encourage women two-wheeler riders to wear the safety gear. Cops even distributed helmets and other gifts during the campaign to women riding two-wheelers while wearing helmet. The decision to make helmet compulsory for women two-wheeler riders is expected to bring down the fatality rate in road accidents. As many as 43 women have lost their lives in mishaps since 2013 as they were not wearing helmet while riding two-wheelers. harinder@tribunemail.com The increased venting of the forces grievances as well as purveyance of fake news might have motivated the Army Chief, Gen Bipin Rawat, to deliver his recent homily on social media. There are actually three messages bundled in the Chiefs address: (i) the tendency of soldiers to take to social media, (ii) the need to insulate the forces from honey traps and anti-India propaganda, and (iii) the Armys plans to vastly scale-up its current social media reach. It is a mystery why the Army Chief publicly disclosed plans to enlarge psychological operations (psy ops) that are usually kept under wraps. But what is not a mystery, and as the Chief himself acknowledged, is the dilemma about the extent of insulation from social media that is practical and implementable. The soldier of today is not the callow, wet-behind-the-ears village simpleton of yesteryear. He is now plugged into social media even before turning up at his first recruitment rally or entrance examination. The awareness level about society and its traits is at an all-time high and the Chief is right in saying that a ban is not the answer. The armed forces are destined to constantly play catch up with the new media unless they acknowledge the fact that social media is an elephant in the room. The elephant was present for a while but in a different form: word of mouth. There was no social media to trigger the unrest in a few units after Operation Bluestar or for that matter, the 1857 revolt, while honey traps were around even before wireless communication became widespread. Uploading of content has been easy to control: by informing the ranks that commenting or posting material that violates the basic rules of a soldiers conduct are prohibited. But the antidote to discontent and unhappiness with service conditions is to sympathetically review the outdated soldier-officer dynamics which perturbs the other ranks more than what the soldier imbibes from social media. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Jhajjar, September 5 A delegation of 28 civil service officers from Bangladesh on Wednesday reached Jhajjar to get information about administrative functioning of the district authority. All these officers have been undergoing training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy in Mussoorie under the Mid Career Training Programme being run by India and Bangladesh jointly. Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sonal Goel welcomed the guests by delivering her speech in Bengali language during an interaction programme while one of the guests in return also thanked the Jhajjar administration in Hindi. At the programme, Sonal apprised the guests of programmes being run by the Central as well as the state government and the district administration for the welfare of various sections of the society. She also informed them about functioning of district administration for getting feedback from public about various government initiatives and redressing their grievances. The DC also put light on significance of the field visits and shared their experience of direct interactions with common men during field visits. Jhajjar SP Pankaj Nain described the police functioning while explaining the role of cops in maintaining law and order in various situations and investigating the cases of serious nature. He also described various vital factors for establishing a good mutual understanding between civil and police administration. Zila Parishads CEO Shikha and Chief Ministers Good Governance Associate (CMGGA) Tanya Sharma informed the guests about seven star village programme, educated gram panchayats, crop insurance scheme and other steps being taken to enhance the income of farmers and for rural development in the district. Later, the Bangladesh officers visited Saral Kendra and other offices in mini secretariat here and also interacted with people who came there for their personal work. They also received the information about facilities being provided to the visitors at the Saral Kendra. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 5 To maintain transparency and consistency in denotifying acquired land and regulate the procedure of such denotification, the state government has decided to frame a policy for return of unutilised land under Section 101-A of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Act, 2017. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Wednesday. The policy aimed at prescribing procedure for denotifying land, acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, becoming unviable or non-essential on such terms as might be decided by the state government. If the acquiring department was of the opinion that land acquired under the 1894 Act was unviable or non-essential for the public purpose for which it has been acquired and that the land should be denotified from acquisition, it would inform the government about its opinion and seek approval of the government before proceeding further in accordance with the provisions. The district-level sub-committee constituted would, while examining the opinion of the acquiring department, consider issues like extent of payment of compensation, if any, to the landowners on account of damage, if any, sustained by them due to acquisition of land and extent of compensation by providing alternative land along with payment of damages, if any, in case of part utilisation of acquired land or in case of any encumbrances created on or against the acquired land or part thereof. The district-level sub-committee, after examining the matter, would give its recommendations and reasons as to whether the opinion of the acquiring department referred to it for consideration deserved to be accepted or not. The sub-committee would submit a report to the Administrative Secretary of the acquiring department who would, after taking approval of the government, place the matter before the ministerial sub-committee. A report of the ministerial sub-committee would be put up for consideration and decision by the Cabinet at the earliest. The Cabinet could, upon consideration of the report of the ministerial sub-committee, allow denotification of the acquired land. Govt job for martyrs kin and other decisions amansharma@tribunemail.com Chandigarh, September 5 A strike call given by the employees of state-owned Haryana Roadways fizzled out on Wednesday after policemen rounded up protesting workers in pre-dawn action at several bus depots. The workers were held for defying the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), invoked by the Haryana government to foil the one-day strike against a move to allow private buses run within and from the state. "The public transport is plying normally in the state. Several of those employees who defied ESMA are now saying they want to return to work," Haryana Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar Panwar claimed. However, some union leaders claimed the strike had its impact at many depots including Rohtak, Rewari and Narnaul and services were affected. Union leaders had halted bus services at some depots on Tuesday night but they were restored in the morning, officials said. The police rounded up several employees early in the morning, including union leaders, at the depots to foil protests. They resorted to a mild lathicharge at some depots, including Fatehabad and Jind, as some employees sat on dharna at the main gates to stop buses from leaving. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were imposed at some places to prevent the assembly of more than four people. Police said several Roadways employees were detained for defying these orders. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on Tuesday directed the state government to carry out videography at each Haryana Roadways depot in view of the proposed strike. The court had also directed the government to take appropriate action under the ESMA against the striking employees. A single-judge bench had passed these orders while hearing a petition filed by some private bus operators who alleged harassment by the Roadways unions. Haryana Roadways Employees Union president Dalbir Kirmara was among those detained by the police in Hisar on Wednesday. He had earlier said the government was adamant on introducing 700 private buses on various routes, which was being opposed by the union. Union leaders claimed that some workers suffered minor injuries in Wednesday's police action. Employees sat on dharnas at Fatehabad, Jind, Hisar, Ambala, Tohana, Sirsa, and Panchkula. The Haryana government had on August 30 invoked the ESMA for six months, barring bus workers from going on the planned strike. While the government termed the planned strike "unjustified", the opposition Indian National Lok Dal had earlier slammed the move to invoke the ESMA. The Roadways employees have gone on strike earlier during the past year as well. - PTI editorial@tribune.com Tribune Reporters Kurukshetra, September 5 A strike call given by employees of Haryana Roadways fizzled out on Wednesday as the police detained protesting workers in pre-dawn action at several depots. Officials claimed the bus services across the state remained normal. Union leaders had halted bus services at a few depots on Tuesday night, but they were restored in the morning, officials said. Leaders blamed divided unions for the failure of the strike. The Fatehabad police arrested 45 union leaders under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). Protesting employees clashed with the police as the former tried to stop buses. In Hisar, a case under the ESMA was registered against 37 union leaders. Haryana Roadways Employees Union president Dalbir Kirmara was among those detained by the Hisar police. They have also been booked on the charge of assaulting and obstructing government officials from performing their duty. They allegedly damaged a video camera of a videographer who was filming the protesters. A case was filed under Sections 147, 148, 186, 323, 325, 341 and 427 of the IPC. Union leaders claimed some workers suffered minor injuries in the police action. In Jind, the police resorted to a mild lathicharge in the wee hours when a group of union activists tried to stop buses from leaving the depot. Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri said several protesting union activists were taken into preventive custody and all of them were released before noon. Prohibitory orders were issued in various districts; protests were not allowed within a 100-m radius of bus stands. A heavy posse of the police was deployed to prevent Roadways workers from protesting. Haryana Roadways Workers Joint Action Committee (HRWJAC) general secretary Balwan Singh Dodwa told The Tribune the strike failed as unions associated with the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS) and Bharatiya Mazdoor Mahasangh supported the state government. A meeting has been called in Jind on Thursday to decide the future course of action against the state government which is adamant on introducing 700 private buses on several routes, he said. Sarbat Punia, president of the SKS-affiliated Haryana Roadways Workers Union, condemned thrashing of employees and announced a protest at district headquarters on Thursday. In Rohtak, buses plied under police protection. Rohtak depot General Manager Rahul Jain said the bus service was smooth. In Karnal, around 95 per cent of buses plied. The district administration deployed 50 additional private buses, and 70 tempo-travellers and Jeeps in case of emergency situation. In Hisar, the bus service remained suspended for a couple of hours, but it was resumed soon after union leaders were detained. In Faridabad, all 185 buses of the depot plied, as none of the employees joined the strike. In Rewari, more than 25 employees were apprehended in the morning when they were staging a dharna in the bus stand. 43 held in Ambala Ambala: In all, 43 Haryana Roadways employees from here were arrested under Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1981, and Sections 353, 186 and 188 of the IPC. They were sent to judicial custody. The employees were booked for allegedly obstructing the movement of buses in the local depot. Rohit Jain, one of the advocates for employees, said, A bail application has been filed in court. A notice has been issued for Thursday. TNS Experts attending a roundtable dialogue on World Trade Organization (WTO) modernization agenda in Beijing recently discussed emerging and existing issues in the context of US-China trade tensions. Experts exchange views at a roundtable event entitled "Dialogue on WTO Modernization Agenda" in Beijing on Aug. 23, 2018. [Photo courtesy of CCG] The Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization (CCG) held the roundtable event on Aug. 23 in collaboration with the leading Swiss think tank Center for International Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) of China. Sun Zhenyu, Chairman of China Society for WTO Studies and former Ambassador of China to the organization, said a global trade war was a dysfunctional and highly complicated issue. He emphasized that the WTO's reform process should not only work for developed countries but also include developing countries. "The WTO should bear in mind the purpose of reform," Sun said, "The major urgent challenge is the threat of unilateralism and trade protectionism. We cannot allow a single member to put their own domestic rules and regulations above WTO rules and regulations. WTO's rules, regulations and very basic principles must be preserved." There should be stricter rules to prevent some countries from abusing "national security" and using it as an excuse for trade protectionism. "If you try to claim your national security is threatened by some normal trade on goods, I think that's ridiculous. You cannot simply take the pretext of the so-called 'national security' and [introduce] large scale State intervention into the normal trade between countries," he stressed. Regarding intellectual property rights issues, Sun said it was wrong for any government to force enterprises to transfer their patented technology to other countries if they were not willing to do so. Equally, it would be wrong for a government to prevent enterprises from transferring these technologies if they so desired, or to ban such transfers outright,"The very fundamental purpose of this is to encourage the free flow of technology so that we can make more contribution to the progress of humanity and benefit the whole world." In the context of the US-China trade war, American dissatisfaction with the WTO and its criticism of China's relevant policies had persisted for a long time. Points of contention include the WTO Appellate Body's negative ruling on the practice of zeroing in the US anti-dumping investigation, Article 15 of the China's WTO accession protocol, the Special and Differential Treatment enjoyed by emerging economies, and the government's role in the overall economy. Unlike previous governments, President Donald Trump has adopted a fiercely unilateralist approach. Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, CEO of ICTSD, said he was "actually very excited and optimistic" of seeing a shake-up in the multilateral trade system. The world had changed a lot since the WTO was established and had moved into an era of widespread global production, investment and trade, while more regional trade cooperation and related mechanisms were emerging, so that WTO was now required to play a different role than before. He said the WTO still focused on issues related to the trade of goods and tariffs, while information and data had yet to be included in the trade framework. This meant it lagged far behind the development of the digital economy and thus should be an important aspect of WTO reform. The United States, the EU and Japan proposed a number of WTO reform recommendations in their tripartite statement released on May 31, including State industrial subsidies, State-owned enterprises and market conditions, intellectual property rights protection, and compulsory technology transfers. Meanwhile, the EU has also completed internal recommendations on WTO reform. In addition to the topics covered by the tripartite statement, its reform plan also involves development issues, the daily work of the WTO, etc. Additionally, the China-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue is planning to set up a working group on WTO reform issues. On Aug. 30, President Donald Trump threatened to pull out of the WTO unless it adopts rules more favorable to the United States. "If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," he told Bloomberg. Regarding Sino-US trade, Melendez-Ortiz said the Trump administration was trying to bring investment and manufacturing back to the United States by imposing tariffs; however, this was not wise in the long run. China proposed a reform plan many years ago, but such a program takes a long time to achieve, and China should further promote the implementation of the reform. From the perspective of responsibility, the settlement of Sino-US trade disputes should focus on the level of rules rather than the market access level. The two countries should resolve disputes through active dialogue in the trade system, he said. China had played an important role in the trading system and made important contributions to both the United Nations and the WTO, and together with other countries to the promotion of investment and development under the WTO framework, he said, adding that China will also benefit from further reforms in the WTO. Among those attending the roundtable were Zhou Xiaoming, former deputy permanent representative at the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Office in Geneva, Adam Dunnett, secretary-general of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, Jacob Parker, vice president of US-China Business Council China Operation, Sun Yongfu, CCG senior fellow and former director-general of the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, Su Qingyi, senior researcher from the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Li Siqi, assistant professor with the China Institute for WTO Studies of UIBE. monicakchauhan@gmail.com London The commonly used painkiller diclofenac may increase the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, a study warns. The study, published in The BMJ, compared diclofenac use with no use, paracetamol use, and use of other traditional painkillers. Researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark said that diclofenac should not be available over the counter, and when prescribed, should be accompanied by an appropriate front package warning about its potential risks. Diclofenac is a traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for treating pain and inflammation and is widely used across the world. However, its cardiovascular risks compared with those of other traditional NSAIDs have never been examined in large randomised controlled trials, researchers said. They examined the cardiovascular risks of starting diclofenac compared with no NSAIDS, starting other traditional NSAIDs and paracetamol. The results are based on national registry data for more than 6.3 million adults in Denmark with at least one year of continuous prescription records before study entry in January 1996. Participants were split into low, moderate, and high baseline cardiovascular risk. Average age was 46-49 years among participants starting NSAIDs and 56 years among those starting paracetamol. After taking account of potentially influential factors, starting diclofenac during the study period (1996-2016) was associated with an increased rate of major adverse cardiovascular events within 30 days compared with starting other traditional NSAIDs (ibuprofen or naproxen) or starting paracetamol. Events included irregular heart beat or flutter, ischaemic stroke, heart failure, and heart attack. The increased risks applied to men and women of all ages and also at low doses of diclofenac, researchers said. Starting diclofenac was also associated with an increased rate of cardiac death compared with no NSAIDs, and an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding compared with no NSAIDs, starting ibuprofen or paracetamol, they said. Researchers noted that this is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. However, the study's sample size is larger than most previous analyses of observational and randomised studies taken together and provides strong evidence to guide clinical decision making. PTI editorial@tribune.com Rajouri, September 5 The Army gunned down an intruder near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keri sector in Rajouri district on Tuesday. Sources said the incident occurred near the famous Veer Bhadreshwar temple of Lord Shiva situated close to the LoC. Two residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) had crossed the LoC reportedly to collect fodder in the Kass area. When they were challenged by the Army, they started running towards PoK side. A soldier deployed on the LoC opened fire. One intruder was killed while another managed to escape, said the sources. A rope and sickle was recovered from the possession of the slain person. He was not carrying any identity proof. However, the sources claimed the deceased was Mohd Arif, a resident of Kass in PoK. Pertinently, during the last few months, PoK residents have been stealing cattle in the guise of collecting fodder in border villages. Several such incidents were reported near Sair village in the Nowshera sub-division in July. On July 23 in one such attempt an unidentified PoK resident was killed when he touched an electrified fence. After completing legal formalities, the police sent the body to Poonch for handing it over to the PoK authorities. OC monicakchauhan@gmail.com Hyderabad, September 5 A crucial meeting of the Telangana cabinet is likely to be held on Thursday to recommend dissolution of the state assembly to pave way for early polls. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has asked his cabinet colleagues to be available at 6 a.m. on September 6 for the cabinet meeting, according to sources in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The TRS chief considers '6' as his lucky number and that's the reason cited for not taking the decision during the cabinet meeting on September 2, which was held hours before the massive public meeting by the ruling party to sound the poll bugle. The cabinet is expected to pass a resolution recommending to Governor E. S.L. Narasimhan to dissolve the assembly. The term of the assembly is till May, 2019 and the elections in normal course have to be conducted along with the polls for Lok Sabha. On the eve of the cabinet meeting, the state capital on Wednesday witnessed hectic activity in the political circle. Chief Secretary SK Joshi, Chief Advisor to government Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, S Narsing Rao and Legislative Assembly Secretary Narasimhacharyulu called on Narasimhan on Wednesday. KCR also had a series of meetings with top party leaders. A day after recommending dissolution of assembly, KCR will be launching the election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district on September 7. Christened 'Prajala Aasirwada Sabha', this will be the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over next 50 days. Political observers say TRS is keen for early assembly elections as it believes that simultaneous elections to assembly and Lok Sabha may not help it in properly highlighting the welfare and development works undertaken during last four years. The political circle has been abuzz with the talks of early polls for the last few weeks with KCR himself giving strong hints with his two meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August, announcement of sops for various sections of people and transfer of top police and civil officials. There was strong possibility of a decision in the cabinet meeting before September 2 public meeting, attended by lakhs of people and claimed to be mother of all rallies. While the cabinet took no decision, KCR kept the suspense by telling the party cadres that the party leaders have empowered him to take a decision and that they would soon hear it (decision on early polls). At the public meeting, the TRS chief highlighted the achievements of his government since it took reins in the newly created state in 2014. He sought fresh mandate to continue the good work and achieve the goal of 'Bangaru Telangana' or golden Telangana. He urged people to protect their 'self-respect' by rejecting the parties from Delhi who want to make them slaves. IANS uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, September 5 With the government under attack from the Opposition on the Rafale issue, top security brass Wednesday briefed the Union Council of Ministers on the fighter aircraft deal with France in a bid to provide the leaders with facts to counter the allegations being levelled against it. Sources said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra made a detailed presentation on various aspects of the deal in the meeting, which lasted more than two-and-a-half hours. The ministers were informed that it was a deal between two governments involving no private party, leaving little scope for corruption. The security brass also highlighted the aircraft's capability that would strengthen the Indian Air Force and make the fighter jets an asset for it. Opposition parties led by the Congress have been attacking the Modi government over the deal, alleging that it was struck at an exorbitant price and benefited an Indian businessman at the cost of the government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The presentation in the meeting also underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to take all his allies, who are represented in the council of ministers, on board as the government works to counter the opposition on the issue with the Lok Sabha election being less than eight months away. Separate presentations were also made on the government's ambitious 'Ayushman Bharat' mission, a health insurance cover for the poor, and 'Swachh Bharat' (clean India) project. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Ahmedabad, September 5 Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was detained on Wednesday by the Gujarat CID in connection with a 22-year-old case of arrest of a man for alleged possession of drugs, a senior police official said. Bhatt and seven others, including some former policemen attached with the Banaskatha police, were detained for questioning in the case, Director General of Police, Crime Investigation Department (CID), Ashish Bhatia, said. Bhatt was the Banaskantha district superintendent of police in 1996. As per case details, the Banaskatha police under Bhatt had arrested Sumersingh Rajpurohit, an advocate, in 1996 on charges of possessing around 1 kg of drugs. At that time, the Banaskanta police had claimed that drugs were found in a hotel room occupied by Rajpurohit in the districts Palanpur town. However, a probe by Rajasthan Police had revealed that Rajpurohit was allegedly falsely implicated by the Banaskatha police. It had also found that Rajpurohit was allegedly kidnapped by the Banaskatha police from his residence at Pali in Rajasthan. In June this year, the Gujarat High Court had handed over the probe in the case to the CID while hearing Rajpurohits plea. The high court had asked the CID to complete the probe in three months. The CID found substance in charges against Bhatt, which led to his detention, Bhatia said, adding that Bhatt and some others could be arrested after questioning. Bhatt was sacked by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in August 2015 for unauthorised absence from service. PTI pardeepdhull@gmail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 Former Indian bureaucrat Poonam Khetarpal Singh was on Wednesday nominated for a second five-year term as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia. Singhs candidature was unopposed, as the 11 Member countries of WHO South-East Asia Region met at the ongoing Regional Committee session to elect the next Regional Director. Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda hailed the move. Under Khetarpal WHO South-East Asia Region emerged as the top performer in the organisation globally. WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said as the first woman to become Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region, you have provided dynamic leadership in a Region that accounts for one quarter of the worlds population, but a disproportionate burden of its diseases. The Director-General said that through her flagship programmes, Dr Khetrapal Singh had brought a strong focus to delivering results in countries, which is one of the key themes of WHOs new General Programme of Work and of WHOs transformation project. Khetrapal Singh said, My vision is to consolidate, accelerate and innovate to further strengthen progress in the priority areas and translate vision into action. Singh, a Punjab cadre IAS officer, has a long career in public health of over four decades. She served in the health sector at various senior positions during her stint in the Indian Administrative Services; in the World Bank; was part of WHO Director-Generals cabinet in Geneva; worked as the Executive Director of Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments in WHO headquarters; and was Deputy Regional Director WHO South-East Asia Region from 2000-2013. Singhs ongoing first term as Regional Director began on February 1, 2014, during which, in consultation with the Member countries she identified seven flagship prioritiesachieving universal health coverage; strengthening emergency response capacity; reversing the non-communicable disease epidemics; finishing off neglected tropical diseases; combating antimicrobial resistance; preventing maternal, under-5 and neonatal deaths and eliminating measles and controlling rubella. Eliminating tuberculosis was added as her eighth flagship in 2017. Substantial progress has been made in each of these flagships and beyond. Certified polio free in 2014, the Region continues to maintain this status. The Region eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus becoming only the second WHO Region to do so. Four countries in the Region have eliminated measles and six have controlled rubella. The maternal mortality rates in the Region have reduced by 69%, the steepest decline in any WHO Region during the MDG era. Countries in the Region have reduced maternal, under-5 and neonatal mortality rates to levels below the SDG targets. Among neglected tropical diseases, India eliminated yaws, Nepal eliminated trachoma, while Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand have eliminated lymphatic filariasis. Two countries Maldives and Sri Lanka have eliminated malaria. All countries are implementing national action plans to combat anti-microbial resistance. As per WHO procedures, the WHO Executive Board, which next meets in Geneva in January 2019 is expected to confirm Dr Khetrapal Singhs nomination and appoint her as the Regional Director. Dr Khetrapal Singh will commence her next five-year term on February 1, 2019. harinder@tribunemail.com New Delhi, September 5 The Modi government on Wednesday dismissed the Congress demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal with France saying: ... to satisfy the ego of an ill-informed gentleman (Rahul Gandhi) it was not an option. With the government under attack from the Opposition on the issue, the top security brass briefed the Union Council of Ministers on the fighter aircraft deal, saying its cost was based on equipment and weapons that would be integrated into the jet. The presentation was made in a bid to provide the leaders with facts to counter the allegations of favouritism and corruption being levelled against the government by the Opposition. A senior government functionary said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the Secretary, Defence Production, Ajay Kumar, highlighted various aspects of the deal at the meeting which lasted more than two hours. The ministers were informed that it was a deal between two governments involving no private party, leaving little scope for corruption. The Opposition led by the Congress has been attacking the Modi government over the deal, alleging that it was struck at an exorbitant price and had benefited an Indian businessman at the cost of the government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The charges have been denied by the government. Taking a dig at the Congress, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said questioning the deal was the biggest ignorance. He said cost escalation and currency variations between 2007- 2016 had to be considered. The 36 jets will come in a fly away condition and not even a bolt will be fitted here ... during UPA (rule), they did not believe in transfer of technology but preferred to buy (hardware) from foreign buyers ..., he said. TNS/PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, September 5 In a possible first, premises of Tamil Nadu police chief were among 40 locations searched by the CBI on Wednesday in connection with the 2017 gutkha scam, officials said. After registering a case in May, the CBI carried out searches at 35 places in Tamil Nadu and five places in Karnataka, Mumbai and Puducherry, which included residential premises of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran and former police commissioner S George in Chennai. An Indian Revenue Services officer has also been raided by the CBI in connection with the case, the officials said. This is possibly a rare incident when a serving DGP of a state has been raided by the CBI. A 1984-batch IPS officer, Rajendran was made the DGP in 2016 after Ashok Kumar opted out for a voluntary retirement scheme. Officials said Kumar, a 1982-batch IPS officer, was forced to seek VRS as he had recommended for a CBI probe in the gutkha scam. The scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutkha (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader. This was challenged in the SC by a TN health official but the apex court sided with the High Court order and asked the agency to register a case. The agency had registered an FIR against officials of the TN Government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com Yash Goyal Jaipur, September 5 The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday ordered that there should not be any 'public function' during Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's Gaurav Yatra when she and BJP functionaries halt for a break. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and justice G R Moolchandani, which has reserved the judgement on August 27 after completing hearing and discussion on a PIL by lawyer Vibhuti Bhushan Sharma, pronounced the order this afternoon. In its 12-page judgement, the HC said, "Keeping in view the principles laid down in the two decisions of the Supreme Court in the writ petition filed by Common Cause, we declare that henceforth no public functions sponsored and financed by the state would be held during the road shows that is Gaurav Yatra to be undertaken by the BJP in the state of Rajasthan. Meaning thereby, on the day of Gaurav Yatra no government functions would be held and enroute when the chief minister and the functionaries of the BJP halt the Gaurav Yatra for some time and recommence the same after the break." "It is conceded by the state that government function for inaugurating government projects or inaugurating exhibitions where publicity would be given to the social welfare schemes of the state are being held during the Gaurav Yatra. Meaning thereby, after the chief minister along with office-bearers of BJP Travels as part of road journey during the Yatra, the Yatra is temporarily halted and if function is held, purporting to be state sponsored function. Thereafter, Yatra proceeds and another state is sponsored function is held," the order stated. "The division bench does not comment or deny on the recovery of expenditure made by the state government from the BJP as it has claimed to be its party's functions and submitted an affidavit of rough expenditures worth Rs 1.1 crore in the court," the petitioner told media. The PIL alleged the misuse of fund and government machinery by the ruling party for Rajasthan government 'yatra' that is being led by Chief Minister Raje since August 4, and would complete on September 30 at Pushkar. On earlier hearing, the state BJP has filed an affidavit in Rajasthan High Court on Vasundhara Raje's Gaurav Yatra expenditure, stating a sum of Rs 1.10 crore has been spent in first phase from August 4-10. Hailing the HC order, PCC president Sachin Pilot demanded that the Raje government and BJP should repay to the exchequer the money which was spent on two phases of Gaurav Yatra so far. Bharat Vahini Party president G S Tiwari, who quit the BJP after four decades and formed a new political outfit, said it was a moral defeat for Chief Minister who was running "Kaurav Yatra". There was no reaction from the BJP or the state ministers. In a similar PIL of Kuldeep Purohit on the same issues, a Division Bench of HC (Jodhpur bench) on Wednesday told the petitioner and respondents that the judgement has been pronounced today in those writ petitions (Jaipur PIL) and hence it is disposed of as not pressed. pardeepdhull@gmail.com New York, September 5 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that Indias planned purchase of a Russian missile system or its relations with Iran will not be the primary focus of the incredibly important 2+2 Strategic Dialogue meeting he and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will be having with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman this week. Calling India a true strategic partner, he said on Tuesday the meeting in New Delhi is really about things that are big and strategic and will go on for 20, 40, 50 years and those are the kinds of topics that Secretary Mattis and I are hoping to address. We have a true strategic partner who, frankly, is our only major defence partner... with whom we have a great relationship and who is very important to our success in our Indo-Pacific strategyenormous country with incredibly opportunity and capacity for wealth creation, he told reporters travelling with him to India according to a transcript provided by the State Department. We hope we can find opportunities to continue to expand the relationship not only diplomatic and military-to-military but a good set of business relationships as well, he added. Theres half a dozen things on the agenda that were really intent on making progress on, he said. The 2+2 Strategic Dialogue was postponed twice at the request of the USfirst in April when the leadership of the State Department was transitioning from Rex Tillerson to Pompeo. I regret it was my fault the second time in July, he said. I had to travel to Pyongyang. Trump had suddenly set up a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had decided on the Strategic Dialogue when they met in Washington in 2017. Trump administrations strategic vision embodies India and the US as the two bookends of stability in the Asia Pacific regionand a counterbalance to Chinas rising power. Symbolically, the US now calls the region Indo-Pacific and even renamed its Pacific military command. At this weeks meeting, Iran and the Russian missile defence system purchase will certainly come up, but I dont think they will be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here, Pompeo said. Those decisions are important to the relationship for sure, but I dont see us resolving those during this set of meetings of the Strategic Dialogue, he added. India is planning to buy five advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia in a deal estimated to cost about Rs 40,000 crore. India reportedly also plans to continue buying oil from Iran despite threat of sanctions by Trump, who reneged on the agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to stop Tehrans nuclear programme. IANS You are here: China Appointments for the latest variation of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine are now being made available in a number of hospitals in Beijing, reports the Beijing News. People will have to wait around 20 days to receive an injection of the nine-variant HPV vaccine, which costs around 1,300 yuan. Chinese authorities approved the importing of the nine-valent HPV vaccine to the mainland in April. The nine-valent HPV vaccine has been tested effective in preventing up to nine types of HPV and it has been in high demand in China since the first batch of it arrived in Hainan Province in late May. HPV has been linked to a global rise in cervical cancer rates among women. Medical professionals recommend young women receive the vaccine before they become sexually active, as HPV is spread through sexual activity. amansharma@tribunemail.com The Hague, September 5 India has backed Mauritius over its claim on the disputed Chagos islands, which is home to Diego Garcia the key military base of the UK and the US in the Indian Ocean, saying its decolonisation process remains incomplete as long as the atolls continue to be under British control. Both Mauritius and the UK are engaged in a diplomatic and legal war over the atolls located in the strategic Indian Ocean. Presenting the countrys stand in the oral proceedings on the matter before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) here, Indias Ambassador to the Netherlands Venu Rajamony said the analysis of historical facts and consideration of the legal aspects confirm that sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago has been and continues to be with Mauritius. Rajamony was representing India in a four-day ICJ hearing, which began on Monday, on the request for advisory opinion by the UN General Assembly in the matter. The UN General Assembly in June last year adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer a legal opinion on the island chains fate. The world court on Monday started listening to arguments on the legal consequences of (Britains) separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, shortly before Port Louis independence from its colonial ruler. Rajamony said the historical survey of facts concerning colonisation and the process of decolonisation indicate that the Chagos archipelago throughout the pre- and post-colonial era has been part of the Mauritian territory. These islands came under the colonial administration of the United Kingdom as part of Mauritian territory, he said. An understanding reached in November 1965 between Mauritius and the UK for the retention of the islands by Britain for defence purposes and return thereof to Mauritius when no longer needed for defence purposes. Rajamony said the legal aspects should root themselves in the historical facts, behaviour of the nations concerned, and the consideration of the issue by relevant administrative and judicial institutions The diplomat said before Mauritius independence in 1968, the UN in December 1960 had proclaimed the necessity of a speedy and unconditional end of colonialism in all its forms. However, detachment of the Chagos archipelago still took place in November 1965. He said the UN in December 1965 asked the UK to complete the decolonisation of Mauritius and report the same to the General Assembly. Rajamony further said the UK is legally bound by a ruling of the The Arbitral Tribunal, constituted on March 18 2015, to return the archipelago to Mauritius. The Tribunal ruled that the undertakings of the UK with respect to the fishing rights of Mauritius in the waters of Chagos archipelago, its eventual return to Mauritius and the benefit of mineral and oil resources in and near the archipelago, are legally binding undertakings, he said. By declaring as legally binding the undertaking of the UK to return the archipelago to Mauritius, the award has determined the legal obligation of Britain to return the islands to Mauritius, he added. The process of decolonisation of Mauritius remains incomplete both technically and in substance as long as the Chagos archipelago continues to be under UKs colonial, the diplomat said. The US also operates a crucial air base on Diego Garcia, a part of the Chagos islands. Mauritius has repeatedly asserted that the Chagos archipelago is part of its territory and that the UK should return the same to it. The UK has consistently maintained that it has no doubt about the Mauritian claim to sovereignty in the islands but will cede the archipelago to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. PTI pardeepdhull@gmail.com Kanpur, September 5 An Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Surendra Das, posted as a Superintendent of Police in Kanpur city, consumed poison on Wednesday, the police said. His condition is said to be very critical. Doctors at a city hospital said Das had been put on ventilator for respiratory support and that the next 48 hours would prove to be very critical for the officers recovery. A 2014-batch officer, Das allegedly attempted suicide at his official residence and was rushed to the hospital by his staff. His parents live in Lucknow and have since rushed to Kanpur to be with Das. The officer hails from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh and his wife is a doctor. Informed sources say the officer may have taken the extreme step due to marital discord. Das, a B.Tech, is known as a good officer in police circles. IANS editorial@tribune.com Lucknow, September 5 Surendra Kumar Das, IPS officer posted as the Superintendent of Police City (East) in Kanpur, who attempted suicide on Wednesday morning has slipped into coma and is on ventilator. A team of experts led by Dr Pranav Ojha is arriving by a special chartered plane from Mumbai and are expected to reach Lucknow late at night after which they will reach Kanpur by road. Das, 32, had reportedly consumed sulphas and was rushed to Kanpur's Regency hospital. A forensic team has found a torn suicide note in the officers room. Kanpur range ADG Avinash Chandra confirmed the finding of the note in which the officer has not blamed anyone for taking the step. He has mentioned many issues indicating a family discord. Now it is a police case. It is also a matter of investigation as to who tampered with the two-page note." the ADG said. Das was reportedly under stress due to marital discord. His wife is a doctor pursuing her PG in Kanpur. TNS pardeepdhull@gmail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 Maharashtra Police on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court justifying the arrest of five activists in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence. The affidavit asserted that the activists were arrested not because of their dissenting views or ideology. Filed in response to a petition challenging their arrest, the affidavit said they were arrested because evidence suggested they were active members of banned outfit CPI (Maoist). It accused the activists of being involved in planning and preparing for violence. They were also in the process of creating large-scale violence, destruction of property resulting into chaos in the society as per agenda prepared by CPI [Maoist], banned since 2009, it told the court. In a pan-India crackdown on August 28, poet Varavara Rao was arrested 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 Navlakha in Delhi for suspected Maoist links. READ: Koregaon-Bhima case: Police says 250 Twitter handles created to spread misinformation The raids were part of a probe into a conclave Elgar Parishad held in Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on December 31, 2017 which had allegedly triggered violence the very next day. Describing dissent as the safety valve of democracy, the Supreme Court on August 29 directed that the five activists arrested by the Maharashtra Police over suspected Maoist links be kept under house till September 6, the next date of hearing. Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you dont allow these safety valves it will burst, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had said questioning the activists arrests nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Bhima-Koregaon village in Maharashtra. The top court had issued notice to the Maharashtra Government and the state police seeking a factual report on a petition filed by five leading intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain. The petitioners alleged the arrests were aimed at silencing dissent and instilling fear in the minds of people. But in its affidavit, the Maharashtra Police said material found from computers, laptops, pendrives, from memory cards of accused persons clearly implicated them not only as active members of banned CPI (Maoist) but clearly reflected a design to commit criminal offences having potential of destabilising society. Requesting the top court to peruse the evidence submitted in sealed cover, the affidavit said, it would become amply clear that they were found to be committing, planning and preparing for a series of criminal offences in conspiracy with other persons. The activists were arrested under various Sections of the IPC, including 153 (A) for promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, besides the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 Batting for creative freedom, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition seeking ban on certain portions of Malayalam novel 'Meesha' for its controversial portrayed of priests and young girls, saying books cannot be read in a fragmented manner. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said, A persons subjective perception of a novel or work of fiction cannot enter legal arena to seek its ban. The craftsmanship of writers needed to be respect and they should have freedom to play with words, it emphasised. The top court said imagination of a writer must enjoy freedom and it cannot be ordered to be fashioned in a particular manner. Delhi resident N Radhakrishnan had sought a direction to delete certain paragraphs of the novel by S Hareesh on the ground that it defamed temple going Hindu women. The petitioner had particularly objected to a dialogue between two characters in the novel, which he contended, insulted Hindu women. The authors comments about Brahmins were tantamount to cattiest slur, he had alleged. Disapproving of the culture of banning books, the Supreme Court had during a hearing on August 2 had said it affected free flow of ideas. We cannot make a virtue of banning those to ban this. Literary work is amenable to criticism. The culture of banning books directly impacts flow of ideas unless it hits Section 292 of Indian Penal Code (obscenity). The characters are fictional in the book and we have to see the context in which the paras were mentioned, a three-judge Bench headed by CJI Misra had said during the hearing. The NDA Government and the Kerala government opposed the petition and freedom of speech and expression. Such kind of stuff should not be given undue importance in this age of the Internet. You are making this an issue. It is best forgotten, the Bench had said. The petitioner had contended that books such as Polyester Prince and Satanic Verses were still banned. A magazine published by a newspaper group had serialised the novel containing the objectionable portions but stopped it after protests. amansharma@tribunemail.com Ravi S.Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 In an impressive show of strength, workers and peasants converged at the national capital on Wednesday and took part in Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh rally which included a "march to Parliament". A pledge was taken at the meeting to defeat the BJP in the 2019-General Elections. The show was organised by CPI (M)-affiliated "mass organisations"-- Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the All Indian Agriculture Workers' Union (AIWU). About 200 constituents of the organisations backed agitation. Top CPI (M) leaders, including their incumbent and former chiefs Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, respectively, made appearance at the rally to express their solidarity to the agitation. Yechury and other CPI (M) leaders did not address the meeting. As per the CPI (M) protocol, its leaders who are not functionaries of the "mass organisation" do not address such events. A number of CPI (M) MPs sat in audience enclosure like Yechury and Karat. The rally was in protest against Union government's policies. It pressed for 15 demands, including curb on price rise, minimum wage of not less than Rs 18,000 per month for all workers and end to contract labour system. Addressing the workers, CITU general secretary and former MP Tapan Sen called "the Narendra Modi government's policies as anti-poor" and called for defeat of the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections. Anti-Narendra Modi theme pervaded in speeches of all the speakers. Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Yechury said the motto of the show was "Modi hatao, Mazdoor Kisan bachaoo" (oust Narendra Modi, save workers and agriculturists). He cautioned the government not to pursue with its anti-labour amendments to laws in the name of reforms. The hallmark of the rally was participation by large number of women. The protesters trudged about 5 km stretch chanting slogans against the government at Parliament Street -- the venue of the meeting. amansharma@tribunemail.com Bengaluru, September 5 Activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder case is in the final stage of investigation and a chargesheet will be filed in two months, a senior SIT official probing the killing said Wednesday. The Special Investigation Team, under the leadership of Additional Commissioner of Police (West) B K Singh, has arrested 12 people in connection with the killing of Lankesh, known for her strong anti-Hindutva stand, on September 5 last year. Some of the people arrested in the case are allegedly linked to Sanatan Sanstha and its allied outfit Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. "The case is in final stage of investigation. We will file a chargesheet in the case in two months," Investigating Officer M N Anucheth said. The Gauri Memorial Trust and her supporters organised a series of events here to mark the first anniversary of her death. The Gauri Balaga and Gauri Lankesh Memorial Trust submitted a joint six-point memorandum to Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala. The memorandum demanded that Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliates be declared "terror organisations." Earlier, a large number of activists led by Lankesh's sister Kavitha and playwright Girish Karnad staged a march to Raj Bhavan to mark the journalist-activist's first death anniversary. Other activists, who participated in the march, were freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, social activist Swami Agnivesh Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani and lawyer Teesta Setalvad, among others. A 'Freedom of Expression' meet was held on the occasion. The Trust also released a pen with a photograph and signature of Lankesh. Mevani alleged that there was a connect between the killings of four progressive and rationalist writers. He also alleged that without the involvement of state machinery, such murders could not happen. Wife of late professor MM Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh's mother Indira, and Meghna Pansare, daughter of CPI leader Govind Pansare also addressed the gathering. Writers, thinkers and journalists released a copy of newly launched Kannada tabloid "Nyaya Patha" during the meet. Lankesh was shot dead on the night of September 5, 2017, from close range in front of her Rajarajeshwari Nagar house around 8 p.m. The SIT got a breakthrough in its probe when a Gujarat-based forensic lab confirmed that Parashuram Waghmare shot and killed her. The SIT, formed by then chief minister Siddaramaiah, has arrested suspected mastermind Amol Kale and shooter Parashuram Waghmare, among others. A few others are yet to be nabbed. Sanatan Sanstha has claimed that those arrested were not its members. Investigations revealed that Lankesh was among 26 people including Prof K S Bhagwan, Girish Karnad and Chandrashekar Patil, were in rightwing extremists' list, as they were critical of Hindutva ideology. Kavitha Lankesh has said rightwing outfit Sanatan Sanstha should be treated like any other terrorist organisation if its involvement in killings of rationalists, including that of Narendra Dabholkar, was proved. In a counter move, members of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, some of them lawyers fighting for the accused, have criticised the SIT for invoking Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act against the accused. - PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Parvesh Sharma & Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service Sangrur/Bathinda, September 5 With liquor rates in Haryana 30-40 per cent less than those in Punjab, liquor continues to be smuggled into various districts of Punjab from the neighbouring state. Punjab shares a 45-km stretch with Haryana. The Sangrur police have registered 658 cases of liquor seizure and arrested 751 persons since January this year. As the district shares a long border with Haryana, smugglers generally try to smuggle liquor in small quantities, said Sangrur SSP Sandeep Garg. In the Bathinda Police Range compromising Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts, 1,020 cases have been filed under the Excise Act and 1,024 peddlers arrested since April 16. In Mansa district, 330 cases have been filed and 336 arrested. Punjab page: Screening bootleggers at Haryana border an uphill task Bootleggers are smuggling liquor into Punjab primarily from Sirsa and Dabwali in Haryana. A police official said: Those in the trade are well-acquainted with link roads leading to Bathinda and are often successful in evading the police. With 35 passages between Sangrur and Haryana districts along the inter-state border, the peddlers mostly carry liquor bottles on motorcycles, scooters, cars and tractor-trailers. Not wishing to be named, cops in Sangrur claimed that distilleries too had a role in it. A retired police official in Bathinda said those who failed to get liquor contracts in Punjab often took to smuggling liquor from Haryana. Now, border villagers have begun to do likewise to make quick money, he said. Contractors in Punjab engaged in smuggling already have links in Haryana and have only to rope in couriers to deliver liquor to their contacts. They have fixed customers. The mobiles have made their job easier. Many a times, they simply leave the consignment in the fields, another retired officer said. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 Microblogging site Twitter on Wednesday blocked the account of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the legal adviser to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), the body that is seeking referendum for Sikhs in 2020. Pannun, on Sunday, had asked the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK to either endorse the referendum or he will not be allowed in the US, Europe and Canada. GK was physically attacked in California and on his return to Delhi on Sunday, dismissed the threat by SFJ saying he stood for Sikh rights within constitution. The SFJ latter blamed the Indian government for action by Twitter to block Pannun. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Beirut, September 5 Israeli missile strikes targeted Iranian military positions in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Tartus on Tuesday, killing three Syrian soldiers, a monitoring group said. Syrias state news agency SANA said its air defence systems downed several missiles launched from Israeli warplanes. The Observatory said missiles struck Wadi al-Oyoun in the central province of Hama, near a scientific research centre which was already targeted by Israeli strikes in July and last year. Iranian military positions in the coastal region of Banias, in the province of Tartus, were also targeted, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Three Syrian soldiers were killed and 23 people injured -- 14 Syrian and nine Iranians, according to the Observatory. The air defence system responded to an Israeli aggression carried out by aircraft... that targeted some of our military positions in the provinces of Tartus and Hama, SANA said, quoting a military source. Some of the missiles were downed, the agency said, reporting an initial casualty toll of one dead and four wounded. A spokesman for the Israeli army refused to comment on the new raids, but an Israeli military official, in a rare confirmation, said the army had carried out some 200 strikes in Syria over the past 18 months against mainly Iranian targets. Israel has pledged to prevent its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran is backing President Bashar al-Assad in the ongoing civil war. A series of strikes that have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel in recent months, but the Israeli military rarely confirms them. AFP China conducted an oil slick cleanup drill in the East China Sea on Tuesday to improve the country's emergency response ability. Thirty-six vessels, two helicopters, two drones and more than 500 personnel took part in the drill, which featured 22 scenarios stemming from a collision between two ships. It was the first drill involving collaboration by national, provincial and city authorities since China released its National Major Ocean Oil Slick Emergency Response Plan in March. In accordance with the plan, and the lessons learned from dealing with January's sinking of the oil tanker Sanchi, the drill simulated the handling of a maritime oil leak and showed China's strength in responding to maritime emergencies, said Zhuo Li, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport's China Maritime Search and Rescue Center. The drill, in the sea off eastern China's Zhejiang province, was based on a collision between an oil tanker carrying 200,000 metric tons of crude oil and a container vessel, with the oil tanker catching fire and exploding. A total of 19 crew members were said to be at risk, with more than 1,000 tons of crude oil leaking into the ocean. Because of mechanical problems, the oil tanker drifted to a nearby oil drilling platform and threatened to cause a secondary accident. The container vessel was slightly impaired and the crew members were safe. Co-hosted by the Ministry of Transport, Zhejiang's provincial government and the Zhoushan city government, the drill tested the plan and emergency response procedures. "With economic globalization, maritime vessels have become larger and faster," ministry spokesman Wu Chungeng said. "More hazardous cargo is transported by sea, including crude oil and gas, which increases the risk of a major oil slick." On Jan 6, the Panama-registered, Iranian-owned oil tanker Sanchi, carrying 111,300 tons of highly flammable condensate oil, collided with the CR Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship, in the East China Sea about 296 kilometers east of Shanghai. The tanker exploded and sank on Jan 14, killing 32 crew members. The cargo ship's 21 crew members were rescued. The sinking of the oil tanker caused an oil slick, with cleanup work carried out to reduce the environmental impact. China's maritime search and rescue system involves inter-ministry conferences in the event of a search and rescue or oil leak emergency, with the response on the water mainly dependent on professional search and rescue teams, government personnel and the military, He Jianzhong, director of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, said in March. China carried out 2,063 maritime search and rescue operations last year, he said, rescuing 1,462 vessels and 15,046 people in distress. Cheng Ping, director of transportation safety at the ministry, said China's professional search and rescue teams have rescued 75,543 people and 5,108 distressed vessels in the past 67 years. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Washington, September 5 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has defended the Trump administrations decision to cut USD 300 million aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad did not make satisfactory progress in combatting terrorism. Pompeo is arriving in Islamabad along with General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, days after the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Pakistan as it was not doing enough against terrorist groups inside its borders, the latest controversy to hit Islamabads troubled relationship with Washington. Pompeos talks will be the Trump administrations first high-level dialogue with Pakistan since the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office after the July 25 elections. Talking to reporters travelling with him hours before landing in Pakistan, the Secretary of State said: The rationale for them (Pakistan) not getting the money is very clear. Its that we havent seen the progress that we need to see from them. The top American diplomat, during his meeting with Khan, army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, would convey the same message of acting tough on terrorist organisations in Pakistan. The very reason for this trip is to try and articulate what it is our expectation is, the things that they can do, the things that they expect us to do, and see if we cant find a path forward together, Pompeo said amid reports that the Pentagon has sought a Congressional approval to reprogramme USD 300 million meant for financial assistance to Pakistan because of the lack of progress in fight against terrorism. However, Pompeo said that this was not news for Pakistan. Look, this wasnt news to the Pakistanis. It made a lot of headlines over the last few days because of the formality... but they were told this past summer that they werent likely to get that money, he said. Ahead of the meeting with Khan, Pompeo hoped that they can turn the page and begin to make progress. There are real expectations. We need Pakistan to seriously engage to help us get to the reconciliation we need in Afghanistan... They have important interests, security interests in Afghanistan to make sure they get the issues at their border right, and we need their help, Pompeo said. On his first trip to Pakistan after Khan became the Prime Minister, Pompeo said he wanted to get there at the beginning of Khans tenure in an effort to reset the relationship between the two countries. We have worked closely with the Pakistanis in my role as the CIA director. Our teams have been working together for a long time. There are lots of challenges between our two nations for sure, but were hopeful that with the new leadership that we can find common ground and begin to work on some of our shared problems together. They have expressed good-faith intention to do so, the Secretary of State said. Pompeo said that he and Dunford would have opportunities to walk through the complexity that is this relationship and hopefully begin to make some progress so that they can get back to a set of common understandings. So thats really the very straightforward objective. I think its important to meet the new prime minister early on in his time in office, Pompeo said. Responding to a question, Pompeo said that US aid to Pakistan could be restored, but he has not seen the progress yet. We certainly havent seen the progress that we would hope to have seen, certainly not progress that would be sufficient for us to have advocated for turning back on that financial support, said the top American diplomat. Would that aid be back on the table if you do see measures that meet yours, he was asked. I think the answer is probably yes, Pompeo said. If we get to the place you have to remember what it was. Some of this was we use the term aid loosely there. Its more complicated; its different sets of resources. But we were providing these resources when they made sense for the US, when it made sense because the partnership was in a place that the actions of our two countries, it made sense to do that. If that arises again, I am confident well present to the President the rationale for that, and then something like that might make sense, Pompeo added. PTI laxmi@tribune.com London, September 5 British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian nationals, described as officers from the Russian military intelligence service GRU, with the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a deadly nerve agent in the UK earlier this year. There was sufficient evidence to charge two Russian nationals, Scotland Yard said. The suspects, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, believed to be in their 40s and using the names as aliases, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement. In an update to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Theresa May pointed the finger of blame directly at the Russian government. The 66-year-old former Russian double agent and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a shopping centre bench in the southern English town of Salisbury on March 4. They spent weeks in hospital in critical condition before Yulia being released in April and Sergei in May. They had been sent to an undisclosed location. Britain blamed Russia for poisoning them with a military-grade nerve agent, Novichok, developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s, a charge vehemently denied by Moscow. The poisoning had sparked a Cold War-style diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, including the expulsion of hundreds of diplomats from both sides. Terming the incident in March as appalling, May said the chemical weapons attack on the UK soil was part of a wider pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine the UKs security and that of its allies around the world. We know that the GRU has played a key part in malign Russian activity in recent years. The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens, she said, adding that the UK and its allies would continue to undermine Russias efforts to undermine the international rules-based system. Scotland Yard gave some details of its investigation into the chemical attack and the movement of the two suspects, who were caught on CCTV footage conducting reconnaissance around their target of Skripals home in Salisbury. We now have sufficient evidence to bring charges in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury and domestic and European arrest warrants have been issued for the two suspects. We are also seeking to circulate Interpol Red Notices, said Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the UKs National Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing. We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders, Basu said. PTI Suspects intelligence officers: May In the House of Commons, PM Theresa May laid the blame with the Russian state, describing the suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as officers in Moscows GRU military intelligence Based on a body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, May said The GRU is a highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command, she said UK move means nothing: Moscow laxmi@tribune.com Seoul, September 5 A high-level South Korean delegation met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Wednesday, as Seoul plans a new summit with the North Korean leader to break a deadlock in denuclearisation talks. The Souths President Moon Jae-ins special envoy Chung Eui-yong, who is leading the five-member delegation, earlier said he would discuss ways to completely denuclearise the Korean peninsula and establish lasting peace. His delegation met with Chairman Kim Jong Un and delivered a personal letter (from Moon) and exchanged opinions, a presidential office spokesman in Seoul said. The delegation flew back to Seoul after attending a dinner banquet but Chung and other officials declined to speak to the media. Details about their trip will be given during a press briefing on Thursday, Moons office said. US President Donald Trump and Kim reached a vague agreement at a landmark summit in June to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little movement since. Talks reached an impasse last month when Trump abruptly cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeos trip to North Korea, citing a lack of progress. The stated aim of the South Korean delegations day-long visit to Pyongyang is to finalise details of a third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, due later this month. But observers said that Moons personal letter to Kim will likely be a proposal aimed at breaking the denuclearisation impasse. AFP rchopra@tribunemail.com Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 5 US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo hopes to reset relations with Pakistan and find common ground with the Imran Khan-led new government. Pompeo, who will hold discussions in Isalamabad on Wednesday, enroute to Delhi, with his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi and meet Pak Army Chief General Bajwa as well as PM Khan, made these remarks to the accompanying press pool. Our teams have been working together for a long time. There are lots of challenges between our two nations for sure, but were hopeful that with new leadership we can find common ground and begin to work on some of our shared problems together, said Pompeo. Pompeo is accompanied by his top military commander and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dunford for stocktaking on Trumps Af-Pak strategy which has chalked out a larger role for India to play in the region, much to the disapproval of the military headquarters in Rawalpindi. Just ahead of this visit, the US signed on suspension of 300 million USD worth of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for Pakistan leading to much anger in its non-NATO frontline ally. However, Pompeo sought to dismiss the suggestion that this row would overshadow his current Pak visit. It made a lot of headlines over the last few days because of the formality, but they were told this past summer that they werent likely to get that money. And the rationale for them not getting the money is very clear. Its that we havent seen the progress that we need to see from them. And the very reason for this trip is to try and articulate what our expectation is, the things that they can do, the things that they expect us to do, and see if we can find a path forward together, he said. Pompeo acknowledged that the souring of ties with Pakistan took place with the previous governments in place and hoped they could now turn the page and begin to make progress. But there are real expectations. We need Pakistan to seriously engage to help us get to the reconciliation we need in Afghanistan. Without their assistance, without their help, youve heard General Nicholson and General Miller both the incoming and outgoing commanderstheyve both talked about this. They have security interests in Afghanistan to make sure they get the issues at their border right, and we need their help, he added. Sources in India on Tuesday told The Tribune that a direct perspective on messages conveyed to Pakistan on action against terror groups and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan is expected when Pompeo and US Defence Secretary Mattis hold discussions with their counterparts in Delhi at the inaugural 2+2 dialogue on Thursday. President Trump who has expressed his frustration openly at the Pak duplicity on terror has so far with Congressional approval suspended 800 million USD worth of aid money towards Pakistan. Pakistan has argued that this is not aid money but money owed to it for partnering with the US-led war in Afghanistan. Pompeo underlined that this money would not be back on the table soon. We certainly havent seen the progress that we would hope to have seen, certainly not the progress that would be sufficient for us to have advocated for turning back on thosethat financial support, said the Secretary of State. Zalmay Khalilzad returns as US advisor on Afghanistan The United States has announced that its former Ambassador to Afghanistan and an old regional hand Zalmay Khalilzad will be back in the State Department. In his new innings, Khalilzad will be an advisor to the Trump administration on matters related to Afghanistan. Khalilzad incidentally is accompanying the top minister for his Pakistan and India visits. Confirming the move, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said, Ambassador Khalilzad is going to join the State Department team to assist us on the reconciliation effort, so he will come on and be the State Departments lead person for that purpose. Khalilzad, a Pashtun, has worked with four US administrations in the past. He worked closely with the Bush administration in formulating the Afghanistan invasion plan to defeat the Al Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks that also led to the ousting of the Taliban that was in command then. But his task is going to be working with Ambassador Wells and Ambassador Bass and our team to be fully focused on developing the opportunities to get the Afghans and Taliban to come to a reconciliation. That will be his singular mission statement, added Pompeo when asked about Khalilzads mission directive. Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission Competent investment management is critical to achieving returns and helping investors meet their financial goals. Over the next five weeks, the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) will be providing information on the topics of portfolio diversification, financial statements, the investment process, indicators of a viable investment opportunity and the impact of interest rates on investments. This weeks article discusses two very important aspects of investment management, which include diversification and asset allocation. More countries in the Western Pacific region are expected to join a campaign launched by the World Health Organization to encourage companies to create 100 percent smoke-free workplaces, following Vietnam and China, the WHO said. The "Revolution Smoke-Free" campaign, initiated by the WHO Regional Office in the Western Pacific, was launched in Vietnam on World No Tobacco Day in May and in China on July 16, Kate Lannan, coordinator of the Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, said. "We are currently preparing case studies of the early adopters to introduce on the campaign website. The companies that have made pledges are mapped on the campaign site, as will future pledgers," Lannan said. "A series of country-level campaign launches are planned across the region to invite and motivate more companies to join the campaign and share their stories," she said. The private sector has an important role to play in protecting public health, Lannan said. "That is why WHO wants to invite businesses to change our workplaces, protect our workers and clients, and promote smoke-free environments as a global standard to which every responsible company must strive," she said. As of July 15, a total of 56 Chinese companies based in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chongqing, covering over 400,000 employees, had participated in the campaign, Kelvin Heng, a technical officer at the WHO China Representative Office, said. All of the pledged companies confirmed that their offices in China are already 100% smoke-free, he said. WHO has provided guidelines and campaign brochures to support these companies in maintaining the good work, particularly on enforcement of the smoke-free policy and to support employees who wish to quit smoking, he said. After two days of leaders claiming the stage, COP26 gets down to brass tacks from today with negotiators from each country rolling up their sleeves to engage in hard bargaining over pledges. Are you planning on staying in one place for a couple of nights in a row? If so, definitely Car! More flexible and cheaper. You can buy a cheap picnic set/bits and pieces from a charity shop and beg a broccoli box from a fruit shop or supermarket as a cooler for food so you can still self cater. Lots of picnic areas and free barbecue places along the way. You wont find any free camping on the coastal route so you need to pay for a camp site which can be $40-$70 per night for a powere site. You also dont have to pack everything up every time you want to drive anywhere. If doing single nights, a camper can be a good way to get about, so long as you hire the best you can afford- the cheap ones get terrible reviews for condition and mechanics- you dont want to spend most of your holiday on the side of the road waiting for a tow. Cheers. Re: Best base location(s) to stay for CR family vacation? 1. Re: Best base location(s) to stay for CR family vacation? What is the total length of your trip - all of June 2019 or 2 wks, as you r talking about possibly splitting it between the 2 rental properties? Do you know which international airport or airports in CR you will be using? You might want to see a sample 2-wk itinerary- , which includes 3 areas. Arenal and Manuel Antonio are often combined on the 1st trip. Calmer swimming beach for the kids might be in Samara. June is rainy season, but you might have sunnier mornings, rain at some point in PM, no guarantees when, how many days or at what time of the day and night. Nearly 1,000 accredited journalists covering the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), coming from 278 media outlets in 153 countries and regions, conducted interviews around Beijing from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2. The media center of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government organized 10 guided tours to assist the journalists in learning about Beijing's urban planning and city landscape, scientific and technological innovation, cultural innovation, high-end manufacturing, high-speed railway, new airport construction, the Peking Opera, construction in the rural area, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese acrobatics, as well as cooperation between China and Africa. The journalists visited the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall to learn about the city's new urban planning (2016-2035), especially focusing on the planning on its strategic functions. They then climbed Jingshan Mountain for a bird's eye view of Beijing's central axis, getting a sense of both the historical legacy and future vision of the city. The journalists also paid a visit to the exhibition center of Zhongguancun Science Park, the production line for off-road vehicles of the Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation, as well as the StarTimes Group, a technology and content provider in China's television broadcasting industry. During this trip, they learned about Beijing's recent progress in technological and cultural innovation, as well as its latest achievements in the transformation and upgrading of the high-end manufacturing industry. They also visited Beijing's new airport being constructed by the Beijing Urban Construction Group and took a tour through the Beijing Tong Ren Tang Museum, both of which helped them learn about the city's efforts in supporting Africa in various ways. In addition, the journalists were shown with China's achievements in high-speed railways from a trip to the traffic control center of the China Railway and the Beijing section of the tracks. The journalists also toured around the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing's Huairou district, a featured village at the foot of the Great Wall, and a science and technology exhibition park in Xiaotangshan, Changping district, to experience Beijing's beautiful countryside and technological development in agriculture, as well as the construction of the Great Wall cultural belt. The journalists also had a look around the Liyuan Theater to talk to Peking Opera artists, as well as the Lao She Teahouse and the China National Acrobatic Troupe to learn about Beijing's tea culture and Chinese acrobatics respectively. The journalists spoke highly of all the events and have published a large number of positive reports. Hi my partner and I, both 50's have a trip booked for Feb-March, 24 days, fly in and out HCMC, I would love some advice on travelling between cities and best mode transport. So far my thinking is couple nights HCMC then flying to Hanoi 3 nights, 2 night Halong or one of the other areas, then I wanted to also go to Sapa for 2 nights but am now unsure since reading forums re weather for that time, we wont be hiking but thought it would be just beautiful to relax there? After Hanoi travel? to Hoi An at least 6 nights there. Then make our way back to HCMC So a few questions now I have read some great advice on here....Best to fly to Hanoi or Da Nang from HCMC? as we wanted to do Mekong would it be better to go there for couple nights then fly out of Can Tho to Hanoi or Da Nang? Could we fit Hue in there somewhere? Hoping this itinerary is doable but welcome any advice please We love to do a lot of nothing usually but want to see a bit as well, if that makes sense MANY THANKS :-) Re: Is this too risky to catch my plane back to Singapore? 8. Re: Is this too risky to catch my plane back to Singapore? It's the Golden Rule of flying in SEASIA to always spend your last night in your city of international departure. HCMC maybe a little chaotic but for a Singaporean it'll be nothing you can't cope with. Lots to see and do. If you send me an email to dirtypierre at gmail dot com I will email you a pdf file of the best value quality therapeutic 90min massage for 250,000 dong (less the 15 Singapore dollars) and that includes the tip. No need to stay out near the airport as it's so close to the CBD anyway. Agoda has some good specials and Beautiful Saigon Boutique Hotel with a pool is rated high and good value for money. Edited: 3 years ago -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "getting into Japanese culture" in the sense that not every Japanese is particularly into the tea ceremony or zen meditation. That being said Kyoto has, for example, the Kyoto Handicraft Center, which includes craft workshops, and Gion Corner which provides an introduction into song and dance as performed by geisha (actually maiko). More importantly, Kyoto through shrines and temples provide the best glimpse into the best of what Japanese traditional culture is about, combining that with not a small aspect of samurai political adventurism also. Any trip to Kyoto should be combined with Nara, the older capital with its traditions as well, and Osaka, the big commercial and industrial city exemplifying a lot of the economic dynamism and entrepreneurship of Japan (and Osaka actually has shrines and temples dating back to the earliest times as well). So basing oneself in Kyoto for a week is excellent exposure. Please also indicate where you intend to board your cruise ship because you need to get there to. Please also say if you intend to get to Kyoto through Kansai International Airport. Have fun planning. Google Kenya Limited is a subsidiary of Google Inc., founded as a search engine in 1995 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were students at Stanford University at that time. Google Inc. now has its headquarters, also know as Googleplex, at Mountain View California, with operations stretching globally with a mission of organizing information and making it universally accessible and useful. The company has accumulated a broad base of employees estimated at sixty thousand across fifty different states. Google has unleashed several products and services including Google Search, YouTube, and the Android Operating system, among others used by millions of clients worldwide. Connect with the company through Google Kenya contacts for instant feedback, inquiries on products, services, and career opportunities now available. Kenya is one of the states in Africa where the Google Inc has established its offices. Google Kenya Limited aims at making it easy for you to access the information you need and providing other online services. It is in the best interest of the company to push the limits of the existing technology in Kenya by providing fast, accurate, and flexible service for all people. Google Kenya continues to focus on delivering the best user experience through innovate products and services. The primary goals of the firm center on relevance, comprehensiveness, freshness, and speed to adapt amid dynamics. Google Kenya Limited is fast rolling out user-friendly and creative products for clients working online and offline in the nation. The products and services at Google Inc. range from Gmail to Android smartphones and tablets. The following are the contacts for Google Kenya. READ ALSO: Amiran Kenya contacts and offices Google contacts in Kenya Google has its offices in Nairobi Kenya. Below is a breakdown on Google Kenya physical address, Google Kenya phone contacts, and Google Kenya email contacts to help you connect with the firm. Google Kenya head office contacts Purshottam Place 7th Floor, Westlands Road, Nairobi Kenya Primary phone number: (+254) (020) 360 17 00 Other lines: (0)20 3601000 (+254) (020) 360 11 00 Mobile phone: 0748 118040 P. O. Box 66217 - 00800, Nairobi, Westlands Fax: 254 20 360 1100 Their website will directly take you to where you can search for whatever you want online. Google Kenya products and services The goal of Google Kenya is to develop products and services that improve the lives of as many people as possible. Google Kenya Limited offers the following products and services. Applications for searching and getting answers Search -Enables one to search for information on the internet. Maps -It functions as a GPS navigation tool and enables the user to discover places around them. Translate -It can translate text in over 100 languages. Chrome the application is a fast, simple and secure browser for computers. Applications for watching, listening, and playing music YouTube a robust website platform site for watching and sharing videos. Google Play Music -It enables subscribers to have access to online songs when they need the songs. Chrome cast -It enables the user to stream movies and videos into the phone and television. Google Play Movies and Television -The user can access his or her popular programmes. Google devices worldwide Pixel 2 -This is a type of smartphone by Google Inc. Google Home -These are hands-free devices for use in the house. Daydream View -It is a virtual reality headgear that enables one to view images in three dimensions. Google Wi-Fi -A system which has faster connectivity for use in the home. Googe Wi-Fi and the Daydream View are not yet in Kenya, but we believe that Kenyans will have access to these devices soon. Connectivity display devices and software from google Kenya Android Operating System -It is an Operating system for all kinds of devices from smartphones to smart televisions. Wear Operating System by Google -It uses smart watches that track the fitness of an individual and allows connectivity to the internet. Chromebook -Easy to use laptops running on Chrome Operating system. Android Auto the system is used in cars for navigation and music. Applications for social connectivity by google Kenya Gmail -Email service by Google, allows users to send and receive electronic messages. Google Allo -A messaging application by Google Kenya. Google Duo -A video calling application by Google Kenya. Google+ -It is an application which enables the user to connect with friends and share messages. Applications for organizing contacts, photos, and calendar Photos -The app organizes photos. Contact -It is an application for organizing contacts. Calendar -It is an application which enables the user to share and organize events. Keep -It is an application which enables the user to save voice memos. Office applications by Google Kenya Docs -It is an application for editing documents. Sheets -It is used to edit data with the spreadsheets. Slides -It enables one to make presentations of stories. Drive -It is a cloud storage system by Google Kenya.\ Google Kenya services for business organization Google Ads -Business organizations can advertise their products and services whenever people use Google Search. AdSense -Enables business organizations to advertise their products. Analytics -Business organizations can obtain useful information about the products and services their customers need. Google My Business -It provides a platform for listing businesses. Google Kenya team The Google team in Kenya includes: Mr. Joseph Mucheru- Regional Lead for Google in Sub Saharan Africa, Nairobi Paa Kwesi Imbeah- Partner Solutions Organization, London Bridgette Sexton - Program Manager, Developer and Tech Outreach Africa Richard Ngamita- Data Analyst & Developer Outreach, Kenya Victor Munyua- Commercialisation, Sub Sahara Africa Jeremiah Kairuki- Geographic Consultant - Nairobi Udi Graff- Visual Designer Raj Rajuai- Geographic Consultant, Nairobi Vignesh Anand- Partner Solutions, Nairobi/Strategist, Ads Quality, Hyderabad READ ALSO: CRB Kenya contacts phone number & email address From the above information, it is evident that google offers a range of essential services and products that residents in Kenya and the world at large can benefit from. Google Kenya office contacts have helped enhance accessibility and availability of services across the country. Reach out to them today for any inquiries. READ ALSO MP Shah Hospital contacts and branches Voyager Beach Resort contacts Valentine Cake House contacts and branches Sportpesa contacts and addresses in Kenya Jambo jet contacts Source: Tuko.co.ke - Sharon's body was found dumped in Kodera Forest a day after she went missing - She was abducted together with a Nation journalist who was probing an alleged love affair she had with Migori governor - Migori governor's personal assistant was arrested in connection with the kidnapping - Governor Obado denied he had anything to do with the abduction and killing Kenyans on Wednesday, September 5, trooped to social media to express their rage following the murder of a pregnant second year Rongo University student, Sharon Otieno, whose lifeless body was found dumped in a thick forest. Many seemed dismayed to learn the 26-year-old student's body was discovered abandoned in Kodera Forest, about two-hours drive from Migori County, a day after she was abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist, Barrack Oduor. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Polisi mwanamke afanya wanaume Kenya kutamani kuvunja sheria, picha zake zaduwaza Sharon Otieno was found dumped in the dense Kodera Forest, about two-hour drive from Migori, a day after she was abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist, Barrack Oduor. Photo: Nation. Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Police Retrieve 3 Bodies From Mount Kenya Forest A section of local leaders also reacted the the chilling murder incident and demanded speedy investigations and immediate justice for the deceased student's family. "The brutal murder of Sharon Otieno is deeply disturbing. Human life is sacred, cannot be taken so recklessly. Also wishing my friend journalist Barack Oduor a quick recovery. Those behind this heinous act must be brought to book, however high or mighty," said Homa Bay Woman Representative, Gladys Wanga, in a tweet seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday. READ ALSO: Police on the spot as 2 men they arrested are found murdered Although investigations were still ongoing, some pointed an accusing finger at Migori County Governor Okoth Obado whose Personal Assistant, Michael Oyamo, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of Oduor and Sharon a day earlier. As was earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Oduro and Sharon were reportedly lured out of Graca Hotel in Rongo by Oyamo, moments before their abduction. READ ALSO: Kileleshwa Resident Committs Suicide To Kill Intruders In His Body Oduro reportedly managed to escape by jumping out of the speeding vehicle, leaving behind Sharon with the kidnappers. The journalist, who was badly hurt during his escape, proceeded to report the matter to the police and the search for the university student and the kidnappers commenced. READ ALSO: Kayole Police Being Investigated After Man Dies In Cell The Nation reporter was investigating an alleged love affair in which Governor Obado was accused of impregnating and abandoning Sharon. She met the reporter at the Graca Hotel to share her story. Obado, however, distanced himself from the kidnapping and murder incident and claimed it was a plot to damage his reputation. Through a communication officer, the governor also denied having impregnated Sharon and abandoning her. Below are more reactions from Kenyans. 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 Angry Over High Fuel Prices - On Tuko TV Source: Kenya Breaking News Today - Wambugu said he was never called to substantiate his claims and only learnt of the outcome in the media - He claimed JSC had been reduced to a welfare association to shield judicial officers from public accountability. -The vocal MP vowed to introduce a bill aimed at fixing the ills in the commission when Parliament resumes. The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has been put in the spotlight over the questionable handling of a petition that sought the removal of Chief Justice David Maraga due to alleged gross misconduct in 2017. The petition filed by Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, accused Maraga of using his position as the head of the third arm of government to institute "a judicial coup" against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Mwilu's prosecution and removal will plunge JSC into a crisis - Ahmednasir Wambugu says he slowed down in pursuing the petition following a public request by the President after it elicited loud political noises. Photo: Ngungiri Wambugu Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Why Chief Justice David Maraga is a man under siege The MP claimed the CJ had been held captive by a group of NGOs which were against Uhuru's presidency since 2013, resulting in the nullification of the August 8, 2017 presidential election results. While Wambugu said he slowed down in pursuing the petition following a public request by the president after it elicited loud political noises, he has now come out with some damning revelations. READ ALSO: Raila accuses Uhuru of plotting to eject CJ David Maraga from office What escaped public notice was that the JSC then sat over my petition during a retreat in Mombasa early this year (2018) and dismissed it. I was never called to substantiate my claims. There were no investigations done (that I know of). "There was no interrogation of the fundamental issues that I had raised. I have never even known why they dismissed it, as they never communicated with me despite being the petitioner. I read it in the newspapers, he said on Wednesday, September 5. With the petition quietly dismissed, Wambugu wondered whether Maraga, as the subject of the probe, excused himself from the JSC session that discussed the petition. READ ALSO: Polisi mwanamke afanya wanaume Kenya kutamani kuvunja sheria, picha zake zaduwaza He said similar critical questions had been revived after the JSCs spirited attempts to protect Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu who has been charged with corruption, wondering if justice would be served if the commission was to handle the matter. This is the same JSC she seats in to represent the Supreme Court. As in my Maraga petition do you think she would recuse herself from the JSC meeting discussing her issue - especially considering that they need her presence to make quorum? he posed while calling on Mwilu to step aside until she is cleared. Wambugu wonders whether Maraga(pictured), as the subject of the probe, excused himself from the JSC session that discussed the petition. Photo: JSC Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Uhuru and Maraga meet for the first time since historic Supreme Court ruling The vocal legislator tore into the JSC which is tasked with investigating claims of misconduct against judges and recommending their removal from office if necessary - saying it had been reduced to a welfare association to protect judicial officers accused of wrongdoing. The reality is that the JSC as currently constituted operates like a judicial welfare association; a Cotu of judicial officers to protect them from public accountability. We need to fix this, he stated while promising to introduce a bill to this effect when Parliament resumes. In the wake of the charges against Mwilu, the JSC is staring at a quorum hitch after Maraga declined to swear in four new members. Former Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Olive Mugenda, ex-Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei and former National Assembly clerk Patrick Gichohi are yet to be sworn in by the CJ despite having been approved by Parliament and gazetted. They were vetted by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee on February and approved. In the wake of the charges against DCJ Mwilu (pictured), the JSC is staring at a quorum hitch after Maraga declined to swear in four new members.Photo: UGC Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Government promises speedy investigations in murder of Rongo University student Attorney General Paul Kihara was to take over automatically from his predecessor, Githu Muigai, in the commission but has not been sworn in. Maraga is said to be adamant after Uhuru refused to gazette Justice Mohamed Warsame. The president had forwarded Warsames name to Parliament for consideration by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee before his formal appointment to the JSC but the Judiciary opposed his vetting by MPs. Currently, the commission comprises of Maraga, Mwilu, Emily Ominde (Magistrates Court), Justice Aggrey Muchelule (High Court) and lawyers Tom Ojienda and Mercy Deche representing the Law Society of Kenya. 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. Theresa May, British Prime Minister, Visits Kenya | Tuko TV. Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest - The governor's office rubbished claims he was dating the deceased student - A county official said the governor was also not behind the abduction of a Nation journalist - The official claimed the allegations were only meant to taint the governor's reputation - Obado's personal assistant was arrested in connection with the abduction - The Nation reporter managed to escape but Sharon was not lucky Migori County governor, Okoth Obado, has refuted allegations that he orchestrated the kidnapping of Rongo University student, Sharon Otieno, and Nation journalist Barrack Oduor. The governor also denied he had an affair with Sharon who was found dead in Kodero Forest, Homa Bay County, on Tuesday night, a day after the kidnapping incident. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Who killed pregnant university student Sharon Otieno? Kenyans demand answers Sharon Otieno went missing on Monday, September 3,and her body was found dumped in a forest in Homa Bay County on Tuesday night. Photo: Nation. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Polisi mwanamke afanya wanaume Kenya kutamani kuvunja sheria, picha zake zaduwaza Speaking to Citizen TV on Wednesday, Migori County communications officer, Nicholas Anyuor, termed the allegations that Obado impregnated and abandoned the deceased student unsubstantiated and urged the media to let the detectives do their job. "The police should be allowed to conduct their investigations with no interruptions. The arrest of the governors PA Michael Oyamo is not enough to link the governor to the abduction," Anyuor said in defence of his boss READ ALSO: Police on the spot as 2 men they arrested are found murdered There were claims doing rounds on social media that Obado had a relationship with the late Rongo University student during which he allegedly got her pregnant. The governor was alleged to have refused to take responsibility and instead ordered his personal assistant, Michael Oyamo, to 'take care' of Sharon. READ ALSO: Kileleshwa Resident Committs Suicide To Kill Intruders In His Body As was earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Oduro and Sharon were reportedly lured out of Graca Hotel in Rongo by Oyamo, moments before their abduction. Oduor managed to escape by jumping out of the speeding vehicle the kidnappers had bundled them onto, leaving behind Sharon. The journalist, who was badly hurt during his escape, proceeded to report the matter to the police and the search for the university student and the abductors commenced. READ ALSO: Police Retrieve 3 Bodies From Mount Kenya Forest The Nation reporter was investigating the alleged love affair between Obado and Sharon. She met the reporter at the Graca Hotel to share her story. Oyamo was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of the two. 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. Isaac Nyamwamu Story: The Kenyan Man Who Eats Egg Shells - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko - Blogger Cyprian Nyakundi accused Pierra of rolling in the sheets with numerous men - According to him, the lady has bedded over 27 men - Pierra issued a fierce come back stating she had even slept with more men than the ones mentioned by Cyprian Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi has this time round decided to go for popular DJ Pierra Makena's jugular with claims the sultry mama has slept with countless men. The two were involved in an online spat after Nyakundi accused the entertainer of sleeping with more than 27 men. Yes, you heard that right. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Polisi mwanamke afanya wanaume Kenya kutamani kuvunja sheria, picha zake zaduwaza READ ALSO: Pierra Makena bares her curvaceous body in tiny dress and she looks perfect "If Kamene Goro's body count is 27 men, Pierra Makena's must be ten times that.There are claims she has rolled in the sheets with quiet a number of sponsors who have had a fair share of her goodies," claimed Nyakundi. The ever controversial blogger went further to warn the likes of Makena not to take children sired by sponsors to other men to being them up. Nyakundi was adding fuel to the controversial 'body count' debate which was recently ignited by radio presenter Kamene who said she has had it with 27 men. But an infuriated Pierra through an epic Instagram post clapped back at the blogger and even stated 27 was such an understatement as she has rolled in the sheets with way more than that. Ahem! The single mother went ahead to say she just woke up next to one of her sponsors and she had no apologies for that. READ ALSO: Kenya's hottest female DJ reveals her daughter is a product of an illicit affair Talk about go big or go home. There's definitely levels to this. "Awww, thanks hun for downplaying me. It means a lot. I promise none of the sponsors will take care of my babies and neither will I bring any to you to raise. I banked a lot while at it and oh add one more to the list. I made a killing last night and I am just waking up right now," Pierra hit back. One thing we learnt from this is that this mama bear is not here to play. 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 angry over high fuel prices - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko Newspaper Relations between Pakistan and the United States are passing through a difficult phase. There are genuine concerns and grievances on both sides and one wonders if Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Islamabad on September 5 can fix some of them. Two important events ahead of Pompeo's trip provide ominous tidings for his interactions with his hosts. First, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif became the first foreign leader to travel to Islamabad after the new government took office. Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement after the meeting between Zarif and his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi that Islamabad supported Tehran in his recent tiff with the U.S. over the nuclear issues. Donald Trump unilaterally dumped the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the nuclear deal. Pompeo was tasked to read the riot act and issued a list of demands for Tehran to fulfill before any new deal is negotiated. Second, the Pentagon announced just days ahead of Pompeo's planned visit to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan, citing its failure to act against certain militant groups allegedly using Pakistan's soil to launch attacks across the border. Pakistan has diverged with the U.S. on the issue. Not only has it rejected the accusation about inaction against militants but also the description of the stalled money as "aid." Foreign Minister Qureshi said that the funds were not "aid or assistance" but the reimbursement of past expenses made by Pakistan in the fight for a common objective to defeat militants and create peace and stability. It means that the U.S. has stopped its payments to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund which provided for reimbursing the expenditures incurred by Pakistan in the fight against terrorism and its provision of various kinds of logistic support to the U.S. forces. What can we make out of these developments just days before the visit of Mike Pompeo whose task also includes creating a rapport with the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan? Interestingly, Khan had been an ardent opponent of the war on terror and advocated the policy of dialogue to address the issues of militancy. He has also demanded in the past that Pakistan should part ways with the U.S. over the issue of the war on terror and stop fighting against the militants as it was an "American war." Khan also continuously opposed the drone strikes in tribal regions close to the Afghan border. Pompeo's difficulty is not only how to handle Khan but also Donald Trump who has been wary of what he calls "Pakistan's double game," and has been pushing for a tougher policy against it. Trump also questioned the logic of financial assistance and has been instrumental in effectively choking up the bulk of it. The root cause of differences is the issue of militancy in Afghanistan and the persistent demand by U.S. leaders that Pakistan should act against the Taliban and Haqqani network. Pakistan's position is that it has expelled all militant groups and it is not providing any kind of support to those fighting against NATO and Afghan forces. Officials in Islamabad also believe that the U.S. is using Pakistan as a whipping boy to hide its massive failures in Afghanistan. They also say that the U.S. gave India an upper hand in the affairs of Afghanistan to the detriment of Islamabad and allowed India to use Afghan soil to support militant activities inside Pakistan. Successive governments in Pakistan and the U.S. have failed to address this basic disjuncture. In order to bring the relations to an even keel, Pakistan needs to meet U.S. demands for a decisive action against militants in return for Washington addressing Pakistan's concerns about India and the Afghan government. Islamabad also needs U.S. economic support to get out of its current financial difficulties. Pompeo should know that any kind of high-handedness will absolutely fail and backfire as the new government is not in a position to absorb even a little bit of pressure. Imran Khan will be discredited if he took any unilateral measure to satisfy Pompeo or Trump. Conversely, the secretary of state will expect visible progress on his demands to calm the situation in Afghanistan without showing any appeasement towards Pakistan. The margin of give and take is slim but there is always room for progress in diplomacy. Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. - Sharon Otieno was found dead in a forest on Tuesday night after she was kidnapped - She was abducted a day earlier alongside Nation reporter, Barrack Oduor, who managed to escaped - Migori Governor Okoth Obado's PA was arrested in connection with the abduction - It was alleged the governor had impregnated the deceased student then orchestrated her murder - The governor denied the allegations and claimed they were meant to taint his image Fresh and disturbing details have emerged regarding the cold blood murder of Rongo University student, Sharon Otieno, whose lifeless body was found dumped in Kodero Forest, Homa Bay County, on the night of Tuesday, September 4. The 26-year-old student was reportedly seven months pregnant at the time of her killing and Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado was accused of being responsible for both her pregnancy and death, allegations that the county chief denied. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Picha 11 zinazoonyesha maisha ya kifahari aliyokuwa akiishi Sharon Otieno kabla ya kuuawa Sharon Otieno was found dumped in the dense Kodero Forest, about two-hour drive from Migori, a day after she was abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist, Barrack Oduor. Photo: Nation. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Who killed pregnant university student Sharon Otieno? Kenyans demand answers TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, September 5, gathered trouble started when Obado's personal assistant, Michael Oyamo, reportedly arranged to meet Sharon and Nation reporter, Barrack Oduor, claiming he had information on an alleged scandal. Below is the blow by blow account of how the events leading to the killing of the Rongo University student unfolded as from Monday, September 3, according to Daily Nation: READ ALSO: Body of pregnant Rongo student who was kidnapped with journalist found in forest 5.00 pm: Sharon called Nation reporter, Oduor, to inform him Obado's Personal Assistant, Oyamo, had been sent by the governor with a response to an alleged scandal. 5:45 pm: Oduor met Sharon at Rodi Kopany market, where the meeting was scheduled to take place, before Oyamo informed the student the meeting venue had changed to Rongo town in Migori County, roughly 30 kilometres away. READ ALSO: Government promises speedy investigations in murder of heavily pregnant Rongo University student 6:20 pm: Sharon and Oduor took seats at Graca Hotel in Rongo to wait for Oyamo. 7:20 pm: Oyamo called Sharon and asked if the journalist (Oduor) had arrived then once again proposed change of venue. 7:30 pm: Oyamo arrived at Graca Hotel, visited a toilet and returned with a suggestion that they move to a different venue if he was to disclose any meaningful information from Governor Obado to Oduor. READ ALSO: CID Officer Caught Red-Handed Robbing A Mall In Eastleigh 7:35pm: The trio (Oyamo, Oduor and Sharon) left Graca Hotel to a car park where a black car was parked. The governor's PA then ushered the journalist and the university student into the car with two male occupants, a driver and co-driver. Oyamo, Oduor and Sharon took the back seats. 7:37pm: The car left the parking and stopped about 50 metres from the hotel. It was parked by the roadside where two men with headgear entered as Oyamo alighted. The strangers, who were not introduced by Oyamo, sand-witched Oduor and Sharon and ordered them to switch off their mobile phones and hand them over to the driver together with their personal effects. They obliged and the car sped away towards Homa Bay town. 8:28 pm: The two men sandwiching Oduor and Sharon started harassing them around Nyangweso market along Homa Bay-Kisumu road, about 70 kilometres from Rongo town. They informed the duo they were being taken to see Governor Obado. 8:30 pm: One of the strangers seated next to Oduor started to attack and strangle him. The Nation journlaist struggled in self-defence and jumped out of the speeding car. He sustains serious bruises on his knees and hands. The journalist escaped into the nearby bushes and moved to a homestead around Nyangweso. The vehicle stopped about 100 metres away and he saw the two men rushing back on foot. He, however, managed to escape to the homestead. 8:35 pm: A Good Samaritan at the home drove Oduor to Adiedo Police Post where he handed him to the police. The reporter was later moved in a police car to Kendu Bay Police Station where he recorded his statement OB Number 41/04/09/2018. Tuesday, 1.00 am: Oduor was picked up by his colleagues from Kisumu bureau, (Aggrey Mutambo and Justus Ochieng) and rushed to Aga Khan Hospital. READ ALSO: Kileleshwa Resident Committs Suicide To Kill Intruders In His Body Meanwhile, police had launched a manhunt for the kidnappers and the missing student. Sharon was found dead later in the night in Kodero Forest, Homa Bay County. 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. Rejected For Naming Son Uhuru Kenyatta - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - Musevei said it was wrong for the Speaker to institute the ad hoc committee without consulting him - He asked NRM party MPs to go slow on the probe suggesting Parliament enjoyed power from his office - The antagonism between the Ugandan ruling party and the Opposition parties has been growing after arrest of MPs The growing antagonism between the Ugandan ruling party and the Opposition parties may soon escalate into an unimaginable level after President Yoweri Museveni threatened to do away with the country's Parliament. This followed a move by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to institute an ad hoc committee to look into the violence which rocked the Northern region on the eve of Arua Municipality by-election where scores of Opposition supporters were injured. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: President Museveni warns lovers against using their mouths while making love President Yoweri Museveni's official car was damaged when his supporters met fierce opposition in Arua, northern Uganda. Photo: Daily Monitor. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Picha 11 zinazoonyesha maisha ya kifahari aliyokuwa akiishi Sharon Otieno kabla ya kuuawa And on Wednesday, September 5, when the former army general and junta leader met MPs from his National Resistance Movement, a visibly furious Museveni did not hide his intention, The Observer reported. Between 1971 and 1979, there was no Parliament. Dont think that you are in heaven; do what took you there. You should know where the power of that Parliament comes from.In fact, I can do away with that Parliament," he threatened. He took a swipe at the Speaker for forming the committee saying the probe team did not consult him since his car was badly damaged during the melee. Independent candidate Kassiano Wadri floored Museveni's NRM party candidate Nusura Tiperu and several others to win the parliamentary seat. Wadri emerged winner with 6,528 votes, which represented 38% of the total votes cast on Wednesday, August 15. Bobi Wine and two other MPs were arrested following an attack on Museveni's motorcade. 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: Kenyans Demand for the Release of Bobi Wine | Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke The unresolved death of presumably innocent Kenyans is a matter the government agencies have been grappling with for sometimes now with little results. Even as the affected families hope justice shall be served one day and the perpetrators behind the gruesome murders are brought to book, Kenyans are waiting for answers regarding the mysterious death of five women in the hands of prominent men. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Picha 11 zinazoonyesha maisha ya kifahari aliyokuwa akiishi Sharon Otieno kabla ya kuuawa Kenyans are waiting for answers regarding the mysterious death of five women in the hands of prominent men. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Migori governor denies impregnating murdered Rongo University student 1. Eunice Chepkwony and Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too The day is January, 31 2008 and students assembled at Kericho High School Assembly Hall waiting for the newly elected Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too who was their teacher and who had promised to visit the institution and give a lecture to his former students. Then at 1pm, hell broke loose, gunshots rented the air and the first time MP was gunned down alongside a police constable, Eunice Chepkwony. Investigations would later reveal the suspected killer, Andrew Maoche, who was a former traffic policeman was in a secret intimate relationship with Chepkwony. He shot dead the lovers outside West Indies Hotel in Eldoret. I accepted Eunice as my co-wife and asked him to formalise the relationship, Edna Kerubo and wife to the suspect told Justice David Maraga during the hearing in 2009 2. Mercy Keino and ex-Kiambu governor William Kabogo Mercy attended a party hosted by the then Juja MP and later Kiambu governor William Kabogo in Nairobi's Westlands where she was reported to be drunk and unruly. Photo: Standard. Source: UGC The body of Mercy Keino, a University of Nairobi student, was discovered by passers-by on Waiyaki Way, a few metres away from the St Marks Church in Westlands, Nairobi. Before her death, Keino and another unnamed woman attended a party hosted by the then Juja MP and later Kiambu governor William Kabogo at Wasini Luxury Apartments, Westlands where she was reported to be drunk and unruly. At one point, she was reported to have broken glasses and assaulted other guests at the party. A CCTV footage showed an unidentified man followed the former law student out of the main bar area. A night guard would later violently eject her out of the bar even as she protested. In 2013, a Nairobi court absolved Kabogo of any wrong doing. It is clear the adversely mentioned parties had no motive to harm the deceased. The adversely mentioned parties have therefore been absolved of blame and cannot be held liable for (Keinos) death, ruled Magistrate Peter Ndwiga. 3. Careen Chepchumba and former TV news anchor Louis Otieno The one time media personality Louis Otieno is still fighting off allegations he might have a hand in the death of his lover Careen Chepchumba in on February 14, 2012. Photo: Nation. Source: UGC The one time media personality, Louis Otieno, is still fighting off allegations he might have a hand in the death of his lover, Careen Chepchumba, in on February 14, 2012. The Kenya Power engineer was found dead in her apartment at Kilimanis Santonia Court, Nairobi in the morning by her father. An autopsy conducted by the chief government pathologist Johansen Odour revealed Careen was strangled to death. She bled in the eyes and neck muscles due to pressure applied on her neck by the assailant. During the inquest, her father alleged prior to her death, Careen had gone into a borrowing spree to finance Otienos flashy lifestyle.The journalists denied the allegations. According to Otieno, he was out of Nairobi for a commercial shoot during the incident. 4. Carol Ngumbu and the ex-IEBC manager Chris Msando Carol's body was found in the same area as that of the slain ICT manager with her family denying the two were in a relationship. Citizen TV. Source: UGC Carol Ngumbu is said to have gone out for drinks with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Information Technology Manager Chris Msando one month to the 2017 General Election before both went missing. Her body was found in the same area as that of the slain ICT manager with her family denying the two were in a relationship. Carol who hailed from Gachie village in Kiambu had just finished her studies at KMTC and was to graduate in December 2017. 5. Sharon Otieno and Migori Governor Okoth Obado Sharon was allegedly abducted alongside Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist, Barrack Oduor by personal assistant to Migori Governor Okoth Obado.Photo: Sharon Otieno/Facebook. Source: Facebook The lifeless body of Sharon Otieno was found dumped in K'Odera forest in Homa Bay county on the night of Tuesday, September 4, 2018, Sharon was allegedly abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist, Barrack Oduor, in an event said to be orchestrated by a personal assistant to Migori Governor Okoth Obado. The county chief refuted allegations that he orchestrated the kidnapping of the duo. Obado also denied he had an affair with 24-years old Sharon. The deceased who was a second year student at Rongo University where she pursued a degree in Medical Records and Information, was evidently expectant at the time of her abduction. 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. Isaac Nyamwamu Story: The Kenyan Man Who Eats Egg Shells - On Tuko TV Source: Breaking News Flash Tourism New Zealand Tuesday reached an agreement with major Chinese online travel agency Ctrip to attract more independent Chinese tourists. Under the agreement, Tourism New Zealand and Ctrip will offer more routes and products mainly to woo Chinese tourists who prefer customized trips over group tours. China is the second largest source of tourists for New Zealand. From July 2017 to July 2018, Chinese tourists made 448,000 trips to New Zealand, up 11.9 percent year-on-year. Among them, over 40 percent were independent travelers. Chinese travelers are sophisticated and like individualized itineraries, according to Gregg Wafelbakker, general manager for Asia at Tourism New Zealand. "For example, Chinese are now attracted more by hiking in New Zealand, but still spend less time for each hiking tour than traditional European visitors," said Wafelbakker, "therefore we will develop more specialized services for them." Under the agreement, Tourism New Zealand and Ctrip will also jointly train more professionals to serve Chinese tourists, currently focusing on those specializing in honeymoon or family trips. Wafelbakker estimated that the annual number of trips made by Chinese to New Zealand would double by 2024. Residents of a few communities on the outskirts of Princes Town came together on Wednesday m Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Sreide has welcomed the prospects for investment cooperation with Ukraine, taking into account the current level of reforms. She said this during a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman in Kyiv on Tuesday, September 4, the Government portal reported. "We are impressed by the results of reforms already achieved by Ukraine. The improvement of the investment climate can already be felt. That is why the prospects of investment cooperation are quite optimistic," Ine Eriksen Sreide noted. According to the minister, Ukrainian reforms are in good hands, and this is important to understand with a view to the formation of areas for cooperation with Ukraine, and the calculation of efficiency of specific commercial projects that can be implemented in Ukraine. At the same time, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman noted that the volume of tasks facing Ukraine was in fact unprecedented. "If we talk about how many processes we manage today, among the key ones are education, medicine, privatization, decentralization, fighting corruption, defense, internal security. And this is just a small list. Separately, we are shaping a decision on deepening of the European integration processes and improvement of the business climate. So we invite and welcome the Norwegian business in Ukraine," the prime minister said. The parties stressed that the meeting of the Ukrainian-Norwegian Intergovernmental Commission scheduled for September would give a significant impetus to joint cooperation as well as further direct contacts between government officials of both countries. The head of government accepted an invitation to visit Norway approximately in November this year. ish Ukraine should preserve and expand the Iranian market, which is very important for our country. "I think that we should not abandon the dialogue with Iran as well as the dialogue on the Iranian issue with all the parties concerned," Ukrainian Ambassador to Iran Serhiy Burdyliak said in an interview with Ukrinform Iran has impact on the region with a population of about 130-140 million people, the diplomat noted. "Its a huge market! We must not leave it in any case! We need to stay there, because if we, God forbid, leave, it will be very difficult to return," Burdyliak stressed. In this context, he recalled that Ukraine had high trade turnover with Iran. According to the State Fiscal Service, Ukraine-Iran trade turnover totaled more than $1.2 billion last year. The Iranians call the figures of $1.5 and even $2 billion. The diplomat highlighted that 95 percent of Ukrainian exports to Iran was agricultural products that did not come under U.S. sanctions. "Moreover, the potential agricultural market with Iran totals $3 billion. Iranians call this figure as they are ready to purchase the agricultural products from Ukraine to the tune of $3 billion. But they want to have a long-term predictable partner, since the importance of food security for them is similar to importance of energy security for us," the ambassador said. ol In August 2018, Ukrainian coal production reached 2.904 million tonnes. The Trade Union of Coal Mining Industry of Ukraine informed this on September 5 with reference to the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry. "In August 2018, coal mining enterprises of Ukraine of all forms of ownership extracted 2,904,151 tonnes of coal. The plan was fulfilled by 103%, reads the report. In particular, the production of coal mines managed by the Energy Ministry made up 348,836 tonnes, which amounted to 97.9% of the planned targets. The production of coal mining enterprises of all forms of ownership totaled 21,435,150 tonnes of coal since the beginning of the year, which is by 611,139 tonnes of coal more than targeted. The production of coal mines managed by the Energy Ministry made up 3,135,500 tonnes of coal since the beginning of the year, which is 89.9% of the planned targets. ish Ukraine and Poland are actively working on the extension of railway connection between the two countries. Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian said this at a meeting with Infrastructure Minister of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Adamczyk, the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry reports. Volodymyr Omelian noted the intensity and high impact of the Ukrainian-Polish dialogue in 2018. "We are extremely pleased with the progress achieved at the level of relevant ministries of Ukraine and Poland. The direct railway connection between Ukraine and Poland, launched in 2016, is an example of a successful implementation of Ukrainian-Polish projects. And now the two countries are actively working on the extension of the railway connection between Ukraine and Poland. I thank Poland for its active position on this issue and the full support of the initiative, said Omelian. He also confirmed that the work on two projects is underway: the resumption of railway connection in the direction of Przemysl-Malhowice-Nyzhankovychi and the establishment of regular passenger railway service between Lviv and Lublin. The parties also agreed to hold a meeting of the bilateral working group in Lviv to discuss the extension of railway connection between Ukraine and Poland. iy The occupation authorities in Crimea, despite the obvious signs of an environmental disaster in the town of Armyansk, are in no hurry to declare emergency situation on the peninsula. To record the facts of human rights violations, Ukraine submitted the information about the situation to UN, OSCE, WHO, ICRC. "The concentration of sulphur dioxide in the air [in northern Crimea] has exceeded the norm. However, it is still unknown to what extent the norm is exceeded. The occupation authorities in the person of Sergey Aksyonov announced that the work of the Crimean Titan plant had been suspended for two weeks. In addition, the unplanned vacations were announced in local schools, and children were sent to health resorts. The fact that the state of emergency has not been announced yet, the adult population is not being evacuated and the occupying power continues to quiet down people gives rise to concern," Ismail Khalikov, the representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights for observance of the rights of residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, posted on Facebook. "The residents of the towns of Armyansk and Krasnoperekopsk told me that the oily yellow-tinged rust-like residues had been formed primarily on the roofs of the houses and metal objects in the apartments. The number of patients in hospitals has increased several-fold. People mainly complain about cough, inflammation of the mucous membrane of mouth, nose, throat and eyes. It is surprising that the patients are diagnosed with acute respiratory disease or allergy. There is a shortage of absorbents, gauze bandages and antihistamines in local pharmacies," Ismail Khalikov noted. He stressed that signs of the environmental disaster are visible to the naked eye: the metal things continue to be covered with rust, leaves massively fall from trees (some look like burnt), there is acidic smell in the air, dead birds lay on the lawns. This information will be submitted to the international organizations (UN, OSCE, WHO, International Committee of the Red Cross) with a view to documenting the facts of human rights violations. In addition, an appeal will be sent to the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to initiate the criminal proceedings against the people involved in violation of the environmental rights of citizens in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the threat to their lives, the representative of the Commissioner said, stressing that he continues to monitor the situation in the north of Crimea. ol Russia believes it is inappropriate to meet with representatives of Ukraine, France and Germany after the assassination of Donetsk militants leader Alexander Zakharchenko. It would be blasphemous to gather for a meeting in the "Normandy format" now, especially when neither Paris nor Berlin condemned the assassination of Alexander Zakharchenko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on the air of Russian Channel 1, the Echo of Moscow reports. As a reminder, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic Zakharchenko was killed in explosion in the occupied Donetsk on August 31. Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called on Russia to return to the negotiating table in the Normandy format for sake of a peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas. On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France released a statement, saying that the recent developments in eastern Ukraine do not abolish the commitments of the parties to the Minsk agreements implementation as well as meetings in the Normandy format. ol Flash China and African countries agreed to work together toward an even stronger community with a shared future, according to a declaration adopted Tuesday at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Sharing weal and woe, the Chinese and African peoples have forged a deep friendship rooted in similar historical experiences, development tasks, and political aspirations, the declaration says. "We agree to strengthen collective dialogue, enhance traditional friendship, deepen practical cooperation, and work together toward an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future," it says. Calling Africa an important participant in the Belt and Road Initiative, the declaration says China-Africa cooperation under the initiative will generate more resources and means, expand the market and space for African development, and broaden its development prospects. African countries support China in hosting the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2019, the declaration says. It notes that China and African countries applaud the role FOCAC has played over the past 18 years to promote China-Africa relations. In the declaration, China pledges to continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with African countries in keeping with the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the principle of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests, as proposed by President Xi Jinping. China welcomes a representational office of the African Union (AU) in Beijing, the document says. African members of FOCAC reaffirm their commitment to the one-China principle, and their support for China's reunification and China's efforts in resolving territorial and maritime disputes peacefully through friendly consultation and negotiation. On anti-corruption cooperation, China and African countries welcome the launching of the African Anti-Corruption Year, pledging to take it as an opportunity to jointly fight corruption and promote integrity. China will continue to, in keeping with the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, help enhance Africa's production capacity in the secondary and tertiary industries, and promote the transformation and upgrading of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation focusing on improving Africa's internally driven growth that reduces reliance on export of raw materials, according to the declaration. "China will, as always, offer assistance and support to Africa's development with no political strings attached," the document says. It notes that China and African countries firmly uphold multilateralism and oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism. China supports early progress in developing African Continental Free Trade Area and the Single African Air Transport Market, says the declaration. It urges developed countries to honor their official development assistance commitments to developing countries, especially those in Africa, on time and in full. In the declaration, China vows to firmly support African countries and regional organizations such as the AU in their efforts to independently resolve African problems in the African way, and to continue to play a constructive role, in light of the need of Africa, in providing good offices and mediation of African hotspot issues. On tackling climate change and protecting the environment, the declaration calls on developed countries to honor their commitments at an early date and to support African countries with funding, technology transfer and capacity building. China will work with Africa to fight illegal trade in wildlife, says the document. It says China and African countries welcome Senegal as the next co-chair of FOCAC, noting that the Eighth FOCAC Ministerial Conference will be held in Senegal in 2021. The United States has called on Russia to fulfill its obligations under the accords of the Minsk Protocol and to cease immediately hostilities in eastern Ukraine. "The Minsk Protocol was signed four years ago today to bring peace to eastern Ukraine. But the fighting never stopped, threatening lives and livelihoods of innocent Ukrainians. Russia must live up to its commitments and end the fighting now," the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine wrote on Twitter. The Minsk Protocol, which provided for the cessation of hostilities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, was signed on September 5, 2014. As Ukrinform reported, Leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic Alexander Zakharchenko was killed in explosion in the occupied Donetsk on August 31. According to the speaker of the State Duma of Russia, this "nullifies" the force of the Minsk agreements. ish President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has approved the composition of a delegation to attend the 2018 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, which will take place in Warsaw. The relevant decree was published on the website of the head of state. "To create a delegation of Ukraine to participate in the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Human Dimension Implementation (September 10 - 21, 2018, Warsaw, the Republic of Poland)," the document reads. The delegation included 22 officials and diplomats. Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia was appointed as a head of the delegation. According to the decree, the Foreign Ministry has to approve the instructions of the delegation, and the Cabinet of Ministers - to ensure its financing. The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), Europe's largest annual human rights and democracy conference, is organized every year by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). ish In eight months of 2018, more than half a million Ukrainians visited Antalya, which is called the tourist capital of Turkey. Turkeys Anadolu Agency reported this with reference to the Office of Culture and Tourism of Antalya. "Since the beginning of the year, Turkeys southern province of Antalya was visited by 3.367 million tourists from Russia, 1.441 million from Germany, 538,000 from Ukraine, 440,000 from Britain, and 289,000 from the Netherlands. In addition, 287,000 tourists arrived in Antalya from Poland, 192,000 from Kazakhstan, 153,000 from Romania, 144,000 from Belgium and 135,000 from Denmark," the report reads. The tourist flow to Antalya from Ukraine increased by 1.73 percent and amounted to 6.14 percent of the total number of guests. In total, more than nine million tourists from 180 countries across the world visited Antalya in the first eight months of 2018, a 28.28-percent year-on-year increase. ish There are calls to have at the top post Igor Girkin aka "Strelkov," an allegedly retired Russian FSB Colonel and a former "defense minister" in the occupied Donetsk at the start of the Russian aggression in 2014, the report claims. Russian media report a "coup" is being plotted in the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") following the assassination of their self-styled "chief," Alexander Zakharchenko, aimed to elect a new leader. A rally is allegedly being set up in the center of Donetsk, to which everyone is invited, with the purpose of bringing the demands of "ordinary citizens" to lift borders between the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" in eastern Ukraine to unite the self-proclaimed republics under the single flag of 'Novorossia'," the Moskovsky Komsomolets news portal reported. The media outlet claims the "authority" of Dmitry Trapeznikov, who has been hastily appointed after Zakharchenko's assassination, is illegitimate as he "was not elected by the people, or approved by 'parliament,' so he has no grounds to claim this post." Zakharchenko's withdrawal reanimates the conflicts and disputes which had long gone online between various factions in Donetsk, the newspaper reports citing its sources, claiming that such developments are not something Moscow seeks. According to media reports, there are calls to have at the top post former "DPR Defense Minister" Igor Girkin, nom de guerre Strelkov who has long been living in Moscow after leaving the warzone in eastern Ukraine after the failure of the so-called "Novorossiya" project. Read alsoUkraine to use Girkin's statements as evidence against Russia in ECHR According to his official CV, Girkin is a "retired" FSB Colonel. Approached for a comment, Girkin called the calls for his return to Donetsk a "provocation" of whic he is not part. As UNIAN reported, Alexander Zakharchenko was killed on August 31 in an explosion in a Donetsk restaurant. Russian-controlled militants in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region claimed a "Ukrainian trace" in the blast, while Russia's MFA echoed the accusations. In turn, the Ukrainian SBU did not rule out the involvement of Russian intelligence in the assassination, adding that gang altercations in the occupied areas of Donetsk region could be the cause. Besides, 49% said they knew nothing about the situation. Only 4% of Russians consider it necessary to pardon illegally convicted Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov. According to a survey by the Levada Center, an independent Russian polling and sociological research organization, when asked how the Russian authorities should act in connection with Sentsov's hunger strike demanding the release of Ukrainian political prisoners, 4% of the respondents said it was necessary to "pardon only Sentsov", 24% said "to swap political prisoners between Russia and Ukraine," 17 % claimed "to leave Sentsov and all Ukrainian political prisoners in custody", 49% said they knew nothing about the situation, while 8% found the question difficult to answer. Read alsoU.S. State Department calls on Russia to immediately release Sentsov The survey was conducted on August 23-30 on a representative all-Russian sample of urban and rural population. A total of 1,600 people aged from 18 were questioned in 52 regions of Russia. UNIAN memo. Sentsov was arrested in Russian-occupied Crimea in spring 2014 and in August 2015 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison following an unfair trial where he faced "terrorism" charges stemming from his opposition to Russia's occupation of Crimea. He has been serving his term in a penal colony in the town of Labytnangi, Russia's Yamal. Sentsov began his hunger strike on May 14, 2018, in protest against the politically motivated jailing of dozens of Ukrainians in the Russian Federation. Girkin is an "FSB guy," and now it is now the moment the agency sees it possible, and necessary, to promote him to succeed the late Zakharchenko. Igor Girkin aka Strelkov, the long-forgotten "hero" of the failed "Novorossia" project, who has been sharply criticizing the Russian government and the Kremlin's policy on Donbas (without any consequences, which is important to note) ever since he fled eastern Ukraine for Moscow, may see a sharp "career turn" soon. In a rather dramatic twist, the "retired" FSB Colonel and infamous terrorist could be returned to the occupied territories in Donbas, Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko wrote in an op-ed on the Information Resistance website. The Russian media, in particular the Moskovsky Komsomolets news portal, have already begun spinning narratives that the "people of Donbas" demand the return of the "hero" who was with them during their most difficult days in 2014. And it is under Girkin's auspices that the "independent" Donbas should be united in the format of the unrecognized self-proclaimed "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" ("DPR" and "LPR"). Of course, Girkin himself has so far disavowed such prospects claiming he was done with Donbas, "but not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance," the author writes. Read alsoLavrov: New Normandy talks "inappropriate" after murder of Zakharchenko Firstly, in the context of the confrontation between the GRU [military intelligence] and the FSB security service in the occupied part of Donbas, the FSB needs a reliable and trustworthy person with leadership skills, who is recognized by the people. "Trapeznikov just does not fit this role," the columnist says. And in general, most members of the current "DPR government" are anything but charismatic and respected. Secondly, Girkin is an "FSB guy," and now it is the moment the agency sees it possible, and necessary, to promote him to succeed the late Zakharchenko. Girkin may also be put forward in the Donbas political arena as a kind of a "third" force with a hint of a "gray cardinal," a moderator. At the same time, his staged "critical" stance toward the Kremlin he has been sticking to lately will give the FSB a greater field for maneuver, as they could always deny any connections with Girkin citing his "anti-Kremlin views." Thirdly, Girkin, as a person particularly close to the Moscow-controlled Orthodox Church, being an ideal candidate to lead the so-called "great crusade" against the background of prospects of Constantinople granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Read also"Deliberate dismantling": Minister Klimkin on Russia's plans for Ukraine It is worth remembering that it was Girkin who visited Simferopol a month before Crimea's occupation as a guard of the Gifts of the Magi delivered to the peninsula under the patronage of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and personally Russian Patriarch Kirill. Taking into account the threats pro-Moscow clerics and their sympathizers voice that a "religious war" may begin in Ukraine if autocephaly is granted, Girkin's reappearance is not so much surprising. The question of religious confrontation in Ukraine could be entrusted to Girking, to let him spark escalation at the Donbas frontlines ahead of Ukraine elections, which could play into the hands of pro-Russian candidates who promote "peace" at all costs. The list covers mostly Russian nationals and companies, as well as pro-Moscow Ukrainian entries. European Union envoys on Wednesday agreed to prolong for another six months the bloc's blacklist of people and entities involved in Russia's detribalization of Ukraine, diplomats and officials said. The blacklist will run to 154 people and 44 entities subject to an EU travel ban and asset freeze, once the leader of the Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, Alexander Zakharchenko, who was killed in a cafeteria blast last week, is removed, diplomats said, Reuters said. The list covers mostly Russian nationals and companies, as well as pro-Moscow Ukrainian entries. The formal extension of the sanctions until mid-March will be completed in the coming days, diplomats said. Read alsoNew U.S. sanctions against Russia: Infernal, but not too much The bloc also has economic sanctions in place against Moscow for annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and for backing Russian-led rebels facing off against Kyiv in the east of the country. Given the delicate balance between Russia hawks in the EU's north and east, and those in the west and the south who would want to seek more business ties with Moscow, the bloc is likely to keep on extending the sanctions for now. But it is unlikely to step up significantly its sanctions regime despite a call by London for new punitive measures against Moscow over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain earlier this year. British prosecutors on Wednesday identified two Russians who they accused of trying to murder the ex-spy and his daughter in Salisbury, England. Russian border guards in April 2018 started inspecting and detaining foreign vessels heading to and from Ukrainian ports. The European Union calls on the Russian authorities to ensure foreign vessels' free access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov. "In the past months, Russia has increasingly and deliberately hindered and delayed the passage of vessels, including those from EU Member States, transiting through the Kerch Strait to and from Ukraine's ports in the Sea of Azov. We expect Russia to ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov," the European Delegation to Ukraine has said in a statement. According to European diplomats, the Crimean Bridge, linking Russia and Russian-annexed Crimea, imposes restraints on vessels sailing across the Kerch Strait to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov. Read alsoRussia's moves in Azov Sea show aggressor readies to also block Ukrainian ports in Black Sea - expert The European Union reiterated it fully supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and continues to condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol and to conduct the policy of non-recognition. As UNIAN reported, in the second half of April 2018, Russian border guards started inspecting and detaining foreign vessels heading to and from Ukrainian ports. The Ukrainian State Border Service says that Ukraine has been a hostage to the situation since 2004, namely, under an agreement on cooperation between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, which defines the Azov Sea as a sea of internal use of the two states. Thus, both Russian and Ukrainian border guards can inspect vessels that they consider to be suspicious. Information about the signs of the environmental disaster has been forwarded to the UN and OSCE. Photos and videos are emerging in social networks showing the ongoing efforts to evacuate children from Armyansk, a town in the northern part of the Russian-occupied Crimea, located close to the Crimean Titan plant where an alleged hazardous chemical leak caused environmental damage. At the same time, occupation authorities have not yet declared the state of emergency in the area. Adult population is not being evacuated. Read alsoKlimkin: Russians provoking environmental disaster in Crimea Information on the environmental disaster in the occupied Crimea was transferred to a number of international organizations, said Ismail Khalikov, representative of the Ukrainian ombudsman for human rights of residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. On September 4, came the reports stating that the concentration of sulfurous acid anhydride in the air exceeded the norm, Khalikov noted, adding that no information was available on precise figures. Occupation authorities ordered a 2-week operations halt at the Crimean Titan plant and announced unscheduled days-off at local educational facilities, sending children away from the area. "Residents complain of coughing, inflammation of the mucous membrane in the mouth, nose, throat, and eyes. "It's surprising that doctors diagnose patients with respiratory infections or allergy. Pharmacies lack the required amount of absorbents, gauze dressings, and antihistamines," Khalikov said. Read alsoAnother Crimean village under "chemical attack" (Photo, video) At the same time, the consequences of an environmental catastrophe in the area are visible to the naked eye: metal objects are covered with rust, trees have massively shed their leaves, while the odor of acid in the air remains persistent, and dead birds are seen lying on lawns. "This information was sent to international organizations (the UN, OSCE, WHO, the Red Cross Organization) to document human rights violations, and to the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea regarding the opening of a criminal case against those involved in violation of the environmental rights of citizens in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and causing threat to their lives," summed up Khalikov. As UNIAN reported, in the early hours of August 24, an unknown chemical substance was released in the air across the northern part of the occupied Crimea. It has been established that the emission took place at the local Crimean Titan plant. Joint Forces have reported no casualties over the past 24 hours. Russian-led forces mounted 24 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past 24 hours. "No casualties among the Ukrainian troops have been reported over the past day. According to intelligence reports, one occupier was killed and another two were wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on September 5, 2018. Read alsoRussian-led forces open fire on Ukrainian troops on Sept 4, using anti-tank missile systems Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the towns of Schastia, Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Triokhizbenka, Krymske, Mayorsk, Novhorodske, Pisky, Bohdanivka, Hnutove, Lebedynske, Vodiane, and Shyrokyne. In one of the sectors, the enemy employed anti-tank missile systems. "Since Wednesday midnight, Russian-led forces have already attacked the Ukrainian positions outside Vodiane, using heavy machine guns and small arms. There have been no casualties among the Ukrainian troops," the report says. You are here: Work Together for Common Development and a Shared Future Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping President of the People's Republic of China At the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit Of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing, 3 September 2018 Your Excellency President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, Your Excellency President Paul Kagame, Chairperson of the African Union, Distinguished Heads of State and Government, Distinguished Heads of Delegation, Your Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Excellency Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, September has just set in Beijing, bringing with it refreshing breeze and picturesque autumn scenery. And we are so delighted to have all of you with us, friends both old and new, in this lovely season for the reunion of the China-Africa big family at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, dear colleagues and guests. I also wish to extend, through you, the best regards and cordial greetings of the Chinese people to the brotherly people of Africa. I wish to mention in particular that since the Johannesburg Summit, FOCAC has had three new members, namely, the Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe and Burkina Faso. Today, we are joined by President Barrow, Prime Minister Trovoada and President Kabore and their delegations. Let us welcome them with a warm round of applause! Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Over a month ago, I paid my fourth visit to Africa as the Chinese President, which was also my ninth visit to this land of great promise. During the last visit, I once again saw an Africa that is beautiful and richly endowed, that is full of dynamism in development, and I learned about first-hand the African people's ardent hope for a better future. I concluded the visit even more convinced that Africa's development has great potential, that this great continent is full of hope, that China-Africa friendship and cooperation have broad vistas, and that China and Africa can forge an even stronger comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership! As an ancient Chinese scholar once observed, "Only with deep roots can a tree yield rich fruit; only filled with oil can a lamp burn brightly." History follows its own rules and logic. With similar fate in the past and a common mission, China and Africa have extended sympathy to and helped each other throughout all the years. Together, we have embarked on a distinctive path of win-win cooperation. Marching on this path, China has followed the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests. China has stood with African countries. Together, we have worked in unity and forged ahead. -- China values sincerity, friendship and equality in pursuing cooperation. The over 1.3 billion Chinese people have been with the over 1.2 billion African people in pursuing a shared future. We respect Africa, love Africa and support Africa. We follow a "five-no" approach in our relations with Africa: no interference in African countries' pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions; no interference in African countries' internal affairs; no imposition of our will on African countries; no attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa; and no seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa. We hope this "five-no" approach could apply to other countries as they deal with matters regarding Africa. For China, we are always Africa's good friend, good partner and good brother. No one could undermine the great unity between the Chinese people and the African people. -- China pursues common interests and puts friendship first in pursuing cooperation. China believes that the sure way to boost China-Africa cooperation is for both sides to leverage its respective strength; it is for China to complement Africa's development through its own growth, and it is for both China and Africa to pursue win-win cooperation and common development. In doing so, China follows the principle of giving more and taking less, giving before taking and giving without asking for return. With open arms, we welcome African countries aboard the express train of China's development. No one could hold back the Chinese people or the African people as we march toward rejuvenation. -- China takes a people-oriented approach in pursuing practical cooperation with efficiency. With top priority given to the interests of Chinese and African peoples, China advances its cooperation with Africa to improve the well-being of Chinese and African peoples and deliver more benefits to them. We will fully honor the promises we have made to our African brothers. Faced with new developments and challenges, China will continue to improve institution building, develop new ideas and expand areas of cooperation with Africa to bring our cooperation to greater heights. Ultimately, it is for the peoples of China and Africa to judge the performance of China-Africa cooperation. No one could deny the remarkable achievements made in China-Africa cooperation, not with their assumption or imagination. -- China takes an open and inclusive approach to cooperation. China is fully aware that long-term stability, security, development and invigoration for Africa is not only the longing of the African people; it is also the responsibility of the international community. China stands ready to work with other international partners to support Africa in pursuing peace and development. China welcomes and supports all initiatives that meet Africa's interests, and believes that it should be the same with the wider international community. No one could stand in the way or obstruct international efforts to support Africa's development. Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Our world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century: the surging trend toward multi-polarity, economic globalization, IT application and cultural diversity, accelerated transformation of the global governance system and international order, rapid rise of emerging markets and developing countries, and greater balance in global power configuration. The well-being of people in all countries has never been so closely intertwined as it is today. On the other hand, we also face challenges unseen before. Hegemony and power politics persist; protectionism and unilateralism are mounting; war, conflicts, terrorism, famine and epidemics continue to plague us; security challenges, both traditional and non-traditional, remain as complex and interwoven as ever. However, we are firm in our conviction that peace and development remain the underlying trend of our times. Indeed, they are the call of the times. The international community should take our historical responsibility and respond to the call of our times with solidarity, vision, courage and a sense of mission. -- To respond to the call of the times, China takes it its mission to make new and even greater contribution to mankind. China will work with other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, forge partnerships across the world, enhance friendship and cooperation, and explore a new path of growing state-to-state relations based on mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation. Our goal is to make the world a place of peace and stability and life happier and more fulfilling for all. -- To respond to the call of the times, China is ready to jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative with international partners. We hope to create new drivers to power common development through this new platform of international cooperation; and we hope to turn it into a road of peace, prosperity, openness, green development and innovation and a road that brings together different civilizations. -- To respond to the call of the times, China will get actively involved in global governance and stay committed to the vision of consultation, cooperation and benefit for all in global governance. China has all along played its part in promoting world peace and development and upholding the international order. We call for increasing the representation and voice of developing countries in international affairs and support efforts to strengthen the South, a weak link in the global governance system, as well as efforts to create synergy in South-South cooperation. We will continue the efforts to make the global governance system better represent the will and interests of the majority of countries, especially developing countries. -- To respond to the call of the times, China will remain committed to opening-up. Facing uncertainty and unpredictability in global growth, China will continue to grow an open economy for win-win cooperation, and it will embrace an open world economy and the multilateral trading system and reject protectionism and unilateralism. No one who keeps himself in isolation on a single island will have a future. Trackers of the Russian army have posted pictures of cargo trains carrying hulking Soviet-era war machines. Military boffins on social media claim to have spotted "1000" Russian tanks moving west towards Ukraine. Trackers of Vladimir Putin's army have posted pictures of cargo trains carrying the hulking the war machines along with other snaps showing armored vehicles also being transported, The Sun wrote. Echelons of tanks were spotted moving toward the border from Russia's distant Buryatia region, according to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Bureau. Analysts at Strategic Sentinel believe that "between 500 and 1000 tanks" have been moved towards Russia's western borders in the past two weeks. Read alsoRussia fully responsible for Ilovaisk tragedy Ukraine's General Staff This comes amid rising tensions in Ukraine following the killing of Russian puppet "DPR leader" Aleksandr Zakharchenko who died in a bomb attack at a cafe in Donetsk. The tanks pictured are ageing Soviet-era T-62s which would not be used in frontline combat. Strategic Sentinel wrote on Twitter: "Photos taken in #Russia of trains continuing to send T-62s west towards #Ukraine. "Given the amount of trains spotted with this cargo heading west, it's likely between 500 to 1000 tanks have been moved in the past 2 weeks." The account added: "These tanks are very old and #Russia has several new tanks it could deployed to this region. "These units probably make up a reserve force and not a frontline battle unit." However, other military enthusiasts online have suggested the tanks could be used as "cannon fodder" to "storm positions." Russia's relationship with NATO is increasingly strained following its military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 and the ongoing presence of Putin's military on the country's borders. Ukraine's police recorded 60 facts of the use by Russian-backed terrorists of Crimean weapons. The Ukrainian police are investigating facts when weapons illegally seized by Russia amid the annexation of Crimea have been supplied to Russian-led terrorist groups in Donbas, the east of Ukraine. Investigators of the Main Directorate of the Ukrainian National Police for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol have added such information to the State Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, the National Police's media liaison office reported. Thus, they launched criminal proceedings against the Russian Federation on the grounds of committing a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 438 (breach of laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, i.e. the supply of weapons from the annexed peninsula to illegal armed forces in the east of Ukraine. Read alsoRussia sends "up to 1,000 tanks towards border with Ukraine" media After Russia's army occupied Crimea in March 2014, firearms from more than 10 Ukrainian military units were shipped to Russian-occupied areas in Donbas. The police recorded more than 60 facts when they seized weapons used by terrorists in Donbas that were being stored at the Ukrainian Armed Forces' units in Sevastopol, Feodosia and Simferopol amid the annexation. "These facts prove that it is the Russian Federation that arms terrorists in the east of our country who kill civilians and Ukrainian soldiers every day," chief of the National Police Serhiy Knyazev said. According to him, 51 assault rifles, 15 guns, two grenade launchers and one carbine all originating from Crimea were seized by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Under international law, a state that unlawfully occupied another country's territory should maintain law and order in the occupied areas. Despite this, Russia not only failed to ensure the secure storage of small arms and ammunition in the territories of the seized military units of Ukraine in Crimea and Sevastopol, but also relocated the weapons it seized from 14 Ukrainian military units and one military college to occupied Donbas. "Later, these weapons were given to illegal armed groups in the east of our country for waging an aggressive war against Ukraine," it said. Russian and Syrian planes pounded areas on the western edge of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold, on Tuesday, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a rebel source. The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on Friday on the situation in Syrias Idlib province, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday, warning Syrias government not to use chemical weapons ahead of a widely expected military offensive there. Russian and Syrian planes pounded areas on the western edge of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold, on Tuesday, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a rebel source. A Syrian government minister also said the siege of Idlib would probably be resolved by force, according to Reuters. Read alsoBloomberg: U.S. warns Russia it will hit Assad if he uses chemical arms This is a tragic situation, and if they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that, Haley said at a news conference, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as its allies Russia and Iran. But they cannot do it with chemical weapons. They cant do it assaulting their people and were not going to fall for it, she added. The worlds chemical weapons watchdog has documented systematic use of banned munitions in Syrias civil war, including nerve agent sarin and sulfur mustard gas. But the body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has not assigned blame for the attacks. If there are chemical weapons that are used, we know exactly whos going to use them, Haley said. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Syria and its allies Russia and Iran against attacking the last major rebel stronghold of Idlib province in the country's northwest. "President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province," Trump wrote on Twitter. "The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don't let that happen!" Donald Trump tweeted. "The recklessness of the Russian state in bringing a nerve agent in to the UK, and total disregard for the safety of the public, is appalling and irresponsible," UK foreign secretary said. The substance that killed a woman in Amesbury was the same Novichok nerve agent that poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal, experts have confirmed. The independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons report backs up the UK government's findings, the BBC reported. Dawn Sturgess, 44, died in hospital on 8 July after handling a contaminated container, months after the Skripals were poisoned in Salisbury. The UK foreign secretary said Russia's recklessness was "appalling." Russia has denied any involvement in the poisonings. The international chemical weapons experts reached their conclusions having collected samples from the UK. It was not possible to conclude whether the nerve agent used in the two incidents was from the same batch, the OPCW said. UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt thanked the OPCW and paid tribute to the "high standards set by our world-leading scientists." Read alsoNovichok poisoning victim reveals perfume gift he gave to partner contained deadly nerve agent media He said it was a reminder of the importance of upholding the the global ban on all use of chemical weapons. "The recklessness of the Russian state in bringing a nerve agent in to the UK, and total disregard for the safety of the public, is appalling and irresponsible," he added. On June 30, the couple collapsed in a house in Amesbury, a town located close to Salisbury. The UK Foreign Office said police investigations into the Amesbury and Salisbury poisonings were continuing. Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London has accused the UK of refusing it access to the Skripals. Read alsoU.S. sanctions on Russia over poisoning in Britain go into force media In a statement marking six months since the pair were admitted to hospital, the embassy said the pair had been "kept in isolation and under full control of British authorities." "They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement," the statement added. Ms Skripal has previously thanked the Russian embassy for its offer of assistance, but said she and her father were "not ready to take it." Polish investigators have an assumption that Russia forged the flight recorders. A senior investigator in Poland said on Tuesday that officials should seek international help over Moscow's refusal to allow the reconstruction of the wreckage of a Polish presidential plane that crashed near the western Russian city of Smolensk in 2010. Antoni Macierewicz, a former defense minister and head of a panel of Polish investigators who are still probing the 2010 crash, told the country's public radio broadcaster that Poland could try to put pressure on Moscow through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) after Russia had refused to allow the wreckage to be reconstructed, Radio Poland's English Service reported. Read alsoRussia gives Polish prosecutors green light to visit Smolensk media What is more, the Polish investigators have an assumption that Russia forged the flight recorders from the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tu-154M plane, Radio Poland's Ukrainian Service reported. Macierewicz said the Russian side had mentioned in its protocol that there were four flight recorders, however, the Tu-154M does not have four "black boxes." "There is an assumption that the 'black boxes' were forged. The availability of two pairs of similar but differing flight recorders makes us think there is forgery," he said. Meanwhile, a group of Polish prosecutors were on Tuesday expected to continue work on examining the wreckage of the Polish presidential plane. A spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee was last month quoted as saying that Polish investigators "will participate in re-examination of material evidence parts and components of the Tupolev-154M plane kept in Smolensk" from September 3 to 7. The Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in June called on Russia to return the wreckage of the Polish presidential plane, which crashed near Smolensk on April 10, 2010, killing all 96 on board, among them President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and dozens of top officials. The committee unanimously approved a resolution saying that "the continuing refusal of the Russian authorities to return the wreckage and other evidence constitutes an abuse of rights and has fueled speculation on the Polish side that Russia has something to hide." Polish conservative MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk said at the time that the resolution gave Poland "a strong mandate to demand the return of the wreckage, the plane's black boxes and the rest of the evidence from Russia." September 5 2018 Scottish Canals have launched a public consultation into plans to create a three-way footbridge spanning the Stockingfield Junction of the Forth & Clyde Canal at Maryhill. The consultation precedes a detailed planning application for the infrastructure link, prioritised as a means to improve physical connections for both residents and canal users. Pedestrians and cyclists wishing to cross the junction must navigate a precipitous route down from the canal to ground level to access a narrow single file road tunnel, before ascending back to the canal level. Draft plans call for an elevated cable-stayed solution although ambitions to create a towering skeletal figure, dubbed The Big Man, to hold the cables aloft appears to have been dropped in favour of a simple pole. The consultation kicks-off this Saturday at Maryhill Burgh Halls between 11:00 and 16:00 with follow-up sessions held at Lambhill Stables between 13:00 and 18:00 on the 11th and Ruchill Community Centre between 10:00 and 14:00 on the 12th. A final session is scheduled to take place at Cadder Community Centre between 13:00 and 19:00 on the 13th. Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Limited's commodity index on Tuesday closed at 3,423 points; with traded value of metals, energy and COTS/FX recorded at Rs 1.915 billion. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Limited's commodity index on Tuesday closed at 3,423 points; with traded value of metals, energy and COTS/FX recorded at Rs 1.915 billion. The number of lots traded was 2,261, said press release on Wednesday. Major business was contributed by gold amounting to Rs 759.997 million, followed by WTI crude oil Rs 466.124 million, currencies through COTS Rs 358.548 million, silver Rs 95.502 million, platinum Rs 71.918 million, natural gas Rs 61.927 million, DJ Rs 38.769 million, SP500 Rs 37.227 million, copper Rs 12.564 million, NSDQ100 Rs 11.438 million and Brentcrude oil Rs 1.841 million. (@FahadShabbir) A delegation of Russian business representatives at the annual Damascus International Fair will offer Syrian colleagues to organize joint efforts to restore infrastructure, and also plans to discuss the topic of currency settlements between the countries, Vice-President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko told Sputnik. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) A delegation of Russian business representatives at the annual Damascus International Fair will offer Syrian colleagues to organize joint efforts to restore infrastructure, and also plans to discuss the topic of currency settlements between the countries, Vice-President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko told Sputnik. The 60th Damascus International Fair will be held between September 6 and September 15. Representatives of 48 countries are expected to take part in the event. Padalko said that the event will be attended by 38 Russian companies. "The main goal of Russia's participation is to look at those areas where it is already possible to organize joint work with the Syrians to restore Syrian industrial infrastructure," he said. According to Padalko, in order to restore the facilities that were destroyed by war, "it is necessary to start from basics: to organize a cluster of companies that produce construction materials to restore the installations connected with energy supply, social sectors, among others." "Therefore, we specifically invited to our delegation Russian companies and manufacturers which are interested in working in Syria, not only as suppliers, but also as possible founders of joint ventures," he noted. Padalko also said that one of the key issues up for discussion with the Syrians was the topic of finance and monetary transfers. "Syria is under sanctions. Currency movements in one direction or the other are almost impossible, so we should find some other forms of mutual settlements. Apparently, these will be Russian loans, reimbursable ones," he suggested. Padalko also noted that some Syrian businesses did have foreign currency reserves, and the way these would be used in the future was up for discussion. "On the other hand, the Syrian side has resources. There is a business that operates in third countries and has foreign exchange reserves. We expect that we will clarify this issue during our work in Damascus," he said. Padalko told Sputnik that the Russian-Syrian Business Council, which is scheduled to take place in Damascus between September 7 and September 10, will be attended by all delegates from Russia, without exception. "We see a great interest in this event not only among the Syrians, but also among foreign guests who will be in Damascus for the industrial fair during this time," the vice president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. Representatives of Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade and their colleagues from Syria, bank representatives, Syrian Central Bank representatives and others will attend the plenary meeting within the framework of the council. Roundtables on pressing issues will be held after the meeting. Participants will discuss industry and energy, personnel training, the agricultural sector, and the production of agricultural machinery and machinery for the food processing industry. Trade, transport, communications and telecommunications, as well as issues related to bilateral cooperation between Russian and Syrian enterprises will also be discussed. "Some 120 companies from the Syrian side have expressed a desire for B2B communications with our enterprises," Padalko concluded. According to director of the Syrian state organization of exhibitions and markets, Fares Kirtli, Russia's participation in the exhibition will be substantial, with 500 square meters (5,382 square foot) of space allocated for the country. He added that the exhibition, which will have a total area of 90,000 square meters (22.2 acres) will open on September 6. Besides businessmen, economy and trade ministers of some participating countries are expected to visit. According to Fares Kirtli, 48 countries are going to participate in the exhibition, some of them participating officially through embassies, and others involved through companies. Six ships, APL Savanan, Maersk Kinloss, Uni Wealth, GP Asphalt-III, Port Vera Cruz and Southern Robin carrying Containers, Palm Kernel, Bitumen, Coal and Palm oil were allotted berths at Qasim International Container Terminal, Multi-Purpose Terminal, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Liquid Cargo Terminal respectively on Tuesday KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Six ships, APL Savanan, Maersk Kinloss, Uni Wealth, GP Asphalt-III, Port Vera Cruz and Southern Robin carrying Containers, Palm Kernel, Bitumen, Coal and Palm oil were allotted berths at Qasim International Container Terminal, Multi-Purpose Terminal, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Liquid Cargo Terminal respectively on Tuesday. Meanwhile three more ships Conti Darwin, Songa Wave and Bhairavi carrying containers, coal, and chemicals also arrived at outer anchorage of Port Qasim during the same day. A total of eleven ships namely, APL Savanah, Maersk Kinloss, Thor Brave, Vera Cruz, Melbourne, Sakizaya Miracle, Uni Wealth GP Asphalt- III, Lokoja, Southern Robin and UACC Ibn Sina are currently occupying PQA berths to load/offload containers, palm Kernel, Bitumen, Coal, Rape seeds, LNG, Palm oil and Diesel oil respectively during last 24 hours. Cargo handling registered an upward trend at the Port where a cargo volume of 199,521 tonnes, comprising 183,428 tonnes import cargo and 16,093 tonnes export cargo inclusive of containerized cargo carried in 3,681 containers (TEUs), (2,834 TEUs imports and 847 TEUs exports) was handled during last 24 hours. Two ships, Lokoja and Thor Brave sailed out to sea on Wednesday morning, while three more ships Melbourne, UACC Ibn Sina and Maersk Kinloss are expected to sail on same day in the afternoon. Three ships Conti Darwin, Bhairavi and Darannee Naree carrying containers, chemicals and coal are expected to take berths at QICT, EVTL and PIBT respectively on Wednesday, while another containers ship OOCL Washington and Hansa America are due to arrive at Port Qasim onThursday. H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has met in London with Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom, UK. LONDON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 04th Sep, 2018) H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has met in London with Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom, UK. The meeting, which was held as part of Sheikh Abdullahs official visit to the UK, discussed the means of strengthening the joint overall cooperation between the two countries, including in the area of international aid. Sheikh Abdullah stressed that the UAE and the UK are major players in international development while expressing his hope for further joint cooperation between both sides. Mordaunt welcomed the visit of Sheikh Abdullah and highlighted its importance in strengthening the joint cooperation and partnership between the two countries in all areas. She also praised the UAEs leading humanitarian initiatives, its efforts to offer urgent humanitarian aid to needy people around the world, and its support for relevant international efforts. The meeting was attended by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Suleiman Hamed Salem Al Mazrouei, UAE Ambassador to the UK. Flash In a new UN-led effort to move forward the process to end the Syrian conflict, senior officials from Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet in Geneva next week for constitution-related discussions, the UN special envoy on Syria said Tuesday. The UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said at a press conference here that he will hold formal talks with representatives from the three countries on the establishment of a "Syrian-led and Syrian-owned" constitutional committee. He described the effort as a curtain-raiser for a real peace process in Syria consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 as a "strong guideline" which includes many issues. "The constitutional committee can be, and should be, now the entry point for what we call a credible political process, as the long as the constitutional committee is credible as well," said the UN negotiator. De Mistura said his discussions with the senior Russian, Turkish and Iranian officials will take place on Sept. 10 and 11 for the new process, which he said is the best "roadmap we can see." Those talks will be followed on Sept. 14 by further encounters with senior delegations from seven other states: Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States. "There are some important options on how to help the Syrian side to organize the work of the constitutional committee." "I am also engaging the European Union which is very keen in supporting our effort and the Arab League on the political process," said the UN envoy. According to the UN envoy, the UN Security Council will also hold a discussion on Syria on Sept. 20. "I cannot and will not at this stage forecast today how far we will be progressing on 10 and 11 September, but I do can state the following: it is going to be quite an important moment of truth," de Mistura said His team is seeking the "buy-in" of the government and opposition in Syria and a wide-range of Syrian society, including women from the country, in the bid to restart the peace process. He touched briefly on the current tension in northern Syria's Idlib region. "We hope that nothing will be dramatically happening regarding Idlib. That is our hope and our wish," said de Mistura. "We still believe that the political process should not be the hostage of anything." After a successful two months of engaging reading activities and events, the Around the World Summer Programme came to a close on 31st August 2018. ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 05th Sep, 2018) After a successful two months of engaging reading activities and events, the Around the World Summer Programme came to a close on 31st August 2018. Established by the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, and National Library, the programme featured 195 workshops across six libraries, and welcomed a record 16,750 visitors from all nationalities and backgrounds. The programme was introduced across Abu Dhabi libraries, including Al Wathba Library, Al Marfa Library, Mazyad Library, Al Bahia Library and Khalifa Park Library, and Al Ains Zayed Central Library, to encourage children and teenagers to adopt better reading habits during their summer break. The programme also hosted a variety of interactive workshops covering arts, crafts, language, storytelling and innovative creation, which opened a host of opportunities for youngsters to be creative. The programme also introduced the Summer Reading Challenge to challenge youngsters to read 30 books from across the world. The challenge was successfully completed by 150 members aged between 6 to 16 years old. Meanwhile, the programmes Young Librarian initiative successfully welcomed 192 children aged 8-14 for a behind-the-scenes look into the inner workings of a library and support the staff. Each library across the emirate hosted weekly cultural themes to celebrate a country or region, educating visitors about the nuances of language and culture through activities, workshops and a list of international books. Participants were also able to meet renowned Arab authors during the weekly programmes, including Maitha Al Kayyat, Sahar Najaa Mahfouz, Sara Al Hammadi, Mariam Saqr Al Qasimi, Badria Al Shamsi, and Nadia Al Najjar, Daphne and Gerald Mercer, Sarah Sillisand Khadijah Kudsi amongst others. Abdullah Majed Al Ali, Acting Executive Director of the National Library Sector, DCT Abu Dhabi, said, "The success of the Around the World Summer Programme has been an inspiring insight into the strong and positive reaction to reading habits in the UAE. It has been an instrumental tool in extending active dialogues by the National Library with young learners and the wider audience, moving one step closer to helping support and nurture the younger generation. In addition, this programme has been key in facilitating a diverse and engaging environment enriched with experiences, cultures and civilizations of many countries." Established in 1981, the National Library sector, as part of DCT Abu Dhabi, is one of the UAEs largest knowledge repositories and a vital resource for intellectuals, scholars and scientists. The National Library is responsible for the establishment of regional, community, childrens and mobile libraries. It also acts as a publisher, translates the world's major literary works and promotes talented Emirati writers and researchers by publishing their books and academic works. The National Library also collects, preserves and displays ancient Arab and Islamic manuscripts, covering a variety of topics from literature and religion to science and the arts. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has declared Thursday, 13th September, an official paid holiday for all private sector employees in the UAE to celebrate the coming Islamic New Year, Al Hijri 1440. ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 05th Sep, 2018) The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has declared Thursday, 13th September, an official paid holiday for all private sector employees in the UAE to celebrate the coming Islamic New Year, Al Hijri 1440. Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, extended his sincerest greetings and blessings to the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan; His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and the Rulers of the Emirates. He also congratulated the government, citizens and residents of the UAE on this glorious occasion and wished further progress and prosperity to the UAE and to Arab and Islamic nations. (@rukhshanmir) MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) , Sept 5 (APP)::AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan and Minister for Information, Tourism and Information Technology Raja Mushtaq Minhas on Wednesday called upon the countrymen to pledge on Defense Day of Pakistan that they would stand shoulder to shoulder with the valiant armed forces of the country for defense of inch after inch of the motherland like they did against Indian aggression this day in 1965. In their message on Defence Day of Pakistan, September 6, issued Wednesday evening, the president, prime minister and information minister paid rich tributes to martyrs and ghazis of armed forces for their sacrifices rendered for the defence of Pakistan. They said September 6, 1965, was a very important day in the history of the country when our soldiers successfully defended borders of the country. In his message, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan said, we were proud of our brave armed forces the way they defended the country in the fateful war of 1965. The nation also salutes to the great sacrifices of the armed forces for defeating the biggest army of the region. He said our national security faced its greatest danger when India launched her most aggressive attack on Pakistan on 6th September, 1965. We were dragged into a battle of survival against an enemy much larger in size and numbers. The brave people of Pakistan displayed immense courage during this fateful war, 53 years ago. They proved that a nation imbued with the true spirit of Jihad cannot be vanquished even by the mightiest forces. Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan said the entire nation was proud of the supreme success of its Armed Forces in the war of 1965. We hold in great esteem the valor and gallantry of our warriors and were profoundly indebted to our Shaheeds for showing unto us the path of ultimate glory. He said the challenges ahead will require of us a much greater national harmony and cohesion. A monumental task both for the civilians and Armed Forces personnel was to dedicate all their energies and abilities to make Pakistan a stable and self-reliant nation. Minister for Information Mushtaq Minhas said, by the grace of Allah, our officers and airmen were fully alive to the demands of their calling. May Allah give us strength and vision to fulfill our obligations to the nation, he said. He also prayed for the martyred soldiers. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ISLAMABAD, Sep 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :`The entire nation along with the armed forces will celebrate the Defence Day of Pakistan on Thursday with a renewed pledge to continue safeguarding the geographical, ideological boundaries and territorial integrity of the motherland against all threats. The day will dawn with special prayers in the mosques for the well-being and prosperity of the country. `Fateha' and Quran Khawani will be held for all those, who laid their lives in the line to serve the nation. Special events will be held to mark the day. Prime Minister Imran Khan will be the chief guest at Defence and Martyr's Day ceremony at the General Headquarters (GHQ). Wreath laying ceremonies will be held at the mausoleums of the recipients of Nishan-e-Haider (the highest gallantry award), which will be attended by the senior officials of the respective areas across the country. Several ceremonies will be held to pay homage to the Pakistan Army soldiers and officials and other law enforcement agencies personnel, who laid their lives in the battlefield. Main ceremonies would be held at all the district headquarters in which families of martyrs will be invited to commemorate sacrifices of the martyrs. To mark the day with national enthusiasm, different programmes have been chalked out by the Armed Forces of Pakistan in Peshawar. The major function will be held at Karnal Sher Khan Stadium where different types of weapons, warplanes and helicopters' models etc. will be displayed for students and general public. Another major function will be held at Swabi where a wreath will be laid on the grave of Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed (Nishan-e-Haider). A smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Army will present salute to the celebrated hero of Kargil war. The day will also be celebrated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Special ceremonies will be held at various places in AJK, including all the ten district headquarters, to pay tribute to the martyrs of the 1965 Indo-Pak war as well as other military and civilian martyrs for giving the supreme sacrifices of their valuable lives to safeguard the country. The media will also carry the messages of President, Prime Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in relation to the significance of the Day. Special talk shows will be held on the state-run and private television channels and radio stations across the country. It was on this day in 1965 that the Indian forces crossed international border in the darkness of night to attack Pakistan, but ever-vigilant armed forces, solidly backed by the nation, foiled enemy's nefarious designs. The Armed Forces of Pakistan commemorate 6th September to pay tribute to `Shuhada' and Ghazis for their supreme sacrifices and gallantry acts. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistan Army, has released a video song in commemoration of defence services by Pakistan Armed Forces. The promo shared at the official handle of DG ISPR, Major General Asif Ghafoor shows combined footage of the country's all forces putting their lives on the line to protect the nation, whereas in the background a song filled with gusto and patriotism can be heard. Roads, intersections and other public places all over the country have been decorated with banners and steamers, bearing pictures ofmartyrsof PakistanArmed Forces under the theme of 'Hamain Payar HayPakistan Se'. Similarly, Pakistan Railways has decorated its trains giving the message that Pakistani nation loves its armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Earlier, in the last of week of August the DG ISPR in a conference had revealed that the country's martyrs would be honoured on the Defence and Martyrs Day adding that "Every martyr of our nation should be visible on (September 6)." The 213th Corps Commanders Conference, recently held at the General Headquarters Rawalpindi with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in the chair paid rich tribute to martyrs of Pakistan. The COAS directed that field formations should reach out to families of martyrs in their respective areas as mark of respect and acknowledgment of their great sacrifices. The ceremonies regarding the Defence Day will be held at Fortress Stadium, Mazar-e-Iqbal, Town Hall, Yadgar- e-Shuhada, Manawan and Airport Road in Lahore. The change of guard ceremony will take place at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi in the morning. A PAF contingent will assume guard duty. The representatives of three armed services will also visit the Mazar of the Father of the Nation, lay wreaths and offer Fateha. In Balochistan, the main ceremony will be held at the Yadgar-i-Shuhada in Quetta Cantt. Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Jam Kamal Khan and Commander Southern Command Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa will lay a wreath on the Yadgar-i-Shuhada. A flag hoisting ceremony will be held at the grave of Nawabzada Mir Siraj Raisani Shaheed in his ancestral village Killi Kanak in Mastung district. Inspector General Frontier Corps Balochisatn, Major General Nadeem Anjum will lay a wreath on the grave of martyr. Radio Pakistan will air special programmes based on interviews of martyrs of Pakistan and paying homage to the heroes of the nation who sacrificed their lives for the motherland. A special two-hour long show will be broadcast between 1100 hours to 1300 hours. The Minister for Information and the Minister for Defence are expected to attend. (@FahadShabbir) Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday congratulated Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi over his election as President of Pakistan. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Sep, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday congratulated Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi over his election as President of Pakistan. In a message the minister said that Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi was a serious and sober person and his election as president of Pakistan was a good omen. He said that Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi was the founding member of the PTI and belonged to an educated and religious family and his election would strengthen the federation. The minister expressed the hope that as head of the state he would perform his duties in exemplary manner and with his election another milestone in democratic change has been achieved. Fawad Hussain also congratulated the opposition for their participation in the democraticprocess. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Islamabad Police on Wednesday reviewed security arrangements in connection with Muharram ul Harram and decided to enhance vigilance and patrolling in various areas to ensure fool proof security. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Islamabad Police on Wednesday reviewed security arrangements in connection with Muharram ul Harram and decided to enhance vigilance and patrolling in various areas to ensure fool proof security. The security arrangements were discussed in a meeting presided over by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Najeeb-ur-Rehman Bugvi which was attended among others by all Zonal SPs, SP (Investigation), Sub-Divisional Police Officers and Station House Officers. All wings of Islamabad police were given directions to ensure complete coordination for success of this plan. The SSP directed all SDPOs and SHOs to maintain close liaison with peace committees and organizers of Majalis and processions in Muharram-ul-Haram. Cooperation of organizers should be ensured with the police and law enforcing officials, he added. The SSP has directed for strict security arrangements on gatherings and special checking of participants. He said that it should be ensured to make arrangements for checking of participants of Majalis and processions thorough using metal detectors. Strict vigilance should be maintained to ensure that security measures are in place by the police as well as peace committees, the SSP maintained. He directed to launch effective search operation as well as combing activities in the slum areas of the city including Afghan habitats and enhance vigilance at all entrance points of the city. All SPs have been asked to monitor this search operation themselves and inform SSP's office on daily basis about progress in this regard. The SSP also ordered all SHOs to make proper light arrangements after negotiations with concerned authorities and also to weed out bushes in the various areas in the vicinity of worship places. The personnel of Rangers and police Commandos along with vehicles would perform the security of Imambargahs arranging religious gatherings. He said that it should be ensured that processions will pass through the fixed routes and timings of processions to be observed strictly. He has also directed for effective patrolling and use commando vehicles for the purpose. He directed for maintaining close coordination among all wings of Islamabad police and staff. The SSP said that walk through gates must be installed at all entry and exit points of Majalis and processions and it should be covered through large strength of policemen. He also asked all SPs, SDPOs to take steps to curb wall chalking or pasting posters which may hurt sentiments of people. Patrolling officers must conduct visit of all the routes of Muharram processions and Imambargahs and rooftops to be covered by the police officials. The SSP said that lady Police should be deputed for the female gatherings while police officers and Jawans would perform security duties outside the Imambargahs. All Station House Officers (SHOs) should get the complete bio-data of those volunteers performing security duties. Peace committees would be asked to ensure that no stranger is allowed to stay in the worship places for security reasons during the month of Muharram. The SSP Najeeb-ur-Rehman Bugvi said those performing at police pickets should behave politely with citizens and highlight the real friendly image of Islamabad police. The SSP said they should play a role model in inculcating positive image of the force. He said that o one within the department would be allowed to do any kind of embezzlement and only those following the policy of zero tolerance against corruption would survive. He said that awards should be given as an encouragement for those police officersaccomplishing their duties in a responsible manner and honest way. His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani sent on Tuesday a cable of congratulations to H. E. Dr. AfifAlvi on his election as President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th September, 2018) His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani sent on Tuesday a cable of congratulations to H. E. Dr. AfifAlvi on his election as President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, wishing him success in his duties and the relations between the two friendly countries further development and growth. (@FahadShabbir) Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Chairman of the Japan-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship League (JPPFL) Seishiro Eto on Wednesday held in-depth discussions on the entire gamut of Pakistan-Japan bilateral relations and deliberated on the various possibilities of deepening existing ties in diverse areas including trade, investment, education and cultural cooperation. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Chairman of the Japan-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship League (JPPFL) Seishiro Eto on Wednesday held in-depth discussions on the entire gamut of Pakistan-Japan bilateral relations and deliberated on the various possibilities of deepening existing ties in diverse areas including trade, investment, education and cultural cooperation. The two sides also expressed their satisfaction at current trajectory in the bilateral relations and agreed to maintain the momentum through continued high-level exchanges. The JPPFL chairman called on the foreign minister at Foreign Office. Eto felicitated the foreign minister on the assumption of his office, Foreign office in a press release said. Both sides exchanged views on the current developments in the region and reaffirmed their commitment to promote the goals of peace and prosperity of the region. The foreign minister underscored that Japan was one of Pakistan's major development partner and had always supported Pakistan in testing times. Japan has played an important role in the socio-economic development of the country and it actively participated in the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum, and hosted the FoDP Donors Conference in Tokyo in 2009. Both sides also reviewed the existing economic cooperation between the two countries. Japanese development projects in Pakistan in social sectors like education and health and the promotion of investment in Pakistan by the Japanese companies also figured in the discussion. Referring to the recent visit of Japan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs last month, Eto stressed that Pakistan-Japan relations were making historical progress. Eto, thanked the foreign minister and said that he had been impressed by the feelings of goodwill in Pakistan for Japan and assured of his government's continued support to contribute to enhance trade and investment possibilities for Pakistan. Matters related to correct the balance of payment, which was tilted towards Japan and increased Japanese investment in Pakistan also came under discussion. The foreign minister thanked Eto and the members of his delegation for their long-standing support to bilateral parliamentary exchanges. He lauded the joint efforts of the two parliaments to deepen the bilateral friendly relations. Pakistan valued its exchanges and cooperation with the Japanese parliament, and was readyto further such exchanges with parliamentary leaders, members, special committees and friendshipgroups, he added. The Bahrain Space Science Agency (NSSA) is engaged in talks with Russia on sending its astronauts to space, but no specific agreements have been reached yet, the Russian embassy in Manama told Sputnik on Wednesday. DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The Bahrain Space Science Agency (NSSA) is engaged in talks with Russia on sending its astronauts to space, but no specific agreements have been reached yet, the Russian embassy in Manama told Sputnik on Wednesday. "The representatives of the Bahrain Space Science Agency attended a spacecraft launch at Baikonur this year, where they discussed with the Russian side the prospects for possible cooperation, specifically in training and sending the first Bahraini astronaut into orbit. But no specific agreements have been reached yet, no documents on the issue have been signed," the embassy spokesperson said. Last July, the agency announced the launch of its Space Team program which seeks to recruit 10 people who would become Bahrain's first group of space science and technology specialists. The group is set to undergo 24-month training, which will be held both on the kingdom's territory and abroad. The development of the Bahraini space program comes amid the United Arab Emirates' announcement that it had picked its first two astronauts who would go to the International Space Station (ISS). According to the Russian Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center, the two UAE nationals are already undergoing a training in Russia. In August, Russian space agency Roscosmos said it was engaged in negotiations on cooperation with Gulf states. The agency noted a short-term mission for a UAE citizen to the ISS had been agreed while a long-term mission for a UAE astronaut and short-term flight for a Bahraini national had been under discussion. Russian nuclear power companies are interested in digitization and the use of blockchain technologies in energy production and distribution, the chief innovation officer for global digital energy solutions at GE Power, a global power generation leader, told Sputnik on Wednesday. BONN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Russian nuclear power companies are interested in digitization and the use of blockchain technologies in energy production and distribution, the chief innovation officer for global digital energy solutions at GE Power, a global power generation leader, told Sputnik on Wednesday. "We [GE] have an interest in Russia. When I was talking with the power sector, for example, with nuclear companies and so on, they showed an interest in blockchain. Last week in Paris, I kicked off a group focusing on digitization where blockchain was included, and I had about 50 companies who joined, including Russian players, [Russian nuclear corporation] Rosatom and all its subsidiaries. I talked to officials from Rosatom, and they have high interest in these technologies including blockchain, cybersecurity and so on," Maher Chebbo said on the sidelines of Innovation Week in Bonn organized by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Blockchain can be particularly useful in the production of renewable energy, Chebbo, who is also chairman of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) international organization, pointed out. "It helps in making peer-to-peer transactions fast. Blockchain helps also tracing these transactions and giving some visibility and also making the costs of these transactions cheaper ... Blockchain here can play a role in improving the operations and maintenance costs. We will continue engagement with these companies who joined this group 'The Digital Energy Executives Exchange Hub,'" Chebbo explained. Chebbo noted that in the future, when renewable energy accounts for half of global production, it would be impossible to manage and supervise distribution and prevent accidents without the use of modern digital technologies. Flash The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, on Friday, said U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Haley, whose country is taking over the presidency of the Security Council for September, on Tuesday warned against the use of chemical weapons in Idlib, saying U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that the country will respond if chemical weapons are used. "This is a tragic situation, and if they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that. But they cannot do it with chemical weapons. They can't do it assaulting their people and we're not going to fall for it," Haley told reporters when presenting the Security Council's program of work for September. She said a Security Council meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning so that the council will be acting before a chemical weapons attack would take place. "What you are seeing is the Security Council come together and say: we will not kind of sit by and wait until after the chemical weapons attack. We want to have a meeting now to discuss what should not happen," said Haley. The United States and its Western allies were threatening Syria with the use of force over allegations that the Syrian government is planning a chemical attack in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the Arab country. Damascus read the threats as the Western powers' way to hinder the government forces' planned assault in Idlib under false pretexts of chemical weapons' use. (@rukhshanmir) Algeria and China have signed a memorandum of understanding on Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is aimed at developing infrastructure and strengthening ties between Eurasian countries, as well as with Africa, Oceania and other nearby regions, media reported. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Algeria and China have signed a memorandum of understanding on Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is aimed at developing infrastructure and strengthening ties between Eurasian countries, as well as with Africa, Oceania and other nearby regions, media reported. The memorandum was signed by Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel and chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission He Lifeng on the sidelines of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing on Tuesday, according to Algeria Press Service. Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia welcomed on the sidelines of the summit the Chinese contribution to Africa's development. Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier said that China intended to strengthen cooperation with the African continent in fight against terrorism, piracy and other challenges and will continue to provide the African Union with free military aid. China's Belt and Road Initiative was first announced by Xi in 2013. The initiative focuses on the Maritime Silk Road, which connects China and Europe via India, East Africa and the Red Sea states, and on the Silk Road Economic Belt, which includes the Central Asia, Russia, and the middle East. FOCAC, which was established in 2000, comprises 53 African countries and China, along with the Commission of the African Union. The forum's objectives include the promotion of cooperation and friendship among members. Vienna, Sept 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Austria said Wednesday it would appeal an EU court's dismissal of its case against Europe-approved, British subsidies for a new nuclear power plant in England. The General Court, Europe's second highest, in July confirmed a decision of the European Commission to approve UK government aid for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. The tribunal ruled it was up to each individual EU state to decide which type of energy technology to pursue, even if fellow members disagreed. Anti-nuclear Austria challenged the commission's green light for the project before the General Court in 2015. The court ruled against Vienna in July this year. Austria was backed by Luxembourg and nuclear activists, while Britain had the support of the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. On Wednesday, an Austrian cabinet meeting agreed to lodge an appeal against the July ruling, the ministry in charge of sustainability said. "Austria continues to have the viewpoint that nuclear energy is not the technology of the future and that it gives the wrong sign to present subsidies for the construction of nuclear power plants as harmless," the ministry said in a submission to the cabinet. The British government says Hinkley is vital for the country's energy security, as most existing nuclear stations are due to close before 2023. The 19.6-billion ($25-billion, 22-billion-euro) project, to be built by French energy giant EDF and the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), is highly symbolic of Britain's nuclear renewal. Austria has long campaigned against nuclear power, bolstered by a referendum in 1978 rejecting atomic energy. (@rukhshanmir) The construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has started in Finland, the press service of the Nord Stream 2 AG, the project's operating company, said on Wednesday, adding that the process would be held in accordance with environmental requirements. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has started in Finland, the press service of the Nord Stream 2 AG, the project's operating company, said on Wednesday, adding that the process would be held in accordance with environmental requirements. "The offshore pipelay vessel Solitaire started today at 13:25 CET [12:25 GMT] the pipelay for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland," the press service said. According to the company, the vessel will take into consideration the environmental requirements and use a dynamic positioning system to make sure it is only the pipeline that touches the seabed. All the welding and testing will be done on board of the vessel and then the pipes will be lowered down to the seabed according to the positioning system data, the press service added. A court in Estonia arrested two men on suspicion that they had transferred classified information to Russia, local media reported on Wednesday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) A court in Estonia arrested two men on suspicion that they had transferred classified information to Russia, local media reported on Wednesday. The two are suspected of sharing confidential information with the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, according to Delfi news outlet. Harju District court ruled on Tuesday that the two should be arrested, the report said. One of the detainees served in the Estonian Defense Forces at the time when the crime was committed, according to the news outlet. BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The European Union calls on guarantors of the Astana process on the Syrian reconciliation - Russia, Iran and Turkey - to protect civilian population of the province of Idlib, which may face the offensive of the Syrian government troops, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. Idlib province is one of Syria's de-escalation zones and a remaining stronghold of the insurgency in the country. The situation in the province has recently escalated with Moscow and Damascus suggesting that militants are planning to stage a false-flag chemical attack against civilians there to frame the Syrian government. "Idlib is the last remaining de-escalation zone in Syria that the Astana guarantors committed to safeguard. The European Union calls on the Astana guarantors to follow through on their commitment and protect civilians as a matter of priority. All necessary measures to protect civilian lives as well as unhindered, safe and sustainable humanitarian access need to be ensured," Mogherini said in a statement issued on Tuesday after her phone conversation with US Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. She pointed out that the possible Syrian army's offensive in Idlib may result in a humanitarian disaster. "A military offensive in Idlib would put at risk the lives of more than three million civilians living in the region and result in a new humanitarian catastrophe. Any use of chemical weapons could have devastating human and humanitarian consequences. Moreover, a full-scale military operation in Idlib province would escalate an already dangerous conflict in a volatile region," Mogherini said. The EU foreign policy chief also reaffirmed the bloc's support for the activities of de Mistura. "As European Union, we continue to support the efforts of the UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, with whom I spoke again today on the phone, with a view of an inclusive credible and sustainable political solution in Syria. Only a political process can bring to a solution to the conflict that respects the freedom and the dignity of all Syrian people in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique," Mogherini added. On Monday, US President Donald Trump called on the Syrian government as well as Russia and Iran to prevent the Syrian army's possible offensive in Idlib. (@FahadShabbir) WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford told reporters that Greek Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, offered to expand American access to the country's military bases. "[Apostolakis] expressed interest in expanding our access to their bases," Dunford said on Tuesday as quoted by US Department of Defense (DoD) news. Dunford, who held talks with his Greek counterpart earlier in the day in Athens, also said Greece is open to increasing military cooperation with the United States. US military cooperation with Greece provides significant opportunities pertaining to current operations in Libya and Syria including potential operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Dunford added. Dunford and Apostolakis also discussed the importance of sharing intelligence especially on counterterrorism. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) expressed hope on Wednesday that the US state of California would make its final decision on becoming 100 percent clean in its energy production by 2045 in the coming days. BONN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) expressed hope on Wednesday that the US state of California would make its final decision on becoming 100 percent clean in its energy production by 2045 in the coming days. On Tuesday, the California State Assembly passed a bill to decarbonize its energy production by 2045, after reaching a 60 percent share of renewables in total energy production by 2030. The bill now has to get final approval from the Senate and a signature from Governor Jerry Brown to become law. "I have been on the phone in the last couple of weeks with friends in California, who were pushing a new initiative, which is a 100-percent renewables for California. That has been passed by the House [of Representatives] and is on the desk of the governor of California for signature, and I am hoping in the meetings that will be taking place in California in the coming days we will hear good news about that," Adnan Amin said at the opening of the IRENA Innovation Week in Bonn. California, "which by itself could be the sixth largest economy in the world," recently said it would meet the 2030 renewable energy generation target of 50 percent ten years ahead of schedule, Amin added. (@ChaudhryMAli88) WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2018) The Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi who has connections to Roger Stone, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, media reported on Wednesday. Corsi has been subpoenaed to provide testimony on Friday, The New York Times reported citing defense lawyer David Gray. Corsi's attorney said that Mueller was going to ask his client about conversations with Stone regarding the release of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails by WikiLeaks, the report added. Gray also said his client will comply with the court subpoena. Stone, according to the report, appeared to publicly predict that WikiLeaks planned to publish material damaging to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign during the 2016 election. Corsi has propagated conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama's place of birth and the attacks on September 11, 2001, among others. He is also tied to Alex Jones, the host of the notorious conspiracy website InfoWars. The special counsel is investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election and charges of collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Russia has dismissed claims that it interfered with the vote, insisting that it does not meddle in the internal affairs of other countries. Trump has also rejected accusations of collusion and has publicly denounced Mueller's probe. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Motorcyclists without helmets will be barred from buying fuel at filling stations in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, police said. Dhaka, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :Motorcyclists without helmets will be barred from buying fuel at filling stations in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, police said. The move is part of efforts to quell tensions after the city of nearly 20 million people was rocked by angry protests about poor road safety last month. "The petrol pumps (owners) have already been told not to sell fuel to any motor bikers without helmets," Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said on Tuesday. He added that a maximum of two people were allowed on a bike and pillion passengers must also wear a helmet. Protests across Dhaka and other cities in August saw tens of thousands of teenage school pupils and students block the streets to demand better road safety on Bangladesh's chaotic and corruption-ridden transport network, after a speeding bus killed two teenage pedestrians. In the wake of the protests, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet approved a new transport law stipulating harsher punishments for offenders. Bangladeshi highways are some of the deadliest in the region with around 12,000 dying in road accidents every year, according to a private group that monitors accidents. In the Eid al Adha holidays last month, 259 people were killed and 960 people were injured in 237 road accidents in the space of 13 days. In Dhaka, like elsewhere in Asia, more than two people riding a motorbike or a moped is a common sight. Many times, none of them wear helmets. The warring parties in Yemen must prioritize the protection of the country's children as a core concern when they convene for peace talks for the first time in three years, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The warring parties in Yemen must prioritize the protection of the country's children as a core concern when they convene for peace talks for the first time in three years, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said on Wednesday. "Twenty-one children were killed in the Yemen conflict in July, according to United Nations teams on the ground," Fore said in a statement. "Another 55 were reportedly killed in two weeks in August. After more than three years of fighting, the situation of children in Yemen is getting worse, not better." Social services in Yemen are barely functioning and the whole country is on the verge of collapse, Fore observed. "When these services fail, children are the first to suffer as their health, education and protection needs are overlooked. Unless we act now, the impact of this war will haunt us all for generations to come... The children of Yemen need to heal. They need justice. They need lasting peace, now." she said. Fore called on the warring parties in Yemen to guarantee unimpeded and safe access to all children in need, stop airstrikes and attacks on civilians to protect children's lives, stop the recruitment and use of children in the conflict and release all children associated with armed forces or groups. She also demanded an end to the arbitrary arrest and detention of children, including those detained for alleged association with armed opposition groups and the release of all children detained on security-related charges. You are here: Remarks by H.E. Xi Jinping President of the People's Republic of China At the Joint Meeting with the Press Together with Presidents of the Previous and Sitting African Co-Chairs of FOCAC Beijing, 4 September 2018 Your Excellency President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, Your Excellency President Macky Sall, Friends from the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to meet you here. First of all, it is my pleasure to announce that the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has just successfully concluded. In the past two days, leaders of FOCAC members gathered in Beijing under the theme of "China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation". We reviewed implementation of the outcomes of the 2015 FOCAC Johannesburg Summit, discussed plans for future growth of China-Africa relations, and drew the blueprint for China-Africa cooperation to go ahead. The Summit issued the Beijing Declaration Toward an Even Stronger China-Africa Community with a Shared Future, which embodies the agreement reached between China and Africa on major regional and international issues in today's world and sends out a strong message that China and Africa will go hand in hand in years to come. The Summit adopted the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan, and identified eight major initiatives as the focus of China-Africa cooperation in the coming three years to strengthen practical cooperation across the board. We agreed that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. Economic globalization is deepening in an increasingly multipolar world. The future of the world's people has never been so closely linked. Meanwhile, mankind faces a host of common challenges as uncertainties and destabilizing factors continue to mount. China and Africa will join hands to build a China-Africa community with a shared future that features joint responsibility, win-win cooperation, happiness for all, common cultural prosperity, common security, and harmonious co-existence. Together, we will better uphold the common interests of China and Africa, boost the strength of developing countries, and make the world a more balanced and better place for everyone to live in. This will set a good example for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind in our times. We agreed that China-Africa relations have stood the test of time and international changes and embarked on a distinctive path of win-win cooperation. China-Africa relations are at their best in history. The two sides will enhance synergy between strategies and policies, advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and pool the strength of this Initiative with that of Agenda 2063 of the African Union, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, and national development strategies of African countries. The focus will be on the implementation of eight major initiatives, namely, industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, health care, people-to-people exchange, and peace and security. It will provide more opportunities and give even stronger impetus to China-Africa cooperation. We agreed that China-Africa relations have demonstrated unprecedented solidarity, vitality and creativity, which offers significant opportunities for the development of each side. China is the biggest developing country, and Africa the continent with a large gathering of developing countries in the world. The two sides will stay committed to strengthening unity and cooperation and working with each other along the path of win-win cooperation and common development. China will continue to act in the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and of pursuing the greater good and shared interests. Together, China and Africa will draw on the strength of our profound friendship and mutual trust, keep to the right direction as practical cooperation flourishes, and work for solid, steady and sustained growth of the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. We agreed that Africa is entitled to achieving development and invigoration. This requires both the hard work of African countries and their people, and the support from the international community. China-Africa cooperation, as part of the international cooperation with Africa, follows the principle of mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness. We hope that Africa's international cooperation partners could learn from each other, leverage their respective strengths, build synergy and jointly contribute to peace and development in Africa. While conducting cooperation with Africa, all parties of the international community need to respect the sovereignty of African countries, listen to Africa's voice, take Africa's stance seriously and deliver on the promises made to Africa. The meeting has completed all items on the agenda. Chinese and African leaders have reached significant common ground and spoken with one voice on all major issues. The Beijing Summit has achieved great success and produced significant outcomes. It has opened a new chapter in the history of China-Africa relations and set a new milestone for South-South cooperation of our times. Over the past few days, Chinese and African leaders also had intensive bilateral meetings during this friendly gathering of the big China-Africa family, and some African heads of state and government have paid or will pay bilateral visits to China. I had bilateral meetings with all the African leaders who attended the Beijing Summit and visited China. We had in-depth exchange of views and reached broad and significant common understanding on our respective bilateral relations and issues of shared interest. Eighteen years ago, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was established to answer the call of the times. Since then, it has grown strong and prospered as China-Africa cooperation continues to flourish. It has become a distinct symbol in international cooperation with Africa and in South-South cooperation. The success of the Beijing Summit marks a new historic starting point for the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. We are about to set out on a new journey in history. We need to work together to substantiate and strengthen FOCAC, and deliver on the outcomes of the Beijing Summit in full and in real earnest, so that China-Africa cooperation will bring tangible benefits to our peoples. Ladies and Gentlemen, As the Beijing Summit comes to a conclusion, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to African leaders attending the Summit. Their hard work, active contribution, valuable experience and great wisdom have all contributed to the great success of the Summit. In particular, I wish to thank President Cyril Ramaphosa for working closely with me over the past two days to co-chair the Summit, and I thank South Africa for the excellent job it has done as co-chair of FOCAC. I congratulate Senegal on taking over as the new co-chair of FOCAC, and I thank President Macky Sall for his strong commitment to advancing the Forum in its development. My thanks also go to friends from the Chinese and African business and cultural communities as well as think tanks and the media for your active participation and support. To friends from the media, I thank you for your comprehensive and timely coverage of the Summit and its outcomes. I hope you will continue to follow the development of FOCAC and support China-Africa relations. I am convinced that with our concerted efforts and with the strong support of the over 2.6 billion Chinese and African people, we will meet our goal of building an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future. China-Africa relations will embrace even brighter prospects in the time to come. Thank you. Hundreds of people will gather in London on Wednesday for the three-day conference of the World Nuclear Association, which will be dedicated to the future of nuclear power. LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Hundreds of people will gather in London on Wednesday for the three-day conference of the World Nuclear Association, which will be dedicated to the future of nuclear power. The event will be attended by representatives of multiple sectors of the nuclear industry, from fuel enrichment to transport and reactor construction, from over 30 nations. The symposium will address key issues facing the nuclear industry, with environmental concerns and nuclear energy's public image set to be the key points of debate. The conference will be featured by a high-level panel discussion, including Michael Bluck, the director of the Centre for Nuclear Engineering at Imperial College London, and Mikhail Chudakov, the deputy director general and head of the Department of Nuclear Energy of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will be held on Friday. The event will be carried out amid sporadic protests across the United Kingdom with both the safety and environmental sustainability of nuclear power prompting concern of the general public. On Saturday, activists from the Highlands Against Nuclear Transport group and the Cromarty Peace Group campaigners held a protest at a train station in the Scottish city of Inverness over transportation of radioactive waste through the city to the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing facility. In a similar case on August 27, hundreds of protesters gathered at the National Assembly for Wales to rally against the authorities' plans to dump dredged mud from Somerset's Hinkley Point C nuclear power site into Cardiff Bay. Although the Hinkley Point C site is not yet operational, campaigners fear the mud may be contaminated by radioactive waste from sites A and B, something that the EDF Energy, the sites' owner, has consistently ruled out. Protesters insist that their fears are well-founded, believing that tests on potential mud contamination, which have already been carried out, are insufficiently conclusive. (@FahadShabbir) MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The Western countries are responsible for the 2014 overthrown of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which triggered the military conflict in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. "Our Western parties are accusing us of that [eruption of the conflict in Ukraine]. I believe that they are acting dishonestly as, in fact, they are guilty of that. They hardly managed to make the opposition ... sign the agreement of February 20, 2014, they signed that agreement as guarantors but in the next morning they said 'Yanukovych left for Kharkiv, we are sorry.' The things should not be done in such a manner," the minister told Russia's Channel One broadcaster on late Tuesday. Lavrov pointed out that the Western countries' decision to target Russia with sanctions after such moves was indecent. Ukraine had been facing protests at Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) since late 2013 after Yanukovych refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. In late February, the situation significantly de-escalated despite the reached agreement between the opposition and Yanukovych and the latter left the country. Some people in eastern Ukraine refused to recognize the new government, which triggered the conflict in the region of Donbas. Moreover, the developments in Kiev urged Crimea to rejoin Russia. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force was able to patrol a checkpoint at the Israeli-Syrian border in the demilitarized zone at the Golan Heights, the unit's security was ensured by the Russian military police, the deputy commander of the Russian forces in Syria said Wednesday. QUNEITRA (Syria) (UrduPoint news / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force was able to patrol a checkpoint at the Israeli-Syrian border in the demilitarized zone at the Golan Heights, the unit's security was ensured by the Russian military police, the deputy commander of the Russian forces in Syria said Wednesday. "We are near Quneira, where UNDOF forces are scouting the checkpoint from Syria-controlled territory to Israel-controlled territory ... The Russian flag is the guarantee of security in the entire demilitarized zone. The presence of the Russian military police guarantees security for the residents of the province of Quneitra," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko told reporters. According to Kuralenko, the reconnaissance mission would help make checkpoint operational again. The territory in the vicinity was seized by militants when the conflict flared up in Syria, so UN forces had to enter Israel via Lebanon. The deputy commander added that the Russian military police operations allowed to clear the demilitarized area from heavy weapons that used to be owned by the militants. However, some small arms and light weapons could still remain in the area. "The Russian military police are continuing their work. We are continuing the joint patrolling [of the demilitarized zone] with UNDOF forces," Kuralenko said. Israel took control of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, while the Israeli parliament later announced that the territory belonged to Israel. However, the United Nations urged Israel to leave the land. Some of the territory was later returned to Syria. The UNDOF was established in 1974 to ensure that the ceasefire holds in the demilitarized zone. In August this year, after the area was freed from terrorists, the UN mission, accompanied by the Russian military police, entered the zone from the Syrian side for the first time in years. The second patrol was carried out by the UN mission without the help of the Russian military. Tehran, Sept 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Sep, 2018 ) :The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey meet Friday in Tehran for a summit expected to shape the future of Idlib province, home to Syria's last major rebel bastion. The summit comes as Syrian forces look poised to launch a major assault that is raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in the seven-year-old conflict. Damascus and its main backer Moscow have vowed to root out the jihadist groups that dominate Idlib province but the outcome of Friday's meeting could determine the scope and the timing of an offensive. "We know that the Syrian armed forces are getting ready to solve this problem," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Seized from government forces in 2015, Idlib and adjacent areas form the last major chunk of Syrian territory still in rebel hands. Turkey has limited sway over the jihadist groups that control an estimated 60 percent of Idlib but it backs rebel groups there and has 12 military "observation points" across the province. Russia, Turkey and Iran are the guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations that has eclipsed the older Geneva process and de facto helps Syrian President Bashar al-Assad re-assert his authority on the country. In parallel to the Syrian government's military buildup, the recent weeks have seen intense diplomatic activity. Al-Watan, a Syrian daily close to the government, wrote on Monday that the result of the talks will be presented in Tehran for the three powers "to endorse it and decide on the 'zero hour' for the Syrian army's military operation, which is expected to immediately follow the summit." (@ChaudhryMAli88) UN humanitarian teams based in Turkey need full access to deliver aid in the province of Idlib, UN Special Envoy for Syria's senior adviser, Jan Egeland, said at a press briefing on Tuesday. WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2018) UN humanitarian teams based in Turkey need full access to deliver aid in the province of Idlib, UN Special Envoy for Syria's senior adviser, Jan Egeland, said at a press briefing on Tuesday. "We need full access for all humanitarians [in Idlib]," Egeland said. He also said civilians need "full freedom of movement." UN teams must be able to cross into Syria from Turkey to deliver aid, he added. Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar said that the liberation of the Syrian province of Idlib from militants via a military operation is more likely than through a ceasefire. The province of Idlib in northwest Syria is the last remaining stronghold of several terrorist groups in the country. Last week, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the United Nations believes that around 10,000 members of the Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia) terrorist groups are operating in the province. The Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front has joined forces with other hardline jihadist militants to form a terrorist alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is the dominant force on the ground in Idlib. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The United Nations and its partners have raised 65 percent of its $2.96 billion target for the 2018 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, the UN said on Wednesday. GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) The United Nations and its partners have raised 65 percent of its $2.96 billion target for the 2018 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, the UN said on Wednesday. "The UN and partners are requesting USD 2.96 billion through the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan to support millions of people in need across the country. As of today 5 September 2018, 65% is funded," a Yemen humanitarian update issued by the UN, read. The largest donor to the program is Saudi Arabia, which has contributed $530.3 million, while the United Arab Emirates, as the second biggest donor, has contributed $466.5 million. The 2018 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan has been designed by the Humanitarian Country Team with aims to assist 13.1 million people with the provision of humanitarian or protection assistance. In late August, a UN panel of experts in a report alleged that the Saudi-led coalition may be responsible for most civilian deaths in Yemen. According to the report, the coalition killed 6,660 civilians and injured another 10,563 during military operations conducted between March 2015 and August 23, 2018. Yemen is engulfed in an armed conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015. Multiple human rights organizations have criticized the coalition for indiscriminate bombings which result in civilian casualties. Turkey will not release jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson because of the US threats, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Turkey will not release jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson because of the US threats, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "Turkey is a country with the rule of law and the United States cannot demand illegal decisions on Brunson. The trial in Izmir is underway and it cannot be ignored despite the demands for the pastor's release. [The United States] will achieve nothing via such threats," Erdogan told reporters on late Tuesday. US-Turkish relations deteriorated amid the imprisonment of Brunson, who was detained in Turkey in 2016 over his alleged ties to the movement of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Turkey holds responsible for orchestrating the failed military coup of 2016. The pastor was released from prison in late July, only to be moved to house arrest. The United States later imposed sanctions on Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accusing them of human rights violations. The Turkish-US relations even more worsened in August when US President Donald Trump authorized the doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, up to 50 and 20 percent, respectively, which resulted in the Turkish lira falling to a new historic low. (@rukhshanmir) Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov commenting on the UK's Wednesday statement about Russia's alleged role in the Salisbury nerve agent attack said that the information was controversial. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov commenting on the UK's Wednesday statement about Russia's alleged role in the Salisbury nerve agent attack said that the information was controversial. Earlier in the day, the United Kingdom has revealed the Names and photographs of two males they believed to be the Russian nationals behind the attack. "I do not know what data is being talked about," Ushakov said in response to a request to comment on photographs and the names of alleged suspects, released by the UK side. "We have only heard or seen two names, but these names do not tell me personally anything ... Moreover, there was then a commentary by the Scotland Yard that these names were supposedly fictional. I do not understand why this was done and what kind of signal the UK side sends. It's difficult to understand," Ushakov stressed. The main side effect of prostate-specific membrane antigen targeting alpha therapy (PSMA TAT) is dry mouth syndrome. Inflammation of the salivary glands and consequent reduced salivary function have been reported in patients after radioiodine therapy. The beneficial effects of sialendoscopy on radiation-induced inflammation in tissue are well known. Thus sialendoscopy with dilatation, saline irrigation and steroid injections (prednisolone) was performed before and after 225Ac-PSMA-617 TAT to reduce inflammatory effects in the salivary glands and to improve or prevent xerostomia. Eleven men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mean age 68.5 years, range 58-80 years) underwent sialendoscopy, dilatation, saline irrigation and steroid injection of both submandibular and both parotid glands before or after every cycle of 225Ac-PSMA-617 TAT. Sialendoscopy and steroid injection were performed by a senior ENT physician. Quality of life was evaluated using two health-related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaires, the Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ) and the Xerostomia Inventory (XI) before and 3 months after the intervention. In all 11 patients both parotid and both submandibular glands were affected by radiation sialadenitis and sialendoscopy was performed. The patients experienced no complications after sialendoscopy, and showed a significant improvement in HRQOL as measured using the XQ and XI. After sialendoscopy the XQ score decreased significantly from 77.7 13.6 to 42.7 14.8 (p = 0.003) and the XI score decreased from 44.5 6.9 to 25.8 12.8 (p = 0.003). Due to the limited number of patients we only report tendencies. Sialendoscopy with dilatation, saline irrigation and steroid injection had beneficial effects on salivary gland function and HRQOL in patients undergoing 225Ac-PSMA-617 RLT. However, even with sialadenoscopic support after multiple cycles of TAT, salivary gland function was reduced and xerostomia was present. Therefore, not only inflammation but also the direct effect of radiation is a putative cause of dry mouth. Further research is necessary to determine the main side effects of PSMA TAT. European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. 2018 Aug 27 [Epub ahead of print] Hendrik Rathke, Clemens Kratochwil, Ralph Hohenberger, Frederik Lars Giesel, Frank Bruchertseifer, Paul Flechsig, Alfred Morgenstern, Matti Hein, Peter Plinkert, Uwe Haberkorn, Olcay Cem Bulut Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, INF 400, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. ., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, INF 400, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany., Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS), Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany., Directorate for Nuclear Safety and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe, Germany., Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, SLK Klinikum Am Gesundbrunnen, Heilbronn, Germany. PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30151743 Flash Accusations regarding China's efforts to assist African countries in poverty reduction and common development as new colonial attempts are groundless, said Xu Jinghu, the special envoy of China for African affairs. Xu made her speech at a press conference held at the Media Center of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Sept. 4. "Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, announced on Sept. 3 that all African countries disagree with any accusations of new colonialism in African countries," Xu said. "Both the African representatives and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke highly of the friendship between China and the African countries, believing that the friendship can withstand the test of time," Xu said. They also recommended China's strategies for poverty alleviation to be implemented in African countries, Xu added. Regarding the US$60 billion in funding that Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to offer to African countries, Xu said, "The implementation of the US$60 billion fund must be a win-win cooperation decided between China and Africa under terms of equality." According to Xu, there will be cooperative studies on the feasibility of projects involving the use of the fund which can help ensure the self-development of African countries in need of funding, human resources and infrastructure. Periodic global economic fluctuations and the fall in the prices of raw materials have aggravated the debt burden of African countries. However, among the entire international community, China is not the biggest creditor to Africa. At the same time China will increase its non-resource imports from Africa, Xu said. On Monday, in his opening remarks to the Summit, President Xi proposed eight initiatives, including industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, and green development, for the common development and win-win cooperation between China and African countries. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory message to Arif Alvi on his election as Pakistan's new president. China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good friends and good brothers that treat each other with all sincerity and share weal and woe, and the friendship between the two countries has remained solid and kept growing despite the fluctuating international situation, Xi said in the message. Xi recalled that China and Pakistan jointly decided to enhance their bilateral relations to an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership when he visited Pakistan in 2015. In recent years, with the joint efforts made by both sides, mutual political trust is stronger, and the construction of the China-Pakistan economic corridor is fruitful, which has not only benefited the two countries and the two peoples, but made positive contribution to peace and development in the region, Xi said. The Chinese president noted that the strategic significance of the China-Pakistan relations is more prominent under the current circumstances, and the two countries should support each other more staunchly and conduct deeper cooperation. Xi said that he highly values the development of the China-Pakistan relations and is willing to join hands with Alvi to further enhance the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and build a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future. Arif Alvi, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was elected president of the South Asian country on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Venezuelan nationals receive food from religious volunteers in Tumbes at the border with Ecuador while they wait for authorisation to enter Peru. (AFP or licensors) Peruvian Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi, S.C.V. of Piura recently visited the northern city of Tumbe. Bordering Ecuador, Tumbes marks the place of arrival for Venezuelan migrants who cross Ecuador from their conflict-ridden country to reach hope in Peru. By Francesca Merlo Peruvian Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi, S.C.V. of Piura recently visited the northern city of Tumbes. Bordering Ecuador, Tumbes marks the place of arrival for Venezuelan migrants who cross Ecuador from their conflict-ridden country to reach hope in Peru. Over 2,000 of these migrants have been taken in and looked after by 7 parishes in Tumbes. These communities started a new initiative, called Almuerzo Solidario (Caring lunch). This initiative, coordinated by Mrs. Aniana Ho, is designed to feed the 2,100 migrants who are now living in the small community. Treated with love During Archbishop Egurens visit, one migrant, who arrived from Venezuela two weeks ago, spoke on behalf of all the Venezuelan migrants who have taken refuge in Tumbes. Thank you for your patience and for the love with which you treat us, he said. He pledged that the Venezuelan community would continue to do their part, paying them back in any way possible so that the Tumbes community would be able to carry on helping all those who neither have a job nor a way to survive. Protected by Our Lady of Coromoto Peruvian church members handed out images of the Patron saint of Venezuela, Our Lady of Coromoto, to the Venezuelan migrants, so that she would protect them. They then sang the Venezuelan National Anthem, a gesture which made the Venezuelans feel at home, bringing many of them to tears. Archbishop Eguren urged the institutions and communities of Peru to continue working for this initiative. He invited all people of good-will to continue pursuing their generosity in the Parish of San Nicolas de Tolentino, where all the hard work stems from, including the preparations for the lunches. A cry of despair The large number of migrants who have arrived in Tumbes are the voice of a cry of despair from a country that is appealing to the international community not to give up on Venezuela, and that they make every possible effort to help end the dictatorship that has attacked the most fundamental of its countrys rights, placing it in misery. Archbishop Eguren said. The Vatican Observatory is hosting an International conference in Rome entitled The Legacy of Angelo Secchi 200 years after his birth. Jesuit Father Christopher Corbally is researcher for the Vatican Observatory. He explains what the conference is all about. By Francesca Merlo Angelo Secchi was an Italian Jesuit and scientist from northern Italy. He dedicated his life to the study of the stars and planets, making huge advances in various branches of science. 200 years after his birth, the Vatican Observatory is celebrating his life and work. Before Angelo Secchi, the main focus of astronomers was to find out the precise location of each star and planet. Their aim was to unveil the mysteries of navigation in order to use them in daily life. Secchi had a different aim in mind. His curiosity was not roused by the question of where the planets were but rather why the planets were. Through his innovative thoughts, which went hand in hand with his new tools, he applied his knowledge to the study of stars. 200 years later, much of the work we see today, related to meteorology, astrophysics and earth sciences can be linked back to Secchis research. Listen to the Father Corbally Whats the weather like? Jesuit Father Corbally, a researcher for the Vatican Observatory spoke to Vatican News about the conference, focusing on the science and legacy of Fr Secchi and looking at what his work leads to today. According to Fr Corbally, much of what we take for granted today is the product of Angelo Secchis discoveries. The weather, for example, checked daily for agricultural purposes, dress purposes, planning a holiday, the weather has entire television channels dedicated to it. Secchi was part of the developing and understanding of weather patterns. He was a prime mover in producing the first weather maps. Those we now see on our television did not exist before him. Fr Corbally speaks about the link between Secchis innovative questions and his faith. For Secchi, science is a gift from God. Fr Corbally compares this with the work done at the Vatican Observatory: enjoying this gift of God in using science to find out about the world. Adding Secchis work to their findings has enabled wonderful things to happen, such as predicting the weather. Some of these lessons learnt from Secchi have also affected studies regarding climate change. Faithful scientist Fr Corbally believes there is absolutely no difference in the way religious and non-religious scientists approach their research. The tools are the same, the mathematical equations are the same, and they both try to develop observations that stem from consistent theories. The spirit with which it is done is what makes it different. For the person of faith, it is a way to connect with the Creator, to join in with the light and the enjoyment of creation. Chapter 8 of the Book of Proverbs talks about how the Creator found joy in creation, and Fr Corbally believes that faith-filled scientist shares this joy. Last night (September 4, 2018), GRAMMY-nominated recording artist Adam Lambert and Roger Taylor and Brian May, founding members of the legendary British rock band Queen, were spotted attending the hit show ABSINTHE, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (Photo courtesy of Joseph Sanders/Spiegelworld). Enjoying a night off from their limited engagement concert residency at Park Theater at Park MGM, The Crown Jewels headliners were seen taking in ABSINTHEs outlandish acts and wild antics during the 8 p.m. performance, and later took to Instagram to express their enjoyment of the show; Lambert sharing, @Absinthe_Vegas was so hilarious and mind blowing! Laughed soooo hard, and lead guitarist Brain May noting, Outrageously inappropriate show!!! Thanks for having us and deeply embarrassing Rog! Its an image that will live on in my mind forever! At one of An Nguyens old jobs in Hanoi, she had a daily ritual: When she wanted to log in to the computer, she had to answer a cybersecurity question such as What is spear phishing? or How does malware work? Nguyen did not work in the technology industry, but this was her employers way of making sure that all staff had at least a basic understanding of good cyber awareness. Vietnam could use more people like Nguyen, according to security professionals. They say the countrys small businesses, in particular, do not realize how big a threat they face from hackers or other sources of data breaches. Cybersecurity for us, sometimes we are too confident -- or maybe we are ignorant, Nguyen, who has since started her own business, said regarding Vietnamese apathy toward computer security. So we dont care much about that. But small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should care, cyber professionals say, especially considering the factors that make security risks even more acute in Vietnam. These include the Southeast Asian countrys widespread use of pirated software, the high internet penetration among a tech-loving society without the IT support to match, and the love-hate relationship with China. There are two kinds of people, said Vu Minh Tri, vice president of cloud services at the gaming company VNG, deploying a favorite global cliche -- those who have been hacked, and those who do not know that they have been hacked. There is a very true saying that there is no company, or no organization, or no computer not impacted by malware, Tri said. Theres only organizations, computers, or people not aware the computer is impacted. So all are impacted. Its just a matter of whether you're aware or not. A new wrinkle in the story comes from neighboring China, with some cyber-attacks believed to be related to its Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect many countries from Asia to Europe through infrastructure projects. Research from the security firm Fireeye suggests Chinese hackers may be used either to defend Beijings partners in the Belt and Road, such as Cambodia, or to target those that do not play ball, like Malaysia. Vietnam has taken a cautious approach to the initiative, with some scholars expressing concern about risks like burdensome loans and over-reliance on China. The Southeast Asian country also has reason to worry about potential cyber fallout. In one famous case, Chinese internet protocol addresses were suspected in the 2016 hack of Vietnamese airports, where screens displayed messages challenging Hanois claims in the South China Sea. In this digital era, Asia Pacific region has become the largest digital market in the world, creating tremendous business opportunities for SMEs, Jason Kao, director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperations SME crisis management center, told small businesses at a Ho Chi Minh City workshop his office sponsored last week. But not enough of these small and medium-sized enterprises are paying attention to online security, Kao warned. Since more businesses use computers to connect their customers and store data, cyber-attacks and data leaks can cause serious harm, he said. The cost burden is understandable, though, he added. On the one hand, a small business might be too little to attract the unwanted attention of hackers. On the other hand, they might be too small to bear the expense of insuring or guarding against attacks. As we talk about cost and benefit, we know that we have to buy insurance contracts, we know that we have to protect ourselves, Nguyen said. But we dont have enough resources. That is the reason ripped software remains popular in Vietnam, earning it a spot among countries to watch in the U.S. Trade Representatives report on intellectual property. Thanks to this pirated software, overseas hackers can access Vietnamese computers, which they use in denial of service attacks - sending so many requests to target websites that the sites become overloaded and shut down. At the same time Vietnam lacks the information technology specialists who can alleviate some of these dangers. By one estimate, the country could face a shortage of one million IT staffers by 2020. In the meantime, security advisers offer some basic reminders to increase safety online. Do not click on links, in emails or otherwise, if they are even slightly questionable. Use strong passwords and do not reuse them across different accounts. And of course, avoid pirated software. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, regarding the latest developments on the Korean peninsula. According to White House officials, Moon briefed Trump on Seoul's plan to dispatch a special envoy to Pyongyang on Wednesday, and promised to give the U.S. president details of the meeting after the South Korean envoy meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. officials say efforts continue to bring about what they call the "final, fully verified de-nuclearization of North Korea" as agreed to by Kim. Officials say Trump and Moon agreed to meet later this month in New York when the United Nations General Assembly convenes. [Editors note: Nick Beresford is the United Nations Development Programme Cambodia Country Director. The UNDP works with the Cambodian government, civil society groups, community organizations, aid agencies, donors and the private sector on issues related to the UNs Sustainable Development Goals.] VOA: What development area does UNDP Cambodia work on with the government? Beresford: We could divide the work that we do with the Cambodian government maybe into three areas. The first is environmental protection, climate change-related. The second is looking at prosperity and resilience. And the third one is looking at the policy issues around governance and economic policies. VOA: What do you think about the course of development in Cambodia and inequality? Beresford: We look at development overall. First of all, economic development has been very successful. Over a 15-year period, you have seen the economy more than triple in size. You have seen poverty fall by more than half and thats quite a remarkable achievement. On the governance side, I think there are some challenges around democratic governance and so on, there is more work to be done. Then, I think the last part of your question was also looking at inequality. If we look at the data that we have, whether we use Gini coefficient or we use Tile data and so on, whichever way we look at it, the data shows that actually, inequality is under control. It compares well to neighboring countries and its not showing any sign of getting too bad. But, I think one of the issues there sometimes is how good is the data that we are using. We know that some of the national data systems do need some improvement and it cant be sure sometimes that the data that we use might necessarily reflect the completed picture. VOA: How do you see the progress of governance? Beresford: On the issue of governance, I mean, just a couple days before the election, the Secretary-General issued a statement and he called for an inclusive and pluralistic political process. He called for the government to uphold international human rights standards, guarantee civil society actors and political parties were able to excise their democratic rights. We stand behind our Secretary Generals call for those improvements. Within the UN country team, as well as the OHCHR (Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights), we also noted their concerns around some of the recent issues where many certain sections of the population did not have the political opportunities that they had before and expressed concerns around the restriction on the press and so on. I think on the governance issues, we recognize that there is some work to be done. More positively, we are also keen to engage with the government to see where we can help to make some of those improvements. VOA: What should be done to ensure that development can benefit ordinary Cambodians, especially the millions that live under the poverty line or live slightly above the poverty line? Beresford: You raised two important points there. You have people below the poverty line. At the moment, we estimate that probably 10 percent of the population is underneath the national poverty line. But there is a large section of the population who are only just above the poverty line. They might not be counted as the poor but they are quite near poor and we categorize them as being vulnerable to economic shocks, health shocks and so on. I think one of the most important policies going forward is the social protection policies. We are very pleased to see that the government has been very active in this area, issuing the policies and putting some of the first social protection policies in place. Thats the way that we start to help to build resilience and protect [them] against the vulnerable. VOA: Do you think it has to do with strengthening state institutions? Beresford: Yes, thats another aspect. I think its also important in order for the social protection scheme to work well. You need resilience and you need good capacity within your government so that they are able to administer these schemes properly so that you guard against leakages and so on, and that the schemes are effective and efficient and the wealth goes to those people who need it. VOA: Government departments often complain of not having funds because they are dependent on foreign aid. Where is the new money coming from? Beresford: Its a good question because it touches on important change coming through Cambodia. Many years ago, we were aid dependent. Thats no longer true. For a long time now, Cambodia has been trading dependent. Its openness to foreign markets and its economic growth has been the engine that has helped people move out of poverty because a lot of that economic growth was also in low-skilled or unskilled labor. For example, in the garment factories, it provides employment for many ordinary people. Going forward, what we see is two things that work. Number 1, you have a high rate of economic growth, 7 percent or so. That has been true for many years. Secondly, you have a very good rate of tax collection, maybe about 20 percent which is quite high for this region. Certainly, it compares well to its neighbors. If we put those two together, the fiscal space of the government is growing quite rapidly. VOA: Are you concerned about corruption in Cambodia, especially corruption in the tax system? Beresford: I think we have to remember that all lower-middle income countries face this problem, and in fact many upper-middle-income countries, and in fact, many high-income countries face this issue. So, Cambodia is not alone. I think its natural and it is a particular part of economic development, where only a few years ago we were a lower income country. The leakages, corruption, transparency and accountability problem should be expected to happen. We should expect them to be there but theres no reason for us to accept them or to say that we shouldnt try to combat them. I think if you look at even the richer countries such as China, they have made a very public and a very committed attempt to both acknowledge the problem and also to take quite strong measures to try to deal with it. So I think there are a lot of lessons in Asia where the government can pick up and see how it can start to more successfully tackle that issue. VOA: Has the Cambodian government done enough to combat corruption in the country? Beresford: Hard to say. I think at the moment its still quite a challenge for the government. But I think the government is aware of that. And, it needs to find its own way forward to address that and then to address that more successfully. Development partners such as ourselves do as much as we can also to help alleviate that problem. One thing the government can do is to raise the salary of civil servants by providing a decent standard of living for civil servants. It helps to reduce the need for the civil servants to seek other forms of income. I think the most famous example of that may be Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore who has taken a very tough stance against corruption and also very significantly increased salaries to make sure that civil service jobs are very well paid. There are a lot of different ways to address this and we encourage the government to look at these examples and to do what they can to move ahead in those efforts. VOA: How can development partners assist Cambodians to hold the government accountable? Beresford: I think that we can see that the government is making moves to reach out across political alliances and to be more inclusive, but we do what we can to encourage the government. Of course, its for the government and the people in Cambodia to work out these issues. At the same time, at the UN, we reaffirm the principles for which we stand, of democratic governance and human rights. In the OHCHR and in the Secretary Generals comments that I eluded to earlier, we expressed some of our concerns and then at the same time also expressed our encouragement that the government addresses the issues of inclusive governance, address the issue of democratic governance, address the issue of human rights. Demonstrators in Washington mark the one year anniversary of Myanmar's ethnic cleansing of Rohingya by demanding more economic sanctions and recognition by the U.S. that what happened to the Rohingya was genocide. Anna Kook reports from Capitol Hill for VOA. China Aviation Daily | Sep. 04, 2018 Etihad Airways has been recognised as one of the world's 'Top 10 Airlines' for the second consecutive year by Conde Nast Traveler China in the publication's 'Gold List 2018', announced at an award ceremony at the CHAO hotel in Beijing. The Gold List is one of the most reliable travel guides for travellers worldwide, adopting the spirit of justice, authority and professionalism since 2014. Linda Celestino, Etihad Airways Vice President Guest Experience and Delivery, said: "Etihad Airways is extremely proud to once again be named a top airline, which is testament to Etihad Airways' China team. As one of the fastest growing travel markets in the world, it has been a great honour for us to participate in China's tourism and aviation industry for the past 10 years. "Etihad provides an unparalleled experience for travellers in China and across the world, and with digitalisation gradually becoming the most important driver globally, our partnership with the online flagship store on the Alitrip platform, have made us stand out in the fiercely competitive market." Etihad Airways upgraded the Shanghai and Beijing services to its state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in 2016 and 2017 respectively, in order to further meet the strong demands of Chinese passengers for a more comfortable, personalised and memorable travel experience. "Recognition as one of the 'Top 10 Airlines' on the Gold List 2018, comes after Etihad Airways launched several original and superior products and services to tailor the guest experience and to strengthen its leading position as an innovative and preferred airline," adds Ms. Celestino. This April, Etihad Airways launched a new Emirati designed loungewear collection, offered to the airline's guests on all First Class flights and those staying in The Residence on board the Airbus A380 fleet. The loungewear collection was designed by local brand, A Friend of Mine by Xpoze, to be comfortable, functional, and to follow the same attention to detail and design principles held by Etihad Airways. For all premium guests, Etihad Airways also launched a major new partnership with the Italian fragrance brand, ACQUA DI PARMA, introducing a range of exclusive amenity bags and toiletries for its customers travelling in The Residence, and on long-haul First Class and Business Class services and the airline's flagship First Class Lounge & Spa in Abu Dhabi. For Economy Class passengers, Etihad Airways offers a range of enhanced services, including pay-for lounge access and chauffeur transfers at a number of airports on the airline's global network, neighbour-free seats, and extra-legroom seats. In addition, Etihad Airways has enhanced its upgrade programme to a bidding system which allows real-time notifications of a guest's bid to be displayed on their screen. The new dynamic live auction gives guests the chance to select a premium offering at a price they are willing to pay by putting them in control of the experience. Earlier this year, Etihad Airways celebrated its 10th anniversary of operations in China, ten years after it launched the first Abu Dhabi - Beijing service in 2008. To date, nearly four million travellers have flown on Etihad Airways services to and from China. There are currently 28 flights per week between Abu Dhabi and Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong, with easy connectivity via Etihad's Abu Dhabi hub to more than 40 business and leisure destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America. Contributed by Etihad Airways Prosecutors in Los Angeles said Tuesday that they would not pursue a sexual assault charge against actor Kevin Spacey because the statute of limitations has run out. Spacey has been accused of assaulting a male colleague in 1992. The Los Angeles district attorney's office said it was also declining to charge another actor, Steven Seagal, on allegations of assaulting a teenage girl in 1993 for the same reason. Seagal denies the charge. Spacey is facing other sexual assault charges, and also is under investigation for alleged misconduct in London. The Oscar-winning star of such films as American Beauty was fired from the television series House of Cards earlier this year, and his appearance in the film All the Money in the World was edited out. Spacey apologized last year for trying to seduce a teenage actor in 1986, and his spokesman said Spacey was seeking treatment. Afghan officials say twin bomb blasts at a wrestling club in the capital Kabul have killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 60 others. Police said a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the club located in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood. A second blast occurred nearby while authorities were helping victims of the first explosion. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but it bore the hallmarks of Islamic State. The Sunni Muslim terror organization views Shiite Muslims as heretics, and has carried out bombings against the minority before. The Dascht-e-Barchi neighborhood, mainly populated by Shiites, has frequently been a target of IS. Last December, a series of bombings left more than 40 residents dead. In August, another suicide bombing killed 34. Amazon.com is in talks with Chile to house and mine massive amounts of data generated by the country's giant telescopes, which could prove fertile ground for the company to develop new artificial intelligence tools. The talks, which have been little reported on so far and which were described to Reuters by Chilean officials and an astronomer, are aimed at fueling growth in Amazon.com's cloud computing business in Latin America and boosting its data processing capabilities. President Sebastian Pinera's center-right government, which is seeking to wean Chile's $325 billion economy from reliance on copper mining, announced last week it plans to pool data from all its telescopes onto a virtual observatory stored in the cloud, without giving a timeframe. The government talked of the potential for astrodata innovation, but did not give details. The government did not comment on companies that might host astrodata in the computing cloud. Amazon executives have been holding discussions with the Chilean government for two years about a possible data center to provide infrastructure for local firms and the government to store information on the cloud, an official at InvestChile, the government's investment body, told Reuters. For at least some of that time, the talks have included discussion about the possibility of Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting astrodata, astronomer Chris Smith said, based on email exchanges he was part of between AWS and Chilean Economy Ministry officials over the last six months. Smith was at the time mission head of AURA observatory, which manages three of the U.S. federally-funded telescope projects in Chile. Jeffrey Kratz, AWS's General Manager for Public Sector for Latin American, Caribbean and Canada, has visited Chile for talks with Pinera. He confirmed the company's interest in astrodata but said Amazon had no announcements to make at present. "Chile is a very important country for AWS," he said in an email to Reuters. "We kept being amazed about the incredible work on astronomy and the telescopes, as real proof points on innovation and technology working together." "The Chilean telescopes can benefit from the cloud by eliminating the heavy lifting of managing IT," Kratz added. AWS is a fast-growing part of Amazon's overall business. In July it reported second-quarter sales of $6.1 billion, up by 49 percent over the same period a year ago, accounting for 12 percent of Amazon's overall sales. Star-gazing to shoplifting Chile is home to 70 percent of global astronomy investment, thanks to the cloudless skies above its northern Atacama desert, the driest on Earth. Within five years, the South American country will host three of the world's four next-generation, billion-dollar telescopes, according to Smith. He and Economy Ministry officials leading the Chilean initiative to store astrodata in the cloud saw potential in more Earth-bound matters. The particular tools developed for the astrodata project could be applicable for a wide variety of other uses, such as tracking potential shoplifters, fare-evaders on public transport and endangered animals, Julio Pertuze, a ministry official, told Reuters at the event announcing Chile's aim to build a virtual observatory on the cloud. Smith added that the same technology could also be applied to medicine and banking to spot anomalies in large datasets. Amazon, whose founder and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos is well known for his interest in space, already provides a cloud platform for the Hubble Telescope's data and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia. As Amazon explores the potential in Chile's astrodata, tech rival Google, owned by Alphabet, is already a member of Chile's Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will be fully operational in Cerro Pachon in 2022. Google also has a data center established in the country. Justin Burr, senior PR associate for AI and Machine learning at Google, declined to comment on any Google plans around astrodata or its involvement in other telescope projects. Separately, a Google spokeswoman said last week that the company will announce expansion plans for its Chilean data center on Sept. 12. Giant database Smith said that what the Chileans are calling the Astroinformatics Initiative to harness the potential of astrodata could enable Amazon Web Services access to the research that astronomers are doing on projects like the LSST. "We are going to have to go through a huge database of billions of stars to find the three stars that an astronomer wants," Smith said, adding that was not too different from searching a database of billions of people to find the right profile for a targeted advertisement. "So a tool that might get developed in LSST or the astronomical world could be applicable for Amazon in their commercial world." Since speaking to Reuters, Smith has moved on from his job heading AURA to a new position at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Amazon's role in the astrodata project would also give it an entry into a market where it is seeking to expand. Amazon which controls nearly one-third of the global cloud computing business, ahead of rivals Microsoft and Google has struggled to lure public institutions in Latin America, including research facilities, to store their data online instead of on physical machines. AWS declined to provide any information on the size of its regional business in Latin America. Economy Minister Jose Ramon Valente said at last week's announcement, "Chile has enormous potential in its pristine skies not only in the observation of the universe but also in the amount of data that observation generates." The retrial of a Blackwater security guard alleged to have participated in a 2007 massacre of unarmed Iraqi civilians ended Wednesday in a hung jury. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared a mistrial after the jury said it remained deadlocked after more than two weeks of deliberations in the case of Nicholas A. Slatten. Slatten was accused of firing the first shots of a one-sided firefight on Sept. 16, 2007, in Baghdad's Nisour Square. Armed Blackwater personnel fired machine guns and threw grenades into traffic, killing or injuring 31 people. Since that time, the U.S. Justice Department has been trying to hold the Blackwater employees involved in the incident responsible. In 2014, Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Last August, a federal appeals court threw out that conviction and ordered a new trial. Two active members of Russian military intelligence were sent to Britain in March to poison a former spy, Britain's prime minister told Parliament on Wednesday after prosecutors charged two Russian nationals with conspiracy and attempted murder. Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were hospitalized after being found collapsed on a bench outside a shopping mall in the southern British city of Salisbury. Investigators determined they were sickened by a Soviet-designed nerve agent called Novichok. Prime Minister Theresa May said the two assassins were officers of the GRU intelligence service and that their actions were almost certainly approved "at a senior level of the Russian state.'' "This was not a rogue operation,'' she told lawmakers after police released photos of the suspects as they traveled through London and Salisbury before flying back to Moscow from Heathrow Airport on the evening of March 4, hours after the Skripals were poisoned. Sue Hemming, director of Legal Services at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with using Novichok in violation of chemical weapons law; conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal; and the attempted murder of both Skripals and a British police officer who was also poisoned. While Britain has blamed Russia for the attack since early in the investigation, Russia has repeatedly and strongly denied any involvement. Russian officials said they did not recognize the suspects. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the names and images of Petrov and Boshirov "say nothing to us.'' Hemming said Britain would not be asking Russia to extradite the men because that country's constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals. But she said a European Arrest Warrant had been issued in case they traveled to any participating nations. China is finding Vietnam to be a tough partner as Chinese firms try to do more business with the long-time political rival along its southern border. Vietnams legislature, faced with public protests, has put off until May 2019 a bill that would let Chinese and other foreign investors use special economic zones. The government in Hanoi also warns against taking out preferential loans from China for infrastructure development. It has cautioned as well against Chinese development aid. Still, the Vietnamese are allowing a surge of private business with China as it benefits their country, experts say. In one sign of that trend, Chinese companies are setting up factories in Vietnam to dodge the Sino-U.S. trade dispute, said Maxfield Brown, senior associate with the business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City. In a separate development, companies along the border from October can settle deals in Chinese yuan per popular demand as trade increases, the Viet Nam News reported in August. My general take is that economic relations between the two countries will get stronger in the next five years partly because of Americas more America-first attitude to Asia Pacific, but also theres just a lot of economic benefits, said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi. Tough business partner Deals that quickly help Vietnamese without the risk of giving China any control of their economy will work, while others will face a backlash, analysts expect. This dynamic may frustrate China, which is used to easing political disputes with other countries by offering benefits from its $12 trillion-plus economy, the worlds second largest, analysts say. Countries unhappy with China sometimes turn to its chief geopolitical rival the United States for help. The reason why the increased inflow of Chinese invest[ment] in Vietnam is noteworthy is that it is occurring in spite of the Vietnamese publics unfavorable attitude toward Chinese economic influence and penetration, said Fabrizio Bozzato, a Taiwan Strategy Research Association fellow specialized in East Asia. Chinas policy of economic engagement in Vietnam reflects (Chinese) President Xi Jinpings vision of a new improved relationship with Vietnam, he said. Since Beijing lost a World Court arbitration in 2016 over the legal basis for its South China Sea claims, it has stepped up economic relations with the most vociferous counterclaimant, Vietnam. Many Vietnamese also resent China because of previous border disputes, which led to clashes in the 1970s. In 2014, Vietnamese rioted against Chinese companies after a boat-ramming incident in the sea. This June, protests against the special economic zone bill prompted legislators to delay it. Vietnamese want economic action but without becoming a satellite of China, McCarty said. Cooperation and struggle Since 2003 Vietnam has built ties with major powers on a policy of cooperation and struggle, said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. This meant cooperation when it suited Vietnams economic interests and struggle, opposing a country when it infringed on Vietnams national interests, he said. Todays Vietnam is cautious about applying for loans from Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Le Hong Hiep, a fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, in a March research paper. The Belt and Road is a $1 trillion campaign to build infrastructure and trade routes around Eurasia. Countries such as Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have allowed China to get involved in more local development work. Vietnam may test Chinas initiative by applying for a couple of pilot projects, Le said. China cares about how Vietnam reacts, he added. As the BRI is about Chinas stature as a benevolent rising power, Vietnams diplomatic support for it will still matter to China, he said. Private trade, investment Private business from China is growing, and the Vietnamese government accepts company partnerships so local firms can become competitive, Brown said. Chinese companies are often bigger and better connected offshore. Chinese investment in Vietnam reached 7.7 percent of the total from other countries in 2016 at $1.88 billion after a steady rise since 2021. Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are among Vietnams top sources. Trade with China came to $93.8 billion last year and grew another 28.8 percent in the first half of 2018. Chinese firms are setting up factories in Vietnam, particularly now, to avoid paying higher tariffs for exports to the United States as required for goods shipped from China, analysts in Vietnam say. These investments play into Vietnams hands as it seeks factory investment to sustain economic growth of 6.8 percent last year. For this particular situation, the tables have kind of turned, Brown said. Chinas traditionally been a much larger economy and deals with Vietnam in a way where they expect Vietnam to want to work with them. Theyre in a position of weakness coming in. The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is hopeful that talks in coming days with delegations from the government of Yemen and Houthi rebels will lead to full-blown peace negotiations. Thursdays formal consultations will be the first time in two years that Yemens warring parties will meet. Griffiths calls this an opportunity to restart talks. Griffiths does not underestimate the difficulties ahead, but said it will be important to focus on confidence-building measures to reactivate the peace process. Confidence-building measures are designed partly to help build this trust through agreements on them, partly to actually deliver some benefits for the people of Yemen and partly to send a signal to the international community and the people of Yemen that something is happening, Griffiths said. People of Yemen, like in any other conflict are desperately in need of a signal of hope. The United Nations calls Yemen the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. It reports more than 16,000 civilians have been killed and injured and more than 22 million are in need of humanitarian aid. The war in Yemen is now in its fourth year. Griffiths said the government delegation has arrived, but the Houthis have been delayed in Yemen and probably will arrive in Geneva on Thursday. In the meantime, Griffiths said he will hold informal talks with the government delegation. When the Houthis arrive, he said he hopes the two parties will hold discussions in the same room, although that is not a necessity. We need to discover what the sticking points are, Griffiths said. We need to discover in this kind of formal, informal setting what the parties are prepared to do and what they are prepared to prioritize, both in terms of substance, which will come in a later round and in terms of these confidence-building measures. Griffiths acknowledges it is not easy for the opposing delegations to come together, given all that has happened during the war. But, he said, it takes a lot of courage for them to come to the table to explore avenues toward peace. The war pits the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, based in the south and backed by Saudi Arabia, against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls the north including the capital, Sanaa. Ben Judah is the author of This Is London and Fragile Empire, a contributing writer at Politico, and an expert at the Hudson Institute. His think tank project on modern-day kleptocracy was recently targeted in a cyberattack that Microsoft has linked to the Fancy Bear (ATP28) hacking unit associated with Russian military intelligence. Judah spoke the Voice of America about the attack on the various right-leaning think tanks, Senate groups, and the current similarities between Moscow and Washingtons political climates. Question: What happened at the Hudson Institute? Why was your research targeted? Ben Judah: There is a lot I cant discuss due to security procedures in place. But what happened is that Microsoft revealed that a series of think tanks and conservative organizations had been targeted by Russian hackers, including, specifically, the program that I had been working on. Prior to that my own computer had been attacked from a Russian-speaking country. I actually think this is more widespread than people realize. The computers with journalists and think-tankers, dealing not just with Russia, but with Iran, or Turkey, or China, are being targeted far more frequently than talked about. Q: Should there be more awareness of this problem? Should news organizations, and journalists themselves, be establishing better security protocols? BJ: When the Russian hackers targeted the think tank project, they created a clone website, so that people would sign up for it and give their details. People trying to read or engage with the work would have their information compromised in this manner. We didnt know it was happening, so it wasnt an issue of our security procedures. And there was no way to find out, apart from frantically Googling yourself all of the time and name-searching yourself in different corners of the internet. Q: What were the goals of the attack on the Hudson Institute? BJ: I cant be entirely sure, but I would assume that they wanted to know the identities of people interested in the work that the think tank was doing on anti-kleptocracy. They wanted to know who was subscribing to it, who was checking it, and who was collaborating with the project. And what the project has been doing is pushing reform on the U.S. legal and financial systembecause it argues that the corruption cases that are linked to the administration of President Donald Trump and to Russia are rather a systemic problem in the U.S. Q: Could intimidation be another factor? Particularly intimidation of researchers or journalists who rely on trips to Russia for their work? Visa issues, for example, can routinely come up for people like that. BJ: What Im doing at the moment doesnt really involve travel to Russia. Its more to do with the U.S. legal and financial systems, and how shell companies, for example, allow foreign kleptocrats, not only Russian kleptocrats, to abuse the U.S. system. But I also think that intimidation could be a part of the rationale here. Q: You recently wrote a piece for The Atlantic talking about the similarities between the political climate in Moscow and in Washington. What has changed in D.C. to make such a comparison possible? BJ: Since the election of Trump, a lot of things [in Washington] have started to remind me of how power behaves in Moscow: endless discussions of the Trump family, the blurring of business interests and executive power, the intensity of the propaganda, politics revolving around one man, increased paranoia amongst journalists and policy operativesnot groundless paranoia, I would say, about being potentially targeted or hackedthe hysteria about foreign influence and foreign interference in politics... All of that reminds of the atmosphere in Moscow. Another aspect of this is that while working as a journalist in Moscow, I had to face the fact that even if I got an interview with lowly ministers or chairmen of committees or Federation Council senators, I wasnt talking to people with power vested in their hands. Because it was far more a world of oligarchs and TV propaganda all linked to the Russian president, and there is something of that Ive noticed developing in Washington. Previously influential people, people linked into policymaking systems, just dont have the influence [in Washington] right now, and people who are influencing the president are his family and his top propagandists, as well as other oligarchs. Q: What is your advice for people in Washington who are dealing with this climate, a climate most Americans simply arent used to? BJ: Be careful of what you keep on your computer and your phone. Have sensitive information? Use pen and paper. An international money transfer company has launched an online service for East Africans to send and receive money more easily. Analysts say WorldRemit will lower the cost of transferring money and boost African trade and economies. Africa has become a thriving market for money transfer companies as its telecommunication facilities improve and its economies grow. WorldRemit, a British-based money transfer company, recently launched a new digital service in four East African countries. The company facilitates the transfer of at least $1.6 billion to Africa each year. The co-founder and the head of WorldRemit, Ismail Ahmed, told VOA how money transfers in Africa have changed over the years. When we launched our services, 99 percent of remittances were cash both on the sending and receiving side. But today that is changing fast and in the next few years we think as much as 50 to 60 percent of international remittances would move from traditional physical cash, traditional remittances, to digital. And thats why our services has grown very fast in the last few years, he said. Ahmed said that as transactions become digital, the cost of each transfer comes down, and tracking money becomes easier. Its easier for businesses and individuals to move within countries but also across countries. Its easier to fight financial crime because once the transaction becomes digital, there is an audit trail compared to cash where there is no audit trail," he said. Gerrishon Ikiara is an international economic affairs lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He said digital money transfers will boost trade within Africa -- but notes that some countries still lack the necessary connections. Obviously, the main challenge is the level of infrastructure, because a country without the good infrastructure in terms of electricity and telecommunication infrastructure will make it a bit difficult, said Ikiara. The World Bank says $37.8 billion was sent to Africa through remittances in 2017. This year, the amount is expected to be $39 billion. As legislators grill Silicon Valley executives over Russian hacking ahead of midterm elections, some observers say the debate over expanded government oversight is far from over. On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met with legislators in Washington ahead of today's hearing, where Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg answered questions about cybersecurity before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee's ranking Democrat, told The Washington Post's Tony Romm that the hearing aims to "to sound the alarm that what happened in 2016, as we've seen, was not a one-off." In recent weeks, Microsoft reported that it had disabled six Russian-launched websites masquerading as U.S. think tanks and Senate sites. Facebook and the security firm FireEye revealed influence campaigns, originating in Iran and Russia, that led the social network to remove 652 impostor accounts, some targeting Americans. The office of Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said hackers tied to a "nation-state" had sent phishing emails to old campaign email accounts. Hacking attempts Newly reported attempts at infiltration and social media manipulation which Moscow officially denies point to Russia's continued interest in meddling in U.S. politics. While observers say there is no clear evidence of Kremlin efforts to disrupt midterms, it nonetheless appears hackers outside the American political system are probing for a way in. "What's interesting about this is that the Russians have shown here that they are not at all partisan in this," said David Sanger of The New York Times, who first reported on Microsoft's account of the latest attacks, in which company officials seized website domains created by the Kremlin-linked hacker group known as Fancy Bear or APT28 the same group that federal investigators and private cybersecurity firms blamed for the 2016 election hack. The phony sites, designed to emulate the Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute, surreptitiously routed users to pages built by hackers to steal passwords and log-in credentials. The aim, Sanger said, is to disrupt institutions that challenge Moscow or Russian President Vladimir Putin. "They are pursuing their own national interests, going after think tanks that have taken positions that the Russians find uncomfortable or threatening, whether it's the use of sanctions or promotion of democracy or pursuit of kleptocrats," Sanger told VOA. The extent to which Microsoft coordinated with federal investigators to thwart the latest attack wasn't clear, he said. "I'm not sure whether they gave the government an advance heads up, but the nature of cyber now is that you hear about these [attacks from the] companies before you hear about them from government," Sanger added. In recent months, legislators on both sides of the aisle have expressed willingness to regulate how U.S. tech companies safeguard themselves against intrusions. But analyst Ben Nimmo of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab says the Microsoft takedown bodes well for the private sector's ability to prevent attacks independently. "This is something we've seen over the last couple of months tech companies have been much more forward-leaning in their attempts to prevent this kind of interference," Nimmo told VOA. "We had Microsoft coming out up front and saying we've just stopped this attack, and they actually attributed it directly to Fancy Bear, which is very striking that they're actually confident in making that direct attribution. A couple of weeks ago, we had Facebook coming out and exposing a number of inauthentic accounts, which had some connections with the troll farm in St. Petersburg," he added, referring to the Internet Research Agency linked to the 2016 U.S. election hack. "About a month before that, we had Twitter coming out and releasing a list of handles that it had traced back to the troll farm." A troll farm is a group of people who attempt to create disruption in an online community by posting comments online that are deliberately inflammatory or provocative. US, European action With all of the recent activity on the platform side, Nimmo said the question is "what are we going to see on the government level?" More specifically, what can the West can do in order to pressure the Russian government and does the West have the political will to do it? If nothing else, the latest attacks are likely to embolden U.S. and European lawmakers to pass additional sanctions. "Although I think we need to fully understand the scope of this activity that Microsoft has reported, it clearly demonstrates that Russia is not in any way pulling back from the techniques that it used in 2016," said Alexander Vershbow, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and a former NATO deputy secretary general. "If anything, it's broadening its target to include conservative think tanks and organizations like the Hudson Institute, and so I think you can say right now, at a minimum, it would give momentum to congressional efforts to tighten the sanctions even further," added Vershbow, who also has been a U.S. ambassador to Russia, South Korea and NATO. "It may also strengthen the hand of administration officials as they consult with Europe in trying to push the Europeans to tighten their sanctions as well." Retired Marine General Jim Jones, former national security adviser during the Obama administration, said although sanctions can be effective in the short term, long-term national security depends on safeguarding cyber infrastructure itselfand internationally regulating its deployment in the same way that trade and military practices are regulated. Because of the progress many countries have achieved in technology, it allows them to do things that are unregulated," he told VOA. "There is no treaty on cyber security; technology has outstripped our capacity to regulate it, both here [in the U.S.] and internationally." Until regulatory treaties are established, Jones said, "we are locked in this free for all, where countries like China, like Russia, Iran, and, to a certain extent, North Korea, can use this new type of competitive warfare21st century warfareto penetrate our culture, to penetrate our intellectual properties, our science and technology and keep abreast of the West. "I think for the foreseeable future what we are looking at is getting into a world that is competitive in the network sense," he added. "This first country that achieves security where the networks are impenetrable will walk away with the prize of the 21st century. I really mean this in a serious way. This is where we are, this is where the competition is. Until that day comes, individuals targeted by foreign hackers, such as the Hudson Institute's Russian kleptocracy expert Ben Judah, no amount of new sanctions, international regulatory statutes or malware detection will ever be enough. "Be careful of what you keep on your computer and on your phone," Judah told VOA in an extended interview. "Have sensitive information? Use pen and paper." Following Wednesday morning's Senate hearing, Twitter CEO Dorsey will appear solo before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he'll be asked to address allegations of political censorship. 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. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Facebook and Twitter executives insisted at a Senate hearing Wednesday that they were aggressively trying to identify foreign actors who wanted to inflict damage on the U.S. before the November midterm elections. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told the Senate Intelligence Committee her company was "now blocking millions of attempts to register false accounts each and every day" and was "making progress on fake news." She said the company's recent efforts were "starting to pay off" but added, "We cannot stop interference by ourselves." Sandberg said Facebook was "working with outside experts, industry partners and governments, including law enforcement, to share information about threats and prevent abuse" to avert further interference in American elections. Social media companies are under pressure over foreign meddling in U.S. elections, the spread of disinformation, privacy and censorship. Congress has criticized social media companies during the past year as it became clear they were on the front lines during Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and beyond. WATCH: Facebook, Twitter, Step Up Defenses Ahead of Midterm Election Special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians earlier this year on charges stemming from plans to disrupt the 2016 election by creating bogus accounts that circulated divisive issues on social media. The indicted Russians are members of the GRU, a Russian Federation intelligence agency. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said that his company was "unprepared and ill-equipped" for the foreign influence campaigns but that it had intensified its efforts to eliminate phony accounts to prevent "hostile foreign influence." "We're identifying and challenging 8 million to 10 million suspicious accounts every week, and we're thwarting over a half-million accounts from logging into Twitter every single day," he said. Dorsey also said Twitter was continuing to find accounts that might be linked to the Russians, noting that 3,843 accounts had been suspended and that the company had seen recent activity. Googles parent, Alphabet Inc., refused to send its top executive to Wednesday's hearing, prompting sharp words from some senators for Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, suggested the company might have bailed because it was arrogant, while Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, expressed outrage about the absence. Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner said at the hearing that social media giants "were caught flat-footed by the brazen attacks on our election" and expressed doubt that the companies were adequately confronting the problem. "I'm skeptical that, ultimately, you'll be able to truly address this challenge on your own," Warner said. "Congress is going to have to take action here." Despite such skepticism from lawmakers, a key U.S. military official said Wednesday that he was encouraged by the actions companies like Facebook and Twitter had taken in advance of the midterm elections. "This is where social media companies can impose a cost against our adversaries," U.S. Cyber Command's General Paul Nakasone told a security conference in Washington. "This is an ability that I think, uniquely, they are stepping up to." Nakasone, who also heads the National Security Agency, also said he was not prepared to give up on companies that have been hesitant to take action, calling continued engagement critical. "We can't run from it. We can't hide from it," he said, warning that adversaries like Russia and even nonstate actors "continue to have an ability to up their game." While Congress has forced social media companies during the past year to focus more on the Russian interference issue, it took several months last year for Facebook and Twitter to acknowledge they had been manipulated. Many social media companies have made policy changes that caught and banned numerous malicious accounts during the past year. But free services that find out as much about users as possible remain unchanged, prompting critics to say social media companies will continue to contend with bad actors manipulating their systems unless they change. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in a Washington Post opinion piece on Tuesday that his company found out too late in 2016 there were "foreign actors running coordinated campaigns to interfere with America's democratic process." He said the company had since made improvements, such as "finding and removing fake accounts" and misinformation. But Zuckerberg warned that Facebook and other social media companies faced "sophisticated, well-funded adversaries who are getting smarter over time, too. It's an arms race, and it will take the combined forces of the U.S. private and public sectors to protect America's democracy from outside interference." Over the past year, three-fourths of all Facebook users have adjusted their privacy settings, taken weeks-long breaks from the platform or deleted Facebook apps from their cellphones, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The survey was conducted May 19-June 11, after revelations that the former consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had gathered data on tens of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge. House hearing Later Wednesday, Twitter's Dorsey was headed to a House committee hearing focused on Republican complaints that social media companies have shown evidence of bias against conservatives. In testimony released before that hearing, Dorsey denied that Twitter uses political ideology to make decisions. Some Republicans have contended that Twitter is shadow banning some in their party because of the ways search results have appeared. Twitter has rejected the assertions. Dorsey was the lone invitee to the House hearing. While all three tech companies have been accused of being biased against conservatives, the more public-facing nature of Twitter has made it an easier target. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. Top Twitter and Facebook executives will defend their companies before U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday, with Facebook insisting it takes election interference seriously and Twitter denying its operations are influenced by politics. But no executive from Alphabet's Google is expected to testify, after the company declined the Senate Intelligence Committee's request to send one of its most senior executives, frustrating lawmakers. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, appearing alongside Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, will say that her company's efforts to combat foreign influence have improved since the 2016 U.S. election, according to written testimony released Tuesday. "The actions we've taken in response ... show our determination to do everything we can to stop this kind of interference from happening," Sandberg said. The company is getting better at finding and removing "inauthentic" content and now has more than 20,000 people working on safety and security, she said. Technology executives have repeatedly testified in Congress over the past year, on the defensive over political influence activity on their sites as well as concerns about user privacy. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been looking into efforts to influence U.S. public opinion for more than a year, after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Kremlin-backed entities sought to boost Republican Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House in 2016. Moscow has denied involvement. Google offered to send its chief legal officer, Kent Walker, to Wednesday's hearing, but he was rejected by the committee, which said it wanted to hear from corporate decision-makers. 'Don't understand the problem' Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the committee's Republican chairman, said he expected the hearing would focus on solutions to the problem of foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections and sow political discord, with a jab at Google. "You don't understand the problem if you don't see this as a large effort from whole of government and the private sector," Burr told reporters at the Senate. Google said Walker would be in Washington on Wednesday and be available to meet with lawmakers. On Tuesday it released written "testimony" describing the company's efforts to combat influence operations. Twitter's Dorsey also will testify at a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday that the company "does not use political ideology to make any decisions," according to written testimony also made public Tuesday. Dorsey will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, addressing Republican concerns about how the social media platform polices content. "From a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform," Dorsey said. Conservative Republicans in Congress have criticized social media companies for what they say are politically motivated practices in removing some content, a charge the companies have repeatedly rejected. Trump faulted Twitter on July 26, without citing any evidence, for limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans through a practice known as shadow banning. Democratic Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island blasted Wednesday's hearing and his Republican colleagues, calling claims of political bias baseless. "There is no evidence that the algorithms of social networks or search results are biased against conservatives. It is a made-up narrative pushed by the conservative propaganda machine to convince voters of a conspiracy that does not exist," Cicilline said. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned Southern African officials meeting in Zimbabwe to better prepare for expected drought or risk food security. About an hours drive south of Harare, 62-year-old maize farmer Leo Yuma is tending to his land. With the rainy season expected in just weeks, Yuma with no irrigation facilities for his maize field - said he cannot sit still as drought is expected. He said all his children are unemployed so they all depend on farming for survival. "I do not irrigate I depend on the rains. I cant dictate to God what to do. I will depend on his rains for my maize." Back in Harare, the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is warning southern African officials that investment not prayer is needed to prepare for drought. At a three-day meeting on ending hunger, the FAO warned Southern African nations must take measures to deal with dry conditions or risk food security. Patrick Kormawa is coordinator for the FAO in southern Africa. Drought is with us. This is one peculiar issue that countries have to take into consideration; you do not wait for prediction before you put any measures to mitigate drought. This sub-region only 7 percent of the arable land is irrigated, which is about 34 million hectares. That is not acceptable. Investment in irrigation is very, very important. Investment in climate resilient agriculture is very important, he said. Kormawa said there is about a 40 percent chance the region will be hit again this year by the El Nino weather pattern with high temperatures and low rainfall. The last El Nino-induced drought from 2014-2016 led to 40 million people requiring food assistance across southern Africa. Madagascar and Zimbabwe were among some of the worst hit countries. Firefighters found bone fragments from a collection in the still-smoldering National Museum, an official said Tuesday, raising hopes that a famed skull might somehow have survived a massive blaze that turned historic and scientific artifacts to ashes. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. Aerial photos of the main building showed only heaps of rubble and ashes in the parts of the building where the roof collapsed. The firefighters found fragments of bones in a room where the museum kept many items, including skulls, said Cristiana Serejo, the museums vice director. We still have to collect them and take them to the lab to know exactly what they are. In its collection of about 20 million items, one of the most prized possessions is a skull called Luzia, which is among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas. Museum spokesman Marcio Martins noted that the collection contains hundreds of skulls, and all material would first need to be examined by the Federal Police, who are investigating the still-unknown cause of the fire. Experts will then examine them to determine their identity. Some objects were rescued from the flames on Sunday night by a professor who rushed into the blaze. Paulo Buckup, a professor of zoology at the museum, recounted Tuesday how he and a few other people pulled out mollusks and marine specimens, going into and out of the building several times until it became too dangerous. He said the group tried to identify in the dark the most irreplaceable objects, but said they only saved a minuscule portion of the heritage that was lost. Many have already said that regardless of what is salvaged, the loss will be immeasurable. Marina Silva, a candidate for president in upcoming elections, called it a lobotomy of Brazilian history. The Globo newspaper wrote in an editorial published Tuesday: The size of the catastrophe is vast: It struck the national memory, through the loss of the important historical collection; it affected the sciences, interrupting research; and it represents a cultural loss impossible to quantify. We only know that it is enormous. The disaster has led to a series of recriminations about who was to blamed, and it has raised concerns that other institutions might be at risk. The national development bank announced Tuesday that it would make $6 million available for museums looking to upgrade their security or fire-prevention plans. Investigators were first allowed to enter the main building Monday, but it is still off-limits to researchers. Instead, some scientists were focusing attention on an annex on the site, where vertebrate specimens were housed. The fire didn't reach the area, but it caused the electricity to fail, threatening some artifacts, said Marcelo Wexler, a researcher in the vertebrate department. We have animals that need to be frozen, and they were rotting without electricity, Wexler said. In a sign of the enormity of the task ahead, a man created a stir when he arrived on the scene carrying a document he said belonged to the institution that he had found across the street. A group of journalists crowded in to see the piece of paper, which was burned at the edges and contained printed text and was in a clear plastic folder. It was not clear what it was or if it was authentic. I came here to give it back. I am sure there is much more that flew around,'' said Felipe Silva, who said he was a guard at the museum. Even as efforts turned to searching the rubble, firefighters were still occasionally directing water at the building, where some embers were still burning. Eduardo Rosse, a fire official, said that was normal for a blaze of this size. Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, a museum official, said Monday that anything held in the main building was probably destroyed, and Serejo told the G1 news portal that 90 percent of the collection may have been destroyed. But on Tuesday, she held out some hope, telling journalists that staff members were reasonably optimistic about finding some more items inside. She added that UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency, had offered financial and technical assistance. French and Egyptian officials also have offered help. The museum was home to Egyptian artifacts, and Egypts ministries of foreign affairs and antiquities have expressed concern over the fate of those objects. With the cause still under investigation, many already have begun to fix blame, saying years of government neglect left the museum underfunded and unsafe. Roberto Leher, rector of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, to which the museum was linked, said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repair. In fact, two years ago, federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro began investigating safety conditions in the building. The institution had recently secured approval for nearly $5 million for a planned renovation, including an upgrade of the fire-prevention system, but the money had not yet been disbursed. On Monday, government officials promised $2.4 million to shore up the building and promised to rebuild the museum. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Wednesday that the situation in Nicaragua risked deteriorating into another Venezuela or even Syria. "With each passing day, Nicaragua travels further down a familiar path," Haley told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation in the Central American country. "It is a path that Syria has taken. It is a path that Venezuela has taken." More than 300 Nicaraguans have been killed and hundreds injured since mostly peaceful protests erupted in mid-April after longtime President Daniel Ortega made cuts to the Social Security system. The cuts were quickly reversed, but the protests grew and turned into demands for him to step down. Haley said the Security Council could not remain a "passive observer" as Nicaragua continued to deteriorate "because we know where this path leads." "The Syrian exodus has produced millions of refugees, sowing instability throughout the Middle East and Europe," Haley said. "The Venezuelan exodus has become the largest displacement of people in the history of Latin America. A Nicaraguan exodus would overwhelm its neighbors and create a surge of migrants and asylum-seekers in Central America." Beyond borders Nicaragua's southern neighbor, Costa Rica, has seen a sharp increase in asylum-seekers since the political crisis began nearly five months ago. Ambassador Rodrigo Carazo told the council that his government received 400 asylum applications from Nicaraguan citizens in January, before the crisis erupted. In August, that number skyrocketed to over 4,000. So far this year, the Costa Rican government has received nearly 13,000 asylum applications from Nicaraguans, he said. "The deepening of the political, social and economic crisis, the repression, and the failure to respect fundamental freedoms and human rights shown by the authorities has the potential of an unbridled worsening of the crisis," Carazo warned. "And this can have a direct impact on the stability and the future of development in Central America." Civil society and human rights groups have reported abuses by police, the military and paramilitary groups, including arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violence, harassment and intimidation. 'A huge prison' "Today, Nicaragua has become a huge prison which seems to be without any controls," Nicaraguan civil society leader Felix Maradiaga told council members. "Every day, we see a climate of terror and indiscriminate persecution." Maradiaga warned that the situation was at risk of spinning out of control. "Today, there is a time bomb in Nicaragua," he said. "Crimes against humanity are creating an atmosphere conducive to internal conflict that can only grow in size." Last week, the Ortega government expelled the U.N.'s human rights officers in the country two days after their office published a report blaming the authorities for the violent repression of opposition protests. The Organization of American States has condemned the violence and human rights abuses and has urged the parties toward dialogue. The OAS has called for bringing elections forward to next year, instead of as planned for 2021. "When tensions like this are so high, and violence takes place in such a way in a society that leaves more than 300 people dead, you need to give the power back to the people to decide," OAS Chief of Staff Gonzalo Koncke told reporters. Koncke said the OAS has been working with the Ortega government to make the necessary electoral reforms. Pushing back Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada spoke at the session, telling council members his country is "a model" in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking in the region and has a growing economy. He criticized the U.S. for its past intervention in Nicaragua in the 1980s and urged it to pay compensation and "cease any type of aggression or intervention." Moncada said the current situation did not belong in the Security Council. "Its inclusion in this meeting is a clear case of interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua and a violation of the Charter of the United Nations, and indeed, international law." Council members Russia, China and Bolivia also vocally resisted holding the meeting, saying Nicaragua did not meet the threshold of being a threat to international peace and security. "Differences need to be resolved through direct, peaceful dialogue without pressure from abroad," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council. He characterized the council discussion as "a glaring and grim example of destructive foreign intervention." U.S. pressure on India to halt oil imports from Iran and shelve major defense purchases from Russia, countries that New Delhi sees as regional allies, will feature prominently as India and the United States prepare to hold a high-level dialogue aimed at shoring up political and strategic ties. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will meet their Indian counterparts, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in New Delhi on Thursday. Billed as the inaugural 2 plus 2 dialogue, the twice-postponed talks come amid efforts to deepen the partnership as both countries seek to counterbalance China. Waiver from US sanctions One of the priorities at Thursdays meeting will be firming up a key agreement that will pave the way for India to get access to high technology defense systems and allow their militaries to securely share information. The U.S. designation of India as a major defense partner in 2016 had opened the door to bolstering military cooperation. But there are some sticking points. India will be pushing for a waiver from U.S. sanctions that target countries that conduct a significant military transaction with Russia. New Delhi is in the final stages of negotiations with Moscow to purchase a $6 billion sophisticated air defense system that will provide high altitude protection from incoming missiles. Indian officials have indicated that New Delhi intends to push ahead with the deal with a country that has been one of its biggest defense suppliers. However, ahead of the dialogue, Randall Schriver, the Pentagons assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said that there was no guarantee that India would get a waiver and the United States would have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems from Russia. Still, analysts in the Indian capital are optimistic the two countries will find ways to work out their differences. To make this a deal breaker in Indo-U.S. relationship wont serve any purpose and I think mature minds understand this, said Harsh Pant at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. It is not going to be a case of India getting rid of its relationship with Russia just because Americans wants it to. Iran oil deal India has made no official comment on what it plans to do about its oil purchases from Iran, its third biggest supplier the United States wants all countries to end Iranian oil purchases by November. But while India maybe willing to curb supplies, there are worries in New Delhi that pressure to bring down imports to zero could damage longstanding ties with Iran, where it is building a strategic port that will give it access to landlocked Afghanistan. Security analyst Bharat Karnad, at New Delhis Center for Policy Research, said the threat of U.S. economic sanctions on countries doing business with Iran and Russia is a worry for India. That is the real problem. How far can you take this relationship if you have the Damocles sword of sanctions hanging over India? he asked. Countering China However, the widespread expectation in New Delhi is that despite the challenges, ties between India and the United States will maintain an upward trajectory. More than anything, the relationship is being driven by mutual concerns about Chinas growing military and economic clout. China is very much a security threat to both the United States and India, and I think we need to talk about meeting the challenge of China on so many fronts which have opened up recently, said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian foreign secretary. In a symbolic gesture, the U.S. military in May this year renamed its Hawaii-based American combatant command, which oversees the Pacific region, as the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. As ties have improved, the United States has also become a major arms supplier to India: Purchases of U.S. defense equipment are expected to reach an estimated $18 billion by next year. Pompeo and Mattis will also meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their visit. Josh Russell works as a systems analyst and programmer at Indiana University, has two daughters, and exposes Russian internet trolls in his spare time. Russell first became interested in the phenomenon of Russian trolls during the 2016 presidential election, when he noticed a large amount of misinformation distributed about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He noticed how many accounts spreading misinformation, ostensibly run by American activists, were, in fact, operating from abroad, and were linked up to now notorious Russian troll farms. Today Russell collaborates with many American journalists in the fight against fake information on the internet. Question: We recently learned that Russian hackers attacked some conservative U.S. organizations, the Hudson Institute, for example, and the International Republican Institute. What, in your opinion, is driving this? Joshua Russell: Any organization that investigates Russian interference in U.S. politics is a potential target for these kinds of attacks. Q: According to Microsoft, the attacks themselves failed. JR: Yes. But the result is not whats most important here. Hacker attacks and misinformation are being used to sow confusion and discord in our society. Q: You noticed this all the way back in 2016, when the majority of Americans did not grasp this. How did you realize what was happening? JR: I began to monitor the activity of fake activists online. For example, I found a group pretending to be a black activist groupbut something was weird about it. If you track the activities of the individual members of such groups, you realize they are being coordinated. When you dig deeper, you understand that they are operated from abroad. Trolls often make mistakesmaybe their English will be suspect, or, for example, an Instagram tied to a particular account is filled with suspicious info. The whole tangle is unraveled when you tug at loose strings. Q: How can an ordinary internet user spot a fake account? JR: If you see dubious information being posted, look at where it may have originated. Whats the source, and who else is distributing this information? Follow the trail of clues these guys inevitably leave behind. Q: It was reported that youve actually been threatened over your online activities before. Is this accurate? JR: Yes. It got to the point that someone sent me pictures of mutilated corpses. Q: Do you think it was Russian trolls or someone else? JR: See, we have a lot of people right here in the States who do not want to believe that Kremlin interference is real. Thats where a lot of this aggression stems from. Q: How do you respond to attempts at intimidation? JR: I'm more of a liberal than a conservative, but I live in Indiana. This means that I have weapons at home. I have not been threatened for a while, but when it did happen, before I blocked someone, Id send them a photo of my gun. It tends to have a sobering effect. Q: So this is a case of you talking to these people in their own language? JR: Yes, this is what you have to do. I used to be a bit of an internet troll myself, so I understand how trolling works, and the intended psychological effect. If you understand how it works, you know how to respond in an effective and yet tasteful way (laughs). Paul Manafort's second trial will remain in the District of Columbia, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the former Trump campaign chairman's attorneys had failed to show that thorough jury questioning and careful instructions couldn't ensure that both sides could pick an impartial jury in Washington. Manafort's attorneys had argued that the trial should be moved to Roanoke, Virginia, because the intensity of publicity in Washington made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial. But Jackson said the request appeared to relate more to concerns about the political affiliation of Washington residents, rather than a unique amount of pretrial publicity. Jackson's ruling clears the way for Manafort to be tried later this month on several felony charges related to his lobbying and political consulting work on behalf of Ukrainian political interests. It was the second time Manafort had been denied moving a trial away from the Washington metropolitan area. Manafort had made a similar unsuccessful request in his bank fraud and tax evasion trial in northern Virginia. A jury there convicted him on eight counts of filing false tax returns, failing to report foreign bank accounts and bank fraud. Jurors deadlocked on 10 other counts. In ruling against Manafort's request for a change of venue, Jackson said she could reconsider if they are unable to qualify enough jurors to proceed to jury selection in the case, scheduled to begin September 17. Jackson's announced her decision during a hearing in which prosecutors revealed that they are unsure whether Manafort's longtime deputy and fellow Trump campaign aide, Rick Gates, will testify at trial. Jackson also ruled that Manafort's defense couldn't introduce evidence about Gates' extramarital affairs, a topic that came out during his testimony during Manafort's trial in last month in Virginia. Gates, who worked directly for Manafort for years, took a plea deal earlier this year and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Manafort's defense spent a considerable amount of the Virginia trial painting Gates as a liar, philanderer and embezzler as they sought to attack the government's case. After the verdict last month, a juror in the case told news outlets that the jury agreed to throw out Gates' testimony because they found him unreliable. The juror, Paula Duncan, told Fox News that the jury relied largely on the paper evidence presented at trial, which was enough for her to vote to convict Manafort on all charges. The jury ultimately returned a split verdict because one juror held out due to reasonable doubt, she said. In the Washington case, Manafort is accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, conspiring to launder money and lying to the FBI and Justice Department about the nature of his work. He is also accused of tampering with witnesses in the case. A panel of federal judges formally backed off Tuesday on the idea of requiring a new congressional map for North Carolina's fall elections, one week after broaching the possibility when the judges declared the current lines illegal partisan gerrymanders. While declaring 12 of North Carolina's 13 districts violated the U.S. Constitution, the three judges had suggested ordering the Republican-dominated legislature or an outside expert to redraw the entire map, possibly by mid-September. They envisioned holding primaries for redrawn seats on Election Day, or perhaps having no primaries this year at all. The panel shelved those ideas after hearing from the parties in the lawsuit late last week. "We conclude that there is insufficient time for this court to approve a new districting plan and for the state to conduct an election using that plan prior to the seating of the new Congress in January 2019,'' the judges wrote in Tuesday's order. In particular, the election advocacy groups, the state Democratic Party and Democratic voters who were victorious in their lawsuits wrote that regretfully they opposed a quick fix for the fall because it would be "too disruptive and potentially counterproductive.'' Any new map also would have required weeks of preparation by state election officials to carry out. The state elections board also told the court there was essentially only one doable option holding a stand-alone congressional election a week before Christmas. Democratic prospects New boundaries may have helped Democrats be competitive in more seats on a map that Republicans approved in 2016 with a goal of preserving 10 of the seats for the GOP. Democrats nationally need to flip about two dozen Republican seats in November to take control of the House again. But the plaintiffs wrote last Friday that a rush to alter the map and hold an election on an unusual date could make it harder for Democrats to pick up seats in North Carolina in part by depressing voter turnout among young people and minorities. "Because these populations tend to support the Democratic Party, it is entirely possible that this proposal would actually hurt, rather than help, the electoral prospects of the Democratic Party exactly what the legislative defendants sought to do through the unconstitutional 2016 plan,'' they wrote. It wasn't surprising that attorneys for the Republican lawmakers who were sued fought any new map this fall. They say partisan gerrymandering claims are groundless and have never been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. They had asked the judges to delay the enforcement of last week's ruling and filed a notice of appeal to the Supreme Court. Attorneys for some of the plaintiffs wrote earlier Tuesday that they would be willing to accept a delay as long as a schedule is in place to make it likely for the Supreme Court to hear the cause during the upcoming term if the justices chose to do so. That would mean a ruling by next June that affirms the lower-court decision would leave time for a redraw well before the 2020 elections, the attorneys wrote. In Tuesday's order, the three judges also asked for more responses to the GOP lawmakers' delay request by late Wednesday. The same three-judge panel declared unconstitutional the state's congressional map last January, but the Supreme Court returned the case to the judges in June to review in light of a Wisconsin case. Reality television star Kim Kardashian West, who successfully pushed President Donald Trump to grant a pardon for a drug offender earlier this year, returned to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with senior aides as part of the administration's efforts on criminal justice reform. Kardashian West, who may have felt right at home with the drama-infused atmosphere in the West Wing as it grapples with the fallout from Bob Woodward's new book, participated in a listening session on clemency and prison reform with several staffers, including the president's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. "The discussion is mainly focused on ways to improve that process to ensure deserving cases receive a fair review," according to Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary. Among the others in attendance were CNN commentator Van Jones, Shon Hopwood, a lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who has been instrumental in steering Trump's Supreme Court picks, including Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings have begun on Capitol Hill. But the headliner was Kardashian West, who last visited the White House three months ago to press for a pardon for 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson. At the time, the reality star, dressed in black, posed for an instantly iconic -- and seemingly somber -- photo with Trump in the Oval Office, though there were no plans for her to meet with the president on Wednesday. One week after Kardashian West's visit, Trump granted Johnson clemency, freeing her from prison after a more than two-decade stint on drug charges. "When I looked at Alice, I said we can't just stop with one person. We have to change the laws," Kardashian West said in a statement released by (hash)cut50, a group that looks to reduce incarceration time. The pardon for Johnson was one of several instances where the president has used his constitutional power to pardon federal crimes. Trump in May pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza and suggested he was considering a commutation for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a pardon for lifestyle guru Martha Stewart. He has not yet acted on either front. "We are working to build support for prison reform, sentencing reform, and fair treatment of people coming home from prison," said Van Jones. "When you have prominent people like Kim helping voiceless people behind bars -- like Chris Young who she is advocating for today -- that's incredibly powerful." Kardashian West on Tuesday told "Wrongful Conviction" podcast host Jason Flom that she's advocating for Young, who was sentenced to life without parole after being arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession. "It's so unfair. He's 30 years old. He's been in for almost 10 years," she said. Kardashian West later tweeted an image from the meeting, writing "It started with Ms. Alice, but looking at her and seeing the faces and learning the stories of the men and women I've met inside prisons I knew I couldn't stop at just one. It's time for REAL systemic change" Young was one of 32 people charged by federal prosecutors in a drug trafficking investigation. Prosecutors say he was buying cocaine or crack from a major drug supplier at a gas station in December 2010. He was convicted in 2013 on drug charges and also pleaded guilty to being a felon with a gun. Young, who was 26 at the time, received a life sentence in August 2014 from then-U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp, who has since left the bench and has very publicly opposed the mandatory minimum sentencing he had to hand down. "What I was required to do that day was cruel and did not make us safer," Sharp tweeted in June. Young previously had been arrested at both 18 and 19 on both felony and misdemeanor drug possessions charges. For those two arrests combined, he had been slated to serve 14 years through community corrections. Kushner has added prison reform to his broad portfolio, though others in the administration -- namely Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- support the toughest possible sentences for drug and other convictions. The president's son-in-law has had an interest in prison reform since his own father, Charles Kushner, was incarcerated for 14 months after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. TMZ first reported Kardashian West's White House visit Wednesday. VCCIs Yvonne Taiki taking on the importance of graduates in private sector and MoFA Mike Masauvakalo (r) Kite Runner" author Khaled Hosseini urged world leaders to "act with compassion" towards refugees as he launched his new book inspired by a Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Greece. Hosseini said on Wednesday there was a "deeply concerning" shift in attitudes in Europe where several countries have closed their borders and called for greater efforts to resettle those fleeing violence and reunite divided families. "I wrote "Sea Prayer" to pay tribute to those who have perished or gone missing at sea coming to Europe," said Hosseini at a book launch in London. The Afghan-American novelist, himself a former refugee, said that while the numbers arriving on European shores had fallen since the height of the refugee and migrant crisis in 2015, the Mediterranean had become more treacherous. One in 18 people have died attempting the central crossing this year, up from one in 42 last year. "Sea Prayer" is inspired by Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in September 2015, sparking a global outcry. "When I saw those devastating images ... my heart shattered," Hosseini, a father of two, wrote in a U.N. report this week on migrant deaths. "Yet, just three years on and despite thousands more people losing their lives at sea, our collective memory and urgency to do better seems to have faded." "Sea Prayer" is an imagined letter from a Syrian father to his son, on the eve of crossing the sea to Europe, who does not know if they will still be alive the next day. "The experience of being a refugee often is escaping one nightmare and falling into another," Hosseini said. Agonizing decision The writer, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), said he hoped to show the despair that pushes families to leave everything and hand their life savings to smugglers who have little regard for human life. "It's agonizing to leave your home," he told a public event on Tuesday night. "Those boats are vessels of desperation." "I think much of what we're seeing [in Europe] is based at least in part on a poor understanding of who refugees are ... and why exactly they are coming." He said there was a common misconception that refugees were opportunists seeking better jobs, but all the refugees he had met wanted to go home. Hosseini was particularly struck by one Afghan refugee he met on a recent trip to Lebanon who told him: "Even heaven is not home." The vast majority of refugees did not head west but chose to stay in countries neighbouring their own, Hosseini said, adding that one in six people in Lebanon was a Syrian refugee. He said governments must keep their borders open and do more to tackle the root causes of displacement, which would increasingly include climate change as well as conflict. Hosseini, whose novels have sold over 55 million copies, said stories like "Sea Prayer" could help humanize the issue. "We're a species hardwired to respond to storytelling. For us to understand something we have to care first, and for us to care first we have to feel something," he said. "If you just watch the news and just look at stats ... they have a way of blunting our emotional response." Hosseini said he was "really proud" that "The Kite Runner" the book that made his name had brought a more human face to Afghanistan. The novel, which tells the story of the friendship between a wealthy Afghan boy and the son of the family servant, was made into a film in 2007. Proceeds from the sale of "Sea Prayer," his fourth book, will go to the UNHCR and Hosseini's own foundation. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine black students who first integrated Little Rock's Central High School in 1957, walked to a bus stop bench Tuesday on the corner of 16th Street and Park Street as hundreds of people watched, much as she'd done exactly 61 years ago. This time, however, the onlookers weren't furious and violent white protesters who blocked her entrance to the high school, but friends and community members who gathered to watch Eckford and current Central High students dedicate a commemorative bench as part of the school's Civil Rights Memory Project. The 76-year-old Eckford told the crowd how lonely she'd felt that first day of school, and how local reporters had tried to shelter her from the angry protesters by forming a "human barrier." Today, she was "very, very happy" to return, she said, noting how important it is to discuss and learn from history. "I believe that we can only have true reconciliation after there has been an honest acknowledgment of the painful but shared past," Eckford said. Eckford also said how grateful she was to the students who led the bench construction effort. "I don't cry anymore when I'm talking about the past, and that is because of the efforts of students," she said. High school senior Adaja Cooper, who led reconstruction efforts, said she began to consider the idea of reconstructing the bench during 60th anniversary events last year when she heard oral histories from the Little Rock Nine. She saw pictures of Eckford on the bench and wanted to find it for herself. "I was looking for the bench all around Central, all around Little Rock. I couldn't find it so I was like, you know, we should just build it," Cooper said. She contacted architects and community partners, and after she spoke to the local rotary club, she said they donated $15,000 "on the spot." Cooper combined her project with other students' work with the Civil Rights Memory Project, including senior Morgan Hibbard, who was working to help create an audio walking tour app of the Little Rock Nine students' journey to school that day. The final stop on the walking tour, Cooper said, is Eckford's bench, so the projects naturally combined. The construction effort, which was in conjunction with the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and the National Park Service, among other partners, raised over $25,000, said Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford. After she spoke, Eckford sat on the bench, alone again. She posed for photos before she went to officially dedicate the bench with the students. As she cut the ribbon, which was black and gold for Central High's colors, she said how she'd long avoided wearing those painful colors. "But now I want a piece of this," Eckford said, and she cut a souvenir for herself. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. is watching to see if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons during its offensive on the rebel-held bastion of Idlib, noting Syrian opposition fighters are not able to carry out such attacks. We have zero intelligence that shows the [Syrian] opposition has any chemical capability, Mattis said. On the other hand, Mattis said there is evidence that President Bashar al-Assad has done this before and we are watching very closely for this. U.S. officials have warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe as the Syrian government moves in on the last remaining stronghold of Syrian rebels in the northwestern province of Idlib. An estimated three million people live in the area. Stefan de Mistura, the top U.N. envoy for Syria, has also warned of a perfect storm coming up in front of our eyes potentially. Assads government has been accused of repeatedly using chemical weapons during the seven-year-old war. Assad rejects the accusation, instead accusing rebels of using the chemical agents. The Trump administration has twice launched airstrikes against Syrias government in response to the chemical weapons attacks. Let us be clear, it remains our firm stance that if President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its Allies will respond swiftly and appropriately, said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. Mattis, who spoke en route to India, noted that the Islamic State group has made several sophomoric attempts to use chemical weapons in Iraq, but that they were generally failures. You know, a grenade with some kind of mustard agent in it or something, Mattis said. But nothing along the lines of what the white helmets and United Nations have seen exposed by the Assad regimes violation of the prohibition on chemical on chemical weapons. As he was sworn in to start a second term this week, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita promised to address insecurity in the northern and central parts of the country, caused by a continued Islamist insurgency. "I chose to place the re-establishment of peace and security at an absolute level of priority," the president told hundreds of supporters and diplomats during the inauguration ceremony in Bamako, the capital. But while the president may be starting a new term, the old foes that dogged him throughout his first term seem to be getting bolder. In June, gunmen attacked the headquarters of the G5 Sahel Force in Sevare, killing six people. In July, a French military patrol was ambushed in the northern city of Gao; four civilians were killed in a shootout. "Extremists are a threat to [Malian] democracy, a threat to our way of life," said Niankoro Yeah Samake, former Malian ambassador to India and one of the presidential candidates during the last elections. Expanding terror threat "Today in Mali, there are people and students who cannot go to school because of insecurity," said Aissatou Traore, a student living in Bamako. "There are towns and villages which are very dangerous to access, the population can't go anywhere because of insecurity," she told VOA. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., recently published a study on the situation in Mali, which noted the country is facing multi-layered security challenges. Wendy Williams, an analyst with the center, said the coalition of terror groups under the umbrella Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known as the JNIM, have stepped up their activities in parts of Mali. "They pose a significant threat to the security in the central and northern regions, considering they don't appear to be showing any signs of slowing down," Williams added. As if to underscore that warning, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday designated the JNIM as a terrorist organization. The move freezes any assets JNIM has under U.S. jurisdiction, and bans Americans from conducting any transactions with the group. "JNIM has described itself as al-Qaida's official branch in Mali and it has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks and kidnappings since it was formed in March 2017," said the announcement. Seven years of unrest Al Qaida-linked extremists hijacked the Tuareg rebellion that started in 2011 in northern Mali, capturing and occupying major cities like Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao, before France launched Operation Serval and drove them out into the vast, scarcely populated semi-arid countryside. "The specificity of the jihadi terrorist threat in Sahel is its cross-border dimension," the French Military Operations Press Office told VOA in a written statement. Because of the cross-border nature of the threat, the French military launched a regionwide military operation known as Barkhane against the militants. But, even with the 4,500 French troops conducting direct missions against terrorists, defeating the extremist threat in Mali remains elusive. "Mali continues to face a dire security environment," Kamissa Camara, chief foreign policy adviser to Keita, told VOA. The military front With one of its three permanent support bases strategically located in Gao, Operation Barkhane also has two other forward-operating bases in Kidal and Tessalit, where French land forces are deployed "to take action in the most remote areas of the region alongside partner forces," according to the French military. Mali also hosts the headquarters of the G5 Sahel Force, which the country established along with Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Chad to fight terror groups. The other military actor in Mali is the United Nations mission known by its acronym MINUSMA, which has been labeled the deadliest peacekeeping operation in the world. MINUSMA has over 15,000 military personnel and is designed to support the political process and help stabilize Mali. 'No peace if you are not ready for war' Mali's defense minister, Tienna Coulibaly, told VOA the priority for the government will be the implementation of the long-delayed 2015 Peace Agreement with armed rebels in the north. Camara agreed, saying that implementing it will undercut terrorists by strengthening the hands of the state in the north. "Its successful implementation will make former foes become allies in the fight against terrorist and jihadi groups," Camara said. Coulibaly said Mali is planning to deploy better-trained and better-equipped soldiers to the central region to contain the escalating insecurity. "Although Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, we believe that you can't have peace if you are not ready for war," the Malian defense minister added. For analysts like Alix Boucher of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the Malian government also needs to address other issues besides the military one. "The question won't be fighting only jihadi groups, but also providing security and building trust outside of Bamako, particularly in the center of the country, in a context where citizens have turned either to ethnic militias or sometimes to jihadi groups for dispute resolution and recognition," Boucher said. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday that she has read the Trump administration's much-anticipated Middle East peace plan. And while it is "getting close," it will not be rolled out later this month during the U.N. General Assembly, as some had predicted. "I can tell you that Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt have done unbelievably detailed work in it," Haley said of the two presidential advisers tasked with coming up with a plan to resolve one of the world's most intractable crises. "I have read the plan. It is thoroughly done. It is well-thought-out from both sides the Palestinians and the Israelis." Haley, who is also a member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, said she couldn't "say enough good things" about the proposal and warned that "there are a lot of false statements" circulating about it. She added that the proposal would only work if both sides would hear it, and urged the international community to put particular pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come to the table. "For the good of the Palestinian people, the region, the international community, we have to put pressure on Abbas and say it's time. It's time for a better life for the Palestinians," Haley said. "And only he can deliver that." The Trump administration has seen its relations go from bad to worse with the Palestinian Authority, peaking in December over the White House's decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Palestinians have also been infuriated with the administration's decision to cut off funding to the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees and efforts to redefine who is a Palestinian refugee. Haley told reporters at a news conference marking the United States' monthlong presidency of the U.N. Security Council that Trump would chair a meeting of the council on Sept. 26 on Iran. It will take place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly leaders' week. "It's hard to find a place that has conflict where Iran isn't in the middle of it, and we think that's a problem," Haley told reporters. "They've been ignored and given a pass for too long." Haley said it is time that Iran explains its actions in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. "That's the biggest reason for this meeting is that the world is watching," she said. Haley added that the administration would like to see Iran come into the mainstream and "be a valid country that wants to do good in the world." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be in New York for leaders' week. Under the rules of the Security Council, he could attend the session. Haley said she would not have a problem with that. Earlier, Russian deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a council meeting that he hoped the discussion of Iran would take place within the framework of the Iran nuclear deal, which the council endorsed after it was signed in 2015. The Trump administration received international criticism when it withdrew from the agreement in May. "We very much hope that there will be views voiced and aspects voiced in connection with the U.S.'s withdrawal from the JCPOA," Polyanskiy said, referring to the deal by its acronym. Top U.S. intelligence and defense officials caution the threat to the U.S. in cyberspace is not diminishing ahead of Novembers midterm elections despite indications that Russias efforts to disrupt or influence the vote may not match what it did in 2016. The warnings of an ever more insidious and persistent danger come as lawmakers and security officials have increasingly focused on hardening defenses for the countrys voter rolls and voting systems. It also comes as top executives from social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google prepare to testify on Capitol Hill about their effort to curtail the types of disinformation campaigns used by Moscow and which are increasingly being copied by other U.S. adversaries. The cyberthreat to the U.S. is not limited to U.S. elections, a point that is too often missed, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told a conference outside of Washington Tuesday. The weaponization of cybertools and the relative lack of global guardrails in a cyber domain significantly increases the risk that a discrete act will have enormous strategic implications. Foreign influence efforts online are increasingly being used around the globe, he added. Others ramp up attacks Government officials as well as those from private cybersecurity have said repeatedly over the past few months that they have not yet seen a repeat of what Coats himself described as the robust campaign Moscow launched in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Still, there are concerns that even if the Kremlin has eased its efforts, other countries and a variety of nonstate actors have ramped up their own campaigns, often learning from Russias 2016 exploits. I remain deeply concerned about threats from several countries to upcoming U.S. elections the midterms this year, the presidential elections in 2020 and beyond, Coats said. While the director of national intelligence did not name any countries in particular, other officials have previously pointed to China, Iran and North Korea as the main culprits. Two weeks ago, social media giants Facebook and Twitter announced they had removed hundreds of pages and accounts linked to a disinformation campaign that originated in Iran and targeted the U.S. as well as other countries. Once major attacks now normal U.S. cybersecurity officials warn that hacking, phishing attacks and disinformation campaigns have become increasingly popular tools for so-called bad actors and that they often escape the attention of the general public. One reason is that what might have been described as a major cyberattack 10 years ago is often seen now as part of the normal threat landscape. Weve crossed that threshold many, many times, said John Rood, the Pentagons undersecretary of defense for policy. We are in that environment where on a near daily basis we are being challenged with those activities. What worries him, he said, is not the cyberattacks on their own but the prospects of someone combining cyber with a more traditional type of attack on the U.S. homeland. Some of our allies or friends have experienced a combination of cyberactivities, manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum and physical air, land, sea domain [attacks], whether that be Ukraine or Georgia. Small attacks just as worrisome Yet other U.S. officials believe it is not the prospect of large-scale cyberattacks that should be the sole reason for concern. While I dont see a dramatic cyberattack coming at us, every day there are small ones, according to National Security Agency Deputy Director George Barnes. The problem is we focus on the big and the slow drip happens out the back, he said. And the slow drip is the continued theft of intellectual properties from our industries. Part of the problem, according to Barnes and other officials, is the extent to which government and industry in the U.S. in connected to and dependent on cyberspace, creating what they describe as a large and vulnerable attack surface. And despite government efforts to reach out to private companies to share information about the threats, and even about ongoing or imminent attacks, U.S. officials fear the current level of cooperation is still not enough. As a result, the U.S. is continually pummeled by nation state and non-nation state sponsored malicious cyber activity, Barnes said. In response to the growing pace of attacks, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies have become ever more vocal in identifying the perpetrators and calling attention to their exploits. Increasingly, they are also talking out loud about hitting back. We are not standing idly by, Coats said. Every kind of cyberoperation, malicious or not, leaves a trail, he said. Persistence on our part has enabled us to identify and publicly attribute responsibility for numerous cyber attacks and foreign influence efforts and then prepare for the response. The clock is ticking on two contests with nationwide consequences and Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat in one of the most Republican states in the country, is at the center of both. Heitkamp must retain her seat to give her party a fighting chance to wrest control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans, who currently hold a 51 to 49-seat majority. But she will also face a tough decision shortly before the November election that will play a role in guiding voters' decisions at the polls and that will impact American life for decades: the confirmation of a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Representing a state that voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by more than thirty percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, Heitkamp faces pressure from grassroots groups and individuals on both sides of the aisle. They're mobilizing to make their voices heard about the Supreme Court nominee, Federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and other issues during a mid-term election year. WATCH: How President Trump's Supreme Court Pick Roils One Rural State Voters in North Dakota know the unusual concurrence of a close Senate race and a high-stakes Supreme Court confirmation process gives them this unique opportunity. Blue-collar workers and farmers struggling to make ends meet, fiscal conservatives outraged by excessive Federal spending, pro and anti-abortion proponents are all reaching out to candidates to make their feelings known. Politicians aren't distant figureheads in North Dakota, one of the most sparsely populated states in the nation with 755,000 residents. North Dakota voters refer to their Senator simply as Heidi, greeting her without ceremony as she makes her way around a town park in Fargo on a recent humid summer night. Heitkamp's opponent, Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, chats up families just a few feet away. Heitkamp was considered for a job in Trump's cabinet but Cramer is the candidate the president has campaigned for during trips to Fargo this summer. The race between Heitkamp and Cramer will likely be extremely close. North Dakota's Senate race is rated as a toss-up by Cook Political report, an independent newsletter analyzing U.S. elections. A Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Cramer leading by half a point. Voters will judge Heitkamp, 62, a lawyer and former businesswoman, not only on her record as a first-term Senator but also for her decision on Kavanaugh. The prominent conservative judge could be the deciding vote on the U.S. Supreme Court on issues ranging from immigration to privacy rights to a possible challenge of Roe vs. Wade, the court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Trump's choice of Kavanaugh to succeed retired justice Anthony Kennedy also set up one of the closest pairings of a confirmation process and a nationwide election in modern U.S. history. Heitkamp is one of three Democratic senators facing reelection who voted to confirm Trump's previous Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch. If any moderate Republican Senators choose not to vote for Kavanaugh, the support of Democrats like Heitkamp will be crucial for securing his nomination. Heitkamp has not said how she will vote ahead of formal hearings that began in Washington on Tuesday (September 4.) "This is not a judge who is going to tell me how he's going to vote, nor should he on any particular case but it is someone that we have to properly vet," she told VOA of her process evaluating Kavanaugh ahead of the U.S. Senate's confirmation process. Her opponent told VOA one issue abortion did stand out, prompting North Dakota voters to push him into the Senate race. "It fired up so many North Dakotans, that they came to me and saidyou have to reconsider," Cramer said of the debate over a 2013 North Dakota law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Cramer, 57, a one-time state public service commissioner, said the Supreme Court confirmation debate has intensified the Senate race. "The SCOTUS [Supreme Court] decision has put an even greater national spotlight on North Dakota and caused a lot of North Dakotoans to look at their responsibility in light of the country," Cramer said. Legal analysts say Kavanaugh's confirmation could tip the ideological balance of the court, leading to the first major challenge of Roe v. Wade. "We're likely to see some greater limitation, perhaps even some erosion of the right to abortion because Kennedy notably voted with the liberal wing of the court relatively consistently to uphold the basic right to access abortion and there's a lot of concern that Justice Kavanaugh would not similarly vote in that vein," said Stacy Hawkins, Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School. In North Dakota, 47% of all adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study. Nationwide, the number of adults who say abortion should be legal in most cases is higher at 57%. New life for long-running debate "This state is certainly a red state," Mark Jorritsma, executive director of the Family Policy Alliance of North Dakota, told VOA. "It overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump and a whole bunch of people say we voted for Trump because of his ability to appoint someone who was pro-life, pro-family." The Family Policy Alliance is one of several grassroots groups that has rallied in front of Heitkamp's Fargo office this summer, encouraging her to confirm Kavanaugh as well as educating their neighbors on her record. "We have canvassers going out all over North Dakota," said Wendi Johnston, the eastern North Dakota field director for Susan B. Anthony List, a national network of 630,000 pro-life grassroots activists working to end abortion. "We have them reaching out to Senator Heitkamp and to telling them [voters] how she stands on life." Students for Life, the nation's largest pro-life student organization, with groups in 1200 high schools and college campuses in all 50 states, has also mobilized a campaign to confirm Kavanaugh. Noah Maldonado, the northern regional coordinator for the group, said despite Heitkamp's previous voting record on abortion legislation, he thinks groups like his will have an impact on her decision. "If you go into politics, it's your job to listen to your constituents," he said. "We have this system where if we elect someone as our leader, they have a duty to represent us well and there are lots of reasons to support Brett Kavanaugh even if someone has a 100% rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund." The political arm of Planned Parenthood, a non-profit providing reproductive health care, gave Heitkamp the 100% rating for a voting record that consistently supports abortion rights. Heitkamp voted against a nationwide ban on abortions after 20 weeks earlier this year as well as voting down an attempt to restrict access to abortions in private health plans. At Red River Clinic, the state's only facility for performing abortions, the consequences of Heitkamp's decision are clear. "In North Dakota, we have a trigger ban which means that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, our attorney general could say that abortion is no longer constitutional," said Tammi Kromenaker, the director of Red River Clinic. "That would mean that the most vulnerable women in our staterural women, poor women, women of color would not have access to abortion." Kromenaker noted that any challenge to Roe v. Wade would take at least a year to work through the courts. But she said pro-choice activists like herself are conducting their own letter-writing campaigns and events to educate voters on Heitkamp's decision. "We don't want to say that women in North Dakota are going to have less rights than their sisters in neighboring states," she said. "So we are doing everything in our power to highlight the issue, to let voters know that they need to have their voices heard." But Caitlin, a clinic employee who has worked to escort patients past protesters for ten years, said she realizes that election-year politics may play the greatest role in her Senator's decision. "Heidi is what we have," she said. "Heidi is the best that we've got right now and the best that we can hope for going forward until we have a new, progressive generation in power in North Dakota." Israel announced on Wednesday it would close its embassy in Paraguay and recall its ambassador after the South American country said it would move its embassy from the official Israeli capital of Jerusalem to the nearby city of Tel Aviv. In May, Paraguay moved its embassy to Jerusalem, following the United States and Guatemala. Palestinian media reported that new Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez decided to reverse the move after receiving pressure from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry. "Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East," Paraguayan Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said during the official announcement. Countries have long kept their embassies in Tel Aviv. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, so operating out of another city allows countries to avoid taking sides. President Donald Trump broke with tradition last December when the U.S. became the first country to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday called on Myanmar's government to reverse a court ruling that imprisoned two Reuters journalists for seven years and to release them immediately. The journalists were found guilty Monday on official-secrets charges in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta until 2011. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were investigating the killing by security forces of Rohingya villagers at the time of their arrest last December, and had pleaded not guilty. "Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commended 'not imprisoned' for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings. Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy," Pence wrote on Twitter. Pence is the most senior U.S. official to add his voice to an international outcry against the verdict by a Myanmar judge, who said the two had breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents. WATCH: Reporters' Lawyer: Harsh Sentence Will Tarnish Myanmar's Image In Yangon earlier Tuesday, the wives of the two journalists insisted that the men were innocent and called for them to be reunited with their families. "Deeply troubled by the Burmese court ruling sentencing 2 @Reuters journalists to 7 years in jail for doing their job reporting on the atrocities being committed on the Rohingya people," Pence wrote in another tweet. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that the United States would become more vocal about the two journalists' situation. Speaking at a news conference in New York marking the U.S. assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the Security Council for September, Haley said the reporters were "in prison for telling the truth." Mark Green, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said "these convictions are an enormous setback for democracy and the rule of law in Burma." Mounting pressure The verdict came amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on security forces in Rakhine state in west Myanmar in August 2017. More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh since then, according to U.N. agencies. The Rohingya, who regard themselves as native to Rakhine, are widely considered as interlopers by the country's Buddhist majority and are denied citizenship. Neither Suu Kyi nor her government have commented publicly on the case since the reporters were convicted. The journalists were arrested December 12 while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys and other abuses involving soldiers and police in the village of Inn Din. Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities against Rohingya by its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants. The military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters. A U.N-mandated fact-finding mission said last week that Myanmar's military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings. The International Criminal Court is considering whether it has jurisdiction over events in Rakhine, while the United States, the European Union and Canada have sanctioned Myanmar military and police officers over the crackdown. In her mother's eyes, Lucky truly is fortunate. The 5-year-old girl is learning social skills and her ABCs at a new preschool instead of playing at home or amid the maize and beans that her parents grow in Rwanda's eastern Bugesera district. "Seeing my daughter going to school makes me so happy," said Immaculate Zihinjishi, whose three older children didn't have access to formal early childhood education. The family also has a toddler. The preschool in the village of Kasebigege is a 10-minute walk from the family's home. It opened early this year, enrolling almost 120 youngsters ages 3 to 6. Like many countries around the globe, Rwanda wants to strengthen support for young children's education and development. As of 2011, the year the government announced a plan to increase the number of early childhood centers, just 10 percent of young children were enrolled in preschool programs though that was up from 6 percent the previous year, according to the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research-Rwanda, a nonpartisan research firm. The United Nations, in an undated report, puts the participation rate at 12 percent. The low-slung red brick school grew out of a joint philanthropic effort led by the heads of Paxful Inc., a U.S.-based digital platform for bitcoin transactions, and Zam Zam Water, a humanitarian organization promoting clean water and quality education. Paxful CEO Ray Youssef, who said he wants to encourage charitable giving in the cryptocurrency sector, launched the online #BuiltWithBitcoin fundraising initiative in 2017. He was impressed by the work of Zam Zam and its founder, Yusuf Nessary. 'A new world with crypto' Paxful's Youssef added that he was drawn to Rwanda as a site for the school, and specifically to Bugesera province, because it had overcome a painful history of genocide to become a model of forgiveness and living peacefully side by side. "I thought it was very poetic," Youssef told VOA, adding that he hoped to "show people a new world with crypto." Zam Zam had built wells in five villages in the province, earning the trust of the local government and residents. They donated land for the school, and Paxful and firms such as cryptocurrency company AnthemGold gave $50,000 worth of bitcoin for its construction. The building has three classrooms, four restrooms and a water tank. The preschool has free tuition and all-English instruction, with its handful of teachers trained as early childhood educators, Zam Zam's Nessary said. Parents help with caring for the children and maintaining the grounds. Lucky's mom, Immaculate Zihinjishi, said she appreciated that her daughter is learning English, supplementing her native Kinyarwanda. Zihinjishi also praised the preschool and its benefactors. "We're all very happy that these people came to help us and to build this school," she said, adding that they've been generous to the broader community. "They even gave goats to those in extreme poverty." In August, Paxful and Zam Zam Water announced their partnership had begun raising funds to build a primary school nearby, intended for students age 6 through 15. Paxful gave an initial $20,000 donation toward the estimated $100,000 cost and pledged to match community donations toward that total, it said in a press release. The company also said in the press release that it has a goal of building 100 schools in Africa. This report originated in VOA's Africa Division's Central Africa Service. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held meetings Wednesday with leaders of Pakistans newly elected government, where the two sides agreed to make efforts to reset troubled bilateral relations to jointly push peace in Afghanistan. The relationship between Washington and Islamabad, officially allies in fighting terrorism, has plunged to its lowest point in the past year over allegations Pakistan has covertly enabled the Taliban insurgency to sustain the conflict in the neighboring country. WATCH: Afghanistan a Key Focus of Pompeo Trips to India and Pakistan Pompeo, also accompanied by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford, held delegation-level talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The U.S. delegation later held separate meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan and General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan military chief. The top American diplomat sounded cautiously optimistic about the outcome of his meetings. "We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum economic, business, and commercial, Pompeo told reporters at the end of his meetings. The discussions, however, appeared to have focused mainly on the crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistans important role to help end it. We all know that we need to try and develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan, which benefits certainly Afghanistan, but also the United States and Pakistan, Pompeo said. And Im hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward, Pompeo told reporters before departing for neighboring India. For his part, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the U.S. delegation brought a "message of willingness to move forward and described the discussions as cordial and positive. An atmosphere has emerged after today's meeting to reset our bilateral relations, and the impasse is broken, the foreign minister told a news conference late Wednesday. Qureshi said Secretary Pompeo also invited him to the U.S. for furthering the bilateral engagement. Relations between Pakistan and the U.S. suffered a critical blow last year when President Donald Trump unveiled his new strategy to try to break the stalemate in the war with the Afghan Taliban. Trump accused Pakistan of playing a double game, by covertly supporting the insurgency, charges Islamabad rejected as an attempt to coverup for U.S. military failures in ending the Afghan conflict. The tensions have led to suspension of all U.S. military assistance to Pakistan since the start of the year, bringing mutual engagements to almost non-existent until Wednesday. Pakistan consistently denies it is providing havens for the insurgents. It has also been pressing Washington to find a negotiated end to the conflict. The government in Islamabad says the use of military force has failed to achieve the objective and instead encouraged terrorism in the region, allowing the Taliban to capture more Afghan territory in the process. Qureshi said that in Wednesdays interactions with Pompeo and his team, the U.S. side conveyed its readiness to engage with the Taliban to promote a political solution to the Afghan war. "That's where you see America and Pakistan have a convergence of views, and I think we can move forward on this, he noted. Just days before Pompeo visited Pakistan, the Pentagon announced it had decided to scrap $300 million in military aid to Pakistan, citing the countrys lack of cooperation with Trumps South Asia strategy. Islamabad swiftly dismissed the assertions, saying the money was not U.S. aid but reimbursements for expenses incurred by Pakistan using its own resources to fight regional terrorism in support of Washingtons counterterrorism efforts. The United States has now withheld $800 million from its so-called Coalition Support Funds since the start of the year. A U.S. military training program for Pakistani officers also has been terminated and civilian financial assistance to Islamabad has dropped to zero, according to officials. Despite persistent diplomatic tensions, analysts rule out a total breakdown of U.S.-Pakistan ties. They note that Washington's military mission in landlocked Afghanistan heavily depends on ground and air lines of communications through Pakistan for ferrying key supplies to about 23,000 U.S. and NATO forces deployed in the neighboring country for training and advising Afghan forces battling the Taliban. While speaking to reporters Wednesday, General Dunford dismissed concerns that Pakistan intended to block the supply lines because of suspension in mutual engagements. He said the U.S. military-to-military cooperation with the South Asian ally has remained in place despite diplomatic tensions. We dont have any reason to indicate that our cooperation in keeping the GLOCs [ground lines of communications] open is going to change, Dunford replied when asked whether the Pakistani side raised the issue during the dialogue. Afghan and U.S. officials have pressed Islamabad to use force against leaders and fighters of the Taliban allegedly sheltering in Pakistan to push them to engage in peace talks with the Kabul government. Pakistani officials maintain the insurgents have gone back to the other side of the border in the wake of counterterrorism operations. Islamabad says it is ready to make all possible efforts and use its limited influence on the Taliban to encourage an Afghan peace dialogue. The Pakistan military has ruled out the possibility of launching operations against residual Taliban insurgents it suspects are sheltering among nearly 3 million Afghan refugees Pakistan still hosts. The sentencing of two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison for allegedly breaching a Myanmar state secrets law has triggered outrage, in the country and abroad. The two men were arrested in December while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men in Rakhine State, reportedly by the military. Governments around the world say the sentence is a blow to Myanmar's transition from military rule and to democracy VOA's diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department. Show more Show less Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler discusses the seven-year prison term given Myanmar journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, telling VOA the journalists' arrest was "a blatant set-up," and with no normal, legal due-process during court proceedings, their convictions were not surprising. Adler spoke with VOAs Ira Mellman. A South Korean presidential delegation has met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and has conveyed a personal letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moons office says the envoys will return to South Korea later Wednesday after attending a dinner reception. The office says it cannot provide further details. It plans to hold a briefing on the visit Thursday. The five-member delegation led by Moons national security adviser arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday to arrange a third summit between Moon and Kim planned for later this month and help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. While pushing ahead with summits and inter-Korean engagement, Seoul is trying to persuade Washington and Pyongyang to proceed with peace and denuclearization processes at the same time so they can overcome a growing dispute over the sequencing of the diplomacy. Seoul also wants a trilateral summit between the countries, or a four-nation meeting that also includes Beijing, to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.N. General Assembly in late September would be an ideal date for Seoul, but many analysts see that possibility as low, considering the complications of the process and how far apart the parties currently are. U.S. officials have insisted that a peace declaration, which many see as a precursor to the North eventually calling for the removal of all U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula, cannot come before North Korea takes more concrete action toward abandoning its nukes. Such steps may include providing an account of the components of its nuclear program, allowing outside inspections and giving up a certain number of its nuclear weapons during the early stages of the negotiations. The North has accused the United States of making "unilateral and gangster-like" demands on denuclearization and holding back on the end-of-war declaration. South Korean officials said an end-of-war declaration will be among the issues discussed in the meetings between the South Korean envoys and North Korean officials. "Our government believes that an end-of-war declaration is very much needed while we enter a process toward stabilizing peace in the Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization," said Chung Eui-yong, Moon's national security adviser and the head of the South Korean delegation to Pyongyang, in a news conference on Tuesday. "We will continue to put in efforts so that an end-of-war declaration can be reached by the end of the year. We are always maintaining close communication with the United States," he added. Chung said inter-Korean engagement is a crucial part of the efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis. "If needed, we should pull forward the negotiations for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the development in relations between the South and North," he said. Any progress could depend on whether Moon's envoys are able to coax a stronger verbal commitment from North Korea on denuclearization to help put the nuclear talks between the United States and Pyongyang back on track. U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned visit to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month, citing insufficient progress in denuclearization. The resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks sometime before the next inter-Korean summit, which will likely take place in mid-September, could give Moon more to work with when he arrives in Pyongyang. Considering the difficult circumstances, it's unclear whether Moon's envoys will be able to get anything other than a fixed date for his new summit with Kim. The two past inter-Korean summits in April and May removed war fears and initiated a global diplomatic push that culminated with a meeting between Kim and Trump in June. But Moon faces tougher challenges heading into his third meeting with Kim with the stalemate in nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington raising fundamental questions about Kim's supposed willingness to abandon his nukes. Moon has been aggressively pushing engagement with North Korea in past months, but the lack of progress in nuclear talks could mean an end to the inter-Korean detente. "Now is a very important time for establishing lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula; that's why special envoys are being sent to North Korea," Moon said Monday. "Peace in the Korean Peninsula goes together with the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the government is closely examining and carefully managing the situation." The Korean War ended with an armistice, leaving the peninsula technically still at war. Moon has made an end-of-war declaration an important premise of his peace agenda with North Korea. U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces a day of questioning Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he has already told members his philosophy is that judges should interpret the law and not make the law. Those words were part of the opening statement he gave Tuesday at the start of the confirmation process that President Donald Trump hopes will result in Kavanaugh becoming the ninth member of the Supreme Court. Senators are expected to raise issues such as abortion, affirmative action, executive power and the conflict between religious beliefs and gay rights as they try to determine whether they believe Kavanaugh should join the court. Protesters and calls to postpone The proceedings got off to a raucous start Tuesday with Democrats trying to postpone the hearing and loud disruptions by protesters in the crowd, drawing insults from some of the senators. Kavanaugh sat for nearly seven hours, listening to Republicans and Democrats speak for and against his joining the court before he finally got his chance to address the panel. WATCH: Verbal Senate Brawl Erupts at Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution, Kavanaugh said. A good judge must be an umpire a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy. He said during his 12 years as a federal appeals judge, he decided more than 300 cases. I have ruled sometimes for the prosecution and sometimes for criminal defendants, sometimes for workers and sometimes for businesses, sometimes for environmentalists and sometimes for coal miners. In each case, Kavanaugh said, he followed the law and did not let any personal or policy preferences get in his way. I am a pro-law judge, he declared. Hearings to last days The nomination hearing is expected to last several more days, during which Democrats will likely try to portray Kavanaugh as someone too tied to Trump and who will push a conservative agenda on the high court. Republicans are expected to try to paint the nominee as an independent thinker and a principled jurist. Wednesday, the hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 UTC). Kavanaughs Republican supporters say he is one of the most qualified jurists ever to be considered for the nations highest court. They pointed to endorsements from fellow judges and Kavanaughs legal associates, liberals and conservatives, including a number of women. Presidential power Democrats say they have a lot of misgivings about Kavanaughs pledge to be nonpartisan, saying he has a history of conservative political activism. They said they fear he may rule against a womans right to choose whether to have an abortion. And, at a time when President Trump is facing his own legal troubles, Democrats are concerned about Kavanaughs views on executive authority. Kavanaugh has argued that presidents should be free from civil lawsuits, criminal prosecution and investigations while in office. The matter could be significant to Trump if the high court is called upon to render judgment on matters arising from special counsel Robert Muellers ongoing Russia-related investigation into the Trump administration and several civil lawsuits pending against Trump. If he is approved by the panel, his nomination goes to the entire Senate, where Republicans will hold a very slim 51-49 majority when Republican Jon Kyl fills the seat of the late Arizona Senator John McCain. So far, no Republicans have said they plan to vote against Kavanaugh. WATCH: What's Involved in Confirmation Process? After spending 12 hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh returns Thursday for another round of questioning as senators decide whether to support his bid to become the ninth member on the nations highest court. President Donald Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh in July, says he is pleased with the way the hearings are going so far. During Wednesdays session, Kavanaugh pledged judicial independence from Trump. An independent judge Im an independent judge, Kavanaugh said when asked by Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch for assurances that, if confirmed to the high court, he would not be swayed by the views or interests of the president. I owe my loyalty to the Constitution, and the Constitution establishes me as an independent judge, bound to follow the law as written, the 53-year-old federal appellate judge added. Kavanaugh asserted no one is above the law in our constitutional system and that no matter your station in life, no matter your position in government, its all equal justice under law. But he declined to say whether a sitting president, like all other citizens, must respond to a subpoena to provide testimony. I cant give you an answer on that hypothetical question, the nominee said. The issue has particular relevance given Special Counsel Robert Muellers continuing probe of the 2016 Trump campaigns alleged links to Russia. Mueller has not subpoenaed Trump, but it remains an option in his ongoing investigation of Russian meddling in the election. In the 1990s, as an attorney, Kavanaugh took part in an investigation of then-president Bill Clinton that compelled Clinton to testify. Years later, having served in the George W. Bush administration, Kavanaugh wrote that presidents should be shielded from legal proceedings while in office. Nominated to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kavanaugh told lawmakers he has not hesitated to make unpopular rulings in the past. He cited his opinion in a case releasing Osama bin Ladens former chauffeur, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, from detention at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Youll never have a nominee whos ruled for a more unpopular defendant, Kavanaugh said. He said judges should not make decisions based on who people are, but whether they have the law on their side. My personal beliefs are not relevant. While Republican senators posed many questions on Kavanaughs overall judicial philosophy, Democrats zeroed in on hot-button issues from gun control to abortion rights in America. The committees top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, sought assurances that the nominee views as settled law the Supreme Courts landmark 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, establishing abortion rights nationwide. Its an important precedent of the Supreme Court thats been reaffirmed many times, Kavanaugh said. I understand the importance of the issue. I dont live in a bubble, I live in the real world. He described a 1992 decision reaffirming the original ruling as precedent upon precedent. He said Americans need to know the law is predictable. Precedent is the foundation of our system. Numerous womens groups are opposing Kavanaughs nomination, fearing he would vote with other conservative justices to restrict or eliminate abortion rights. Protesters periodically interrupted the hearing. One repeatedly shouted, Sham president, sham justice. If approved by the Republican-led committee, Kavanaughs nomination would go to the full Senate, where Republicans will hold a slim 51-49 majority. So far, no Republicans have said they plan to vote against Kavanaugh. Dozens of Democrats have announced their opposition. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is making a two-day visit to Turkey in the latest step in warming relations between the two countries. Last year, bilateral relations plummeted to the point that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of using "Nazi methods." But before leaving for Ankara, Maas said "we are determined to keep working hard to improve our relations. Turkey is more than a large neighbor, it is an important partner of Germany." Maas will meet Erdogan and top Turkish ministers. The visit is to prepare for Erdogan's state visit to Berlin later this month, a rare privilege in Europe, analysts say, given Turkey's poor human rights record. Looking for help "There indeed seems to be a warming of relations between Turkey and Germany," said political analyst Sinan Ulgen of the Istanbul-based Edam research group. "Turkey's relationship with its other big partner in the West, the United States, is under tension. So,there is a real willingness in Ankara to improve the relations with key European countries, primarily Germany." Last month's imposition of U.S. tariffs on Turkish goods triggered a collapse in Turkey's currency, threatening a financial crisis. The Turkish and German finance ministers are to meet in Berlin later this month to reportedly discuss financial support for Turkey. Until recently, Erdogan had threatened to look east toward Moscow, in response to souring ties with Washington and Europe. But analysts point out that Turkish financial woes and the deepening crisis in Syria, underscore the limits of Ankara's relationship with Moscow. "There was always a consciousness in Ankara that Russia could never really be a strategic partner to Turkey," Ulgen said. "Namely, there continue to be fundamental differences on how the two countries look at developments in the region, be it Syria, Ukraine, Crimea." "Secondly," he added, "Russia is not an economic partner in the sense that the IMF [International Monetary Fund] or EU could ever be," he added, "so expectations in terms that Russia could be helpful in an economic downturn scenario in Turkey were always very superficial." Human rights Turkey's human rights record is seen as a significant stumbling block to any improvement in relations with the EU. Maas said he would call on Turkish authorities for the release of seven German citizens, which Berlin claims are being held for political reasons.German politicians are accusing Ankara of pursing hostage diplomacy. Ankara insists the Turkish judiciary is independent. But in the past few months, Turkish courts have released German journalists Deniz Yucel and Mesale Tolu. Analysts warn if Ankara is seeking significant improvement in its ties with Berlin and the wider European Union, it will have to take substantial steps toward complying with EU standards on human rights defined by the Copenhagen Criteria. "The EU demand of meeting the Copenhagen Criteria requires having some kind of democratic regime some kind of independent judiciary, some role for checks and balances," said political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. "You cannot put people in jail for their postings on social media or arrest journalists for writing something Erdogan doesn't like. These practices need to stop." "Ankara is looking for a relationship that is devoid of political conditionality. From the European perspective, that will not be possible," Ulgen said. Analysts claim the decline in human rights in Turkey means Ankara's EU membership hopes are all but finished. "This vocation of becoming a full EU member is over," said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen. "Now, even to renew the customs union is not going to happen this year or next." "But yet separately," he added, "those countries in the European Union are the biggest trade partners of Turkey, and it will remain so," he added. "Especially Turkey and Germany enjoy a special relationship with many problems, but no country can replace Germany for Turkish industry, and Turkey needs more industrial production to get out of this dire straits in Turkey." Analysts say an EU agreement with Turkey to control migrants entering European countries remains a compelling reason for Berlin and the rest of the bloc to improve relations and maintain Turkey's economic stability. "Given that both parties now realize that Turkey's accession is unfeasible, at least for the foreseeable future, a new relationship will have to be defined," Ulgen said. "A new balance has to be struck overall." Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall overnight along the border between the southern U.S. states of Alabama and Mississippi, bringing strong winds and bands of heavy rain to the Gulf Coast. Forecasters had expected the storm to reach hurricane strength by the time it reached land late Tuesday, but the maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour were just below that level. Gordon will quickly lose strength during the day Wednesday as it moves further inland, but it does still carry the threat of widespread heavy rains and windy conditions. Tens of thousands of people lost power because of the storm. The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all declared states of emergency in order to speed relief efforts. U.S. President Donald Trump also said the White House is standing by to help with storm recovery. The National Hurricane Center said the storm could bring a total of 10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches) of rain to the region by the time it exits later this week U.S. voters will head to the polls in two months to elect a new Congress and to render a midterm judgment on the often controversial and polarizing presidency of Donald Trump. The political stakes are enormous, especially for a president who has undone much of his predecessor's agenda but who could face a similar fate if Democrats recapture control of one or both congressional chambers on November 6. A central question before voters is whether they want to continue with a Trump agenda backed by compliant Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, or hand partial or full control of the legislative branch back to the Democrats, marking a return of divided government. Campaign series As a sorely divided nation prepares for the historic midterm election, VOA beginning today will publish a series of video and text reports gauging stakes in the election and exploring in detail the issues that define the campaign. Those issues include immigration, jobs and the economy, gun control, abortion, Russian interference in the U.S. election process and the fast-mushrooming scandals engulfing Trump and his administration. These stories can be found on a US Midterm 2018 special page. The stakes With the course of his presidency literally on the line in November, Trump has been an aggressive force on the campaign trail, touting Republican candidates and warning against a Democratic takeover of the House. "This election is bigger than any one race," Trump told supporters at a recent rally in Charleston, West Virginia."It is about whether we want to continue the amazing progress we have made for America or whether we want to surrender that progress to the forces of extremism and obstruction." Rallying the base Among those in the audience was coal miner Kevin Abbott. "I believe the way Trump believes," he told VOA. "I believe if people quit road-blocking him, I think he can do amazing things. He's already done so much." Last week, Trump warned a group of evangelical Christian ministers at the White House that a Democratic takeover of Congress would be disastrous, suggesting Democrats would quickly move to undo his tax and economic policies, his tough crackdown on immigration and his actions to cut regulations on the environment and energy. "They will overturn everything we have done and they'll do it quickly and violently," he said, according to The New York Times. Fired-up Democrats As much as Trump hopes to spur Republican turnout in November, he is already firing up Democrats who appear to be eager to vote in the midterms. Democratic turnout has surged in recent primaries and special elections, and party activists point to the unifying effect of opposing Trump as a key motivator. "This man has got to go!" shouted critic James Obergefell, a gay-rights activist, during an anti-Trump protest at the White House last month, spurring cheers from dozens of like-minded critics. Democrats are counting on resistance to Trump to help them retake control of the House. "We now know that this partisan fight has become a fierce battle for the soul of America, and we, the people, have to win this battle," said billionaire and Democratic fundraiser Tom Steyer, who is leading a push to have Trump impeached. Daunting landscape Historically, the president's party loses seats in midterm elections, and experts predict that 2018 is likely to follow that pattern. "When you look at the overall landscape, what you do see is a very typical midterm election shaping up," said George Washington University political analyst Lara Brown. "And that is that historically speaking, the president's party does not do well. The country does, to a certain extent, see the midterm elections as a check on the president's power." Trump has already warned Republicans about the consequences of Democrats taking back control of one or both chambers in November, and with good reason, according to Brookings Institution scholar William Galston. "Number one, no more Republican-only legislation," Galston told VOA via Skype. "And number two, House Democrats would then command the mechanisms of oversight, which is after all one of the principal responsibilities of Congress." Some analysts predict a Democratic House would push for impeachment at some point, but the party is split over whether to highlight that as an issue in the midterm campaign. Trump as central issue Even Trump allies acknowledge that the midterm vote will be seen by many as a referendum on the president, and several openly welcome it. "This is an up-or-down vote it couldn't be clearer," former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon told Associated Press Television. "If we keep the House, President Trump's program will continue on. If we lose the House, then [Democratic House leader] Nancy Pelosi will try to grind his program to a halt." All 435 House seats are up for election this year along with 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 state governorships. Gallup pollster Frank Newport said there is little doubt that Trump is a galvanizing force for both sides in the November vote. "I think Republicans will actually bring him up. Some of them will say, 'Vote for me because there is going to be a move to impeach Trump if we have more Democrats in the Congress,' " Newport told VOA. "And Democrats clearly will say, 'Vote for us because we will oppose Trump's policies.' So I think he clearly is a central figure in this election." Trump's approval rating could drag down Republican hopes in November. Real Clear Politics has Trump's average approval at 42 percent favorable and 54 percent unfavorable, which is on the low side for an incumbent president. Gallup polling going back to 1946 has shown that when a president's approval rating is below 50 percent, the president's party loses more than 36 House seats on average.The Democrats need to pick up 23 House seats in November to regain control of that chamber and two seats to take back the Senate. Polling edge Democrats have an edge in what is known as the generic ballot poll, which simply asks voters which party they will support in November. The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Democrats with about a 9 percentage-point advantage over the Republicans. Republicans appear better positioned to hold on to their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate. Democrats hold 24 of the seats up for election this year, while Republicans hold nine. Two other seats are held by independents who caucus with Democrats. Ten of the Democratic-held seats are in states Trump won in the 2016 election. The odds of Democrats winning back the House majority are "considerably better than 50-50," said Brookings analyst Galston."I would guess that 2018 would be something like 2006 [midterms] for Democrats, when they did very well and picked up 32 seats." Republican lawmakers are joining opposition Democrats in criticizing President Donald Trump for remarks that many are interpreting as an assault on the countrys judicial independence. The president criticized his attorney general earlier this week over charges his Justice Department brought against two Republican congressmen. New York Rep. Chris Collins was charged as part of an alleged insider-trading scheme. California Rep. Duncan Hunter is accused of misusing campaign funds. Both have pleaded not guilty. The president has long criticized his attorney general and the Justice Department over the ongoing probe into Russian election meddling by special counsel Robert Mueller. But the presidents latest remarks have been denounced by legal experts and members of his own party for appearing to put political concerns ahead of criminal law. A spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNN that the Justice Department should always remain apolitical, and the speaker has demonstrated he takes these charges [against Collins and Hunter] seriously. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska released a statement saying, The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice -- one for the majority party and one for the minority party. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona tweeted that Trump was looking to use the Department of Justice to settle political scores." Democrats also expressed alarm over the presidents remarks. "Our justice system is under attack," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Tuesday. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, called Trump's actions "unprecedented in American history." Durbin said Trump, by his tweets, has virtually no respect for the rule of law. The U.S. justice system is politically influenced, in that the president appoints some top Justice Department officials as well as chief prosecutors in districts across the United States. But those individuals are expected to follow the law not politics when conducting their jobs. Political interference? Trumps denunciation of Sessions crosses a well-established line, said Nancy V. Baker, emeritus professor of government at New Mexico State University and author of Conflicting Loyalties: Law and Politics in the Attorney General's Office. Baker said even if Trumps criticisms and remarks do not affect the Justice Departments prosecution of the congressmen, the president severely damages the administration of justice every time he makes a threatening remark. Public perceptions are important, Baker said. Trumps comments make it clear that he sees his office as above the law, which directly undermines the ancient principle of rule of law, that the law applies without fear or favor, and no one is above it," she added. In an interview with The New York Times in 2017, Trump was asked if he would reopen the investigation into former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons use of a private email server during her time as secretary of State. Trump replied, "I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department." However legal experts say that precedents established since the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974, call for presidents to strictly limit communications with the department and not interfere in ongoing cases. U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed a new attack Wednesday on a book depicting his presidency and White House as chaotic and dysfunctional, calling it a "work of fiction." Trump offered his assessment of author Bob Woodward's new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, as he talked to reporters at the White House, hours after he suggested libel laws ought to be changed to protect against what he sees as false reports. "Isnt it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost," Trump said on Twitter. "Dont know why Washington politicians dont change libel laws?" It was Trump's latest broadside against the Woodward book, excerpts of which first appeared Tuesday, with countless anecdotes painting Trump as dangerously ignorant of world affairs and his White House devastatingly beset by internal feuds. Within hours of the first reports about the book, the U.S. leader started attacking it, asserting that quotes and stories in the book "were made up frauds, a con on the public." The Republican president questioned whether Woodward, a Washington Post journalist credited with helping drive President Richard Nixon from power in 1974, is an operative for the opposition Democratic party. The book quotes White House Chief of Staff John Kelly as describing Trump as "unhinged" and calling him an "idiot" who had "gone off the rails." Woodward's account also quotes Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as saying that Trump comprehends material at the level of "a fifth- or sixth-grader." Both officials denied the quotes, and Trump retweeted their denials. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also dismissed Woodward's book, saying, "I havent read a lot of his books. I am into fiction like General Mattis, so maybe Ill take a look at this one. Woodward says the 448-page book, set to be released next Tuesday, cites mostly anonymous sources. It describes aides in the Trump White House as orchestrating an "administrative coup d'etat" by plucking documents off his desk to keep him from seeing and signing them. The author said the president's administration suffered a "nervous breakdown" during its first 19 months. There have been previous reports by journalists and former White House staffers of upheaval in the White House West Wing since Trump's January 2017 inauguration. Aside from Trump rejecting quotes attributed to him, Kelly and Mattis both pushed back with vehement denials of remarks Woodward quoted. "The idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true," the White House chief of staff said, reiterating that he has "an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS." Kelly's statement emphasizes he is committed to Trump's presidency, his agenda, and the country. "This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration's many successes," Kelly said. Defense Secretary Mattis said, "The contemptuous words about the president attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility." The book claims that after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered chemical weapons to be used against civilians in April of last year, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted to assassinate Assad. Mattis is quoted as telling an aide, after hanging up the phone, "We're not going to do any of that. We're going to be much more measured." The president's former lead personal attorney, John Dowd, is quoted in graphic language referring to Trump as a "liar" who will end up wearing an "orange jump suit" if he gives testimony to special counsel Robert Muller, who is looking into ties between the 2016 Trump election campaign and Russia. Woodward repeatedly requested an interview with Trump for the book, but did not succeed. According to a recording of a call Woodward made to Trump last month, and released by The Washington Post, Trump accused the journalist of writing a "very inaccurate book" that would not reflect that no predecessor has "ever done a better job than I'm doing as president." Ken Bredemeier, and Carla Babb at the Pentagon contributed to this report. The United States and India will try to expand already close defense ties when senior leaders from both countries meet for their first two plus two dialogue Thursday in New Delhi. The worlds two largest democracies, the United States and India, have a lot in common, including a desire to contain China. But the United States takes issue with India buying oil from Iran and its planned acquisition of a Russian missile defense system. On his way to India, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed he will discuss the Russian missile defense system, but said shared values will allow the two countries to handle any perturbations in stride, without alarm. Freedom means that at times nations dont agree with each other. That doesnt mean we cant be partners. That doesnt mean we dont respect the sovereignty of other nations, said Mattis. While India does not recognize unilateral U.S. sanctions and has bristled at what it considers U.S. restraints on its historically neutral stance in world affairs, U.S. and Indian officials have described the relationship as extremely close. What we see is a continuing growth of the consultations between us. Its on a very firm foundation, Mattis said. The talks will also include U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Russian missile system Last week, the Pentagon threatened to impose sanctions on India if it purchases the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. The deal, estimated at around $6 billion, would violate U.S. sanctions placed on Russia last year in response to Moscows destabilizing activities globally. While the Trump administration could extend a sanctions waiver to India theres no guarantee that will happen, the Pentagons top Asia policy official, Randall Schriver, said last week. We would have very significant concerns if India pursued major new [Russian] platforms and systems, Schriver said. Most of Indias weapons are Russian-made, a legacy of Indias Cold War relationship with the Soviet Union. While U.S. officials say they understand Indias need to keep defense ties with Russia in order to maintain those weapons, they aim to convince India to buy more U.S. weapons in the future. The United States is currently Indias second-largest weapons supplier. Iranian oil U.S. officials are signaling more flexibility on Indias purchase of Iranian crude oil. Starting November 4, any country buying Iranian oil could face financial penalties under sanctions reinstated after the United States unilaterally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. But a senior State Department official said sanctions would be imposed on a case-by-case basis. Its not clear what that means in Indias case, but under the Obama administration India received a sanctions waiver, as long as it substantially reduced its Iranian oil purchases. India, the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, will almost certainly not agree to go to zero imports, says Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution. "They don't want to break ties with Iran, and going to zero would do that, said Madan. It goes back to a fundamental concern India has about the U.S. sanctions regime constraining its options in terms of how to operate in the world, who to buy from, she adds. COMCASA deal 'pretty much there' But the meeting could yield progress on a long-negotiated deal to share sensitive defense equipment. Known as COMCASA it would pave the way for greater collaboration on encrypted defense technology. Indian media have reported the language of a COMCASA deal has been finalized, and Mattis has indicated they are close. I think that were pretty much there already on the American side. Well see where theyre at, said Mattis. India is already designated as a Major U.S. Defense Partner, allowing it to more easily receive American defense technology. This year, India has also been designated a Strategic Trade Authorization-1 country, a status comparable to that of NATO allies. India could also agree to work more closely on Afghanistan, where the United States has been at war for 17 years. But Indias arch rival, Pakistan, is opposed to Indian military involvement in the conflict. The two plus two meeting had been planned for last April, but was postponed after the departure of former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It was delayed a second time after Pompeo left in June on a last-minute trip to North Korea. The U.S. State Department and human rights groups have expressed shock and outrage at Irans arrest of the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a detained rights lawyer whose release he campaigned for. Rights groups said security agents detained Reza Khandan at his home early Tuesday and took him to Tehrans Evin prison. The groups quoted Khandans lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, as saying Iranian authorities charged Khandan with national security offenses and promoting nonobservance of the compulsory wearing of veils or hijabs by women in public. A Tuesday tweet by the State Departments Farsi Twitter feed said the Trump administration is deeply shocked and alarmed by Khandans arrest. It said Washington also is monitoring reports of the arrest in recent days of three Iranian lawyers, Farrokh Forouzan, Payam Dorafshan and Hoda Amid. The tweet ended with a question: We have to ask the Iranian government, what are you really afraid of? In a Monday Facebook post, Khandan said an intelligence agent called him that day and asked him to report for questioning Tuesday. He said he objected to being summoned without a written warrant from the judiciary but was told in response to his objection that he would be arrested. Campaigned for wife's release Khandan had publicly campaigned for the release of his wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, since her June imprisonment to serve a five-year sentence for a national security-related conviction handed down in absentia. In the months before her arrest, Sotoudeh had defended Iranian women arrested for removing their compulsory hijabs or headscarves during public protests against the Iranian government. She began a hunger strike Aug. 26 to protest her detention and government harassment of her family and friends. Before his arrest, Khandan also criticized the Iranian governments treatment of human rights defenders such as his wife and its prosecution of women who campaigned against forced veiling. In an interview for the Tuesday edition of VOA Persians NewsHour program, Reporters Without Borders activist Reza Moini said it appeared that Khandan was arrested for publicizing information about his wife, who has defended journalists and citizen-journalists in recent years. We assume that, in regards to political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, the Iranian government always fears the spread of information about them, and this fear has led the government to take actions to instill dread and fear in the families of these prisoners and force them into silence, said Moini, who is based in France. Iranian state media had no immediate comment on Khandans detention. Rights groups call out 'callous act' Rights advocate Philip Luther of Britain-based group Amnesty International issued a statement denouncing the arrest of Sotoudehs husband as a callous act. The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release both Nasrin Sotoudeh and Reza Khandan, Luther said. They must drop all charges against them and stop their harassment of this family once and for all. The U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said multiple elements of the Iranian establishment were to blame for the situation. The intelligence ministry, which reports directly to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and was responsible for Khandans arrest, has become one of Irans major human rights violators while Rouhani stands by silent, CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said in a separate online statement. This article originated in VOAs Persian Service. The White House has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons in an upcoming offensive against the last rebel-held enclave in Syria. The Assad government and its allies are expected to launch a massive bombardment of the northwestern Idlib province. The United Nations special envoy for Syria is making a last-ditch effort to prevent massive bloodshed and is urging all sides in the Syrian war to find a peaceful solution. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. Britain risks considerable disruption to many aspects of its economy and society, including trade, transport, health care and citizens rights, if it crashes out of the European Union next March without a deal, according to a report into the risks of a so-called no-deal Brexit. The research from Kings College Londons UK in a Changing Europe program focuses on the short-term risks to Britain from a no-deal scenario, though it also cautions that there will be longer-term negative effects on the British economy. The warnings come as British lawmakers returned from a six-week summer break Tuesday to growing uncertainty over Britains future relations with the EU, and continued speculation that Prime Minister Theresa May could face a leadership battle as the pressure mounts. No withdrawal agreement A withdrawal agreement with Brussels has yet to be worked out, raising the prospect of a chaotic cliff-edge Brexit. Report co-author Professor Jonathan Portes said such a result would be in the interest of neither party. But there are these big obstacles. The first is that of the Irish border, where at the moment, the position of the EU 27 (member states) is that there has to be a Northern Ireland-specific backstop legally written into the withdrawal agreement that ensures no hard border and carving out that special position for Northern Ireland where it remains to some extent intimately linked with the EU. However, such a special arrangement for Northern Ireland is unacceptable to many MPs, who fear it could ultimately split the United Kingdom. Many lawmakers also dont want to pay the estimated $50 billion divorce bill to Europe money that is owed for existing commitments without the guarantee of a future trade deal. But including such a guarantee in the withdrawal agreement is fraught with difficulty. The complications are the natural result of 45 years of British EU membership, Portes said. The rules, regulations, law, policies and regulatory aspects of the EU have become fundamentally embedded in whole swaths of the UKs social and economic infrastructure. So, its not just about trade. There are all sorts of other things that would come to a grinding halt on March 30 if we crashed out without any deal at all. The report warns trade with the EU would face immediate disruption, with potential food and medicine shortages. Safety certification for British aircraft would be invalid, possibly grounding flights. The rights of British citizens living in the EU would be thrown into doubt. Brexit report Reporting to parliament Tuesday on Britains progress in talks with Brussels, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Dominic Raab said a no-deal Brexit remains unlikely. Our approach acknowledges that there are some risks to a no-deal scenario and demonstrates that we are taking the action to avoid, to minimize and to mitigate these potential risks so we are equipped to manage any short-term disruption. And while its not what we want, a no-deal scenario would bring some countervailing opportunities. We would be able to lower tariffs and negotiate and bring into effect new free-trade deals straightaway, Raab told lawmakers. Some European governments are resisting offering any concessions to Britain, Portes said. There certainly is a view among some in Europe, certainly in France and Germany and the (EU) Commission, that any sort of deal that appears to allow the UK to pick and choose, the cherry-pick, to have its cake and eat it would indeed encourage disintegrationist and populist forces elsewhere in Europe. The political battles were mirrored on the high seas in recent days as British and French fishermen clashed in the English Channel. France has warned it may send in its navy to police the dispute. Fishing rights are another battleground in the long list of issues yet to be resolved. Britains exit is due to be discussed at an EU heads of state meeting scheduled later this month in Austria. Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend celebrations of the 70th anniversary of North Koreas founding this weekend but will send a top ally to represent him instead, the ruling Communist Party announced Tuesday. Speculation had swirled over whether Xi would attend the celebrations following three visits to China this year by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Analysts said a decision by Xi not to travel to Pyongyang would indicate that Beijing expected further actions from Kim, including real signs of progress toward denuclearization. The partys International Department said Xi would be represented by Li Zhanshu, the partys third-ranking official and head of Chinas rubberstamp parliament. While China-North Korea relations have improved this year following a prolonged chill, China remains committed to U.N. economic sanctions placed on the North over its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons testing programs. Trump faults China The celebrations in Pyongyang also come as U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed Beijing for the slow progress of denuclearization, suggesting that China has been encouraging North Korea to drag its feet with denuclearization to gain leverage against the U.S. in a trade dispute that has seen both sides leveling tariffs on $50 billion of each others products. Last week, Trump tweeted that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government, adding, This is not helpful! China wasnt having any of it. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington should engage in self-reflection and stop flip-flopping and blaming others. Regarding Americas attempts to pass the buck, Im sorry, wed rather not accept, Hua told reporters. China has distanced itself somewhat from its significant cooperation with the U.S. on North Korea. After supporting tough U.N. sanctions and scaling back trade with the North after it ramped up nuclear and missile tests last year, Beijing has eased the pressure on its neighbor slightly. No Chinese head of state has visited North Korea since President Hu Jintao met with Kims father, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang in 2005, a time when Beijing was urging the North to reform its economy and take part in six-nation denuclearization talks. When the younger Kim took power in 2011, exchanges slowed as Kim sought to assert his independence and China grew impatient with Kims nuclear and missile tests. Ties frayed last year when China supported tougher U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang and suspended coal and iron ore imports. That made Kims three visits to China this year all the more striking, a sign that the relationship was back on track. Relations basically on track A visit by Xi on such a symbolic occasion would have further underscored the unique historical ties between the two countries ruling parties. Mao Zedong sent Chinese troops to aid North Korea after the Korean War began in 1950, setting up a relationship once described as being as close as lips and teeth. Xi could have also used the opportunity to reassert Chinas claim to a place at the table when key decisions are made concerning Pyongyangs relationships with both Washington and South Korea, including over a possible formal end to the Korean War. Beijing is determined to ensure its interests are honored, especially its desire to maintain the viability of Kims regime and keep U.S. and South Korean forces far from its border. I think Beijing is worried that North Korea will go its own way and work out new relationships with Washington and Seoul and move out of Chinas orbit, said John Delury, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul. Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, described a decision by Xi not to go as a strong signal, indicating that North Korea has a lot to do to get back in Chinas good graces. Still, his appointment of a high-ranking official such as Li as his envoy appeared to indicate ties remained basically on track. Sanctions in place, but tourism Diplomats say Beijing continues to implement U.N. sanctions on exports of coal, iron ore, seafood and other products. In one area not covered by the sanctions, however, it seems to be cutting Pyongyang some slack: tourism. Recent visitors to North Korea say numbers of Chinese visitors have exploded in recent months, with busloads turning up at key spots such as the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas and Mount Paektu, which touches the countrys border with China. China is likely advertising the potential benefits of North Korean compliance farther down the line. China has a strategy of trying to prevent North Korea from straying too far, Delury said. This relationship is full of mutual distrust, but they keep it within certain bounds. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Newly sworn in MDC Alliance legislator, John Houghton representing Kariba constituency in Mashonaland West, said he is pessimistic about how much progress will be achieved under President Mnangagwa, if he fails to attract foreign investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to be back at full strength after the Senate confirmed Elad Roisman on Wednesday to fill the regulator's open Republican seat, likely providing a boost for the Trump-appointed chairman who leads the agency. Roisman, who has been serving as chief counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, will join the SEC as Chairman Jay Clayton tries to secure enough support from commissioners to pass rules on his agenda. Near the top of Clayton's list is a sweeping effort to overhaul conflict-of-interest regulations for Wall Street brokers. Many government operations are funded only through Sept. 30, giving Congress three weeks to patch together the coalition of lawmakers needed to avoid a partial shutdown. Trump wants Congress to appropriate at least $5 billion for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but congressional leaders have told him they will not be able to marshal enough votes to secure any wall funding by the end of the month. The test of that notion places Timbers back on a perch to which hes now growing familiar, as the point person of a big-deal show with lots of hope and money riding on it. Born in New York and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Timbers went to Yale, where he majored in theater studies and film, and developed a gift for irreverent inventiveness: On graduation weekend, he staged a Brechtian version of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying that winked at some of its more sexist aspects. After college, he and two fellow Yalies, Aaron Lemon-Strauss and Jennifer Rogien, founded the giddily modernist theater troupe Les Freres Corbusier, which created the hilarious A Very Merry Unauthorized Childrens Scientology Pageant. Later came Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which was directed by Timbers and went on to a Broadway run. If youve wandered into Amsterdam Falafelshop late, youre probably under the influence of Adams Morgan, so you wont notice that the employees are unamused by your presence. Youre here for the goods coming out of the fryer and the freedom to top them with anything your heart desires cabbage, cucumber, beets, pickled cauliflower, tahini and so much more. Does customer service mean much when youre unlikely to remember that the songs kept changing after a minute of play, before settling on a mood and volume that seemed to be willing you to eat as quickly as possible and leave? The falafel and fries were satisfying and your buzz was calmed. And thats why you came. 2425 18th St. NW. 1830 14th St. Adams Morgan location open until midnight Sunday and Monday; 2:30 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 3 a.m. Thursday; and 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Kara Elder Those positions were frustrating to school choice proponents such as Jeanne Allen, founder of the advocacy group Center for Education Reform, who argues that some federal oversight is worthwhile if a program delivers new options for children. Im confident minimal federal intrusion is possible, she said. The tax credit plan, she said, should have been part of the tax bill, but no one was willing to put it there. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy He said the state or private industry could finance the upfront replacement of all heating and cooling systems in Baltimore, most of which are more than 30 years old, and use the money saved on operating the more efficient systems to repay the debt within three years. While Hogan tells voters in his stump speech that public schools have received record state funding each year of his administration, his critics point out the governor was required to give that much to schools under state law. In a few instances such as his first year in office Hogan and Democratic lawmakers fought over how much extra funding to allocate to the states neediest school districts. Mrs. Lengel, who also went by Shelley and Shellie, began her federal career as a public information writer for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the 1960s and worked for what became HHS from 1976 to 1988. In 1965, Mr. Cohen called Longs claims overblown, insisting that the wiretaps were chiefly focused on racketeers attempting to bribe IRS personnel. But two years later, Mr. Cohen admitted in a letter to Long that the extent of wiretapping was far more extensive than initially revealed. By his count, the IRS had made improper and questionable use of wiretapping 287 times between 1958 and 1966, mostly owing to the overzealousness on the part of certain personnel engaged in the investigation of the criminal element. Moye was caught later that day in the woods near his home in Silver Spring where he tried to take his own life as officers approached him. The list of people who may testify or be referred to includes many of the vendors, accountants and investigators who took the stand at the recently completed trial in Alexandria, Va., where Manafort was convicted of eight of 18 tax- and bank-fraud charges. But the list for the D.C. trial also includes 23 Ukrainian and four European politicians. Kavanaughs denial of knowledge about the policy later came into question when The Washington Post revealed a year later that he had participated in a meeting in the White House counsels office in which he had been asked his opinion about how Justice Anthony M. Kennedy for whom he had clerked was likely to view the matter. Some Democrats have said the revelation raises questions about the accuracy of his 2006 testimony, and they plan to ask him about it at the hearing. A year later, and after weathering a raft of news accounts about the surge in Optimas rates, Dennis Matheis, the companys president, said that he is sympathetic to the frustrations of people who faced the higher prices. But he also said he felt the company is not being credited for coming back into the Charlottesville area and others, and saving affordable care for the 91 percent of people in the individual market who qualify for government subsidies. Lawyer Jeffrey Breit, arguing for the Democratic Party, said the affidavits signed by Taylors staffers could be presumed, under case law, to signify that they were afraid to incriminate themselves by answering certain questions. Several had gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom and left shortly after the judge accepted their affidavits. In a statement to reporters . . . Black noted that during his visit to Syria he sensed the love of the Syrian people for [Assads] army and leadership, who maintained the unity of the country and restored security to it, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported on its website Wednesday. Black criticized the American diplomats who do not stop threatening people with war, killing and imposing sanctions instead of looking for common ground for cooperation between nations and peoples. In an abnormal arrangement, attorneys for the federal government the defendant in the case sat on the same side of the courtroom as the plaintiffs lawyers during Wednesdays hearing. The odd seating pattern stems from the fact that the Trump administration is largely agreeing with the plaintiffs who are suing. In June, the Justice Department saying in a court filing it would not defend the law. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has voiced concern about the effect of the fighting on migrants and internally displaced people. Spokeswoman Liz Throssell said Tuesday that some of the nearly 8,000 arbitrarily detained migrants are trapped in detention centers in areas where fighting has taken place, without access to food or medical treatment. Local governments across the country have steadily lost power every legislative session over the past several years, with no sign of letting up. Mayors, city council members and county commissioners have been stripped of tools they once used to keep residents safe, pursue racial and economic equity, ensure livable wages, ban discrimination in housing and the workplace, and to safeguard fair elections. All of these are now in question. The flag representing the Canadian Merchant Navy, the Red Duster, flies at city hall on Tuesday in memory of the members of Canadas merchant navy who served during the Second World War. First, the last-minute dump is a time-honored tradition in the nations capital and a common tactic in litigation. Lawyers will do what lawyers do. As for the whining about needing more time, really? This is Washington, folks, where Starbucks is literally on all four corners of a downtown park. Teams of fast skimmers and a case or two of Red Bull could have produced a rash of salient bullet points by breakfast if Democrats were really curious. Happens all the time. Indeed, Garrett Ventry, Grassleys communications adviser, tweeted Tuesday afternoon that the senators legal documents team did review the full stack Monday. We had 15 people working on it. Yet Trump insists on treating Canada as the enemy, imposing steel and aluminum tariffs to protect U.S. national security. In off-the-record comments to Bloomberg News, Trump insisted that any revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement would be totally on our terms and that if Canada balked at his unreasonable demands, he would impose tariffs on Canadian-produced vehicles. That makes no sense because such tariffs would hurt American companies such as General Motors, which produces Chevrolet Impalas at a plant in Ontario. Trump is oblivious to the fact that Canada is Americas largest export market and that we actually run a trade surplus with Canada. The United States has negotiated intermittently with Russia and the United Nations on cyber issues, trying to build norms of behavior and confidence-building measures without compromising Internet freedom. The main forum since 2004 has been the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (GGE). Over the years, it has applied the rules of war to cyber conflict, extended international law to cyberspace, and pledged that nations will protect critical infrastructure from cyberattack. Kavanaugh may not become the most conservative member of the court, but his background suggests he would be the most partisan. Working for Kenneth W. Starr in the 1990s, he was involved in the Vincent Foster and Monica Lewinsky probes, proposing an explicit line of questioning for President Bill Clinton with graphic queries about genitalia, masturbation, phone sex and oral sex. And as a young lawyer under George W. Bush, Kavanaugh was involved in Bush v. Gore, the probe of Clintons pardons and legal decisions about torture. Increased transparency in our advertising systems is another area where we have also made progress. You can now see all the ads an advertiser is running even if they arent targeted to you. Anyone who wants to run political or issue ads in the United States on Facebook must verify their identity. All political and issue ads must also make clear who paid for them, in the same way as TV or newspaper advertisements. But weve gone even further by putting all these ads in a public archive, which anyone can search to see how much was spent on each individual ad and the audience it reached. This greater transparency will increase responsibility and accountability for advertisers. So much for the new era of comity, the appeal to better angels over partisanship, ushered in by the death of Arizona Sen. John McCain. If you had any delirious hopes of fever-breaking, they should have been thoroughly dashed by the first day of the Senate Judiciary Committees hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. They should have been dashed, in particular, by the refusal of the panels Republican majority to allow adequate and timely access to documents from Kavanaughs White House service. For the most deep-pocketed museums, special measures can help stave off the worst threats. The Getty Center in Los Angeles sits on a hilltop in an area of frequent earthquakes and wildfires. But with an endowment of nearly $7 billion, it has been able to invest extensively in protective technologies. Its billion-dollar campus features thick walls of fire-resistant travertine stone, a million-gallon water tank and a system of irrigation pipes that can soak the perimeter if needed. It has also developed display cases that isolate artworks from seismic activity. Second, in our constitutional system, the burden is on the executive to prove it has the right to withhold information, not on Congress to prove it has the right to investigate. Executive privilege even if an administration doesnt specifically refer to it in such terms should be reserved for the most compelling reasons. It should not be invoked to protect the political interests of the president, or, in this case, to advance his odds of having his judicial nominee confirmed. Short of a strong showing by the executive branch of its need to withhold documents, Congresss right to access information must be upheld. The Senate Judiciary Committee, regardless of partisan leaning, should not forego its own institutional prerogative to fully vet a nominee. Whats left is a kind of ceremonial cleansing of the sacred city, a mighty labor to make sure that the two circles on the Venn diagram never, ever come into contact. Theres something admirable about uncompromising ethical purity, but also something rather dangerous. For it means that outside your circle, theres an entirely different normal. And if you abdicate any influence over that alternate normality, while rigorously expelling your own heretics, you may one day awake to find that your impeccably maintained ring of truth has been swamped by that other normal, now grown entirely beyond your control. Jones has accused the tech giants of censoring conservative voices after they suspended his conspiracy theory website Infowars last month. He made an unexpected appearance in the front row of the audience at Wednesdays hearing and was also seen milling about the hallways outside the room, yelling about anti-conservative bias and declaring that he had come to face my accusers. The void to be filled by Johns passing is more than I can fill. Dont look to me to replace this man, Graham said last week. Look to me to remember what he was all about and try to follow in his footsteps. If you want to help me, join the march. In his tweet this week, Trump wrote: Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Some day, when Im not president, which hopefully will be in about 6 years from now, the New York Times and CNN and all of these phony media outlets will be out of business, folks, because there will be nothing to write and therell be nothing of interest, the president said. Whats changed for me is the passing of John McCain, said Woods, who delivered a eulogy for the late senator last week. Its challenging for me be so involved in everything that we did to honor him over the last week and then think of staying on the sidelines as we face a world without John McCain. 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. Said Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday: I think we all know its likely he is going to terminate him after the midterms. In the interim I think it would be good if he stopped raving about Sessions. Its unbecoming. Either do something or dont, but these comments just continue to degrade our nation. Coming out in India remains difficult, however. In Bhubaneswar a town where girls colleges lock their doors at 6 p.m. and where public kissing is frowned upon gay men meet secretly in the unused bathrooms of the citys park or on dating apps. Some of those who come out to their families are forced to take medication, shock therapy or fake cures peddled by quack doctors and ascetics. Even the movements most vocal champions some of the organizers of the citys first pride march have not told their parents they are gay or that they attended the event. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a news conference Wednesday evening that the discussions with Pompeo, who was accompanied by Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had set the stage to reset the environment for bilateral relations and that he had been invited to Washington to follow up later this month. We understood what they want, and have also presented what Pakistan expects . . . in a mutually respectful manner, he said. When I first heard about this, I laughed, Koofi said in an interview. I have spent my career struggling against these kinds of abusive people and warlords, and now they say I am one of them? She said she suspected the complaint came from political adversaries but has no way to know, because the process was secret. If she could see the charges, she said, I would happily fight this in court. By Wednesday night, demonstrators massed in Basra had torched a municipal office building and police had responded with warning shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Demonstrators in Baghdads Tahrir Square avoided the kind of confrontation that led police to use deadly force earlier in the week. Activists said they expect the number of protests to surge on Friday, the first day of the weekend. Mattis knows and understands and has the experience and humility to pick his battles, said one senior European foreign policy official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss fears about the behavior of an ally. It is not clear to me that a lesser man or woman could keep DODs head above water. So in a macro sense, Mattis is important as an experienced and balanced adult who knows that defense of Europe is in the U.S.s interest. North Korea wants the United States to formally declare an end to the Korean War before it takes any genuine steps to open up or scale back its nuclear program, arguing that such a step is vital to defusing tension on the Korean Peninsula and building trust. It says Trump expressed support for such an idea when he met Kim in Singapore. Its important to be tough and strong when it comes to the national interest, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. With that being said, I think we and the U.S. and Mexico would all like to see a swift conclusion to these negotiations. Concurs de granturi adresat COMUNITATILOR (APL) pentru sporirea rezilientei lor la schimbarile climatice si FEMEILOR ANTREPRENOARE in vederea dezvoltarii unor afaceri prietenoase mediului The battle for control of the listed Investa Office Fund has taken yet another 11th-hour turn, with private equity giant Blackstone threatening to walk away from its $3.2 billion offer if the scheduled meeting to approve the deal is adjourned. On legal advice, the IOF independent directors have said they will hold the scheduled meeting on Thursday, September 6, "but it will be adjourned shortly after its commencement, so that the IOF manager has sufficient time to consider and obtain advice on the Oxford proposal". In the interim, IOF's independent directors have unanimously recommended the Blackstone proposal in the absence of a superior proposal. Investa Office's $110 million office tower at 151 Clarence Street, known as Barrack Place. Oxford Properties is the real estate business of the Canadian pension fund OMERS, which manages about $100 billion of assets. Maybe if the law was on my side when Jaxon was a minor. Jaxon started using drugs when he was 14. Just a few years later, the kid whose father described as popular, friendly and happy, is a man in deep trouble. Gone is the sporty child with a cheeky grin; in his place is a violent and erratic young man in the throes of an addiction he cannot seem to curb. At 20, Jaxon has been in and out of rehab numerous times. He has entered various treatment programs, but none have been able to make him stay. Last year he was placed on life support after overdosing on benzodiazepines. Twice. He was a great kid, Murray said. We all still love him; were just afraid of him. Jaxons family became so scared of his behaviour his mother and two younger sisters started carrying pepper spray, and Murray installed locks on the girls bedroom doors. There have been a couple of times weve had to have Jaxon removed from the house, Murray said. Hes become violent and threatening. Weve tried tough love. We kicked him out. He came back seven days later, emaciated. He just cant take care of himself. A proponent of enforced detox and rehabilitation for drug users, Murray took to Twitter just weeks ago saying there were parents of drug users desperate for their child to commit a crime. It might just save their life, he wrote. Within days, his own son was taken into police custody. It happened on a Sunday evening He just exploded, Murray said. He just went off. Jaxon was placed on life support last year after twice overdosing on benzodiazepines. A seemingly innocuous conversation in the family home about future treatment plans for Jaxon led to a violent incident on the familys front lawn, witnessed by neighbours. He stomped through the house; he was swearing at us, he was just going off, Murray said. He told me I could go and get f--ked - that I was the worst f--king father in the world. Hes told me that many times. Jaxon then smashed a lead-light door before walking outside. Seeing red, Murray followed his son, telling him not to come back. This prompted Jaxon to take a swing at his father. Murrays wife - and Jaxons mum - tried to pepper spray the 20-year-old, but he took an almighty swing and knocked his mother out. She just hit the ground, Murray said. My daughters called the police and a neighbour had to pull me off Jaxon. Thats the last time we saw him. Murray has had no contact with his son since the assault on his wife. At this point, he doesnt want to see him. Hed have to do rehabilitation, he said. My son needs detox. Murray said as much as he hated the idea of Jaxon being in prison, he considered it the best place for him at the moment. Im hopeful he will get better, Murray says. Im hopeful. Am I confident? Not with the way the system is at the moment. We need urgent help There is currently no legislation in Western Australia that allows for the compulsory treatment of people with severe drug or alcohol addictions. In September 2016, the Mental Health Commission released a discussion paper relating to the proposed provision of a compulsory alcohol and other drug treatment service in Western Australia, Mental Health Minister Roger Cook said. New South Wales currently operate a compulsory rehab program which is being evaluated by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. I look forward to the results of that evaluation which are due to be finalised by the end of 2018. This isnt good enough for Murray. The biggest problem weve had is trying so many different places, he said. Four psychiatrists have given up on him. Other states have enforced rehab, but try and find me a detox centre in Perth that can hold onto a person. It just doesnt happen. Murray believes a six-step plan needs to be introduced by the government to address the scourge of meth addiction. The plan would include intervention and enforced abstinence, as well as medical treatment, counselling, relapse monitoring and brain scans to determine damage done. He fears the worst for Jaxon if the current system for treating addicts doesnt change. Jaxon has presented numerous times at the local hospital, only to be released within hours. He wont stay at a residential treatment facility, and his family - who have already spent upwards of $40,000 trying to help him - are at their wits end. Hell end up dying, Murray said. He cant take care of himself. He doesnt know how to. I feel like I failed. I shouldve stopped my boy from getting drugs. I let him go. As much as I hate him being in prison, at this point we only see it as the best thing for him. We havent given up on him, but we need urgent help. As part of WAtoday's Big Perth series, we explore the South and Peel framework in detail below. Creeping south Urban sprawl is as quintessentially Western Australian as an ice-cold Emu Export in the middle of a sweltering December heatwave or being unable to merge on the freeway. About 1.4 million people are expected to make Perth home over the next 30 years. Credit:Fairfax Media This framework continues that time-honoured tradition of flattening the landscape and putting up swathes of 4x2s by extending the sprawl beyond Perths own established boundaries. The Shire of Waroona, outside the Greater Perth area, has been earmarked for a 350 per cent increase in population, from its current 4200 to 18,200. Most of that would occur in or near the township of Waroona itself. Just north of Waroona, within the Greater Perth boundary, the Shire of Murray is projected to receive a 950 per cent increase in population. This means the 17,300 people currently living there will have almost 150,000 new neighbours by 2050. Most of these new Murray residents will be centred around an expanded Pinjarra. Other outer suburban council areas like Serpentine Jarrahdale and Mandurah will also experience huge growth in residents and housing. By 2031 the framework projects that Mundijong in Serpentine Jarrahdale, currently inhabited by cows and horses feeding off the endless green pastures, will become a huge regional centre. Loading According to the frameworks maps it will feature an urban area roughly the same size as its neighbouring suburb Byford to the north, which has already undergone a huge transformation from farmland to urban jungle. In general, lovers of rural blocks should hold onto them tight. Areas zoned 'rural residential', those with lot sizes from one to four hectares, have been labelled inefficient forms of development and new blocks would not be supported. 'They put a big circle around Perth' High-level frameworks are fine but what does it mean for the councils at the coalface who will have to come up with the finer details? Shire of Waroona president Mike Walmsley was sceptical of the population projections. They just put a big circle around Perth, which happened to include us, he said. I cant see it happening in the next 30 years but God knows what the future holds. Any attempt to create a metropolitan hub in Waroona would probably be met with resistance, he said. Mr Walmsley said Waroona was a rural town and residents didn't want to destroy that character. Most people live out here because they like the quiet, he said. We need to protect our beautiful agricultural land because Perth is going to need it to feed itself, he said. The Shire of Murray was less surprised. Shire president David Bolt said regardless of whether their population would actually hit 160,000 his council was planning for higher density. Weve got an activity centre plan thats before the government for Pinjarra at the moment and were waiting for that to be advertised. Whether you agree with the numbers or not were planning for large growth over the next 30 years; we need to do that. Murray Shire president David Bolt Why the south is booming Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage director general Gail McGowan said development would occur south because Perths north was extremely constrained. She also defended including Waroona, which represented the edge of the Peel region, in the framework. People talk about need to draw finite lines, and other states and countries have imposed urban growth boundaries, but the Darling Scarp, the oceans and the Peel Harvey catchment which is under considerable challenge are natural limits, she said. The growth of areas such as Pinjarra will be due to their access to industry, both rural and industrial. This will create stronger linkages from east to west." An artist's impression of the future Peel Business Park. Credit:Landcorp Where will people work? Cr Bolt said if Pinjarra was to support all these new people it would need to provide somewhere for them to work close to home. Its a similar story across the rest of the region. The framework says 5900 hectares of industrial land would be needed to improve employment self-sufficiency of the region from 65 per cent to 83 per cent. Expansion of industrial areas on the Kwinana Western Trade Coast, the new outer harbour and proposed intermodal rail and road freight facilities within the Latitude 32 industrial area would create a gargantuan hub of industry running from Bibra Lake in Cockburn to Rockingham. Further south the establishment of a Peel Business Park in Nambeelup near Mandurah and Pinjarra would provide 30,000 jobs. Beyond industrial areas the framework allowed for greater employment opportunities in city centres like Armadale, Mandurah and Rockingham. It also highlighted the potential for employment from tourism in waterside locations like Mandurah and Rockingham and hills areas, national parks and state forests in the east. The City of Kwinana looking southwest from Wandi, with the Kwinana Freeway running south through the middle of the frame and the Kwinana industrial area in the distance. Under the framework the industrial area will extend from Rockingham in the south to the city of Cockburn in the north. Credit:Hamish Hastie Hitting the road and rail Some big road and rail projects worth potentially billions of dollars have been proposed to move the influx of people around. Nearer term projects like the Thornlie-to-Cockburn link, Armadale-to-Byford extension and Karnup train station were mentioned but there are more abstract proposals on the cards as well. The framework includes the southern portion of the long dreamed about circle line. This would entail extending the Forrestfield-airport line to Thornlie and connecting the Thornlie line to Fremantle. The circle line would also connect north to the future Ellenbrook line and the Joondalup line. Loading It also suggests the Australind train service be better integrated with the Transperth network between Perth and Mundijong. An additional southern metro rail line and high-speed extension to Bunbury has also been raised. Karnup has been selected as the site for a new train station on the Mandurah line. When it comes to asphalt, east to west road upgrades were high priorities to deal with the increased industrial activity. Extensions, realignments and upgrades were proposed for east-west roads like Rowley, Anketell, Thomas, Mundijong and Mandjoogoordap. Tonkin Highway will become Perths second major north-to-south arterial road with a 45-kilometre extension from Thomas Road in Byford to Pinjarra. More highlights Some trekking companies, which act as brokers and take a percentage of rescue fees from helicopter companies, make more money through evacuations than they do charging for hikes, officials said, pulling in thousands of dollars in kickbacks when a typical profit margin for each trekker might be just a few hundred dollars. Nepal's government announced a new monitoring program late last week to crack down on the fraud. Rabindra Adhikari, Nepal's minister for tourism, said in an interview that new procedures had been set up for medical evacuations, and that helicopter companies, trekking operators and hospitals must now submit invoices for rescues to his office to ensure that they are "genuine". An increase in unnecessary rescues Nepali officials said they were also investigating claims that guides in some cases had purposely made clients sick to force an evacuation, reportedly through serving spoiled food or mixing large amounts of baking soda into meals. A view of the Himalayas in Nepal from a rescue helicopter in flight. Credit:Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times Insurance companies have had enough, too. They have raised premiums, posted red-banded advisories on their websites warning trekkers of the scam, or sometimes threatened to end coverage entirely in the country. Phil Sylvester, a spokesman for World Nomads, a popular insurance provider with clients around the globe, said the number of unnecessary rescues was rising. In one recent example, Sylvester said, a man was evacuated by air for an earache. "I personally have seen 200 to 250 suspect evacuation cases in a year from a handful of insurers," he said. "With each evacuation costing $6000 to $10,000, that adds up." I personally have seen 200 to 250 suspect evacuation cases in a year. With each evacuation costing $6000 to $10,000, that adds up. World Nomads spokesman Phil Sylvester The problem has become extensive enough that World Nomads recently put together an internal blacklist of Nepali helicopter companies and hospitals that it suspects of fraud. Sylvester said claims involving a blacklisted company were not automatically rejected. Trekkers, he said, "have no control over who gets called on the phone". Nepal is a poor country, sandwiched between India and China, where every year thousands of visitors embark on multi-day hikes to glimpse some of the world's highest peaks. Aware of the risks associated with travelling to high altitudes, many trekkers buy insurance for several hundred dollars, opting for plans that include helicopter rescues. To ensure proper acclimatisation, they spend days hiking to places like Everest Base Camp, where the air is thin and trekkers often experience mild altitude sickness. Trekkers at the airport in Lukla, Nepal before beginning their trek to the Everest base camp in May. Credit:Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times A few dozen trekking companies are thought to be central to the fraud. In a common scenario, mountain guides exploit inexperienced trekkers by pressuring them to be helicoptered back to Kathmandu at the first minor signs of illness. They are dissuaded from exploring other options, like taking medicine that eases altitude sickness, going to clinics along the trek route, or simply descending a few thousand feet, which solves many cases. Other versions of deceit are more disturbing In 2016, Faina Gersh's mountain flight back to Kathmandu was delayed by bad weather. Gersh, a trekker from California, was worried that she would miss her connecting flight to the U.S. The owner of her trekking company came up with an alternative. "They suggested that we say I was sick, like with food poisoning or an illness, so then my insurance would cover a helicopter," said Gersh, 42, who had finished a trek to Base Camp. "I was like, 'No, I'm not going to commit insurance fraud.'" They suggested that we say I was sick ... so then my insurance would cover a helicopter ... I'm not going to commit insurance fraud. Faina Gersh In the case of Chang and Tjondro, the Australians whose guide had pushed an air evacuation in 2016 even though they were willing to walk down the mountain themselves, the insurance company they bought a policy from, World Nomads, said there were some clear irregularities. Sylvester, the spokesman from World Nomads, said that their guide, without contacting the insurance company, had coordinated with the trekking company, Advanced Adventures, to send a helicopter from Flight Connection International, a company blacklisted by World Nomads, to pick up the trekkers in Lobuche, a small village about 16,000 feet above sea level and a day's walk from Base Camp. After arriving in Kathmandu, around 150 kilometres away, Chang and Tjondro were transported to Swacon International Hospital, a clinic for foreigners that is also on World Nomads' blacklist, where Chang's passport was taken, possibly "to prevent me from leaving too early," he said. Trekking outfits in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Credit:Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times In interviews, all three of those companies denied wrongdoing. When he was discharged after three days, Chang said, he was given no receipt. The hospital told him "they would sort everything out," he said. Later, they found that a doctor's report attached to Chang's insurance claim, which The New York Times reviewed, included inaccuracies, the pair said, including that Chang's symptoms had not improved even after descending, making a medical evacuation necessary. Tjondro reiterated that they had not even tried to descend by foot because their guide discouraged it. 'Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs' In the Nepali government investigation that led to the new rules for trekking companies, the report accused both Flight Connection International and Swacon of producing fraudulent invoices and overcharging insurance companies. Insurance companies are closely monitoring whether the government acts on those findings. But Rishi Ram Bhandari, the managing director of Satori Adventures and Expeditions, worries about the fraud's lasting effect on tourism here, and about whether it will be stopped. London: Two Russian intelligence officers have been named and charged over the Novichok poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Prime Minister Theresa May told the Commons that the two men named by police are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. "The GRU is a highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command," she said. "So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state." Washington: Facebook and Twitter executives pledged on Wednesday to better protect their social media platforms in the 2018 elections and beyond, and told Congress of aggressive efforts to root out foreign intrusions aimed at sowing divisions in American democracy. Facebook's No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, and Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, testified before the Senate intelligence committee, but there was an empty chair for Google's parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive. Senators had sharp words for Alphabet CEO Larry Page, who oversees Google. Senator Marco Rubio, suggested the company might have bailed because it was "arrogant" while Senator Susan Collins expressed outrage over the absence. Sandberg's appearance came several months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in highly publicised Capitol Hill hearings. Like Zuckerberg, she acknowledged Facebook's lag in recognising Russian efforts to manipulate Facebook during and after the 2016 US presidential election. Sandberg detailed Facebook's efforts to fight the problem with new technologies and manpower. ABC/Randy HolmesMetallica paid tribute to a hometown hero at their show in Minneapolis Tuesday night by playing a cover of a Prince classic. During the concert, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo performed a rendition of the Purple Rain hit "When Doves Cry." Trujillo handled lead vocals with a growl as Hammett jammed alongside him. You can watch official footage of the cover now on YouTube. The "When Doves Cry" performance was a part of Hammett and Trujillo's regular "doodle" segment, during which the pair play a rough cover of a song related to the city in which they're playing. For example, during a stop in Stockholm on Metallica's European tour earlier this year, Hammett and Trujillo covered "Dancing Queen" by Swedish pop icons ABBA. Metallica is currently touring the U.S. behind the band's latest album, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct. The outing continues this Thursday, September 6 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. BRIDGEPORT - An undocumented immigrant accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend, seriously wounded her best friend and fleeing the state with the couples 6-year-old daughter rejected a 50-year plea bargain Wednesday. Oscar Ziggy Hernandez told Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin he would rather go to trial. Then we will begin jury selection, the judge said. Hernandez is charged with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor. During a brief hearing, Senior Assistant States Attorney Joseph Corradino told Devlin he had offered to recommend Hernandez get the 50-year term if he pleaded guilty to the charges. Devlin said that based on the charges he would not consider giving Hernandez less than that. I understand that offer is not acceptable to you? the judge asked Hernandez. No, Hernandez replied. Hernandez had been living with his girlfriend, 26-year-old Nidia Yubi Gonzalez, and their young daughter in a small, two-bedroom basement apartment on Greenwood Street when in the early morning of Feb. 24, 2017, police said, Hernandez fatally stabbed Gonzalez in a jealous rage and wounded her friend. Hernandez then fled with his daughter, setting off a three-state pursuit before finally crashing in central Pennsylvania, police said. Hernandez was previously convicted of choking an estranged wife in their apartment in 2008 on Stamfords East Side. He was convicted three years later and deported in 2013. But authorities said he illegally returned to the U.S. If convicted of the charges against him, Hernandez could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. Mortgage banker: Dave Stambone Home type: Single-family, owner-occupied purchase in Ridgefield Home value: $464,000 Loan amount: $450,000 Loan terms: Conventional, 30-year-fixed, 4.625 percent, no points. Backstory: A first-time home buyer was in the process of shopping around for a mortgage when she was advised to call Stambone by her Realtor to obtain a pre-approval. The purpose of becoming pre-approved is to determine an individuals maximum buying power in order to purchase a home. This is a necessary component that must be done prior to viewing homes with a real estate agent. Additionally, a pre-approval letter from a mortgage professional is required by the real estate agent listing a home when accepting offers on behalf of a seller. The letter limits the risk of a deal falling through and increases a buyers credibility. A thorough review of income, assets and credit must be considered when deciding what someone may qualify for. Stambone arranged a time to meet to discuss her situation in detail. The buyer and her family were bursting at the seams and ready to leave their small apartment in the city for country living. Although the buyer was interested in learning about first-time home buyer programs, she was concerned she and her husband may not qualify based on their high level salaries. The other lenders she spoke to said they would not qualify for a first-time buyer program since their joint income exceeded 100 percent of the area median income. They had no intentions of leaving their positions in the city and planned on commuting each day from Ridgefield. However, Stambone and his bank offered a special program for first-time buyers with no income limit. A first-time home buyer is defined as an individual who meets all of the following requirements: (1) Is purchasing the mortgaged premises (2) Will reside in the mortgaged premises as a primary residence (3) Had no ownership interest (sole or joint) in a residential property during the three-year period preceding the date of the purchase of the mortgaged premises. In order to qualify, at least one borrower must be a first-time home buyer. The program is limited to only a 30-year fixed rate loan. The property must be one unit (condo, single-family or planned unit development) and a primary residence. Financing is available up to 97 percent of the purchase price and $453,100 loan amount. Mortgage insurance is required with down payments less than 20 percent and is automatically removed when the home has reached a 78 percent loan-to-value ratio. Refinancing is not required to remove mortgage insurance. At last, the couple closed on their home in 30 days with 3 percent down and obtained a low fixed rate mortgage. The family is now enjoying their new life in suburban Connecticut and appreciative of Stambone and his teams assistance. Dave Stambone, Total Mortgage Services, 203-240-9611, dave@davestambone.com If you are looking for a truly prominent horse property of elegance and grandeur with a world-class barn of 12 stalls, look no further than the two properties that make up June Hill Farm. They are so special and unique that they are too good to be in just one community: The properties are a mile from each other: The main propertys address is in Greenwich while the smaller home is in Stamford. The two properties encompass 23.4 magnificent acres and is a true treasure, according to co-listing agent June Rosenthal of William Pitt Sothebys International Realty. Its a piece of Ireland. Its the kind of property they have in that wonderful country. Its that special, Rosenthal said. The horse barn, she said, is located between the two homes. You can see everything from the horse farm, Rosenthal said. Its a natural space. There are hills; its not all straight flat land. Its a rare equestrian family estate and is a truly picturesque fantasy. The main property, located at 23 Carrington Drive in Greenwich, is 8,800 square feet and has a finished lower level, main level and second level. It also has a wraparound porch around the whole house on the main level, but Rosenthal said, you can walk out to it from every room. The lower level features a media and recreation rooms. It also has a bath and walkout. Details Addresses: 23 Carrington Drive, Greenwich; 242 June Road, Stamford Price: $9.950 million Rooms: 19 Features: Two homes comprise this property which includes a horse barn, a solarium and a professional observatory. Schools: (In Stamford): Roxbury Elementary, Cloonan Middle, and Westhill High School. See More Collapse The main level, Rosenthal said, has a huge entryway where everything is so big. Walk to the left and there is a large living room, fireplace and lots of windows. Its a colonial with a contemporary flair, Rosenthal said. Also, on the main level is a dining room also with large windows. Then, there is the stand-out kitchen, which has stainless-steel appliances and an eating area to sit six comfortably. There is an open area to the family room from the kitchen, Rosenthal noted. The family room, she said, has a fireplace and windows throughout. There are five fireplaces in total on the property. This level also includes an office den that can be used to work or relax, Rosenthal said. There is also a powder room. The second floor has four bedrooms including the master suite. The spacious master has a fireplace, windows and a balcony. The master bath Rosenthal said, is as luxurious as you would want in a young (12-years-old) home. The 242 June Road home in Stamford is 2,800 square feet. The 1950s home features a main level and second level. It comes complete with a solarium on the main level and three bedrooms including the master on the second level. The property also has a professional observatory that is great for people into astronomy, Rosenthal said. In addition, she said, the land also has a hill with more than 30 trees of multiple varieties including apple, peach, plum and pear. There are also blackberry and raspberry bushes. Listing agents: June Rosenthal, William Pitt Sothebys International Realty, (203) 536-7470, jrosenthal@wpsir.com and Linda Sentementes, William Pitt Sothebys International Realty, (203) 940-0275, lsentementes@wpsir.com. By the time you read this, Tuesdays election will be history. We will know whether or not Texans came out... Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay was busy in Winnipeg on Tuesday announcing more than $12 million in funding for canola and hemp producers. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay was busy in Winnipeg on Tuesday announcing more than $12 million in funding for canola and hemp producers. The $9.2-billion canola industry received the lions share of the announced funding to advance the growth and profitability of the sector. The funds will go towards research into innovative and sustainable approaches to adapting new food-processing techniques, exploring uses for canola meal in livestock production, examining practices to optimize yields and protecting crops from pests. While the industrial hemp industry is tiny in comparison to canola, it may stand to see more dramatic growth. With about 140,000 acres in production by comparison, there were 22.7 million acres of canola planted in Canada in 2018 industrial hemp production generated about $160 million in revenue last year. But with new legislation that will allow hemp producers to harvest the whole plant, including the flowering and leafy materials that had previously been discarded, it will open up a whole new revenue stream for producers. Ted Haney, the newly appointed executive director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (CHTA), said the industry goal is to increase acreage planted to 450,000 to 500,000 acres by 2025, which would mean an increase in value of the crop to about $1 billion. Under the federal governments Growing Forward 2, AgriRisk Initiatives program, the CHTA will receive $330,550 to develop industry grading standards to ensure Canadian hemp products are known globally as being of the highest quality. MacAulay said, "Being a farmer, I can understand the value of being able to use the whole crop and there are so many benefits to the hemp plant." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Among other things, he said it will also be important for the industry to be able to continue to educate the public about the benefits of the crops, including the nutritional values, promote their usage and also educate about the increasingly popular hemp food products as well as hemps distinction from marijuana. The primary difference is that the industrial hemp plant contains only trace amounts of THC, the active component of recreational marijuana. MacAulay made the announcement in Winnipeg at Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, the largest hemp food processor in North America. The companys popular Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts recently had a promotion where it was available in every Costco store in North America, selling out three months worth of supply in three weeks. Hemp has only been grown legally in Canada since 1998. Manitoba has become the centre of productions with about 50 per cent of the countrys crop produced here. The flower and leafy elements of the hemp plant contain varying amounts and various types of cannabidiol, a substance that lacks the psychoactive effect of THC but has much medicinal promise for treating everything from pain and sleep disorders to epilepsy, Crohns disease and Parkinsons disease. Last month, Health Canada made a revision to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow whole plant harvest of industrial hemp for the 2018 crop, which was previously not permitted. After the new Cannabis Act comes into force on Oct. 17, industrial hemp farmers can market those parts of the hemp plant. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca The Johnston Group, one of the largest group benefit plan administrators in the country, has long prided itself in being good at what it does. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Johnston Group, one of the largest group benefit plan administrators in the country, has long prided itself in being good at what it does. Among other things, that means processing more than 3,000 health and dental claims in a typical day and making sure all sorts of wellness benefits are available to its customers across the country. Now, the company can also boast nice new digs for its roughly 250 Winnipeg employees. On Tuesday night, the family-owned business opened its new 70,000-square-foot headquarters at 1051 King Edward St. more than twice the size of its previous Winnipeg head office to about 600 friends and family. While business owner David Johnston may shy away from the media spotlight, the company is perennially included on best-managed-companies lists and has long been in the top tier of corporate support of community endeavours alongside companies ten times its size. "We have three legs of the stool that are important for us," Johnston said. "One is our customers, obviously. Another is culture, which is really important to us, and the other is our community." As one of the largest (maybe the largest) third-party benefit administrators in the country, Johnston Group now has close to $600 million in annual premiums that it administers. Johnston Group is not an insurance company and does not take on any risk, but it does many of the same things that the insurance company will do when it comes to administering the group benefit plans plan, design and administer the benefits, provide all the billings and customer service, offer insured and self-funded program options and provide access to pay-direct prescription drug cards. As Johnston put it, "We have to be better than the insurance companies or there is no reason for us to be here. Our job is to provide better service." It also has to do it in a cost-competitive way while still building in enough margin to keep growing. Its sweet spot is to provide the group insurance benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises. Its largest customer has 10,000 employees, but the company is very connected to chambers of commerce throughout the country and helps companies employees access all the same kinds of services and supports for their group benefits plans that much larger companies do. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Johnston is also a partner in the Winnipeg payroll company Payworks, and as sister companies, the two recently launched a product called Tandem that can simplify the costs and time to process benefits with the industrys first real-time integration of payroll and employee benefit platforms. The company must be doing a good job because its adding about 4,000 new groups every year to the close to 34,000 it already has on the books. Last year, Johnston said the company grew by about nine per cent. In addition to not being worried about getting its name out there other than for its community support work the company is not really that interested in what the competition is doing either. "We have no intention on selling... ever," he said. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA Days after taking over Churchills washed-out railway, one of the main shareholders says he cant guarantee passenger service will resume before the November freeze-up. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 5/9/2018 (1155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Days after taking over Churchills washed-out railway, one of the main shareholders says he cant guarantee passenger service will resume before the November freeze-up. Meanwhile, the federal Liberals say theyll soon reveal whether Ottawa paid Denver-based Omnitrax for the railway and port. On a Tuesday visit to Churchill, AGT Foods chief executive officer Murad Al-Katib told locals shovels should hit the ground this week, but he warned engineers had only done helicopter visits to portions of the damaged line. "Were really hopeful that by next year, everythings going to be running; it may be sooner," he said. "Im being very honest; it really depends on Mother Natures kindness this fall." Meanwhile, federal International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr said hed soon reveal whether Ottawa paid Omnitrax for the assets. "Well explain the deal in detail to Manitobans," Carr told the Free Press. "All of that will come out very soon," he said in a Tuesday phone interview during a trade mission to Israel. Ottawa announced Aug. 31 it had brokered a deal to transfer all of Omnitraxs northern Manitoba holdings to local hands but did not disclose how much federal money has been put up, whether the Denver-based company got a payment or how much the repairs will cost. Carr said more detail should come next week. He also confirmed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be visiting Winnipeg on Sept. 11. The Hudson Bay Railway, Port of Churchill and the towns marine tank farm now all fall under ownership of Arctic Gateway, a new consortium involving northern Manitoba communities, Toronto financier Fairfax and Saskatchewan-based grains giant AGT. Omnitrax wont say whether its walking away with any payout or debts: "The financial terms of the agreement will not be disclosed," spokeswoman Hilary Sloan wrote. The Manitoba government confirmed Tuesday it is "not part of the financing arrangements of the Arctic Gateway consortium." Ottawas partners say the Liberals arranged "a long-term support package" to buy the assets, repair the railway and do "rehabilitation upgrades to the port and the railway assets." A second phase of repairs will allow heavy grain cars, likely next year, and it appears that has not secured federal funding. Fairfax and AGT said they now have "a 99-year operating agreement" to operate the railway, and half of the shares of Arctic Gateway. The heads of both firms visited Churchill to speak with locals Tuesday. Arctic Gateway has awarded a contract to Cando Rail and Paradox Access Solutions. Al-Katib said AGT has already moved some of its Saskatchewan railway parts to The Pas, with the plan of having the firms use those parts this week along washed-out parts of the railway. Churchill-area MP Niki Ashton said last week she was "relieved" to hear about the deal and proud of the local buying group, but said taxpayers ought to know how their money is being spent, and whether that included a payment to Omnitrax. Previously, sources familiar with takeover talks said Omnitrax had extracted favourable conditions, such as limited liability in ongoing litigation. Carr returns to Winnipeg on Friday, and was on government business in Singapore when the deal was signed. "Well make all of the arrangements clearer when I get back to Winnipeg," he said. He noted the handover involved multiple stakeholders. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "It was the layers of complexity, both in the formation of the partnership, and in finally negotiating the deal that took more time than we wanted it to take," Carr said. "It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, over a period of time, among many people. But the result was worth the effort." Fairfax president Paul Rivett told Churchill residents talks seemed uncertain for months, and he believed theyd outright fallen apart the evening before the deal was signed. "Theres a lot of people who didnt want us to succeed here. Theres a lot of people who were just talking dollars, and I guess not remembering people," he said. "Its on all of us to stay together in this, because there will be a lot of people who will not want it to work." dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca City councillors on the finance committee approved adding $4.8 million to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service budget to avoid a projected shortfall by the end of the year. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. City councillors on the finance committee approved adding $4.8 million to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service budget to avoid a projected shortfall by the end of the year. Council had approved $193.5 million for the WFPS for 2018, but service officials said they wouldnt be able to stay within that amount. John Hall, the WFPS financial controller, told the committee Tuesday firefighting overtime accounts for $1.5 million of the over-expenditure, with another $1.1 million for firefighter benefits. The overtime costs are not unexpected. The WFPS has repeatedly under-budgeted firefighter overtime costs and this year is no different, citing a staff shortage. The WFPS had budgeted about $900,000 for overtime in 2018, but its projected to be almost $2.4 million. The actual overtime costs in 2017 were $2.124 million. The WFPS budget was one of a handful of issues reviewed by the committee, including the Waverley Street rail underpass (which remains on schedule), and upgrades to the south-end sewage treatment plan, which is also on schedule and on budget. Mike Ruta, the citys chief financial officer, said some progress has been made over the summer on the funding dispute with the provincial government. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Ruta said provincial officials have verbally agreed to the funding formula for ambulance services this year, but he added civic officials are still waiting for a formal, written agreement. There appears to be no resolve, however, to the citys contention the province has shortchanged it on the rapid transit corridor funding. While Mayor Brian Bowman had previously said hes prepared to take this to court, Ruta told the committee talks are ongoing. Councillors were told revenues from the impact fee -- a new charge on residential development in certain suburban areas -- have totalled $15 million to the end of June: $4 million from part of 2017, and $11 million so far this year. The impact fee revenue is supposed to offset infrastructure costs related to new development. However, the funds remain placed in a reserve, pending the outcome of a court challenge by the home-building industry, which claims the city doesnt have the authority to impose the fee. Finance chairman Scott Gillingham said while the City of Winnipeg faces financial pressures, he supports holding the funds aside until the court challenge is resolved. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Local developer Andrew Marquess got no love at city hall Tuesday from the property and development committee, which gave the thumbs-down to his proposal for a mixed-use redevelopment of the Parker lands. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Local developer Andrew Marquess got no love at city hall Tuesday from the property and development committee, which gave the thumbs-down to his proposal for a mixed-use redevelopment of the Parker lands. The matter was voted on by Couns. Matt Allard (St. Boniface), Shawn Dobson (St. Charles) and Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry). On the advice from city planners who said the plans needed a "substantial number of required changes" the councillors unanimously shot down Marquess's proposal. Nonetheless, also on the advice of city planners, the councillors left the door open for Marquess to amend his proposal moving forward without having to start the process over from scratch. "I think it's important to note that you're giving the applicant a chance to come back without having to apply again. That's significant. It's a sign of an olive branch to work with them," Gerbasi said, addressing the city planners present. "But having said that, you're stating that this is not ready for prime time and there are concerns that need to be taken seriously." In anticipation of the outcome, Marquess released an early morning statement through his company Gem Equities Inc., saying he was going to skip the meeting entirely. He also denounced the city administration's handling of the file, making clear he puts more faith in the courts than in city officials. Marquess is currently petitioning the courts to force the city into holding a public consultation for the proposed development, which would include apartments, townhouses and homes. The matter will go back before a judge Sept. 10. Last week, a city administration report was published that recommended councillors reject the development plan before a public consultation takes place. That recommendation was followed Tuesday. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Developer Andrew Marquess. Marquess characterized the report as "filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies (that) cast aspersions on the well-respected, multi-disciplinary team of professionals from across Canada working on this project." The report contends his proposal for the 133-acre plot differs significantly from what he'd previously disclosed at public meetings, as well as lacking necessary detail. It also alleges the plan includes no guarantees the remaining forest on the site will be preserved contrary to past promises. The land was the subject of a lengthy blockade in the summer of 2017, which aimed at blocking the clear-cutting of trees on the property. The protesters cited, among other concerns, the fact the land was home to a historic Metis settlement called Rooster Town. Marquess was forced to go to court to get an eviction order against the protesters. He has since commenced legal action against some of them, including Jenna Vandal, the daughter of St. Boniface-St. Vital MP Dan Vandal, who spearheaded the efforts. That was just the latest chapter in the lengthy drama over the land, which dates back to 2009 when Marquess obtained the 59-acre plot in a controversial land swap with the city. His company also acquired an additional 14 acres of nearby land from CN Rail. The city later expropriated 24.5 acres of the land. The expropriation of a portion of it 16.5 acres to build a storm-retention pond was questioned after a 2015 inquiry concluded civic officials misled Marquess and had been secretive and dishonest in their dealings with him. Marquess also went to city hall in April and alleged city officials had reneged on a promise to allow the project to proceed, later producing emails from city staff supporting his position. More recently, he began his current legal action against the city. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. His lawyer, Dave Hill, has previously said the city's refusal to approve the project could be linked to a dispute over the value of land the city expropriated to build the retention pond. Hill said if Marquess isnt allowed to develop the property to its highest value then it would lower the value of the plot. That, in turn, would lower the cost the city has to pay for the land it expropriated. Marquess has valued the expropriated land at $1.7 million an acre, for total of almost $35 million, while the city has offered Marquess $116,500 per acre, about $2.4 million. With files from Aldo Santin ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Less than a week after a Manitoba RCMP officer was shot during a break-and-enter call, all four suspects have appeared in court. For most of them, it was far from their first time inside a courtroom. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Less than a week after a Manitoba RCMP officer was shot during a break-and-enter call, all four suspects have appeared in court. For most of them, it was far from their first time inside a courtroom. The accused shooter, 18-year-old Therae Racette-Beaulieu of Sandy Bay First Nation, has no adult record. Manitoba courts do not make youth conviction records publicly accessible. Racette-Beaulieu has been accused of pulling the trigger in the shooting that injured RCMP Cpl. Graeme Kingdon last Wednesday, and he faces two counts of attempted murder as well as five other criminal charges. The three other suspects all have criminal records. At the time of the shooting, 21-year-old Tommy Edward Beaulieu was already facing other gun-related charges for alleged violence, including assault with a weapon and causing bodily harm with intent using a firearm on July 15. RCMP Emergency Response Team took down the suspect involved in the shooting of an RCMP officer in Onanole. (Erin DeBooy / The Brandon Sun) He and 30-year-old Shane Donovan Beaulieu both have lengthy criminal records, including convictions for drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. Since 2015, Tommy Beaulieu has been in and out of jail for weapons possession, thefts of motor vehicles and vehicle parts, possession of stolen property, trespassing at night, fleeing from police, resisting arrest and one count of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. Shane Beaulieu has convictions dating back to 2006, when he was found guilty of being unlawfully in a dwelling house. He was subsequently convicted of breaking and entering, disguising himself with intent, possession of stolen property, uttering threats and several breach charges for failing to follow court conditions. He was convicted of sexual assault in 2011 and was required to register as a sex offender, something he failed to do in 2016, according to court records. In 2015, he was convicted of two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced to just over 20 months in provincial jail. Both are from Portage la Prairie and face a combined total of 10 new charges. A fourth suspect, 23-year-old Delaney Marcus Houle, also from Portage, was previously convicted and fined $100 for violating a court condition that prohibited him from consuming drugs and alcohol. He faces four charges in the alleged break-in and shooting that injured Kingdon. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. FACEBOOK RCMP officer Graeme Kingdon The RCMP didn't provide an update on Kingdon's condition Tuesday. A news release issued late Friday said he remains in hospital and is doing well. The 42-year-old officer was shot in the upper body as he got out of his cruiser car while responding to a break-and-enter report near Onanole last Wednesday night. The suspects fled and were arrested the next day. Two were arrested together early Thursday morning, while another was arrested by himself afterward. A fourth suspect was arrested in Neepawa hours later after a standoff near an elementary school. Manitoba RCMP did not respond to a request for more information Tuesday and have not released any other information about the shooting or how the suspects know each other. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay The province's alcohol and gambling regulator has a new name Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba and a new mission: informing Manitobans about the legal basics of marijuana legalization. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The province's alcohol and gambling regulator has a new name Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba and a new mission: informing Manitobans about the legal basics of marijuana legalization. To that end, the LGCA has kicked off a new public awareness campaign, "The Can and Can't of Cannabis," featuring straightforward messages about how Manitobans can stay within the law after federal cannabis legalization on Oct. 17. "You can't smoke or vape cannabis in public in Manitoba," advises one of the campaign's five core messages in an eye-catching typeface. (LGCA) "You can't smoke or vape cannabis in public in Manitoba," advises one of the campaign's five core messages in an eye-catching typeface. Other blunt messages inform Manitobans they can only buy or use cannabis if they're older than 19, legal marijuana can only be bought from LGCA-licensed retailers, home cannabis cultivation is prohibited in Manitoba, and there's a 30-gram limit on public possession of cannabis. "I find it difficult to go anywhere without people asking how things are going with respect to the regulation of retail (cannabis) sales," LGCA chief administrative officer Elizabeth Stephenson said at a Tuesday news conference at the regulator's Winnipeg offices. "And, certainly, our research showed that there's also some uncertainty about the new laws, and that is, particularly, what people can and can't do when it comes to cannabis, once retail cannabis is legal in Manitoba and across the country." The English and French messages will appear on billboards, street posters and transit vehicles, along with wall murals on university and college campuses, and washrooms on campus and in other "high-traffic locations," according to a LGCA spokeswoman. Social media advertising spots on Instagram and Facebook will also help spread the word. LGCA spent about $200,000 buying advertising spots for the campaign, according to a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Cliff Cullen, with an additional $200,000 allocated to buy spots for a second phase of the campaign to launch in mid-October. Both campaigns cost $50,000 to design, said the spokeswoman. The second phase of the campaign will be meant "to help Manitobans who may choose to use retail cannabis, or are thinking about it, to help them to set limits and reduce risks of harm," said Stephenson, who added the regulator wants to be "neutral in our messaging." The English and French messages will appear on billboards, street posters and transit vehicles, along with wall murals on university and college campuses, and washrooms on campus and in other high-traffic locations. (LGCA) "We're neither for nor against the products that we regulate," she said. The LGCA public awareness campaign is the direct result of the regulator's research into Manitobans' cannabis knowledge, including a 2017 survey. "These were really the five key things that people really needed some clarification on, particularly the age 19, particularly the no smoking and vaping in public," she said. Cullen framed LGCA's new campaign as being part and parcel of the provincial government's health-and-safety-first approach to cannabis legalization. "We want to make sure that Manitobans are aware of the rules and the laws around cannabis use," he told reporters Tuesday. "Our goal is to ensure that adults in this province are equipped with the tools to make responsible decisions within the letter of the law." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen speaks about the province's cannabis public education campaign. (Daniel Crump / Winnipeg Free Press) Cullen also reiterated his government's belief federal cannabis legalization was rushed. "We're doing everything we can as a province to make sure we're ready for that October date, and part of it is education... There's a lot of misconceptions out there around operating equipment and driving while under the influence of cannabis." Public safety messaging regarding cannabis and driving remains the domain of Manitoba Public Insurance, said Stephenson. "We feel that their messaging on this has been very strong, it's been very well-received, it's been very direct and to-the-point... We didn't want to compromise MPI's messaging in any way, that's their messaging and we're happy to leave that in their court." LGCA will update its public messaging in 2019 to educate the public about edible cannabis products. The federal government is expected to regulate commercial production and sales of edibles next year, and until then, the products will not be legally available for commercial sale. solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sol_israel The locomotive's diesel fumes waft over a child's backyard trampoline. The deep rumble of the engine that's been left idling since Monday night is interrupted by loud snaps and hisses from valves releasing pressure Tuesday afternoon. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The locomotive's diesel fumes waft over a child's backyard trampoline. The deep rumble of the engine that's been left idling since Monday night is interrupted by loud snaps and hisses from valves releasing pressure Tuesday afternoon. The train replaces the locomotive that arrived Friday night, and was parked and left running until Labour Day. It had neighbours scratching their heads and plugging their ears and noses. CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Al Donahue lives on Southall Drive and says CP trains are left idling for days in his neighbourhood. "It's unbelievable," West Kildonan resident Al Donahue said Tuesday. "The federal government is trying to push a carbon tax and this thing is just sitting there idling and noisy," he said of the line that runs next to his home on Southall Drive. Before he bought the house 25 years ago, Donahue did his homework. He learned a CP Rail train passed by twice a day: at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. "You could set your watch on it," he said. That's changed in the last three years: now, at all hours, trains come and stay for days at a time, and are left running. "They were so good before," said Donahue, who's been keeping a journal of when trains come and go and how long they're left idling right beside the homes on his street and the other side of the tracks. He and his neighbours have complained to the City of Winnipeg, the province, the railway and federal government about the fumes and the noise. KildonanSt. Paul MP MaryAnn Mihychuk's office looked into it last year. In June 2017, the Liberal MP sent a letter to Donahue and his neighbours announcing a "successful resolution" to the problem. It didn't turn out to be permanent resolution, however. "We worked with CP, and we had the issue resolved," Mihychuk said by phone Tuesday. Her office was in touch last year with a superintendent of operations at the railway who was "terrific" and dealt with the residents concerns about the long-idling trains "yarded" close by. "He got transferred and there was a new superintendent and we're trying to address the same issue for the second time," said Mihychuk. "There were complaints coming in the spring, then things settled down," she said. Mihychuk said she was away last week and was just made aware the idling trains were back, getting on her constituents' nerves over the Labour Day weekend. "We'll get back on the phones with CP," she said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. CP Rail did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. On Wednesday, it issued a statement saying, "The tracks in Winnipeg are a vital part of CPs infrastructure, and like any part of the rail network, operations can take place 24/7, including idling, shunting, switching and trains moving through the corridor." The Canadian Transportation Agency's rail infrastructure advisory committee made up of industry, government and public representatives posted a document online saying diesel locomotives are left idling for several reasons, including to let oncoming trains pass, for mechanical inspections or repairs, for inclement weather to pass and crew changes. Donahue, who's been keeping an eye on the idling trains, said there's no logical reason a locomotive has to be left running right beside their backyards for hours and days -- especially when there is a huge empty field behind Southall Drive next to the tracks. "They could back the train up 500 yards, and it would bother no one." carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca How do we prepare for and manage whats known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 5/9/2018 (1155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion How do we prepare for and manage whats known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution? A technological metamorphosis is upon us, and we need to do more than look behind and use digital technologies to fix historical problems. We must start thinking more innovatively about how we re-engineer communities, moving from smart (where we use individual tools and technologies to fix problems) to intelligent (where we plan on using disruption to our advantage). The recent debate over the Google/Sidewalk Labs proposals for the city of Toronto is an example of how quickly digitalization is moving forward and how unprepared we are to answer some important questions. Here are some critical issues: Open data With more data from the Internet of Things (IoT), how will we make use of the information? Data is an asset that must be managed as a valued resource, not only by companies for use and resale, but for its public good and its opportunity to spur new social and economic innovations. A recent Smart Cities World article outlined some good examples on improvements we could make. The combination of several sources of data can make a significant difference in bringing about new solutions to a host of problems, from forecasting floods to minimizing medical wait times and preventing crime. Open data needs management principles and procedures ownership decisions and intellectual property (IP) rights, safe uses and protection, and compatible systems based on common standards to combine several data sets from different organizations in order to make inferences about that information. This will force engagement and partnerships among the public sector, private sector, non-profits and citizens to make principled decisions. Communities are at the centre of this planning, and have resources they can use to help the European Commission, for example, has published a toolkit for data managers and data holders. And a Canadian public interest law clinic (CIPPIC) provides an FAQ on smart cities that contains valuable legal information. Ownership and protection of personal information, as well as privacy issues, are key points of contention. But lets remember that not all data are sensitive and require deep contemplation about usage. There are models for dealing with contentious issues, such as those proposed in a playbook provided by Harvard to cities wanting to share data. Artificial intelligence and robotics AI and robots will continue to replace humans. Were already experiencing downsizing in some disciplines and demand for new types of skills, or more of the skills needed for the digital revolution. The ability to use AI to help us make decisions, to serve customers and perform repetitive tasks will continue to dramatically alter the workplace. Post-secondary programs will need to change some currently popular programs may have fewer job offerings, while other fields, or an amalgamation of disciplines, will need to be created or emphasized. Learning more than one discipline and honing up on soft skills (such as in communications, innovation and problem solving) will be key for many graduates. The shifts in employment could hit some communities harder than others. Therefore its more important than ever to think ahead and determine how the new digital economy might have an impact on the future of each community, and understand that the lifespan of some companies is now shorter. Autonomous vehicles are evolving, perhaps slowly in some jurisdictions, but more actively in others. Legislation in the United States on self-driving vehicles is an example of how governments are grappling with the issues raised by driverless cars. It causes some rethinking on insurance, new forms of ownership and entrepreneurship and a reassessment of planning for parking and land use. Vehicle manufacturers have been including more technologies in cars, inching our way to autonomous systems. According to Deloitte, consumers may not be willing to pay for more technology in cars, but new ownership systems and ride-hailing services offer cost savings), cut down accidents by as much as 90 per cent and provide efficiencies that may accelerate consumer adoption. More than 33 industries will be affected by the advent of driverless cars, according to CB Insights. Communities need to envision how they plan for the resulting opportunities and disruptions. Envisioning the smart city Regarding smart cities, we need more active community engagement in debating the pros and cons, in thinking about the impediments to change and how to implement what we believe will benefit citizens. These kinds of disruptions cannot be managed by governments alone; they require a wide variety of stakeholders at the table planning for change. There are several interesting ideas floating around on future cities. We have an opportunity to think about doing things differently, and correctly, rather than repeating the same patterns. In Barcelona, for example, community activists are working on a fabrication city concept. They describe it as: "A step away from importing most things into the city and exporting our waste, and instead introducing a circular model, where all resources flow in a closed-loop system within the city itself." 3D printing shops will be able to fabricate refrigerators and and cars with designs uploaded from the cloud. The question that must be answered: what changes would we need to make locally to allow this to happen? Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Other examples are cities that focus on food production to improve their own food security; cities that are reducing CO2 and improving quality of life by becoming more walkable or more attractive for telecommuters. This is only the start. There are many other ways that digitalization will impact sectors that affect where and how we live. Health care, for example, will undergo tremendous change as we self-manage, choose implantable technologies and cell and tissue regenerative technologies, and live longer lives. We must think about the impact of these changes before we start building infrastructure that may no longer be needed in a few years. Technology is already changing how we live our lives and go about our days. Are we ready with collaborative planning processes so we are not taken by surprise? Sylvie Albert is a professor and past dean in the faculty of business & economics at the University of Winnipeg. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. Repeated efforts to improve public school education across Canada curricular enhancements, increased accountability, intensified literacy and numeracy initiatives are failing to improve student achievement. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 5/9/2018 (1155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Repeated efforts to improve public school education across Canada curricular enhancements, increased accountability, intensified literacy and numeracy initiatives are failing to improve student achievement. In the province of Saskatchewan, student achievement results have flatlined and only 43.2 per cent of Indigenous students are graduating on time. Saskatchewans results are not atypical. In her analysis of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, Man-Wai Chu, assistant professor of education at the University of Calgary, said Canadian students have shown no improvements in science, mathematics or reading over the past decade. So what can we do differently? We can engage parents in ways that enable students to do better, like school more and stay in school longer. Five decades of research evidence attest to the benefit of parent engagement. The educational and moral imperative is clear: to shift the existing student achievement trajectory, educators must intentionally and systematically use parents untapped knowledge to enhance student learning. As educator and family-engagement expert, Dr. Steven Constantino said in his book Engage every Family, "If we as educators could successfully teach all children by ourselves, then it seems to me we would have already done so." Walking alongside children During more than 20 years of research into parent engagement, I have come to understand it as a philosophy and a pedagogy of "walking alongside." This is both a belief system about parents and their meaningful and authentic voice in their childrens schooling and education and a way of enacting those beliefs in practice. When parents are seen to be holders of knowledge, as capable and as possessing gifts and strengths, then this can be leveraged alongside teacher knowledge to enrich programming. Engaging parents entails assuming a new worldview in schools in which parents are seen to be central to the work of the school, not separate or apart from it. Elementary math bins A former graduate student of mine, Kirsten Kobylak, is now a Grade 1 teacher at Willowgrove School in Saskatoon, Sask. As part of my research on the impact of graduate teacher education, she shared with me how she wanted to engage parents in their math theme, "Math is Everywhere." In an email home to parents, she explained how important language and culture are to childrens learning. She posed the question, "Where does math live in your culture?" and asked parents to share such things as game ideas, artifacts with patterns, number lines in different languages and more. As items came in, the children created math bins patterning, fact families, number lines, problem-solving. Parents came in and taught games and shared materials, comparing versions of items from one country to another, simultaneously sharing culture, language, history and family stories. Through this parent engagement, children learned and strengthened math skills such as skip counting, memory, estimation, addition, greater than, less than. They also deepened their relationships with one another, their knowledge of diversity and sense of social cohesion. We are all Treaty people Jesse Reis, another former graduate student, is now a high school teacher in Warman, Sask. He shared with me the example of a daily email he sent to the parents of students in each of his classes. In the email he included a concept the students and he had discussed that day, something interesting that arose, and something parents could chat with their son or daughter about that evening at home. For example, in one email, Jesse shared with parents of students in his Social Studies class a statement they had explored that day: "We are all Treaty people." He noted that while some students saw themselves as "Treaty people," others did not. He invited parents to discuss with their teen what stance they took and why. The daily email took Jesse less than five minutes to send per class, but gave him potential contact with every parent every day. Parents were able to engage in meaningful conversations with their children about curricular concepts in the normal course of their day and to add their voice and knowledge to their son or daughters teaching and learning. Parents were always invited to respond to Jesses email as well, sharing with him their conversations with their child and thus bringing home learning back into the classroom. Parents asked questions and offered to participate in the unfolding curriculum in other ways (sharing knowledge, stories, artifacts or suggesting potential resources and experiences). What we see in these examples is that parent engagement can happen on the school landscape or off of it, and with all ages of students. Critical to parent engagement is that it draws on parent knowledge, is connected to teaching and learning, honours a parents hopes and dreams for their child, enables a parent to remain in the role of parent, is authentic and meaningful, promotes shared decision-making, is strength-based and ensures everyone benefits from the engagement children, parents, and teacher. The possibilities of parent engagement in education are endless when these critical attributes are embraced by teachers and lived out in ways that are contextual and culturally responsive honouring students, parents, families and communities. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A gentle revolution To shift from the current worldview in education, one which reflects schools as a domain exclusive to educators and students, to a new worldview where schools are using parent knowledge in teaching and learning will take a gentle revolution. Notice the word "love" embedded in revolution? By working together, with mutual respect, care and concern for one another, educators at all levels of the system and parents can work together to revolutionize schooling. We need to establish "parent engagement offices" in ministries of education, develop core teacher education courses on parent engagement, require parent engagement coursework for teacher certification, establish school district positions for parent engagement consultants, structure parent universities and establish parent mentor programs. The results of such a gentle revolution creating an integral place and voice for parents in their childrens teaching and learning will positively impact the trajectory of student achievement and other educational outcomes. Debbie Pushor is a professor in the department of curriculum studies at the University of Saskatchewan. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland need not be in any hurry to conclude a new trade deal with the United States and Mexico, despite the fulminations of U.S. President Donald Trump. His increasingly shrill cries reflect his political isolation as trade negotiations resume today. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 4/9/2018 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland need not be in any hurry to conclude a new trade deal with the United States and Mexico, despite the fulminations of U.S. President Donald Trump. His increasingly shrill cries reflect his political isolation as trade negotiations resume today. Mr. Trumps tweets during the Labour Day weekend attacked labour federation head Richard Trumka for saying the new trade treaty should include Canada. He also repeated an old threat to terminate the three-way trade treaty if Congress interferes to support Canada. Democrats, farm bodies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce already opposed his attempts to coerce Canada. Now the labour movement and congressional Republicans are also lining up against him. Hence the angry lashing out. Jose Luis Magana / The Associated Press Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland This suggests that the president is increasingly desperate to reach a deal with Canada. He has sent a notice to Congress saying he wants to conclude a bilateral deal with Mexico before the newly-elected Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office on Dec. 1. Since Mr. Lopez Obrador supports what has been agreed to so far, that seems like a fake deadline another one. Mr. Trump may want to have an early agreement in time for the Nov. 6 U.S. midterm elections, when his Republican party risks losing its majority in the House of Representatives and possibly losing a seat or two in the Senate. If he really is as desperate as he seems, this might be a good moment to strike a deal with him. He is in no position to refuse any reasonable offer. The way to find out is to continue bargaining, slightly sweeten the current offer and see if he takes it. No harm is done if he still refuses. The present trade treaty and its implementing legislation continue in force until the three governments and the U.S. Congress change them. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Mr. Trumps threats to block auto-parts trade in order to punish Canada are unlikely to be carried out he has done nothing in that direction for fear of massively disrupting a leading U.S. industry. Much may be gained by delay. Midterm elections usually weaken a sitting president. Special election results and recent polls suggest a large swing to the Democrats. Mr. Trumps clout in his own party will be weakened already if his party fares poorly on Nov. 6. His clout in Congress will suffer still further, in that case, when the new Congress takes office Jan. 3. We should not visibly stall or dawdle or delay, but we can quite legitimately take all the time complex and ambitious trade negotiations should rightfully take. In these circumstances, Canada can hope to make a better trade deal after Nov. 6 and a still better one after Jan. 6. We should not visibly stall or dawdle or delay, but we can quite legitimately take all the time complex and ambitious trade negotiations should rightfully take. Our U.S. and Mexican partners already played a dirty trick on us by holding two months of bilateral talks supposedly about bilateral issues. Those talks somehow broadened to cover, in Canadas absence, issues such as the renewal provisions and dispute settlement, which are of equal concern to all the parties. Canada probably suffered no significant damage, but our partners gave us a grievance to complain about, if it ever becomes useful to do so. So the Canadian negotiators and government they represent should be alert for an attractive offer reflecting Mr. Trumps eagerness to make a deal, but they should be quite prepared to play out the clock and try again next year. WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today! WiG Entertainment News Would you like to receive our WiG Entertainment News? Signup today! Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today! Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: US Specialized Therapeutics, US General Medicine, and International. It offers a portfolio of products in various therapeutic areas, including medical aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, neuroscience, urology, gastrointestinal, women's health, and anti-infective therapeutic products. The company also offers breast implants and tissue expanders; and RM-131 (relamorelin), a peptide ghrelin agonist for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. In addition, it develops medical and cosmetic treatments; therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and other liver diseases; inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders; atopic dermatitis drug candidate; peri-ocular rings for extended drug delivery and reducing elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients; and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Further, the company develops RST-001, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa; small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; topical medicines for fat reduction; and delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. It has collaboration, option, and license agreement with Lyndra, Inc.; and strategic alliance and option agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc. Allergan plc also has licensing agreements with Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; MedImmune; and Heptares Therapeutics, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Actavis plc and changed its name to Allergan plc in June 2015. Allergan plc was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Textron: AAI Corporation, AAI Services Corporation, ALSTOM Gears, Able Aerospace, Able Aerospace Services Inc., Able Engineering & Component Services, Aeronautical Accessories LLC, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company LLC, Arctic Cat, Arctic Cat ACE Holding GmbH, Arctic Cat France SARL, Arctic Cat GmbH, Arctic Cat Inc., Arctic Cat Production LLC, Arctic Cat Production Support LLC, Arctic Cat Sales Inc., Arctic Cat Shared Services LLC, Arctic Cat UK Ltd., Arkansas Aerospace Inc., Avco Corporation, Aviation Service servis letal doo Ljubljana, Aylesbury Automation, B/K Navigational Equipment sro, Beech Aircraft Corporation, Beech Holdings, Beechcraft Defense Support Holding LLC, Beechcraft Domestic Service Company, Beechcraft Germany GmbH, Beechcraft International Holding LLC, Beechcraft International Service Company, Beechcraft New Zealand, Beechcraft Service Company UK Limited, Bell Helicopter GK, Bell Helicopter KK, Bell Textron Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Bell Textron Canada International Inc., Bell Textron Canada Limited/Limitee, Bell Textron Inc., Bell Textron Korea Inc., Bell Textron Miami Inc, Bell Textron Prague a.s., Bell Textron Rhode Island Inc., Bell Textron Services Inc, Bell Textron Supply Center BV, Bell Textron Technical Services Inc., Benzlers, Brazaco Mapri Industrias, Burkland, Cessna Aircraft Company, Cessna Citation European Service Center SAS, Cessna Dusseldorf Citation Service Center GmbH, Cessna Finance Corporation, Cessna Finance Export Corporation, Cessna Mexico S de RL de CV, Cessna Spanish Citation Service Center SLU, Cessna Zurich Citation Service Center GmbH, Citation Parts Distribution International Inc., Cushman Inc., Datacom Technologies, David Brown Group, Doncaster Citation Service Centre Limited, E-Z-GO Canada Limited, Energy Manufacturing, Flexalloy, HBC LLC, Hawker Beech de Mexico S de RL de CV, Hawker Beechcraft Argentina SA, Howe & Howe Inc., Howe and Howe Technologies, Industrial Technology Inc., InteSys Technologies, International Product Support Inc., KSB Annecy SAS, Kautex (Changchun) Plastics Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Chongqing) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Guangzhou) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Pinghu) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Shanghai) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Wuhan) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex Corporation, Kautex Craiova srl, Kautex Germany Holding GmbH, Kautex Inc., Kautex Japan KK, Kautex Shanghai GmbH, Kautex Textron (UK) Limited, Kautex Textron Benelux BVBA, Kautex Textron Bohemia spol sro, Kautex Textron CVS Limited, Kautex Textron GmbH & Co. KG, Kautex Textron Iberica SL, Kautex Textron Italia Srl, Kautex Textron Management Services Company de Puebla S. de RL de CV, Kautex Textron Portugal Produtos Plasticos Sociedade Unipessoal Lda., Kautex Textron de Mexico S de RL de CV, Kautex Textron do Brasil Ltda., Kautex of Georgia Inc., Kaywood Products Corp., Klauke, LCI Corporation International, LLC Textron RUS, Maag, McCord Corporation, Mechtronix, Medical Numerics Inc., Midland Industrial Plastics, MillenWorks, MillenWorks Themed Technologies, MotorFist LLC, OPINICUS Simulation and Training Services LLC, OmniQuip International, Opinicus, Optical Boring Co., Opto-Electronics, Opto-Electronics Inc., Overwatch Systems Ltd., PEINER Umformtechnik, Pirelli Tyres - General Rubber Goods (GRG) division, Premiair Aviation Maintenance Pty Ltd, Progressive Electronics, Ransomes, Ransomes Inc., Ransomes Investment LLC, Ransomes Jacobsen France SAS, Ransomes Jacobsen Limited, Ransomes Limited, Ransomes Pensions Trustee Company Limited, Replacement Part Solutions LLC, Response Technologies LLC, Rotor Blades Limited, Sukosim Verbindungselemente, TRU Simulation & Training Spain SL, TRU Simulation + Training Inc., TRU Simulation + Training LLC, TekGPS Engineering Srl, Textron Airland LLC, Textron Atlantic LLC, Textron Aviation Australia Pty. Ltd., Textron Aviation Canada Ltd., Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Textron Aviation Finance Corporation, Textron Aviation Inc., Textron Aviation Prague Service Center sro, Textron Aviation Rhode Island Inc., Textron Aviation Services de Mexico S de RL de CV, Textron Capital BV, Textron Communications Inc., Textron Far East Pte. Ltd., Textron Finance Holding Company, Textron Financial Corporation, Textron Financial Corporation Receivables Trust 2002-CP-2, Textron Fluid and Power Inc., Textron France Holding SAS, Textron France SAS, Textron Global Services Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment UK Limited, Textron IPMP Inc., Textron India Private Limited, Textron Innovations Inc., Textron International Inc., Textron International Mexico S de RL de CV, Textron Limited, Textron Management Services Inc., Textron Motors GmbH, Textron Motors North America Inc., Textron Outdoor Power Equipment Inc., Textron Realty Corporation, Textron Shared Service Centre (Canada) Inc., Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., Textron Sweden AB, Textron Systems Australia Holding Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Canada Inc., Textron Systems Corporation, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK (Holdings) Limited, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK Limited, Textron Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Textron UK Pension Trustee Limited, Textron Verwaltungs-GmbH, Turbine Engine Components Textron (Newington Operations) Inc., United Industrial Corporation, Westminster Insurance Company, Williams Machine & Tool, Wuxi Textron Specialized Vehicles Co. Ltd., and Zhenjiang Bell Textron Aviation Services Limited. The Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T Read More 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 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 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 Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 4.23%. 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 74.58% 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 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. Wall Street analysts have given Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility 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 Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Everyone eligible should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel or employment. Vaccination should be voluntary but those who don't get vaccinated should be frequently tested for COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel and employment. Both vaccination and testing should be voluntary and not required as a condition of long-distance travel or employment. I defer to the judgment of lawmakers as long as they base their decisions on a consensus of medical professionals. Vote View Results The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.27%. 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. The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: @Credentials Inc., ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bahamas) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Global Benefits (UK) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits Limited (DIFC UAE), Aetna Global Holdings Limited, Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Inc., Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Hong Kong) Limite, Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Inc., Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Korea Ltd., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Multi-Strategy 1099 Fund LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Continental Insurance Company, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., American Health Holding Inc., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L. (R.C.S. Luxembourg), CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Claims Administration Corp., Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care Workers Compensation Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Rehabilitation Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, Digital eHealth LLC, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California Inc., Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., FOCUS HealthCare Management Inc., First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, First Script Network Services Inc., Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Group Dental Service of Maryland Inc., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssuance Pennsylvania Inc., Healthagen LLC, Highland Park CVS L.L.C., Holiday CVS L.L.C., Home Care Pharmacy LLC, Home Pharmacy Services LLC, Hook-SupeRx L.L.C., Horizon Behavioral Services LLC, Idaho CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., IlliniCare Health, Indian Health Organisation Private Limited, Innovation Health Holdings LLC, Innovation Health Insurance Company, Innovation Health Plan Inc., Interlock Pharmacy Systems LLC, Iowa CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., JHC Acquisition LLC, Kansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Kentucky CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., LCPS Acquisition LLC, Langsam Health Services LLC, Lo-Med Prescription Services LLC, Lobos Acquisition LLC, Longs Drug Stores, Longs Drug Stores California L.L.C., Louisiana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., MHHP Acquisition Company LLC, MHNet Life and Health Insurance Company, MHNet Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Managed Care Coordinators Inc., Managed Healthcare LLC, Martin Health Services LLC, Maryland CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Med World Acquisition Corp., Medical Arts Health Care LLC, Medical Examinations of New York P.C., Melville Realty Company Inc., MemberHealth LLC, Mental Health Associates Inc., Mental Health Network of New York IPA Inc., Meritain Health Inc., Merwin Long Term Care LLC, MetraComp Inc., Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Florida LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Georgia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Hawaii L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Illinois LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Kentucky L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Louisiana L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maine L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maryland LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Massachusetts LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Nebraska L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Hampshire L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Mexico L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Ohio LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oklahoma LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oregon LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Pennsylvania LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Rhode Island LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of South Carolina L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Texas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Utah L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Washington LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Wisconsin L.L.C., MinuteClinic L.L.C., MinuteClinic Online Diagnostic Services LLC, MinuteClinic Physician Practice of Texas, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services LLC, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare LLC, NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky Inc. (Oh, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Holdings Inc., NeighborCare Inc., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services Inc., NeighborCare Services Corporation, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Holding Company, Omnicare Inc., Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania East LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Holdings Inc., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Pt. Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia, Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Spinnaker Bidco Limited, Spinnaker Topco Limited, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare L.L.C., Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC. Wall Street analysts have given SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services 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 SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Bunge Ltd. operates as a holding company, which engages in the supply and transportation of agricultural commodities. It operates through the following segments: Agribusiness, Edible Oil Products, Milling Products, Sugar and Bioenergy, and Fertilizer. The Agribusiness segment involves in the purchase, storage, transportation, processing, and sale of agricultural commodities and commodity products. The Edible Oil Products segment includes production and sale of vegetable oils, shortenings, margarines, and mayonnaise. The Milling Products segment consists of production and sale of wheat flours, bakery mixes, corn-based products, and rice. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment comprises manufacture and marketing of sugar and ethanol derived from sugarcane, as well as energy derived from the sugar and ethanol production process. The Fertilizer segment focuses on producing, blending, and distributing fertilizer products for the agricultural industry. The company was founded by Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge in 1818 and is headquartered in Chesterfield, MO. Read More William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November, 6th. The construction company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.07. The construction company had revenue of $466.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $487.15 million. William Lyon Homes had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 3.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. View William Lyon Homes' earnings history. Franklin Covey Co. engages in consulting and training in the areas of strategy execution, customer loyalty, leadership, and individual effectiveness. It operates through the following three segments: Direct Offices, Education Practice, International Licensees and Corporate and Other. The Direct Offices segment includes sales personnel that serve the United States and Canada; international sales offices located in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia; governmental sales channel; and public program operations. The Education Practice segment includes domestic and international Education practice operations, which are focused on sales to educational institutions such as elementary schools, high schools, and colleges and universities. The International Licensees segment primarily comprised of royalty revenues received from these licensees. The Corporate and Other segment includes leasing operations, shipping and handling revenues, and certain corporate administrative expenses. The company was founded by Brent L. Bishop, Stephen R. Covey and Hyrum Wayne Smith in 1983 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. Read More If the administration of US President George W Bush is paying attention, the drama over the 15 British sailors and marines, whose release by Iran after 12 days of detention was announced in Tehran on Wednesday, was designed to convey two key messages, according to experts in Washington.First, the initial capture of the Britons by Revolutionary Guards near the entry to the disputed Shatt-al-Arab waterway was meant to demonstrate that, despite its conventional military weakness and diplomatic isolation, Iran retains the ability to strike at Western interests when it feels sufficiently provoked. Second, when Western powers engage Iran with respect and as an equal, they are more likely to get what they want than when they take a confrontational path designed to bully or humiliate the regime. Neither message is likely to be well received either at the White House or among the neo-conservative and other right-wing pundits who have tried hard to depict the incident as the latest sign of Islamic or Persian barbarism. Properly understood, however, the messages could form the basis of a new approach capable of yielding still greater results, according to Juan Cole, a regional expert at the University of Michigan. "The British have now opened a channel," he said. "Although this incident really did constitute a crisis - one that might have escalated to very dangerous levels - the resolution was diplomatic, and that diplomatic resolution could contain the seeds for future diplomacy, if the British and the Americans are so inclined." The announcement that the sailors were being released in honor of the Prophet Mohammed's forthcoming birthday and the Christian Easter holiday was made by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who then met with the captives personally. "Our government has pardoned them; it is a gift from our people," he said, adding that the gesture had "nothing to do" with Tuesday's release in Iraq of a senior Iranian diplomat who was abducted two months ago reportedly by a special Iraqi intelligence agency that works closely with the US Central Intelligence Agency. "We approached the subject on a humanitarian basis. It was a unilateral decision on our end," he insisted. Nonetheless, the diplomat's release, as well as reports that Tehran also just received assurances that it will be given consular access to five alleged Revolutionary Guards seized by US forces at an Iranian liaison office in Irbil nearly three months ago, suggest that Wednesday's events were more than just coincidence, although both London and Washington, like Ahmadinejad, insist there were no quids pro quo. "I personally believe that the US action [in Irbil] ... accounts for why Iran chose to stage its capture of the British sailors," said Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University who served in the White House under president Jimmy Carter. "Iran appears to have gained something from its pressure tactics." That assessment was shared by Trita Parsi, president of the US National Iranian American Council. "By taking the [British] soft targets, the Iranians put pressure on the US." In addition to collecting bargaining chips, the original capture had other purposes, including rallying nationalist sentiment behind the regime just as it faced the imposition by the United Nations Security Council of a new round of sanctions for rejecting demands to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. As important, however, was the message Tehran wished to convey to the West that it could indeed respond to what it saw as US provocations in ways that could harm or embarrass its allies. "In seizing the Iranians, who, after all, had been invited by the Iraqi authorities, the Americans were seen as behaving aggressively," said Cole. "Now the Iranians have demonstrated that the Anglo-American forces are not in a strong enough position to afford to do these things. They can play tit-for-tat." Sick agreed: "It is a reminder that Iran has quite an array of asymmetrical options available to it to counter indirectly the actions of the US forces in Iraq and elsewhere." At the same time, according to Sick, Tehran's behavior during much of the crisis - including both the seizure itself, the precise location of which remains a matter of dispute, and its use of "confessions" by the British captives and threats to put them on trial - will probably have cost it much-needed international support. "I suspect that recognition of this fact accounts for Iran's desire to end this dispute as promptly as possible," said Sick. "For the same reason, I suspect that this ploy will not be repeated any time soon." Parsi said: "I think the Iranians thought it was better to declare victory and put an end to the crisis before there was any further escalation." At the same time, however, Parsi and other analysts said the point at which victory could be declared was reached because of important changes in the British approach to the crisis. London officials have said the turning point came on Monday, when Ali Larijani, the Iranian national security adviser, gave a conciliatory interview to Britain's Channel Four television - an interview that was followed up the next day with a critical conversation between Larijani and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's top foreign-policy adviser, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, according to The Independent. However, Cole pointed to a shift in the British stance from one of threats and demands to a more diplomatic approach over the weekend, including confirmation by British Defense Secretary Des Browne that London was "in direct bilateral communication with the Iranians". "These sorts of incidents are always to some extent about face, and apparently the Iranians felt that when Britain agreed to enter into direct bilateral negotiations, Iran had gained enough face to be magnanimous," Cole said. "On Sunday, they were admitted as equals, not scolded as little children. That created the opening for [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khameini and Ahmadinejad to climb down and save face." William Beeman, an Iran expert at the University of Minnesota, said: "Iranians have been signaling repeatedly, and not just during this crisis, that they will engage diplomatically, but without preconditions and on the basis of equality. So now they say, 'You see, when we have the upper hand, you see how magnanimous we are; we are a charitable, civilized people. We are reasonable. You can talk with us.'" Parsi said: "The Iranian message is that if you deal with us respectfully, through incentives, then things can get resolved rather quickly. If you only resort to force or impose sanctions at the UN Security Council, then you'll only get stuck, and Iran will respond in kind. They're hoping that the West gets the impression that that is the incentive structure through which it can make progress with Iran. Whether that will be understood in the West is obviously a complete different question." The Bush administration's relative silence during the crisis may also have conveyed, inadvertently perhaps, another message - that, despite widespread speculation that its recent military buildup in the Persian Gulf is intended to prepare the grounds for an attack on Iran, it has no wish to do so, at least for the moment. "The Iranian capture of 15 [British] military personnel could certainly have been used as ... a pretext [for a military strike], since it could easily have escalated to a full-fledged military crisis," said Sick. "I regard the absence of unbridled escalation in this case as a significant indicator that the US desire for a strike may be more muted than it has been portrayed." (Inter Press Service) World Bulletin / News Desk As a soldier, a ruler, and a human being, Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi was a person of phenomenal attributes. The hero of hundreds of battles was the person who for 20 years braved the storm of the Crusaders and ultimately pushed them back. The world has hardly witnessed a more chivalrous and humane conqueror. His unmatchable battle tactics and gallantry as a soldier, heroic statesmanship and his strength of character won him the respect of even his foes. known for liberating the holy city of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. His chivalrous behavior was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the siege of Kerak in Moab, and despite being the nemesis of the Crusaders he won the respect of many of them, including Richard the Lionheart; rather than becoming a hated figure in Europe, he became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry. The Crusades represent the maddest and the longest war in the history of mankind, in which the storm of savage fanaticism of the Christian West burst in all its fury over western Asia. At the height of his power, he ruled over Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hijaz, and Yemen. History is full of his greatest achievements, but here, we are highlighting his two major achievements that are recognized not only by Muslim world but his enemies. One was the Wars against Crusaders and second was, the Capture of Jerusalem. Early life Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi was born in the year 532 AH/1137 CE in Tekrit on the West Bank of the Tigris between Mosul and Baghdad, loved dearly by his father, Ayyub. His family was of Kurdish background and ancestry. His father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, was banished from Tikrit and in 1139, he and his brother Asad al-Din Shirkuh, moved to Mosul. He later joined the service of Imad ad-Din Zangi who made him commander of his fortress in Baalbek. After the death of Zangi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Aleppo and the leader of the Zengids. The Wars against Crusaders and the Capture of Jerusalem Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi, the hero of hundreds of battles, was the person who for twenty years braved the storm of the Crusaders and ultimately pushed back the combined forces of Europe which had come to swarm the Holy Land. The world has hardly witnessed a more chivalrous and humane conqueror. The Crusades represent the maddest and the longest war in the history of mankind, in which the storm of savage fanaticism of the Christian West burst in all its fury over western Asia. Christianity hurled itself against Muslims in expedition after expedition for nearly three centuries, until failure brought lassitude, and superstition itself was undermined by its own labour. Europe was drained off men and money, and threatened with social bankruptcy, if not with annihilation. Millions perished in battle, hunger or disease and every atrocity imagination can conceive disgraced the warrior of the Cross'. The Christian West was excited to a mad religious frenzy by Peter the Hermit, and his followers to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslims. `Every means', says Hallam, `was used to excite an epidemical frenzy'. During the time that a Crusader bore the Cross, he was under the protection of the Church and exempted from all taxes as well as frees to commit all sins. The Wars against Crusaders and the Capture of Jerusalem Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi, the hero of hundreds of battles, was the person who for twenty years braved the storm of the Crusaders and ultimately pushed back the combined forces of Europe which had come to swarm the Holy Land. The world has hardly witnessed a more chivalrous and humane conqueror. The Crusades represent the maddest and the longest war in the history of mankind, in which the storm of savage fanaticism of the Christian West burst in all its fury over western Asia. Christianity hurled itself against Muslims in expedition after expedition for nearly three centuries, until failure brought lassitude, and superstition itself was undermined by its own labour. Europe was drained off men and money, and threatened with social bankruptcy, if not with annihilation. Millions perished in battle, hunger or disease and every atrocity imagination can conceive disgraced the warrior of the Cross'. The Christian West was excited to a mad religious frenzy by Peter the Hermit, and his followers to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslims. `Every means', says Hallam, `was used to excite an epidemical frenzy'. During the time that a Crusader bore the Cross, he was under the protection of the Church and exempted from all taxes as well as frees to commit all sins. On September 29, Salahuddin crossed the Jordan River to intercepted Crusader reinforcements from Karak and Shaubak along the Nablus road and took a number of prisoners. Meanwhile, the main Crusader force under Guy of Lusignan moved from Sepphoris to al-Fula. Salahuddin sent out 500 skirmishers to harass their forces and he himself marched to Ain Jalut. When the Crusader forcereckoned to be the largest the kingdom ever produced from its own resources, but still outmatched by the Muslimsadvanced, the Ayyubids unexpectedly moved down the stream of Ain Jalut. After a few Ayyubid raidsincluding attacks on Zir'in, Forbelet, and Mount TaborHowever, Raynald of Chatillon, harassed Muslim trading and pilgrimage routes with a fleet on the Red Sea, a water route that Salahuddin needed to keep open. In response, Salahuddin built a fleet of 30 galleys to attack Beirut in 1182. Raynald threatened to attack the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and responded by looting a caravan of pilgrims on the Hajj in 1185. Capture of Jerusalem In July 1187 Salahuddin captured most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On July 4, 1187, at the Battle of Hattin, he faced the combined forces of Guy of Lusignan, King Consort of Jerusalem and Raymond III of Tripoli. In this battle alone the Crusader army was largely annihilated by the motivated army of Salahuddin. It was a major disaster for the Crusaders and a turning point in the history of the Crusades. Salahuddin captured Raynald de Chatillon and was personally responsible for his execution in retaliation for his attacking Muslim caravans. The members of these caravans had, in vain, besought his mercy by reciting the truce between the Muslims and the Crusaders, but he ignored this and insulted their prophet Muhammad before murdering and torturing a number of them. Upon hearing this, Salahuddin swore an oath to personally execute Raynald. Mannerism & Legacy of Salahuddin Ayubi Salah-ud-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub known as Saladin in the Western World, this great Muslim sultan is widely revered as the ideal of a warrior who is fierce in battle and generous to his enemies. Saladin used to perform the five obligatory prayers on time, along with the supererogatory prayers. He never prayed except in congregation, and he never delayed a prayer. He used to always have an imam with him, but if the imam was not present, he would pray behind any pious scholar who might be sitting with him. He never quit a prayer except when he slipped into a come for three days before his death. He would spend most of his money on sadaqah (optional charity), and he never possessed enough wealth that would have required him to pay Zakah (obligatory alms). Although he always wanted to perform Hajj, he was occupied in jihad, so he did not have enough money to perform Hajj, and he died without performing it. To be a great Sultan, one should be courageous, strict, and strong-willed, yet merciful, fair, and kind. On Mondays and Thursdays, Saladin used to sit and listen to his peoples petitions in a general assembly attended by jurisprudents, judges, and scholars. He would then spend an hour during the day or the night writing his comments and opinions concerning every petition. He never let down anyone who called on him for help. He never spoke badly about anyone and never allowed anyone to do so in his presence. He never uttered a rude word and never used his pen to humiliate a Muslim. Ibn Shaddad also relates When English King Richard the Lionheart, Saladins archenemy, fell ill, Saladin asked about his health and sent fruits and ice to him. The Crusaders, who were hungry and poverty-stricken, were astonished at that noble chivalry and mercy from their enemy. Saladin died at the age of 57. His estate was only 47 dirhems and one dinar. He left no real estate or any other hereditaments. May Allah honor him in the hereafter, lighten his grave, and raise his rank in Paradise. Amen. source: //www.hamariweb.com/articles/article.aspx?id=54860 Guncelleme Tarihi: 05 Eylul 2018, 12:08 A United Arab Emirates (UAE) airplane was held Wednesday as it landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York after several people reported feeling sick, according to the airline. "Emirates can confirm that about 10 passengers on #EK203 from Dubai to New York were taken ill. On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities. All others will disembark shortly. The safety & care of our customers is our first priority," the airline said on Twitter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the Port Authority Police were in the staging area to check the passengers for illness, according to NBC news. Larry Coben, a passenger on the flight, took to Twitter to explain what was happening. "All we have been told is that some passengers have fallen ill and we should remain in our seats," he wrote, adding that they have deplaned and had their temperatures taken. Lincoln Pigman The relationship of the two countries predates that of the two leaders. And when Merkel and Putin sit down for talks on Saturday in the German governments villa outside Berlin, they will be influenced by a long history of alienation and rapprochements, limiting the expectations and possibly the results of the meeting. Pressed on the nature of the talks, Merkels spokesman, Steffen Seibert, indicated the leaders would focus on finding common ground on acute international issues, such as Syria, Ukraine and energy. But he declined to provide details. Russia is an international actor without whom it is impossible to imagine finding solutions to various problems in the world, Seibert told reporters in Berlin. Many experts expect that the meeting will attempt to put the relationship between Berlin and Moscow on more pragmatic ground, but few expect the session to end with strong resolutions or a new strategic partnership. Heres a look at some of the issues that define and influence German-Russian ties. Are Germany and Russia friends? The two countries could be described as the ultimate international frenemies, with economic, cultural and intellectual ties reaching back centuries. Since the 18th century, they have cycled through a series of conflicts and reconciliations, most recently World War II and the Cold War. Throughout the Soviet era, Germany was Moscows most important trading partner, and many Germans view the strong, positive ties to Moscow as a key contributor to the end of the Cold War and German unification. When the Berlin Wall fell, Germany reached out to Moscow, partly to help former Soviet bloc countries integrate into the European Union, not only strengthening political and economic ties, but also investing in civil society. But a break in relations that started with the Russian authorities repressive reaction to public protests in 2011 and 2012 worsened in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and supported rebels in eastern Ukraine. Merkel and Putin have maintained regular contact. In May, she visited Putin at his summer residence in Sochi, Russia. But Susan Stewart, a senior associate with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, cautioned that the leaders meeting in Germany should not be viewed as a fundamental shift in German-Russian relations. Instead, it is an indication of the hope that the two sides will be able to reach a compromise on key points, while maintaining their differences over Russias role in the conflict in Ukraine. They will be trying a two-pronged approach, Stewart said. They will try to cooperate on those points where there is a common interest, but we will not see a return to business as usual. What does Germany want from Russia? Both Germany and Russia have problems that are tied to Syria. For Merkel, the issue is domestic, as her decision to allow more than 1 million people most of them refugees from the war in Syria to apply for asylum in Germany has met increasing resistance from the public and from her own government. For Putin, it is not being quite able to find a solution to Syrias civil war despite having declared mission accomplished on several occasions. Both leaders could benefit from finding a way to ensure sufficient political stability in Syria to allow Germany to begin encouraging refugees to return, while Putin is seeking support from Berlin and the European Union to help rebuild the country, said Stefan Meister of the German Council on Foreign Relations. It is in the domestic political interest of the German government that Syrian refugees be able to return to a stable Syria, Meister said. What does Russia want from Germany? Germanys willingness to throw its full weight behind the United States decision to impose sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea, its involvement in the pro-Kremlin insurgency in eastern Ukraine and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, took the Russians by surprise. The move made clear to Russian leaders that the special relationship they believed they had shared with Berlin was over. Soon afterward, Germany found itself in the crosshairs of Russian cyberattacks and a campaign in the Russian news media that caused Germany to plunge in Russian public opinion. If you look at the image of Germany and Merkel in particular in Russian political discourse, you will see that it really has deteriorated tremendously, said Sabine Fischer, head researcher on Eastern Europe at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. A survey cited on Friday by Vedomosti, a Russian business daily, reflected this trend, showing approval of the German chancellor among Russians plummeting to 15 percent in August 2016 from 60 percent in February 2011. But to break out of its international isolation, Russia needs Germanys support. It hopes to persuade the chancellor not to support a fresh round of sanctions President Donald Trump has threatened to impose over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. There is a need for more pragmatic action at the political level, Fischer said. Is Germany a captive of Russia, as Trump says? Germany imports about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, according to government statistics. That is more than any other EU country, but less than the 60 percent to 70 percent Trump cited when he accused Germany of being a captive of Russia at a NATO summit last month. That comment clearly taps into a stereotype in Washington that because of its economic ties, Germany is weaker on Russia, said Derek Chollet, an adviser on security and defense policy with the German Marshall Fund in Washington. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroders close relationship to Putin and his decision to join the board of Russias state oil company, Rosneft, has only bolstered that notion. But Merkel has shown a willingness to draw a line, with her decisions to support sanctions against Russia in 2015 and to join the coordinated response to the poisoning in Britain this spring. My sense is Merkel, who in her own way makes clear that she understands the Russians and Putin as a type as well as anyone, has no illusions about Russia or Putin and their motives, Chollet said. Source: The New York Times Guncelleme Tarihi: 19 Agustos 2018, 14:45 Maung Zarni Watching YouTube Myanmar State Counsellors 43rd Singapore lecture -- 1-hour lecture including the questions and answers entitled, Democratic Transition in Myanmar: Challenges and the Way Forward, left me deeply disturbed, pained and outraged. The degree of her delusions, distortions and concoctions made me realize that my fellow Burmese dissident has become nothing more than the most polished mouth piece for her former captors, namely the murderous military regime. Aung San Suu Kyi wasnt simply one dissident leader among several potential leaders of significance that I, like millions of other Burmese Buddhists, supported in those long years of vibrant anti-dictatorship opposition after the nationwide uprisings of 1988. My sentimental ties to Aung San family is more personal and goes far deeper. One late great uncle of mine was her fathers next-door neighbor, class mate and a friend at Pegu Hall (dormitory) when both were young undergraduates who hailed together from the Buddhist heartland of the then Upper Burma to study Pali, literature, law, etc. at the colonial Rangoon University in the early 1930s. Through my relatives first-hand accounts of Aung San, the anti-colonial revolutionary and founder of Burma Independence Army under WWII Japans fascist patronage, as well as my own study of the slain national heros voluminous speeches and writings, I have developed a lifelong admiration for the mans strength of character, integrity, Marxist-influenced non-racialism and unwavering sense of service to the oppressed of colonial Burma, not just Buddhists nor the majority Burmans or Bama, but all people who considered Burma their home. In fact, in my high school days in Mandalay of 1970s I learned the worthy English phrase love of truth from one of his writings wherein he pointedly said as a father he wanted to instill the love of truth in his three children. So, when I watched Suu Kyis speech act performed at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore, available on YouTube, I noted with deep pains and rage that my heros world famous, or infamous, daughter packed lie after lie all verifiable in her prepared lecture, which she proceeded to deliver with a straight face. Suu Kyis Singapore lecture August 22 was a speech her own martyred father would most definitely feel so ashamed about. Two years since Suu Kyis assumption of her self-declared Above-the-President office as State Counsellor with her reportedly autocratic control over all ministries save the security-related ministries such as Home Affairs, Defense and Border Affairs, her leadership is noted only for serial failures. The commissions she has formed to address the countrys defining problem -- crimes against Rohingyas -- have become a butt of international jokes. As the countrys most revered politician since her fathers murder in 1947, Suu Kyi has been unable to deliver on every one of the partys official major priorities: rule of law, peace, development, amendments to the Constitution. And yet in the lecture, the NLD leader served up the typically democracy-indifferent and docile Singaporean audience a rose-tinted view of her leadership and governmental performance, which the official hosts on the panel dutifully clapped and heaped praise on. For someone who grew up under General Ne Wins Burmese Way to Socialism (1962-1988), Suu Kyis speech sounded more like a typical party General Secretarys report to the Socialist Polit Bureau presided over by Chairman (despot) Ne Win in the 1960s and 1970s. The State Counsellor in her own words: In each of the three panglong (peace) meetings held over the last two years, we made valuable progress. in the First Union Peace Conference, a seven-step roadmap for peace and national reconciliation was achieved. In the Second Conference, 37 principles were adopted. Before the Third Conference, two more ethnic armed groups signed the ceasefire agreement and during the Conference itself, 1``4 more principles were adopted. Not only her words are unpersuasive and uncorroborated by the harsh realities of Myanmar ethnic minorities, particularly more than 100,000 Kachin war refugees in the countrys eastern and northern border regions but the world of Myanmar watchers who actually set their foot in these conflict zones offer an assessment radically different from Ms. Suu Kyis. Virtually all news reports and field studies about the Burmese militarys internal colonial war of pacification note not only the regression of the countrys peace process under Suu Kyis incompetent and failing leadership, typically rich in rhetoric and empty of substance, but also the disappearance of the so-called democratic space even for the ethnically dominant Burman Buddhist public. That democratic space was deliberately allowed by the quasi-democratic regime former General Thein Sein in 2010 designed to tango with the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton administration as the generals sought to rebalance the militarys overreliance on the increasingly aggressive and invasive China in the Burmese affairs. The emerging, if belated wisdom in Washington is that the Obamas Myanmar embracement policy, once held up as one of his signature achievements emboldened, sped up and facilitated the genocidal destruction of Rohingya people. Under Suu Kyis leadership, Myanmar now faces a growing chorus of international calls for the Security Council for the International Criminal Court referral for international crimes in Western Myanmar state of Rakhine, irrespective of whether such calls will bear fruit. Suu Kyi stands accused, with good reasons, of culpability and complicity in the militarys crimes against humanity and even genocide against Rohingya people. It is matters pertaining to Rohingya persecution -- which my researcher colleague Natalie Brinham and I call the slow burning genocide, because of its decades-long nature -- on which Suu Kyis speech act morphed from detectable delusions into deliberate distortions. With no basis in reality, Suu Kyi boasted of having implemented most of the Kofi Annan Commission recommendations, thus: (t)he recommendations of Dr. Kofi Annans Commission, 88 in all, of which we have to date implemented 81, aim at the establishment of lasting peace and stability in Rakhine. Kofi Annan is no more to do the fact-checking. But former ambassador Laetitia van den Assum, one of his fellow Rakhine Commission members, is still alive to know the untruths, nah, outright lies of Ms. Suu Kyi. Van den Assum tweeted The underlying reasons for their (Rohingyas) flight remain unaddressed. The tweet, which can be seen at https://twitter.com/lvandenassum/status/1032527791303139328, came on the eve of the one year anniversary of Myanmars large scale military attacks on the unarmed and peaceful Rohingyas in more than 300 villages across northern Rakhine region. As a researcher who has spent the last six years concentrating on my own countrys decades-long, state-directed persecution of Rohingyas, I find it morally repugnant and empirically false Suu Kyis disingenuous framing of the largest refugee crisis her military partners in power have created as initially terror-related. She in effect added insult to the collective injury of the nearly 2 million Rohingya survivors, internally displaced inside Myanmar, internationally deported across the border to Bangladesh, or the diaspora, when she said, the danger of terrorist activities, which was the initial cause of events leading to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine, remains real and present today. Unless this security challenge is addressed, the risk of inter-communal violence will remain. Suu Kyi words echo how Myanmar military has long framed the Rohingyas -- a threat to security -- and justified their institutionalized killings of the latter. For the first 15 years since the countrys popular uprisings in 1988, I had been one of the most hard-working and effective foot soldiers for Suu Kyi in her international campaigns to ostracize and punish Myanmar military leaders. I have studied closely Suu Kyis leadership and poured over every speech of hers, over the last 30 years since she first parachuted onto the Burmese political stage as the daughter of General Aung San, as she put it. Painfully, I have concluded that the daughter of my nationalist hero is no longer part of Myanmars solution. For she has for all intents and purposes morphed into the most polished mouthpiece of the military perpetrators. Suu Kyi even had the audacity to call three generals in her Cabinet rather sweet amidst international calls to haul Myanmar generals to the International Criminal Court. On Aug. 25, 700,000-plus Rohingya survivors of Myanmar genocide in 35 camps in Kutupalong meet to mourn, memorialize and honor loved ones who were senselessly maimed, mass-raped, slaughtered and burned alive a year ago. The least the world, both grassroots communities and governments, could do is to drop the decades-old policy delusions, globally, that Suu Kyi represents hope, liberty and liberalism. As a Burmese, a dominant Bama, Buddhist from an extended military family at that, I will say for the record Myanmars State Counsellor no longer speaks for me. Nor does she represent the humanistic values which I learned to embrace through her fathers writings. I know for a fact that there are fellow dissidents inside Myanmar, however small their numbers, who share my categorical rejection of Suu Kyi and her military partners in crimes. Lets remember Rohingya victims today. And lets reject false messiahs of Myanmar, starting with Aung San Suu Kyi. Guncelleme Tarihi: 28 Eylul 2018, 17:43 Adam McConnel From time to time during the past year, Turkish officials have indicated their preference for dealing directly with us in lend-lease matters. The Turks have felt that they would know where they stood much better if they dealt directly with us, would know precisely to whom they were indebted, and would have more control over American material destined for them. An additional reason for the Turkish attitude was undoubtedly a feeling that they were being treated more or less as a British colony or protectorate. Memorandum by George V. Allen, Division of Near Eastern Affairs, March 16, 1943, Foreign Records of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the greatest United States presidents, recognized as early as 1941 that Turkey would be vital to U.S. global strategy in the coming era. Another five years would pass -- including the Bretton Woods conference, World War II's conclusion, and the Cold Wars advent -- before U.S. policymakers also concluded that Turkey would be a fundamentally important component of U.S. strategy towards the USSR, and therefore required massive amounts of economic and military aid. The eventual results were the Truman Doctrine, Turkeys inclusion in the Marshall Plan and, in 1952, Turkeys NATO membership. Now, after five years of recurring crises in Turkish-American relations, the events of WWII and the Cold War era seem eons in the past. Renowned American journalist Tom Brokaw called Americas WWII leadership and citizens the Greatest Generation, and even though historians have voiced important reservations about Brokaws evaluation, his definition may well be justified. But once that WWII generation gave way to younger arrivals, American officials gradually lost the ability to formulate well-informed, astute, or creative policy towards the Turkish Republic. After Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, and the NATO accession glow receded, disasters have been Turkeys typical experience stemming from the choices of U.S. officials. Examples? The Jupiter Missiles and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Johnson Letter. Cyprus and the arms embargo. Vague official U.S stances towards repeated military interventions into Turkeys democratic political system. Two Iraq invasions. Granting Fethullah Gulen residency. The George W. Bush Administrations reaction to the March 2003 Turkish parliamentary resolutions failure, and Paul Wolfowitz. Robert Pearson and Ambassador Eric Edelman. U.S. attempts to force Turkey to abide by its unilateral sanctions against Iran; the Reza Zarrab-Hakan Atilla-Halkbank revenge trial. The Obama administrations collaboration with the PKK. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone. The Obama administrations sluggish and tepid response to Fethullah Gulens July 2016 coup attempt, and consequent inaction on Gulens extradition. Ambassador John Bass and his fly-by-night visa ban. The Trump administrations 30,000-man PKK/YPG army. And now Trumps sanctions -- carried out for domestic political considerations -- against the Turkish interior and justice ministers, accompanied by tariffs on certain Turkish export products. - Respect essential in foreign relations The above paragraph lists only the main lowlights of the past 70 years of Turkish-U.S. relations. This alliance began with U.S. recognition that, as a Great Power with urgent geostrategic imperatives, it needed allies; in order to cultivate those allies, certain steps would have to be taken in order to cement relationships. U.S. officials recognized that those steps were their responsibility, and that they had to approach their allies with respect and circumspection. That was the reason why George Marshalls famous speech was a Harvard commencement address, and why the speechs tone and content were carefully crafted. After the Cold Wars conclusion, Turkeys role in U.S. global strategy arguably became even more vital, which begs the question of why the U.S. has not been able to maintain the same level of responsibility and respect towards the Turkish Republic that it maintained towards other European allies. However, the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, has now thrown almost all other U.S. partners under the bus as well. Trumps obnoxious behavior towards traditional U.S. allies could be understood as simply taking previously established precedents to their logical ends. That is, other U.S. allies are now treated with the same sort of brusque regard that Turkey has been subject to since the 1960s. From that perspective, Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogans remarks on Aug. 4, 2018 to a Justice and Development Party womens congress appear similar to sentiments expressed by earlier Turkish politicians when confronted by unconstructive and regrettable U.S. behavior. Erdogan, commenting on recent talks between Turkish and U.S. officials, explained: So what was said? That, on this issue, this sort of approach with Turkey is not appropriate. If we are going to act sincerely, if we are truly a strategic partner, we should do what is necessary for our partnership. Were we not together with you in Somalia? Were we not together with you in Afghanistan? Did we not take steps together and in unity with you for NATO in various places in the world? If you treat your partners this way, in what manner do you expect us to perceive you?" As logical as these statements are, similar comments from earlier Turkish politicians had little effect on U.S. policymakers. The problem was that U.S. officials were not able to follow or were simply not aware of the logic which brought the U.S. together with Turkey during and after WWII. Concurrently, U.S. officials forgot the necessity to approach Turkey with respect, as an equal. This is a problem that continues to plague U.S. policy formulation towards Turkey. - Rising UK profile in Turkey U.S. inability to devise sound policy towards Turkey in the past 60 years can, at least partially, be blamed on consistently poor understanding of Turkish society, history, politics, and interests. But the actors clamoring to affect U.S. policy, and the number of factors influencing policy calculations have also greatly increased. The George V. Allen memorandum quoted at the beginning of this commentary brings up issues which U.S. officials had identified as important to Turkish officials during WWII, but that U.S. policymakers have subsequently either neglected or forgotten. For example, Turkish officials still prefer foreign representatives who deal with them openly, directly, and honestly. They also prefer foreigners who treat them with the respect that should be accorded to equals. Allens memorandum concludes as follows: The Turks believe that Great Britain has made commitments to Russia which will prevent Britain from exercising a restraining influence on Russia after the war. The Turks would be much encouraged if they were convinced that the United States retains a strong interest in Turkeys welfare. It is difficult to create such a conviction while we continue to agree to British demands in Turkeys regard. Certainly after the past two decades, but especially after the past five devastating years, can we argue convincingly, using the evidence available to us, that the U.S. retains a strong interest in Turkeys welfare? Every passing month, and every new crisis has made the argument more difficult to make. Originally, I intended to write a commentary that wrapped up with U.S. Ankara Embassy Charge dAffaires Philip Kosnetts recent trip to the Black Sea. During his visit to the Trabzon Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Kosnett commented to the press on current Turkish-American relations, stating that the important thing is to keep communication channels open in reference to ongoing issues between the Turkish and U.S. governments. I then planned to suggest that Turkish-U.S. relations were not only about inter-government relations, and that the U.S. representation in Turkey needed to be more proactive in establishing an open dialogue with Turkish society, not just with Turkish officials. That would be another important way to keep communication channels open. But the U.S. Embassy in Ankara consistently acts as if they are oblivious to Turkish citizens sentiments and concerns. This July 15 the U.S. Ankara Embassy did nothing more than tweet the original and a Turkish translation of the State Departments press release commemorating the failed 2016 Turkish coup attempt. As the U.S. governments in-country representation, there wasnt anything that the embassy might have been able to add in order to show some empathy? On Aug. 1, the day after a PKK attack in southeastern Turkey killed a mother and her infant, the British deputy head of mission to Turkey, Jennifer Anderson, tweeted a condemnation in English and Turkish. But the U.S. Embassy in Ankara? Silence, except for self-promotional tweets, including one on Kosnetts Trabzon junket. That is exactly the sort of inability to engage directly and sincerely with the issues important to Turkish society that deepens and magnifies Turkish distrust of U.S. intentions. Thus, in terms of the U.S. representation in Turkeys sensitivity to and understanding of Turkish society, nothing has changed over the past five years, whether the secretary of state is John Kerry, Rex Tillerson, or Mike Pompeo, or whether Kugulu Parks primary resident is Francis Ricciardone, John Bass, or no one. The United Kingdoms representation in Turkey, on the other hand, now displays more attention to issues important to Turkish citizens. In fact, since the Brexit vote, Turkish-British relations have been experiencing a revival. Most importantly, the U.K. government has put a top-level member of Fethullah Gulens cult, Akn Ipek, under house arrest, with possible extradition proceedings pending. This is a stark contrast to the U.S. governments refusal -- displayed by both the current and previous administrations -- to take even an initial step towards legal procedures that might result in Fethullah Gulens extradition. - Demands from White House ruspanti George Allens memo also suggested that demands were emanating from the British side in 1943. Then, the most important demands were from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who wanted Turkish soldiers to do the fighting in the Balkans instead of British soldiers. Now, during the Trump administration, demands come from the U.S., and specifically from whomever has Trumps ear. Trumps attention span is notoriously short and his White House is occupied by ruspanti constantly vying for his attention and favors. At the moment, Vice President Pence and National Security Advisor John Bolton apparently dominate Trumps time because the November 2018 midterm elections are fast approaching. For that reason, sanctions against Iran, and the Brunson case, are front-and-center in Trumps field of vision. But Trumps demeanor is so volatile that no one knows what will happen from one day to the next. Trump also has far too many other problems occupying his mind to focus extensively on Turkey, a subject for which he has apparently left U.S. policy to the soldiers (attested to by the recent statements from both sides strongly asserting that military matters in northern Syria were totally separate from the Brunson case). This means that demands can come from multiple sectors, and that policy-making is even more diffuse and chaotic. Allens memo accused the British of fomenting a similar situation, so apparently we have experienced a complete reversal in the Anglo-American-Turkish relationship since WWII. Finally, on Aug. 7, 2018, the U.S. Ankara Embassy tweeted two Turkish-language tweets aimed at Turkish society. One reaffirmed the strength of Turkish-American collaboration, and the other denied a Turkish press rumor. Those tweets, at the very least, recognize the Turkish public. In reality, though, it should not take provocative Turkish press rumors to elicit such tweets. The U.S. Embassy needs to be more energetic in taking the initiative to promote open, positive, and constructive dialogue with Turkish society. This can take many forms, but in the age of social media, Twitter is an important route through which the U.S. Embassy can begin establishing better communication channels. As an illustration, the embassy might start with putting a more Turkey-friendly picture on their Twitter page (compare the current picture with the picture featured on the British Embassys Twitter page). That and similar efforts, over the long term, can help to show Turkish citizens that the U.S. representation in Turkey respects them, their culture, and their democratically elected representatives, and does not see them as a colony or protectorate. AA Guncelleme Tarihi: 13 Agustos 2018, 14:18 World Bulletin / News Desk The Turkish president on Saturday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's threats ahead of the recent UN General Assembly vote on Jerusalem, saying money and intimidation were not enough to influence the outcome. The UN's 193-member General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution on Jerusalem by an overwhelming majority, calling on the U.S. to withdraw its recognition of the city as Israel's capital. A total of 128 members voted in favor of the Jerusalem resolution, nine countries voted against and 35 others abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote. Trump had warned that aid would be cut to those countries voting against Washingtons move at the General Assembly. "They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we're watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. Erdogan said the UN vote demonstrated that money could not buy will. "As you know, everyone stood united at the UN....128 against 9.... This means, will cannot be bought with dollars, intimidation," he said in a public address ahead of an ordinary provincial congress of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Separately, Erdogan at his party's ordinary provincial congress in the southeastern province of Sirnak once more called on the U.S. to revoke its decision on Jerusalem and asserted that Turkey will not "allow" Jerusalem to be used for "personal interests" and "ideological fanaticisms". "We will also defend the rights and justice of Orthodox and Catholics in Jerusalem if necessary, as we did throughout history," he said, asserting that Turkey "will not allow" Jerusalem "into a bloodbath". Guncelleme Tarihi: 25 Aralk 2017, 00:04 World Bulletin / News Desk Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik on Monday asked the German chancellor to hold on to her words that the two countries should engage in talks. "We invite [Angela] Merkel back to her own words," Celik said, during an interview with Turkish private broadcaster NTV. Celik was referring to Merkel's visit to the U.S. this March, where she had said that her moto was to talk to each other, and not about each other. Turkey and our president are becoming part of Germanys internal politics and not a single day passes in Germany when they are not talked about, he said. Celik said the debate about Turkey, turned into a campaign after racist parties entered the discussion, adding that Merkel and Martin Schulz, who leads Germany's main opposition Social Democratic Party, had lost votes when compared to previous polls. On the question whether Germanys negative statements towards Turkey will end after the German general election on Sept. 24., Celik said that there will be "a certain softening". Celik said that neither Germany nor Turkey benefit from the negative news German media is producing against Turkey. He added that the European Parliament's involvement was the reason why the Customs Union became part of politics. Guncelleme Tarihi: 22 Agustos 2017, 00:51 Russia on Tuesday said it has officially warned US internet giant Google against meddling in next Sunday's local elections by posting opposition leader Alexei Navalny's videos calling for mass protests. A Google spokeswoman declined to give a specific comment, telling AFP in an emailed statement that the company "reviews all valid requests from government institutions." Central Election Commission member Alexander Klyukin said the commission had sent an official letter to Larry Page, the CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, regarding Navalny's use of YouTube. The fierce Kremlin critic has urged Russians to protest on September 9, when several Russian regions and Moscow elect regional and local officials. Navalny is currently serving a 30-day sentence for violating public order laws during a protest earlier this year. "Mr. Navalny buys the company's advertising tools to publish information on YouTube about the mass political event on September 9, on the day of elections," Klyukin said. "We informed Google that such events on election day will lead to massive violation of the law" because political agitation is banned on election day, he said. "Meddling by a foreign company in our election is not permitted." He called Google a "gigantic American company" and hinted that Washington uses it as an influence tool. US officials have repeatedly warned about the dangers of Russian interference in upcoming elections and there is a full-scale probe underway into Moscow's alleged role in the 2016 presidential election which brought Donald Trump to office. Canadian establishment politics has been rattled by former Conservative leadership contender Maxime Berniers announcement that he has quit the Conservative Party and will soon launch a new right-wing party, dedicated to promoting a free market revolution and employing anti-immigrant demagogy. At an August 23 press conference, held on the eve of the Conservatives national convention, the long-time libertarian denounced the party he had served as an MP for the past twelve years as too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed. Whatever the ultimate outcome of Berniers new political project, it is part of a crisis wracking the traditional governing parties of Canada, the US and Europe under conditions of rampant social inequality and mounting popular alienation and class conflict. With the stated aim of becoming Canadas Macron, that is a politician who breaks the traditional political mold to push through a right-wing Thatcher-style agenda, Bernier articulates the demand of the bourgeoisie for a more aggressive policyan intensified assault on the working class, beginning with massive tax cuts for big business and the rich to match those enacted in the US under Trump, and a more vigorous drive to advance Canadian imperialist interests on the world stage. Coming soon after the ruling elite propelled the right-wing populist and Trump admirer Doug Ford to power in Ontario, the countrys most populous province, Berniers initiative is manifestly part of a pronounced shift further right in establishment politics. Berniers August 23 gambit was prepared by several high-profile controversies Bernier instigated in recent months over the Liberal governments promotion of multiculturalism and identity politics. The most recent and inflammatory was launched by Bernier on August 12, the first anniversary of the fascist rampage in Charlottesville, Virginia, and came in the form of a series of tweets attacking a speech Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had given a few days earlier. Among other things, Bernier denounced Trudeaus extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity, saying it will divide Canadians into little tribes that have less and less in common, apart from their dependence on government in Ottawa. Bernier also insinuated that immigrants, or at least many of them, reject basic Western values, and refuse to integrate into our society and want to live apart in their ghetto. Aware that there is broad support for such chauvinist sentiments both among Conservative MPs and the party rank-and-file, Conservative leader Andrew Sheer remained conspicuously silent for several days, before ultimately distancing himself from Berniers remarks, with the comment that Bernier was not speaking for the party but only for himself. Undeterred, Bernier issued even more explicitly chauvinist comments after Scheers intervention. In terms that closely resemble the tirades of Jordan Peterson, the psychology professor who is being touted as a leading Canadian intellectual even as he cultivates a constituency among the global New Right, Bernier asserted immigration policy should not aim to forcibly change the cultural character and social fabric of Canada, as radical proponents of multiculturalism want. The Liberals, their multiculturalism policy and identity politics more generally are not left-wing or pro-refugee. But Berniers criticisms of them are from the standpoint of an explicitly right-wing nationalism that emphasizes national and cultural unity and, in the name of the defence of Western values, promotes anti-egalitarianism, militarism and xenophobia. The son of a former Progressive Conservative MP, Maxime Bernier began his political career as an advisor to Bernard Landry, Minister of Finance in Quebecs Parti Quebecois (PQ) government in the late 1990s. After a career in finance, Bernier was appointed in 2005 Executive Vice-President of the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), a neoliberal advocacy group. Elected to parliament in 2006, he held several positions in Stephen Harpers government, where he was best known for deregulating much of the telecommunications sector. He has long been a proponent of the privatization of healthcare and the abolition of equalization, the system whereby the federal government transfers funds to the poorer provinces to ensure minimum national standards for health care and other essential public services. The continuity in Berniers career is to be found in his virulent opposition to government environmental and labor regulations, public services and social-welfare provisions and his championing of the dismantling of any worker social rights not only in the name of the free market, but of freedom tout court. He is an admirer of such right-wing capitalist ideologues as Ayn Rand and the economist (and advisor to the Chilean dictator Pinochet) Friedrich Hayek. Berniers adoption of populist new right rhetoric, stoking anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment, is more recent. In 2009, when members of the Action democratique du Quebec (ADQ)the right-wing populist movement that merged in 2012 with the current Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ)petitioned Bernier to become their leader, he politely declined the offer. More recently, amid the controversy sparked by Ontario Conservative Kellie Leitchs 2016 survey, Bernier opposed the idea of a values test for new immigrants. Only in the more recent period, characterized above all by Trumps victory south of the border, does it appear Bernier recognized the potential for chauvinist appeals to broaden the base for his hard-right neoliberal agenda. Bernier began to distance himself more openly from the Conservative Party establishment after finishing, to his own surprise and that of senior party leaders, a very close second to Scheer in last years party leadership race. Berniers Conservative critics present his departure as a rash decision, fueled by ambition, egotism and sour grapes. However, press reports indicate he has been promised financial support from prominent sections of business. There is also manifest sympathy for his trenchant criticisms of the partys leadership and direction among a substantial layer of Conservative Party activists. Running as a self-described Conservative libertarian, Bernier, it should be recalled, won the first twelve out of thirteen leadership ballots at last years convention, and lost to Scheer on the final ballot by less than two percent. Berniers erstwhile Conservative colleagues in parliament have thus far uniformly panned his plans to found a new party. But for many this reaction is due to tactical considerations, principally the fear of being divided against their opponents in the 2019 federal elections. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, leader of Albertas new United Conservative Party, and Doug Ford in Ontario have all dissociated themselves from Bernier in the name of Conservative unity. But they have all previously shown an affinity for the type of politics Bernier is now embracing, making rank chauvinist appeals, whether against Quebec, immigrants or Muslims. Within days of becoming premier, Ford was whipping up anti-refugee sentiment, seeking to scapegoat those fleeing Trumps anti-immigrant witch hunt for a housing shortage that is the product of decades of cuts by Liberal, Conservative and NDP governments. Whatever the fate of Berniers soon to be created new party, a growing section, not only of the Conservatives but of the entire political establishment, is adopting little by little the ultra-right rhetoric and policies that he articulates only more boldly. The rise of the extreme right in America and Europe, including the participation of the neo-fascist AfD party (Alternative for Germany) in the German parliament, is emboldening the bourgeoisie to set aside political taboos. The traditional political order is discredited. But war and austerity remain the only means available to the ruling class to solve the crisis of capitalism. It is the need to impose this unpopular program that is behind the bourgeoisies rapid reconciliation with the extreme right. The latter, long banned from official politics after the horrors of Nazism and the Second World War, is increasingly being promoted and politically legitimized. As one journalist wrote in a surprisingly candid defence of Bernier for CBC, a common identity... creates impermeable unity in crisis. The only means of cultivating such national unity are authoritarianism, militarism, anti-immigrant chauvinism and the division of the working class through the promotion of the most socially backward conceptions. The Michigan State Board of Elections has certified Socialist Equality Party (SEP) candidate for Congress Niles Niemuth for the November 6 general election ballot. Niles is running in Michigans 12th congressional district, which covers the Ann Arbor area, Dearborn and the Downriver suburbs of Detroit. The Michigan Secretary of State has posted a list of general election candidates for the entire state. Out of all the candidates running for the House of Representatives, Niemuth submitted the most petition signatures, garnering the support of more than 5,800 voters. The signatures, nearly double the 3,000 required, were submitted and approved without any objection from potential challengers. Due to restrictive ballot access laws that require tens of thousands of signatures to achieve official third party status for the SEP, Niemuth will appear on the ballot as an Independent candidate. The 2018 midterm elections take place amid an unprecedented political crisis in the United States, including bitter factional conflicts within the ruling class. While the Trump administration pursues a fascistic strategy aimed at appealing to far-right nationalism and anti-immigrant chauvinism, the Democrats have centered their opposition to Trump on the basis of a neo-McCarthyite, anti-Russia campaign and the promotion of the military-intelligence apparatus. In the elections, the Democrats are running an unprecedented number of individuals drawn from the CIA and the military. Typical of these CIA Democrats is Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic candidate in Michigans 8th Congressional District, who is running ads featuring her long record in the military and CIA. We launched our campaign this summer to advance a revolutionary socialist program and perspective for workers and young people in Southeastern Michigan and across the country, Niemuth said. Polls show that there is enormous and growing interest in socialism, but there is still limited understanding of what socialism is and how it can be achieved. Niemuth added, The issues confronting workers and students in the 12th districtlow wages and the assault on living standards, ever mounting levels of student debt, the threat of dictatorship and world warare the issues confronting the working class all over the world. Wherever we go, we encounter enormous opposition to the Democrats and Republicans, opposition to war and militarism, and support for the rights of immigrants. We have a very aggressive schedule for the next two months to use the campaign as a platform to present a genuine socialist program to voters across the district, Niles concluded. Our aim is to mobilize and organize the working class and youth, who are coming into increasingly direct conflict with the entire political establishment and the capitalist system. Niles will appear on the ballot alongside three other candidates: Debbie Dingell is the incumbent Democrat from the 12th district. She a former auto industry lobbyist in Washington, D.C. and a multi-millionaire. Dingell succeeded her husband, John Dingell, Jr., in 2014 after his retirement. Dingell, Jr. was the longest serving Congressman in US history, holding the seat for more than 59 years after succeeding his father, John Dingell, Sr. Jeff Jones, the Republican candidate, is running a far-right, Trump-like campaign seeking to appeal to disillusionment with the Democratic Party, particularly in the heavily deindustrialized working class Downriver communities, which went for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Gary Walkowicz, a lower-level UAW Local 600 official at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant, is running as a candidate for the Working Class Party, an electoral outfit run by the Spark organization, which presents itself as left while opposing any mention of socialism or capitalism. Walkowicz ran for UAW president against Dennis Williams in 2014, promoting illusions in the possibility of pressuring the corrupt union leadership into opposing a series of concessions contracts. Niemuths campaign is the only campaign in the 12th district and throughout the US that offers a way forward for the working class, in opposition to both the Democrats and Republicans. Visit niles2018.com to donate and get involved in the campaign. In a brazen display of contempt for those who oppose police violence, one New York City police union is seeking to bribe the public to not only accept, but to actively assist, in police brutality. The Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA), New York Citys police sergeants union, announced a new program offering a $500 reward to any citizen who assists a New York City law enforcement officer in apprehending an individual resisting arrest. The program, named Help A Cop, was created by the SBA, which represents 13,000 active and retired New York Police Department (NYPD) sergeants. Since the announcement, trucks equipped with digital billboards have been dispatched to each of the five boroughs in New York City, advertising the program with slogans such as, Put your camera downBecome a good Samaritan. SBA President, Ed Mullins, held a press conference to introduce Help A Cop and speak about the motivation behind it. We will offer a $500 reward for any individual who comes to the aid to any member of the law enforcement in the City of New York while making an arrest and someone is resisting that arrest, and they help that officer. This includes officers from other police agencies such as the FBI, the DEA, the state police, and MTA officers. While the program literature does not mention ICE, as a federal agency, it is doubtlessly also be included in the SBAs bounty program, encouraging an escalation of the war on immigrants. When asked by reporters what someone should do to help an officer, Mullins encouraged the use of physical force on the suspectGrab his hand or hold him downin order to give us that extra edge. Mullins was also asked whether the NYPDs ban on chokeholds should be reversed, to which he responded, When youre fighting for your life, you do whatever you need to go home. He continued, If youre resisting arrest, we need to be able to make you comply. Speaking about what the program is trying to combat, Mullins cited the Ferguson Effect, the unsubstantiated theory that there has been a spike in crime nationwide resulting from increased scrutiny of police activity after the mass protests over the 2014 police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which in turn has made police officers fear that their activities will be recorded by bystanders and posted online, resulting in hands-off policing. Mullins connected this to the problematic mixed messages supposedly coming from the public. Youre telling us you want enforcement. Youre telling us to make arrests. Youre promoting more arrests, more summonses. And then when it goes wrong, when it goes bad, we have an officer indicted. With these deeply reactionary statements, Mullins rejects the notion that a police officer should be punished, seemingly in any circumstance, and makes the argument that an officer should never be punished if he or she is attempting to enforce the law, even when committing murder. The process of taking cell phone videos versus helping a police officer has to stop, Mullins stated. This anti-democratic position, where police are seen to be above the law, opposes the right of by-standers to record police activity, while at the same time recruiting these bystanders as temporary extensions of the police force in exchange for a monetary reward. The official document announcing the Help A Cop program says, Far too often we see police officers engaged in violent struggles with perpetrators while members of the public stand by and take videos of the incident with their cell phone cameras. Help A Cops main slogan, Put Your Camera DownBecome A Good Samaritan is displayed on the programs website. The aim of this Big-Brother motto is clear: stop documenting police violence and start assisting in police violence, even without knowing anything about the actions of the person being apprehended. Under current New York State law, people coming to the aid of a cop involved in a violent struggle will not be legally protected and will be liable, should the suspect decide to sue. Mullins addressed this fact when asked at the press conference if civilians aiding police could be sued, blandly stating, Probably they could be sued. Despite acknowledging this issue, the SBA still chose to implement the program and is looking into legislation with New York state senator Martin Golden, a retired cop, to create a Good Samaritan law to protect individuals who assist an officer. The NYPD has not voiced support for Help A Cop. A police spokesperson said, The NYPD encourages people to support their cops by calling 911. The department doesnt want to see people put in harms way unnecessarily to collect a reward. Mullins has not concealed his hostility to the NYPD leadership, publicly calling Commissioner James O'Neill, as well as police chiefs and elected officials in general, weak. This past weekend, Mullins tweeted a video of cops being harassed by two young adults, adding, Seems like two more turds raised by parents who simply dont care. In a matter of time the people of NYC will see a drastic change in safety on city streets. Its all beginning to erode, dont say you werent warned! Thank the Mayor & Police Commissioner who just dont back cops. This mix of belligerent and childish language, cut from the same fascistic cloth as Trump, comes from a leading representative of police officers in New York City. The Help A Cop program is not only an effort by the most reactionary elements in the state apparatus to clamp down on the documenting of police violence, but encourages right-wing vigilante forces to actively assist the state in brutalizing the working class. One week after neo-Nazi riots in the German city of Chemnitz, around 70,000 people attended a rock concert against the far right on Monday. The concert in Chemnitz, held under the motto We are more, showed the massive opposition to right-wing extremism and fascism on the part of workers and youth. The performances by well-known German bands and rappersincluding the Toten Hosen, Kraftklub and Marteria and Casperwere repeatedly interrupted by chants from the crowd of anti-fascist slogans such as Nazis out or Alerta Alerta Antifascista. Protests against the far right also took place in other cities on the same day. In Hanover around 3,000 people took to the streets and in Duisburg a protest by 1,500 stopped a march by 50 supporters of the extreme right Pegida movement. The concert in Chemnitz Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site, members of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP) and its youth and student organization, the IYSSE, distributed large numbers of a leaflet titled The fight against right-wing terror requires a socialist perspective and spoke with participants at the concert. We come from Chemnitz and are not prepared to tolerate what happened here, Felix and Jenny said. Such a protest shows that something is really wrong in society and makes people aware, even those who are not directly involved. I hope that people then become active, not just at such events, but in general. And I hope they openly take to the street against the right wing. Felix Anika, a student of politics, said: Im here today because all the radical right-wing movements active in East Germany and especially in Chemnitz make me incredibly frightened and angry. One has to oppose them. Otherwise it would look like 1933. There are many causes for the aggressive mobilisation of the right-wing extremists. Politics plays a major role in this, as does the media. They constantly talk about refugee crisis or anti-deportation industry. This type of language and reporting is now normal and only helps to spur on the far right. Christina, an actress, explained: I feel you cannot leave the field to the far right, you have to take a stand. Its not acceptable for people to give the Hitler salute in this country and chase people through the streets. Hilde also condemned the far right-wing riots of last weekend and said: I think a point has been reached here in Chemnitz that is exemplary for all of Germany and even for the whole of Europe. On this issue people have to come together to show their opposition. And now masses of people have come together. Fifteen percent voted for the AfD and the other 85 percent have to make their presence felt. Her companion, Klaus, criticized the fact that policies of the right-wing extremists were being adopted by the establishment parties. The AfD comes up with the concepts and suddenly the other parties refer to the price of asylum, asylum tourism and so on. In using these slogans they take over in practice the policies proposed by the AfD. WSWS reporters also talked to Marie and Rika from Chemnitz, who had just graduated from high school. I think that politics is focusing too much on extreme opinions, Marie said. Asked about the return of German militarism and the massive armament of the German army, which is not discussed publicly, she explained: Nobody talks about this. I have no idea what they want to do with the money flowing into these areas. Everyone should be informed. I want to know why they need the money. Why do they want to rearm? For what? Marie and Rika Rika adds: I believe that information is withheld because politicians are afraid of the majority. They are afraid that so many are now standing up against racism and so many voices raised against it. This is not what they anticipated. They try to contain these things at all costs. Rika is aware that the call for the intervention of the state, which is now being raised by all established parties, is in reality directed against the broad masses and not against the far right. They say they will now spend more money on the police. They say they are investing money to protect people. But I do not think thats the reason. And I do not believe that people understand it that way. When I go out on the street, Im as afraid of the police as of the far right. I am uneasy when there are police cars everywhere. And I feel even more insecure when the parties now say they are strengthening the police force even more. I ask myself what theyre trying to do, apart from gaining more control over the population. The SGP leaflet explained the political connections between the aggressive activities of the right-wing extremists and the return of German militarism and the growth of a powerful police state, which is being pursued by all of the capitalist parties. Many took the leaflet and read it with interest. The only social force that can counter this development and stop the extreme right is the international working class, it said. It added that: the SGP calls for the expansion of the class struggle across the continent. The conspiracy of the grand coalition, the intelligence services and right-wing extremists must be stopped. It is time to revive the revolutionary socialist traditions of Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Lenin and Trotsky, defended only by the International Committee of the Fourth International and its sections. The SGP calls on workers and young people to join its ranks and take up the fight against capitalism, fascism and war. With forces loyal to the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad apparently preparing for a ground offensive to reassert control over the northwestern province of Idlib, the Trump White House, the State Department and the Pentagon have all issued warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe and threats of US retaliation over the use of chemical weapons. The latest threats came Tuesday, with the White House issuing a statement declaring that Washington was closely monitoring the situation in Idlib and the threat of an imminent Assad regime attack, backed by Russia and Iran. Such an attack, the statement continued would be a reckless escalation of an already tragic conflict and would risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It added that, in the event of a chemical weapons attack, the United States and its Allies will respond swiftly and appropriately. The statement reiterates earlier declarations by Trump and top administration officials. The US president had tweeted on Monday, The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last Friday that the US would view an offensive in Idlib as an escalation of an already dangerous conflict, and National Security Advisor John Bolton warned that the US will respond very strongly to any use of chemical weapons. Russia and the Assad government have rejected the warnings. After a three-week lull, Russian warplanes carried out at least 20 airstrikes on targets near the Idlibs western border, reportedly targeting positions held by Chinese Uighur Islamist extremists who are affiliated with the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. The action involved Russian Sukhoi Su-24Ms and Su-34s jets and was supported by Russian ships in the eastern Mediterranean. Syrian Foreign minister Walid Muallem said that the US threats would not stop the determination of the Syrian people and Syrian armys plans to clear Idlib and finally put an end to terrorism in Syria. Syrian troops and armor have reportedly been massed at the provinces border. Speaking at a Moscow press conference Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Idlib as a terrorists nest that threatened Russian bases in Syria. Just to speak out with some warningswithout taking into account the very dangerous, negative potential for the whole situation in Syriais probably not a full comprehensive approach, he said, in obvious reference to the threats from Washington. Absent from the US statements is any recognition that Idlib is effectively run by the Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate, which leads the dominant rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (IHT), and includes large numbers of so-called foreign fighters. The IHT has reportedly set up gallows and employed firing squads to eliminate opponents seeking accommodation with the Syrian government. The UNs special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has acknowledged that there are at least 10,000 Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Idlib. The front that the group leads is said to control 60 percent of the provinces territory along with its capital, and effectively governs the region. Others have put the number of Al Qaeda-linked fighters at between 20,000 and 30,000. Washington is threatening to intervene not out of any humanitarian concerns. Successive US administration have carried out bloody interventions in the regionfrom the war of aggression in Iraq, to the regime change operations in Libya and Syria and the near genocidal US-Saudi war against Yementhat have claimed the lives of millions and decimated entire societies. If it launches a new act of aggression in Syria, it will be to rescue the Al Qaeda-led rebels, which Washington and its Western and regional allies have supported since the onset of the proxy war for regime change in 2011, pouring billions of dollars worth of money and weapons to support these forces. And it will be to further US geo-strategic interests in dominating the Middle East and rolling back the influence of Iran and Russia in both Syria and the wider region. With the open defense of Al Qaeda in Syria, Washington is unceremoniously ditching the 17-year-old global war on terror in favor of preparations for military confrontation with what US national security documents describe as revisionist states challenging US hegemonyi.e., Russia and China. As for the warnings over a chemical weapons attack, these amount to an invitation to the Al Qaeda forces to stage an incident in order to secure air support from the US and its allies. Damascus flatly denied responsibility for earlier incidentsin Douma last April and in Khan Shaykhun a year before. Both were used as the pretext for missile and air strikes by Washington and its allies. The Washington Post Tuesday published excerpts from a new book on the Trump White House by Bob Woodward, Fear, which included an account that after the supposed April 2017 chemical weapons incident, Trump proposed to his defense secretary that the US military assassinate Syrian President Assad. Lets fucking kill him! Trump is quoted as saying Lets go in. Lets kill the fucking lot of them. While Mattis is reported to have told Trump he would develop such plans, the book says that he immediately told a senior aide: Were not going to do any of that. Were going to be much more measured. Gripped by extreme political crisis over the internecine war within the US political establishment, particularly over US policy toward Russia, and confronting mounting social tensions and rising working class militancy at home, the impetus for the Trump administration seizing on another phony chemical weapons incident to launch a major US escalation in Syria is greater than ever. The UNs Syria envoy, De Mistura, told reporters this week that the Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate had the capability to produce weaponized chlorine, meaning that it is entirely capable of staging a chemical weapons attack and blaming it on the government. The moves toward a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to retake Idlib are unfolding in the midst of intense rounds of diplomatic discussions between Moscow, Ankara and Tehran. The leaders of the three powersVladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhaniare set to meet in Tehran on September 7 for discussions that will center on the question of Idlib. Turkeys defense minister and intelligence chief were in Moscow, while Irans foreign minister has held meetings in both Ankara and Damascus in recent days. Turkey, which has backed a section of the Islamist militias in Syria and is anxious to avoid another flood of refugees across its border, has sought to forestall the offensive, insisting that the moderate rebels can be separated from their Al Qaeda core. It has also sent troops and tanks to positions inside Idlib near the Turkish border with the aim of blocking any further movement of Syrians into Turkey. Moscow is clearly hopeful that Turkey can provide a means of delivering Idlib to the government in Damascus without a protracted and bloody campaign. The Erdogan government has come into increasing confrontation with Washington, over both the US militarys use of the YPG Syrian Kurdish militia as its principal proxy ground force in Syria and the Trump administrations imposition of sanctions that have exacerbated Turkeys economic crisis. The Turkish government reported on Tuesday that the countrys defense minister, Hulusi Akar, had told the visiting US special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, that Turkey wanted all Kurdish militants out of the Syrian-Turkish border region. The threat of the developments in Syria turning into a wider and far more dangerous confrontation are clear. Russia has reportedly moved 26 warships and 36 planes, including strategic bombers, into the Mediterranean. The US, meanwhile, has also positioned substantial forces in the region. Moscow reported last week that the Pentagon had redeployed the USS Sullivan to the Persian Gulf, with 56 cruise missiles on board, and that B-1B strategic bombers had been redeployed to the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Ashley is one of the roughly 40 million young Americans between the ages of 14 and 29 who are employed in the US, comprising over a quarter of the total employed labor force. Though she was just 20 years old when injured on the job at a Texas Wal-Mart last year, Ashleys body, her credit score, and her aspirations for the future have all suffered as a result. Ashleys story epitomizes how it has become practically impossible for young people to live healthy and fulfilling lives under capitalism. At the same time, Ashley represents a new wave of workers who are not content with their oppression and are drawing broader political conclusions. She considers herself a revolutionary socialist and blames the capitalist system for her treatment. I work in electronics and were supposed to have three people on staff at all times but I was the only one working there at the time, said Ashley, who did not want to use her real name. A customer wanted me to bring a TV for them, but all the carts were in use. I called for help on the intercom but no one came, so I did what I thought was best and I picked the TV up myself. Im pretty light, and I heard a popping in my stomach which made me scared. Ashley knew she had to go to the emergency room but couldnt afford to pay the several thousand dollars cost. I asked a manager if they could drive me to the ER, she said. They told me I could leave and I ended up going across the street to an urgent care center, where I had a three-hour wait. The doctor didnt run any tests, did a stomach pump, and charged me $2,000. She says Wal-Mart made her go to a corporate-approved doctor, who told me it was a hernia and that I shouldnt really do anything about it. I knew that was bull because Ive read about the long-term impact of hernias, including that you maybe cant get pregnant. Their doctors told me to only come back if it started bruising or bleeding. Wal-Mart only offered to take me off the work schedule for two weeks, not to give me any paid time off. One day, I heard this awful popping noise in my bellybutton, it was my worst nightmare. And it was spewing blood. So I go into shock instantly and trying to figure out what is going on. It was bleeding out chunks. We went to the ER and the ER told me it was not a hernia, that I had been misdiagnosed and it was a cyst above my belly button. I ended up with $8,000 medical bills. Ashley explained, Wal-Mart was very hesitant to pay anything and they sent me documentation proving that they paid all the bills, but it turns out that a collection agency has been trying to call me about it for six months because there was one bill that Wal-Mart apparently never paid. It has been an absolute nightmare. Youd think the company would make sure that Id get help from now on, but they still dont do anything for me. They still dont send anyone to help me. Ashleys experience is far from uniqueboth among Wal-Mart employees and workers more broadly. Since 2000 alone, Wal-Mart has been forced to pay $1.5 billion in penalties for violations related to pay, discrimination and workplace safety. Conditions for young people have deteriorated significantly over the last 30 years. According to a report from the non-profit Young Invincibles, the income of 25- to-34-year-oldsa bracket that is slightly older than Ashleys age grouphas declined by 20 percent from 1989 to today. Young people today own half as much wealth as the Baby Boomer generation. Workers like Ashley find that their ability to enjoy their young adulthood is hampered by financial strain. In Ashleys case, she is forced to live with her parents because she cannot afford to find her own apartment. Because Wal-Mart may have not paid one of Ashleys medical bills, her credit score has been hit. Now my credit score is 100 points lower than last year, so I tried to get a car lease and that made my car payments way higher. My loan rate is 6 percent on a lease. I havent attempted to look for apartments because of my credit and I still live with my parents. Ive asked Wal-Mart whether they paid the bill and they just tell me the case was closed. The collection agency says theyve asked for a check to see if the urgent care center was paid and theyre saying it was unpaid. So, either the doctors office messed up or Wal-Mart. Either way, nobody has helped me figure out whats wrong and I am getting penalized as a result. Ashley works two other jobs in addition to working at Wal-Mart, where she earns $11.80 an hour. If I wasnt living with my parents, I would be screwed, she said. I have three jobs currently. I write Facebook ads for other companies through an app on my cell phone. These apps are temp agencies for online work. Those jobs pay $10 an hour, so I work 38 hours per week at three different jobs, and on top of that I am in school. Though Ashley loves her parents, she is not satisfied with living at home. I want to feel like an adult. I have work constantly treating me like Im 16 and I dont want to feel like that at home. I dont have a curfew, but I feel the need to come home early so I dont wake anyone up. I want freedom. Im not getting that entirely at my parents house because I have to drive an hour and a half to school twice a week and Id rather live near the school but I cant do that because its incredibly expensive. Its ridiculous that we act like there isnt enough housing. What about all of the foreclosed homes? She feels that getting an education will provide her with an opportunity to secure a more fulfilling job and a secure life. She wants to work in game design and just transferred to a larger public university that is an hour-and-a-half from her home. But to do so, she has had to take out loans: Ive taken out $12,000 in loans. I will probably have to double that to $25,000. It isnt as bad as most people. Its obscene that this is the way the United States works. I dont know how we havent revolted yet honestly. Ashley feels that she has something to contribute to her area of study. She is dissatisfied with the current state of the gaming industry, which she explains is dominated by a handful of corporations who make games that glorify imperialist war. In terms of video games, it seems like there are more and more games that are just money-making tools and none of them have cultural content, she said. Its the same way for every other part of life. It feels like companies are just feeling more confident screwing people over. It is the same with Internet companies. I live in an area where I can only get 5 megabytes per second and we pay $80 a month. Ashley has been a regular reader of the World Socialist Web Site for some time. She is a supporter of the Socialist Equality Partys campaign against Internet censorship and spoke at length about how she became a socialist. I have read about censorship of WSWS and other sites. It sounds insane to me that the Internet is even something that should be censored. I just cant believe companies have that power. They arent king of the Internet. They dont get to censor everything they want because it doesnt meet what they want. The Internet should be free to use. You should be able to post what you want and read what you want. How else will people get information about socialism and about revolution if you cant even see it online? Its unfair that theyre censoring those beliefs just because they dont want that. Ashley explained that though she comes from a conservative family, she became a socialist in ninth grade. I like to say capitalism: more like crapitalism. Thats my feeling. My parents are Republicans and would talk to me about trickledown economics. I have to pretend not to barf. They dont understand that rich people are holding on to their money that is just sitting there and we have young people who are drowning in student loan debt. We need that wealth but we dont get to touch it. The rich are literally stockpiling money in banks and we have tens of thousands in student loans. I cant fathom it. She also hates the fact that she has grown up in a period of permanent war: Ive always been super anti-war. My grandfather was a war veteran and I always protested the glorification of war because he got leukemia from Agent Orange in Vietnam. I was especially angry about that because the government did nothing to help my grandmother. They wont help her and it was entirely the governments fault that he got leukemia. They didnt care. They wanted to hurt people. I had to watch him lose all his mobility over a substance that the government decided to use to hurt people. That was one of the big moments when I switched to socialism. Ashley described how she and her coworkers debate what constitutes real socialism. She disagrees with those who claim Sanders is a socialist: Even Democrats, theyre so ugh. I hate watching the Democrats like Sanders on Twitter praising John McCain after he died. I thought, There is no reason to mourn this mans death. And when people say they wish Obama was back, I dont wish Obama was back in office because he was doing the same things as Trump, deporting children, sending out drone strikes, killing civilians ... Im sick and tired of praising people when they deserve to be criticized. Ashley believes it is essential for workers of all ages to take up these political questions and relate them to their own experiences at work. Id like for young people to start speaking out about our treatment. Its not going to change if we dont talk about it. Teachers in at least four additional school districts walked out Tuesday, as strikes and protests by educators spread across the state of Washington. Teachers are demanding substantial improvements in pay and school funding. The escalation of the struggle is taking place in defiance of the efforts by the National Education Association (NEA) and its state and local affiliates to isolate walkouts and prevent a statewide strike. Picket lines of educators went up Tuesday morning in Stanwood-Camano, 50 miles north of Seattle, and Rainier, Tumwater and Centralia, all located south of the state capital of Olympia. The strikes led to the cancellation of classes for thousands of students scheduled for the first day of school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Teachers in several other districtsEvergreen, Battle Ground, Washougal and Longview in Southwestern Washingtonremain on strike. Teachers in Puyallup, Tukwila, Conway, South Whidbey, Monroe and Wapato have all voted to strike if agreements are not reached by the start of school this week. On Tuesday night, more than 2,000 teachers attended a mass meeting in Tacoma, the states second largest school district, and voted 97.3 percent in favor of authorizing a strike if a new contract is not reached by Thursday, the first day of school. Teachers are outraged by the school districts insulting offer of a 3.1 percent raise, which is barely above the state-mandated 2.5 percent pay hike. Any additional raise, the district has threatened, would be paid for through 115 layoffs. As in other districts, particularly in metropolitan areas, teachers in Tacoma are saddled with crushing student loan debts and cannot pay for rising housing, medical and other living expenses on their meager salaries. Educators are all the more outraged because Tacoma Schools Superintendent Carla Santorno makes more than $291,000 a year. A school psychologist told the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, Im at the strike meeting right now and, as an avid socialist, Im pissed that our local unions arent coming together to fight inequality in our state. Our politicians have abandoned public education in the name of job creation, aka corporate welfare. The Washington Education Association (WEA) and its local affiliates have rushed to reach deals in major cities and prevent a unified struggle. Over the weekend, the unions shut down a strike by 1,600 teachers in Vancouver, in the southwest near the Oregon border, and reached deals in Camas, Ridgefield, Arlington and Hockinson. Last Friday, the Seattle Education Association announced it had reached a deal and instructed 5,000 teachers to report to work Wednesday before they had the full details of the agreement or any chance to vote on it. The SEA has scheduled a membership meeting for Saturday to vote on the deal. After getting a cursory text message about the deal, one Seattle teacher posted on the SEA Facebook page, We need the details, please!! The Seattle educators have been left in the dark during this whole process. PLEASE give the Seattle staff some information ASAPwe deserve to know what is going on, especially with regards to salary! During negotiations, the SEA leadership called for a one-year pay increase of 8 to 10 percent, while the so-called Social Equity Educators faction called for a 15 percent hike. Both proposals are woefully inadequate for teachers who have faced a years-long pay freeze in a city where the cost of a two-bedroom apartment is 80 percent higher than the national average. The immediate impulse for the wave of teacher strikes was the recent state supreme court ruling, which found that the state of Washington, long controlled by the Democratic Party, had failed to fulfill its constitutionally mandated responsibility to educate children and had to increase funding for schools and teacher salaries. However, the state has left it up to the 300 districts to vie over the estimated $2 billion allocated for salaries out of the $9.2 billion in state funding over the next six years. In addition, a new cap on local tax levies, which could reduce school revenue, means that whatever districts give to teachers this year they could take away next year. In an effort to justify their sellout deals, the unions are pointing to a possible state takeover of health care for school employees. However, as West Virginia teachers have learned through bitter experience, such schemes, jointly run by the state, insurance companies and the unions, impose impossibly high co-pays and premiums to make up for revenue shortfalls, and these higher costs eat up whatever pay raises teachers receive. The assault on education and teachers has proceeded as Governor Jay Inslee and other state Democrats showered billions of dollars in tax cuts on Washington-based companies like Boeing and Amazon. The unions, which are politically aligned with the Democrats, have opposed any statewide action by teachers. Far from proposing any challenge to the economic domination of the giant corporations and the states billionaires, like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the unions are planning to work with the Democrats once again to fund the schools and meager pay increases through more regressive taxes that hit the working class the hardest. The struggle in Washington takes place as teachers and school employees across the country fight to recoup lost wages and increase resources to public schools that have suffered deep cuts in funding and personnel since the 2008 financial crash a decade ago. One in five teachers must work a second job to make ends meet, and economic insecurity has led thousands to leave the profession, leading cash-strapped districts to hire teachers with insufficient training. According to the Learning Policy Institute, schools are starting this year with 100,000 classrooms in which teachers are either not adequately certified or lack experience. Last Friday, teachers in Los Angeles, the second largest school district in the nation, voted by 98 percent to authorize strike action. Officials from the United Teachers Los Angeles, however, have made it clear they are opposed to a strike by the citys 33,000 teachers, who have been working without a new contract for 13 months. Far from organizing a struggle, the unions have proven to be the biggest obstacle to a unified struggle by teachers for livable wages and the right to high quality public education for their students. Allied with the Democratic Party, the unions have colluded with both big business parties to make teachers and the whole working class pay for the bailout of the Wall Street banks and the squandering of trillions more on tax cuts and endless wars. The top executives of the teachers unions make 10 times or more than the average salaries of starting teachers and have no interest in opposing social inequality. In 2017, NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia ($348,732) and Executive Director John Stocks ($375,942) easily cleared the threshold for the richest one percent of the population, as did AFT President Randi Weingarten ($492,563), Secretary-Treasurer Lorretta Johnson ($392,530), and Executive Vice President Mary Cathryn Ricker ($337,434). These reported figures do not include additional fees and income derived from handling billions of dollars in pension funds and other investments. The strikes by teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and other states, earlier this year, took the form of a rebellion against the unions. The unions, however, reasserted their control over these struggles, isolated and betrayed them. If such an outcome is not to be repeated, Washington teachers must take the conduct of this battle into their own hands by electing rank-and-file strike committees in every school and community. These committees should mobilize educators, parents and teachers to reject the sellout deals being pushed by the unions and to organize a statewide strike for good wages and fully funded services. At the same time, rank-and-file teachers should reach out to educators and other workers in struggle throughout the country, including UPS, Amazon, steel and auto workers, to prepare a general strike. The securing of good paying jobs and the resources for a vast improvement of public education is only possible through a political struggle by the working class, in opposition to both big business parties and the capitalist system they defend. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe World Reuters Former world No.1 tennis doubles player Peng Shuai, one of China's biggest sporting stars, has publicly accused a former Chinese vice premier of forcing her into sex several years ago in a social media post that was later deleted. According to a screenshot of her verified Weibo account late on Tuesday, Peng said that Zhang Gaoli, who became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China's top decision-making body - coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship. The post was deleted around half an hour after it was published, although searches for Peng's name on China's tightly controlled internet surged after the posting, and screenshots were shared among private WeChat groups and over iMessage. Meghan Markle joined Prince Harry at one of his most emotional events of the year on Tuesday. The WellChild Awards, one of the annual highlights of Harrys public calendar, honors gravely sick children and their caregivers. Harry, 33, who has been patron of WellChild since 2007, and Meghan, 37, attended a pre-awards reception, meeting winners and their families, an occasion where Harry regularly doles out his trademark hugs and charms the room of caregivers, families and friends with his close attention to their individual stories. Meghan opted for one of her go-to looks for the event: a black pantsuit by Altuzarra paired with a shirt by Deitas. She styled her hair in a low side messy bun. Meghan Markle Meghan Markle Speaking at last years awards, Harry said, These awards were created to shine a bright light on an amazingly brave group of children and young people, on their lives, and on the resolve they and their families have shown to overcome challenges. Life for families caring for seriously ill children is exceptionally tough. And without WellChild it is even tougher. Meghan Markle Watch: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (in a suit by Altuzarra and blouse by Deitas) arrive at the @WellChild awards in London pic.twitter.com/GOCZGl7HnU Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) September 4, 2018 More than 100,000 children and young people in the U.K. are living with serious or exceptional health needs, and many spend years in the hospital because there is no support enabling them to leave. Meanwhile, those who are at home face inconsistent and inadequate levels of support. Meghan and Harry meet Matilda Booth, one of those being honoured by @WellChild, at the pre-awards reception @people pic.twitter.com/X4WJvbOPuG Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) September 4, 2018 Among this years WellChild Honorees: Story continues Matilda Booth, 7. Paralyzed with spina bifida from the chest down, she has had brain surgery seven times, among more than 40 operations. Mckenzie Brackley, 4, battled Acute Flaccid Paralysis following a virus. Mckenzie cheers up everyone when they are low, and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, the charity says. Chloe Henderson, 10, was born 10 weeks early and has cerebral palsy. She is the first differently abled child to pass her pre-primary ballet award with the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance. Jamie Jobson, 10, has a complex range of conditions, including CIPO, which severely affects his intestines. Jamie is determined to be independent, the charity says. He speaks through signing and his mischievous character always shines through. Poppy Slater, 13, battles Crohns Disease. She has had extensive hospital stays and takes significant medication to keep her condition in remission, as there is no cure. Despite tiredness and nausea she works hard at school and participates in many clubs such as the writers and illustrators club, debate society and drama club and she is even learning Latin. Jake Stacey, 12, loves acting and has had small TV parts, despite years of being told he couldnt audition for roles because of his spinal muscular atrophy. Evie Toombes, 16, was born with spina bifida. She blogs and mentors young people with health problems to encourage them. Cameron Dixon, 16, was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and was not expected to live long. His mum says he has achieved so much, although school and education is incredibly challenging for him he never gives up, WellChild says. He is a junior political editor for a magazine and has been to both Scottish and English Parliament to interview politicians. Scarlett Mathison, 10, cares for her differently abled 13-year-old sister Freya. Scarlett is very selfless, she understands totally that Freya requires a lot of care and attention, her only concern is her sister and having her well, says WellChild. Jacob Granger, 17, cares for his sister Melissa, who has Angelman syndrome, which leaves her in need of 24-hour care. His determination and patience have resulted in Melissa learning first to crawl and then walk. Geraldine Phillips has been a childrens diabetes nurse at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, for more than 20 years. When she started as the lone nurse covering a large clinic population, she quickly helped establish a support group for families, including organizing an annual activities weekend. The residential weekend is an innovative service in Wales that helps children meet other young people with diabetes. Dr. Alf Bass is an orthopedic surgeon at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital who has pioneered changes in the orthopedic management of children with cerebral palsy, radically shifting the emphasis from surgery to rehabilitation. Prince Harry is spreading smiles. Seven-year-old Matilda Booth, who has spina bifida and is paralyzed from the chest down, was one of the children that the 33-year-old royal and his wife, Meghan Markle, met at Tuesdays WellChild Awards. Matildas mother, Sharon Booth, told reporters after their meeting the royal couple that they were really nervous when we got there but [Harry and Meghan] made us feel so much at ease. They were both so nice. Matilda shared a special moment with Harry during the meeting, when he told her to never stop smiling. He made her pinky promise to always keep that beautiful smile, Sharon said. Meghan, 37, bent down when Matilda presented her with flowers. The Duchess of Sussex plucked a cream rose from the bouquet for the little girl to keep. She just seems so gentle and sincere, Sharon said of Meghan and Harry. They were just like normal people. As Prince Harry asked whether Sharon would get emotional during the evening, Meghan reassured her, By the way, me too. I wont be able to hold back. Meghan and Harry meet Matilda Booth, one of those being honoured by @WellChild, at the pre-awards reception @people pic.twitter.com/X4WJvbOPuG Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) September 4, 2018 Amy Brackley, whose 4-year-old son son Mckenzie was joint winner of the Inspirational Child Years Award with Matilda, said their meeting with the royal couple was amazing. They were so lovely, she explained to reporters. They knew he was scared of the cameras and they said they didnt like the cameras either so they turned around. They said he was amazing and to keep going the way he is going and told him to look after me. Story continues Amy added, Hes never going to forget this, even though hes only 4. Congratulations to #WellChildAwards Winner Mckenzie, aged 4, who has learned to speak, swallow, eat, drink and move again following a virus, which left him paralyzed. Mckenzie is there for other children when they are scared or sad, and has helped @echcharity with fundraising. pic.twitter.com/0qyFlvlsoR Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 4, 2018 Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Prince Harry and Meghan also chatted with 10-year-old Chloe Henderson, who boldly asked the royal couple a very important question. Theres a question I have to ask you, she said, as Harry laughed and hid his head in his hands. Whats your favorite Disney film? Harry said he loved The Lion King, while Meghan replied that she has always loved The Little Mermaid. Harry isnt the only royal who fittingly loves The Lion King. Prince William revealed last year that the 1994 film is also one of Prince Georges favorites. During Tuesdays event in London, Harry also revealed that he liked Zootopia and Moana, and shared one of his favorite parts of the latter film is when the chicken [Heihei] comes up and finds himself out at sea in a boat. Speaking at last years awards, Harry said, These awards were created to shine a bright light on an amazingly brave group of children and young people, on their lives, and on the resolve they and their families have shown to overcome challenges. Life for families caring for seriously ill children is exceptionally tough. And without WellChild it is even tougher. Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter (TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey took to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding their companies efforts to counter disinformation campaigns by foreign governments seeking to influence U.S. elections. Google (GOOG, GOOGL) leadership, however, was conspicuously absent from the hearing much to the committees ire. Instead, the company chose to submit written testimony. As a result, Google appeared to send the message that the meeting was unimportant. Of course, skipping the hearing spared the company from having to comment on its attempts to develop a new search engine for the Chinese market, as well. Im disappointed Google decided against sending the right senior level executive to participate in what I truly expect to be a productive discussion, Committee Chairman Senator Richard Burr (R, NC) said in his opening statement. The Intelligence Committee originally sought to bring Larry Page, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, in to testify, though the company decided against that or having Google CEO Sundar Pichai speak. Instead, Googles Chief Legal Officer and Head of Global Affairs Kent Walker submitted the companys testimony to the committee. According to TechCrunch, Google informed the Intelligence Committee in July that it would be sending Walker to the hearing, and was under the impression at that time that doing so would be sufficient. The senators clearly felt differently. Bashing the big G Vice Chairman Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) hit Google especially hard saying, Im deeply disappointed that Google, one of the most influential digital platforms in the world, chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee. Because I know our members have a series of difficult questions about structural vulnerabilities on a number of Googles platforms that well need answers for. Warner continued, From Google Search, which continues to have problems surfacing absurd conspiracies, to YouTube where Russian-backed disinformation agents promoted hundreds of divisive emails, to Gmail where state-sponsored operatives attempted countless hacking attempts, Google has an immense responsibility in this space. Given its size and influence I would have thought that leadership at Google would have wanted to demonstrate how seriously it takes these challenges and actually take a leadership role in this discussion. Story continues Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said she wanted to express her outrage that Google was absent, while Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), questioned whether Googles absence from the hearing was due to its own arrogance. In his written testimony, Walker laid out how Google is fighting disinformation campaigns and where it is cooperating with government officials. We believe that we have a responsibility to prevent the misuse of our platforms and we take that very seriously, Walker wrote in his testimony. Google was founded with a mission to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful. The abuse of the tools and platforms we build is antithetical to that mission. But those comments werent enough to save Google from the committees anger. On the flip side, senators repeatedly praised Sandberg and Dorsey for attending the meeting, and expressed their thanks for the work Facebook and Twitter have done to reduce the effectiveness of disinformation and interference campaigns from the likes of Russia and Iran. In his written testimony submitted to the Intelligence Committee in November 2017, Walker explained that Google saw a relatively small amount of disinformation through YouTube compared to the vast amounts of content uploaded to the service. Of course, by refusing to send its chief executives, Google and Alphabet managed to dodge any questions regarding the companies reported work on a new search engine for the Chinese market that would abide by the governments strict censorship of topics ranging from freedom of speech and human rights to religion. Both Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned why Facebook and Twitter dont do business in China Sandberg and Dorsey responded that they are banned from the country. In July, Facebook briefly received approval to open an innovation center in the country, only to have the approval revoked in a matter of hours. Its not as though Google isnt working to prevent election interference and disinformation, but by failing to have its highest-ranking leadership appear before the committee it appeared to take a backseat in the conversation. Based on optics alone, having Page and Pichai sit out of the hearing makes it appears as though Google simply doesnt take the matter of election interference and disinformation seriously. And while Walker says Google recognizes the importance of the committees work, actions often speak louder than words. Still, the decision not to attend the meeting didnt appear to affect Googles stock in the short-term. Facebooks stock was down 1.6% in midday trading, while Twitter was down 4.7%. Google, meanwhile, was down 1.2% More from Dan: Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@oath.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn Eleven people were treated at a local hospital after a plane carrying sick passengers landed at John F. Kennedy Airport Wednesday. Around 100 people on Emirates Flight 203 from Dubai complained of illness, with symptoms including cough and fever, before being officially evaluated, Benjamin Haynes, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Infectious Disease Media Team, told TIME. Emirates, however, said that only about 10 of the roughly 500 passengers on the flight were taken ill. Statement: Emirates can confirm that about 10 passengers on #EK203 from Dubai to New York were taken ill. On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities. All others will disembark shortly. The safety & care of our customers is our first priority. Emirates Airline (@emirates) September 5, 2018 LIVE VIDEO, UPDATE: Officials from Dubai are blaming food poisoning for 100 passengers becoming ill on @Emirates Flight 203 as the plane remains under #quarantine at #JFK Airport: https://t.co/FCH6DVldJt CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) September 5, 2018 Eric Phillips, press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios office, tweeted about three hours after the plane landed that all passengers had disembarked. (Though Phillips initially said the plane was quarantined, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not escalate the incident to that level of formal response.) Ten sick people were initially taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, while another nine were found to be ill but declined further medical treatment. One person on the plane sought treatment for unrelated symptoms later in the day, Jamaica Hospital representatives said in a statement Thursday. Story continues All the passengers are off and have been evaluated. 19 sick. 10 to hospital and 9 refused medical attention. Health officials are processing tests now to determine the cause. Symptoms still pointing to the flu. https://t.co/ZWURgb68bJ Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) September 5, 2018 10 sick people off the plane and heading to Jamaica Hospital. Health officials taking others off one by one checking for symptoms. About 40 cleared and going to customs. A few others showing symptoms and being held for treatment and possible transport to hospital. https://t.co/6X0445ivXy Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) September 5, 2018 Emirates said the 10 people taken to the hospital included seven crew members and three passengers. Media Statement #2: Emirates can confirm that all passengers have disembarked from flight #EK203. All passengers were screened by local health authorities prior to disembarkation. 3 passengers & 7 crew were transferred to the hospital for further medical care and evaluation. 1/4 Emirates Airline (@emirates) September 5, 2018 A Jamaica Hospital spokesperson said in a statement provided to TIME that patients brought to the hospital had symptoms including cough, fever, sore throat and headache. Test results came back positive for influenza, Phillips tweeted Thursday morning. Ten of the 11 patients were discharged by Thursday afternoon, according to Jamaica Hospital representatives, while the final patient remained at the hospital for flu treatment. Vanilla Ice was apparently among the more than 500 passengers on the A380 aircraft. The rapper tweeted a video of the scene on the tarmac, and called the situation crazy in a separate tweet. So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place, he wrote. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy Im up top, its a double-decker plane 380, he added in another tweet. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Democrats know who their voters are. They just have to figure out how to get them to the polls in November and that's where the puppies come in. Students returning to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus this summer were greeted by therapy dogs for petting. Those lured by the chance to ruffle a dog's ears were then asked to register to vote a "Pups to the Polls" gimmick that was just one of several similar events being staged in 11 battleground states by the liberal group NextGen America. Young people tend to vote for Democrats, but they also tend stay away during midterm elections. It's a perennial frustration for the party one they are trying to overcome as they seek to take control of Congress. NextGen America, formed by billionaire activist Tom Steyer, hopes to be a game changer. Steyer is investing more than $30 million in what's believed to be the largest voter engagement effort of its kind in U.S. history. The push to register and get pledges from college students to vote is focusing on states such as Wisconsin, Virginia, California and North Carolina with competitive races for Congress, U.S. Senate and other offices. NextGen sees young voters such as Kellen Sharp as key to flipping targeted seats from red to blue. "The outcome of this election definitely affects us," said Sharp, an 18-year-old freshman from Milwaukee who stopped to register during the dog event the week before classes started. "I'm just excited to have a voice and say something." A poll this summer by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV found that most Americans ages 15 to 34 think voting in the midterm elections gives their generation some say about how the government is run. The poll found young people eager to vote for someone who shared their political views on issues such as health care and immigration policy. They expressed far less excitement about voting for a candidate described as a lifelong politician. Story continues "If we all vote, we can make a change," said 20-year-old Grace Austin, who stopped to pet the dogs at the Wisconsin event and wound up registering to vote. Austin and other college students who registered said they feel like their friends are more interested in politics than ever before boosting hopes of Democrats trying to reverse the trend of declining youth participation in midterm elections. "We want them to know they need to show up and when they do, we will win," said NextGen's Wisconsin director George Olufosoye. "We want them to know they have power." They certainly have the numbers. Since the last midterm election in 2014, 15 million post-millennials those between the ages of 18 and 21 have become eligible to vote. But while Generation X, millennials and post-millennials make up the majority of voting-eligible adults nationwide, they are not expected to cast the most votes in November. In the 2014 midterm, they cast 21 million fewer votes than voters over age 54, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. Turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds hit a 40-year low in 2014, bottoming out at 17.1 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, at Tufts University. NextGen points to higher voter turnout on the University of Wisconsin campus for a spring state Supreme Court election won by a liberal, and spikes in turnout in other targeted races, to argue that their push to register 122,000 young people to vote is bearing fruit. "We're trying really hard to have this be much more of an infrastructure, organizational thing than a two-month campaign," NextGen founder Tom Steyer said in an interview. "We're trying to get the broadest possible democracy, the biggest representation." More media coverage of competitive races, combined with energy from the March for Our Lives movement that seeks stricter gun laws, has empowered young voters and made them "feel like it's time to have their voice heard about what happens to their generation," said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of CIRCLE. That's what NextGen hopes. It has nearly 800 organizers on 421 college campuses in Wisconsin, Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In Wisconsin alone, NextGen has 27 full-time workers and 40 student fellows registering voters on 26 campuses. Republicans recognize the power that motivating young voters could have for Democrats, but they're skeptical that participation will increase much. In Wisconsin, Republicans have been targeting college voters for years. "Wisconsin Republicans win by connecting with voters directly where they are and young voters are no different when it comes to that strategy," said Wisconsin Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman. Wisconsin has two of the nation's competitive and closely watched races. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is being challenged by GOP state Sen. Leah Vukmir, while Republican Gov. Scott Walker faces a challenge from Democratic state schools chief Tony Evers. Polls show the races to be a dead heat just the kind of competitive elections research shows excite younger voters. "I've never seen anything like this," said NextGen worker and 2016 University of Wisconsin graduate Joe Waldman. "I've never seen the energy, passion and activism there is now." ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D Homeless war veteran Johnny Bobbitt, 34, used his last $20 to fill up the gas tank of stranded motorist Kate McClure (right) in Philadelphia. Source: AAP The lawyer for a homeless war veteran who used his last $20 to fill up a gas tank for a stranded motorist claims the 300,000 raised for his client is gone. Johnny Bobbitt, 34, gained worldwide attention when he used his last $20 to help stranded motorist Kate McClure in Philadelphia in November, 2017. Ms McClure and her boyfriend Mark DAmico started a GoFundMe campaign in return, promising that Mr Bobbitt would have a home. The couple were last week accused of withholding the money and Mr Bobbitts lawyer now claims it has all gone. Mr Bobbitts lawyer Chris Fallon doesnt know where the money has gone. Source: AAP The homeless mans lawyer Chris Fallon told The Star-Ledger the hundreds of thousands are gone. There is no money left, he said. Where the money went, I have no idea. He added Mr Bobbitt is completely devastated. Mr Fallon told WPVI Philadelphia he found out his clients money was gone during a conference call with Ms McClures lawyer on Tuesday. The lawyer told NJ.com hes now making requests to access the couples financial records to find out where the money went. A judge ruled the money needed to be transferred to an account over the weekend. Mr Bobbitt claims the couple spent money on holidays and a new BMW. Mr Bobbitts lawyer claims the man is back on the street. Source: AAP Its further claimed by Mr Fallon in the Philadelphia Inquirer, that Mr Bobbitt received more than $75,000 (55,000) and had a used SUV and camper purchased for him. Both the camper and the SUV had Ms McClure listed as their owner, but were later sold. The lawyer told CNN, GoFundMe charged about 23,000 for the campaign, and while 55,000 was given to his client, there should still be over 200,000 left for Mr Bobbitt. Mr DAmico said after establishing the GoFundMe page, the money would be going into the couples bank account because they were concerned Mr Bobbitt had issues with drug addiction. The couples lawyer said at Thursdays hearing that Mr Bobbitt had received about 156,000. Mr DAmico admitted to the Inquirer he used about 380 at the casino, but later repaid it. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Story continues Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation Mr Bobbitts other lawyer Jacqueline Promislo said the man is back out on the streets and using drugs however he is entitled to the money. What [Mr Bobbitt] would like is to obtain the money that has been raised for him, Ms Promislo told NBC News. Over 14,000 people gave him money to help him get off the streets and give him a safe place to live. Mr DAmico said he would rather burn it in front of Mr Bobbitt than give it to him to spend on drugs. Surprisingly, the toilet seat isn't the dirtiest part of an airport. Neither is the bathroom door handle, or the baggage claim, or even the floor. Germs love the plastic security trays, according to a study from the University of Nottingham and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare. SEE ALSO: Kathleen Turner reveals what it's really like to experience Donald Trump's 'gross handshake' For the study published in BMC Infectious Diseases, researchers swabbed a variety of frequently touched surfaces at Helsinki-Vantaa airport during peak travel time in the winter of 2016. They discovered viruses on 10 percent of all the tested surfaces, including staircase rails, passport checking counters, and payment terminals. But the most popular hotspot for infections like rhinovirus (the common cold) and influenza was the plastic security bins where passengers dumped their shoes, phones, and carry-on bags. Even worse, the study concluded that although the viruses found on frequently touched surfaces may not cause disease, the microbes can survive on "various materials" for "up to several days." The study's researchers hope that the findings "improve public awareness of how viral infections spread." In a statement, the University of Nottingham's Professor of Health Protection Jonathan Van Tram suggested that travelers minimize the spread of contagious viruses by washing their hands and coughing into a handkerchief or sleeve while in public, which is the same advice elementary school teachers give their students. "These simple precautions can help prevent pandemics and are most important in crowded areas like airports that have a high volume of people traveling to and from different parts of the world," he said. It should be noted, however, that the study was only conducted at one airport. Considering that sanitation practices likely differ between airports, security bins may be contain more germs at some than others. Story continues According to the University of Nottingham the study is part of a larger research project funded by the European Union that investigates how airports and other travel-heavy checkpoints are platforms for spreading serious infections. Organizers hope that the research will "strengthen public health advice in preparation for future flu pandemics." Virology expert Niina Ikonen, who co-authored the study, suggested "technical improvements" that could limit the spread of germs. She concludes that airports could provide free hand sanitizer where "intense, repeat touching of surfaces takes place." So after you grab your phone and shoes from airport security, consider washing your hands. You don't know what microscopic creatures are crawling across your screen. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones yelled at senators and did a bizarre performance of pretending to be a robot as he arrived at the Senate grilling of Twitter and Facebook bosses. Facebook and Twitter both sent representatives to the grillings, which are intended to cover issues such as election meddling and accusations of bias on the platforms. But Mr Jones threatened to overshadow them as he arrived, and yelled at passersby. He shouted homophobic insults at senators and made bleeping noises as he walked around corridors, after taking his seat at the front of the hearings. Mr Jones has become a difficult figure for social networks such as Facebook. Twitter, whose CEO Jack Dorsey attended proceedings, is the only major platform to have chosen to allow Mr Jones to continue publishing on it. He appeared to suggest that he was attending the meetings in part as a response to those bans, which he has claimed are part of a conspiracy to censor him. Mr Jones livestreamed his arrival at the event through Twitter. Large parts of it were difficult to follow or indecipherable, but he shouted a number of insults as well as making strange remarks towards the camera. "I'm here to face my accusers," he barked to no one near the beginning of the break, which he used as an opportunity to begin a livestream. "Stop violating the first amendment," he yelled at one senator. Shame on you, you un-American tyrant." He then went on to launch a homophobic rant towards Marco Rubio, and began a bizarre performance in which he joked about Russian interference in the election. "Beep beep beep beep I'm a Russian bot beep beep beep beep," he said, waving his arms. The livestream came to an end when the hearings began again. Mr Jones made his way back into the chamber but the person filming on his behalf was now allowed in while using a camera. Washington (AFP) - With the United Nations warning of a potential "bloodbath" in Syria's Idlib province, the United States warned President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday it would respond "swiftly and appropriately" if he uses chemical weapons against his own people. As Syrian troops massed near the northwestern region of nearly three million people, the last major rebel stronghold, renewed Russian airstrikes killed at least nine civilians, according to a violence monitor. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the UN Security Council would meet on Friday to discuss the precarious situation in the province. Rebel-backer Turkey has held several rounds of talks with regime ally Russia aimed at averting an assault on Idlib, but Moscow dubbed the region a "pocket of terrorism." The UN's Syria peace envoy Staffan de Mistura said Russia and Turkey held "the key for (a) soft solution to the Idlib issue" and urged them to help avert a humanitarian disaster. De Mistura pointed to press reports indicating that Syria has set a September 10 deadline for finding a solution before it begins an all-out offensive on the province. "Let's try to avoid that the last probably major battle of the Syrian territorial conflict... ends in a bloodbath," De Mistura told reporters in Geneva. US President Donald Trump warned Assad on Monday not to "recklessly attack" Idlib and the White House strongly cautioned him Tuesday against using chemical weapons. "Such an attack would be a reckless escalation of an already tragic conflict and would risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, warning the US and its allies "will respond swiftly and appropriately." Haley's own warning focused more explicitly on the prospect of a chemical attack. "If they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that, but they cannot do it with chemical weapons," she said. Story continues - 'Pocket of terrorism' - De Mistura urged Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to urgently speak on the phone even before they are set to meet with their Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Friday. His appeal came after Russian warplanes resumed airstrikes on Idlib after a 22-day pause. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on sources in Syria for its reports, said at least nine civilians, including five children from the same family, were killed in the raids, while 10 people were wounded. Seized from government forces in 2015, Idlib and adjacent areas form the last major chunk of territory still in rebel hands. Many of the residents are rebels and civilians who were bussed out of other areas as they came back under Syrian regime control. Tuesday's bombardment hit several areas held by the jihadist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, among them the large town of Jisr al-Shughur, but also areas held by rival Turkish-backed rebels, including the town of Ariha. The Syrian military has been deploying reinforcements to the zone for more than a month, and Russia has stepped up its rhetoric. "We know that the Syrian armed forces are getting ready to solve this problem," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Idlib a "pocket of terrorism." Moscow has been carrying out strikes in Syria since September 2015, using aircraft at the Hmeimim base in Latakia province. It accuses rebels in Idlib of attacking Hmeimim with weaponized drones and insists jihadists in the province must be eliminated. - 'Appeal for sanity' - De Mistura said there were an estimated 10,000 fighters with UN-designated terror groups currently in Idlib. But he stressed that there are some 2.9 million civilians in the province, including around one million children, who "are not terrorists." "There are many more babies than terrorists in Idlib," said Jan Egeland, head of the UN's humanitarian taskforce for Syria. "We appeal for sanity." Amid a diplomatic frenzy to try to avoid a full-scale assault on Idlib, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told AFP Tuesday "it is important today that the path to negotiations be open and not that toward confrontation." De Mistura, whose years of efforts to push forward a Syrian peace deal have achieved no breakthroughs, insisted that he would pursue his efforts to set up a committee to write a new Syrian constitution. The UN envoy said he did not plan to postpone two rounds of consultations next week with high-level representatives of a range of countries with influence on different sides in the conflict. "It is going to be a moment of truth," he said. 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. burs-oh/ia A former Cosby Show actor is speaking out after a photograph surfaced showing him working at a grocery store in what many perceived as an attempt to shame him for his job. Actor Geoffrey Owens spoke with Good Morning Americas Robin Roberts Tuesday after images of him working at a local Trader Joes were shared widely online, drawing job-shaming comments and widespread pickup from media outlets. But not long after the photos went viral, other commentators and fellow actors started flooding Owens with support, empathy and stories from their own careers. I was really devastated, Owens said, But the period of devastation was so short. The incident, Owens said, shed light on what it means to work and the dignity of it. There is no job that is better than another job. It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a resume and on paper, Owens, who wore his Trader Joes name badge during the interview, said. But actually, its not better. Every job is worthwhile and valuable, and if we have a rethinking about that because of what has happened to me, that would be great. FULL INTERVIEW: @GMA EXCLUSIVE -- "There's no job better than another...every job is worthwhile..." Actor Geoffrey Owens speaks out, responding to job shaming and backlash after a photo of him working at a grocery store was posted online: https://t.co/0wZJnpowI9 pic.twitter.com/aNiG5fV2yf Good Morning America (@GMA) September 4, 2018 Owens says he began working at Trader Joes just over a year ago to help make ends meet. The former Cosby Show actor has been acting, directing and teaching those two crafts for more than 30 years, and it got to a point where it just didnt add up enough, he said. At the grocery store, patrons would recognize Owens every day and they were very, very cool about it, he told Good Morning America. Story continues Indeed, working several jobs to make ends meet is no rarity for actors and artists as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists highlighted in a tweet on Labor Day in support of Owens. The union encouraged actors to share their own stories on Twitter with the hashtag #ActorsWithDayJobs, and actors and those in other fields shared their stories of working multiple jobs for years to support themselves and their families. This #LaborDay, we honor #geoffreyowens & ALL of the hard-working actors & artists who work 1, 2, 3 day jobs in order to pay the bills, take care of their families & still work to entertain us. #ActorsWithDayJobs, please share yours! Were here for u & will RT #ActorsWithDayJobs SAG-AFTRA Foundation (@sagaftraFOUND) September 3, 2018 While Owens said the incident has sparked interest in him for future acting gigs, he maintained that he would only be interested in pursuing opportunities he earned on merit alone. No one should feel sorry for me, either from a positive or negative perspective, Owens said. Ive had a great life, Ive had a great career, Ive had a career that most actors would really die for. No one has to feel sorry for me; Im doing fine. Insurgent challenger will be states first black female member of Congress The Democratic candidate Ayanna Pressley takes the stage after winning the Democratic primary in Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters In the latest upset during the 2018 Democratic primaries, Ayanna Pressley beat a veteran 10-term Democrat in Massachusetts in a House race being watched nationally as an indicator of the future of the Democratic Party. With Michael Capuano conceding and no Republican opponent on the ballot in November, Pressley will be become the first African American woman to represent Massachusetts on Capitol Hill. The night also marked another victory for insurgent candidates within the Democratic Party, who are demanding a more strident political posture in the era of Trump. In her victory speech, Pressley said: These times demanded more from our leaders and from our party. These times demanded an approach to governing that was bold, uncompromising and unafraid. Its not just good enough to see the Democrats back in power but it matters who those Democrats are. Her win adds her to the growing number of female and minority candidates who have been propelled to victory in primaries by the Democratic base, joining candidates like Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for Florida Governor as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Although Pressley gained renewed national attention in the wake of Ocasio-Cortezs shock win against longtime incumbent Joe Crowley in New York City in June, she is a far more orthodox figure. Long heralded as a rising star in the Democratic Party, Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in 2009. The former staffer for Senator John Kerry and Congressman Joe Kennedy has been touted by national progressive groups for years. A former Clinton surrogate, Pressley was awarded a rising star award by the Democratic activist group Emilys List in 2015. Pressley, a Boston city councilor, and Capuano were both ardent progressives with a few differences. Pressley supported the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice); Capuano did not. Capuano favored a federal jobs guarantee; Pressley did not. Instead, the race focused on style. Story continues Pressley argued that while Capuano was a consistent progressive vote in Congress, she would provide activist leadership. In contrast, Capuano pointed to his longstanding relationships in Congress and ability to bring home federal money to the district. Pressley benefited from the changing demographics of her district, which spans much of Boston as well as a mix of blue collar and well-educated suburbs. It is the only majority minority district in Massachusetts. Her campaign focused on turning those voters, particularly African Americans, who were less likely to cast ballots in a Democratic primary. Pressley thought was also helped by some cracks in establishment support for Capuano. Both of the states Democratic senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren did not endorse in the race and state attorney general Maura Healey endorsed Pressley. In addition, she was endorsed by the Boston Globe. However, Capuano still had strong support from organized labor, Boston mayor Marty Walsh as well as the Congressional Black Caucuss political action committee. In remarks where he conceded even before the race had been called by the Associated Press, Capuano seemed to take his defeat in stride. Clearly the district wanted a lot of change, said the incumbent. Apparently the district was just very upset with lots of things going on. I can tell you I have been just as upset as they are. But so be it, thats the way life goes. During her victory speech, Pressley dug into President Donald Trump and his predecessors: While our president is a racist, misogynistic, truly empathy bankrupt man, the conditions which have made the 7th district one of the of most unequal in America was cemented through policies long before he ever descended the escalator at Trump Tower. Pressley spoke of Capuano, saying he forced me to bring my best, and thanked him for his 20 years of service. Stephanie Voltaire, 29, excitedly jumped through the crowd to glimpse a sight of Pressley. Voltaire cited her candidates work to save Temporary Protected Status for immigrants as a major factor of her support. Im ready for her to fight for immigrants. Damali Vidot, who is city council president in nearby Chelsea and volunteered for Pressleys campaign, said that Pressleys win opens up a conversation of who the Democratic Party represents. Many communities feel unseen, she said. This gives us the opportunity to see how inclusive the party can be. Shortly after the win, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her support: Lets push together to make Medicare for All, tuition free college, & living wages a reality in America - all without corporate PAC money. Reuters Former world No.1 tennis doubles player Peng Shuai, one of China's biggest sporting stars, has publicly accused a former Chinese vice premier of forcing her into sex several years ago in a social media post that was later deleted. According to a screenshot of her verified Weibo account late on Tuesday, Peng said that Zhang Gaoli, who became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China's top decision-making body - coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship. The post was deleted around half an hour after it was published, although searches for Peng's name on China's tightly controlled internet surged after the posting, and screenshots were shared among private WeChat groups and over iMessage. Ben Chaplin stars in new BBC Drama Press (BBC Pictures). BBC Ones upcoming newspaper drama Press was forced to change a terror attack storyline after a genuine attack occurred on a London tube. Speaking at the shows screening Press star Charlotte Riley revealed that an original storyline involving a tube bucket bomb was axed following the September 2017 Parsons Green train bombing. There were one or two storylines that we filmed that then actually happened in real life, so they didnt make the cut. We couldnt then use them because they were too close to reality. We ended up cutting that out because it had literally just happened. There were others too. When things from the script kept happening in real life I thought, What is going on here?' Riley explained. That was quite fascinating. But it made me think the writer was a witch of some kind, she added. Press, starring Ben Chaplin, Charlotte Riley and Priyanga Burford, explores the unflinching, fast-paced world and personal lives of the journalists working at two fictional national newspapers. The Herald, clearly based on The Guardian strives for social justice and promotes left-wing ideology, while The Post is an amalgam of The Mirror and The Sun and goes after the salacious and clickbait. Press creator and writer Mike Bartlett (Doctor Foster, Trauma), said he envisions the show as a West Wing for papers and that he strived to portray an accurate version of the turmoil within the British national newspaper industry: The heart of it is getting to know characters in the workplace and then in terms of the news industry it is about increasing change. As the show goes on it is shown as an industry that has been the same for a long time and that now cannot stay the same and has to change, Bartlett said. (BBC Pictures). Indeed both Bartlett and the actors researched national newspapers, with several spending time in the offices of The Daily Mirror and The Guardian. Riley said she now has a newfound respect for journalists, I was quite shocked at how effected and tough the job is and how it effects the journalists life. Its not just the work life they really do take their jobs home. Story continues On a personal level it is quite different now meeting a journalist. Unfortunately for jounralists I am completely intrigued by them! she said. Press starts on BBC One at 9pm Thursday September 6. Read more BBC Ones Bodyguard is biggest TV drama in a decade Five reasons to watch X-rated BBC drama Wanderlust Bodyguard viewers think they know set the bomb off New York (AFP) - An African American woman on Tuesday pulled off an upset victory in a Democratic primary contest against a 10-term entrenched male incumbent in Boston, the latest sign that insurgent US candidates from the left are gaining ground. Ayanna Pressley, 44, won the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives in Massachusetts's seventh district, one of the most left-leaning in America and which includes Harvard University. "It seems like change is on the way," she told her cheering supporters. "Ours was truly a people-power, grass-roots campaign." Pressley has long been identified as a rising star in the Democratic Party. In 2009, she was the first woman of color ever elected to the Boston City Council. She also worked for former senator John Kerry. Michael Capuano, who has represented the district for 20 years, conceded defeat in a primary that few predicted he would lose, armed with an impressive party machinery and top-flight support. "This is life and this is OK. America's going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and I will tell you that Massachusetts will be well served," the 66-year-old said. Winning Tuesday's primary in the safe Democratic seat puts Pressley on course to become the first African American in Massachusetts to be elected to the US House of Representatives. Teeming opposition on the left to US President Donald Trump has fueled primary wins for insurgent, women and minority candidates in Democratic primaries ahead of November's crucial mid-term elections. Some similarities have been drawn between Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the political novice who defeated Democratic Party grandee Joe Crowley in a New York primary in June. But as Capuano and Pressley are both progressives, she campaigned for change and argued that her life experience -- she is a survivor of sexual assault -- would make her the better representative. Body of missing 2-year-old Florida boy found in wooded area, mother charged with murder originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A 2-year-old boy who went missing in Florida has been found dead, authorities said. The body of Jordan Belliveau was found in a wooded area, five days after he was believed to have been kidnapped by a stranger who gave a lift to him and his mother as they were walking at night in the city of Largo, police said. "THE AMBER Alert for Jordan Belliveau has been canceled. Sadly, the child has been found deceased," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said in a tweet. Jordan's mother, Charisse Stinson, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, ABC Affiliate station WFTS reported. Police have not revealed any information about how the boy was killed or what evidence led them to arrest Stinson. PHOTO: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an Amber Alert on Sept. 1, 2018, for Jordan Belliveau, 2, pictured in this undated photo. (The Florida Department of Law Enforcement) For nearly a week, multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Largo Police Department and the FDLE dragged bodies of water, reviewed surveillance footage, deployed canine search teams and interviewed family in the hunt for the child. (MORE: Police release video related to search for 2-year-old boy missing in Florida) The boy's 21-year-old mother said that on Saturday night, after she and Jordan entered the car of the man who was giving them a lift, she had an altercation with the man and he struck her in the face, causing her to lose consciousness, police said. When she woke up early Sunday morning in a wooded area in Largo Central Park, she said she could not locate her son. Jordan was last seen in the car with the unknown man, who the mother said identified himself as "Antwan," officials stated. Police later released a sketch of the man. PHOTO: Members of law Enforcement gather during the search for missing toddler Jordan Belliveau. (Largo Police Department) The mother had told police she did not know the driver, but she entered his car because she felt her son was too heavy to carry all the way home, police said. Police had also spoken to the father of the child, who they said was cooperating with authorities. (MORE: Arrest warrant issued for man in murder of wife, Amber Alert for 2 missing sons) Police on Monday said they had recovered "bloody items" from the apartment where the mother lived with Jordan, although they did not say it was in any way connected to the boy's disappearance. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's intelligence minister said on Wednesday he had no knowledge of close ally U.S. President Donald Trump ever ordering the killing of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. A new book by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, "Fear: Trump in the White House", says Trump told his defense secretary that he wanted to have Assad assassinated in response to a chemical attack on Syrian civilians in April 2017. The book said James Mattis, the defense secretary, told Trump he would "get right on it" but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally. Trump tweeted that quotes attributed to Mattis were "made up frauds, a con on the public". Mattis dismissed the book as "a uniquely Washington brand of literature". "I do not know of any such instruction. He (Trump) is also denying it, by the way," Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM. "In any event, what can be said is that in the framework of the coordination between the United States and Israel ... the subject of the Syrian regime is certainly part of the discussions. Israel did not take a decision to topple Assad." While formally neutral on the 7-year civil war in neighboring Syria, Israel has carried out scores of air strikes against suspected attempts by Assad's Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah allies to set up permanent posts or advanced arms. Under decades of Assad family rule, Syria has maintained a Cold War-style hostility toward Israel. Katz said Israel did not see a better alternative to Assad among Syrian rebel groups. "Of course his (Assad's) actions are terrible actions, and something that we abhor and condemn. Those opposing him, ISIS and others, are not a side that we think are better. We took care to preserve our interests," Katz said. Woodward gained national fame for his reporting on the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, and has since written a number of books that provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of presidential administrations and other Washington institutions. For this book, Woodward spoke to top aides and other insiders with the understanding that he would not reveal how he got his information, said the Washington Post, which published excerpts from the book on Tuesday. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Andrew Heavens) WASHINGTON Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearing got off to a raucous start on Monday, as Democrats immediately objected and asked for a delay over the refusal of the White House to release a trove of documents related to his past tenure in President George W. Bushs administration. More than a dozen times, protesters in the galley shouted as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) attempted to bring the proceedings to order and later to deliver opening remarks. Capitol Police officers escorted the demonstrators out of the room, as the protesters tried to shout that Kavanaughs confirmation would threaten womens rights, LGBT rights, and voting rights, as well as health care and checks on presidential power. Many times, a protester was ejected, and then a new demonstrator would fill the seat. Democrats said that a delay of the hearing was essential because more than 102,000 pages of documents are being withheld from the committee based on White House claims of constitutional privilege. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said there is no valid claim there of executive privilege. What is the rush? What are we trying to hide by not having the documents out front? said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who also noted that there was also a document dump of more than 40,000 pages just on Sunday night. Just on the basic ideals of fairness, the traditions of this body, we should have a thorough understanding of the nominee before us, he said. Grassley refused to allow a vote to delay the hearing. He defended the confirmation process, but at times seemed irritated as Democrats pressed their points. How long do you want this to go on? he asked at one point. He said that all of the senators would get ample time to ask questions and make statements, and that the hearings would extend into the weekend if needed. Story continues Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that the hearing was being based on mob ruleIt is hard to take it seriously when every single one of our colleagues have announced their opposition to this nominee even before the hearing. He also said that Kavanaughs work as staff secretary in the Bush White House would teach us nothing about his legal views. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that Kavanaugh was no ideologue, no extremist who will bring thoughtful reasoning to the court and was well within the judicial mainstream. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that the acrimony is nothing more and nothing less than an attempt by my Democratic colleagues to re-litigate the 2016 election. He said that voters in 2016 made their preferences for judicial appointments clear. In the hour before the hearing, a long line snaked outside the hearing room in the Hart Senate Office building for visitors trying to get a seat, while a group of demonstrators dressed in handmaids costumes akin to those on A Handmaids Tale lined balconies that overlook the buildings atrium. They are demonstrating against the potential for Kavanaugh to be the decision vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade. As the senators argued back and forth, Kavanaugh sat in a witness chair and watched. He is expected to give an opening statement later on Monday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters before the hearing that 93% of the records for Kavanaughs tenure in the White House have not been provided to the Senate and 96% are hidden to the public. Feinstein, the ranking member of the committee, told Kavanaugh that his reasoning is far outside the mainstream of legal thought, citing his view on gun rights and the Second Amendment. Nevertheless, the focus of most of the Democrats was that the hearing was not following regular order compared to past confirmation processes. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Conn.) said to Kavanaugh, You shouldnt even be sitting in front of me today. He also cited the Republicans refusal to meet with Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas nominee for the Supreme Court in 2016. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to take up the nomination because it came during a presidential election year. Leahy, too, was interrupted by protesters, even though he has been critical of Kavanaughs nomination, condemned the outburst. The divisiveness surrounding Kavanaughs nomination was reflected in an ABC News/Washington Post poll showing that he was among the least popular nominees at this point in the confirmation process. Just 38% said that he should be confirmed, while 39% said he should not be, while 23% had no opinion. Kavanaugh, a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, would succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement in June. As Kennedy is regarded as the high courts swing vote, Kavanaughs nomination triggered a summer of protests from civil rights, labor and other groups. Democrats are expected to focus on a host of issues, but also what Kavanaugh has said about presidential authority at a time of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 election, and whether members of President Trumps team colluded with sources linked to Vladimir Putins regime. If you are in that seat because the White House has big expectations that you will protect the president from the due process of law, that should give every senator pause, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R-R.I.) Related stories From Scandal to Politics, TV News Is Feeling the Heat Google Pushes Back on Trump's Claim of Bias in Promotion of State of the Union John McCain, Political Maverick and Hero of Vietnam War, Dies at 81 Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts! Donald Trump's nominee for new US Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, will face a barrage of questions from Democrats at his Senate confirmation hearing this week. If he survives the onslaught unscathed, Mr Kavanaugh, 53, will succeed the liberal-minded Justice Anthony Kennedy, 81, who announced his retirement in June. Considered a stolid conservative, the presidents choice has been criticised by Democrats who fear his appointment would pull the courts political bias to the right, imperilling abortion rights and gay marriage, bolstering support for capital punishment and weakening the influence of regulatory authorities. Mr Kavanaugh, a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is known for drafting the Starr Report in 1998 recommending the impeachment of president Bill Clinton and working on the Florida recount of 2000 as part of George W Bushs campaign team. He was chosen from a shortlist of candidates including federal judges Amy Coney Barrett, Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman. Among the most outspoken critics of his selection was Democratic senator Bob Casey, who tweeted it was outrageous that President Trump will nominate from a list of just 25 dictated to him by the Heritage Foundation, alluding to a conservative think-tank, branding the situation a corrupt bargain between the far right, big corporations and Washington special interests. But what happens next and how is a Supreme Court justice appointed? Article II, section 2 of the US constitution places an obligation on the president to submit a preferred candidate: [The president] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court. The nominee does not need any special qualifications to be considered, not even a law degree or US citizenship. The position is a job for life, intended as such to shield the justices from the need to seek re-election and therefore from the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups bearing the promise of campaign donations. Story continues Once the president has announced the name as Mr Trump did in July, heavily trailing the announcement on Twitter to build suspense it falls to the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider their suitability. The committee, convening from Tuesday 4 September, vets the potential justice, reviewing their professional and personal background and interviewing them on their constitutional views during a hearing that can take a matter of hours or even days. A vote is then held to decide whether the candidate will be rejected or approved. (AP) A famous rejection occurred in 2005 when George W Bushs choice, Texas lawyer Harriet Miers then serving in Washington as his White House special counsel was spurned on the grounds that her written responses to questioning were incomplete to insulting, in the judgement of Democrat Patrick Leahy. She was privately told she had flunked and publicly dismissed as little more than a crony of the Bush family and satirised savagely as such by political cartoonists. If this eventuality occurs, the president is then invited to choose a new nominee and the whole process starts over. Should Judge Kavanaugh be approved, the decision will then fall to the Senate, which will hold its own hearing and vote on his suitability. The Houses decision is final. The Republicans currently have a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, reduced from the 54-45 it held when Mr Trumps first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was elected to replace the late Antonin Scalia in April 2017. This places particular emphasis on two Republicans Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both of whom support a womans right to an abortion and will be seeking assurances that Mr Kavanaugh has no ambition to overturn the Roe v Wade decision establishing abortion rights, in spite of Mr Trumps 2016 pledge that he would be putting pro-life justices on the court. The recent death of Arizona senator John McCain places further pressure on the Republican cause in the face of minority leader Chuck Schumers Democrats presenting a united front opposing Judge Kavanaugh. The latter will be guided through the process by Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, an experienced ex-senator, who will serve as his sherpa through this treacherous terrain. The trek can be a long one. In 1916, it took the Senate 125 days to appoint Kentucky lawyer Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Judge Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearing continues Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing kicked off with chaos Tuesday as Democrats demanded more time to review 42,000 pages of documents from Kavanaughs time working in President George W. Bushs White House. Theirs wasnt the only coordinated dissent in the room protesters also disrupted the proceedings. Read live updates from the second day of the hearing below. (You may need to refresh the page to see the latest updates.): 10:08 p.m. ET More than 12 hours after the second days proceedings began, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been dismissed for the evening. Doha Madani 9:40 p.m. ET Kavanaugh continually refuses to answer questions on Roe v. Wade, but Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) asked whether the judge can think of any laws that allow the government to make a decision about a mans body. Kavanaugh stumbled but eventually said, Im not thinking of any right now, senator. Doha Madani 9:28 p.m. ET Sen. Kamala Harris asked Kavanaugh directly if he had a conversation about special counsel Robert Mullers Russia investigation with anyone working at the law firm founded by President Donald Trumps lawyer Marc Kasowitz. There was a brief pause for the committee to discuss the appropriateness of the question before Harris was allowed to continue her line of questioning. Kavanaugh did not answer, saying he does not know who works at the Kasowitz, Benson Torres law firm. Doha Madani .@senkamalaharris asks if Judge Kavanaugh has discussed Mueller Investigation with anyone at Kasowitz Benson Torres law firm.#Kavanaugh: "I would like to know the person you're thinking of." Sen. Harris: "I think you're thinking of someone and you don't want to tell us." pic.twitter.com/pI2XEHNba9 CSPAN (@cspan) September 6, 2018 8:49 p.m. ET Story continues Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) objected to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) questioning Kavanaugh on an email the judge cannot see. Thats why this system is rigged, Booker responded. Booker argued, again, to release some of the committee confidential records that are being withheld from the public. Doha Madani 8:40 p.m. ET Booker has not relented on Kavanaughs position on racial diversity, profiling and targeted policing. The senator pressed Kavanaugh on his position on voting rights, citing a case from South Carolina in which the judge ruled in favor of a voter identification law despite evidence of the laws discriminating effect. Booker called such laws a modern-day poll tax. We are at a time when states are enacting these laws all over our country designed to disenfranchise voters, as one federal court said about a South Carolina law, targeting them with almost surgical precision to disenfranchise them, Booker said toward the end of his time. And now we dont even have the Voting Rights Act designed to curtail discriminatory laws before they go into effect. Your answers dont provide me comfort. Doha Madani 8:19 p.m. ET Sen. Cory Booker pushed Kavanaugh on whether he shares Justice Antonin Scalias one-race theory, the belief that its never permissible for the government to remediate past discrimination. Booker cited old emails and opinion pieces written by Kavanaugh on the matter and asked what he believed now. Senator, I am following the precedent set by the eight justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court. To put it in the words of Justice Kagan, who was asked some of the same questions, it would be inappropriate to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down, Kavanaugh said. Doha Madani 7:47 p.m. ET There will be a 25-minute break. Kavanaugh is asked to return at 8:05 p.m. to speak with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Doha Madani 6:53 p.m. ET Hirono pushed Kavanaugh on his relationship with federal court judge Alex Kozinski, who has been accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to female clerks and lower-level staff members and showing them pornography on his office computer. Kavanaugh insisted he had no knowledge of the allegations before they were reported publicly. Doha Madani 6:46 p.m. ET Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked Kavanaugh the same two questions shes been asking all of President Donald Trumps nominees for the last seven months: Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct? Kavanaugh said no to both inquiries. Doha Madani 6:39 p.m. ET Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) asked Kavanaugh whether he believes a president should be able to use his authority to pressure agencies for political purposes, citing President Donald Trumps suggestion that the Department of Justice ought to lay off prosecuting Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections. Kavanaugh declined to weigh in, maintaining that it wouldnt be appropriate for a Supreme Court nominee to comment on current events or political controversies. Igor Bobic 6:04 p.m. ET Pressed by Blumenthal, Kavanaugh once again said he followed Supreme Court precedent on parental consent provisions in the Texas case involving an undocumented teenager who sought an abortion last fall. The teen followed state law in the case, obtaining permission from a judge in lieu of parental consent. Kavanaughs opponents say his suggestion that the teen first consult an immigration sponsor before deciding on the abortion was unfair and harmful. Sara Boboltz 6:01 p.m. ET Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked Kavanaugh if he would commit to never overturning Roe v. Wade. Kavanaugh did not answer, citing previous justices who did not answer the question at their hearings. Doha Madani 5:53 p.m. ET Kavanaugh would not say whether he would recuse himself from any Supreme Court cases involving President Donald Trumps criminal or civil liability, citing judicial independence. Sara Boboltz 5:28 p.m. ET Grassley has called a 10-minute break. Kavanaugh is asked to return after five minutes to speak with Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Sara Boboltz 5:04 p.m. ET Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) posed a hypothetical scenario in which a president from the Purple Party was driving a vehicle that struck and killed another person, asking whether the president would be immune from prosecution. No one has ever said a president is immune from civil or criminal process, Kavanaugh replied, saying the key was all about timing. The Justice Department for 45 years has taken the position that the timing of the criminal process should be after the president leaves office, he said, adding: Now, that doesnt include accumulation of evidence. Sara Boboltz 5:02 p.m. ET Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Democrats have only begun to grill Kavanaugh about his views on health care and abortion. Its just gotten started, Wyden told reporters on Wednesday. I can tell you for certain before these hearings are done, Democrats will have dug into in great length the issue of turning back the clock on womens privacy. Igor Bobic 4:21 p.m. ET Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked whether the president could fire at will a prosecutor who is criminally prosecuting him, citing a past opinion of Kavanaughs. I think all I can say, Senator, is that was my view in 1998, the nominee said. Sara Boboltz 4:02 p.m. ET Progressive groups leading the fight against Kavanaugh Demand Justice, MoveOn and NARAL Pro-Choice America are urging Senate Democrats to release all committee confidential records that could potentially show that he lied under oath. During his questioning, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) suggested that Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has deemed some documents committee confidential that show that Kavanaugh received copies of emails stolen from Leahy in 2002 relating to Democrats strategy for processing then-President George W. Bushs judicial nominees. Kavanaugh testified in 2004 and 2006 that he didnt know those emails had been stolen, so evidence suggesting otherwise would mean he committed perjury. But since Grassley has restricted access to those documents to committee members, Leahy wasnt able to ask Kavanaugh specifically about them in his hearing. Chairman Grassley must not shield Judge Kavanaugh from evidence that Kavanaugh perjured himself in previous confirmation hearings reads a joint statement by the three groups. Democratic senators must put an end to this secretive sham. They know that nothing in the Senate Standing Rules or Judiciary Committee Rules grants Grassley sole authority to designate documents Committee Confidential or prohibit their public release. Jennifer Bendery 3:58 p.m. ET Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Kavanaugh and Merrick Garland former President Barack Obamas 2016 Supreme Court nominee who never advanced to hearings were on the same page in the vast majority of decisions both judges participated in on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Hes a judge whos not trying to impose any personal preferences onto his decision but take the law as written, Kavanaugh said of Garland. Sara Boboltz 3:39 p.m. ET Klobuchar also asked for the nominees thoughts on limits to campaign finance contributions by individuals, citing a past Kavanaugh quote: I, for one, tend to think those limits have some constitutional problems. The judge cited two cases in which he upheld campaign contribution limits while serving on the D.C. circuit court and said the Supreme Court generally upholds the limits unless they are too low. Sara Boboltz 3:34 p.m. ET Klobuchar questioned a past dissent of Kavanaughs by seeming to suggest it could threaten vital government agencies, repeatedly naming the Social Security Administration as an example. In his dissent, Kavanaugh wrote that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an unconstitutional body because its led by just one member. Klobuchar said other agencies are structured similarly, but Kavanaugh did not explain what the difference was. Sara Boboltz 3:21 p.m. ET Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) again brought up executive power, reminding Kavanaugh that he once said a president could be prosecuted for a dastardly act. Kavanaugh waffled, saying that he would come to any case with an open mind if it involved a constitutional question. He would not define an impeachable offense. Sara Boboltz 3:05 p.m. ET Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who wrote a book about the Constitution, had a lengthy exchange about Kavanaughs views on the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Lee asked which of the Federalist Papers is the nominees favorite. When Kavanaugh named several, Lee suggested that Spotify should put them into a playlist of greatest hits. Brett Kavanaugh names his seven favorite Federalist Papers: 78 (judicial independence), 69 (presidency not a monarchy), 10 (factions good), 37 + 39 (the meanings of laws change over time), 47 (accumulation of power in one body is tyranny), 51 (the fallibility of men). James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) September 5, 2018 Senators just adjourned for a break. Back in 10 minutes. Marina Fang 2:30 p.m. ET Kavanaugh, asked about The Federalist Society, which has essentially handpicked conservative justices for the Supreme Court, claimed that I am not familiar. Heres more on the groups role in helping Trump reshape federal courts, from HuffPosts Jen Bendery. Marina Fang 2:21 p.m. ET Continuing the theme of his opening statement Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) pressed Kavanaugh on the network of conservative special interests and its heavy influence on the Supreme Court in recent years. Read more on this from HuffPosts Paul Blumenthal. Marina Fang 2:07 p.m. ET Kavanaugh said Wednesday that he couldnt give assurances that he would uphold pre-existing condition requirements under Obamacare as constitutional if the issue arose before him on the Supreme Court in the future. I cant give assurances on a specific hypothetical, he said, arguing that his declining to speak on the matter is consistent with how other nominees have discussed issues they may rule on. Igor Bobic 1:36 p.m. ET Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) used a procedural rule to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to adjourn the Senate for the day in protest of Republicans withholding more than 100,000 pages of documents from Kavanaughs records. On the Senate floor, McConnell asked for consent to waive a rule that prevents committees from meeting for more than two hours after the Senate convenes. The Senate met at noon on Wednesday, which would mean that no committees could meet after 2 p.m. unless McConnell got consent. Schumer objected to granting that consent. Over 90 percent of Judge Kavanaughs record has not been received by the Senate and may never be, Schumer said. The Republican majority is deliberately obstructing the Senates constitutional duty to fairly and thoroughly conduct our advise and consent powers. ... So I object. To get around that rule, McConnell opted to simply end all Senate floor business and adjourn. So Kavanaughs hearing will continue, even as Senate floor business will not. Jennifer Bendery 1:22 p.m. ET Durbin questioned a harsh 2017 dissent Kavanaugh authored that criticized the D.C. circuit courts decision to quickly allow a pregnant, undocumented teenager in Texas access to an abortion. Kavanaugh defended his opinion because a minor was involved and it was proper for her to first consult with an immigration sponsor, which can be a family member or friend. Durbin said Kavanaugh was adding to the requirements of Texas law. Sara Boboltz 1:09 p.m. ET Durbins line of questioning began with an issue that he has long promised to bring up, stemming from Kavanaughs 2006 confirmation hearing for his post on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. At the time, Kavanaugh said he was not involved in the Bush administrations torture program when he worked in the White House. Later reports suggested otherwise, and Durbin argued today that Kavanaugh provided inaccurate and misleading testimony. Kavanaugh just said he stands by his answer. Marina Fang 12:59 p.m. ET Back from the break. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) again brought up the records issue with Grassley. Marina Fang 12:24 p.m. ET After questioning from five senators, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, as promised, announced a lunch break until around 12:45 p.m. ET. Marina Fang 12:21 p.m. ET Addressing Roe v. Wade, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked how Kavanaugh would overturn the notion of judicial precedent in a case, given the judges previous comments on his commitment to the practice. The senator emphasized that there is a process in place to overturn a precedent. The nominee agreed. You listen to all arguments, Kavanaugh said. Sara Boboltz 12:04 p.m. ET Asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) whether presidents have the absolute right to pardon themselves, likely referencing Trump, Kavanaugh called it a hypothetical question that I cant begin to answer. He similarly said earlier that Feinsteins question about whether a sitting president can be required to respond to a subpoena was a hypothetical question. Marina Fang 11:58 a.m. ET Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appeared to give Kavanaugh a chance to respond to critics who say he snubbed Fred Guttenberg, the father of a Parkland shooting victim, on Tuesday. Kavanaugh instead spent several minutes on his charitable habits, including his experience helping the homeless through Catholic organizations. Sara Boboltz 11:50 a.m. ET Asked explicitly by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) whether he knew about the computer hack or whether any information provided to him in the Bush White House was done so inappropriately, Kavanaugh replied, No. Sara Boboltz 11:40 a.m. ET Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) grilled Kavanaugh on what he knew about the Republican staff members who hacked into Democrats computers to monitor strategy memos in 2002 and 2003. The hack became public in 2004, and included Leahys files. Implicated in the scandal was Manny Miranda, an aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Miranda resigned under pressure from Democrats. Leahy surfaced emails involving Kavanaugh and Miranda, asking why Kavanaugh did not question how Miranda was able to send him very private emails from Democrats. The senator suggested the emails may contradict a prior statement from Kavanaugh in which he denied any prior knowledge of the hack, and argued that more documents from Kavanaughs time in the Bush White House should be released to the committee. Sara Boboltz 11:08 a.m. ET When Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Kavanaugh for his views on diversity in legal circles, he noted that most of the nominees clerks have been women. Kavanaugh said he believes in equality and has been very aggressive about hiring the best, and understanding that the best include women. Sara Boboltz 11:01 a.m. ET Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Kavanaugh about his former boss, Judge Alex Kozinski, who was accused of sexual harassment by at least 15 women, including former law clerks and staffers. Kavanaugh said he had no prior knowledge of the allegations, calling them a gut punch. I was shocked and disappointed and angry, he said. No women should be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace. Expect this topic to come up again later, as Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) plans to ask Kavanaugh about sexual harassment, a topic she has brought up with many other Trump administration nominees. Marina Fang 10:59 a.m. ET The hearing room was a bit quieter this morning as members of the public were kept out for over 30 minutes. Its not clear what happened, but seats for the public were left open, and people were unable to get in. But around 10:45 a.m., tickets were given to people standing in line once again and they were allowed in 23 people at a time. So the block was just temporary. Amanda Terkel 10:52 a.m. ET Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) voiced her concern over Kavanaughs stance on gun rights, citing a dissent in which he argued that a ban on semi-automatic rifles violated the Second Amendment, according to the argument laid out in a 2008 Supreme Court decision, because those weapons are not so different from semi-automatic handguns, which the opinion said were generally protected. At the hearing, Kavanaugh defended his opinion and disagreed with Feinsteins assessment that the weapons are not in common use. Asked how he reconcile[s] his words with the hundreds of school shootings that have taken place with assault weapons in recent years, Kavanaugh acknowledged that violence in schools is something we all detest. But he added, My job, as I saw it, was to follow the Second Amendment opinion of the Supreme Court whether or not I agreed with it. Sara Boboltz 10:49 a.m. ET Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) tried to find out more about the nominees feelings on executive powers. Feinstein: Can a sitting president be required to respond to a subpoena? Kavanaugh: I cant give you an answer on that hypothetical question." Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) September 5, 2018 Igor Bobic 10:42 a.m. ET If things get too out of hand at Kavanaugh's hearing, don't worry, his stunt double is sitting right behind him: pic.twitter.com/1TIKLaynXD waitwait (@waitwait) September 5, 2018 His stunt double would be Don McGahn, President Donald Trumps outgoing White House counsel. McGahn has played a key role in helping cement Trumps judicial legacy, leading White House efforts for the nominations of both Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch, as well as scores of other lower-court judges. Marina Fang 10:41 a.m. ET PBSs Lisa Desjardins said seats available to the public for Kavanaughs hearing were empty early in the day on Wednesday, despite there being a line outside the hearing for people waiting to get in. NOW: Police and staff are keeping all seats for the public empty. No more public inside. There is a line outside, unclear if this is temporary. This is why you hear no more protests. pic.twitter.com/ZMOzwvUYU7 Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) September 5, 2018 Paige Lavender 10:40 a.m. ET Kavanaugh called Roe v. Wade, the landmark reproductive rights Supreme Court opinion, an important precedent that has been reaffirmed many times, including in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case. Casey reaffirmed it and became a precedent on precedent, Kavanaugh said. Responding to a comment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) about not wanting to go back to a time when abortion is outlawed, Kavanaugh said, I dont live in a bubble. I live in the real world. When Feinstein asked whether he believed a woman had a right to choose an abortion, Kavanaugh reiterated again that Roe is an important precedent of the Supreme Court. Igor Bobic 10:05 a.m. ET Kavanaugh repeatedly stressed Wednesday that he views U.S. v. Nixon, the landmark Supreme Court opinion that ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over White House recordings toward the end of the Watergate investigation, as one of the best examples of judicial independence. On the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Kavanaugh called the opinion one of the greatest moments in judicial history. During a roundtable discussion with other lawyers in 1999, however, Kavanaugh said, maybe Nixon was wrongly decided heresy though it is to say so. At the time, Kavanaugh said the opinion took away the power of the president to control information in the executive branch by holding that the courts had power and jurisdiction to order the president to disclose information in response to a subpoena sought by a subordinate executive branch official. Igor Bobic 10 a.m. ET Its going to be a long day. Heres the schedule for Day Two of Kavanaughs hearing, via CNN. 9:30 a.m.-noon: Questioning 12 p.m.-12:15 p.m.: Break 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m.: Questioning 1:15 p.m.-1:45 p.m.: Lunch 1:45 p.m.-3:45 p.m.: Questioning 3:45 p.m.-4 p.m.: Break 4 p.m.-6:15 p.m.: Questioning 6:15 p.m.-6:45 p.m.: Dinner 6:45 p.m.-9 p.m.: Questioning Jennifer Bendery 9:57 a.m. ET Grassley asked whether Kavanaugh would have a problem ruling against the president who nominated him, a common concern among Democrats. No one is above the law in our constitutional system, Kavanaugh said. No matter where you come from, no matter how rich you are, how poor you are, no matter your race, gender, your position in life its all equal justice under law. He praised a 1952 decision by the court to rule against then-President Harry Truman for seizing steel mills and emphasized the importance of resisting public pressure. Sara Boboltz 9:50 a.m. ET I want the losing party in every case to come out and say, Kavanaugh gave me a fair shake, the nominee replied when asked what makes a good Supreme Court justice. Sara Boboltz 9:44 a.m. ET Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted her opposition to Kavanaugh on Wednesday morning, arguing he would of course work to gut or overturn Roe v. Wade. If Brett Kavanaugh becomes a Supreme Court justice, will he help gut or overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in America? Yes, of course he will. Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 5, 2018 She previously warned of Kavanaughs potential impact on health care access. A post shared by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Sep 4, 2018 at 6:33am PDT Paige Lavender & Sara Boboltz 9:43 a.m. ET Grassley explained todays format: 30 minutes of questioning from each senator, with a 30-minute lunch break around 12:15. After five senators have completed their rounds of questioning. Kavanaugh can request other breaks, if needed. Marina Fang 9:40 a.m. ET Kavanaughs two daughters, Margaret, 13, and Liza, 10, did not join their parents for the start of the second day of the confirmation hearing. The girls left early in the first day of the hearing amid continued protests. Sara Boboltz 9:39 a.m. ET And were off to the races. Protesters just interrupted the opening minutes of Day Two, just as Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) brought up the arrests from Tuesday. Marina Fang 8:16 a.m. ET HuffPosts Jen Bendery noted on Twitter that the two senators who could decide Kavanaughs fate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have both voted to confirm all of President Donald Trumps other anti-abortion judges. So Kavanaugh's confirmation is gonna come down to two GOP senators, Collins and Murkowski, and a handful of red-state Dems. A reminder that Collins and Murkowski have voted to confirm ALL of Trump's other anti-abortion lifetime judges. https://t.co/mBnJI4cb5r Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 4, 2018 Paige Lavender Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trumps latest nominee for the Supreme Court, turned his back and walked away as the father of a Parkland school shooting victim extended a hand for him to shake during his confirmation hearing. Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in the February 2018 attack, approached Mr Kavanaugh after the latter rose from the witness table for a break on Tuesday. He extended his hand to Mr Kavanaugh, who paused for a moment, but failed to accept it before turning away as a security guard stepped in. Mr Guttenberg later tweeted: Just walked up to Judge Kavanaugh as morning session ended. Put out my hand to introduce myself as Jaime Guttenbergs dad. He pulled his hand back, turned his back to me and walked away. I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence. To be clear, I was invited by Senator Feinstein to attend today. Anyone who knows me knows I will talk to anyone. I initiated an effort to introduce myself to Kavanaugh. It was my decision and I own it. Anyone trying to come up with some political master plan is simply wrong. YES, I DO NOT SUPPORT KAVANAUGH. It is true. I won't support anyone who does not support gun safety. That said, I went up to him as a dad with the hope that he might actually ask why and the hope that we could discuss it. White House spokesman Raj Shah said security officials intervened before Mr Kavanaugh was able to shake the hand of the unidentified individual. He shared a video clip of the moment, saying it showed that as the judge was leaving and had already turned away and begun walking, security intervened and ushered the judge away. Mr Guttenberg pushed back on Twitter, saying: Incorrect. I was here all day and introduced by Senator Feinstein. No security involved. He turned and walked away. Video footage of the incident shows Mr Guttenberg approaching Mr Kavanaugh and extending his hand. The nominee considers it and listens to Mr Guttenberg, before turning away, accompanied by a man wearing an orange tie and an earpiece. Story continues Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal tweeted later that Mr Guttenberg deserves better than a cold shoulder. After the encounter, Capitol Police talked with Mr Guttenberg. He was seen sitting in the hearing room for the afternoon session. The 14 February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida left 17 people dead. Students later organised widespread gun control protests that included classroom walkouts and marches in cities across the US. A survivor of the shooting was among the witnesses due to testify at Mr Kavanaughs confirmation hearing. California senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, had previously raised concerns about the nominees legal approach to the second amendment. He dissented in a key District of Columbia case prohibiting assault weapons. Additional reporting by agencies Montreal (AFP) - On the eve of the resumption of talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a dilemma. He can either push back against US demands and risk being cut out of a continental trade deal, or give in and be accused by opposition parties of capitulating to Donald Trump. "Trump's NAFTA threat leaves Trudeau locked in high-stakes game of poker," the Toronto Star headlined over the weekend. With 13 months before the next general election, Trudeau has some "wiggle room" in the negotiations, University of Ottawa professor Patrick Leblond told AFP. The Americans and Mexicans are in a hurry to sign a deal before US midterm elections in November and the transfer of power to Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador the following month. But for Canada there is no urgency, Leblond said. "The real question is whether or not we will accept an agreement that is worse than the one we have now, and have to live with it for the next 20 or 30 years," he added. The last main obstacle to a trilateral deal is a dispute resolution mechanism from the 1994 pact that Canada insists on keeping and the United States wants nixed. "There's political consensus in Canada to keep the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism, and if the government goes back on its position it will be bad for Mr. Trudeau and his government," said Antonia Maioni, a political scientist at McGill University in Montreal. "It's a big risk for Mr. Trudeau and for the country's economy," she told AFP. - 'It's rhetoric' - Trudeau suffered a major setback last week when a court blocked a project to build a pipeline to the Pacific that his administration has said was in the national interest. His Liberal party remains ahead of the opposition Conservatives and New Democrats, according to the latest polling. But his woes were compounded by uncertainty over NAFTA after the United States concluded separate negotiations with Mexico. Story continues Canada rejoined the talks with the aim of reaching a three-way pact, but Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland abruptly ended the last round of talks on Friday with no deal, after derogatory remarks by Trump about Canada were leaked. Trump boasted about taking a hard line with Canada at the negotiating table, and has since threatened to cut America's northern neighbor out of a deal if it didn't cave to his demands. Talks are scheduled to resume on Wednesday. "Yes, Mr. Trump is going to say the worst things possible about Canada -- even yesterday, he announced that the rest of the world is profiting from the United States -- but that's rhetoric and we should not be too worried about it," said Leblond. "You have to be careful about what he says and what he's actually doing." If Trump follows through and excludes Canada from NAFTA 2.0, it would raise concerns in Canada, whose economy is heavily reliant on trade with its neighbor. Canada and the United States last year traded US$673 billion in goods and services or US$1.3 million per minute, according to US official data. More than two-thirds of Canadian exports go to the United States, equivalent to 20 percent of its GDP, while Canada is the largest export market for the United States. Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, an outspoken former journalist, is a combative negotiator with a clear goal: to use good relations with Washington to successfully negotiate a new North American Free Trade deal. It hasn't always gone so well -- with US President Donald Trump threatening to cut America's northern neighbor out of the deal if it doesn't cave to his demands. But Freeland has persisted, cutting short a European tour last week to fly to Washington to resume talks aimed at salvaging NAFTA as a three-nation pact with the United States, Mexico and Canada. "We are looking forward to constructive conversations today," she told reporters as she headed into Wednesday's negotiations with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Throughout the talks, the Canadian minister has made a point of briefing journalists camped outside the Washington government offices where the talks are happening. She even handed out lime and raspberry-lemon-strawberry popsicles to reporters on one sweltering, late summer day. Always smiling and stoic, the 50-year-old has become the de facto face of efforts to update the 1994 pact as her counterparts shied away from the limelight. But she hasn't share any details of the closed-door talks -- saying she won't negotiate through the media, while taking pains not to antagonize Trump. She recently brushed off the US president's cutting remarks about Canada, emphasizing that it was Lighthizer, not Trump, at the negotiating table. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Freeland was a working journalist for much of her professional life. She worked for the Financial Times of London, Canada's daily Globe and Mail and the Reuters news agency before jumping into politics. Of Ukrainian descent, she is fluent in Slavic, in addition to English, French, Italian and Russian. She covered the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, before moving to New York to report on American finances. Story continues - 'Surrounded by politics' - Trudeau and his team spent months trying to persuade her to enter politics before she finally took the plunge in 2013, running for a seat in Toronto vacated by former Liberal leader Bob Rae. Insiders say she and Trudeau share a global outlook, described in her best-selling 2012 book "Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else." When the Liberals took office in 2015, Freeland was appointed trade minister, and steered free trade talks with the European Union to a succesful conclusion, raising her profile. Her parents were both lawyers who had run unsuccessfully for seats in the Alberta legislature. "I remember being surrounded by politics from the moment I was born," she told the Toronto Star in 2015. In a cabinet shuffle two years later, the mother of three and wife of a New York Times journalist replaced Stephane Dion as foreign minister and was tasked with heading the NAFTA negotiations. She is "an extremely strong member of the team," Trudeau's office told AFP, adding that it "made sense" to task her with overseeing Canada's most important relationship, with the United States. Her outspokenness has endeared her to Canadians, but it has sometimes come at a cost. Her defense of women's rights in Saudi Arabia last month triggered a diplomatic row with the kingdom. Her sharp criticism of Russia's annexation of Crimea got her banned from travel to Russia -- an unusual sanction for a G7 foreign minister. "Love Russ lang/culture, loved my yrs in Moscow; but it's an honour to be on Putin's sanction list," she responded on Twitter. Her political future now hinges on the outcome of the NAFTA negotiations, according to political analysts. "If Canada wins, she'll reap the benefits, but if it fails, she will be blamed," former Dion advisor Jocelyn Coulon wrote in her book, "A selfie with Justin Trudeau." Legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein has called on White House Chief of Staff John kelly to resign from his position and testify to Congress about what he has seen during the Trump presidency. Mr Bernstein called on Mr Kelly to do so after excerpts from a book written by his former reporting partner, Bob Woodward, were . That book details allegedly White House in chaos, with senior officials working to curb some of Mr Trump's more dangerous behaviour. I want to say one thing about General Kelly, Mr Bernstein said during an appearance on CNN. It would seem to me that General Kelly, in the interest of country, needs to resign. Mr Bernsteins statement surprised host Brooke Baldwin, who countered: Really? Video: Bob Woodwards Fear Details Turmoil at Trump White House For more news videos visit Yahoo View. The veteran journalist continued: And with a statement that says, The presidency can no longer be entrusted to this man. I will be happy to appear before committees of Congress, whether in executive session or whether in open session and tell them what I have seen about this president of the United States and whether or not he is competent and able to lead the United States. Mr Woodwards book includes references to several White House officials who appear uncomfortable with Mr Trumps abilities as president, including Mr Kelly. A report on the book released on Tuesday indicates that Mr Kelly often loses his temper, and has called Mr Trump unhinged, and said that the president was an idiot. Its pointless to try to convince him of anything. Hes gone off the rails. Were in Crazytown. I dont even know why any of us are here, Mr Kelly said, according Mr Woodwards book. This is the worst job Ive ever had. In a statement provided to reporters, Mr Kelly denied having called the president an idiot. Story continues The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true. As I stated back in May and still firmly stand behind: I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS. I'm committed to the President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administrations many successes, the statement read. Mr Bernstein and Mr Woodward are celebrated Washington journalists, who are largely responsible for the reporting that broke the Watergate scandal that began with a break-in at the Democratic headquarters and led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon By Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton HARBIN, China (Reuters) - China will almost entirely replace its soybean imports from the United States with Brazilian beans and other origins in the upcoming season, but may run out of the oilseed in early 2019, said an executive with a top crusher on Tuesday. The forecast was one of the most bearish yet on the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war for American farmers. The world's top buyer of soybeans bought about 60 percent of U.S. soybean exports last year, but has been mostly out of the market since Beijing imposed a 25 percent tariff on U.S. beans on July 6 in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Imports from the United States will plunge further in the 2018/19 season starting this month to just 700,000 tonnes, said Guo Yanchao, deputy chairman of Jiusan Group. That compares with 27.85 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans imported in the prior year. Overall, China's imports of soybeans for the year will drop to 84.67 million tonnes, down 10.79 million tonnes from last year's purchases, Guo told an industry conference. That would include 71.06 million tonnes from Brazil, 7.5 million from Argentina, and the rest from Canada, Russia and other countries, he said. Guo's comments echo those of a top executive at another major crusher, who said last week that China's imports could tumble to 86 million tonnes. Still, Guo expected stocks of imported beans at ports to drop to historical lows by November, pushing soymeal prices "very high" and hurting demand for the ingredient in the first quarter of 2019. Supplies could run out by February or March next year, he warned, when Brazilian beans will be limited. At that time, some private companies could take the risk and buy beans from the United States, he said. China is also expected to increase imports of alternative meals and boost domestic crushing volume to 3.4 million tonnes, while selling 1.6 million tonnes from state reserves. (Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Tom Hogue) Sebastien Roblin Security, Asia The dragon vs. the eagle would be a war for the ages. China vs. America: Who Wins a Deadly War in Asia? China and the United States will likely remain fixated on each other as potential military competitors for decades to comebut if relations are prudently managed, they wont have to become actual adversaries in a war. The two countries respective capabilities, however, will play a role in how their global influence is perceived. Two superpowers eye each other uneasily across the Pacificone well established after decades of Cold War conflict, the other a rising power eager to reclaim regional hegemony. Fortunately, despite profoundly different political systems, China and the United States are not as intrinsically hostile to each other as were the West and the Soviet Unionin fact, they have a high degree of economic interdependence. Still, history shows that there is often a risk of war when a rising power challenges the ascendancy of an existing one. Beijing and Washington have profoundthough fortunately not comprehensivedisagreements on matters of global governance. They also have reasons to mistrust each other. Fortunately, there are historical examples of rival superpowers coexisting mostly peacefully for long periods of time. For example, see the century in between the defeat of Napoleon and World War I, during which there was no European-wide war. (This first appeared several months ago.) Still, the balance of power between nations will likely play a role alongside diplomacya fleet that is never used in war may still prevent one, for example, by deterring possible opponents. China today has the largest military on the planet, with two million active personnel in the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). However, China only spends slightly over one-third as much as the United States, accounting for thirteen percent of annual global military spending in 2017, compared to thirty-five percent by the United States according to SIPRI. Story continues Yet, the Chinese government is aware that the large size of its forces in part reflects an antiquated mid-twentieth century force structure emphasizing massive, low-quality ground armies. Starting in 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinpingwho seems set to remain in power indefinitelyannounced a major reform initiative to radically downsize PLA ground forces to improve their quality. PLA ground and air forces still exhibit a wide range of quality, fielding both early Cold War systems and cutting-edge variants. For example, the PLA musters 8,000 tanksbut 3,000 are 1950s-era Type 59 and Type 63 tanks. At the same time, the PLA also fields 500 Type 99 tanks which are in a similar ballpark to the very capable U.S. M1 Abrams. The PLA Air Force also has a similar issue. For instance, of its 1,700 aircraft, roughly a third are dated J-7 fighters, while another fourth include modern fourth-generation J-10s and J-11s comparable to U.S. F-15s and F-16s and even a few fifth-generation stealth fighters. By contrast, the U.S. military operates over two-thousand fourth-generation combat jets, increasingly being supplemented by fifth-generation stealth designs. These newer U.S. planes theoretically enjoy a massive edge in long-range aerial combat and in penetrating enemy airspace. America's massive military spending reflects its technology-oriented approach to warfare, a paradigm which seeks to send a drone or guided missile in place of a man (or woman) whenever possibleespecially as every friendly casualty may result in a political firestorm. Therefore, the Pentagon prefers to develop comprehensive intelligence and communication capabilities to direct a few weapons systems with a high degree of precision. This in contrast to fielding a larger, and cheaper, number of platforms which was typical in the past such as World War II. This paradigm favors networked warfare', in which various weapons systems exchange sensor data. A ship, for example, may detect an attacking jet and pass the targeting data to a nearby fighter which can then use the telemetry to launch a missile without exposing itself by turning on its radaror vice versa. Recommended: Air War: Stealth F-22 Raptor vs. F-14 Tomcat (That Iran Still Flies) Recommended: A New Report Reveals Why There Won't Be Any 'New' F-22 Raptors Recommended: How an Old F-15 Might Kill Russias New Stealth Fighter China is also an enthusiastic adopter of this doctrine and has arguably made greater strides in developing armed drones and advancing networking capabilities than Russia or various European countries. On the one hand, Chinese industry still lags notably behind in the development of technologies such as jet engines and suffers quality control issues. However, on the other, it is relatively strong in the realm of electronics and is happy to copy both Western and Russian technologies. Furthermore, Chinese hackers have also proven reasonably adept at hacking into foreign computer systems and perpetrating industrial espionage, but Beijing has at least so far refrained from election-manipulation tactics practiced by its neighbor Russia. Posture for Intervention Abroad and Defense At Home Operationally, the PLA and U.S. military have very different needs. The U.S. is geographically isolated from its foes and instead depends on a massive network of overseas bases on six continents to engage or contain adversaries. This requires globe-spanning logistical capabilities including hundreds of transport planes, aerial refueling tankers to keep jet fighters and transports aloft, and amphibious transports and carriers to convey Marine units. Just as importantly, strong diplomatic alliances are necessary to maintain those overseas bases and keep them supplied with fuel, personnel and munitions. For example, U.S. operations in Asia are heavily dependent on alliances with South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and more recently, India. Several of these Asian countries, as well as western and central Europe, also rely upon U.S. military forces to meet their security needs. China is only beginning to acquire such logistics and is situated in a very crowded neighborhood surrounded by potential military competitors such as India, Russia and Japan. (Personally, this author does not believe contemporary Japan will become an aggressive military power anytime soon, but the Chinese don't see it that way due to their bitter memories of Japanese invasion.) Additionally, Beijing has only a few military alliances with Pakistan, North Korea, and a few southeast Asian nations. But, China is slowly developing multi-national institutions such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its aspirational Silk Road project in hopes of fostering stronger ties. However, China still retains tense relations with India, a country with a comparably huge population but only one-quarter of the gross domestic product, from which China seized Himalayan territory in a brief 1962 war. Moreover, Beijing has built up its forces and road network on its border with India, and also constructed a series of bases in nearby countries to envelop' India. China is also expanding its capacities for longer-range expeditionary operations befitting its status a superpowerparticularly in Africa, where Chinese companies maintain a dominant and ever-growing presence. Beijing's non-interference and no-questions-asked approach to human rights and corruption issues have won it many friendly governments on the African continent. For example, Chinese troops have deployed as peacekeepers in Mali, where they have seen some action, and recently opened a naval base in Djiboutijust seven miles across from a long-established American base there. The PLA and Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have also concentrated on training a Special Forces and Marine branch suitable for more expeditionary operations. Despite all of this, the United States military still has vastly more recent combat experience, particularly in joint operations coordinating multiple services. The PLAs last major armed conflict was a not very successful punitive invasion of Vietnam in 1979. Today, the PLA is only beginning to implement a more joint-operations oriented doctrine while struggling to overcome the traditional parochialism of the military hierarchy, which occupies a prestigious place in its society. Nuclear Doctrine The United States maintains more than twenty times the number of nuclear warheads that China does (1,350 compared to 45 deployed and 4,000 compared to 270 when including stockpiles, according to the Arms Control Association). This reflects Washington's more aggressive nuclear posture, which holds that the U.S. has the right to launch a nuclear first strike in a conflict, even if it has only been attacked with conventional weapons. (Moscow has a similar stance, claiming it may use tactical nuclear weapons to de-escalate' a conventional war.) China, by contrast, has a defensive nuclear doctrine claiming it will only employ nukes if attacked with them first. While some might scoff at the distinctionafter all, doctrine does not prevent a country from launching a first strike if it wants tothe reality is that offensive and defensive nuclear warfare involve different force structures. The United States has a massive arsenal in a nuclear triad'. This is made up of ballistic missile submarines (which are basically so hard to hunt there is no way to stop them all); nuclear bombers (useful for signaling to an opponent the possibility of a nuclear attack, or for hitting mobile targets); and ground-based missile silos (the least flexible of the three, but these allow more targets to be hit and force an enemy to devote resources to attack them). Such an arsenal is capable of launching a broader assault designed to disable an opponent's military capability to retaliate and therefore more easily includes the option of a first strike. In contrast, China holds a no-first-use doctrine because it maintains only nuclear ballistic missiles and a few ballistic missile submarinesthough it may one day re-introduce a nuclear bomber component. China's smaller arsenal is also inadequate to deliver a knock-out first strike but is instead a deterrence-oriented counter-value' force threatening nuclear annihilation of an adversary's largest cities were China to come under attack. Beijing has become nervous, in recent years, by the expansion of U.S. ballistic missile defense capabilities, which may eventually prompt a move to enlarge the arsenal. Staring Contest over the Pacific It is at sea that the United States and China are most openly in competition. Today, U.S. warships regularly operate off of Chinese littoral water, but not vice versa. As maritime invasions dealt China crippling and humiliating blows in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Beijing places great importance on pushing the U.S. Navy away from its belt of bases it calls the first island chain', and preferably even further to the second or third (which includes Hawaii). International waters are generally defined as being twelve nautical miles from a country' shoreline. But, Beijing claims vast swathes of the South China Sea as its exclusive preserve, even if those waters are hundreds of miles distant from mainland China and directly adjected to other Asian countries. In recent years, Beijing has taken to creating artificial islands and deploying military bases on them to reinforce its claims, as well as harassing ships and aircraft passing through the South China Sea. It utilizes a vast naval militia of sorts, including hundreds of nominally civilian boats and vessels, to advance Chinese foreign policy and control. For its part, the U.S. Navy has continued to dispatch destroyers and cruisers on Freedom of Navigation patrols to maintain a presence in these international waters. More importantly, it has a network of bases in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Singapore, as well as on islands such as Guam and Hawaii, which would be hard to dislodge it fromunless alliances with those countries are allowed to fray. However, China has built up a sufficient arsenal of ground-based ballistic missiles, warplanes, and naval assets that arguably it has won military superiority in its littoral waterssomething which was not the case a few decades ago. Also, the conventional missile force could pose a significant threat both to crucial U.S. airbases and even carriers at hundreds of miles away at sea. On the other hand, China is only beginning to catch up with United States's unique fleet of eleven nuclear-powered supercarriers, each of which carries dozens of Super Hornet and Growler fighters and, eventually, F-35B stealth jets. Each carrier is furthermore protected by a task force of escorting warships boasting networked radars, submarine-detecting sonars, and missile defenses. Currently, China has two lower-capability ski-jump style carriers in service carrying smaller wings of J-15 fighters. But China plans on building two larger carriers with superior catapult-assisted takeoff, and eventually two nuclear supercarriers with newer electromagnetic catapults. It also is building up a fleet of both small and large surface combatants armed with very long-range anti-ship missilesthough the doctrine and sensors to pull off such long-range attacks may still be in development. The U.S. and Chinese Navies also have very different submarine fleets. The U.S. Navy has to operate across vast distances and has built up a force of forty to fifty attack submarines, and eighteen Ohio-class ballistic and cruise-missile subs, that can remain underwater nigh indefinitely due to nuclear propulsion. China has in service only slightly over a dozen nuclear-powered submarines, but seventy much cheaper diesel, or quieter AIP-powered submarines, which are suitable for short-range operations off of Chinas coast. Though noisier than U.S or Russian submarines, the numerous Chinese diesel and AIP submarines could still be quite effective in an anti-ship role. China and the United States will likely remain fixated on each other as potential military competitors for decades to comebut if relations are prudently managed, they wont have to become actual adversaries in a war. The two countries respective capabilities, however, will play a role in how their global influence is perceived. Sebastien Roblin holds a Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. Read full article Police surround the Mermaid Traditional Fish Bar, which is owned by Andy Star, where they found a laboratory above the shop. (Counter Terrorism Policing North East/PA Wire) Two men who allegedly plotted a terror attack from above a chip shop planned to place a bomb inside a driverless car, a court heard. Andy Star, 32, owner of the Mermaid Traditional Fish Bar in Chesterfield, and Farhad Salah, 23, were hoping to harm infidels using the weapon, which could be placed inside the vehicle, prosecutors have said. Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court heard that the younger of the two defendants had told a contact that the vehicle could be controlled by a laptop. Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC told jurors: They intended to manufacture a device which would be placed in a vehicle but controlled remotely so that they did not have to martyr themselves in the process. Andy Star, 32, (r) who is accused at Sheffield Crown Court of working with Farhad Salah, 23, (l) to attempt to build a remotely-controlled bomb. (Counter Terrorism Policing North East/PA Wire) Describing the two defendants as supporters of Islamic State, she said their intentions were sophisticated and lethal, adding that there was evidence to suggest they had been testing from a very low level how to make and ignite explosives. Jurors were told that the pair shared instructional videos with one another, with the prosecutor saying that Salah believed he and Star had mastered the art of an explosive reaction. Days before his arrest, Salah is said to have told a contact: We have made invention in the field of explosion we have produced substance, if you put it in any explosive it triples the power and also controlling vehicle with laptop and without a driver. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation Following their arrests on 19 December, both defendants denied any involvement in terrorism. Star supposedly said he was not a supporter of Islamic State, while Salah told officers he was not a threat and that his Facebook account, which prosecutors said was evidence of his affiliation to Islamic State, had been hacked. The prosecution will resume its case on Monday morning. Paris (AFP) - Ambitious action on climate change could contribute an extra $26 trillion to the world economy by 2030, international experts said on Wednesday, urging nations and businesses to step up their engagement. The economic benefits offered by a shift to a low-carbon economy have been "grossly" underestimated, according to the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, a think tank grouping former heads of government and top economic and business leaders. "Bold action could yield a direct economic gain of $26 trillion through to 2030 compared with business-as-usual. And this is likely to be a conservative estimate," the commission's annual report found. Dynamic action on climate could also generate "over 65 million new low-carbon jobs" by 2030 and avoid over 700,000 premature deaths due to air pollution, it said. But policymakers were "not taking sufficiently bold action to escape the legacy economic systems," the study found, warning that the window for change was narrow. "We are at a unique 'use it or lose it' moment. Policymakers should take their foot off the brakes and send a clear signal that the new growth is here," said the commission's co-chair Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's former finance minister. "There are real benefits to be seen in terms of new jobs, economic savings, competitiveness and market opportunities, and improved wellbeing for people worldwide." Such growth would be driven by the interaction between rapid technological innovation, increased resource productivity and investment in sustainable infrastructure, which is expected to reach $90 trillion by 2030, it said. - Bold action needed - The shift would involve change in five key areas: the development of clean energy systems, improved urban planning, a shift towards more sustainable agriculture, smart water management and decarbonising industry. "Seizing the economic benefits of low-carbon and resilient growth will only be possible if we act boldly over the next two to three years," it said, flagging it as a "critical window" when many of policy and investment decisions will be taken which will shape the coming decade and beyond. Story continues Urging economic decision-makers to move beyond generic proposals or statements, it called on governments to put a price on carbon of at least $40-80 by 2020, and to move towards mandatory climate risk disclosure for major investors and companies. It also pushed for a much greater emphasis on investment in sustainable infrastructure, with better-designed cities, buildings, transport, energy and water systems as well as investment in forests and wetlands that purify water and offer valuable flood control. To this end, development bodies and banks should double their collective investment in infrastructure, aiming to invest at least $100 billion per year by 2020, it said. By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal judge overseeing the second trial of Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chairman, ruled on Wednesday that a federal investigation of possible collusion between the campaign and Russia cannot be discussed during the trial. The collusion investigation being led by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is "wholly irrelevant to the charges in this case," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said during a pre-trial hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Manafort was convicted last month in Virginia of charges including bank and tax fraud in what was the first trial arising from Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election. Jackson said on Wednesday that while prosecutors may present evidence used in that trial, the jury will not be allowed to hear about Manafort's conviction. She also said she plans to deny a request by Manafort's defense attorneys to move the trial to different court, saying that a concern about the political affiliations of the jury pool in Washington, D.C., is "not a lawful basis" for a venue transfer. During the trial, which begins with jury selection on Sept. 17 and opening arguments Sept. 24, Manafort will face seven counts, including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States, failing to register as a foreign agent for the pro-Russia Ukrainian government, making false statements and witness tampering. Manafort, a long-time Washington lobbyist who was with Trump's campaign from March through August in 2016, was convicted on Aug. 21 on eight counts in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, related to bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The jury deadlocked on 10 other charges and prosecutors have not yet announced if they will seek to retry him. The decision by Jackson to exclude testimony about the Russia collusion investigation is not a surprise. None of the charges are related to alleged collusion and Judge T.S. Ellis made a similar ruling ahead of the Virginia trial as part of an effort to keep politics out of it. Discussion of Manafort's role in the Trump campaign will come up only in connection with alleged false statements he made about his foreign lobbying activities after critical media reports surfaced during the end of his stint as campaign chairman, prosecutors said Wednesday. Prosecutors also indicated they do not yet know whether they plan to call as a witness Manafort's former business partner Rick Gates, who has pleaded guilty in the Muller probe. In the first trial Gates testified he helped Manafort doctor financial statements, hide foreign income and cheat on his taxes. The jury decided to disregard his testimony and focus on the documentary evidence, a juror said. Manafort's lawyers revealed they are working to retain an expert witness who may testify at trial. They did not call witnesses in his first trial. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Bill Trott) BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Marxist ELN rebels have released three soldiers held hostage for nearly a month, the country's human rights ombudsman said on Wednesday, as new right-wing President Ivan Duque evaluates whether to continue peace talks with the insurgents. Duque has said the National Liberation Army (ELN) must free 19 hostages before he will resume dialogue. He said during his Aug. 7 inauguration he would evaluate the talks, which began with his predecessor Juan Manuel Santos government in February 2017, over his first 30 days. The last round of the talks, which have been held in Cuba, ended on Aug. 1. The rebel group is believed to be holding six more members of the security forces in Choco province as well as 10 civilians. "The soldiers Orlando Yair Vega Diaz, Juan Pablo Rojas Ovando and Eduardo Caro Banol, in the power of illegal group the ELN since August 8, 2018, were handed over to a humanitarian commission comprised of the ombudsman and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, the ombudsman said on Twitter. The soldiers had been held in eastern Arauca province, near the border with Venezuela. The ELN, founded by radical Catholic priests, is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. It has waged a five-decade war against the government, engaging in bombings, kidnappings, extortion and sabotage of oil pipelines. During a ceasefire from September 2017 to January 2018, the ELN suspended hostage-taking, attacks on oil installations, the use of landmines and the recruitment of minors. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Tom Brown) Donald Trump has predictably hit out at an explosive tell-all book about his time in the White House written by a reporter who exposed the Watergate scandal. Fear: Trump In The White House by celebrated Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward has infuriated the White House, after exposing how Trumps aides called him an idiot and snatched sensitive documents off his desk to keep him from taking rash actions. The President described the book as a con on the public on Twitter ahead of the books publication. Donald Trump has hit out at a new book about his presidency (Rex) He tweeted: The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. He added: Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing? Trump earlier described the incendiary book as nasty stuff, denying certain scenes even occurred. The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2018 The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions mentally retarded and a dumb southerner. I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018 The President spoke to the conservative Daily Caller after details emerged about the book, calling it another bad book and saying Mr Woodward has a lot of credibility problems. Story continues Trump also denied that senior aides took sensitive documents from his desk, saying there was nobody taking anything from me. The White House, in a statement from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, dismissed the book as nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation The book quotes chief of staff John Kelly as having doubts about Trumps mental faculties, declaring during one meeting were in Crazytown. It also says he called Trump an idiot, an account that Mr Kelly denied. He said in a statement: The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true. Trump aides have described the President as an idiot in Fear: Trump In The White House (AP) Mr Woodward helped expose the Watergate scandal in the 1970s with fellow journalist Carl Bernstein. Their reporting implicated President Richard Nixon in the scandal and he later resigned the presidency. One of the extraordinary claims in Mr Woodwards book is that Trump ordered the assassination of Syrian leader Bashar Assad after he launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017. The explosive book was written by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward (Rex) Trump is reported to have called Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis to tell him he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying kill him! Lets go in. Mr Mattis assured Mr Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they would do nothing of the kind, Mr Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Mr Trump ordered. Mr Woodward also claims that Gary Cohn, the former director of the National Economic Council, boasted of removing papers from the Presidents desk to prevent Trump from signing them into law, including efforts to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump described the quotes and stories in the book as frauds and a con on the public (Rex) The book also quotes Trump as mocking his attorney general Jeff Sessions, who has been a target of the Presidents wrath since recusing himself from the Russia investigation. This guy is mentally retarded, Trump said of Mr Sessions, according to the book. He couldnt even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama. Trump did not speak to Mr Woodward until after the books manuscript was completed. Mr Woodward and journalist Carl Bernstein exposed the Watergate scandal in the 1970s that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon (pictured) (Rex) The Post released audio of Trump expressing surprise about the book in an August conversation with Mr Woodward. Mr Woodward tells Trump he had contacted multiple officials to attempt to interview him and was rebuffed. The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolffs Fire And Fury, which led to a rift between Mr Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, who spoke with Mr Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the President and his family. Explosive passages from the book Former Cosby Show star Geoffrey Owens recently made headlines not because hes in the cast of a blockbuster film but because his latest role is bagging groceries at a New Jersey Trader Joes. A customer snapped a shot of him in action at his register and sent it to the Daily Mail, and the photo quickly went viral. Fox News picked up the story and seemingly shamed the actor for his new gig, sparking a huge backlash from Yahoo commenters who leapt to his defense. Geoffrey Owens, who starred in The Cosby Show, spoke with Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts on Sept. 4, 2018, in New York. (Paula Lobo/ABC via AP) Hard-working people deserve respect, period, said one user. Another wrote, Disrespecting a man for working hard? Speechless. One even joked, Better than a Kardashian. WHY, asked one commenter. Why did Fox News sink this LOW? This man graduated from YALE and doesnt think that bagging groceries in between teaching Shakespeare and acting is beneath him. This is a REAL man. The actor broke his silence on Good Morning America, proudly sporting his Trader Joes name tag. Speaking to Robin Roberts he said of the story, No one has to feel sorry for me. Im doing fine. He added that he was moved by the outpouring of support he received, saying: I really want to thank everybody out there family, friends, the Hollywood community, and the general public for the amazing support and positivity that theyve shown for me. Its quite astounding. Its very encouraging. Fellow actors have also spoken out, slamming those who sought to mock Owenss job. Comedian and star of Community Yvette Nicole Brown posted: After doing #Girfriends & a few commercials, while doing #DrakeAndJosh & right before I did #Community, I worked as an office temp in various offices to pay my bills. And I will be right back there (or on fries at McDonald's) if acting work dries up. #TheresNoShameInHavingAJob yvette nicole brown (@YNB) September 1, 2018 Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor and former NFL player Terry Crews noted: Story continues I swept floors AFTER the @NFL. If need be, Id do it again. Good honest work is nothing to be ashamed of. https://t.co/8mseCpaIqz terrycrews (@terrycrews) September 2, 2018 Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton chimed in: Again, why is this news? When I worked on Thirtysomething I was also summarizing depositions to pay my rent. Why are you trying to humiliate this honorable, hardworking actor? Shame on you! #geoffreyowens many great blessings are coming your way! https://t.co/8tgvW3iixr Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) September 2, 2018 Then megaproducer and actor Tyler Perry tweeted a job offer to Owens: #GeoffreyOwens Im about to start shootings OWNs number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist. Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) September 4, 2018 After receiving the offer, Owens told Entertainment Tonight: That was kind of cool. Weve never worked together before. So, thats a very, very generous thing for him to say. And well see what happens with that. But, thats encouraging. As a result of the coverage, he also had to quit his job at Trader Joes, he said. I felt like just for my personal sake, my dignity and my emotional well-being, I didnt want to be in the store while I felt like people might be staking out the place as they did. I felt like I needed to at least temporarily step out, and I think that was the wise thing to do, actually. What do you think about Owens taking up an everyday job? Let us know in the comments below. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's White House is mired in a perpetual "nervous breakdown" with staff battling to rein in the worst impulses of an angry, paranoid leader, according to an explosive new book by veteran reporter Bob Woodward. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, the respected White House chronicler describes a coalition of like-minded aides plotting to prevent the US president from destroying the world trade system, undermining national security and sparking wars. While Woodward's is not the first unflattering investigation into Trump's White House, it carries particular weight coming from the man who together with Carl Bernstein authored the Watergate expose that brought down Richard Nixon. Trump's White House is described as having undergone "no less than an administrative coup d'etat," according to The Washington Post where Woodward is an associate editor and which received an advance copy of the 448-page book entitled "Fear: Trump in the White House," set for release on September 11. The White House hit back at "fabricated stories" as the long-awaited book piled fresh pressure on a president besieged by multiple investigations and a looming election that could damage his Republican Party. Trump claimed that the quotes in Woodward's book were "made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes." "Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?" he added, after tweeting earlier statements by Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and spokeswoman Sarah Sanders refuting the quoted statements as false. Mattis and former economic advisor Gary Cohn are cited among the aides actively circumventing Trump's orders and even stealing documents off his desk. Woodward recounts that Mattis -- having had to explain to the president that the US must keep forces in South Korea "to prevent World War III" -- told colleagues Trump had the understanding of "a fifth- or sixth-grader," a 10- or 11-year-old child. Story continues After the April 2017 chemical attack blamed on Bashar al-Assad, Woodward claims Trump called the Pentagon chief to press for the Syrian leader's assassination. "Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them," Trump reportedly told him. Mattis agreed to take action -- but after hanging up ordered "more measured" steps against Syria, a punitive air strike. - 'We're in Crazytown' - Mattis was among several high-profile figures quoted by Woodward who issued swift denials. "The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence," Mattis said in a statement, charging that the journalist's "anonymous sources do not lend credibility." While he does not name his sources, Woodward says he spoke with many people currently or formerly working for Trump as he researched the book, discussing not just the president's personality but also major policy debates regarding North Korea and Afghanistan. Woodward describes Trump regularly insulting key members of his own team, branding Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner," and saying former chief of staff Reince Priebus is "like a little rat." Trump is quoted as telling his hand-picked 80-year-old secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, "I don't trust you... You're past your prime." The aides and cabinet members respond, privately, with equal disdain. According to Woodward, Kelly told colleagues Trump is "unhinged" and "an idiot." "It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown," Kelly is quoted as saying. Former Trump lawyer John Dowd called Trump "a fucking liar," the book says. Both Kelly and Dowd denied the quotes attributed to them -- although Woodward is not the first to cite them making brutal comments about the president. - 'Edge of a cliff' - Since the Watergate expose appeared in The Washington Post in the early 1970s, Woodward has published powerful, insightful and often embarrassing books on eight US leaders, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, based on extensive access to many White House insiders. Woodward is one of the most respected living US journalists, and an authority on modern US presidents who drew praise from Trump himself in 2013 for his work on Obama. "Fear" is flecked with accounts of White House officials working to prevent Trump's anger and paranoia from being translated into policy. Cohn went so far as to steal an order from Trump's desk that, if the president had signed it, would have cancelled the US-South Korea trade agreement and thus deeply damaged security ties, according to Woodward. Former Trump staff secretary Rob Porter is also said to have conspired with Cohn to remove an letter that Trump ordered Porter to draft that would have withdrawn the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement. "A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas," Woodward quotes Porter as saying. "It felt like we were walking along the edge of the cliff perpetually." On September 5, 1774, the first Continental Congress in the United States met in Philadelphia to consider its reaction to the British governments restraints on trade and representative government after the Boston Tea Party. The group of colonial luminaries didnt meet in Independence Hall (which, at the time, was called the Pennsylvania State House). Instead, delegates selected by colonial legislatures met next door in Carpenters Hall, which had just been constructed. The State House was already occupied by the Pennsylvania provincial assembly. The delegates gathered on the morning of September 5 at Philadelphias City Tavern, near Benjamin Franklins home. Franklin had remained in England, and he would deliver a petition from the First Congress to King George III in late 1774. The group then walked over to Carpenters Hall to inspect the meeting room. They took a view of the room, and of the chamber where is an excellent library The general cry was, that this was a good room, and the question was put, whether we were satisfied with this room? and it passed in the affirmative, said John Adams. In all, 56 delegates from 12 colonies came to Philadelphia for the meeting to address the Coercive or Intolerable Acts. The laws were meant as punishment for the activities of the Boston Tea Party, but they affected all colonies. Neither Franklin nor Thomas Jefferson attended, but in addition to Adams, the delegates included Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman, John Jay, John Dickinson, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, and John Adams cousin, Samuel Adams. Thomas Jeffersons cousin, Peyton Randolph, was named as the first president of the Continental Congress. Randolph was another prominent Virginia leader and Washingtons close friend. After about seven weeks of debates, the group agreed to a boycott of British goods within the colonies as a sign of protest, spelled out in the Articles of Association. In addition to the boycott, the Articles called for an end of exports to Great Britain in the following year if the Intolerable Acts werent repealed. The First Continental Congress also made plans to convene a second Continental Congress in May 1775 to continue the work started in Philadelphia if the Intolerable Acts remained in force. Story continues A separate document, now called the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, stated the groups objections to the Intolerable Acts, listed the rights of the colonists, and itemized objections to British rule beyond the Intolerable Acts. On October 26, the delegates also crafted a formal petition to King George III. It outlined the grievances of the colonies to the King, but it also didnt assign blame to him. Next May, when the Second Continental Congress came back to Philadelphia, it met in the Pennsylvania State House. Violence had broken out in Boston with the battles of Lexington and Concord. Delegates from Georgia joined the Second Continental Congress, as did Franklin and John Hancock. Jefferson arrived to replace Randolph, who was called back to Virginia on political business. The new Congress became focused on the war effort, just seven months after it had left Carpenters Hall hoping for a constructive response from the King and the British government. Elon Musk has launched his most extreme attack yet on Vern Unsworth, one of the heroes of the Thai cave rescue. The Tesla boss sent a profanity-laden tirade to a reporter in which he baselessly suggested that Mr Unsworth had a "child bride". Mr Musk has repeatedly and without any evidence at all claimed that Mr Unsworth is a paedophile and that people around the rescue did not like him. The abuse has apparently come from Mr Musk because he was upset that Mr Unsworth had mocked his attempts to get involved with the mission, which involved a special diving capsule that was widely derided as useless. Mr Musk initially apologised for his first messages, in which he referred to the diver as "pedo guy". But he continues to revive the allegation, including in his latest and most intense comments. Asked about legal threats from Mr Unsworth's lawyer over the allegations, Mr Musk continued to double down on the attacks. "I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out whats actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you f***ing asshole," he said in the email to BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac, who posted the message in full on Twitter. "Hes an old, single white guy from England whos been travelling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time." Video: Breaking Down Elon Musks Most Painful Year Yet For more news videos visit Yahoo View. He signed off with a message about the lingering threat of the lawsuit. "As for this alleged threat of a lawsuit, which magically appeared when I raised the issue (nothing was sent or raised beforehand), I f***ing hope he sues me." He then sent a follow-up message in which he continued to defend his "mini-sub" the capsule he had instructed his employees to make but which was rejected by diving teams on the ground. He claimed that it would have worked and that it was going to be tried, despite suggestions from some experts that it would not have been able to fit through the cave system. Mr Musk's latest attacks on Mr Unsworth began in the wake of a New York Times interview in which he repeatedly broke down while revealing the toll working so hard at Tesla was taking on him. He revealed that he sometimes came to regret his late night posts, and that the company's board was concerned about the damage his outbursts were doing. By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian ship docked in an Eritrean port for the first time in two decades on Wednesday and Eritrea announced plans to upgrade a road to its neighbor, local media said, in further signs of strengthening ties between the former foes. The announcements came as Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in their second face-to-face encounter since a July peace deal ended two decades of enmity. Abiy and Isaias traveled the entire 70-km (40-mile) road that links Assab's port along the Red Sea to the town of Bure just across the border in Ethiopia, which had not been used since a two-year war broke out between the neighbors in 1998. "They were able to confirm that the existing road link was in good state," state-run EriTV said. "There are (now) plans to modernize the port in Assab and enlarge the road linking it to Bure to four lanes (from one)," it added. Landlocked Ethiopia's access to Assab and Eritrea's other port in Massawa were cut off in 1998, forcing Addis Ababa to turn to Djibouti for sea access. The country of 100 million has been almost entirely dependent on tiny neighbor Djibouti ever since, but Ethiopia has also negotiated a deal with Sudan to hold equity in its Port Sudan. Earlier on Wednesday, an Ethiopian commercial ship docked in an Eritrean port for the first time since 1998, entering Massawa. State outlets said it planned to carry 11,000 tonnes of Eritrean zinc exports to China. Abiy and Isaias were due to hold a summit with Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in Asmara on Thursday. It was Abdullahi's second visit to Eritrea since July 30 and the latest sign of thawing relations across the Horn of Africa following Eritrea's rapprochement with Ethiopia. Past Somali administrations had accused Eritrea of supplying weapons to anti-government Islamist insurgents. Asmara has repeatedly denied this, saying the accusations were concocted by Ethiopia. In 2007, Eritrea walked out of the East African bloc IGAD in protest as Ethiopian forces entered Somalia to fight militants. (Editing by Ingrid Melander and Janet Lawrence) Irish honey has been proven to be as beneficial for health as manuka honey [Photo: Getty] The health benefits of manuka honey have long been flouted. But a new study claims that Irish heather honey could actually be even better for you. While it is well known that manuka honey from New Zealand can give overall health a boost, thanks to its antioxidant, antibacterial, antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, new research suggests Irish honey could be equally as beneficial. The study, by researchers at Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin, found that Irish honey contains just as many powerful antioxidants (phenolic compounds) as manuka honey. Scientists tested 131 honey samples from beekeepers across Ireland and found that Irish heather honey had the highest total phenolic content of all the honeys tested, which was even higher than manuka honey. Antioxidants are so good for us because they help prevent damage occurring in the bodys cells. They also help our body to fight infection and promote healing. Whats more, the Irish honey is a heck of a lot cheaper than its manuka cousin, which could set you back a whopping 40 per jar, yikes. So while were all having a honey love-in, both Irish and Manukan, heres a few more benefits of the sticky stuff that might just surprise you It sorts out your skin Theres a reason many of your beauty products contain honey as an ingredient. Not only does it help to smoothe skin but also keeps breakouts at bay, thanks to its antimicrobial properties. Honey is also a natural humectant, meaning it hydrates the skin by drawing in moisture from the air. Honey is great for the skin [Photo: Getty] It helps prevent hayfever The bee pollen in honey can desensitise your body to other pollens, which can help with the likes of hayfever, explains nutritionist Cassandra Burns. It can help stop you coughing and sneezing You know how your mum always used to tell you to put honey in your hot drink when you were poorly? Well, she may have had a point. Research from the journal Frontiers in Microbiology found that the sugary substance fights off a cold in multiple ways. Story continues And earlier this year health officials recommended that people suffering with coughs should opt for honey and over-the-counter remedies before using antibiotics. Thats because honey has been found to offer soothing properties that help offer cough relief. Its good for the heart As well as offering a sweet hit on your morning porridge, honey is packed full of polyphenols, which are useful antioxidants that have been linked to increased blood flow and helping to prevent blood clots from forming. All good for boosting heart health. Some honey a day keeps the doctor away [Photo: Getty] It heals wounds Honey has long been considered a natural healer when applied to wounds, cuts and grazes. With its antibacterial properties, not only does the sweet stuff kill bacteria, it wards off infection too. It gives you an energy hit About to hit up the gym? Try drizzling some honey onto your pre-HIIT porridge. As a carbohydrate made up of fructose and glucose, honey makes for a natural energy snack that packs a punch. Unlike its naughtier refined sugar counterpart, the sticky stuff, contains small amounts of proteins and minerals which can help the body metabolise bad cholesterol and fatty acids. 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: Forget fasting, time-restricted feeding is the way to double fat loss, study finds Three bars of chocolate a month can decrease chance of heart failure, study finds Can you ever reverse sun damage? The Senate Intelligence Committee didnt just grill Silicon Valley executives about Russian meddling. They also wanted to know how they are dealing with China. During Wednesdays hearing, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) asked why Facebook and Twitter dont do business in China, the second largest economy in the world. The Chinese government has chosen not to allow our service in China, said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. You know weve been open about the fact that our mission is to connect the world and that means its hard to do that without connecting the worlds largest population. But in order to go into China, we would have to be able to do so in keeping with our values. And thats not possible right now. When we were blocked, we decided that it wasnt a fight worth fighting right now. We have other priorities, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey added. In July, Facebook got an approval to open a subsidiary in the eastern province of Zhejiang in China, to set up an innovation hub. But the Chinese government quickly withdrew that approval. Twitter never bothered to penetrate mainstream in China, where a similar social media platform, Weibo (WB), dominates. An empty chair reserved for Googles parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) I think both of you should and your company should wear it as a badge of honor that the Chinese Communist Party has blocked you from operating in their country, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). He went on to blast Google senior executives absence at Wednesdays hearing, criticizing the internet giant for terminating cooperation with the American military while reportedly developing a censored search engine for China. Perhaps they didnt send a witness to answer these questions because there is no answer to those questions and the silence we would hear right now from the Google chair would be reminiscent of the silence, said Cotton. Other senators used even harsher terms to criticize Googles absence. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) pointed out the empty chair on Googles seat and said, maybe its because theyre arrogant. Story continues Google offered to send its Chief Legal Officer and Head of Global Affairs Kent Walker but the Senate Intelligence Committee rejected Walker as a witness stating that he was not high-level enough. John Hennessy, chairman of Googles parent company Alphabet, defended the companys decision to send Walker on Tuesday. I think Kent Walker was the right person to go, Hennessy said on Yahoo Finances live show The Final Round. Perhaps people dont realize it He sits in every single board meeting, operates at the highest level of the company and is responsible for its global brand, and image, and legal advice. Twitter shares (TWTR) slumped 6% at market close Wednesday, while Facebook (FB) shares dropped 2.3% and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares slipped nearly 1%. Krystal Hu covers technology and economy for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. Read more: The real reason why traders are shorting Alibaba Why China and US tech stocks are diverging Walmart buys from US suppliers, but that doesnt protect it from tariffs A Florida mother was charged Tuesday with murdering her two-year-old son, one day after her report of his disappearance prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Charisse Stinson, 21, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, ABC Action News reports. Police found two-year-old Jordan Belliveaus body in a wooded park in the middle of Largo, Florida. Stinson had told police that she was walking with her son around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when they were offered a ride by a man named Antwan. She said she accepted because Jordan was too heavy to carry home. According to her account, shortly after getting in the white Toyota Camry she was struck in the face until she was unconscious. When she woke up around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Largo Central Park, she said she discovered Jordan was missing. Investigators issued an Amber Alert, and included a composite sketch of the alleged suspect. Updated with sketch: Please share! A Florida AMBER Alert has been issued for Jordan Belliveau, 2 years old pic.twitter.com/12xKT05NVm FDLE (@fdlepio) September 4, 2018 When police went to Stinsons home to establish the last time Jordan had been there, they found bloodied childrens items, according to ABC Action News. It is unclear if the items are connected to the boys death. Chicago (AFP) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democratic party star bruised by the US city's pervasive gun violence and a controversial police shooting case, announced Tuesday he would not seek a third term in office, avoiding a tough election battle. The former White House chief of staff for the previous US president, Barack Obama, made the tear-filled announcement just one day before a white Chicago police officer was to go on trial for the killing of a black teenager in Obama's hometown. "I've decided not to seek re-election," Emanuel told a hastily-arranged, surprise news conference. "This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime." Emanuel has struggled with unpopularity in a city facing a stubborn gun violence epidemic that spiked during his tenure beginning in 2011. The de facto Midwest capital has had 1645 shootings and 375 murders so far this year, the most of any US city. Emanuel on Tuesday couched his decision to not seek a third term in personal terms, as his wife Amy Rule stood beside him. "Now with our three children in college, Amy and I have decided it's time to write another chapter together," he said. - 'We need a new mayor' - The mayor had faced a string of protests over the city's pervasive violence and what some residents claim is a lack of investment in impoverished, predominantly African-American communities facing the worst of the often gang-related shootings. Emanuel had also withstood repeated calls to resign over his handling of the killing of black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, when police officer Jason Van Dyke shot the 17-year-old 16 times. The dash-cam video of the shooting was not released for a year, until a judge compelled city officials to do so. The mayor had been accused of being part of an attempt to prevent or delay the release of the damaging video, which appeared to show McDonald walking away from police when he was gunned down. Story continues Chance The Rapper, a Chicago-born artist and a frequent Emanuel critic, praised organizations that had "pushed for accountability and resignation from Rahm." "We need a new mayor, but not just anybody," he said on Twitter. "We gotta start to come together around a candidate that cares about equity in regards to education, job development and healthcare in one of the most segregated cities in the country." - 'A very hard race' - Emanuel had reportedly accumulated an $8 million war chest for a re-election bid. His announcement stunned the city's political establishment, and realignment began almost immediately for the February 2019 election. "(Emanuel) would have had a very hard race," University of Illinois political science professor Dick Simpson told WGN television. "But, he certainly was the leading candidate." With Emanuel out, new candidates reportedly were exploring the possibility of a mayoral run. Former US Education Secretary Arne Duncan and another Obama-era chief of staff, Bill Daley were among those gauging support among donors and others, according to Politico. Emanuel once was rumored to aspire to even higher office. The former Democratic operative had worked in both former president Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s and was the first chief of staff for Obama. He also was a three-term congressman from Illinois. "Rahm Emanuel has been a tireless and brilliant public servant," Obama said. "Chicago is better and stronger for his leadership, and I was a better President for his wise counsel." "Rahm Emanuel has served with vision, purpose, principle, and impact," Clinton said. Former US Senator Jon Kyl speaks as Senate Republican leadership hold a press conference in 2012: Allison Shelley/Getty Images) Former Senator Jon Kyl will fill the late Senator John McCains seat in the US Congress, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has said. The appointment marks an unexpected return to Capitol Hill for Mr Kyl, who retired in 2013 after serving three terms an Arizona senator. Mr Doucey said he expected the 76-year-old to hit the ground running", adding that now was not the time for newcomers. There is no one in Arizona more prepared to represent our state in the US Senate than Jon Kyl, Mr Ducey said in a statement. He understands how the Senate functions and will make an immediate and positive impact benefiting all Arizonans." The appointment expires in November 2020, when a special election will be held to replace Mr McCain, who died last month from an aggressive form of brain cancer. But Mr Kyl has promised only to serve until the close of this Congressional session, which ends in January 2019. He also said that he has no plans to run again in 2020. "Im accepting this appointment to fill the seat vacated by the passing of my dear friend because of my sense of duty to the state I love, and the institution of the Senate which I served for 18 years, and because the governor asked for my help," Mr Kyl said at a press conference, according to AZ Central. The decision was praised by current Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, as well as Mr McCains widow, Cindy McCain. Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and Johns, Ms McCain tweeted. Its a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona. The move will not be a dramatic one for Mr Kyl, who has worked for the past five years at Washington-based lobbying firm Covington & Burlington. He has been a familiar face on Capitol Hill since leaving Congress, helping nominees like Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepare for their Senate confirmation hearings, according to Roll Call. Mr Kyl has been shepherding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh through the same process in recent months, and in an interesting twist may wind up voting on Mr Kavanaugh's confirmation upon returning to Congress. He is expected to be a reliable conservative vote for President Donald Trump on that issue, and on many to come. Story continues Mr Kyl started his career as an attorney in Phoenix, and joined Congress as a representative from Arizona in 1986. He became a senator eight years later, and worked his way up to the No 2 position of Senate Minority Whip a position he held for six years. One of Mr Kyls most infamous moments in Congress came in 2011, when he argued against providing federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Speaking on the Senate floor, Mr Kyl claimed abortions made up well over 90 per cent of the services the womens health clinics provided. Confronted with the fact that abortions make only 3 per cent of the Planned Parenthoods work, Mr Kyls office claimed the senators words were "not intended to be a factual statement". Mr Kyl later claimed he had simply misspoken, and ordered his statement stricken from the congressional record. Reza Jarrahy and Geena Davis in 2013. (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage) Theres a new twist in Geena Daviss divorce case. In May, the Thelma & Louise stars fourth husband, Reza Jarrahy, filed for divorce after nearly 17 years of marriage, but Davis says the whole thing is moot because they were never actually married. According to documents obtained by People, Davis claims she and Jarrahy knowingly and voluntarily chose to have a marriage-like ceremony, fully aware that it was not legally binding. Jarrahy, an Iranian-American neurosurgeon, and Davis wed in a private ceremony in the Hamptons on Sept. 1, 2001. We are very happy and we look forward to spending the rest of our lives together, they announced at the time. The couple separated in November 2017, according to court documents. Jarrahy cited irreconcilable differences as the cause for their split and sought spousal support and joint legal and physical custody of the couples three kids. The surgeon also asked the judge to block Daviss request for spousal support. They have 14-year-old twin sons, Kaiis Steven and Kian William, and a daughter, Alizeh Keshvar, 16. The Greys Anatomy actress filed a petition Tuesday to have the case dismissed, claiming that the marriage was never legal. According to documents, Davis included a letter allegedly signed by Jarrahy in 2012 that stated, I filed my tax returns in 2009 as a single individual because I am not currently married. Ms. Davis and I co-habitate and co-parent our three children but are not officially wed. Davis and Jarrahy met through mutual friends in 1999 and got engaged the following year. The actress was previously married to director Renny Harlin (199398), actor Jeff Goldblum (198790), and restaurateur Richard Emmolo (198283). Representatives for Davis and Jarrahy have not commented on the latest filing. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: By Thomas Escritt ANKARA (Reuters) - Germany is prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to countries harboring Syrian refugees if it comes to an all-out government offensive in Idlib, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Ankara on Wednesday. Damascus, backed by Russia and Iran, has been preparing an assault to recover Idlib, the last stronghold of active rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Maas was in Ankara on a visit aimed at improving badly frayed relations between Germany and Turkey after a post-coup crackdown in which Ankara imprisoned tens of thousands of people, including some German citizens. With Turkey's economy in crisis after the United States imposed sanctions, officials from Germany, Europe's richest country, see a chance to improve ties, potentially leading to improved conditions for the detained. But events in Syria's northwestern Idlib region dominated Maas's meetings with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. At a joint news conference, Cavusoglu said refugees from Idlib would likely flood into Turkey and European countries. Turkey, which backs rebels against Assad, is sheltering 3.5 million Syrian refugees. The European Union already relies on Turkey to stem the flow of refugees whose mass arrival in Europe in 2015 boosted support for anti-immigrant political parties. The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran are due to meet on Friday in Tehran and are expected to discuss the situation in northwestern Syria. "Germany is prepared to redouble its humanitarian engagement if it comes to fighting along a broad front in the region," Maas said at the news conference. He said he had raised the question of detained Germans at his meetings in Ankara, but declined to be drawn on the substance of those discussions. Erdogan is due to visit Berlin later this month. Germany is home to a three-million-strong Turkish diaspora, the world's largest, many of whom have dual citizenship. German officials believe they have little choice but to improve ties, despite concerns over the human rights situation in Turkey. Critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government warned Germany should not compromise on human rights issues for the sake of a rapprochement. "Maas and the government must work to help other political prisoners as well as the seven German hostages in Turkey," said Greens lawmaker Cem Ozdemir, himself of Turkish ethnic background. "Their only crime was to be doing their job as journalists or opposition politicians." Tens of thousands of people were detained in a crackdown that followed the 2016 failed coup. Maas is also due to meet business leaders in Istanbul, a gesture meant by officials as a statement of confidence in the Turkish economy. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Michelle Martin; Editing by Peter Graff and Janet Lawrence) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday to answer questions about foreign interference on their platforms aimed at disrupting U.S. politics. Notably absent from the hearing: anyone from Google or its parent company, Alphabet. While the committee invited either Google CEO Sundar Pichai or Alphabets Larry Page to testify, the company declined to send either of its top executives. Senators didnt take the slight lightly, and set out a Google name placard in front of a conspicuously empty chair alongside Dorsey and Sandberg: An empty chair on the left marks the absence of anyone from Google as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey answered questions from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. (Photo: JIM WATSON via Getty Images) Im disappointed Google decided against sending the right senior level executive, committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said in his opening remarks. Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-V.A.) echoed that sentiment. Im deeply disappointed that Google one of the most influential digital platforms in the world chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee, he said. The company had said it would designate its senior vice president of global affair, Kent Walker, to attend the hearing (hes appeared previously before the panel). But that offer was rebuffed, as the committee sought to hear from higher-ranking executives. In a statement to HuffPost, Google said its been diligent in briefing lawmakers on the political interference issue in the past. Over the last 18 months weve met with dozens of Committee Members and briefed major Congressional Committees numerous times on our work to prevent foreign interference in US elections, a Google spokesperson said in an email. The statement reiterated that Google had made Walker available and that the company had understood that he would be an appropriate witness for this hearing. Related... Here's How Facebook Could Be Regulated Trump Distances Himself From His Own Remarks On Russian Election Meddling Trump's Intel Chief Warns Of Upcoming Kremlin Election Interference Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Moscow (AFP) - Russia's powerful GRU intelligence agency is facing international accusations that it carried out large-scale cyber attacks including a foiled attempt to hack into the computer system of the global chemicals watchdog. London has also accused two of GRU's officers of poisoning former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury in March, using a perfume bottle containing a powerful nerve agent. - What is GRU? - GRU stands for the Main Intelligence Directorate, Russia's military intelligence agency which is one of Moscow's three spy agencies along with the FSB security service and the SVR foreign intelligence agency. Still commonly known as GRU, the agency changed its name to the Main Directorate (GU) as a result of a reform in 2010. Its chief Igor Korobov reports to the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The agency's structure, staff number and finances constitute a state secret. Its official emblem is a black bat flying above a globe. - What does it do? - It has an extensive spy network abroad and its highly-trained "spetsnaz" special forces have fought in various conflicts, including in Afghanistan and Chechnya. In recent years the agency has gained notoriety for its connection to some of Russia's most contentious actions abroad. On Thursday, the Netherlands announced it had foiled a hacker attack by GRU against the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW. Britain and Australia also accused GRU of carrying out numerous major cyber attacks in recent years on Kremlin orders -- including one targeting the US Democratic Party during the 2016 presidential campaign. In July this year, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers, accusing them of interfering in the US polls. The Bellingcat investigative team has linked the downing of MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014 to a GRU officer who it said "supervised the procurement and transport of weapons". Story continues The Netherlands said Thursday that a laptop seized from Russian alleged agents in the Hague showed activities in Malaysia related to the MH17 investigation. The agency has also been linked to an attempt to overthrow Montenegro's government on the eve of parliamentary elections in October, 2016. GRU officers are believed to provide military guidance to the Syrian army as well as rebels in eastern Ukraine, among others. - Does it kill traitors? - In 2010, Putin famously said that Russian special services do not kill traitors, saying they "croak all by themselves". He acknowledged that Soviet authorities deployed assassins to get rid of enemies, but said modern Russia no longer does so. "Such units have been liquidated," he said. While describing Skripal as a "scumbag," Putin this week again dismissed claims Moscow attacked Skripal, saying: "No one had to poison anyone there (in Britain)." Earlier this year, former GRU chief Fyodor Ladygin also denied his agency's involvement. "The Russian intelligence structure where I had the honour of serving for many years...never -- I repeat never -- did such vile, stupid things," he told Russian television. British police accuse GRU officers, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, of trying to kill Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence, was jailed for betraying agents to Britain's MI6 security service. He moved to England in 2010 as part of a spy swap. Several top GRU agents have defected to the West in the past. Vladimir Rezun, who defected in the 1970s, wrote a partly autobiographical book under the penname Viktor Suvorov. The book is entitled Aquarium, the nickname of the GRU headquarters in Moscow. "What kind of fish swim there?" he asks his boss in the book. "There's only one kind there -- piranhas." Paris (AFP) - They may be small and striking, but shrikes are songbirds known for viciously impaling their victims with a razor-sharp bill although experts have long wondered about their ability to subdue much larger prey. Now researchers say these carnivorous killers use powerful beak-and-jaw motions to shake their victims vigorously, whirling them around at speeds which cause injuries akin to whiplash. "We already knew that they can kill surprisingly large animals for their size, but we didn't know specifically how they do it," said Dr Diego Sustaita, lead author of a study published in Wednesday's Biology Letters journal. Although shrikes have sharply hooked, falcon-like beaks which they jab into the head or neck of their prey, causing partial paralysis, they don't have the large talons possessed by other birds of prey to help them finish the job. But researchers at San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research on California's San Clemente island found clear evidence of violent shaking in a motion which uses the victim's weight against it, Sustaita said. "The way that shrikes shake their prey is likely to be important for immobilising and killing it because the accelerations of the prey's own body around its neck results in forces that could break or damage the neck," he told AFP. "The rate at which the shrikes shake their heads was surprising, especially with relatively large animals in their jaws!" he said, with the study suggesting the movement resulted in accelerations equivalent of around 6g-force. - 'Like a raptor' - For the study, researchers studied footage of attacks by 37 loggerhead shrikes involving live domestic black mice and other creatures. In 28 cases, they observed prey-shaking behaviour with the results giving a clear indicator of how the birds subdued larger creatures. "They help explain how a small songbird is able to kill relatively large animals in ways that differ from large raptors like hawks. Shrikes have some of the 'equipment' like the sharply-hooked beak, but not all, like the talons, and so they seem to have found another way to get the job done." Story continues Shrikes, he said, are disproportionately strong for their size but their ability to kill is actually more reliant on speed. "As a group, shrikes can take prey larger than you would expect for their body sizes and 'types' -- keep in mind, these are songbirds. You wouldn't expect a robin, for instance, to have the strength to kill a mouse and they don't," he said. "This particular behaviour relies more on speed to generate accelerations to take advantage of the prey's body weight, so it might not necessitate as much strength as it would seem." Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's two main political parties are asking election hopefuls to pay huge fees for the chance to stand at next year's general election, in a move criticised as favouring the rich and well-connected. At the last nationwide vote in 2015, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of then-president Goodluck Jonathan charged 22 million naira per nomination form. The All Progressives Congress (APC) of the eventual winner Muhammadu Buhari asked for 27.5 million naira just to stand in the party's presidential primary. Now, as both parties prepare for polling in February next year, the APC wants an eye-watering 45 million naira ($125,500, 108,000 euros) per presidential primary candidate, according to newspaper adverts on Wednesday. Individuals wanting to be selected to run for a governorship post have to pay 22.5 million naira, up from 10 million naira last time round. The PDP has reduced the cost of its presidential candidate forms to 12 million naira and the selection for a tilt at a governorship from 11 million naira to six million naira. But both are still significant sums in a country of more than 180 million where some 87 million live in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock. The APC has offered a half-price discount for women and the disabled, while the PDP has made forms free for female candidates, in a move designed to widen representation. - Political patronage - Nigeria is not alone in imposing high election fees. Lawmakers in neighbouring Benin this week voted to increase the deposit for presidential candidates to 250 million CFA francs ($441,000, 380,000 euros). The country of 11 million people has more than 200 political parties and the increase has been seen as a way of reducing the numbers. In Nigeria, the Not Too Young to Run group, which successfully campaigned for a reduction in the lower age limit for elected representatives, said the fees were still "exorbitant" and would disqualify potential candidates. Story continues It claimed the main parties had reneged on a promise to cap the cost of nomination forms for all elected posts. Kassim Afegbua, former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida's spokesman, wrote in the New Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday that the process should be more affordable. Debo Adeniran, of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership lobby group, said the high costs was an example of how the two main parties had "monetised the political environment". The system favoured the wealthy and fostered cronyism and corruption, as sponsors who often pay for a candidate's forms expect pay-back once they are in power, he added. Buhari was elected partly on a platform to tackle endemic corruption in government. - 'Serious business' - Clement Nwankwo, head of the Situation Room of Nigeria civil society groups that promote good governance, said the system was intended to exclude all but the wealthiest and those who had previously benefited from patronage. But APC spokesman Yekini Nabena told AFP the amounts were a reflection of the cost of campaigning and a way of ensuring the party was not in thrall to a handful of wealthy donors. "We want the party itself to take care of the elections so that nobody will say because he gave money to the party he wants to dictate to the party what to do," he told AFP. He added: "Politics is a very serious business. We shouldn't be petty about it. Even though you are financially handicapped, if you are the man of the people, your supporters can contribute money for you." Party primaries are expected in the coming weeks, with Buhari, who in 2015 was said to have taken out a bank loan to cover his nomination costs, set to secure the APC ticket unopposed. All eyes will instead be on the PDP, with an increasingly crowded field of hopefuls including former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and Senate leader Bukola Saraki. By Simon Johnson and Johan Sennero KOPPARBERG, Sweden (Reuters) - Those wondering why Swedish politics are set to lurch to the right in Sunday's election need look no further than Ljusnarsberg, a tiny central county of dense pine forests and glistening lakes. Many inhabitants of this once-booming region are uneasy about asylum seekers after a large number arrived here in 2015. Some also feel that Sweden's widely admired tax and welfare model has left them behind. Fears over globalization's effect on industrial jobs, the pressure of an aging population and a failure to integrate minorities have boosted right-wing and anti-establishment parties from Italy and Germany to Britain and the United States. Polls indicating one in five voters in Sweden are likely to back a party with roots in the far-right fringe on Sept. 9 show that even seemingly successful political systems are vulnerable. Several online surveys indicate the anti-immigration, anti-European Union Sweden Democrats could become the largest party, overtaking the Social Democrats, who have dominated politics for the last 100 years. They are likely to do particularly well in Ljusnarsberg where they won a quarter of the vote in 2014, double their national score. (Sweden Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2LmSZFD) (Swedish economy snapshot: http://tmsnrt.rs/2bylYpf) "I think people here want to see a change, they want society to be like it used to be," said Mats Larsson, the Sweden Democrat's top politician in Ljusnarsberg. Most people in the county live in Kopparberg, where the 17th century church, with its blood-red, wooden facade and spires, hints at the region's rich past, built on copper and iron mines. For many years, the area was a heartland of the ruling Social Democrats. Its swing to the right highlights election themes of asylum and a split between poor rural or suburban areas home to immigrants and wealthy places like Stockholm. Ljusnarsberg's mines have gone - the last closed in the mid-1970s. Unemployment at the end of last year was nearly 13 percent, almost double the national level. Many live on sickness benefits, masking the figures of those relying on welfare. As jobs have disappeared, so have people. The population has roughly halved in the last 50 years and many services have been centralized to Orebro, an hour's drive south of Kopparberg. "The 1970s and 1980s were a fantastic time to grow up here in this county. Now everything is falling to pieces," said Leif Danielsson, 53, a businessman in Kopparberg, the county's only sizable town. "Houses are rotting, some places are overgrown with weeds. If you have any education or contacts, you leave." While Kopparberg retained its health clinic, it has been unable to recruit permanent doctors, with temporary staff filling the gap. Decades of closures have left Kyrkbacks school in Kopparberg as the only school for 6-15 year-olds in the region. It has also had problems recruiting staff and was rated as one of Sweden's worst by the teachers' union, long before asylum numbers jumped. STRETCHED SERVICES When Sweden took in 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 as hundreds of thousands fled war in Syria and Afghanistan, Ljusnarsberg was assigned around 1,200, the highest concentration compared with its population. Many of the new arrivals were unaccompanied minors, and the influx stretched services to the limit. Anne-Marie Hagglund, assistant headteacher of Kyrkbacks school, said families just showed up with their migration papers. "They came back day after day until we could take in their children," she said. All but 260 of the refugees have now gone - mostly assigned to other areas by the Migration Agency - yet the unease remains. Sitting in a cafe on the town green in Kopparberg, personal assistant Ulrika, 44, said that since the arrival of so many asylum seekers, women are afraid to walk the streets at night. "There are lots of robberies. I think a lot of it is to do with immigration," she said, declining to give her surname. Police say the number of reported crimes fell in 2017 compared to the previous year, though they admit that many crimes go unreported. After cutbacks, the nearest police station is in Lindesberg, 40 km away. "Of course, we should help people," said Staffan Myrman, 53, who works at the Kopparberg brewery, one of the two major employers in the Ljusnarsberg region. "But when 25-30 percent of the population are refugees, we need to be able to cope with that and we can't." Sweden took in more asylum seekers than any other European country per capita in 2015. But while worries over immigration explain some of the Sweden Democrat's gains, unease about economic and social change also plays a role. "It is a target to point your anger at," said Ljusnarsberg Liberal party politician Hendrik Bijloo. "Of course there are racists voting for the Sweden Democrats, but they are not even close to a majority." REFERENDUM ON WELFARE? It is not just rural areas like Ljusnarsberg where the Sweden Democrats have thrived. A spate of gang killings and car-burnings have sharpened concerns that authorities are losing control in poorer city suburbs where immigrants make up the majority of the population. But welfare is also a big theme, despite that fact that Sweden is one of Europe's richest countries, with strong growth and low unemployment. "This election is a referendum on welfare or whether we have continued asylum immigration. I choose welfare," Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson said in a televised election debate. The center-left government and main opposition Moderate Party both plan to spend an extra 20 billion Swedish crowns ($2.19 billion) over the next four years. Despite those plans, and already higher spending, many Swedes believe the welfare system is in crisis. Sweden scores highly in the quality of healthcare - for example more Swedes are alive 30 days after a heart attack than in other European countries, according to a 2015 study. But a growing and ageing population means waiting lists for operations have grown and half of health centers have to cover doctor shortages with temporary staff, according to a report by the Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis. Since 2000, 16 percent of maternity units have closed, a Swedish television report showed. Many women travel more than 100 km (62 miles) to give birth, while schools need to recruit around 77,000 teachers over the next five years. Inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, has grown faster in recent years in Sweden than in any other industrialized nation, although the country remains among those where income is most evenly distributed. This partly explains why mainstream parties' shift to tougher immigration policies after the 2015 crisis has failed to win back disillusioned voters. Many locals in Ljusnarsberg are resentful about what they see as preferential treatment for immigrants. "They get a better deal, all of them, at the dentist, with the doctor, they are first in the queue always," said 65-year-old pensioner Torbjorn Lundgren. "That makes me angry." Asylum seekers get subsidized welfare, housing and 71 crowns ($7.79) a day for food and other essentials, including healthcare. Healthcare costs are capped at 400 crowns over a 12 month period. For Swedish citizens the cap is 1,100 crowns. "It's not the immigrants fault, it's the politicians," said pensioner Torbjorn Lundgren, who backs the Sweden Democrats. "I'm going to vote for them, then we'll see if things change or not." (Additional reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard and Philippa Fletcher) Cryptocurrency could be due for a big comeback. Last month saw the debut of Asias largest blockchain conference, the International Blockchain Congress in India, with over 5,000 registered attendees and over 200 government attendees. Its a huge sign of interest in the technology, and the CEO of co-host Nucleus Vision sees it as a sign that the markets are about to soar. It only needs a few triggers globally to bring the market back up, Abhishek Pitti tells Inverse. What happened in India is giving everybody this huge signal that the governments are supporting the blockchain applications. The crypto markets are just following signals that come. There definitely has been lag in coming back, but based on the blockchain adoption in the community, the crypto markets are only a signal away to come back up. Though its a little bearish at the moment, I think its only a short-term thing. Bitcoins current price of $7,375 is well below its December 2017 peak of nearly $20,000, while the total cryptocurrency market cap of $240 billion is well below its $830 billion peak at the start of January. People who have been in this industry have seen this movement multiple times, Pitti says, citing the 2014 drop in bitcoin price from around $1,500 to near the $200 mark that caused many to question the long-term potential of the industry. Because of the underlying principles of blockchain and the decentralization, the entire disintermediation of resources, I think the blockchain is obviously here to stay. Developers are still exploring new applications for both the coins and the decentralized blockchain ledger that underpins its workings despite the downturn, with Revolut offering crypto cashbacks and Everipedia launching a censorship-proof blockchain encyclopedia. Abhishek Pitti. This years conference, hosted in Hyderabad on August 3 and 4 and in Goa on August 5, saw several memorandums of understanding signed between governments and organizations. The conference also saw the announcement of the India-developed Eleven01 blockchain protocol. Story continues Eleven01 is an emerging market centric blockchain protocol with government compliance standards, which serves as a foundation for decentralized applications, Rama Iyer, president of the Eleven01 Foundation, said in a statement. This will create a blockchain ecosystem and build a nation-centric procedure which is custom built for the countrys needs. A representative from Telenganas state government highlighted the role of the countrys largest incubator T-Hub in bringing the project to life. The state government, along with the Goa state government, co-hosted the conference. That has happened nowhere in the world, where you have 200 people from the government attending the conference, Pitti says. Pitti predicts that growing interest in the technology will lead to more interest in the second annual blockchain congress next year, projecting a tenfold increase in attendees. The team is also scheduling a womens hackathon at the end of February in the state of Goa. Cryptocurrency may not make headlines like it used to, but its proponents are working away on its future applications. The author of this story has a stake in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Photos via Nucleus Vision, Unsplash / Andre Francois More From Inverse Ankara (AFP) - Turkey already hosts the world's largest refugee population, including three million Syrians, but over the last year there has been an influx of Afghans seeking a safe haven -- and not just from Afghanistan itself, but from Iran. For decades Iran, to Turkey's east, has been home to some three million Afghans who have fled the endless war pitting the Taliban and other rebels against the western-backed government in Kabul. Many live in miserable conditions and their prospects have become even more precarious due to the Islamic Republic's increasingly troubled economy. Turkey is home to 145,000 Afghans, according to Amnesty International figures in April, but the influx has really taken off this year. Up to mid-August, 61,819 Afghan migrants had arrived in Turkey in 2018 compared to 45,259 in 2017, according to Turkish interior ministry figures. Javad Saadatnejad was a refugee in Iran for 34 years before arriving in Turkey last month. "Iran didn't do anything for me," he said. Those who seek asylum in Turkey are called "conditional refugees." Izza Leghtas, senior advocate for Europe at Refugees International, said this gives "the idea that really they're only in Turkey temporarily until they go and resettle" elsewhere. But resettlement figures to the US have gone down "drastically" in the last 18 months, Leghtas said. In 2017, US President Donald Trump cut the number of refugees that Washington would accept to 45,000 from 110,000 in the last year under Barack Obama. - 'Uncomfortable conditions' - The new arrivals find they have to make the best of limited or even no facilities. Mohammad Hussein, from northern Kunduz province, said his six children aged between two and 15 slept in an Ankara park for a week in "uncomfortable" circumstances in front of the Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) building. ASAM works together with the UN and the Turkish Provincial Directorate of Migration Management to register refugees. Story continues Hussein, 35, said he fled the Taliban because he had helped NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) find the group's weapons. Fearing reprisals since "the Taliban knew" about his work, Hussein fled, walking across the Turkish border with his wife and children aged two, four, six, nine, 13 and 15. But Hussein said he could not stay in Turkey where he is "in danger", saying he wanted to go somewhere like Switzerland or Canada. - 'Economic situation' - Afghanistan ranked second globally as the largest source of refugees in 2017, with 2.6 million compared to 6.3 million Syrians concentrated in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. According to UN refugee agency the UNHCR, three million Afghans are in Iran but only a third of them are officially registered as refugees. Levent Ulusoy, deputy general coordinator at ASAM, said Afghans were coming from Iran "because of the economic situation (there), the difficulties persisting in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, they leave to find work or to flee the war". The Iranian economy has been hit hard by renewed US sanctions following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. - 'No support for Afghans' - For Afghans who stay in Turkey, Metin Corabatir, president of the Ankara-based Research Centre on Asylum and Migration (IGAM), described the "difficult process" of getting work permits, which often leads many to work illegally. If a Syrian or Afghan seeks to work legally in Turkey, the company who wishes to hire them must apply for the permit. The magnitude of the influx first became apparent when nearly 30,000 Afghans arrived in Turkey in the first few months of 2018. Turkish authorities reacted by deporting thousands back to Afghanistan, in coordination with the Afghan government. Amnesty in April said 7,100 had been deported and the figure is believed to be higher today. "As they come, the government put the majority in removal centres and from there, they send them back to Afghanistan," Corabatir said. Zakira Hekmat, who founded Afghan Refugees Solidarity and Aid Association (Afgan-Der) in 2014, said there was "no support" for Afghan refugees in Turkey which has become tired of bearing the brunt of the problem. "We have seen more incidents in the past three months" of refugees sleeping in parks, she added. Hekmat also described how attitudes towards Afghans had changed in Turkey with "increasing prejudices" and many Turks assuming the war in Afghanistan was over. "But the war continues in ways unseen." Basra (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi security forces in the southern city of Basra opened fire Wednesday as they clashed with protesters a day after six people were killed in demonstrations over poor public services. An AFP journalist reported gunshots and tear gas were fired by security personnel as they faced off with several thousand demonstrators outside the regional government headquarters. The measures failed to disperse protesters, who responded by hurling Molotov cocktails and letting off fireworks at the security forces. Basra and the surrounding province have been the focus of angry demonstrations over government neglect that have rocked Iraq since early July. Residents are particularly angry over pollution of the local water supply, which has put 20,000 people in hospital. On Tuesday six demonstrators were killed and more than 20 wounded during the bloodiest day of clashes with security officials, a local official and medics said. The authorities said that 30 security personnel were wounded in the violence. The United Nations envoy to Iraq has called for "calm" in Basra and urged the authorities "to avoid using disproportionate, lethal force against the demonstrators". In his weekly press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he had ordered "no real bullets ... to be fired, in the direction of protesters or in the air". Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr said in a tweet ahead of the latest clashes that "vandals infiltrated" the protesters. Sadr's political bloc won the largest number of seats in national elections held in May, and he is trying to form a new government with Abadi. In July, the government announced a multi-billion dollar (euro) emergency plan for southern Iraq, to revive infrastructure and services. But protesters are wary of promises made by the outgoing government, as negotiations drag on over the formation of the next administration. Jerusalem (AFP) - The Israeli army said Wednesday it was closing its sole crossing for people with the Gaza Strip following a violent demonstration the previous day, just 10 days after it reopened it. "Yesterday, a violent riot was instigated in the area of the Erez crossing, with the participation of hundreds of Palestinian rioters," the army said in a statement. "Subsequently, it was decided to close the Erez crossing until the damage caused by the rioters will be repaired." The Palestinians were protesting against a US announcement on Friday that it would cease all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) which helps some three million needy refugees. Washington, which until last year was by far the biggest contributor to the UNRWA, had already plunged the nearly 70-year-old agency into financial crisis in January with its announcement of a $300 million funding freeze. In Gaza, most children attend UNRWA-run schools whose funding beyond the end of this month is now in doubt, along with that of the agency's network of clinics and food distribution centres. The army said Tuesday's protesters had damaged the infrastructure of the crossing with rocks thrown from the Gaza side. It said it would remain open for "individually approved humanitarian cases". An AFP correspondent said several thousand Gazans passed the Palestinian Authority checkpoint at Erez during Tuesday's protest and headed to the Israeli side, where they caused damage to lights and the road surface. The Israeli army eventually forced them back, using tear gas and live ammunition. Five Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel reopened Erez on August 27 after an 11-day closure following previous clashes, as part of its policy of easing its decade-long air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip when calm is maintained. The sole goods crossing between Israel and Gaza, Kerem Shalom, remains open. There have been months of tension along the border and several military flare-ups, but recent weeks have seen relative calm. Egyptian and United Nations officials have been mediating indirect negotiations on a long-term truce between Israel and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, who have fought three wars since 2008. Khan al-Ahmar (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel's top court on Wednesday upheld an order to raze a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank, clearing the way for the demolition to go ahead despite international pressure. Khan al-Ahmar is located in a key location outside of Jerusalem and international powers say the move will enable Israeli settlement expansion that would cut the West Bank in two, making the prospects of an independent Palestinian state even dimmer. The ruling means that in seven days authorities will be allowed to raze the village, which Israel says was built illegally. "We reject the petitions" against the directive to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, the supreme court panel said in its decision, adding that a temporary order preventing the razing of the village during court hearings "will be cancelled in seven days from today". It will now be down to the authorities to decide when to carry out the demolition after the restriction order ends. The United Nations, European Union and rights groups have opposed the razing of the village, which consists mainly of makeshift structures of tin and wood. "Demolitions undermine prospect for two state solution and are against international law," UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said on Twitter Wednesday, condemning the demolition plans. The Palestinian government said the demolition plans amounted to "ethnic cleansing". In May, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against its demolition after nine years of hearings before various tribunals. The court said Khan al-Ahmar residents had rejected proposals by the state regarding the site of their relocation, and expressed hope "the dialogue" would continue. Activists say the villagers had little alternative but to build without Israeli construction permits that are almost never issued to Palestinians in the large parts of the West Bank where Israel has full control over civil affairs. Story continues -'Stay to the end'- Hussein Abu Dahook, a resident of the hamlet, said the court wanted to "expel Palestinians and replace them with Israelis". "We are already refugees, we were expelled 70 years ago, and they want us to move again?" he said, referring to the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's foundation and forced many Arabs from their homes. But while Israel has "guns and tanks," residents of Khan al-Ahmar would "stay to the end," Abu Dahook vowed. Tawfiq Jabareen, one of the lawyers representing Khan al-Ahmar residents in the petitions, said the court "was following Israel's right-wing government" in its ruling, which he said was "legally wrong". "It is not based on legal arguments and contradicts past supreme court rulings," he told AFP. "This is unfortunately what the government wants, and the court doesn't want to intervene." Jabareen said there were currently no understandings between the state and residents on a voluntary relocation. "Ive never seen someone who's being expelled and whose house is being destroyed sitting idly by," he said. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who oversees the occupation of the West Bank, praised the judges for their decision in the face of "the coordinated attack of hypocrisy by (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas), the left and European states". "Nobody is above the law, nobody will keep us from acting on our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he said. Khan al-Ahmar, which is east of Jerusalem, is located near several major Israeli settlements and close to a highway leading to the Dead Sea. Diplomats from Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the European Union in July expressed their support of the village, and the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Jamie McGoldrick, condemned the Israeli demolition order. Asuncion (AFP) - Paraguay said on Wednesday it was moving its embassy in Israel back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the closure of Jewish state's mission in the South American country in retaliation. Palestinian authorities reacted by deciding to "immediately" open an embassy in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, according to the official news agency Wafa. Paraguay's new President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in mid-August, decided to move back the embassy "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East," his government said. "Israel views with utmost gravity the extraordinary decision by Paraguay, which will cloud bilateral relations," Netanyahu's office retorted on Twitter. The original decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv was taken by Abdo Benitez's predecessor Horacio Cartes shortly after President Donald Trump had announced the United States would relocate its own embassy to Jerusalem. Cartes even joined Netanyahu in the new embassy's opening ceremony in Jerusalem in May. Abdo Benitez was already president elect at that point and had questioned the decision, complaining that he had not been consulted. Announcing the move, his government said it considered the return to Tel Aviv "appropriate," but Netanyahu's office replied that the decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries. Paraguay, though, pointed to a long history of positive relations with Israel. "I don't think this should annoy our Israeli brothers and friends," said Paraguay's Foreign Minister Luis Castiglioni. "There are more than 85 countries that have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv and we're historic allies of Israel. "Don't forget that Paraguay's vote was the decisive vote in the creation of Israel." Story continues In line with most of Latin America, Paraguay was one of the 33 countries that voted in favor -- compared to just 13 against and 10 abstentions -- of the 1947 United Nations two-state partition plan for what was until then British Mandate Palestine. Castiglioni said Paraguay had always been "predictable in its international relations" but that Cartes's move was "a distortion of this tradition and culture of respect for international law" and UN decrees. Trump broke with decades of US policy by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day. His move was followed by Guatemala while the Czech Republic decided to reopen its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to also move its embassy from Tel Aviv. Crisis Phone Numberspecial noticeIf you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255, available 24/7, and tell them you are a veteran. All calls are confidential.1-888-899-9377A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis. Members of the Liverpool Crown Court heard that officers found the stash when they searched his bag (Merseyside Police/PA) A prison officer who was found smuggling crack cocaine, heroin and steroid tablets in fruit juice cartons has been jailed for nine years. Paul Heap, 43, was discovered carrying a bag containing two fruit juice cartons packed with drugs as he went into HMP Altcourse in Liverpool while on sick leave on 28 June last year. Officers found crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and more than 2,000 steroid tablets, a mobile phone, charger and two sim cards in his rucksack. Some of the haul that the officers found (Merseyside Police/PA) Police said the drugs had an estimated value of more than 215,000. Judge David Aubrey QC said Heap had cast a shadow on his colleagues after 14 years working as a prison officer. He said: You had in effect changed sides. You had changed to the other, the dark side, having become involved in that evil trade of the supply of drugs within and to a prison, your prison. You were therby corrupting and corroding the very environment and system that you were supposed to be safeguarding. Your offending was a grave breach of trust. Paul Heap had been working at HMP Altcourse for 14 years. (Merseyside Police/PA Wire) Sentencing the father-of-two, he said: Your head is rightly bowed in shame and by your corrupt dealings you have also brought shame upon your family. The court heard that a search of Heaps car and house, in Hartleys Village, Aintree, revealed more than 9,000 of cash which he initially claimed was savings. He pleaded guilty to seven charges of possessing drugs with intent to supply, three counts of conveying a prohibited article and one charge of possessing cash which was criminal property. Paul Heap had been going under financial difficulties which lead him to agree to a suggestion by an inmate to supply drugs (Merseyside Police/PA) Andrew McInnes, defending, said a psychiatric report showed Heap was suffering a depressive episode and had issues for many years after witnessing a prison suicide. He also said he had financial pressures, including paying the mortgage for the home where he lived with his parents. A financial investigation showed he had relied on credit cards and long and short-term loans to fund his lifestyle until December 2016. Mr McInnes said: It seems, unfortunately, the pressures of the job and pressures financially have led this defendant to accept a suggestion to become involved in this enterprise. Story continues READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation In an interview with police, Heap said he had been put under pressure, although he had not been threatened directly, by a prisoner who he refused to name. Detective Chief Inspector Chris Mossop, head of the Titan prison corruption unit, said: This sentence is a message to those prison staff who are considering taking contraband into prison. Titan continues to set dismantling prison corruption as a priority and with staff dedicated to investigating prison staff suspected of being involved in the supply of drugs and contraband within prisons, if they are convicted they will be looking at similar lengths of sentence. Meghan wearing Queen Marys diamond bandeau tiara on her wedding day (Rex) The Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex have to adhere to many royal protocols from the requirement of neutral hosiery to muted nail polish. However, there are a few that are actually just urban myths, one of which concerns jewellery. Its widely believed that the royals do not wear diamonds in the daytime, but Grant Harrold, also known as The Royal Butler, has told us that this simply isnt true. In fact, the etiquette expert has revealed the more significant event, the more likely you are to see them wearing diamonds specifically when there is a reason. While Kate is unlikely to wear pieces such as the Queens dazzling Nizam of Hyderabad necklace to a daytime engagement, diamond earrings and delicate bracelets are not off-limits. Kate at an evening reception on the royal tour of Canada 2016, wearing the Maple Leaf Brooch (Rex) The Queen and Kate also regularly wear bejewelled brooches, particularly on overseas visits or royal tours. The Duchess of Cambridge has sported the diamond encrusted Maple Leaf brooch, which originally belonged to the Queen Mother, on both her royal tours of Canada in 2011 and 2016, as a tribute to the host nation. Grant added that jewellery would be chosen to reflect the tone of the event and naturally, statement pieces would be kept for evening engagements. He said: Kate and Meghan often wear diamond earrings and both their engagement rings, of course, contain precious stones. But there is one rule, Grant explained, that all royals must follow diamond tiaras can only be worn after 6pm. They are traditionally worn for evening events and are typically reserved for married women. Before marrying into the royal family, we never saw Kate or Meghan wearing a tiara in public. Grant explained: For married ladies, it was a sign of status and would show you were taken and not looking for a husband. For the gentleman, it was a clear sign not to make advances toward the lady in question. The Duchess of Cambridge wore the Cartier Halo tiara on her wedding day in April 2011, while the Duchess of Sussex donned Queen Marys diamond bandeau headpiece when she wed Prince Harry in May earlier this year. Story continues 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 continues power suit streak at the WellChild Awards Prince George and Princess Charlottes roles in royal wedding bridal party confirmed Meghan Markle could feel suffocated in the cycle of royal life, says royal expert Kim Kardashians work to get Alice Marie Johnson out of prison left her inspired to help others and shes zeroed in on the next felon she hopes to free. On Wednesday, Kardashian visited the White House for the second time to join a listening session about prison reform and the clemency process, according to a statement from the White House. The trip comes just hours after the Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars interview on Jason Floms Wrongful Conviction podcast was released, in which she talked about her new quest to help an inmate named Chris Young. During the conversation, the reality star, the daughter of late attorney Robert Kardashian, said shes been talking to Young, a 30-year-old Tennessee native who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a 2010 drug arrest due to mandatory sentences, in hopes of having his sentence commuted. Yesterday, I had a call with a gentleman thats in prison for a drug case got life. Its so unfair. Hes 30 years old. Hes been in for almost 10 years, she said. His prior conviction to get him to his three strikes was marijuana, and then marijuana with less than half a gram of cocaine possession. (Youngs case, which is more complex and includes a gun charge, is detailed here.) Kardashian continued, I was on the phone with the judge that sentenced him to life who resigned because he had never been on the side of having to do something so unfair, referring to former Tennessee Judge Kevin Sharp. Now he is fighting [alongside] us to get [Young] out. It was a mandatory sentence [Sharp] had to deliver, and he knew it was so wrong. And he was like, Im going to make this right. Im going to step down, and Im going to fight to help get him out. Kardashian said she really connected with Young, who has had a perfect record in prison. She said he worries about being dragged into trouble being housed in a maximum security prison where there is violence on a daily basis. Story continues At another point in the interview, Kardashian referenced Cyntoia Brown, a trafficking victim serving a life sentence for murder, saying she had been reading up about her. She also talked about Kevin Coopers case. Kardashians passion for prison reform is clear in the hourlong interview. She talks more about helping to pardon Johnson in June and learning that there are probably 3,000 Alices out there people serving life terms for nonviolent drug-related charges. So she says shes been doing research, including visiting a womens prison in California in July. The place was practically shaking, Kardashian said of her visit to California Institution for Women in Corona. Because she had just helped Johnson and got so much press for it prisoners were yelling, Kim Kardashian is here. Are you going to get us out? Get us out, she recalled. But the experience helped normalize the life of an inmate for her. I totally understood them, she said. However, she admitted, I was overwhelmed leaving. I dont even know where to start. Im learning. She also said that after talking to so many women imprisoned for domestic violence cases, she thought for the first time about helping to free violent criminals too, depending on the circumstances. Kardashian said that she often speaks with Jared Kushner, White House senior adviser and President Trumps son-in-law, who she said is passionate about changing sentencing laws. There are so many flaws in the law, she said. However, she continues, Im hopeful. She also said that when she was first interested in helping Johnson, she reached out to Ivanka Trump because she figured she would totally understand as a woman and mother. The mom of three ended her interview by talking about her passion to make things better for inmates. I didnt know anything going into this, she said, and I still dont know everything. Im learning so much as I go. But I know that I have a voice, and so I am happy to use it. And shes using it at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Labor Day is being observed in the US today, the national holiday commonly celebrated with parades, parties, picnics, cookouts and shopping sprees. Commemorated in the latest Google Doodle, the event was inaugurated in the late 19th century to honour the American worker and the social and economic achievements of organised labour. There is some debate over who first proposed it. Peter McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and vice president of the American Federation of Labor, is often credited with putting forward the initial idea in spring 1882. However, Matthew Maguire, machinist and secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) in New York has also been posited as an alternative source. The first Labor Day was duly held on 5 September 1882 in New York City at the instigation of the CLU, with a street parade held in Union Square. Other cities followed suit and Oregon became the first state to make it an official holiday in 1887. By 1894, 34 states observed the date, prompting the president, Grover Cleveland, to sign a bill into law that June making it an official national holiday. President Clevelands bill coincided with one of the darkest episodes in the history of American industrial relations: the Pullman Strike. The result of unrest born of poor working conditions and wages, the dispute saw 4,000 American Railway Union (ARU) workers employed at the Pullman Company plant on Chicagos South Side engage in a series of wildcat strikes between 11 May and 20 July 1894. Pullman, a manufacturer of railroad cars, ran the local community as a company town, refusing to let its employees own their own homes. When it sacked operatives and slashed wages without lowering rents and utility bills, its staff downed tools in protest. Contemporary American newspaper illustration of freight cars being set alight during the Pullman Strike of 1894 (Rex) Eugene V Debs, head of the newly formed ARU, subsequently stopped the movement of cars to railroads and called for the boycott of all trains that towed a Pullman carriage, the disorder resulting hit all railway lines west of Detroit, Michigan, with 250,000 workers in 27 states joining the cause. Story continues The company stood firm and refused to recognise the protests, resulting in rioting in which 37 people were killed, 57 injured and $80m of damage caused. Cleveland had to send in the US Army to restore order. Labor Day thus played an important role in stabilising, resetting and advancing Americas relationship with its working men and women in the aftermath of this tragedy. Riga (AFP) - A Latvian Catholic priest has been arrested on allegations he raped a mentally handicapped victim of human trafficking, police in the capital Riga said Wednesday ahead of a papal visit. A second man was also arrested on suspicion of trafficking in the case, which has shocked the Baltic state as it prepares to receive Pope Francis from September 22. "One of the suspects 'delivered' the defenceless victim for a fee, the church representative, who was the end buyer, paid the fee and then committed violent sexual crimes against the victim," said Armands Lubarts, chief of a police task force on human trafficking and pimping. The priest, identified as Pavels Zeila, 73, served in the AglonaRezekne diocese in eastern Latvia, which is to host Pope Francis during his four-day tour of the three Baltic states. Zeila's lawyer flatly denied the allegations and the Catholic diocese of Rezekne said Zeila must be presumed innocent. The allegations are the latest to hit the Catholic Church, which was rocked last month by a devastating US report into child sex abuse accusing more than 300 "predator" priests of abusing more than 1,000 children over seven decades in the state of Pennsylvania. The pope has sharpened his criticism on the explosive issue -- but he remains under pressure to make far-reaching changes. Zeila faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of sex abuse, while the other suspect could be sentenced to 12 years if convicted of human trafficking. Dave Majumdar Security, Lockheed Martin is reportedly pitching a new version of the stealthy F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter to the United States Air Force. But the new Raptor variant would not simply be a rehash of the original F-22, instead this new derivative would replace the original jets avionics and mission systems with hardware from Lockheed Martins F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin Has a Big Idea for the Air Force: Merge an F-22 and F-35 Lockheed Martin is reportedly pitching a new version of the stealthy F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter to the United States Air Force. But the new Raptor variant would not simply be a rehash of the original F-22, instead this new derivative would replace the original jets avionics and mission systems with hardware from Lockheed Martins F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It would also incorporate structural modifications and possibly Pratt & Whitney F135 engines or Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) motors in place of the F119 engines that are installed on the current Raptors. As my former colleague Marcus Weisgerber reported for Defense One, the new F-22 derivative would incorporate the F-35s much more modern mission system and other advancements in the stealth coatings and things of that natureciting a person familiar with the proposal. However, bringing the new F-22 derivative to fruitionassuming the U.S. Air Force were interestedwould not be an easy or inexpensive task. The U.S. Air Force deemed restarting production of a slightly modified version of the basic F-22A version of the Raptor to be prohibitively costly in a February 2017 report to Congress. Restoring production lines, re-establishing and re-qualifying the manufacturing and supplier network, procuring critical long lead raw materials, restoring and re-training a skilled production workforce, anticipated re-design of major subsystems, and government costs, the Air Force report states. These non-recurring restart costs could range between $7-$12 billion base year 2016 dollars (BYl 6$). The Air Force estimates procurement unit costs could range between $206 and $216 million (BY16$) for 194 aircraft (Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-2034)... Assuming a buy of 194 aircraft, the total procurement cost is estimated to be between $40 and $42 billion (BY16$). When the total procurement cost is combined with the non-recurring restart estimated costs of $9,869 million (BY16$), the total restart cost is estimated to be $50,306 million (BY16$). Story continues Developing an exportable foreign variant would add even more expense to the effort and could take more than six and half years, according to the Air Force report. Even with foreign assistance in funding a Raptor production restart effort, a new F-22 production line would be expensive. The costs to restart production of the F-22 would be extensive even with the involvement of foreign partners, the Air Force report states. Just as F-22 production would compete for fiscal and contractor resources with other Air Force programs, any F-22 export would compete with FMS [foreign military sales] customers' resources as well, including countries already committed to F-35 purchases. Most nations are not likely to have the resources available for procurement of an export F-22, which extremely limits the ability of FMS to reduce the costs associated with restarting production. Those costs assessments are for a relatively simple restart of the F-22 production line, it does not include the cost, expense and difficulty of modifying the Raptors avionics, structure, propulsion and stealth features. Nor does the report account for the time and expense of conducting a completely new flight test program for what would essentially be a new aircraft in many ways. A new Raptor variant with new avionics, airframe and propulsion systems would be akin to the difference between the Boeing F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which was essentially a completely new aircraft design. The same report noted that the technology for the F-22 is already dated and that foreign great power challengers to the United States such as Russia and China would start to counter the Raptors capabilities by the time production could be restarted. Recommended: What Will the Sixth-Generation Jet Fighter Look Like? Recommended: Imagine a U.S. Air Force That Never Built the B-52 Bomber Recommended: Russia's Next Big Military Sale - To Mexico? Recommended: Would China Really Invade Taiwan? The timeline associated with pursuing F-22 production restart would see new F-22 deliveries starting in the mid-to-late 2020s, the Air Force stated in its report. While the F-22 continues to remain the premier air superiority solution against the current threat, new production deliveries would start at a point where the F-22's capabilities will begin to be challenged by the advancing threats in the 2030 and beyond timeframe. Moreover, restarting the F-22 production line would compete with the U.S. Air Forces next-generation Penetrating Counter Air (PCA) effort to develop a successor to the Raptor. F-22 production re-start would also directly compete against the resources necessary to pursue the Chief of Staff of the Air Force-signed Air Superiority 2030 (AS 2030) Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team (ECCT) Flight Plan, which addresses the critical capabilities required to persist, survive, and be lethal in the rapidly evolving-highly-contested-Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) threat environment, the Air Force said in its report. In fact, even if the Air Force were to receive additional funding specifically for a Raptor production restart effort, the service would prefer to allocate that money towards a next-generation air superiority capability. If funding was provided from outside Air Force Total Obligation Authority (TOA) to assist in the capability and capacity challenges associated with prematurely ending F-22 production, the Air Force recommends that those resources be applied to the capability development plans outlined in the AS 2030 ECCT Flight Plan, the Air Force stated. The United States Air Force has already budgeted nearly a billion dollars to study an Air Superiority Family of Systems to replace the F-22 and the Boeing F-15C Eagle for which the service is currently conducting an analysis of alternative (AOA) for under the moniker Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). The Penetrating Counter Air (PCA) is the air domain platform component of a future family of capabilities for air superiority. But that family of capabilities is more than just the PCA aircraft itself, it includes basing and logistics, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), command and control, as well as other platforms and weaponsboth existing and future. Indeed, for the Air Force, air superiority will likely move beyond just the realm of kinetic actions to include non-kinetic effects such as electronic attack and cyber-warfare. Increasingly, as Russia, China and other potential adversaries advance their capabilities , current American capabilities are increasingly challenged. Thus, ultimately, the Air Force will need to develop a new air superiority fighter to maintain American military supremacy. Our adversaries have advanced both in terms of their platform and weapons maneuverability but we have advanced too, and I think that has fundamentally changed how we will conduct air-to-air operations in the future, Col. Tom Coglitore, chief of Air Combat Commands Air Superiority Core Function Team in an interview with The National Interest some time ago. Dave Majumdar is the defense editor for The National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @davemajumdar. Read full article Martha McSally is probably going to be a Senator, whether she wins in November or not. Those are the signals coming out of Phoenix, where Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday announced former Sen. Jon Kyl will hold the Senate seat left vacant when John McCain died on Aug. 25 at age 81 after a brutal fight with brain cancer. Kyl, who is 76, has committed only to holding the seat through the end of this year, meaning Ducey may get a chance to appoint McSally to the role if she falls short in her election this November against Democratic rival Kyrsten Sinema. In other words, it doesnt really matter how McSally does this fall. Shes going to wind up moving her offices from the House to the Senate in short order. In fact, from a purely political perspective, she might actually benefit from losing; if Ducey, a Republican, puts her in the role in December, shell leapfrog an entire class of newly elected officials who wont take office until January. McSally, a current House member and former military fighter pilot, was one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells dream recruits last year. The first woman to fly combat missions for the U.S. military, shes an appealing candidate for Republicans and independents alike. However, her campaign has hit some speed bumps namely, President Donald Trump. Arizona is among the states where Trumps approval ratings are solid and durable, and McSally was hardly a Trump backer when he ran for President in 2016. She skipped the nominating convention and scolded Trump after a tape of him bragging about sexual assault was broadcast. McSally has tried to recast herself in Trumps image, down to the profanity and anti-immigration rhetoric, but she faced a tough primary where 47% of Republican voters cast their ballots against her. Read More: Martha McSally, Who Learned to Love Donald Trump, Wins Arizona Primary Kyl, by contrast, remains popular in Arizona. He retired in 2013 but has kept his hand in politics, working for a D.C. powerhouse law firm and lobbying operation. Currently, he is guiding Brett Kavanaughs nomination to the Supreme Court as a special White House adviser. Story continues Those factors should allow him to dodge any Trump objection to the role, even though Kyl told reporters in Arizona hes only met Trump once. Kyl also remains close to the McCain family, which jumped the gun a bit by pre-empting Duceys announcement by offering praise. Ducey, too, could find his choice of Kyl a bit of a boost for his own re-election this November. All of this should leave McSally feeling good despite the head-to-head looking tough. In the fall, she faces Sinema, a current colleague in the House who could make history by becoming the first bisexual woman elected to the Senate. Sinema has impressed national Democrats, who have choked down their objections to a voting record that has her siding with Trump about 60% of the time. Sinema is running a well-funded, few-error campaign that may be part of an election that could tilt the Senate into Democratic hands if absolutely everything goes as planned. Arizona law requires Ducey to appoint a member of McCains party to the seat. The law also allows that appointment to carry through until the next election, which would be in 2020. But Kyl seemed to suggest he could step down at the end of the year, which opens the door for McSally, a former Kyl national security adviser, to slide right in. Such a shrewd move fits what McConnell had hoped to see happen. McConnell and his allies wanted to have someone replace McCain who would instantly go into campaign move for 2020 and again in 2022, when that person would run for a fresh, six-year full term in the Senate. Given that Trump is likely to be on the ballot in 2020, seeking his second term, it makes sense for McSally to continue to embrace Trump. If she is appointed this fall and has to run in 2020, theres no point in angering the Trump supporters now to seek a potential edge against Sinema. If McSally wins her race this year and all polling suggests that is a very real possibility that could allow Kyl to stay on, Ducey to appoint someone else who wants the seat in 2020 and 2022 his chief of staffs name is often mentioned or perhaps recruit someone from the business world. McConnell advisers doubt Ducey himself would seek the seat in 2020. One thing is certain, though: McSally has perhaps the beset safety net in politics at the moment. She simply cannot lose. Mercedes-Benz was not known as a leader in the electric car space, emphasizing instead its fleet of hybrids and its progress toward developing more fully autonomous driving. But that could very well change with the EQC, a new fully electric SUV that the company launched on Tuesday with plans to hit showrooms in the United States by 2020. Its the first vehicle that the European automotive giant has launched under its EQ brand (the EQ per a press release, stands for electric intelligence). It was formally introduced today at a premier event in Stockholm. The new EQ is expected to have an estimated range of roughly 200 miles, according to the company, powered by a lithium ion battery with a capacity of 80 kWh. The car will be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in under five seconds, though these specs are just early estimates. Mercedez-Benz's new electric car will boast a range of 200 miles, and will hit the roads some time in 2020. Will the EQ Be Able to Compete With the Model X? At first glance, it seems like the EQ is meant to compete with the Tesla Model X, Teslas SUV which boasts a nearly 300 mile range and can seat up to seven people. In terms of towing capacity in particular, the Model X has turned heads, and it retails for more than $70,000 after accounting for the savings and tax credits. Jaguars I-Pace sells for $69,500, meaning its relatively safe to say that the EQ will also retail in the $70,000 range to be competitive. Most of Teslas competitors have focused on higher end makes: Porsche recently unveiled the Mission E Cross Turismo at the Geneva Motor Show. Audi has also featured prominently in the electric car race, debuting a prototype of its E-Tron in March. Its expected to have a 311 mile range. These announcements show how the race to build the fully electric car is heating up, while also shedding light on how audacious Teslas ambition to develop and begin shipping its mass market Tesla Model 3 by this year really was. The push to ramp up production has taken a toll on the company, particularly CEO Elon Musk, though the company has met the summers production targets. Story continues For its part, Mercedes-Benz executives told Bloomberg, its going all in on electric vehicles, with plans to have at least 22 fully electric makes by the year 2022. Audi plans to have 20 electric vehicles and hybrids by the year 2025. Photos via Mercedez-Benz, Mercedes-Benz More From Inverse Brussels (AFP) - EU lawmaker Manfred Weber, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on Wednesday announced his bid to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission next year. Weber's move marks the start of a year-long rush for top jobs in the Commission, the European Union's executive arm, and other major institutions as anti-EU populism buffets the bloc. "I hope to be the EPP's candidate for the European elections in 2019 and become the next president of the European Commission," the leader of the biggest grouping in the European Parliament said on Twitter. "Europe needs a new departure and more democracy," tweeted Weber, a 46-year-old Bavarian who heads the centre-right European's People's Party (EPP). Weber, a member of the conservative CSU, an ally of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told reporters he wants to give Europe "back to the people", in a nod to those who see the EU as bureaucratic and elitist. He also wants to heal deep divisions that have seen British voters decide to leave the bloc and some newer members from eastern Europe refuse to admit migrants. "I deeply believe that only together we will be strong. Otherwise Europe has no chance in today's world," Weber said. In Berlin, Merkel hailed Weber's decision. She noted that others may come forward, and that the EPP as a whole would decide, but added: "I support Manfred Weber's candidacy." Weber is the first to announce his candidacy within the EPP on the eve of the official period for candidates to declare themselves, a process that ends October 17. The EPP will then decide on its candidate at a conference in Helsinki on 7 and 8 November. But the outcome depends not only on the various candidates but also the result of elections across the 27 member states between May 23 and 26, 2019 for a new European Parliament. A summit of EU leaders will follow the next month to discuss appointments to top jobs in light of the results. Story continues Juncker, a fellow EPP member and former Luxembourg premier, was picked in 2014 by a new and controversial "Spitzenkandidat" system -- from the German for "lead candidate." - National sovereignty - Under the system, the biggest political group or coalition in the European Parliament nominates its candidate for the job. The European Council of national leaders then makes the final choice, "taking account" of the parliament's nomination, in the vaguely worded provision of the EU treaties. The whole parliament then gets a vote at the end. Members of the European Parliament have argued that this is a more democratic method than the backroom deals between heads of member states that preceded it. But some national leaders say it is in turn a stitch-up by Brussels-based political groups that harms national sovereignty. It is not clear yet if the national leaders could upend the process. Media in Germany, the EU's most powerful country, have reported Merkel wants a German to head the Commission, abandoning her bid to have a fellow national run the European Central Bank. Besides the ECB, a new head of the European Council and a new president of the European Parliament must be named. Microwaves possible cause, not 'prime suspect' in US personnel illness in Cuba: Doctor originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The "health attacks" on American personnel in Cuba have perplexed U.S. investigators and medical teams for months now -- but despite recent reports that researchers are focused on microwaves, there is still no "prime suspect," the doctor leading an investigation tells ABC News. Nearly two years after the first U.S. personnel reported symptoms, the investigation into what caused them and possibly who is behind them remains ongoing. Now, with one medically confirmed case at the consulate in Guangzhou, China, and possibly others there, the challenge of solving this mystery has only grown, even as the State Department takes steps to slowly rebuild the embassy in Havana. The evidence suggests the attacks were not by a sonic weapon, as reported when the illnesses first came to light. Instead, the screeching or buzzing sound embassy employees reported hearing was a "side effect," according to Dr. Douglas Smith of the University of Pennsylvania, who said it could be a hint at a different kind of "exposure" the affected individuals experienced. A total of 26 Americans working out of the U.S. Embassy in Havana have now been medically confirmed to have symptoms consistent with mild traumatic brain injury or brain network disorder. But Smith, who heads the Center for Brain Injury and Repair and leads the team that has examined 21 of the affected individuals, says they still do not know what kind of exposure is responsible, with microwaves one of a handful of possibilities. "Yes that's on the list, but we haven't determined it is the source," Smith told ABC News. That matches what the State Department has said, too, with an official confirming to ABC News Tuesday, "The situation has not changed: There is no known source or cause." Led by the FBI and the State Department's Diplomatic Security, the U.S. investigation "is working diligently to determine the cause of the symptoms, as well as to develop mitigation strategies," another official said Monday. Story continues Another leading researcher is arguing the symptoms of U.S. employees "are consistent with the effects of RF/MW," or radio-frequency/microwave radiation, in a forthcoming paper in the medical journal "Neural Computation." Dr. Beatrice Golomb of the University of California, San Diego, said the experiences are also similar, with individuals hearing targeted sounds like chirping or ringing and reporting sensations like pressure or vibrations. The majority of the U.S. workers who Smith and his team studied and reported hearing a noise also said they experienced a "pressure-like" or "vibratory" sensation. Golomb's study follows a similar one in February by Dr. James Lin of the University of Illinois, who argued the public accounts of personnel's experiences seemed to match "a targeted beam of high-power microwave pulse radiation." To help determine the source, Smith and his team are now using advanced MRI technology to study the white matter of these individuals' brains. "Since this group looks like concussion patients, we are studying their brains to see if there are similar kinds of changes in white matter. If that's the case, that might point to the source," he said. White matter is the tissue in the brain that contains nerve fibers that connect brain cells and is responsible for transmitting messages between different parts of the brain and the body. PHOTO: Marines stand outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Feb. 21, 2018. (Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images, FILE) Those U.S. personnel were confirmed to have debilitating symptoms such as cognitive difficulties like memory loss or inability to concentrate; persistent trouble sleeping or seeing; headaches and balance problems; and auditory problems like tinnitus and hearing loss, as detailed in a Journal of American Medical Association report by Smith and his team published in March. In July, JAMA published four letters critical of that study and arguing that mass hysteria could be responsible for the reported symptoms. Cuba has denied responsibility for the illnesses, at times also casting doubt on whether they are real. But Smith pushed back strongly against the idea of mass hysteria, saying each patient went through a series of neurological exams, "some of which are impossible to fake," with several specialists who are "uniformly all convinced there is something there -- what we call brain network disorder." The team's MRI study hopes to provide evidence of brain matter changes to dispel that idea entirely. The National Institutes of Health and the Canadian government are conducting replication studies to verify Smith's team's results, he said. About half a dozen Canadian citizens have been similarly affected, but sources tell ABC News they were likely collateral damage in attacks on Americans. After weeks and months of recovery and rehabilitation, including cognitive therapies, all the personnel Smith has worked with have shown improvement: "There were some people who had spontaneous improvement," including some who improved before they saw his team of doctors, he said, but, "Others without rehabilitation would have continued to suffer substantially." Still, it's unclear who in Cuba would have this kind of weapon that could inflict this damage, especially since it has now affected one employee at the consulate in Guangzhou, with symptoms "consistent with what happened in Cuba," according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. State Department officials have told ABC News that Cuba must know who is responsible, given the country's surveillance state, but they have not ruled out others' involvement, including Russia. Smith told ABC News he was aware of "a lot of research, escalated in the past few years, to use energy weapons to take down drones" or other aircraft and to put words in people's brains, but no one had been successful on that yet. Last week, the State Department announced it had taken some steps following an Accountability Review Board investigation into its response to what former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called "health attacks." The review found "significant vacancies in security staffing," a lack of resources in department's Bureau of Medical Services, and "some challenges with information sharing," but overall it rated the response as "adequate and properly implemented." A handful of steps have been taken since to strengthen the response to the issue, including a point person to handle the issue and liaison with the affected personnel. One major change is moving the remaining U.S. employees in Havana into fewer residences, a State Department official told ABC News. The State Department ordered a drawdown of its personnel last fall, citing the health incidents, and there are now only a dozen or so employees working at the embassy. For months that restricted staff has been unable to provide full consular services for American citizens and no visa services to Cubans -- and the State Department even warned in a travel advisory that U.S. citizens could be affected as well in a travel advisory. But after a "thorough review," the State Department quietly lowered that advisory a week and a half ago to its "Level Two: Exercise Increased Caution," an official confirmed, essentially admitting there was no evidence private citizens had been targeted. The embassy is now also providing the full array of U.S. citizen services because of staffing changes, but there are no plans to increase staffing at this point, a State Department official told ABC News. The embassy is currently led by an interim Charge dAffaires, Mara Tekach. Previously a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs and Minister Counselor at the U.S. embassies in Mexico and Haiti, Tekach replaced Philip Goldberg, an experienced ambassador who only took the post in February. Tekach, who as the deputy chief of mission was elevated to charge on July 20, is said to be in the post for longer-term than the six-month rotations of her two predecessors. A teenager is among five people arrested on suspicion of being members of National Action (Rex) Police have arrested five people including a 17-year-old boy suspected of being members of a banned far-right terrorist group. The youth, from Nottingham, was arrested by counter-terrorism officers after a series of raids across the country, West Midlands Police said. Two men, aged 22 and 28, both from Birmingham, a 23-year-old man and a woman, 22, both from Halifax, West Yorkshire, were all arrested on Wednesday. The five have been detained on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organisation, National Action, which was banned in December 2016 by former Home Secretary Amber Rudd. The suspects are all being held at a police station in the West Midlands, after an operation carried out by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit in conjunction with CTP North East and East Midlands CTIU. Far-right group National Action is a proscribed organisation (Rex) A number of addresses are also being searched in connection with the arrests. A police spokesman said: The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led. Ms Rudd made National Action, the first extreme right-wing group to be proscribed by the Government since the Second World War, a banned group in December 2016. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation However, in March 2017, an undercover investigation by ITV found that its members were still meeting in secret. In the official list of proscribed groups, it is described as a racist neo-Nazi group that was established in 2013 and has branches across the UK. It is the first extreme right-wing group to be outlawed in the UK. National Action was banned in December 2016 by Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary at the time (Rex) The proscription means that being a member of or inviting support for the organisation is a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Story continues The group has held numerous marches and demonstrations on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, and celebrated the election of Donald Trump as US President. When she banned the group, Ms Rudd said: National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology, and I will not stand for it. It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone. Christopher Lythgoe, the groups leader, was jailed for eight years in July after he was arrested by police investigating a plot to kill West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper and a female police officer. On National Wildlife Day, this story is a sad reminder of what innocent animals across the globe endure. According to BBC, 87 elephant carcasses were recently discovered near the borders of the well-known Okavango Delta wildlife sanctuary in Botswana. The heartbreaking discovery was made by Elephants Without Borders, a charity dedicated to conserving wildlife and nature in southern Africa. The non-profit did an aerial sweep of the areas surrounding the sanctuary as part of a government elephant census and found the animals, all of which they believe are victims of poachers. After closer inspection it appears that most of the animals were killed for their tusks within the past three weeks. The scale of elephant poaching is by far the largest Ive seen or read about anywhere in Africa to date, Dr. Mike Chase of Elephants Without Borders told the BBC. The unsettling rise in elephant poaching is aligned with the recent decision to disarm Botswanas anti-poaching units. Poaching has depleted Botswanas elephant population, the largest in the world, adding to Africas overall elephant losses; according to Elephants Without Borders, one-third of the continents elephants have been killed in the past decade. RELATED VIDEO: Prince William Pens Heartfelt Op-Ed to End Illegal Wildlife Trade Unfortunately, the conservation group is only halfway through its aerial survey of Botswana, which means the non-profit may discover even more dead elephants in the days ahead. Dr. Chase told BBC that for Botswana to come back from these horrible losses, the country needs to recommit itself to the strict anti-poaching practices that once made it a safe haven for thousands of elephants. Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay, his office said, after the South American country announced Wednesday it was moving its mission back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Foreign Ministry to close the Israeli Embassy in Paraguay," Netanyahu's office said in a tweet. "Israel views with utmost gravity the extraordinary decision by Paraguay which will cloud bilateral relations." Paraguay's announcement that it was moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv came little more than three months after it had transferred it to Jerusalem following a similar move by Washington. US President Donald Trump's deeply controversial move to recognise the disputed city as capital of Israel sparked outrage among Palestinians who see Jerusalem's east as the capital of their future state. In May, then-president of Paraguay Horacio Cartes met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem after his country and Guatamala opened their embassies there. His successor President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in August, decided to move it back "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East." The Palestinians responded by saying they would "immediately" move to open an embassy in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, according to official news agency Wafa. Foreign affairs minister Riyad al-Maliki said the Palestinian move was "a mark of esteem for the courageous position of the Paraguayan government". Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Nissan is recalling 153,047 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada because their ignition switches could wear out over time, causing the car to shut off while in motion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that a spring within the ignition may fail after six years of normal use. Transport Canada, the Canadian government agency responsible for vehicle recalls in that country, issued an official recall notice and recommends owners of affected vehicles remove all objects from the ignition key ring, such as additional keys, key chains, etc. A Nissan spokesman told CR that the recall is happening out of an abundance of caution, and that the automaker is not aware of any incidents related to this condition. In 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million vehicles with faulty ignition switches that could shut the car off while driving and potentially disable power steering, brakes, and airbags. The defective GM switches were linked to at least 13 deaths and 47 crashes. Stay informed about recalls that might affect your vehicle using our Car Recall Tracker. Create a free account now to become a CR member. The Details Vehicles recalled: Certain 2017 and 2018 Juke SUVs, Frontier pickup trucks, Sentra and Versa sedans, Versa Note hatchbacks, and NV200, NV1500, NV2500, and NV3500 vans sold in the U.S. The Nissan Taxi and Canada-only Nissan Micra are also included in the recall, as is the Chevrolet City Express van (which is made by Nissan). Vehicles with push-to-start keyless ignitions are not included. The problem: Ignition systems that use a mechanical key may experience reduced durability after several years of normal use, the automaker said. In extreme cases, under specific vibration conditions, the key could potentially move out of the ON position while the vehicle is in motion. ' Story continues NHTSA said that a vehicle's air bag system would "continue to be powered through built-in electrical capacity reserve" if the ignition shut off, but "this reserve will deplete unless the vehicle is restarted," which increases the risk of injury from a crash. The fix: Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the mechanical key ignition switch assembly at no cost to owners, Nissan said. How to contact the manufacturer: Nissan plans to notify owners of vehicles included in the recall by October 19, 2018. NHTSA campaign number: 18V551 Check to see whether your vehicle has an open recall: Plug in the 17-digit vehicle identification number at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. It will tell you whether your vehicle has any open recalls that need to be addressed. Updated: This article was updated to reflect new information released by NHTSA. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2018, Consumer Reports, Inc. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's trade deficit narrowed to Can$114 million (US$87 million) in July, as rising prices pushed up the value of its crude oil exports, the government statistical agency said Wednesday. The deficit was the smallest in two years, beating expectations after a Can$743 million shortfall the previous month. According to Statistics Canada, exports rose 0.8 percent in July to a record Can$51.3 billion. Increased exports of energy products and passenger vehicles were partially offset by lower exports of aircraft, it said. July marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase in crude oil exports, which have more than doubled over the past two years. Crude oil exports volumes actually fell in July, but their total value was up because of prices rising 9.4 percent. Imports, meanwhile, declined slightly to Can$51.4 billion in July, as imports of aircraft mainly from the United States and gold from Japan, Brazil and the Dominican Republic fell, partially offset by higher oil imports. In trade with the US, Canada posted its largest surplus in a decade, widened from Can$4.1 billion in June to Can$5.3 billion in July, despite recent friction between the two neighbors. Exports to the US in the month rose 3.3 percent to Can$38.4 billion while imports from the United States edged down 0.1 percent to Can$33.1 billion. Canada and the United States were due to resume negotiations on Wednesday to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. The talks have been dogged by US President Donald Trump's threats to leave Canada on the sidelines and proceed with Mexico, which reached a deal with Washington last week. Further straining the relationship, Trump imposed tariffs on imports of Canadian steel and aluminum in June, and Canada hit back the following month with the same on imports of US goods. Canadian exports of steel subject to the 25 percent customs tariff rose 16.4 percent in July, while aluminum exports subject to a 10 percent tariff fell 2.0 percent. Imports of steel from the United States fell 39.6 percent while aluminum imports fell 5.2 percent. NAURU (AP) Leaders in the Pacific met this week to forge new agreements on climate change and other pressing regional issues, but it was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her absent baby who stole the limelight. While some people in New Zealand grumbled that Ardern had cost taxpayers thousands of dollars by scheduling an extra flight to the Pacific Islands Forum to minimize time away from her baby, Nauru's President Baron Waqa penned Ardern and 11-week-old Neve a tribute. During a break in an all-day's leaders retreat on Wednesday, Waqa grabbed a guitar and along with a group of elders sang the song he titled "Aotearoa our friend, Jacinda our new star in the sky." The first word is the indigenous Maori name for New Zealand. The lyrics included the line: "A little baby star is born." Ardern disputed whether her trip had cost taxpayers anything, saying the military had told her they had a fixed budget which they could use on extra trips like hers or training exercises. "So I have been advised it cost the taxpayer no additional funding," she said. Ardern added she would have been the first New Zealand leader in almost 50 years to miss the forum, aside from those who had been campaigning during an election cycle. "I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't," she said, adding "At the end of the day, I am Prime Minister. I have a job to do." Barry Soper, who writes a column for the New Zealand Herald newspaper, questioned whether the trip was necessary: "If Ardern decided not to go because of baby Neve, surely the family-focused Pacific leaders, more than any others, would have understood." Ardern, 38, in June became just the second elected world leader in modern times to give birth while holding office, after Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto gave birth to daughter Bakhtawar in 1990. The leaders at the forum were signing a new security agreement called the Boe Declaration that identifies climate change as a major threat to security in the Pacific, since low-lying islands might cease to exist if sea levels keep rising. Story continues The declaration also addresses crimes such as drug smuggling and illegal fishing that cross borders, as well as cybercrime and health concerns such as communicable diseases and pandemics. The agreement was the centerpiece of the three-day meeting. Earlier Wednesday, Pacific fishing and community groups signed an agreement with the European Union to improve sustainable fishing and ocean governance in the region. Under the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership, the EU will provide 35 million euros ($41 million) and Sweden will provide 10 million euros ($12 million) over five years. The program will provide direct assistance to regional organizations. Tensions over China and refugees ran high at the forum after Nauru on Tuesday accused a Chinese official of bullying and temporarily detained a New Zealand journalist who had been interviewing a refugee. Nauru is home to more than 600 refugees who had tried to reach Australia by boat. The island's economy relies on the money Australia spends on keeping the refugees there. Australia designed the policy of keeping boat refugees and asylum seekers far from its shores to deter more of them from trying to make the voyage, but many critics say the policy violates human rights. ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad to protest the killing of a Pakistani villager in "unprovoked firing" by Indian troops in the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Abdul Rauf was fatally shot by Indian security forces Tuesday in the Kotkoterra Sector while grazing animals, according to a Pakistani military statement. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian diplomat and condemned what it said was an unprovoked cease-fire violation by Indian forces. "The cease-fire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Indian military said no such incident took place Tuesday in the disputed region. Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, however, said soldiers killed an "intruder" on the Indian side after he sneaked in from Pakistan on Wednesday in the Rajouri sector. He did not give any other details. The developments come as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived on a short visit to Islamabad before going to India. Pakistan and India often exchange fire in Kashmir along the Line of Control that serves as a frontier in the disputed region, divided between the two nuclear-armed south Asian neighbors. The two sides signed a cease-fire agreement in 2003 but both often violate it and accuse each other of 'unprovoked firing'. The two nations claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it since they gained independence from British rule. ___ Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report. ASUNCION (Reuters) - Paraguay will move its embassy in Israel back to Tel Aviv, reversing a May decision by former President Horacio Cartes to move the diplomatic site to Jerusalem, the South American country's foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday. "Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East," Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said. Cartes had traveled to Israel to inaugurate the new embassy in May. His successor Mario Abdo, also a member of the conservative Colorado party, took office last month. (Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Writing by Luc Cohen) ATLANTA (AP) Vice President Mike Pence is set to make a return trip to Georgia in support of Republican Brian Kemp's bid for governor. The White House confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Pence is scheduled to headline a Sept. 13 event in Atlanta. An email invitation from the Georgia Republican Party said the event was slated as a "Victory Dinner." Other prominent Republican invitees include Gov. Nathan Deal and U.S. Senators David Perdue and Johnny Isakson. The trip will be Pence's second foray into the race, after headlining an event in Macon in July. President Donald Trump had thrown his administration's weight behind Kemp just days before Pence's initial appearance. Trump tweeted his "full and total" endorsement of Kemp, helping to tip the scales before his July 24 Republican primary runoff against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Cagle, who has since endorsed Kemp, is also an invited guest at the event. Kemp faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in November's general election. Abrams has secured the backing of former President Barack Obama. ___ Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report. Montreal (AFP) - A Canadian court has sparked the ire of the oil industry by suspending the expansion of a pipeline to the Pacific over environmental concerns -- and dealt a huge blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's climate plan. The Federal Court of Appeal on August 30 ordered construction halted of the Trans Mountain pipeline connecting the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast, saying regulators had failed to consider the impact of increased tanker traffic to the port of Vancouver on local killer whales. The Trudeau government, which regularly calls for global action to stem climate change, authorized the expansion of the pipeline in late 2016, along with two other new conduits. "It was a compromise to convince oil-rich provinces to do more in the climate fight, not less," said an editorial in the daily La Presse on Monday. Canada committed at a meeting in Paris in 2015 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, and by 80 percent by 2050. In order to achieve this lofty goal, Ottawa set a national carbon price with incremental increases to Can$50 per tonne of CO2 pollution in 2022. Alberta, which sits on the world's third largest oil reserve, bought into the plan, on condition new pipelines were built to reach new exports markets and ease its reliance on the United States. As the oil sands are Canada's single largest source of carbon emissions, its participation in the national carbon scheme is crucial. But after last week's court ruling, Alberta backed out of the deal. "Signing on to the federal climate plan can't happen without the Trans Mountain pipeline," Alberta Premier Rachel Notley told reporters. "With the Trans Mountain halted and the work on it halted, until the federal government gets its act together, Alberta is pulling out of the federal climate plan. And let's be clear, without Alberta, that plan isn't worth the paper it's written on," she said. Story continues In doing so, the province joins Ontario and Saskatchewan in vowing to fight a new carbon tax on strapped Canadians. "The Trudeau government is losing an ally in promoting Canada's plan to fight global warming," Pierre-Olivier Pineau, chair of energy management at HEC Montreal, told AFP. Greenpeace said Alberta's withdrawal "further weakens Canada's climate plan," which it contended was already insufficient to meet Canada's target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. - Credibility concerns - Calling on Trudeau "not to be pulled further down by Alberta", the environmental NGO urged the prime minister to "turn 180 degrees and align his policies to respect the Paris Agreement." Because Canada's provinces have jurisdiction over environmental matters, the federal government negotiated emissions targets with them last year. But it warned it would step in and unilaterally impose a carbon price if the provinces failed to advance their respective climate plans. Each had until September 1 to submit their plan to the federal environment ministry. British Columbia already had a carbon tax, while Quebec was part of a carbon market with California. Alberta, meanwhile, had set a CAn$30 per tonne carbon price in 2017. Pineau noted that Notley's social democratic government was only cancelling future increases of its carbon tax over the next three years. Trudeau -- who was scheduled to meet with Notley on Wednesday -- has insisted that the Trans Mountain pipeline will be built. His government bet big on Trans Mountain, buying it for Can$4.5 billion (US$3.5 billion) from Kinder Morgan, which had balked at the financial risks posed by interprovincial feuding and protests over its construction. Trudeau could seek relief from the Supreme Court, but he has signalled that he intends to first try to assuage the environmental concerns of the indigenous tribes that brought the court challenge. But the prime minister still faces significant obstacles -- Alberta's skittishness, legal challenges by Saskatchewan and Ontario, and a vocal Conservative opposition that is promising to nix the carbon tax if it wins election next year. "If Justin Trudeau continues to irrationally defend this pipeline, he will similarly defend his climate plan, he will press ahead if only to maintain his credibility," said Pineau. London (AFP) - Britain has issued European arrest warrants for two Russians suspected of poisoning a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in March with a nerve agent that later killed a woman in the same area of southwest England. Here is a timeline of events since the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury: - Slumped on a bench - Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. Three days later, with the Skripals in critical condition, police say the pair were poisoned with a highly-toxic nerve agent. On March 12, British Prime Minister Theresa May says the military-grade nerve agent has been identified as part of the Novichok ("Newcomer") group developed by the former Soviet Union. May says it is "highly likely Russia was responsible". Moscow rejects the claim. - Diplomatic backlash - On March 14, London says Moscow is "culpable" and vows to expel 23 Russian diplomats. It suspends high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow. The next day, France, Germany and the United States also blame Russia. On March 17, Moscow says it will expel 23 British diplomats, among other measures. - Mass expulsions - A raft of Britain's allies announce on March 26 that they are also expelling Russian diplomats because of the affair. Washington says it is throwing out 60 Russian "spies" and closing the Russian consulate in Seattle. By March 27, the overall number of Russian diplomats expelled is near 130. Two days later Russia announces the expulsion of 60 US diplomats and the closure of the US consulate in Saint Petersburg. On March 30, it says diplomats from another 23 countries, almost all European Union (EU) members, will have to leave. At least 121 diplomats, including those from the United States, are targeted. - Source not verified - On April 3 the British military facility analysing the nerve agent -- which appears to have been put on the door of Skripal's home -- says it has "not verified the precise source" of the substance. The Kremlin demands an apology. Story continues Yulia Skripal is released from hospital on April 10. Two days later, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which had also taken samples in March, confirms Britain's findings on the nerve agent but does not apportion blame. Sergei Skripal is discharged from hospital on May 18. - Two more poisoned - On July 4, police reveal that two people are in a critical condition after being found unconscious days earlier in the village of Amesbury, around 12 kilometres (eight miles) from Salisbury. Later they confirm that the man and woman had come into contact with Novichok. The situation is declared a "major incident" and counter-terrorism police take the lead in the investigation. Britain's interior minister says Moscow must clarify its use of the poison, drawing a Russian rebuke that London was playing "dirty political games" and must apologise. - Sturgess dies - Police say tests on the couple -- Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45 -- show they had been exposed to Novichok. They visited Salisbury the day before falling ill. On July 8, police announce that Sturgess has died, and launch a murder investigation. - Arrest warrant - On September 5, British prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. May tells parliament they "are officers of the Russian military intelligence service" known as the GRU. A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman accuses Britain of "manipulating information". Japan scrambled Wednesday to evacuate passengers trapped at a major airport when a tanker slammed into its only access bridge during the most powerful typhoon to hit the country for 25 years. Typhoon Jebi left a trail of destruction Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring hundreds more as it battered western Japan with ferocious winds and lashing rain. As Japan was still picking up the pieces, the northern island of Hokkaido was jolted by a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake early Thursday, although there was no tsunami warning. Authorities said an 82-year-old man was showing no signs of life after falling down the stairs in his home during the quake, Kyodo news agency reported. A total of seven houses had collapsed on the island, firefighters said according to the agency, with rescue attempts underway to free anyone trapped in the rubble. The typhoon packed winds up to 216 kilometres (135 miles) per hour, which ripped off roofs, overturned trucks and swept a 2,500-ton tanker into the bridge to Kansai International Airport, the region's main international gateway and a national transport hub. The damage to the bridge left the artificial island housing the airport temporarily cut off, stranding 3,000 travellers overnight as high waves flooded the runways and some buildings, knocking out the power. On Wednesday boats began ferrying people out of the airport, and buses began to run on one side of the damaged bridge after safety inspections. "We're very sorry" that the passengers had to stay overnight in the airport, an airport official told a press conference. "We'll transport all the travellers who wish to get out of the airport by the end of today, but we'll continue the bus and ferry service tomorrow," he said. But the official added it was unclear when the airport, which operates over 400 flights a day, could be reopened, while Kyodo News said it could take up to a week. "There were about 3,000 people stranded at the airport, but we think about 2,000 to 2,500 of them already got out. We think there are not many people left," a transport ministry official told AFP. Story continues Airport spokeswoman Yurino Sanada told AFP: "We don't know how many hours we need to bring everyone out but we're doing our best to finish it by the end of today." Rescued passengers spoke of their discomfort in sweltering post-typhoon temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. "We had a blackout so there was no air conditioning. It was hot," a woman told public broadcaster NHK after being ferried to Kobe. "I'd never expected this amount of damage from a typhoon." - 'Industrial heartland' - Typhoon Jebi made landfall at midday on Tuesday and moved quickly over the mainland, smashing through the major manufacturing area around Osaka -- Japan's second city -- wrecking infrastructure and destroying homes. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said 11 people had been killed and 470 injured. According to Kansai Electric, more than 400,000 households were still without power. In the tourist magnet of Kyoto -- home to ancient temples and shrines -- it brought down part of the ceiling of the main railway station. In nearby Osaka, the high winds peeled scaffolding from a multi-storey building. Businesses, factories and schools in the affected area shut down while the storm barrelled across the country, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights, ferry services and some bullet trains. Pictures showed containers piled up like dominos and vehicles thrown together by the wind, with others overturned. More than 1.2 million people had been advised to leave their homes as Jebi approached the Kansai area -- Japan's industrial heartland -- although it was unclear how many had heeded the warning. Around 16,000 people spent the night in shelters, local media said. Economists said it was too early to gauge the storm's impact on local industry, with much depending on how long the airport remained closed. Around 10 percent of Japan's exports leave from Kansai airport, said Yusuke Ichikawa, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute. "Logistics could be affected as it may take time for Kansai airport to restart operations," he told AFP. But with other airports and ports nearby, companies might be able to reroute shipments to minimise disruption, he added. - 'Utmost efforts' - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tweeting on his official account, said the government was battling to get the airport back online. "We continue to make utmost efforts to respond to disaster damage and restore infrastructure," he said. Japan is regularly hit by powerful typhoons in the summer and autumn, many of which cause flooding and landslides in rural areas. And Jebi was far from the deadliest Japan has seen in recent years. In 2011 Typhoon Talas killed 82 people in the area, while in 2013 a storm that struck south of Tokyo left 40 people dead. Earlier this year, torrential rains lashed the west of the country, sparking flooding that killed more than 200 people. MOSCOW (AP) Russia says it has launched airstrikes targeting militant infrastructure in Syria's northern Idlib province, where the government is expected to launch a major offensive against the rebels' last major stronghold. The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that four jets struck targets linked to an al-Qaida-linked group, including a weapons depot and a launch pad for drones that Russia says have targeted its military bases in Syria. The Russian military says it has shot down dozens of hostile drones. Russia first intervened in Syria in 2015, helping to turn the tide of the civil war in favor of President Bashar Assad's forces. Eight people were reported killed Tuesday in airstrikes on Idlib. The Russian military says it struck militant targets far from residential areas. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of 'destructive' meddling in Nicaragua's affairs for calling a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis in the Central American country. Human rights groups say more than 300 people have died in Nicaragua during four months of anti-government unrest that have seen police and the military open fire on protesters opposed to President Daniel Ortega's rule. Russia, China and Bolivia opposed the US-chaired meeting, but US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the top UN body "should not -- it cannot -- be a passive observer as Nicaragua continues to decline into a failed, corrupt and dictatorial state." "The Security Council is being transformed into something of a judge over Nicaragua," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the meeting, the first to be held by the council since large-scale protests erupted in April. Nebenzia described the US decision to raise Nicaragua at the UN council as a "glaring and grim example of destructive foreign intervention" and accused Washington of stoking division in the country. "Following today's discussion, polarization in Nicaragua will only worsen. The initiators are indeed seeking to achieve that." Russia argued that the situation was "stabilizing" and that differences between the government and its opponents should be resolved "through direct peaceful dialogue, with pressure from abroad." Haley drew a parallel with Venezuela, arguing that the economic and political crisis there was caused by the failed policies of President Nicolas Maduro. "Daniel Ortega and Nicolas Maduro are cut from the same corrupt cloth. They are both students of the same failed ideology. And they are both dictators who live in fear of their own people," said Haley. More than 25,000 Nicaraguans have fled to Costa Rica since the start of the crisis, and others have found refuge in Honduras, Panama and Mexico, she said. Story continues China, Russia and Bolivia argued that the crisis in Nicaragua did not pose a threat to international peace and security, which, according to the UN charter, would make it a matter to be addressed by the Security Council. Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Denis Moncada told the council that "this meeting is a clear interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua" and a violation of the UN charter. Ortega kept it simpler. He told thousands of supporters later that "if the United States wants to help the Nicaraguan people, to contribute to peace, the best thing they can do is not mess with Nicaragua!" A UN human rights mission last week released a report detailing serious abuses in Nicaragua including disproportionate use of force by police, which resulted in killings, disappearances, detentions and torture. That four-member mission was forced to leave Nicaragua on Saturday at the government's request. A new way to capture the power of the sun and successfully split water into hydrogen and oxygen by altering how plants conduct photosynthesis has been invented by scientists. Plants convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis, which releases oxygen into the air when plants split water molecules to gain energy. Almost all of the Earth's oxygen, which animals need to breathe, is produced via photosynthesis - and hydrogen is a potentially unlimited source of renewable energy. In a study led by researchers at St John's College, University of Cambridge, scientists have used semi-artificial photosynthesis to develop new ways to capture the sun's energy. The research could revolutionise renewable energy production, and the paper published in Nature Energy explains how the scientists used solar energy to split water molecules. Using biological components and human technology, the team used natural sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Katarzyna Soko, the first author on the paper and a PhD student at St John's, said: "Natural photosynthesis is not efficient because it has evolved merely to survive so it makes the bare minimum amount of energy needed - around 1-2% of what it could potentially convert and store." Although artificial photosynthesis has been around for decades, it isn't used for renewable energy because of its dependence on expensive and toxic catalysts - meaning it can't be used on an industrial scale. The study is part of a growing field of semi-artificial photosynthesis using enzymes instead of these catalysts. Ms Soko and her colleagues improved on the amount of energy produces and stored, as well as managed to reactivate a process in algae that has been dormant for millennia. Ms Soko explained: "Hydrogenase is an enzyme present in algae that is capable of reducing protons into hydrogen. "During evolution this process has been deactivated because it wasn't necessary for survival but we successfully managed to bypass the inactivity to achieve the reaction we wanted - splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen." Story continues The researcher said that she hopes her findings will contribute towards new inventions helping people capture renewable solar energy. Dr Erwin Reisner, the head of the Reisner Laboratory, and a fellow of St John's College - as well as one of the paper's authors - described the research as a "milestone". He explained: "This work overcomes many difficult challenges associated with the integration of biological and organic components into inorganic materials for the assembly of semi-artificial devices." It "opens up a toolbox for developing future systems for solar energy conversion", he added. (WASHINGTON) With Republicans hoping to move the Supreme Court to the right for years to come, a Senate committee is beginning hearings for President Donald Trumps second nominee to the court. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, 53, has served for the past 12 years on the appeals court in Washington, D.C., which is considered the second most important court in the country after the Supreme Court. He has a solidly conservative record, including a dissenting opinion last year that would have denied immediate access to an abortion for an immigrant teenager in federal custody. Kavanaugh worked in key White House positions when George W. Bush was president and was a member of independent counsel Kenneth Starrs legal team that investigated President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, leading to Clintons impeachment. As a young lawyer, Kavanaugh worked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, the man he would replace on the high court. Kennedy retired at the end of July. Trumps first nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, also was a Kennedy law clerk the same year as Kavanaugh. The first day of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings Tuesday will feature opening statements from senators and Kavanaugh himself. His remarks are not likely to be released in advance, but nominees often sing the praises of judicial independence. When he was sworn in as an appellate judge in 2006, Kavanaugh called an independent judiciary the crown jewel of our constitutional democracy. Questioning will begin on Wednesday, and votes in committee and on the Senate floor could occur later in September. If all goes as Republicans plan, Kavanaugh could be on the bench when the court begins its new term on Oct. 1. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the committee chairman, has called Kavanaugh one of the most qualified nominees ever picked for the court. The American Bar Association has given Kavanaugh its highest rating, well qualified. Rebuffed in their request to delay the hearing, Democrats are planning to shine a light on Kavanaughs views on abortion, executive power and whether Trump could be forced to testify as part of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Story continues I remain troubled by your view of executive power, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a committee member, wrote Friday in an open letter to Kavanaugh. I am not satisfied with your responses to me during our private meeting, and I believe that you owe the Committee and the American people more thorough, candid answers during your hearing next week. Many Democratic senators already have announced their intention to vote against Kavanaugh and many Republicans have likewise signaled their support. A handful of Democrats seeking re-election in states Trump carried in 2016 could vote for Kavanaugh. If no Democrat ultimately supports the nomination, the Republicans have no margin for error in a Senate they control by 50-49. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are the only two Republicans even remotely open to voting against Kavanaugh, though neither has said she would do so. Abortion rights supporters are trying to appeal to those senators by focusing on concerns that Kavanaugh could vote to limit abortion rights or even overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling from 1973 that first established a womans constitutional right to an abortion. Democrats have been under intense pressure from liberal voters to resist Trump, and many remain irate, even two years later, over the treatment of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas nominee for the Supreme Court, who was denied so much as a hearing last year by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. But Democrats are powerless to delay a vote on Kavanaugh since McConnell led Republicans, during the Gorsuch nomination, in eliminating the 60-vote filibuster threshold that had been in place for Supreme Court nominations. The filibuster rule required 60 of the 100 votes to advance a bill or nomination, in contrast to the simple 51-vote majority that applies in most cases. By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Gunmen from Somalia's Al Shabaab group killed six people including at least four soldiers in the streets of the capital, a day after the Islamist movement kidnapped scores of elders in a central region, officials said. The militants drove up to a tuk-tuk vehicle carrying the soldiers in Mogadishu's Karan district and opened fire, killing all four of them on Tuesday, police said. "We heard the gunfire and we rushed to the scene but ... the killers escaped," police captain Farah Aden told Reuters. Al Shabaab fighters also shot two people dead in the Wardigley district in the heart of the city, he added. The militants said the two were an officer and his bodyguard, in a statement claiming responsibility for both attacks. Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, said the militants also set off a car bomb that seriously injured a man working for the finance ministry. There was no immediate comment from the authorities. Al Shabaab - which is fighting to impose its form of Islam and topple the Western-backed government - has launched regular guerrilla attacks across the country since the army backed by African peacekeepers pushed it out of the capital in 2011. On Monday, the group kidnapped more than 60 elders from Galgadud, in the central, semi-autonomous state of Galmudug, officials said. Al Shabaab said it took the local leaders because their sub-clan had refused to pay full compensation for five people killed from another clan. "We do not want the two clans to fight again," said Abdullahi Abu Khalid, named as al Shabaab's governor for Galgadud. The militant group has kept up a presence in remote parts of Somalia, many of them already riven by years of ethnic rivalries and blood feuds. Some clans are seen as linked to the militants, others to the government. Galmudug's president, Ahmed Duale Gele Haaf, said the militants had kidnapped 62 elders in a bid to destabilize his region. "They will either kill them or order them to spread chaos," he said. He accused the central government in Mogadishu of not giving enough resources or troops to protect the region. Somalia has been gripped by violence and lawlessness since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. (Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Andrew Heavens) By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump plan to discuss North Korea during the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month, Moon's office and the White House said on Tuesday, amid lackluster progress on the North's nuclear issues. Moon and Trump spoke for 50 minutes by telephone on Tuesday, a day before Moon's special envoys were due to visit Pyongyang to discuss a third summit to be held this month between the liberal South Korean leader and his North Korean counterpart. The planned inter-Korean summit follows Trump's cancellation of a visit to Pyongyang by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month after Pompeo received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official. Moon and Trump agreed in their call "to explore the idea of meeting in person on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly and having in-depth consultations on strategies and how to cooperate on the peninsula issues," Moon's office said in a statement. In Washington, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Moon briefed Trump on his plan to send a special envoy to Pyongyang on Wednesday to meet Kim. "They agreed to meet later this month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York," she said. Kim vowed during his unprecedented summit with Trump in June in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but the two sides have made little headway toward that goal. Earlier on Tuesday, Chung Eui-yong, chief of the national security office at Seoul's presidential Blue House, said he would deliver a letter from Moon to Kim when he visits the North, without elaborating on its contents. Chung said he wanted to discuss with Pyongyang officials ways to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Seoul will continue to push for a joint declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War this year with the United States, Chung told reporters. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Heekyong Yang in Seoul and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones and James Dalgleish) Tehran (AFP) - The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey meet Friday in Tehran for a summit expected to shape the future of Idlib province, home to Syria's last major rebel bastion. The summit comes as Syrian forces look poised to launch a major assault that is raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in the seven-year-old conflict. Damascus and its main backer Moscow have vowed to root out the jihadist groups that dominate Idlib province but the outcome of Friday's meeting could determine the scope and the timing of an offensive. "We know that the Syrian armed forces are getting ready to solve this problem," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Seized from government forces in 2015, Idlib and adjacent areas form the last major chunk of Syrian territory still in rebel hands. Turkey has limited sway over the jihadist groups that control an estimated 60 percent of Idlib but it backs rebel groups there and has 12 military "observation points" across the province. Russia, Turkey and Iran are the guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations that has eclipsed the older Geneva process and de facto helps Syrian President Bashar al-Assad re-assert his authority on the country. In parallel to the Syrian government's military buildup, the recent weeks have seen intense diplomatic activity. Al-Watan, a Syrian daily close to the government, wrote on Monday that the result of the talks will be presented in Tehran for the three powers "to endorse it and decide on the 'zero hour' for the Syrian army's military operation, which is expected to immediately follow the summit." Idlib is a cul-de-sac for many rebels and civilians transferred there after previous regime assaults. - Inevitable assault? - The United Nations and aid groups have warned that a full assault could spark one of the worst disasters of a conflict that has already killed 350,000 people and displaced 11 million in seven years. Story continues Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the armed groups in Idlib attacking Syrian government positions and Russia's air base in nearby Hmeimim should be eliminated. At stake in Tehran is the scope of the offensive and Lavrov said Tuesday that efforts were being made to separate "regular armed oppositionists from terrorists". The main target of an offensive would be the jihadist fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance dominated by the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Russia wants Turkey to use its influence on the ground in Idlib to rein in the rebels and the jihadists. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared to suggest Monday there will still room for negotiation ahead of the summit and a promised offensive. "We are continuing contacts before the summit and preparing it to make sure it yields a good outcome," he said. The International Crisis Group insisted a devastating offensive in Idlib could and should still be averted, calling this week on all brokers to go back to negotiations. It said Russia needed to be convinced that backing an all-out Syria offensive risked undermining its own long-term objectives, which include the "re-legitimation" of Assad and his regime. The think tank said the three Astana guarantors should thrash out a plan that would satisfy some of Moscow's key demands. ICG cited "intensified Turkish efforts to rid the area of jihadists, an end to drone attacks on Russia's (Hmeimim) air base and regime control over Idlib's key highways." TOKYO (AP) A powerful earthquake rocked Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido early Thursday, triggering landslides that crushed homes, knocking out power across the island, and forcing a nuclear power plant to switch to a backup generator. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido at 3:08 a.m. at the depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The epicenter was east of the city of Tomakomai but the shaking also affected Hokkaido's prefectural capital of Sapporo, with a population of 1.9 million. The Japanese national broadcaster NHK, citing its own tally, reported that 125 people were injured and about 20 were feared missing. The Japanese national broadcaster NHK is reporting that 125 people have been injured and about 20 are feared missing after a powerful quake triggered dozens of landslides in heavily forested mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday morning. Power was knocked out across the island. The government said airports and many roads on the island were closed following the quake. Officials said that 25,000 troops and other personnel were being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula amid a growing standoff with the United States, his state-controlled media reported Thursday after a South Korean delegation met him to set up an inter-Korean summit. The statement from the Korean Central News Agency wasn't new information Kim has repeatedly declared similar intentions before but allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track after the recriminations that followed Kim's meeting in June with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The impasse between North Korea and the United States, with neither side seemingly willing to make any substantive move, has generated widespread skepticism over Trump's claims that Kim is intent on dismantling his nuclear weapons program. Story continues BANGKOK (AP) Myanmar's government looks as if it's under siege from an international community concerned about the condition of its nascent democracy, with widespread calls for a genocide tribunal to hold its military to account for the brutal treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority. But experts say not to expect any change of course from the country's leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, even after a fresh round of withering criticism from abroad following Monday's show-trial conviction of two Reuters reporters who helped expose extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya men and boys. Suu Kyi's motivations are opaque. Even as a revered pro-democracy activist, the Nobel Peace laureate had a reputation for being autocratic, but now her core ideology has come into question. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on Myanmar to immediately release two journalists who were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on charges of possessing state secrets in connection with their reporting on massacres against Rohingya Muslims. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from the Reuters news agency were sentenced Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair. They had reported about the army's brutal counterinsurgency campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military's human rights abuses, which it denies. Pence on Tuesday tweeted the two should be "commended not imprisoned for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings." "Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy," he wrote in back-to-back tweets. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) As North Korea prepares for a massive parade Sunday featuring thousands of goose-stepping soldiers and lots of scary-looking missiles, some potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, worry is rising in South Korea that a tentative, hard-won detente is starting to slip away. An authoritarian nation obsessed with big milestones, North Korea will use the celebration for the 70th anniversary of its national founding to glorify Kim Jong Un as a leader who's standing up for a powerful nation surrounded by enemies. Kim will also welcome a delegate from his most important ally, senior Chinese official Li Zhanshu, the third-ranking official of the country's ruling party and head of its rubberstamp parliament, whose presence at the parade would underscore Beijing's role as a major player in international efforts to solve the nuclear crisis. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Twin bombings at a wrestling training center in a Shiite neighborhood of Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday killed at least 20 people, including two reporters, and wounded 70, Afghan officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said a suicide bomber struck at the center and then a car bomb went off nearby. Sediqullah Tawhidi, a senior member of the Afghan journalists federation, said a reporter and a cameraman working for Tolo TV were among those killed, and that another local TV reporter was wounded. No one immediately claimed the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of the country's Islamic State affiliate, which has carried out a wave of deadly bombings against minority Shiites. ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. "You know I'm a born optimist," said Khan, a former star cricket player who was sworn in last month. "A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks he's going to win." Pompeo spent just four hours in Pakistan, his first visit to the country. At the airport before leaving for neighboring India, he said he was "hopeful" that a foundation had been laid to move forward. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) India's president is hailing his country's strategic partnership with the European Union to work together on issues like terrorism and climate change. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind said after talks with Bulgaria counterpart Rumen Radev on Wednesday that both countries agree "that terrorism poses a great threat to humanity and a strong response is required to deal with this menace." India and Bulgaria are looking to deepen economic ties and to intensify cooperation on climate change, sustainable development and tourism. Kovind invited Bulgaria to become a key partner of India in the defense and IT sectors. The Indian head of state thanked Bulgaria for supporting his country's bid to become a U.N. TOKYO (AP) Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito said he will take to heart how his father was mindful of Japan's history and tried to build closer ties during his upcoming visit to France, expected to be his last foreign trip before becoming emperor. Naruhito, 58, told a news conference Wednesday that foreign visits, including his Sept. 7-15 trip to France, are a key role for the royal family in fostering friendship. Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, always paid close attention to the history of the countries they visited and thought deeply about how they could promote mutual understanding and friendship in the future, Naruhito said. Aden (AFP) - The general overseeing US military operations in the Middle East visited war-torn Yemen's chief of staff in the de facto capital Aden on Wednesday, state media said, a day ahead of peace talks in Geneva. US Central Command head General Joseph Votel met Major General Taher al-Aqili to discuss developing Yemen's coast guard, navy and special forces to "tackle the threat of terrorist militias and fight smuggling," the Saba news agency said. The two also discussed the government's "efforts to restore the state and put an end to the coup by the Iran-backed Huthi militia", it said, referring to rebels who ousted the government from the capital Sanaa and large parts of Yemen in 2014. The US provides weapons, aerial refuelling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen. Votel's visit followed meetings in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the main players in a military coalition set up in 2015 to back Yemen's government in its fight against the Huthis. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said last week that US support for the coalition was not "unconditional" as he defended America's ongoing role in the war. His comments came as UN investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe warring parties in Yemen had committed violations of humanitarian law that could amount to "war crimes". Washington has also carried out a long-running drone war against Yemen's Al-Qaeda branch, which took advantage of the chaos created by the war to strengthen its own operations, particularly in the country's south. The Pentagon sees Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch. It has intensified its strikes against AQAP since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. The United Nations is set to host rebel and government delegations for indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday in a bid to revive formal negotiations. But the rebels said Wednesday that they were stranded in Sanaa because the coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace, had not given their UN plane permission to fly. By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall on Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border, lashing the U.S. Gulf Coast with high winds and heavy rain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Gordon was about 35 miles (55 km) south-southwest of Mobile, Alabama and was packing maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) after making landfall, the Miami-based weather forecaster said. "Rapid weakening is forecast after Gordon moves inland, and is forecast to become a tropical depression on Wednesday," the NHC added. As of Tuesday night, the storm had not reached 74 mph winds, the minimum to become a hurricane. Hurricane and storm surge warnings and watches were in effect across the region, the NHC said. Though the Louisiana coast remained calm as of early Tuesday evening, Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency and companies cut 9 percent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production. "I'm asking all residents to do their part in getting ready for this storm," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement. "The city's absolute No.1 priority is to ensure the safety of our residents." Tropical-storm force winds were already lashing the Alabama and western Florida panhandle coastlines and some areas still recovering from last year's storms could see 12 inches (30 cm) of rain. Beaches around Mobile, Alabama were washed by storm-driven waves, said Stephen Miller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "We're expecting an increase in winds," Miller said in a telephone interview. "We could see flooding." Sea levels could rise as much as 5 feet (1.5 m) from Shell Beach, Louisiana, to Dauphin Island, Alabama, forecasters said. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency told South Mississippi residents to be prepared to evacuate. EVACUATIONS At LaFrance Marina near Ansley, Mississippi, a mile north of Heron Bay on the Gulf of Mexico, marina owner Sue Cates said that a tidal surge is sure to push water into the marina's low-lying campgrounds, making evacuation "the only choice" people have to protect themselves. Nevertheless, she said she and her husband will remain in their home, which sits on tall pilings, 24 feet above ground. Built after Hurricane Katrina, the home is made to withstand a 150 mile-an-hour wind, she said. "We're way up here, and I think we'll be OK," Cates said. "People around here are well-trained for this sort of thing." U.S. oil producer Anadarko Petroleum Corp evacuated workers and shut production at two offshore oil platforms on Monday, and other companies with production and refining operations along the Gulf Coast said they were securing facilities. The Gulf of Mexico is home to 17 percent of U.S. crude oil and 5 percent of natural gas output daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. Coast Guard said the ports of New Orleans and Gulfport and Pascagoula, Mississippi, may have to close within 48 hours. Last year, hurricanes hit Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing widespread destruction and thousands of deaths. The Inn at Ocean Springs and the Roost Hotel in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, had guests planning to ride out the storm, said Kristin Smith, general manager of both hotels. "A lot of guests are real comfortable sticking it out in our rooms," Smith said in a telephone interview. "Any of our guests who feel like they want to go home we encourage them to follow their instincts." (Reporting by Kathy Finn in NEW ORLEANS; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in NEW YORK, Brendan O'Brien in MILWAUKEE, Scott Malone in BOSTON and Dan Whitcomb in LOS ANGELES; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Lisa Shumaker and Darren Schuettler) Donald Trumps legal team will likely try to stop the release of special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, the presidents top lawyer has said. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who now serves as legal adviser to the president, said the White House legal team will probably try to use executive privilege to block it being made public. Im sure we will, Mr Giuliani told the New Yorker, when asked about the possible invoking of privilege. He said the final decision would taken by the president. Because attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from overseeing the Russia probe something that has infuriated Mr Trump and which may see him being fired Mr Mueller will issue the report, when completed, to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. The magazine said Mr Rosenstein will then have the ability to release the report to Congress and the public. But Mr Giuliani has signalled that the president may move to stop that from happening, a move that would result in a legal battle over whether Mr Rosenstein is allowed to disclose the report. He said Mr Trumps original legal counsel struck a deal with the special counsel reserving the White House the right to object to the public disclosure of information covered by executive privilege. He also said the White House was planning to release a report of its own to refute Mr Muellers findings. He said the counter-report was already forty-five pages and will likely grow in size, saying: It needs a five-page summary for me. Last week, ahead of the Labour Day holiday, there was speculation that Mr Mueller was poised to release his report and his final indictments. The special counsel has said he does not want his report to interfere with the midterm elections, which are about 60 days away. As it was, Mr Mueller made no such announcement. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will chair a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran this month to spotlight its "violations of international law" during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Tuesday. The United States, which holds the council presidency for September, has unsuccessfully pushed the Security Council to call out Iran. Haley has regularly attacked Iran, accusing it of meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen. Haley told reporters Trump was chairing the meeting "to address Iran's violations of international law and the general instability Iran sows throughout the entire Middle East region." Diplomats said Iran could request to speak at the Sept. 26 meeting, the high-level week of the U.N. General Assembly. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to address the assembly on Sept. 25. The Iranian U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Haley said the United States would not object to Rouhani speaking. Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the Iran meeting should focus on the implementation of a 2015 resolution on Iran. "We very much hope that there will be views voiced in connection with the U.S. withdrawal" from a 2015 international nuclear deal, Polyanskiy told the council. Trump in May withdrew from the accord between Iran and six world powers aimed at stalling Tehran's nuclear capabilities in return for lifting some sanctions. Trump ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal. Iran is still subject to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions contained in the resolution, which enshrines the nuclear deal. European powers have been scrambling to salvage the accord. In February, Russia vetoed a U.S.-led bid for the Security Council to call out Tehran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of Yemen's Houthi group, a charge Tehran denies. Several council members on Tuesday also expressed opposition to Haley's plan to convene a meeting on Wednesday on Nicaragua. More than 300 people have been killed and thousands injured in crackdowns by police and armed groups on protests over government plans to cut welfare benefits. The protests developed into broader opposition against President Daniel Ortega. China, Russia, Bolivia and others said the situation in Nicaragua was not a threat to international peace and security and therefore should not be discussed by the council. Bolivia is expected to try to block the meeting on Wednesday but does not have the minimum nine votes required to do so, diplomats said. (Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham; editing by Grant McCool and James Dalgleish) Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump denied Wednesday having discussed wanting to kill Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, a key claim in a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. "That was never even contemplated," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with the emir of Kuwait. Trump's comments came as he warned Damascus that "the world is watching" Syrian troops massing on the edges of the rebel-held province of Idlib, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster. "I just tell you that they will hopefully be very, very judicious and careful," Trump said of the Syrian regime. "Because the world is watching. That cannot be a slaughter. If it's a slaughter, the world is going to be very, very angry. And the United States is going to be very angry, too." In his new book "Fear: Trump in the White House," Woodward recounts that the president told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that he wanted to have Assad killed after he carried out a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017. "Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them," Woodward quotes Trump as saying. He writes that Mattis told the president he would "get right on it" but then came back later with plans for a more limited air strike. Trump and White House aides have assailed the book as a full of "made up" stories, and in a tweet on Wednesday morning the president wondered why Congress doesn't change the laws on libel. "The book means nothing. It's a work of fiction," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, noting that Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly had both issued statements rejecting the book's account. Ahead of Judge Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearings Tuesday, Americans have expressed some of their lowest levels of support for a Supreme Court nominee since the 1980s and are split on his confirmation, according to a new poll from ABC and The Washington Post. The public is divided on President Donald Trumps Supreme Court pick, with 38 percent of Americans saying he should be confirmed by the Senate, and 39 percent saying he should not be, the poll says. The results mark the most significant opposition to a Supreme Court nominees confirmation since 1987, when former President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. (Fifty-seven percent of Americans said Bork should not be confirmed; he was ultimately rejected.) Comparatively, 32 percent of Americans said Justice Neil Gorsuch should not be confirmed ahead of his Senate hearings, and 44 percent said he should. Former President Barack Obamas nominees Justice Sonia Sotomayer and Justice Elena Kagan received a bit more support, with 60 percent and 56 percent of Americans supporting their nomination, respectively. All three of those nominees were confirmed by the Senate. The publics views of Kavanaugh falls largely along party lines, with 78 percent of Republicans and just 13 percent of Democrats supporting his nomination. Democrats have pushed back on Kavanaughs nomination with hopes to bar him from filling the seat vacated by retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was seen as the courts swing vote. However, its unlikely his nomination will be derailed in a Republican-controlled Senate. Debate over Kavanaughs nomination has also centered on the issue of abortion rights. More Americans believe the Supreme Court should not make it more difficult for women to get abortions, the ABC/Post poll says, and 59 percent of Americans believe Kavanaugh should publicly state his opinion on the matter before he being confirmed. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican senator who Democrats have targeted as a potential ally to block Kavanaughs nomination, met with Kavanaugh last month and said he believed Roe v. Wade settled the issue. The poll was conducted by Langer Research Associates and has a margin of sampling error of 3.6 points. By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated last year but his defense secretary ignored the request, according to a new book that depicts top Trump aides sometimes disregarding presidential orders to limit what they saw as damaging and dangerous behavior. Excerpts from the book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," written by famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, were published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. The book, which is scheduled for release on Sept. 11, is the latest to detail tensions within the White House under Trump's 20-month-old presidency. "It's just another bad book," Trump told the Daily Caller. The book portrays Trump as prone to profane outbursts and impulsive decision-making, painting a picture of chaos that Woodward says amounts to an "administrative coup detat" and a "nervous breakdown" of the executive branch. According to the book, Trump told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that he wanted to have Assad assassinated after the Syrian president launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017. Mattis told Trump he would "get right on it," but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally. Mattis told associates after a separate incident that Trump acted like "a fifth- or sixth-grader," according to the book. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the book is "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad." Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also cast doubt on the account about Assad. "I have the pleasure of being privy to those conversations ... and I have not once heard the president talk about assassinating Assad," Haley told reporters on Tuesday. The Pentagon declined to comment. Woodward gained national fame for his reporting on the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, and has since written a series of books that provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of presidential administrations and other Washington institutions. For this book, Woodward spoke to top aides and other insiders with the understanding that he would not reveal how he got his information, the Post said. Among his other revelations: Former top economic adviser Gary Cohn stole a letter off Trump's desk that the president planned to sign that would withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. Cohn, who tried to rein in Trump's protectionist impulses, also planned to remove a similar memo that would have withdrawn the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, Woodward wrote. "I'll just take the paper off his desk," Cohn told another White House aide, according to the book. Trump said that did not take place. "It's just made up," he told the Daily Caller. The United States remains part of both trade agreements as it negotiates new terms. "WORST JOB" EVER Other aides insulted Trump behind his back. Chief of Staff John Kelly called Trump an "idiot," and said, "We're in Crazytown. ... This is the worst job I've ever had." Trump treated top aides with scorn, the book says, telling Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was past his prime and calling Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded." Kelly, in remarks released by the White House, said he never called the president an idiot and called the story "total BS." Trump has grown paranoid and anxious over an ongoing federal inquiry into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, prompting aides to compare Trump to former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, Woodward reported. Trump's former lawyer John Dowd conducted a mock interview with Trump to convince him that he would commit perjury if he agreed to talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation, the book says. Trump did not speak with him until the manuscript was complete, the paper said. "So I have another bad book coming out. Big deal," Trump told Woodward, according to a transcript of a telephone call released by the Post. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler) Ankara (AFP) - Turkey on Wednesday insisted the government is trying to prevent an assault on Syria's rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, as expectations rise of a regime offensive. Syrian regime troops have for weeks been massing on the edges of the province which borders Turkey, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster on a scale not yet seen in Syria's seven-year conflict. Ankara wants to "prevent attacks on Idlib" Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference with German counterpart Heiko Maas. Idlib is one of the so-called "de-escalation" zones set up as a result of talks by Russia, Turkey and Iran last year as Damascus regained control of more of the country. "From the day that it was clear there could be an attack on Idlib, we have been working hard to prevent the regime violating the ceasefire and to stop the attacks on Idlib," Cavusoglu told reporters during the conference in Ankara. Maas said Germany shared Turkey's concern of a "looming humanitarian catastrophe" in Idlib. "We will continue our efforts to prevent it. Turkey is possibly better prepared than others to weigh in on these developments," the German minister said. Maas was in Ankara on Wednesday as the two countries seek to improve relations which have soured since the 2016 failed coup in Turkey, which resulted in a government crackdown on the opposition. Maas met with Cavusoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara. Germany's links with Turkey are of greater significance in Europe since three million ethnic Turks live in the continent's top economy, the largest diaspora abroad and a legacy of Germany's "guest worker" programme of the 1960s and 70s. Ankara has recently turned to Europe following a bitter row with Washington over the detention of an American pastor, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving her support to the Turkish economy after the Turkish lira's dramatic fall last month. Story continues Germany-Turkey relations improved recently especially after Turkey last month lifted an overseas travel ban on German journalist and translator Mesale Tolu on trial on terror-related charges. Although there have been releases of jailed Germans including well-known journalist Deniz Yucel, seven German citizens remain in jail for political reasons. During his two-day visit, Maas and Cavusoglu on Thursday will attend the opening ceremony of the German lycee in Istanbul on the school's 150th anniversary. Erdogan is expected to visit Berlin on September 28 and 29. VLADICIN HAN, Serbia (AP) In the south of Serbia, a Turkish car parts company has been hailed as a savior: its new plant created hundreds of jobs and breathed new life into a region that has long been underdeveloped and was devastated in the 1990s' wars. But with the dramatic plunge in the value of the Turkish currency this year as a result of investor concerns and a diplomatic dispute with the U.S., there are worries in Serbia and the rest of the Western Balkans that such investments from Turkey may dry up. Analysts say that the country's financial turmoil may slow future Turkish investments in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, where Ankara is vying for influence, both economic and political, together with the European Union, China and Russia. "We are worried, the crisis in Turkey cannot be without repercussions for us," Serbian Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said recently as the Turkish lira fell. Trade between the Western Balkans and Turkey has grown from $430 million in 2002 to $3 billion in 2016, with Serbia accounting for nearly one third. Turkey is now among the top 10 trading partners for Serbia and top three for Kosovo. Western European leaders worry about the expanding authoritarian influence of Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan and are concerned that he may gain influence in the Balkans. The Western Balkan countries formally want to join the EU but their applications have virtually been put on hold because of the EU's internal problems like Brexit, and that has exposed the Balkans to additional economic and political influence from Turkey, China and Russia. The Balkans had been under Ottoman occupation for 500 years, meaning there are also cultural ties for example, in Bosnia's and Kosovo's Muslim heritage that have helped Turkey gain a presence. Some think that the Western Balkans are significant enough geopolitically for Erdogan that Turkey will try to retain its existing investments and trade. Story continues Aleksandar Medjedovic, a board member of the Turkish-Serbian Business Council, says Turkey will likely maintain planned investments but that they may be delayed. "Fluctuations in the domestic currency rates always have an impact on the economy and they do impact on Turkish economy at the moment," said Medjedovic. But, he added, the "Balkans is a strategic area for Turkish investors." In the Muslim-dominated Bosnia, Turkish investments are so far modest, but its political influence has risen since the bloody war there in the 1990s. Turkish aid groups have been rebuilding bridges and old Ottoman mosques and financing education. They have provided some 300 million euros for non-profit projects in Bosnia. Demonstrating the extent of Erdogan's political influence in Bosnia, the Turkish president held a pre-election rally in May in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, after similar gatherings were banned in Germany and Austria. While Turkey is not a major investor in Bosnia, Ankara last year pledged 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in financing for the construction of a highway between Sarajevo and Belgrade, and officials expect that project to go ahead. Medjedovic said Turkey sees the Balkans, particularly Serbia and EU member Croatia, primarily as a "gateway" for its goods to the European Union. So while there are questions about new investments, that may bode well for existing ones, like the spare parts factory in Vladicin Han, a small, drab-looking Serbian town of some 20,000 people where unemployment is rife. It produces mainly rubber parts for cooling and heating systems for clients such as Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi or Porsche. The plant's Turkish manager, Fikret Aynibal, said that parent company Teklas Automotive has not taken any decision yet to stop investing in Serbia and the wider region because investment plans are based on five to ten years. If anything, Aynibal said, the company might invest more as turmoil reins at home. "We are thinking to expand also in the Serbian region." ____ Sabina Niksic contributed from Sarajevo, Bosnia. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An attack on Syria's Idlib, a rebel-held enclave, would be a massacre and the upcoming summit in Tehran, which will be attended by Iran, Russia and Turkey, would yield positive results, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by Hurriyet Daily. Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, resumed air strikes on Tuesday against insurgents in Idlib. This followed weeks of aerial bombardment and shelling by pro-Syrian government forces in an apparent prelude to a full-scale offensive against the rebels' last major enclave. "The situation in Idlib is crucial for Turkey. A ruthless process has been going on there. ... God forbid, if this area is hailed by missiles there would be a serious massacre," Erdogan was quoted as saying. Turkey, which has backed some rebels against Assad, is hoping for a positive outcome from the summit in Tehran which will be held later in the week. "We will carry this issue to a positive point with the Tehran summit, which is a continuation of Astana. I hope we will be able to prevent the Syrian government's extremism in this region," Erdogan said, according to Hurriyet. Speaking to reporters on the plane back from an official visit to Kyrgyzstan, Erdogan said the road map for the northern Syrian city of Manbij agreed between Ankara and Washington in June is not going forward on the same path, according to Hurriyet. Under the road map for Manbij agreed by the two NATO allies, Turkish and U.S. forces are now carrying out joint patrols there to clear the area of YPG militants. "We are not at an ideal point (about Manbij). Unfortunately the agreement made is not going forward in the same direction as the initial discussions," Erdogan was quoted as saying. In a meeting on Tuesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and the U.S. special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, discussed the developments in Syria. (Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Leslie Adler) HOUSTON (Reuters) - Energy companies and port operators along the U.S. Gulf Coast took steps on Wednesday to resume operations after Tropical Storm Gordon shut more than 9 percent of the region's oil and gas output. Gordon never became a hurricane as forecast and weakened into a depression on Wednesday, just hours after making landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border, helping to keep production and refining operations running unimpeded at most energy facilities in the Gulf and along the Louisiana coast. Coast Guard inspectors flew over ports in Mississippi and Alabama to evaluate the facilities, which remained closed on Wednesday morning to most traffic, Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexandria Preston said. In New Orleans, pilots began moving cargo ships through the mouth of the Mississippi River after the storm, said Matt Gresham, a spokesman for the Port of New Orleans. "We had no impacts from the storm and operations resumed as normal this morning," said Gresham. The lock connecting the Mississippi River to the intracoastal waterway that stretches to Texas and Florida was opened and pilots began escorting ships out of the area, he said. U.S. crude futures prices slipped more than 1 percent as Gulf production constraints appeared temporary and global trade disputes came into the forefront. U.S. crude futures were off $1 at $68.85 per barrel in afternoon trade. In all, company shut-ins lopped 315,992 barrels of oil and nearly 500 million cubic feet of natural gas from Gulf output in the last two days, according to Wednesday's estimate by the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The bureau, which regulates offshore drilling, said 9.4 percent of oil production and 10.4 percent of natural gas output was halted by the storm's path through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Workers were evacuated from 48 production platforms, it said in an updated statement on Wednesday. Offshore oil production accounts for 17 percent of total U.S. oil production and 5 percent of the nation's natural gas production. Story continues Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp , Chevron Corp , Talos Energy Inc and Anadarko Petroleum had evacuated offshore platforms ahead of the storm. By Wednesday afternoon, Chevron said it has begun to restaff and restore production at its Petronius platform. Anadarko also said it plans to begin moving workers back to two offshore sites and will restart production as quickly as possible. (Reporting by Erwin Seba and Gary McWilliams; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Marguerita Choy) By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked Texas laws requiring the burial or cremation of aborted fetal tissue, saying in a decision on Wednesday the measures placed substantial and unconstitutional obstacles in the path of a woman's right to choose an abortion. U.S. District Judge David Ezra in Austin, Texas, issued a permanent injunction preventing the measures from going into effect. "The evidence in this case overwhelmingly demonstrated that if the challenged laws were to go into effect now, they would likely cause a near catastrophic failure of the healthcare system designed to serve women of childbearing age within the State of Texas," Ezra wrote in a decision posted in online records. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who include abortion providers, said women could already seek burial or cremation of fetal tissue under current state law. They said the law placed an arbitrary burden on women's beliefs by requiring a burial ritual and could place providers under threat of closure if they could not find ways to abide by the measures. Lawyers for Texas argued the laws would protect human dignity and have no impact on abortion providers. Texas began crafting regulations on fetal tissue disposal in 2016, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down separate abortion restrictions regarding doctors and facilities. The proposed Texas requirements were more stringent than those in almost every other state, which generally allow aborted fetal tissue to be disposed of in a similar manner as other human tissue, typically through incineration and disposal in a sanitary landfill, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which monitors reproductive health laws. In June 2017, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed abortion restrictions into law, including the requirement on disposal of fetal tissue. Ezra, who had temporarily halted the law, has said he wanted to keep the proceedings from being influenced by speculation a new U.S. Supreme Court justice could alter national abortion law. Story continues Republicans are hoping the Senate will confirm Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative U.S. appeals court judge nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, before the court's next term opens in October. Abortion rights advocates worry Kavanaugh could change the balance on the Supreme Court in favor of more restrictions or even help overturn the court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. During his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Kavanaugh signaled respect for Roe v. Wade, calling it an important legal precedent that had been reaffirmed by the justices over the decades. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney) By Andrew Hay ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday postponed hearings for five suspects from a ramshackle New Mexico compound where a toddler's body was found in order to give federal attorneys more time to prepare their defense in the racially-charged case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kirtan Khalsa in Albuquerque, New Mexico delayed the detention and preliminary hearings until Sept. 12. The defendants will remain in custody until then. The five defendants were appointed federal lawyers after their first appearance in U.S. court on Tuesday on new firearms-related charges brought by the FBI. "We need time to do our own investigation, we need time to get up to speed," Carey Bhalla, an attorney representing defendant Hujrah Wahhaj, told reporters. Federal prosecutor George Kraehe declined to comment. The five suspects, all black Muslims, were first arrested after police said they found 11 children without food or clean water and a cache of firearms at their desert compound in an Aug. 3 raid. Three days later police unearthed the body of a three-year-old at the settlement located near the Colorado state line. The five had initially faced child abuse charges in state court, but that case unraveled last week as state prosecutors missed a procedural deadline and charges were dismissed, allowing three suspects to be released. The FBI moved in on Friday and arrested all five in Taos, about 95 miles (153 km) north of Albuquerque. Jany Leveille, a Haitian national described as the spiritual leader of the group, is charged with being in the United States illegally and in unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition. The other defendants Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; Hujrah Wahhaj, 37; Subhanah Wahhaj, 35; and Lucas Morton, 40, are charged with aiding and conspiring with Leveille. Bhalla said she agreed for "the most part" with comments by state defense lawyers that the five were being discriminated against for being black and Muslim and had acted within their rights of religious freedom and firearm ownership. Story continues In an affidavit, the FBI said a teenage boy among the group told agents Ibn Wahhaj was "trying to put an army together" to conduct "jihad." State prosecutors say they will bring charges against Leveille and her partner Siraj Ibn Wahhaj related to the toddler's death, and refile child abuse charges against the other defendants, at a Sept. 27 grand jury. (Reporting by Andrew Hay; editing by Bill Tarrant, G Crosse) Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The report predicts the Global Phototherapy Market to grow with a CAGR of 4.6% over the forecast period of 2017-2023. The study on Phototherapy Market covers the analysis of the leading geographic such as America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and EMEA. Phototherapy Market Sketch The Global Phototherapy Market is expected to grow at a steady rate during the forecast period 2017-2023. The demand for phototherapy is high across the globe. Increasing ratio of death in infants due to jaundice and increasing psoriasis and vitiligo population with such disease are driving the market growth. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it has been found that approximately 60 percent of the new-born babies suffer from neonatal jaundice across the world. The most common type of phototherapy used to treat skin diseases are narrowband ultraviolet B (UVB) light. This uses a special machine to emit UVB light, which is the best part of natural sunlight for treating skin diseases. Furthermore, the product firefly is in massive demand that controls the bilirubin rate in the infants. The Global Phototherapy Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period 2017-2023. Get Sample PDF Illustration @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1844 Key Players for Global Phototherapy Market GE Healthcare (UK), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), Natus Medical Incorporated (U.S.), Beurer GmbH (Germany), Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), PhotoMedex, Inc (U.S.), MTTS ASIA (Vietnam), VIA Global Health (U.S.), are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Phototherapy Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis. Global Phototherapy Market - Competitive Analysis Characterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of phototherapy appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. With well-established market in the North America region major companies have their home in the region and generate maximum market share. These companies have expanded their operating unit in various other emerging regions as well. Moreover the other small and medium scale players are generating revenue from local market. The phototherapy market has turned into a critical factor in the global point of care industry. Through extensive research it is found out that the market players have adopted the strategy of launching products in the market, the key player involved in this strategy are Koninklijke Philips N.V and F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG. Partnership was the second most widely adopted strategy which was adopted by the key market players. The number of key market player involved in mergers and acquisition was comparatively low, the market players which were involved in mergers and acquisition are F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and others in the Global Phototherapy market. Regional Analysis for Global Phototherapy Market The Global Phototherapy Market is segmented into the various regions including Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. The Americas accounts for the largest market share of about more than ~40%. The major share in the global phototherapy market is due to the growing prevalence of new-borns with jaundice, psoriasis, vitiligo, and others skin disease. Moreover, the presence of major players in this region is likely to fuel the growth of the market during the forecasted period. Europe holds the second largest phototherapy market, which is followed by Asia Pacific. Major factor influencing the growth of the market include initiatives by government agencies focusing on various treatment of skin diseases. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing phototherapy market due to the increasing population of new-borns, raising healthcare awareness, development in the economy and increasing government support. Moreover, increasing demand for new treatment methods in countries like India and South Korea is likely to emerge as the fastest growing market across the globe. On the other hand, the Middle East & Africa holds the least share of the market due to poor political conditions in Africa and limited availability of funds and availability of medical facilities. Middle East is one of the emerging market due to changing healthcare structures in countries like Turkey and few others. Whereas, Africa region is expecting a healthy growth due to the presence of a huge opportunity for the development of the market. Get Complete Access of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/phototherapy-market-1844 Some Brief Table of Contents of Report Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restrains 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers TOC Continued Get Prime Discount on Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1844 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), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com By Phil Stewart ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met new Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday, saying he was hopeful of "a reset of relations" long strained over the war in Afghanistan. Pompeo's visit, along with the U.S. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was the first high-level U.S. mission to the new government. It aimed to smooth over tensions after President Donald Trump took a tough new line towards Pakistan over longstanding accusations it is not doing enough to root out Afghan Taliban fighters on its territory. Pompeo met with Khan as well as Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the country's powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. "We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum," including business ties and ending the war in Afghanistan, Pompeo told reporters before leaving for India. "And Im hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward." Khan, a former cricket star who swept to power in the July elections, also struck a positive tone. "I'm a born optimist. A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks he's going to win," Khan told reporters. AID CUTS Pompeo expressed confidence in a new beginning in relations with nuclear-armed Pakistan, but conceded: "Weve still got a long way to go." "We made clear to them that and they agreed its time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitments," Pompeo said, without specifically mentioning the Taliban. The meetings come against a backdrop of tense ties and U.S. military aid cuts over Islamabad's alleged reluctance to crack down on militants. Washington has accused Islamabad of turning a blind eye to, or helping, Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network fighters who stage attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies doing so. Pompeo landed in Islamabad minutes after the plane carrying U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ahead of the talks, Dunford said Trump's South Asia strategy set clear expectations for Pakistan, including help to drive the Taliban to a peace process in neighboring Afghanistan. "Our bilateral relationship moving forward is very much going to be informed by the degree of cooperation we see from Pakistan in doing that," he told reporters. The United States has withheld $800 million in overall assistance this year, cuts Pakistan says are unwarranted as it incurs expenses in fighting militants who threaten U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Pompeo was also expected to discuss Pakistan's possible plans to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ease currency pressures and avert an economic crisis. In July, Pompeo said there was "no rationale" for the IMF to give money to Pakistan that would then be used to pay off Chinese loans, comments that further rattled Islamabad. INDIA NEXT Pompeo is next due to visit India, Pakistan's neighbor and bitter foe, where he is expected to put pressure on New Delhi over its purchases of Iranian oil and Russian missile systems. He and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will meet their Indian counterparts in New Delhi on Thursday and are expected to finalize defense pacts that could bring their militaries closer amid growing Chinese influence across Asia. The talks come as U.S. hostility rises towards India's traditional allies Iran and Russia, targets of U.S. sanctions. Iran is a big oil supplier to India, and two-thirds of its military equipment is from Russia. The United States is concerned about India's planned purchase of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Moscow. An Indian defense ministry official said the country had nearly concluded commercial negotiations with Russia for the systems and intended to proceed with them, to boost defenses against China. India has said it will not completely halt oil imports from Iran, but will finalize its strategy on crude purchases after this week's meeting with U.S. officials. (Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Islamabad and Krishna Das in India; Writing by Drazen Jorgic and Kay Johnson; Editing by Andrew Roche) London (AFP) - A deal to end clashes between British and French fishermen over access to scallops off the Normandy coast would be "the right outcome" when negotiators meet Wednesday, British Fisheries Minister George Eustice said before the talks. Eustice's department will host British and French fishing and government officials to try to avoid new clashes between their vessels, after tensions flared last week in scallop-rich waters off northern France over the pricey delicacy. "The industry (is) coming together... to see if they can get back up an agreement similar to that which has pertained in the previous five years, which is the right outcome on this if we can get a solution along those lines," Eustice told a parliamentary committee. Tensions boiled over last Tuesday when five British vessels sparred with dozens of French boats in the sensitive Seine Bay, with video footage showing fishermen from both sides ramming each other. The clashes, which occurred around 12 nautical miles from the Normandy coast, were the most serious in years of wrangling over the area's scallops. French fishermen are incensed that British boats are accessing the highly productive waters, while their own government limits them to fishing there to between October and May to allow stocks to replenish. Deals struck previously exempted British boats less than 15 metres (50 feet) long from the restrictions, a loophole French fishermen want to see closed and which led to deadlock in reaching an agreement earlier this year. "All of the (UK) flotilla must be bound by the agreements," Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff told AFP on the eve of the talks. "We will not move an iota," he added, predicting his negotiating entourage would be "intransigent" in the talks because the Seine Bay was an "essential" area for the French. The latest skirmish in the long-running so-called "Scallops Wars" has led to France placing its navy on standby in the area, with Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert saying it was "ready to intervene in case of clashes". Story continues Eustice, who discussed the situation with his French counterpart last week, said the two countries were in agreement on the issue. "We haven't had further incidents since... they also recognise that under international law those (British) boats had a right to be there," he added. burs-jj/jwp/bmm Maya Hawke wears a puff-sleeve white gown from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Even with more than 15 years of fashion experience under his belt, Zac Posen keeps redefining what it means to be a fashion designer. His latest move? Opting to launch a set of dreamy images instead of a traditional NYFW runway show to unveil his new spring-summer 2019 collection. The gorgeous lookbook and video trailer stars Maya Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, and was shot by Gia Coppola, granddaughter of esteemed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. The project was extremely personal to Posen, who wanted to create something authentic, intimate, and enduring for his new collection. Both Maya and Gia are important figures in Posens life, as he has watched each of them grow up and into their careers. I watched her grow up and perfect herself as a filmmaker, Posen tells Yahoo Lifestyle regarding Gia. Similarly, he has known Maya now on the verge of breaking into her own Hollywood success story (shell be featured in the upcoming season of Stranger Things) since she was a little girl. He says he wanted to capture this special moment and special summer before Stranger Things came out. With the launch of his collection, he says he wanted to present her beauty and her character and her spirit. Shes incredibly special. Maya Hawke wears a pink, voluminous gown from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Maya Hawke wears a floor-length, off-the-shoulder, floral gown from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Maya Hawke wears a classic white shirtdress from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) The beautiful shoot took place at the home of another close friend of Posens, designer Jacqueline Schnabel. Her place on Long Island, New York where he spent time as a teen and still visits to this day (and in fact was stationed for this storys phone interview) has been highly influential and formative for the designer. The new images have an emotive quality, evoking the summer-freedom feeling of youth when everything felt glorious, and they have a saturated, vintage quality, thanks to Coppolas discerning eye. They help illustrate the rich color palette in Posens collection: radiant aquas, rosy pinks, and eggshell yellows. Maya Hawke wears an off-the-shoulder aqua, polka-dot gown from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) A blush pink fairy-tale gown from Zac Posens SS19 collection, shot by Gia Coppola. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Maya Hawke wears an eggshell yellow A-line dress from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) The collection highlights Posens iconic voluminous gowns, which feature his signature, architectural, anatomical beading work. But he also wanted to include wearable pieces, outside of his typical red carpet gowns, as his customer base includes a range of women of all ages and locales. His Liberty floral-print shirt dresses, blouses, and shorts, as well as his classic white A-line dresses, are a natural fit for much of his real-world clientele. Story continues Maya Hawke wears a Liberty floral-print collared dress from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Maya Hawke wears a Liberty floral-print blouse and tweed shorts from Zac Posens SS19 collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) This type of project, Posen notes, tells more about a brand, because you can tell the depth of the narrative that one is unable to [gather from just] clothing walking down a runway. Posen has opted out of a runway show or presentation at NYFW for a few seasons now. In February, he released a lookbook starring his close friend Katie Holmes for his fall-winter 2019 collection. I love a great runway show, but I also I wanted to create something that I can look back at and actually have something besides an archive of clothing, he explains. With imagery and short films, you can create that excitement that lasts longer, closer to the time that the clothing arrives in the store, which typically takes six months after a show debuts on the catwalk. A behind-the-scenes image of American fashion designer Zac Posen and Maya Hawke on set for his SS19 shoot, (Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Posen understands the marketplace is not what it used to be, and that its vital to be able to adapt as a designer. Its important to take [these] kinds of risks strategically if fashion cant change, theres no more fashion in the way it presents, in the way it sells, in the way its made. But still, Posen says, a fashion show isnt out of sight. For if and when this happens, hell at least have had the time and space to make it special to really put in the thought and care into creating something that I can give that magic to. Posen can easily be described as the fashion industrys Renaissance man. He possesses more than a decade of fashion design experience and has dressed Hollywoods biggest A-listers, including Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Naomi Watts. In fall 2014, he was appointed the creative director of heritage suit label Brooks Brothers, and he most recently collaborated with Delta airlines to redesign its uniforms. On top of it all, he has penned a cookbook and has served as a judge on Project Runway. Maya Hawke wears a strapless gown and white heels from Zac Posens SS19 collection.(Photo: Courtesy of Zac Posen) Posen may be best known for his glamorous artisanal-quality gowns, but he continues to flourish as a designer, always staying two steps ahead. Below, watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the Zac Posen SS19 collection shoot, starring Maya Hawke and shot by Gia Coppola. (Video: Courtesy of Zac Posen) 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: Maya Hawke is all grown up The celebrity children taking over the catwalk Female celebrities and their daughters on the red carpet Tripoli (AFP) - A ceasefire in Libya brokered by the UN will fail to reduce tensions between myriad armed groups without a sustainable political agreement on security reform, experts said Wednesday. The truce -- signed on Tuesday -- appears to be tentatively holding, despite a few exchanges of fire overnight in the south of capital. Fighting in and around Tripoli since August 27 has killed at least 63 people and wounded 159, most of them civilians, according to the Libyan health ministry. Even if the fragile ceasefire continues to largely endure over the coming days, it is nothing more than a band-aid, analysts told AFP. "The ceasefire agreement cannot hold for long," said Libyan security specialist Omran Khalil. The international community's biggest concern, he said, was to "preserve what remains" of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), as they fear their efforts could be "in vain". The UN itself acknowledges the limits of the truce it has brokered. Tuesday's meeting did "not aim to fix all the Libyan capital's security problems", the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Twitter. "It seeks to agree on a broader framework on the way to start addressing these issues." - 'Status quo unsustainable' - Despite being mandated by a December 2015 political accord to overhaul and unify security forces, the GNA has failed to do so. Rather than removing the militias from major cities and integrating them into regular security forces, the government continues to rely on these unreformed armed groups to keep the capital secure. This has enabled the militias to accumulate enormous power and economic sway. The 2015 deal "complicated the security situation and encouraged militias to battle for influence," said Khaled el-Montassar, professor of international relations at the University of Tripoli. Another analyst said tensions boiled over because Tripoli-based militias had been allowed to accumulate disproportionate influence, compared with other armed groups outside the capital. Story continues "The current fighting has upended what was an unsustainable status quo in Tripoli," said Wolfram Lacher, a Researcher for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. The militias' uneven access to resources "prompted armed groups from outside Tripoli, who saw themselves excluded from access to wealth and power, to mobilise", he said. The recent fighting has pitted armed groups from Tarhuna and Misrata against Tripoli militias supposed to be under the GNA's control. But "as catastrophic as the current fighting is, it has opened a window of opportunity for negotiating more sustainable security arrangements in Tripoli," added Lacher. "This window of opportunity is closing fast. The ceasefire is very fragile, and there is a real risk of further escalation. "A new negotiating framework is needed -- one that closely combines talks over political power sharing and security arrangements." - 'Unkept promises' - Some doubt whether the UN has the authority to broker a long-term deal. "It seems clear that the international community, after failing all its obligations towards Libya, today seems impotent and overwhelmed by events," said Karim Bitar at the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Affairs. Most analysts approached by AFP agreed a radical change of approach is required. "What is needed now is a new security plan for the capital and some kind of political shake-up," said Claudia Gazzini of the International Crisis Group. Meanwhile, Tahar El-Sonni, an adviser to GNA leader Fayez al-Sarraj, accused the international community of breaking its "promises" to hold to account those undermining Libya's political process. Welcoming the ceasefire, the United States, Britain, France and Italy reaffirmed their support for the GNA, in a joint declaration late on Tuesday. But this does little to mask divisions among Western powers over the political situation in the country. Also on Tuesday, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini criticised France's role in the oil-rich North African country. France, which is pushing for elections in Libya before the end of the year, defended its role. Washington (AFP) - Efforts to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement as a three-country pact resumed at the ministerial level Wednesday, after Canadian and US officials continued the lower level technical talks over the weekend. But the talks will be dogged by President Donald Trump's repeated threats to leave Canada on the sidelines and proceed with Mexico, which reached a deal with Washington last week and could sign NAFTA 2.0 as soon as November 30. Amid rising optimism last week that an agreement would soon be finalized on a rewrite of the 25-year-old trade deal, inflammatory comments from Trump angered officials in Ottawa and the discussions ended Friday with no agreement. Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Wednesday she is "looking forward to constructive conversations today" with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "Our officials have continued to work hard and constructively over the weekend," she said. Trump, meanwhile, continued his tough talk throughout the weekend, and was unlikely to be in a more cooperative mood after trade data showed the US deficit with Canada expanded, and deficits with China and the European Union hit new records. "There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don't make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out," Trump tweeted. "Congress should not interfere with these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off." The White House notified Congress on Friday of its "intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico -- and Canada, if it is willing -- 90 days from now." The White House has until September 30 before it must present the full text of the new agreement to Congress, which gives Ottawa and Washington time to iron out remaining differences. - Trilateral or bilateral? - But legislators and trade law experts have warned that Trump does not have the authority to supplant the three-nation NAFTA with a bilateral pact with Canada. Story continues Freeland and Lighthizer said there had been progress in the negotiations last week, which frequently went late into the night. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed Tuesday that no NAFTA is better than a bad deal for Canada, and he will insist on retaining the dispute mechanism in Chapter 19 that provides binational panels to resolve disagreements. "We will hold firm on that," Trudeau said Tuesday. "We will not sign a deal that is bad for Canadians, and quite frankly, not having a Chapter 19 to ensure that the rules are followed would be bad for Canadians." Canada has used the mechanism to fight off US antidumping duties. After the US and Mexico reached an agreement on new rules for trade in autos, and tougher protections for workers and intellectual property, talks with Canada were hung up on the mechanisms used to resolve disputes among partners, and on Ottawa's strictly controlled dairy sector. Mexican officials stressed in a joint statement that they are "continuing to promote an agreement to which Canada is a party." But they also have said that either way they are protected with a bilateral deal with the United States, while Mexican businesses also have said they would support a two-nation deal. A deal without Canada "is not the ideal scenario, but it's better than ending up without any agreement at all, it's better than living in uncertainty," said Gustavo de Hoyos, the president of the Mexican Employers' Association (COPARMEX). But the US business sector strongly prefers that NAFTA remain a trilateral agreement. "Anything other than a trilateral agreement won't win Congressional approval and would lose business support," warned Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce. And in a rare show of common cause with the business group, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka also supports a trilateral NAFTA. He said it was "pretty hard to see" how efforts to revamp the pact would work "without having Canada in the deal." Minutes later, Trump lashed out at the labor leader on Twitter for "poorly" representing his union and making comments that were "against the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself." US escalates warning to Assad regime, Russia not to use chemical weapons in Idlib originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The White House is doubling down on its warning to the Syrian regime not to use chemical weapons ahead of an expected assault on Idlib province in northwest Syria, saying the U.S. will respond "swiftly and appropriately." It's the strongest warning yet as the U.S. tries to assert a greater role in Syria and prevent what it says would be a humanitarian disaster, even as Syria and its allies, including Russia, prepare for an offensive into the heavily populated province. But the threat of retaliation extends only to the potential use of chemical weapons, with critics charging that the U.S. has done nothing to stop Assad's march on rebel enclaves elsewhere in the country. In a statement on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the U.S. was "closely monitoring the situation in Idlib province, Syria, where millions of innocent civilians are under threat of an imminent Assad regime attack, backed by Russia and Iran." In particular, Sanders warned that "If [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its Allies will respond swiftly and appropriately," after the Trump administration has twice ordered airstrikes on Assad regime targets following its use of chemical weapons. But more broadly, the threat of an Assad offensive into Idlib would be "an unacceptable, reckless escalation of the conflict," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement Tuesday, adding Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, and they agreed on this point. Still, there were reports Tuesday of Russian fighter jets already bombing parts of the suburbs around Idlib city as it backs Assad in what could be an all-out offensive to retake the province seen as the last stronghold of Syrian rebel groups. Story continues PHOTO: A Syrian man rides a motorcycle past a destroyed building in an area that was hit by a reported air strike in the district of Jisr al-Shughur, in the Idlib province, on Sept. 4, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images) The Russian government maintains that Idlib is a "hotbed of terrorism," with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that President Trump's opposition to Russian military action there shows his "limited approach" to the situation. There are some groups the U.S. and its allies consider terrorists based in Idlib, including al Qaeda's affiliate Hay'at Tahrir al Sham. But there are also nearly three million civilians living there, more than one million of them displaced from elsewhere in Syria, according to human rights groups. Any offensive would, therefore, be incredibly deadly or unleash an even larger wave of refugees into neighboring Turkey and beyond. The U.S. military campaign in Syria is instead focused on fighting another terror group in the north and east of the country -- ISIS. The president and his top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have said since Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that they want to work with Russia on counterterrorism. But the divide over Idlib shows how difficult that will be, with the two sides in disagreement on who even is a terrorist. In a tweet on Monday, Trump called for Assad to "not recklessly attack Idlib Province," adding that "the Russians and Iranian would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy." His Twitter message was seen as an escalation of the U.S. war of words, as Trump has rarely weighed in on Syria, where he has said he wants to withdraw U.S. troops and aid. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Dont let that happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018 For two weeks now, Defense Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Pompeo have been urging Assad and his allies not to wage an offensive into Idlib province. That message was also communicated in person to the Russian ambassador in Washington by Amb. David Satterfield, top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, and Amb. Jim Jeffrey, the new Special Representative for Syria Engagement. But the U.S.'s strongest words have been saved for a warning that the U.S. would respond to another chemical weapons attack, as it did after the attacks in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 and Douma in April 2018. Each attack killed nearly a hundred civilians, including women and children. In response to the Douma attack earlier this year, the U.S., France, and the United Kingdom launched targeted airstrikes at three locations related to chemical weapons development. The Assad regime has denied the use of chemical weapons and delayed independent chemical weapons inspectors' access to the site of the attack. For weeks, Moscow has attempted to portray the U.S. and its partners as the ones actually planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in Idlib as a pretext for again striking Assad. "This is absurd," Pentagon spokesperson Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson told ABC News in a statement on Friday. "That Russia is seeking to plant false lies about chemical weapons use suggests that Moscow is seeking to deflect from its own culpability when these heinous weapons are used. Russia's efforts to obscure the truth only underscore its years-long role in abetting the murder and mayhem conducted by the Assad regime." After the Douma attack, the Russian government said it had evidence that the chemical weapons attack was "staged," despite U.S. intelligence assessments that it was conducted by the Syrian regime with knowledge by the Russians. ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report from the Pentagon. Washington (AFP) - Arizona's governor on Tuesday named former US senator Jon Kyl as the temporary successor to late senator John McCain, appointing a respected and powerful former Republican lawmaker to the post. "There is no one in Arizona with the stature of senator Jon Kyl. He is a man without comparable peer," Governor Doug Ducey told reporters in Phoenix, with Kyl at his side. "Senator Kyl is prepared to hit the ground running." Kyl, 76, was to fly to Washington to be sworn in possibly just days before a high-stakes Senate vote on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's pick to be the next US Supreme Court justice. Ducey insisted his appointment was not political, despite Kyl working closely with the White House in recent months on getting Kavanaugh confirmed in the Senate, where Republicans hold a razor-thin one-vote majority. "Now, senator Kyl can cast a vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation." Kyl, 76, served for 18 years alongside McCain in the Senate, until 2013, and said he would be "honored" to return to the chamber. But he only committed to serve until January 2019, raising the prospect of requiring Ducey to again appoint a replacement until the seat is up for re-election in November 2020. "I'm hoping that the senator will consider serving longer" than this year, Ducey said. Widow Cindy McCain said it was a "great tribute" to her late husband that their close friend Kyl will return to public service by assuming McCain's seat. McCain died late last month at age 81 following a yearlong battle with brain cancer. His funeral service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral was in many ways a stern rebuke of Trump, with presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama eulogizing McCain as an iconic statesman who embodied passionate but civil debate, bipartisan compromise and a commitment to American values. The Hague (AFP) - The United States told the UN's top court Wednesday it had "a duty" not to take a position on a bitter dispute over the British-ruled Chagos islands, home to a strategic joint US military base. Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague are listening to arguments from various countries in a case brought by the United Nations over the future of the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is claimed by Mauritius. London split off the remote islands from Mauritius in 1965, three years before Port Louis gained independence. Their status has since been at the centre of a bitter dispute spanning five decades. US representative Jennifer Newstead said even though the UN request was for a "non-binding advisory opinion" on the row, the ICJ's 15 judges were in fact being asked to rule in a bilateral territorial dispute. "This places the court in an untenable position," said Newstead, a State Department legal advisor, because it has been asked to rule in a sovereignty dispute when it was only meant to give a legal opinion. Therefore "the court has a duty to decline to provide the opinion," Newstead said. In a diplomatic blow to Britain, the UN General Assembly last year adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer legal advice on the island chain's fate. The judges are tasked to give an opinion whether the "process of decolonisation of Mauritius was lawfully completed" after Chagos was split off. They are also to give their view on the consequences of Britain's continued administration of the islands -- including the inability of thousands of Chagossians who were evicted in the 1970s, to return to their homes. On Wednesday India's representative however told the ICJ that historically Chagos was "clearly part of Mauritian territory." "It is our understanding that the legal aspects (of the case) should root themselves in these historical facts," said India's representative Venu Rajamony. Story continues - Military base - The African Union and 22 countries -- which also includes the US, Germany and several Asian and Latin American nations -- are making statements during the four-day hearing. After the hearings, the ICJ is expected to hand down a non-binding advisory opinion, but the judges' ruling may take several months or even years. However, an opinion still carries weight and a finding in favour of Mauritius may strengthen its hand in future negotiations. It could also lay the foundation for an eventual formal claim before the ICJ -- set up after World War II in 1946 to rule in disputes between countries. Mauritius, which declared independence in 1968, argues that it was illegal for London to break up its territory while still under colonial rule. Afterwards as the Cold War heated up, London established a combined military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. Britain said it would give back the islands to Mauritius "when no longer required for defence purposes". Port Louis did acknowledge that Mauritius "recognises the existence of the base and accepts its continued and future functioning in accordance with international law." The Diego Garcia base remains important for US strategic military operations, including serving as a staging ground for bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and the fight against rampant piracy in the Indian Ocean. The base "continues to play a critical role in the peace and security of the Indian Ocean region and beyond," US representative Newstead said. UNITED NATIONS (AP) The United States warned the Security Council on Wednesday that Nicaragua is heading down the path that led to conflict in Syria and a crisis in Venezuela that has spilled into the region but Russia, China and Bolivia said Nicaragua doesn't pose an international threat and the U.N. should butt out. The sharp exchanges took place at the first Security Council meeting called by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the current council president, to address what the U.N. says is the government's violent repression of student and opposition protests that have killed over 300 people since mid-April and led thousands to flee the country. "With each passing day Nicaragua travels further down a familiar path. It is a path that Syria has taken. It is a path that Venezuela has taken," Haley said. She said Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro "are cut from the same corrupt cloth ... And they are both dictators who live in fear of their own people." But she said there is still an opportunity for Nicaragua's government "to prevent tyranny from threatening peace and security" by responding to the people's demands for freedom, an end to "dictatorship," and the release of arbitrarily jailed protesters. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia countered that the "subversive policies of the United States against Nicaragua have a long history" and the meeting which Moscow "categorically objects to" represented "a glaring and grim example of destructive foreign intervention." He warned that "following today's discussion, polarization in Nicaragua will only worsen." In Nicaragua, Ortega responded to Haley's comments in a speech to a pro-government march in Managua. "What should we say to the United States?" the Nicaraguan president said. "We'll tell them that if they want to help the Nicaraguan people, if they want to contribute to peace, the best thing they can do and should do is not meddle in Nicaragua, respect Nicaragua." Story continues The popular protests that began in mid-April were triggered by cuts to the social security system. Ortega reversed the cuts, but demonstrations quickly expanded and turned into a call for him to step down. He has refused to give up power before elections scheduled for 2021. A report released last Wednesday by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on four months of unrest in the country described government repression that stretched from the streets to courtrooms, where some protesters face terrorism charges. The human rights office called on the government to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions. It also documented cases of torture and excessive force. Two days later, the government expelled the U.N. human rights team in the country. Gonzalo Koncke, chief of staff to the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, told the council that Nicaragua "is at a critical juncture and the government must take critical measures" to re-establish democracy in the country. The government must quickly hold "free, just, democratic and transparent elections" and start a dialogue with all parties that leads to agreements. If democracy is not restored, Koncke warned, Nicaragua "may go the way of other countries in the region who have fallen in the arms of dictators." Civil society leader Felix Maradiaga, a former secretary general of Nicaragua's Ministry of Defense who said he faces constant death threats, told the council he came to convey the urgency of the situation in the country that threatens peace and security in the region. "Every day we see a climate of terror and indiscriminate persecution," he said, citing the rising number of political prisoners, armed and masked people bursting into homes, and sexual attacks. "For more than a decade, the Daniel Ortega regime has been benefiting from the fact that it is off the international agenda, off the international radar," Maradiaga said. "So we are seeing the danger of Nicaragua spinning out of control in a volatile region of the world." Nicaragua needs the attention of the United Nations, he said, "to ensure there is peace and security before it's too late." And he urged the U.N.'s most powerful body to adopt a legally binding resolution, assign resources and establish a system to monitor what's happening in the country and support the restoration of the rule of law. Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Denis Moncada Colindres made no mention of the unrest or elections, stressing instead that "in Nicaragua we love peace, we strengthen our security and we promote and defend human rights in a holistic way." "There is consensus in this council Nicaragua does not represent a threat to international peace and security," he said. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future published a research report on Cancer Diagnostics Market Forecast Up To 2023. Report include market Analysis, Scope, Size, Share, Growth, Recent Trends and forecast in detail information. The market is projected to demonstrate a sound growth by 2023, Market will grow at a CAGR of 11.8% during forecasted period. Cancer Diagnostics Market Highlights There are several methods of diagnosing cancer today such as biopsy based, endoscopy based, imaging procedure, tumor cancer diagnostics and many more. Population affected with cancer are showing a tremendous growth during last few years, which create the requirement of advanced technology for diagnosis cancer on early stage. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2017, it is estimate that around 161,360 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and around 26,730 deaths occur owing to prostate cancer in the United States. Thus, many companies are involve in collaboration in order to provide better technology for diagnosis the cancer. In this regards, in January, 2015, Roche and Qualcomm Incorporated entered into a strategic collaboration to improve remote monitoring and management of patients with chronic disease. Rising demand for better technology, increasing investment in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for R&D are driving the market for cancer diagnostics. Moreover, increasing government support for research & development, changing lifestyle, and rapidly developing technology are also expected to fuel the market during the forecast period. However, the high cost of the treatment may slow the market growth during the period 2017-2023. The Global Cancer Diagnostics Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.8% during the forecast period 2017-2023. Get Sample PDF Illustration @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1962 Key Players for Global Cancer Diagnostics Market Some of key the players in the market are Armune BioScience, Inc. (U.S.), Arquer Diagnostics Ltd (U.K), BioMark Diagnostics Inc. (Canada), Biotheranostics, Inc. (U.S.), Cancer Diagnostics, Inc. (U.S.), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.), Illumina, Inc. (Denmark), Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), Abbott Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland), Siemens Healthcare (Germany), Philips Healthcare (U.K), C.R. Bard, Inc. (U.S.). Segments for Global Cancer Diagnostics Market The global cancer diagnostics market is segmented on the basis of types, application, and end user. On the basis of the type, it is segmented into biopsy based, endoscopy based, imaging procedure, tumor cancer diagnostics, and others. On the basis of the application, it is segmented into lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, blood cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and others. On the basis of the end user, it is segmented into diagnostic center, clinic, hospital, research institutes, and others. Regional Analysis for Global Cancer Diagnostics Market The Americas dominate the global cancer diagnostics market owing to the presence of huge patient population with cancer, high healthcare spending, and increasing government support for research & development. According to a report published by the breast cancer information and awareness, in 2017, around 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women, along with 63,410 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. Europe holds the second largest share of the global cancer diagnostics market as result of increasing focus of various government agencies on the treatment of diseases. Moreover, the growing public awareness is also likely to boost the European market. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market across the globe. Moreover, rapidly developing economy, increasing healthcare expenditure, and the government initiatives for research & development are projected to drive the market in China and India. The Middle East and Africa holds the least share of the global market due to limited availability of medical facilities. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are expected to drive the Middle East & African market. Whereas, the African region is expected to witness a moderate growth. Get Complete Access of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cancer-diagnostics-market-1962 Some Brief Table of Contents of Report Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restrains 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers TOC Continued Do You Have Specific Requirement? Ask To Our Experts@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1962 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), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com All right stop, collaborate and listen: Vanilla Ice was on board a flight from Dubai that landed Wednesday at New York Citys JFK Airport with dozens of sick passengers. There is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place, he wrote in a tweet accompanied by a video. You can hear the rapper telling a fellow passenger in the video, It must be pretty serious. A follow-up tweet included a news video from YouTube about the flight Ice apparently believed he was on: So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place pic.twitter.com/i9QLh6WyJW Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) September 5, 2018 The former reality show star tweeted that the passengers who are sick are on the bottom floor of the aircraft and that hes happy hes up top on the double-decker jet. This is crazy. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy Im up top, its a double-decker plane 380 Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) September 5, 2018 Authorities checked the flight after roughly 100 of the 521 passengers complained of illness, including fever and coughing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some members of the flight crew were among those ailing. That plane reportedly was emptied by 12:30 p.m. local time. But the Ice, Ice Baby rapper began sending a series of tweets at 1:41 p.m. about a flight he was on, which made it unclear whether he was referring to the plane from Dubai with sick passengers or another one. Story continues A representative for Vanilla Ice verified that the rapper had been on the plane reviewed by the CDC and that he was released with all the other passengers that did not exhibit any symptoms. I have no other information about the situation beyond that, Chuck Quon said in an email to HuffPost. Also, he is not in NY any longer. He has already flown home. Authorities from the CDC, the Port Authority, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and city EMS took passengers temperatures on the plane from Dubai and arranged transportation for those who were ill to local hospitals. Passengers who are not ill will be allowed to continue with their travel plans, and if necessary will be followed up with by health officials, the CDC said. This article has been updated with comment from Vanilla Ices agent. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley speaks during a debate at the University of Massachusetts, in Boston - AP A 10-term Democratic congressman has conceded defeat to a Boston city councillor who is now poised to become Massachusetts' first black congresswoman in a race with parallels to a New York upset that rattled the party in June. The Democratic nominating contest fight between US Representative Michael Capuano, 66, and Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, 44, was his first since 1998. "Clearly the district wanted a lot of change," Mr Capuano told supporters on Tuesday as he conceded. "I'm sorry that this didn't work out." With no Republicans on the ticket in Tuesday's nominating primary, Ms Pressley is all but certain to succeed Mr Capuano in Washington in November's congressional elections. Ms Pressley argued she would bring new energy and awareness of the needs in the state's only congressional district where a majority of residents are not white. Incumbent U.S. Representative Mike Capuano speaks to reporters after voting in the Massachusetts Primary Election in Somerville Credit: Reuters The race echoed the June primary in a safely Democratic New York City congressional district where first-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat a 10-term incumbent, sparking fresh enthusiasm for progressive candidates across the United States. Within hours of her victory, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, 28, had endorsed Ms Pressley on Twitter, saying, "Vote her in next, Massachusetts." Both candidates had collected high-profile endorsements, with the Boston Globe newspaper backing Ms Pressley and the Congressional Black Caucus supporting Mr Capuano, who is white. Polls and political observers predict the state's nine House seats will remain in Democratic hands, along with the seat held by US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice often cited as a possible 2020 White House contender. Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican who regularly shows up in polls as one of the United States' most popular governors, is also expected to be re-elected. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate nationwide in the November 6 general election to gain a majority that could allow them to counter Republican President Donald Trump's agenda. By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley beat a 10-term incumbent on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Congress, and she immediately came out swinging at President Donald Trump. Pressley's win was the latest in a streak of primary victories by younger, more diverse Democratic candidates against established rivals before the Nov. 6 election. Democrats need to win 23 seats to take back the majority in the House of Representatives. The Chicago-raised activist faces no Republican rival for the district, which includes most of Boston and its neighboring cities, leaving her free to focus on Trump. "Our president is a racist, misogynistic, truly empathy-bankrupt man," Pressley, 44, told supporters on Tuesday night. "It is time to show Washington, D.C., both my fellow Democrats, who I hope will stand with us and Republicans who may stand in our way ... change is coming and the future belongs to all of us." Trump has angered Democrats with comments describing immigrants as criminals, attacks on black professional athletes protesting against racism and Twitter slaps at female politicians. Pressley's win echoes the June primary in a safely Democratic New York City congressional district, where first-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat a 10-term incumbent, sparking enthusiasm for progressive candidates across the United States. Shortly after her win, Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Pressley. Pressley took on U.S. Representative Michael Capuano, who had not faced a primary challenge since he was first elected in 1998. She argued that she was more attuned to the needs of the state's only congressional district where a majority of residents are not white. Pressley is poised to become the state's first black woman in Congress. "This wasn't a battle between a conservative and a liberal, they were both progressives in very good standing," said Peter Ubertaccio, a professor of political science at Stonehill College outside Boston. "It does point to a generational shift and this notion that a lot of folks are not waiting their turn in the way they might have years ago." Story continues Polls and political analysts predict the state's nine House of Representatives seats will remain in Democratic hands, along with the seat held by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, often cited as a possible 2020 White House contender. Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican who regularly shows up in opinion polls as one of the most popular U.S. governors, is also expected to be re-elected. Other Massachusetts Democratic incumbents held off challengers. Secretary of State William Galvin, 67, who has held his office for 24 years, easily beat another Boston City Council member, 34-year-old Josh Zakim. U.S. Representative Richard Neal, the 69-year-old ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, now in his 15th two-year term, held off a challenge by 44-year-old lawyer Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a Muslim who was endorsed by Our Revolution, a progressive group that grew out of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 Democratic presidential campaign. As of Wednesday morning, Lori Trahan held a 223-vote lead over Dan Koh, a former chief of staff for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, local media reported. They were contesting a primary to run for the seat held by U.S. Representative Niki Tsongas, who is retiring after 11 years. (Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Larry King) Ken Livingstone once again brought up Hitler during a rambling television interview about the anti-semitism crisis in Labour this morning. The former London mayor, who resigned from the party this year over his comments on the Jewish community, refused to apologise for saying that Hitler supported Zionism. Livingstone claimed he said Hitler did a deal with German Zionists in 1933 adding that he was not a Zionist himself. Asked whether he stood by his previous statement, he told Good Morning Britain (GMB): Absolutely. I said that in the 1930s Hitler supported Zionism. Ken Livingstone rambled for 10 minutes about Hitler yet again on a live TV interview (Rex) Not because he liked German Jews, but because he did a deal with the German Zionists. Theres a complete difference. He did a deal. Echoing Donald Trumps fake news assertions, the 73-year-old added: This has dragged on for two years. And still no one has asked me what I actually said. It has been lie after lie all over the media. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation There were claims I said Jews were like Nazis. This is the problem with fake news. Nobody has ever found a shred of evidence Ive said any of this nonsense. Livingstone told GMB that the anti-Semitism row should not concern Labour the day after the party finally adopted the international definition of anti-Semitism with a closed that ensured it would not undermine freedom of expression on Israel. The former London mayor said Labours anti-Semitism crisis was a conspiracy against Jeremy Corbyn (Good Morning Britain) He said: No one should have any worries about this stuff. Anti-Semitism is about people who hate and loathe Jews. Its not about criticising the Israeli Governments policy towards the Palestinians. He added: People who hate Jews blacks or homosexuals are never going to join the Labour Party because we have always been defending the rights of people like that. Story continues Livingstone also claimed that anti-Semitism allegations against Labour and Jeremy Corbyn are part of a conspiracy by the establishment, great corporations and the super-rich. He insisted he is not anti-Semitic himself, saying: The simple fact is, just before I resigned from the Labour Party, a senior official told me theyd found about 50 members who had tweeted something anti-Semitic. The Labour leader has been accused of being an anti-Semite for various comments unearthed over summer (Rex) Thats one in out of every 10,000. When I was Mayor of London anti-Semitic incidents halved. Labour has been rocked by claims it is now an anti-Semitic party, while leader Jeremy Corbyn has faced accusations himself that he is an anti-Semite and a racist by Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge. A senior member of Labours shadow cabinet has now urged Jewish critics to come back into the room and engage with the party over its approach to anti-Semitism. Baroness Chakrabartis call came after Labours ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) agreed to incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, including all its examples of prejudice against Jews, in the partys code of conduct. Labour voted to adopt the IHRA anti-Semitism definition in full on Tuesday despite protests from Corbyn supporters (Rex) But Jewish groups hit out after the move was accompanied by the statement that said the party will ensure the changes do not in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians. Dame Margaret Hodge, said the leader had sullied the adoption of the IHRA definition by trying to amend it by saying it was not anti-Semitic to describe Israel as racist. But Lady Chakrabarti, who conducted an inquiry into anti-Semitism for Mr Corbyn, insisted that the NECs additional statement did not dilute its commitment to fighting the problem. Labour has been rocked by claims it is infested with anti-Semitism (Rex) The shadow attorney general told BBC Radio 4s Today: There was no sullying. The words were not a caveat, were not a dilution; the words are true, which is that accepting these examples, in my view, in no way negates reasonable free speech around these difficult issues around Israel and Palestine. Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) said the attempted amendment showed that Mr Corbyn was part of the problem, not the solution. Labour Against Anti-Semitism said the move appears to be about protecting the freedom of racists to present vile views. Mr Woodward spent over a year meeting with sources to describe the inner machinations of the Trump White House: AFP/Getty Images Donald Trumps White House aides have removed paperwork from his desk and considered him a threat to national security, according to a new inflammatory book written by veteran journalist Bob Woodward. The new book is the latest in a series of publications that have described a tumultuous and chaotic Trump White House, and is the first of its kind written by a industry respected journalist who played a pivotal role in the reporting that led to former President Richard Nixons impeachment. In the book Fear which wont be released until next week the White House is described as a a tumultuous place where top aides to the president had insulted the president behind his back, and considered his lack of curiosity and knowledge about governing and foreign policy to be a worry for the presidents national security team, according to a review by The Washington Post, which obtained an advance copy of the book. One instance outlined in the book, a 19 January National Security meeting, involved Mr Trump disregarding the importance of long-standing US military presence on the Korean Peninsula which allows the US to detect North Korean missile launches within seconds instead of the 15 minutes it would take to detect such a launch from Alaska. Mr Trump questioned why the US was spending money in the area at all. Were doing this in order to prevent World War III, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis reportedly told him. Mr Mattis, immediately after the meeting, then reportedly said the president cited like and had the understanding of a fifth- or sixth-grader. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in response to the portions of the book made available publicly through reports, said that the entire book is full of falsehoods intended to make the president look bad. "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad," Ms Sanders said in a statement distributed to the press. Story continues Another portion of the book describes an instance with Mr Trumps former chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, who stole a letter off Trumps desk that the president intended to sign to formally withdraw the US from a trade agreement with South Korea. Mr Cohn later said he had done so to protect national security, and that the president did not know that it had gone missing. Mr Cohn also made a similar move when it came to Mr Trumps planning to take the US out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), which was a main promise of Mr Trumps 2016 campaign. In that instance, Mr Trump asked fro an aide to draft up a notification letter to pull the US out of Nafta but advisers felt doing so could trigger an economic and foreign relations crisis. I can stop this. Ill just take the paper off of his desk, Mr Cohn told that aide, according to Mr Woodwards book. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Syria apparently on the brink of a new spasm of violence, the White House warned on Tuesday that the United States and its allies would respond "swiftly and appropriately" if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons again. The White House also said in a statement that it was closely monitoring developments in Syria's rebel-held Idlib region, where the Syrian government is expected to mount an offensive that could spark a humanitarian disaster. President Donald Trump in the past year and a half has twice ordered U.S.-led air strikes against targets in Syria in response to what Washington called the Assad government's use of chemical weapons against civilians. In a tweet on Monday, Trump warned Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to recklessly attack Idlib province and warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed Trumps warning to Syria not to launch an offensive in Idlib, saying the area was a nest of terrorism." The northern province and surrounding areas are the last major enclave held by insurgents fighting Assad, who has been backed by both Russian and Iranian forces in Syrias seven-year-old civil war. They are home to some three million civilians. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the United States is closely monitoring the situation in Idlib province and that Trump has warned an attack there would be a reckless escalation of an already tragic conflict and would risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. "Let us be clear, it remains our firm stance that if President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its allies will respond swiftly and appropriately," she said. She said the United States will work with its allies to find a lasting diplomatic solution to resolve the hostilities in Syria under the auspices of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by James Dalgleish) If Brett Kavanaugh (center) is confirmed to the Supreme Court and if President Donald Trump (right) responds to a potential barrage of congressional subpoenas in the next Congress by making good on his threat to fire special counsel Robert Mueller (left), the new justice could be put in a very tough situation. (Photo: GETTY/AFP/REUTERS) The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Brett Kavanaughs nomination to the Supreme Court began Tuesday with Democrats strong protest against the committees unprecedented rush to confirm the judge. This protest has a compelling constitutional foundation based on the very sort of originalism Kavanaugh says he supports. The decisive issue arose only this weekend when President Donald Trump claimed executive privilege to deny the Senate all access to records involving Kavanaughs service as staff secretary in George W. Bushs White House. This unilateral assertion of presidential power is flatly inconsistent with the constitutional text and the original understanding of the framers. Further, it could easily trigger a series of events that would threaten the very foundations of our democracy. First, some facts: From 2003 to 2006, Kavanaugh controlled the flow of papers to the Oval Office, playing the key role of intermediary between the president and the countless bureaucracies competing for his attention. This was also a time when the CIA and military had transformed Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and covert sites throughout the world into torture chambers. Senators want to know how Kavanaugh dealt with the war crime issue in his role as staff secretary. The question is of central importance if the Senate is to discharge its constitutional duty to advise the president as well as consent to his nominee. It is no small matter to put a war criminal onto the Supreme Court if the papers show that Kavanaugh did, in fact, endorse John Yoos notorious torture memos in his dealings with the president. It is no less important to reassure the country that the then-38-year-old Kavanaugh was merely a paper-pusher at the time, and that it would be wrong to condemn him retroactively now that he has returned to center stage with a 12-year track record as a seasoned jurist. Trumps assertion of executive privilege, however, is so sweeping that it strips the Senate of any capacity to deliberate on the issue. Rather than insist that senators read the essential documents behind closed doors, he is asserting the unilateral power to deny them all access. Story continues Kavanaugh is sworn in during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court on Tuesday. (Photo: Chris Wattie/Reuters) This will require senators to accept on blind faith Kavanaughs predictable reassurances that he was entirely uninvolved in White House discussions of the merits of the worldwide torture campaign. This is especially perilous, given the nominees past dealings on the matter. When his nomination as circuit judge came before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006, the main focus was on the nature of his engagement in White House decisions to endorse the torture of detainees in the war on terror. His unequivocal assertion that he was not involved in these discussions played a crucial role in winning his confirmation. A year later, however, a Washington Post story, based on anonymous sources within the administration, reported that Kavanaugh had in fact engaged in at least one White House discussion leading Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to formally request an explanation from Kavanaugh for this apparent inconsistency. Kavanaugh, however, refused to answer. Worse yet, there is absolutely no reason to suppose that Trump has told his staff to investigate the matter seriously. To the contrary, he has already won Senate confirmation of Gina Haspel as CIA director despite her deep involvement in a CIA torture site in Thailand during the same period Kavanaugh was serving in the White House. But at least the Senate knew what it was doing in endorsing Haspel. It is quite another thing for it to rubber-stamp the ascent of a Supreme Court justice without the least pretense to independent deliberation. This not only represents a total repudiation of the constitutional demand that it advise before it consents to Kavanaughs nomination. The founders put this requirement into the text for compelling institutional reasons. Suppose, for example, that Kavanaugh wins confirmation in the next few weeks, but that the Democrats win the House in November, and that Trump responds to a barrage of congressional subpoenas by making good on his threat to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. As legal challengers to this move race to the Supreme Court for an expedited decision, another enterprising journalist breaks the news that Kavanaugh lied again, producing unambiguous documents leaked to him by dissidents in the Justice Department or elsewhere within the administration. This would place Kavanaugh in an impossible situation. On the one hand, he could recuse himself from the case of Mueller v. Trump thereby acknowledging that there is substance to the claim he had lied to the Judiciary Committee. On the other hand, he could continue his 12-year refusal to confront the charges against him. Given his long-standing commitments to unilateral executive power, this means he would supply the fifth vote in favor of Trumps peremptory efforts to stop Muellers inquiry. From left: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) deliver opening statements during Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Tuesday. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images) These scenarios would have different consequences for the next round of struggles between the newly elected House and the deeply embittered president. But they both would do terrible damage to the court. However Kavanaugh resolves his dilemma, the House would be right to inaugurate impeachment proceedings against the new justice demanding the documentary evidence, and personal testimony, that would conclusively establish whether he had lied under oath during his confirmation hearing. Throughout the months that followed, the court would be called on to resolve a host of other controversial matters while the integrity of a swing justice was under constant challenge. This would generate a dramatic decline in public confidence in the one remaining institution that continues to sustain bipartisan support beyond the Beltway. It would also do terrible damage to the Senate, especially if the Republicans continue to maintain a narrow majority and another Supreme Court vacancy opens up. If the majority leader rams a third super-conservative justice through on a party-line vote, this will strip the court of any pretense of impartiality and set the stage for a wrenching constitutional crisis if Democrats win the 2020 elections. If the super-Republican court strikes down the ascendant administrations initiatives on health care or voting rights, Washington will be the scene of a confrontation that will make the court-packing crisis of 1937 seem tame by comparison. Whatever the ultimate result, it will further convince ordinary Americans of all persuasions that dishonest politicians on the court, as well as in the presidency and Congress, are betraying them. The time to stop this clear and present danger is now. If the presidents unprecedented assault doesnt provoke a bipartisan Senate effort to defend its central role in the system of checks and balances, Americas constitutional democracy will be under grave threat. Both Republicans and Democrats should refuse to consider Kavanaughs nomination until Trump grants them access to all the relevant evidence. It is far better to leave the courts seat vacant than to abdicate core constitutional responsibilities. Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law at Yale, and the author of The Decline and Fall of the American Republic. ALSO ON HUFFPOST OPINION We Need To Know Brett Kavanaugh's Role In Bush-Era Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment What We Know About The Money Behind Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation Fight Trump Is Turning America Into The United States Of Hopelessness Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned UK is left without a credible position over Brexit. Photo:Oli Scarff/Getty Images The former governor of the Bank of England has called the governments handling of Brexit incompetent. Lord Mervyn King, who has previously spoken out in support of Britain leaving the EU, said that it beggars belief that one of the worlds largest economies had been forced into a position where it is stockpiling medicines and food. King warned that the governments approach to a no-deal scenario had left it without a credible bargaining position, and that the current approach would leave nobody happy with the outcome. He told the BBC: Im not going to tell the government what to do, but what is pretty clear is that we are likely to have some sort of deal. But we are going to get the worst of both worlds. We will leave next March, but only in the sense that we wont be going to any of the meetings that take place, so we will have no say in what happens. And yet we will still be bound by all the rules and regulations of the European Union. The referendum hasnt decided it, because both camps feel that they havent got what they wanted, and that is not how policy in Britain is usually made. Lord King called the governments preparations for Brexit incompetent. Photo: Getty Images The damning assessment came as Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham called for an extension to the Article 50 timeline to avoid the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal. The Labour politician is set to tell Westminster on Wednesday that this isnt about frustrating Brexit, but instead about getting Brexit right. READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK: Four out of five adults at risk of early death because their heart age is too high Misogyny could be made a hate crime as MPs prepare for historic vote 2.6 million have changed their minds about supporting Brexit Japan typhoon: Hundreds of cars left wrecked as worst storm in 25 years kills 10 Neglected cat covered in dreadlocked fur undergoes miracle transformation On Tuesday, the Brexit secretary Dominic Raab insisted that a withdrawal deal was within our grasp, despite the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warning that he is strongly opposed to the governments current negotiating position. Story continues Raab faces a grilling from MPs later today as he appears before the European scrutiny committee alongside the PMs Europe adviser, Olly Robbins. He is expected to defend the PMs Chequers plan which continues to cause deep rifts through his own party. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future (MRFR) has published a research report about the global sepsis diagnostics market that anticipates steady growth for this market by the end of 2022. In terms of cash, the market is expected to grow to the US $ 710 mn by the end of the forecast period. This report provides a detailed analysis of the market structure until the end of the forecast period. Observing the factors affecting the market, this report analyzes the current market size and evaluates the scope and potential for future growth. This report provides the strategic profiling of the key players in this market and figures out their competencies. This reports tracks and analyzes competitive developments such as joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, research and developments (R & D), and strategic alliances. The global sepsis diagnostics market has been segmented on the basis of end users, product type, technology, and lastly, region. On the basis of end users, this market has been segmented into diagnostic centers, hospitals, pathology laboratories, specialty clinics, and others. Based on technology, the market segmentation comprises of biomarkers, immunoassays, molecular diagnostics, and others. Biomarkers are defined as naturally occurring characteristics, genes, or molecules that can help identify a particular pathological or physiological process, disease, etc. Immunoassay is a biochemical test that can measure the concentration or presence of a macromolecule or a small molecule in a solution via the use of an antibody (usually) or an antigen (sometimes). Molecular diagnostics is defined as a collection of techniques that are used for analyzing biological markers in the genome and proteome. The analysis is done by applying molecular biology to medical testing. Based on product types, the market has been segmented into kits, instruments, blood culture media and others. In blood culture, media blood tests are conducted to detect infections that are spreading through the bloodstream. Get Sample PDF Illustration @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2110 The global market for sepsis diagnostics is expected to reach USD 710 million by the end of the forecasted period and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8%. Key Players for Global Sepsis Diagnostics Market The key players in the global sepsis diagnostics market include Axis-Shield Diagnostics Ltd. (Scotland), Becton - Dickinson and Company (USA), bioMerieux, Inc. (the USA), Cube Dx GmbH (Austria), EKF Diagnostics (UK), Immunexpress (USA), Sandstone Diagnostics, Inc. (the USA), and T2 Biosystems, Inc. (USA). Latest Industry News An international group of researchers that includes Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (D-H) is claiming to have identified a simple blood test that might be capable of identifying patients at greatest risk of dying from sepsis. 31 JUL 2018 Australian molecular diagnostics startup AusDiagnostics is planning to enter the US infectious disease detection market. They are specialist in diagnosing various kinds of ailments like sepsis, genetic disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases. 20 JUL 2018 Regional Analysis for Global Sepsis Diagnostics Market The regional segmentation of the global sepsis diagnostics market covers The Americas (North America & South America), Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Currently, North America is the largest market for medical tourism in the world. The North American market for sepsis diagnostics is expected to reach the US $ 320 mn by the end of the forecast period. Due to technological advancement, high disposable income, and the availability of better medical facilities, North America is the bigger market than South America. Increasing healthcare expenditure, government aid to researches in the field of medical sciences and the presence of the key players in North America boosts the growth of the market in North America. Majority key players in this region are based in the United States of America (USA). In terms of cash, the North American market is expected to achieve magnificent growth by the end of the forecast period, and it is expected to be worth the US $ 320 mn. Europe is the second largest market for sepsis diagnostics which is expected to grow significantly by the end of the forecast period. Due to reasons same as The Americas, Western Europe market is bigger than Eastern Europe. Maximum revenue for European market comes from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK), followed by rest of Europe. According to the report, the Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in sepsis diagnostics market by the end of the forecast period. In this region, the technological advancement is picking up the pace, but it is yet to reach the level of North America and Europe. In this region, the biggest markets are China, India, Japan, and South Korea, followed by the rest of Asia Pacific. MEA region is a small market due to political instability in most countries. Lack of technology and less investment in healthcare due to healthcare not being considered a priority by governments in this region are the reasons for limited facilities. Key Questions Answered In This Report: What will the market size and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? Get Complete Access of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/sepsis-diagnostics-market-2110 Some Brief Table of Contents of Report Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restrains 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers TOC Continued Do You Have Specific Requirement? Ask To Our Experts@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2110 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), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Sanaa (AFP) - Yemen's Huthi rebels said Wednesday they were stranded in the capital Sanaa on the eve of United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Geneva with their government rivals. The Huthis said the UN had been unable to "secure authorisation" from a Saudi-led coalition backing the government for a plane to transport the rebel delegation and wounded insurgents out of the country, according to the Huthis' Al-Masirah TV. While the Huthis control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, the coalition controls the country's airspace. The Huthis, who are linked to Saudi Arabia's arch-nemesis Iran, have hinted that their delegation demanded the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman for medical treatment as a condition for their attendance at the talks. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeted on Tuesday that the UN had "made promises on facilitating the transport of the wounded... abroad" and accused the world body of stalling. In 2014, the Huthis seized Sanaa, driving the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi into exile and marking a major turning point in Yemen's long-running conflict. The following year, Saudi Arabia and its allies formed a powerful regional military coalition to back the Hadi government in its fight against the Huthis. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the war, pushing the impoverished country to the brink of famine. The last round of peace talks between the Huthis and government collapsed in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing agreement. The Huthi delegation to Kuwait was grounded in Oman for three months on its way back to Yemen, blocked from travel by the Saudi-led coalition. Geneva (AFP) - Planned talks in Geneva this week between Yemen's warring parties offer a "flickering signal of hope" after years of conflict, the UN mediator said Wednesday, despite signs of delay and low expectations. The talks will be the first public meetings between the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Yemen's powerful Huthi rebels since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing deal. "The people of Yemen... are desperately in need of a signal of hope," UN envoy Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva. "We would like to think that the work we will do together in these next days will begin to send a flickering signal of hope to them." But both the government and the rebels have said they expect no breakthrough at the "consultations", which had been scheduled to open Thursday but appear likely to be delayed. - Rebels stranded in Sanaa - While representatives of the Yemeni government arrived in Geneva Wednesday, the rebels remained stranded in Sanaa, amid claims the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi was preventing them from leaving for the talks. The Huthis said the UN had been unable to "secure authorisation" from a Saudi-led coalition backing the government for a plane to transport the rebel delegation, along with wounded insurgents, out of the country, according to the Huthis' Al-Masirah TV. While the Huthis control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, the coalition controls the country's airspace. When asked about the Huthi charges, Griffiths said: "We are working on that." The UN meanwhile announced that there would be no meetings at its European headquarters in Geneva on Thursday as previously planned. But Griffiths said his "informal consultations" with the government side would begin immediately. "I am looking forward to meeting their leader right after this, Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani," he said at a press conference. Story continues That meeting is expected to take place in a Geneva hotel, as are any other meetings that might happen on Thursday, while more formal consultations could kick off at the UN on Friday. "We are not going to waste time," Griffiths said. He emphasised that the Geneva talks were "not formal negotiations," but said they aimed to pave the way towards bringing the parties back to the negotiating table. The talks also seek to put in place a range of so-called confidence-building measures, which could include prisoner swaps and the vaccination of children, he said. "There is a chance for some tangible progress," he said, adding that he hoped to get the two sides to sit at the same table during the consultations, which are expected to last a couple of days. Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani however told AFP this week that the chance of face-to-face sitdowns between the two delegations was slim to none. - 'Broken promises' - The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged both sides in Geneva to "take a first step towards ending a conflict that has brought severe pain and humanitarian suffering to the Yemeni people". The Huthis have hinted that their delegation demanded the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman for medical treatment as a condition for attending the talks, and accused the UN of stalling. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeted on Tuesday that the UN had "made promises on facilitating the transport of the wounded... abroad" -- pledges the world body had thus far failed to keep. Yemen's government meanwhile said Wednesday it planned to demand the release of the body of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, killed by rebels last year, during the talks. Saleh, for decades the most powerful politician in troubled Yemen, had sided with the Huthi rebels for three years before shifting alliances in the country's armed conflict. He was killed by the rebels in December. But Griffiths rejected that either side had presented any conditions for taking part in the talks. "There is a real chance for hope," he insisted. "We will make it happen." All previous attempts to resolve the Yemen war have failed. Griffiths is the UN's third Yemen envoy since 2014, when the Huthis overran the capital Sanaa and drove Hadi's government into exile. The following year, Saudi Arabia and its allies formed a powerful regional military coalition to back Hadi's government in its fight against the Huthis. The conflict has since left nearly 10,000 people dead and pushed the Arab world's most impoverished country to the brink of famine. 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. Authorities at the Ashdod Port have announced that maintenance work that was scheduled to be carried out this Shabbat will not take place after the citys deputy mayor from an ultra-Orthodox party urged Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz to halt the planned works. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The announcement comes almost two weeks after the Tel Aviv municipality warned Ayalon Highways Co. not to cancel the planned weekend construction work on a new bridge over the Ayalon Highway despite Katz's decision to freeze the project until an alternative can be found that won't include work on Shabbat. Ashdod Deputy Mayor Rabbi Mordechai Lieberman (United Torah Judaism) appealed directly to Katz on Monday seeking his intervention. (Photo: Avi Roccah) Lieberman wrote to Katz asking him to urgently intervene to delay the work for the six days of work. The Ashdod Port is proud to be Israels leading economic gateway, which engraved on its flag the values of the Jewish state and which observes Shabbat as a day of rest, the deputy mayor wrote. I am sure that in these days, when the people of Israel are seeking a good and blessed year, surely the observance of Shabbat, which is the source of the blessing, can be the source of comfort, and surely observing will bring help against the competing seaports, the rabbi wrote in the letter. In an interview with Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, Rabbi Lieberman said that he had already received an answer and that Katz had acquiesced to his demand. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The Ashdod Port is the only one that does not work on Shabbat and that will continue in this case too, he said. Attorney Eli Nehet, who is running at the top of the "Atid Ashdod" list in the municipal elections in the city slammed what he described as blackmail, while accusing the deputy city mayor of harming the main economic gateway to Israel. We have to put an end to this. Each day that harms work on the port costs the State of Israel millions of shekels. Is the Haredi sector the one that will pay for that?, he asked. The answer is obvious. We call on the minister of transport not to surrender to this blackmail. A statement was also issued by the Ashdod Port itself after Katzs intervention. The company is operating according to the usual six days a week and it will continue to do so in the future. An attack on Syria's Idlib, a rebel-held enclave, would be a massacre and the upcoming summit in Tehran, which will be attended by Iran, Russia and Turkey, would yield positive results, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by Hurriyet Daily. Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, resumed air strikes on Tuesday against insurgents in Idlib. This followed weeks of aerial bombardment and shelling by pro-Syrian government forces in an apparent prelude to a full-scale offensive against the rebels' last major enclave. "The situation in Idlib is crucial for Turkey. A ruthless process has been going on there. ... God forbid, if this area is hailed by missiles there would be a serious massacre," Erdogan was quoted as saying. Turkey cannot fulfill "unlawful requests" regarding US Pastor Andrew Brunson's ongoing case, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper early on Wednesday. The case of Brunson, standing trial in Turkey over terrorism charges, lies at the heart of a diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Washington that has prompted a crash of Turkey's lira currency. Citing his comments to reporters, Erdogan said Turkey followed the rule of law and the United States would not be able to make progress in the case by using threats, according to Hurriyet. A South Korean presidential delegation flew to North Korea on Wednesday for talks to arrange a summit planned later this month and help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. It's unclear who the South Korean envoys will meet in the North or whether they will see North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before returning to the South later Wednesday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his national security adviser will be carrying a personal letter for Kim. Moon said the envoys are tasked with a crucial role at a "very important time" that could determine the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. The security forces arrested on Wednesday 10 wanted Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria. The suspects were taken in for questioning. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nicky Hailey referred to the US plan to renew the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and said it was a very detailed plan that "takes into account every aspect." At a press conference, Hailey added that the plan, dubbed the "Will only be possible if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "agrees to come to the negotiating table." "We succeeded in ensuring that Netanyahu will agree to come," she added. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu about Syria on Tuesday. The two agreed any Assad military offensive in Idlib would be unacceptable and reckless. Pompeo highlighted the importance of releasing US Pastor Andrew Brunson, and both committed to continued discussions to resolve the matter. Joint List leader MK Ayman Odeh, met Tuesday with EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, and discussed with her the Nation-State Law approved by the Knesset last July, urging the EU official to condemn the legislation. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter At Mogherinis request the discussion was closed to the media but at the end of the meeting, the Joint List party issued an official statement. At the meeting, Odeh expressed his concern about the implications of the Nation-State Law on the Arab minority in Israel and its violation of equal rights, and asked for condemnation from the European Union and for it to call for the law to be repealed," stressed the statement. Federica Mogherini and Ayman Odeh (Photo: Yair Sagi) Odeh reportedly said during the meeting that the legislation undermines the peace process. "The law starts with the words Land of Israel, which does not relate to the State of Israel within the 1967 borders, and includes the West Bank, and it undermines the attempt to reach peace between the two nations," he argued. He also claimed that in Israel there is economic and social discrimination against the Arab population, and "incitement started by the prime minister and other officials against the Arab citizens." MK Odeh concluded his words by thanking the EU official for her willingness to discuss the issue. "I am grateful for Mogherinis willingness to meet, even though there were those who tried to cancel it. I was pleased to discover that the foreign minister shares our concern and believes that the law harms first and foremost Arab citizens, but also democracy and the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state and a possibility of peace," Odeh exclaimed. At the same time, the Joint List leadership met on Tuesday in Luxembourg with the countrys Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. During the meeting, MKs Ahmad Tibi, Jamal Zahalka, Yousef Jabareen, Masoud Ghanaim and Taleb Abu Arar demanded the EU condemns and acts against the Nation-State Law. Ahmad Tibi (Photo: Itay Blumenthal) The MKs also demanded European assistance to Israeli Arabs, especially when it comes to the issue of students and the unrecognized villages in the Negev. Luxembourg's foreign minister promised to review the requests, and at the same time expressed concern for the future of the two-state solution due to the continuation of the settlement construction. "We emphasized to the minister that there is a joint agreement between Israel and the EU based on the values of justice, equality and democracy, which are negated by the Nation-State Law. The minister said that the values of democracy, equality and human rights must be implemented and respected for all," their statement said. The Israeli Embassy in Brussels approached the Foreign Ministry in Luxembourg and tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to cancel the meeting. A diplomat in Luxembourg told the Joint List MKs about the Israeli attempt to intervene. "They contacted us a few days ago and wondered why we were meeting with you and what is the subject of discussions, and hinted that it would be better not to hold the meeting, but Minister Asselborn insisted on it," stressed the diplomat. MK Tibi described the intervention by Israel as crude and deviating from the authority of the Foreign Ministry, saying that "we will continue to meet with world leaders and explain our position." In the meantime, an extraordinary conference was held in the European Union in Brussels, where for the first time, Israeli settlers and Palestinians gathered together to protest against the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and encourage economic cooperation. Friends of Judea and Samaria in the European Parliament The conference was hosted by the Friends of Judea and Samaria in the European Parliament organization, with 120 people participating in the event, including 20 members of the European Parliament and 10 ambassadors from various EU countries. "I wonder why the Arab MKs are coming to the European Parliament?" said Bassam Eid, a Palestinian activist from Jericho. "Why not the Syrian parliament? I think it's somewhat of a propaganda. These types of people are trying to push Israel into a corner, and every time they attempt it, they fail. The BDS movement uses Palestinians for political purposes and does not help them financially, he lamented. "We are representing a true story of coexistence in the West Bank," said Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council. "Today, 25 years after the Oslo Accords, we can say that Oslo is dead. Every day we hear from local leaders in our region that the Palestinian Authority harms Arabs living in the West Bank, he added. At this very moment, Arab MKs from Israel are meeting with EU Foreign Minister Mogherini. The foreign minister ignored a request for a meeting with ussettlers from the West Bank and Palestinians who came to promote regional coexistence in Israel. And that says it all, Dagan concluded. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte met with President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday morning and was greeted by several dozen demonstrators, who held signs and shouted at his convoy in protest of the visit. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter In recent weeks, the Tag Meir organization, a grassroots group devoted to combating hate crimes, implored Rivlin to cancel his meeting with the Filipino leader since "he is a racist and anti-Semitic who is suspected of murder and other grave crimes." "We asked the president to cancel his meeting with Duterte and stop legitimizing his statements and deeds, but he did not respond," the organization said. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) The demonstrators shouted "shame" as Duterte's convoy arrived at the President's House, as well as "stop inviting dangerous dictators," and "Dutertea rapist." Tag Meir's chairman Dr. Gadi Gvaryahu expressed his disbelief regarding the visit of the controversial leader. "It is unthinkable that a week before Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish state hosts a man who compares himself to Hitler, a racist and a person who encourages rape. You cannot hold both ends of the stickto define the state as Jewish and to host leaders whose actions contradict Jewish values at the same time," he stressed. The protest was organized by Amnesty International and was attended by Adv. Itay Mack, a human-rights lawyer and activist who fights for greater transparency on Israels military exports, and MK Mossi Raz (Meretz). At the meeting, President Rivlin emphasized a stability of the relations between the two countries. "Our relationship has a long history of 70 years with your recognition of Israel's independence. One can say that this is an 80-year relationship that began when you opened your gates to the Holocaust refugees. Anyone who has found refuge in your country will never forget it," stated the president. "All of humanity, not only the Jewish people and the entire free world, felt that Hitler represented the devil himself, Satan on earth, and I have no doubt that you felt the same way during your visit to Yad Vashem," he added. Rivlin meets Duterte (: , ") X Regarding economic relations between the two countries, Rivlin said that it is clear that Israel and the Philippines "will be able to cooperate." Duterte thanked Israel for inviting him, and introduced Rivlin to his Jewish daughter. "My wife could not come, she is ill. I brought military men with me. We would like to strengthen our ties with Israel, we have a lot in common and this explains our relationship. You have helped our country in the war against terrorism, and I hope to discuss future economic and commercial investments with you. There are many opportunities in Israel," he explained. He remarked that Israel is helping the Philippines in the intelligence field: "My military personnel know that when it comes to the purchase of military gear and weapons, there is only one countryIsrael. US is a good friend, but there are limitations on purchases made there." "There will not be a problem with us from this point of view. We are far from you and are not connected to the troubles in Israel, we maintain ethics and principles of democracy," Duterte added. "When it comes to terrorism, we have to fight to win against a common enemy," he continued. Referring to the war he declared on Mindanao's jihadists, the Philippines president said:" We started bombarding targets in Mindanao as part of this war." Duterte likes to mention the people he killed from time to time. Last year, during his speech to the Filipino community in Vietnam, he confessed to the murder he committed at the age of 16. Similarly, in December 2016 the contentious leader claimed that he shot criminals when he was mayor of Davao: "In Davao I used to kill personally. Just to show to the police that if I can do it why can't you. I'd go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill," he exclaimed. The High Court of Justice rejected Wednesday the petitions filed by residents of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin community near Jerusalem, against the evacuation of the village. The temporary injunction forbidding the evacuation expire within a week, after which the evacuation can begin. In response, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted: "Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated!I congratulate the judges of the High Court of Justice for a courageous and obvious, in light of an orchestrated hypocrisy of Abbas, the Left and European countries. No one is above the law. No one will prevent us from exercising our sovereignty and our responsibility as a state." Israel closed on Wednesday the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip following violent riots which erupted on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter According to the IDF Spokesperson Unit, hundreds of people participated in the riots, reportedly hurling rocks at the crossing which resulted in severe damage to the infrastructure. The IDF said they responded with tear gas and live fire. The crossing is closed until damages are repaired. Entry will be allowed in humanitarian cases only and will be approved on an individual basis. Erez border crossing (Photo: AFP) On Tuesday, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported that several Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire as they protested near the territory's main personnel crossing with Israel. Such protests are rare at Erez, the only terminal for travel into Israel or the West Bank from Gaza. In addition, another incident occurred in the area yesterday, which saw a Palestinian man attempting to breach the border fence, but he retreated into the strip after being fired upon by Israeli forces. In light of the ongoing negotiations for a long term ceasefire arrangement with Hamas, the IDF refrained from proactively announcing the riot had taken place, and reports of the events came to light only after the Palestinians released a statement regarding the closure of crossing. Last month Israel also partially closed the Erez crossing in response to violent demonstrations staged by the residents, and following a delay in the reaching of an expected ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently addressed the relative calm along the southern border and its implications on the crossings closure. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: Roee Idan) Recently, we have seen that Hamas is in complete control of what goes on here. All the violence has decreased to almost zero, he stated. I am trying to form the equation between security quiet and economy. If theres terror, theres no economy. If theres no terror, there will be an economy, the defense minister explained. There has to be a direct connection. That is the important message that we are trying to communicate to the Gaza residents, to the average Gazan who is concerned with making a living and who thinks about how to provide for his family, he continued. Therefore, if there is quiet border crossings will remain open. If there is no quiet, they will be closed. The High Court of Justice on Wednesday rejected an appeal against the demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank, ruling that its stay would expire in a week and the spartan encampment could then legally be torn down. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The fate of Khan al-Ahmar , east of Jerusalem, has drawn heavy international attention, with the United Nations and others expressing grave concern, and has become a rallying cry for the Palestinians, whose leaders have gathered there to protest its planned demolition. Israel claims the village, an encampment of corrugated shacks outside the Kfar Adumim settlement, was illegally built and has offered to resettle residents 12 kilometers, about 7 miles, away. But critics say it's impossible for Palestinians to get building permits and that the demolition is meant to make room for an Israeli settlement. Khan al-Ahmar (Photo: B'Tselem, Amit Gilutz) The three judges hearing the appeal said they were presented no evidence to warrant overturning the previous verdict and there was no question over the illegality of the construction on the site. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman lauded the judges for their "brave" ruling. "No one is above the law. No one can stop us from implementing our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he said. The village is in the 60 percent of the West Bank known as Area C, which remains under exclusive Israeli control and is home to dozens of Israeli settlements. Israel places severe restrictions on Palestinian development there and home demolitions are not unusual. As part of interim peace deals in the 1990s, the West Bank was carved up into autonomous and semi-autonomous Palestinian areas, known as Areas A and B, and Area C, which is home to some 400,000 Israeli settlers. The Palestinians say that Area C, home to an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians, is crucial to the economic development of their future state. Israel says the structures that make up the Khan al-Ahmar encampment, which include an Italian-funded school, pose a threat to residents because of their proximity to a highway. But critics have dismissed this claim as a ploy to remove the village's 180 or so residents to clear the way for new Jewish settlements. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' office has called on Israel to abandon its plans and said the destruction of private property by an occupying power violates international law. The West Bank's Arab Bedouin are a small, impoverished minority among the broader Palestinian population. Like many other Bedouin encampments, residents of Khan al-Ahmar live in corrugated shacks or tents, often without electricity or running water, and raise livestock. The Palestinian ministry of education recently decided to start the schoolyear early for 170 elementary students in Khan al-Ahmar and four nearby Bedouin communities to try and pre-empt any Israeli move. Russia's envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Wednesday that Moscow had nothing to do with the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, in England, the RIA news agency reported. British prosecutors earlier on Wednesday identified two men who they said had tried to murder Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent. British prosecutors on Wednesday identified two Russians who they accused of trying to murder former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent in England. Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia, were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain has blamed Russia for the poisonings and identified the poison as Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack. British prosecutors named the two suspects as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who police said arrived in Britain from Moscow on March 2 at London's Gatwick airport on an Aeroflot flight and left on March 4. Police released images of the two men. Neil Basu, Head of UK Counter Terrorism policing, said the two suspects were travelling under aliases but were around 40 years old and had genuine Russian passports. "We would like to hear from anyone who knows them," Basu said. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in response that the names of two men British prosecutors have accused of trying to murder Skripal and his daughter Yulia "do not mean anything to us," RIA cited the Foreign Ministry as saying. A few dozen retired security service employees are demonstrating outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, in protest of the government's failure to equate the wages of police officers and prison guards to those of the IDF's career soldiers. Earlier today, Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan addressed the issue and said it was a "grave mistake." Several dozen retired security service employees broke Wednesday into the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem to protest against a government resolution that would discriminate between the salaries of the police and Israel Prison Service's (IPS) pensioners, and those of the IDF's career soldiers. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter A riot soon developed, and a curfew was declared. Ministers were asked to keep away from the entrance, and enter the building through the Interior Ministry office. At 2:30 PM, a cabinet meeting was scheduled to take place in the Prime Minister's Office. Demonstrators break into the PM's office (Photo: Inbar Tvizer) All the guards in the office left their posts and started chasing down the demonstrators. All employees were asked to lock cabinets containing classified documents. Police retirees even broke into the inner courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office. The offices employees who were inside at the time lashed out at the police for not sending reinforcements. Retired security service employees break into the Prime Minister's Office (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) "This is a major security failure. They have been here for some 45 minutes, and the police are not sending additional forces to disperse the protesters. The security guards instructed the employees through the megaphone to lock themselves in the rooms and keep classified documents safe. The prime minister and the public security minister are stranded inside the office and cannot leave. Its a disgrace," lamented one of the workers. The Border Police were called to the scene, which prompted the demonstrators to shout: Kahlon, go home! Arden: 'A grave mistake' Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan addressed the issue at the cabinet meeting. "On the one hand, I condemn all violence There is no room for forced entry into the Prime Minister's Office. This is a serious act of violence. On the other hand, the government meeting today deals with a painful issue that concerns pensioners, police officers and prison guardsthey have been subjected to a very severe injustice," Arden stated. Riot develops outside PM's Office (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) "They are entitled to a wage increases according to the Labor Court ruling. The Ministry of Finance is turning this into a political decision, to discriminate against people who risk their lives to defend civilians is something that should never be done. I hope the government will approve the wage increase," he added. Police retirees and the IPS decided to protest against the Finance Ministry's intention to submit a proposal during a government meeting that would exclude police officers, prison guards, and pensioners from additional payments and would perpetuate a situation where police officers are discriminated against. The payments in question have been transferred to career soldiers and IDF reservists for the past 12 years, yet police retirees and retired prison guards have been excluded from receiving those payments. The proposal was supposed to be addressed at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The protestors demand to equate the salaries of policemen and prison guards serving in the army, including pensioners, to the salaries of the IDF's career soldiers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a government meeting Wednesday that, Israel is determined to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria. We are working relentlessly in order to prevent Iranian precision-guided arms production in all theatersnear and farand will continue to work for Israel's security. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused US President Donald Trump on Wednesday of planning to "abuse" the presidency of the U.N. Security Council to criticise Tehran, Washington's arch-foe. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that Trump would chair a UN Security Council meeting on Iran this month to spotlight its "violations of international law" during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Wednesday he is against conducting the Eurovision preparations on the Jewish rest day, but acknowledged that "he knows where he lives." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has sent an official letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding him to guarantee the government would not interfere in the contents of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest planned to be held in Israel. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) The EBU posed an additional two demands according to which Eurovision fans would not be banned from entering the contest based on their political opinions, religion, or sexual orientation and that the preparations for the contest would be held on Shabbat. Addressing the aforementioned demands, Deri said in an Ynet interview, generally speaking, our borders are open. However, if anyone tries to use this in order to hurt Israel, he would be stopped. I will not accept Shabbat becoming a work day for social events organizers, since it hurts the working class. They will then have no rest days and will work seven days a week like slaves," Deri elaborated. The fact that recreational activities like visiting cafes, cinemas, restaurants and the Eurovision are taking place on Shabbat hurts me as a Jewish individual, but I know where I live. Residents of south Tel Aviv rallied in the streets on Thursday evening in a display of anger over the governments failure to fulfill promises made last year to rid the area of illegal African migrants, with some protesters burning pictures of Deri. Posters with Deri's picture burning in a Tel Aviv Rally (Photo: Liberation of South Tel Aviv Front) I am not hurt, neither in body nor in spirit, said Deri. and I will participate in the opening of the Shas municipal campaign headquarters in south Tel Aviv. Whoever did this, he continued, was a provocateur, that was his aim, he wanted attention, thats all. The people of south Tel Aviv are our public, these are conservative people who know my work. Deri also addressed the asylum seekers issue, and the deal with third-party countries to accept them that collapsed earlier this year. From the day I took office, not even a single infiltrator has crossed the border. 1,700 have left in recent months. Close to 20,000 have already left on their own accord, and the third-party agreement, which I worked hard for and was approved by the Supreme Court, collapsed due to international pressures on the receiving countries, Deri elucidated. When asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus statement according to which he predicts 40 mandates for the Likud party on the next elections and its effect on Shas, Deri said, Praise the lord, we are only rising in popularity. "Netanyahu is the prime minister and leader of the Likud and we want him as a leader and he will have our support. "However, Shas will guarantee to take care of all Likud voters who seek traditional Judaism and aspire for a country that caters for the needs of the weak and the transparent," the interior minister said. Deri and Netanyahu (Photo: Amit Shabi) According to Deri, a strong Likud party means a further weakening of the poor population, and that means a less Jewish state. Only a strong Shas alongside Netanyahu will guarantee that he takes care of things as (the conservatives) want. We dont want Yair Lapid to form a government with Netanyahu instead of Shas and United Torah Judaism. Last time this happened, Lapid and Netanyahus government attempted to erase a 70-year-old Israeli status quo, he added. I dont aspire to be the prime minister or minister of foreign affairs, I have other commitments. My greatest responsibility after the death of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is to keep representing his public and continue his lifes work. This is what keeps me going. One of the things endangering this government is early elections amid the controversial Draft Law. According to Deri, the Draft Law will not end this government since the coalition agrees on it. In reference to the internal feud within the Ultra Orthodox public revolving the Draft Law, Deri said, There is an internal dispute that I hope will be resolved after the upcoming holidays. I am almost certain that we can reach an agreement and approve this law in the upcoming Knesset's winter session. Elections will take place in 2019, as planned." UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Evtimov Mladenov called upon Israel not to demolish the village, located in the Maale Adumim region. He tweeted that the demolition will undermine the two-state solution and is against international law. The Russian defense ministry confirmed Wednesday that its fighter jets bombed the Idlib province on Tuesday, after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said Tuesday Moscow had resumed air strikes on Syria's last rebel-held stronghold after a 22-day break. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The defense ministry stressed that the strikes targeted merely rebel Jihadists and that Russia had refrained from attacking residential areas. Refugee children in Idlib However, according to a Syrian report, 13 civilians were killed in the strikes, with six of them being children. The Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it was Russia's duty to fight terrorists in Syria's Idlib until their "complete and final liquidation", and called on other countries to support that effort, not obstruct it. In a statement, the ministry said its actions in Idlib province were in line with multilateral agreements aimed at stamping out violent militant groups. "Russia considers it its duty to closely follow these agreements and will continue to destroy terrorists until their final and complete liquidation," the ministry said in the statement. Russia claims that four of its aircraft equipped with high precision-guided arms, struck Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda-affiliated organization) targets. The Syrian regime is also bombarding the rebel-held province. Air strikes on Idlib (Photo: AP) In recent weeks, President Basahr Assad's forces are approaching Idlib, planning an attack that could end the seven-year civil war. Meanwhile, Russia is currently conducting a vast military exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, which is expected to reach its highest point of intensity on Wednesday at 6 am until Thursday at 1 pm and is scheduled to end on Saturday. The world is concerned a humanitarian disaster might occur. However, the Kremlin says that the drill aims to prepare for scenarios in which Russia may be forced to face with the US-led coalition operating in Syria. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov said that so far all of Russia's military actions in Syria were executed with high precision to avoid harming civilians as much as possible. "We, as we have said many times before, act precisely, selectively, trying to minimize possible risks to the peaceful population," Ryabkov as explained. Refugee children in Idlib (Photo: AFP) Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned Wednesday that an attack on Syria's Idlibwhich borders with Turkey would be a massacre and voiced concern that hundreds of refugees would flee to Turkey. "The situation in Idlib is crucial for Turkey. A ruthless process has been going on there. ... God forbid, if this area is hailed by missiles there would be a serious massacre," Erdogan opined. Turkey, that support some of Syria's rebel groups, held several talks with Russian and American officials in an attempt to prevent Assads planned phased offensive to reclaim Idlib. Rebels preparing for attack on Idlib (Photo: AFP) "Three and a half million people live there. In case of a disaster, God forbid, they will flee to Turkey," Erdogan went on to say. Turkey, Russia and Iran's leaders will attend a three-way summit in Tehran on Sept. 7, which will address the civil war in Syria which is nearing to its end. The UN Security Council is expected to convene Friday to discuss Idlib's situation, while taking into account the possibility Assad will use chemical weapons to reclaim the rebel-held province, causing a humanitarian disaster. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would continue to fight against groups it sees as terrorists in Syria and that Idlib was a nest of terrorism. Turkey's Erdogan (L) and Russia's Putin (Photo: AFP) UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura expressed fears of a "perfect storm" that could have a devastating impact on nearly 3 million people nearly half of whom arrived from elsewhere in Syriain the region largely controlled by al-Qaida-linked fighters. US President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to "recklessly attack" Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. "The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don't let that happen!" Trump wrote in a tweet. The UN and other human rights organizations have warned that a military operation in Syria might cause one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes Syria had known during its seven-year civil war. Tahrir al-Sham's jihadists currently control more than half of Idlib. The rest of the province's territory is mainly dominated by rebels supported by Turkey. Assad's regime took the reins over the small southeast part of the province. The Syrian army bombarded Idlib today, while the rebels blew up another bridge in an attempt to thwart the upcoming attack. Paraguay will move its embassy in Israel back to Tel Aviv, reversing a May decision by former President Horacio Cartes to move the diplomatic site to Jerusalem, the South American country's foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday. "Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East," Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman said Israel will close its embassy in Paraguay. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the foreign minister, ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay on Wednesday hours after the Latin American nation said it had decided to return its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The United States and Guatemala also moved their embassies to Jerusalem in May and Netanyahu has attempted to persuade other countries to follow their lead. PM Netanyahu (L), Paraguay's President Mario Abdo (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, AP) "Israel views with great severity the unusual decision by Paraguay that will strain the ties between the countries," a brief statement from the Prime Minister's office said. According to the Palestinian foreign ministry, the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki was responsible for Paraguay's decision to move back the embassy to Tel Aviv. The ministry added Paraguay had said it would move its embassy back to Tel Aviv two weeks ago during al-Maliki's visit to the country. Explaining the new Paraguayan move, the country's foreign minister, Luis Alberto Castiglioni, said: "Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East." Former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes travelled to Israel to inaugurate the new embassy in May. He was replaced last month by Mario Abdo, also a member of the conservative Colorado party. Former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes (L)and Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the inauguration ceremony at the Malha Technology Park, near the new Guatemalan embassy. "It is an honor for me to be here today," Paraguayan President Cartes said at the ceremony. "The opening of the embassy holds special meaning, because it expresses the sincere friendship and the brave solidarity between Paraguay and Israel," Netanyahu said. "I don't like binding or ambiguous positions. Our friendship is based on shared values, such as democracy, tolerance and dignity, lack of discrimination and peaceful coexistence," Cartes stated. "This is a historic day that strengthens ties between Paraguay and Israel," he continued. "A great day for Israel. A great day for Paraguay. A great day for our friendship," Netanyahu responded. "You have not only the support of our government but the profound gratitude of the people Israel." Paraguay's former president inaugurates Jerusalem embassy (: ') X "Paraguay helped the Jews escape Nazi Germany," the prime minister said of the historic bond between Paraguay and the Jewish people. "We will never forget it. You did it before, during and after the Holocaust. It was an expression of compassion and generosity that will always be etched in our hearts. Paraguay also supported the establishment of the State of Israel and recognized Israel at the UN. We won't forget that, either," the premier added. "You're an amazing friend to Israel," Netanyahu told Cartes. "Under your leadership, Paraguay made courageous moves in the international arena and refused to take part in the lies against Israel. It's time we do a lot more together and increase the cooperation between us. We've been discussing water, agriculture, security, and we are doing and want to do more. And we will." The IDF revealed on Tuesday that as of the beginning of 2017, more than 200 Iranian or pro-Iranian targets were attacked across Syria. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter An entire system of pilots, officers, analysts, and officials has been working around the clock to execute the strikes. The attacks included the dropping of 800 bombs and missiles by the Israeli Air Forcean amount that adds up to half used in a real war. Some were launched to long ranges. In almost all such operations that are meant to take place under the radar, all participants know very quickly or even in real time whose fist gave the punch, hundreds of kilometers from Israel. And so, one of the purposes of these inter-war attacks is to send a message of power through the Middle Eastern arena, alongside establishing Israeli deterrence, postponing the next war and preventing Israels enemies from arming themselves with advanced weapons. IAF attack on Syrian base (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Behind heavy secrecy, that was lifted yesterday, the IDF has been trying to eradicate Iranian presence in Syria even at the cost of an incident that could trigger a war on the northern border. This agenda is led by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot who was the commander of the northern border in years when Hezbollah was growing stronger. According to the IDF, the Iranian plan to establish its presence in Syria was discovered two years ago by intelligence officials. Back then, the Russian blitz on the rebels was strengthening Assad, and in Tehran leaders were already looking forward to what is to come after the war. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards concocted a multi-year plan to establish military naval and air bases in Syria. These bases were supposed to include, according the IDF, thousands of soldiers and local Shiite militias serving as an army to fight against the "Zionist enemy." The Yamanite model of this plan, which is already enabling the launching of missiles to Riyadh, is proving successful for the Iranians. They have an old-fashioned army, but also advanced technologies and intelligence capabilities, alongside drones and an ambitious missile program. The IDFs recommendation for government officials was clearto eradicate any Iranian move in the Syrian arena, without claiming responsibility. Secrecy had been maintained until February of this year. Then, circumstances led to the surfacing of this covert confrontation, when an Iranian drone penetrated Israel and was shot down above Bik'at HaYarden by an Apache helicopter. The IDF then openly attacked the T-4 base in the Tadmor region in Syria from which the drone was launched. Shortly after an Israeli F-16 was shot down over the Galilee by Syrian antiaircraft missiles. The F-16 crash site (Photo: AFP) The confrontation between Israel and Iran became public, violent, and dangerous, reaching its highest point of intensity three months later during Operation House of Cards when more than 50 Iranian targets were destroyed in Syria. Israel's "excuse" for this vast operationits largest operation executed in Syria since 1974was the launching of 32 rockets at the northern Golan Heights, most of which falling in Syrian territory and several being intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Following the Israeli blow, the Quds Forces led by Major General Qasem Soleimani convened for a situation assessment. However, it was a brief lull, and ever since then Tehran has been galloping through Syrian territory while attempting to dodge Israeli intelligence. Evading tactics included smuggling weapons through civil flights, entrenchment on Syria and Iraq's border and acquiring Syrian knowledge about precision-guided missiles. In addition, it was reported Tuesday night that fighter jets had bombed targets around Wadi al-Uyun in the Hama area in Syria. Syrian media attributed the bombardment to Israel. Amir Hatami, Iranian Defence Minister, during a visit to Damascus The IDF has a reason to be pleased regardless of its efforts against Iran. US forces have been pushing Iranians out of the 55 kilometer strip along the Syrian-Iraqi border around the Euphrates river. They are also more vigorously active against Iranian moves in the region. However, Russia is competing with Tehran over reconstruction contracts for war-torn Syria, and have thus pushed Iranian forces to at least 80 kilometers from the Israeli border. According to the IDF, it is executing these operations a few times a week, also throughout Cyber tools. The Iranians understand that they have poor infrastructures and an intelligence gap. Our response to their entrenchment in Syria has come a year to a year and a half earlier than they had planned". Still, the IDF report read, Iraq is more important to Iran then Syria, since 64 percent of the Iraqi population is Shiite, and they are thus organizing more militias there. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he remained open to the possibility of talks between Washington and Tehran, but said Iran was in turmoil and struggling to survive. Brazil's National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism's oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. No suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra at present can provide investors with the opportunity to buy a detached house and have a cash flow positive with only a deposit of 20% or less, according to research firm Propertyology. To initially support the claim, the report cited conditions in specific regions. Even though its 80 kilometres from Sydneys GPO, the Central Coast (Wyong and Gosford) are technically part of Greater-Sydney, while Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains has a median house price of $500,000, Propertyology reported. Propertyologys Head of Research Simon Pressley underscored that investors interested to capitalise in Sydney would need to slightly move away to find houses with robust cash flow. An option would be a house in Lake Munmorah on the Central Coast, which will cost $3093 per year to hold. Blacktown, which is 38 kilometres west of Sydney, is not recommendable given that it has a median house price of $740,000 and a property in the area will cost $11,775 per year to maintain, even if one has 20% deposit. The same goes for Hornsby whose figures are even worse. The suburb was recorded to have median house price of $1.33 million that will leave an investor $26,152 a year. More importantly, Pressley said that it may be difficult to invest in New South Waless capital at this time, especially when one considers that the citys growth phase finished a year ago, and the next cycle could take a while. Looking closely, another city was found to be experiencing a downturn in cash flows. Victoria paints a similar picture with Greater-Melbournes best locations for cash flow investors within the municipality of Melton 40 kilometres north-west of the CBD, noted Propertyology. Here, the median house price is around $400,000 and will cost those with a 20% deposit just $4000 per year to hold. If one would opt to try his or her luck, there is the Yarra Ranges to explore. The entry price for a typical property in the area is slightly more affordable and the annual impact on the household budget could be less than $2000. The local government area could provide a better deal when put side by side the places nearer Victoria. Compare those figures to somewhere like Doncaster, 17 kilometres from the CBD, where a typical house will cost $34,702 a year to hold under the same parameters. Similarly, Brunswick housing sees its investors contributing $23,805 per year to maintaining the holding a tough ask if youre trying to be patient. As an ending, Pressley reminded that cash flow is just one element in choosing an investment option. It is important to note that proximity to employment nodes, local demographics, and the various factors which affect housing supply are essential aspects as well. Suburbs offering both high cash flow and capital growth potential are not common, but they can be found in every state. Also included in Propertyologys new research is the list of best capital city suburbs where rental properties pretty much pay for themselves. Below is the data for reference. News Houston, Texas - Houston-based Waste Management of Texas has agreed to forfeit more than $5.5 million and perform remedial measures for a documented pattern and practice of hiring illegal aliens at the companys Afton, Texas, location. The five-year investigation that led to the forfeiture was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston, Texas. On Aug. 29, to avoid prosecution, Waste Management of Texas entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the federal government that required the company to forfeit $5,527,091.55, and perform remedial measures. The non-prosecution agreement requires Waste Management to continue its substantial remedial measures to address all past immigration violations and forfeit more than $5.5 million in proceeds gained from hiring an illegal workforce at the Afton location, said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick, U.S. Southern District of Texas. In considering whether to enter into such agreements, we must take into account the collateral consequences that a criminal prosecution would have on the companys contracts with many municipalities across the country and the thousands of employees for the conduct of three managers at one operating unit in Houston. Waste Management Inc. is North Americas leading provider of waste disposal and collection headquartered in Houston. The company serves nearly 20 million municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. Waste Management of Texas employed at least three managers at its Afton location who actively encouraged and induced aliens to work illegally between 2003 and April 2012. In April 2012, HSI Houston executed search warrants at the Afton, Texas, location where authorities discovered 16 illegal aliens and at least 100 employees in company records who were verified as fraudulently documented or using an identity that did not belong to them. Waste Management of Texas hired various staffing agencies to provide contract laborers. Many were hired or rehired at the Afton location in reckless disregard of the fact that they were not authorized to work. The undocumented workforce allowed the company to maintain their preferred helper workforce to maximize profits and productivity. The estimated proceeds to the company derived from this conduct at the Afton location is $5,527,091.55 the amount forfeited to the United States. Federal law requires employers hire only U.S. citizens and aliens who are authorized to work in the country, said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson. This company hired manual laborers with little or no regard for their legal status for almost 10 years at their Afton location. Today, they paid a substantial price for that conduct. We will continue to vigorously enforce immigration law where we find employers engaging in a pattern or practice of hiring unauthorized individuals in reckless disregard of the law. Managers at the Afton location fired at least 10 employees in January 2012 because they lacked documentation. The aliens were told to assume the identity of actual U.S. citizens or individuals with legal status in order to work there. Managers also engaged in an identity-theft scheme providing the terminated aliens with names and identifiers of actual individuals with status in the United States to allow the illegal aliens to be employed and added to the companys payroll. A federal grand jury indicted three managers in May 2014 for engaging in a conspiracy between 2008 and 2012 to induce and encourage unlawful immigration through a scheme to employ illegal aliens as helpers on waste trucks picking up garbage in and around Houston. All three managers were convicted and received sentences of 27, 87 and 94 months in federal prison. Waste Management of Texas cooperated with the governments criminal investigation and conducted its own internal investigation. The company determined that the managers at its Afton location intentionally thwarted pre-existing immigration compliance procedures that have since been enhanced to prevent future hiring of unauthorized aliens seeking employment by fraud or identity theft. Latest News Houston, Texas - A documented member of the gang Los Tumbadores - a gang known for preying on illegal aliens - was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison following his conviction for rape and robbery. This investigation was conducted by the following agencies: Texas Anti-Gang Center (TAG), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriffs Office, and other agencies at the TAG. Aron Alexi Herrera Munguia, 29, from Honduras, was sentenced to 40 years for raping and robbing two women who owned a bar in the Houston, Texas, area. Munguia is the sixth member of Los Tumbadores to be convicted in state court as part of this investigation. These convicted defendants, all Honduran men in their twenties or early thirties, chose victims whom they believed would be too afraid to call the police for fear of deportation. They thought they could operate with impunity as they preyed on their own people, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. These officers and agents pursued the defendants over several years and over the boundaries of multiple investigations; state and federal. Their selfless cooperation and collaboration with our gang and organized crime team led these defendants to inevitable justice. As a result of this investigation, three gang members Marcos Antonio Olivares Calderon, 36, Eledis Fernandez, 38, and Nelson Rodriguez, 33 were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a cocaine dealer who was shot to death during a home-invasion robbery. Two other gang members Carlos Ortega, 25, and Eder Murillo, 26 received 25 years and 15 years, respectively, for their roles in a separate home invasion. Ogg stressed that regardless of a persons immigration status, they should not fear reporting a crime. We do not ask victims of violence how they came to the United States, she said. We treat everyone equally when it comes to seeking justice. Latest News Washington, DC - Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke with Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and both agreed that any Assad regime military offensive in Idlib would be an unacceptable, reckless escalation of the conflict in Syria. The Secretary also stressed the importance of Turkey releasing Pastor Andrew Brunson. The Secretary and Foreign Minister committed to continued discussions to resolve the matter and address other issues of common concern. 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. Check out the details of the upcoming PSE event in Peshawar and invest in a property of your choice by visiting us on the event day. Named after a mineral discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia, perovskites have taken center stage as a class of materials with properties that could be applied to future electronics and energy devices. Semiconducting films made of perovskites promise flexible, light-weight solar cells that are cheap and easily made from abundant materials. While they are not yet available commercially hurdles include making them more stable and durable they may transform the solar energy industry in the next decade or two. For scientists, perovskites also present an interesting puzzle: Start with any number of variations on the basic ingredients for making them - lead, iodide and methylammonium and you end up with the same basic material. Yet, tweaks to the chemistry at various stages in the process can lead to perovskites with more desirable qualities for solar cells. For researchers at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) and Stanford University, the mystery and potential of perovskites converge in experiments where extremely bright X-rays are used to study the chemistry of the material in the very moments it is being formed. The DOE Office of Science user facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory offers multiple ways to approach the problem and discover new insights about this useful material. We asked SSRL staff scientists Christopher Tassone and Kevin Stone, Stanford Chemistry PhD student Aryeh Gold-Parker and Michael Toney, head of the SSRL materials science division, what they recently found out about perovskite chemistry and where they are hoping their work will lead. Their research was published today in Nature Communications. How are perovskites made, and what interests you about this process? Stone: You start by dissolving some basic ingredients in a solvent. Then you deposit that solution and dry it into a film. The film is then transformed into the final perovskite by a treatment such as annealing, which involves heating it to a certain temperature and then cooling it again. We are interested in the chemistry of that entire process and how it evolves at each stage. The idea is that if you can understand what we call the formation chemistry of perovskites, you can create the materials to have the exact properties you desire. Gold-Parker: There are dozens of different methods for depositing perovskite films, for example. And these methods lead to differences in thickness, texture, grain size and crystallinity of the films. In the lab, creating perovskites with distinctive characteristics is mostly done through trial and error. Engineers make small changes to the process to optimize the particular property they're interested in, whether that's solar cell voltage or performance. Trial and error can work, but its not efficient. Tassone: My group is really interested in how we make large quantities of solar panels very cheaply to meet growing demands for solar power and clean energy goals. Conventional silicon solar cells cant be manufactured rapidly enough. We believe that if we can understand the chemical transformations that are occurring during the process of making perovskite solar cells, we can ultimately engineer better processes that meet the needs of industry. What was your latest study about? Gold-Parker: Our study builds on work by other groups of researchers at Oxford, Cornell and Stanford that showed using chlorine in the processing can lead to high-quality perovskite films with impressive performance. After the solution is deposited theres an intermediate step where a crystalline film forms we call this a precursor and then a gaseous salt of chlorine called methylammonium chloride (MACI) leaves the film continually while it's converting into a perovskite. A few years ago, an SSRL study by myself, Toney and co-workers showed there is very little chlorine left in the final product. Even though you start with quite a lot of chlorine, the vast majority of it is lost in the processing. Stone: In this latest study we wanted to know: Where does the chlorine go and what purpose does it serve? Why chlorine in the first place? What does the precursor consist of, and how is it influencing this transformation? What did you find out? Stone: We were able to figure out what the structure of that crystalline precursor is, how the atoms are put together, and roughly how much chlorine is present. When we heat it up during the annealing stage, we see that crystalline precursor persists for quite a while before it begins to transform into perovskite. Gold-Parker: We were also able to show that the transformation into the final perovskite is limited by the gradual evaporation of MACl, and that this slow transformation might actually lead to a higher quality perovskite material. Toney: There are also broader implications. Theory calculations can tell you with good accuracy the properties your material will have. But they provide almost no guidance about how to go about synthesizing it. This question has driven interest in the science community over many decades, but even more so over the last five years, in what's been called synthesis science: understanding how you actually make something. What are the processes that the material goes through, the pathways? This study is one very nice example of being able to disentangle that synthesis process, and as a result gain insight into how we could redesign it. How did you study it? Tassone: We used multiple versions of two techniques called X-ray scattering and X-ray spectroscopy. X-ray scattering is used to study structure; it tells you where the atoms are located in crystalline materials. X-ray spectroscopy is a complementary technique. It tells you about the chemistry of the film, how much of the different chemical elements are present and how they are bonded. Gold-Parker: These methods allowed us to probe changes in the crystal structure and the amount of chlorine throughout the transformation, as well as the chemical state of the chlorine. And very importantly, we used each of those techniques in situ or as the changes are actually occurring. SSRL has world-class capabilities for designing and performing these sorts of in situ experiments that monitor the actual process instead of just the starting and end points, and that was really powerful. Tassone: What makes this result and our approach very strong is that we use the interpretation of the scattering data to inform the interpretation of the spectroscopy data, and vice versa. We would not have solved this mechanism without moving those things together. In the paper we lay out a clear pathway for anyone who wants to study the processes involved in making this or other materials. This is an important step in perovskites research but also in the broader field of synthesis science that Mike described. Whats next? Stone: I would like to study what happens in the solution before it dries, so at an earlier stage in the process. I would also like to expand our methods to include other perovskite materials. Toney: Another point to pursue is related to the role of the chlorine that's present in the film in this specific example. It serves as a mediator or regulator, and it slows down the conversion. How does this general concept of a mediator a compound that serves a purpose but does not end up in your final material work in this process or other processes or materials? Silicon has been studied for at least 50 years, perovskites for five, so weve got a lot of work ahead of us. Tassone: I have two points for moving forward. One is how do we develop the processes that will work at scale and allow solar to be affordable to everyone and really make a large impact on our energy landscape? The other is, based on the fact that perovskites are the most exciting semiconductor development in the last decade or two, how can we utilize the unique properties of this material for other applications as well? Other contributors to this research include SSRLs Vanessa Pool, Eva Unger of Lund University in Sweden and Stanford Universitys Andrea Bowring and Michael McGehee, now at University of Colorado Boulder. Funding was provided by the DOE Office of Science, the National Science Foundation (Graduate Research Fellowship) and the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation. Citation: K.H. Stone, et al., Nature Communications, 27 August 2018 (10.1038/s41467-018-05937-4) For questions or comments, contact the SLAC Office of Communications at communications@slac.stanford.edu. SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, Calif., SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. 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 McDermott International, Inc. provides engineering, procurement, construction and installation, and technology solutions to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through five segments: North, Central and South America; Europe, Africa, Russia and Caspian; the Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Technology. It designs, engineers, and constructs upstream offshore oil and gas facilities, downstream oil and gas facilities, gas-fired power plants, liquefied natural gas import and export terminals, atmospheric and refrigerated storage vessels and terminals, water storage and treatment facilities, pipe and module fabrication, hydrocarbon processing facilities, pipe fabrication and manufacturing, and refining and petrochemical facilities. The company also provides gas processing, refining, petrochemical and coal gasification technologies, as well as a supplies catalysts, equipment, and related engineering services. It serves national, integrated, and other oil and gas companies, as well as producers of petrochemicals and electric power. McDermott International, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More A number of institutions across the length and breath of the country offer academic scholarships. Many of these scholarships are open to employees of the sponsoring company but some are also available to students in the general public. These scholarships are offered yearly. For the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation, under its Education and Training module managed by the GNPC Scholarship Secretariat, undergraduate Scholarship applications have been opened for the 2018-2019 academic year. To have the opportunity of making the GNPC scholarship 2018-2019 list, qualified applicants are expected to submit their applications by the close of working hours on September 7, 2018. Applications are invited from duly qualified applicants who would like to make the GNPC Scholarship shortlist not later than close of business on the above stated date. The GNPC online scholarship call is only open to undergraduates. The GNPC Ghana scholarship is therefore for potential Ghanaian students going to offer degree courses at accredited public tertiary institutions in Ghana and is expected to cover the tuition, living expenses, book allowance and dissertation/project allowance of GNPC Scholarship beneficiaries. Tertiary students in Ghana can apply for the GNPC scholarship. GNPC scholarship KNUST is very popular amongst KNUST students. READ ALSO: Top 10 scholarships to study in Ghana About GNPC Established in 1983, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is Ghana's National Oil Company, mandated to undertake exploration, development, production and disposal of petroleum. It was set up under the PNDC Law 64, to back the government's decision of providing adequate and reliable supply of petroleum products and reducing the country's dependence on crude oil imports, through the development of the country's own petroleum resources. Since commencing operations in 1985, the corporation has played a huge role in all oil agreements of the country. It also works as the nations gas sector aggregator and aims to supply efficient fuel to meet Ghana's increasing energy needs. Eligibility for GNPC scholarship 2018/2019 For interested persons to be qualified for the GNPC Scholarship 2018-2019 list, applicants must: Be a citizen of Ghana. Have gained admission to commence a degree program at an accredited public tertiary institution at the time of application Application requirements for GNPC scholarship 2018/2019 Deadline for submission of the GNPC Scholarship 2018-2019 should not be later than September 7, 2018. So make sure you satisfy all the needed requirements for the GNPC Ghana scholarship. The requirements that make one eligible for the GNPC Scholarship list include submitting hard copies of the following documents to the GNPC Scholarship Secretariat in Takoradi. You can also get a gnpc scholarship renewal form to apply again even if you have already benefited from Application letter Curriculum vitae (cv) Admission letter from the university offered a degree programme Birth certificate West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results. With all these ready, an interested applicant ought to visit the GNPC Online Scholarship website and follow the application procedure to fill the GNPC scholarship form to secure this opportunity. Applicants are expected to attach all relevant documents to the completed GNPC scholarship form. You could also, via email, send your application letter including admission letter from the school you have been admitted, contact email and phone number to localscholarships@gnpcghana.com. There are various academic programmes offered by public tertiary institutions in Ghana but the sole purpose is to ensure the training of qualified Ghanaian technologists in the oil and gas industry. However, the GNPC Scholarship 2018/2019 list has some preferences. Mentioned below are the preference. Students with disability will be given preference. Women who satisfy the stated requirements. Applicants in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Students going to offer Special Needs Education Agricultural Science Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) applicants. READ ALSO: School in Ghana charges $30k for KG admissions GNPC scholarship beneficiaries The GNPC Scholarship beneficiaries who have made the GNPC Scholarship shortlist either undertake undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. This year, the foundation closed its applications for the postgraduate scholarships on July 27, 2018. Postgraduate applicants who wish to make the GNPC Scholarship list are advised to wait until next year when postgraduate scholarship applications open. For undergraduate scholarships the GNPC Foundation has been providing scholarships for students over the years. However, in August 2017, the Chief Executive Officer of the GNPC, Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong announced in Kumasi that the GNPC is offering $1.5 million worth of scholarship to 1,000 students to pursue science, mathematics and technical education in the country's tertiary institutions. Fifty per cent of the grant would be used to support women studying engineering to bridge the gender gap in Science and Engineering education in the country. It is worth noting that the current opening is for local undergraduates and that Ghanaian students can gain GNPC Scholarship to study abroad. The foundation also has a GNPC Foreign Scholarship programme which supports undergraduates and postgraduates. The GNPC Foreign Scholarship also supports Ghanaian students pursuing science, mathematics and technical education. In the last few years, organizations offering a number of educational scholarships have been challenged in the payment of stipends to scholarship beneficiaries. GETFund, one of such institutions was hit with a number of problems last year. This led to them corresponding with some of the schools and students to make arrangements in settling their obligations. We urge students in the above mentioned fields to take advantage of this scholarship READ ALSO: Ghana Chevening Scholarships 2018 Top 50 Senior High Schools in Ghana Read more Source: Yen Ensign College of Public Health in Ghana is a private, not for profit non- sectarian institution. It is the new flagship tertiary Institution of Public Health in Kpong, Ghana. Ensign college of public health is located in a beautiful land next to Volta River. It houses learning spaces that blend the highest standards of technology and internships. The college is committed to improvement of community health and well-being of people in Ghana and beyond, through competent training of Public Health Professionals. The college was started with a vision of becoming a centre of excellence for competency- based training in public health. It offers practical, team-based and contemporary approach to public health through. Giving evidence-based solutions. Delivering healthcare system in hard to reach areas and Having an active research culture. History of Ensign College of Public Health in Ghana The university was an idea born by Bob and Lynette Gay. After working in the healthcare sector in Ghana, Lynette Gay's attention was drawn to public health and need to provide a long term solution for the unhealthy, that would result in improved public health practices. This was unlike the much needed short term medical supplies and technical assistance helping that was available. In 2011, they began to plan on gathering resources to establish a world class school of public health. This saw their partnership with Ghanaian partner and mentor Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and The University of Utah in the USA also joined in the effort. All funds gathered from the college program do not benefit any individual but are used up in scholarships, research and community based development. Ensign College of Public Health benefits both African and American students. It does discriminate on any basis. Ensign College of Public Health courses offered Course offered at Ensign College of Public Health include; Master of Public Health (MPH) Degree Duration: 2 Years Ensign College of Public Health fees The following are the fee structures for the MPH program at Ensign College of Public Health. Basic $56/ month Access to all courses Example code available High resolution videos Standard $79/ month Access to all courses Example code available High resolution videos Certificate after completion Platinum $99/ month Access to all courses Example code available High resolution videos Certificate after completion Private sessions Refund policy & procedure The following are the regulations concerning refund of monies paid: 1. All refund requests are submitted by the student in writing, in person, by regular mail, or by email. 2. All refunds are made by cheque within 30-calendar days from the date of receipt.The student may pick up the cheque in person or request delivery of the check by mail, in which case the applicable mailing fee will apply. 3. The refund cheque is payable to the entity or to the person from which the funds originated. If a student is applying through an educational counselor/agency, the refund will be made payable to the agency, unless ECOPH is instructed by the students agency to pay the student directly. Basis for Refund The tuition refund is solely based on: 1. The money received by the school after all applicable fees owed to the school are deducted. Any money not paid, discounts or promotions, will be void and will not apply upon withdrawal. 2. The standard published price in full. Admission at Ensign University College of Public Health in Ghana Ensign College of Public Health admits not more than 50 students for an academic year. A student is admitted if they meet the following eligibility admission requirements: 1. 1st degree holder with minimum 2nd class division and good quantitative skills. 2. Bachelor's degree in any of the following disciples; Economics Political sciences Management Social sciences Engineering 3. Demonstrate eligibility within specified deadline. 4. Submit application and required attachments within specified deadlines. 5. Take part in interview if invited. Admissions received after the closing date will be considered for subsequent year or intake. Application for MPH program at Ensign College of Public Health in Ghana. Below are the steps to follow in order to submit your application and start the admission process: Online Applicants; Register online using the Online form Log in to your online account and start an online application to the programme Fill out all necessary information on your online application and submit it One of the admissions advisers will communicate with you to guide you through the submission of all required documents and payments If you qualify for admission you will be invited to an interview Once admitted you will receive a letter of admission via email. If the application is unsuccessful, you will be notified via email. Ensign College of Public Health contacts Physical Address: Ensign College of Public Health, Kpong- E/R, Ghana. Post office Address: P.O.Box AK 136, Akosombo- E/R, Ghana. Facebook: Ensign College of Public Health - ECOPH - Kpong Phone number:+233 245762229 Email address: info@ensign.edu.gh READ ALSO: African University College of Communication courses, fees and admission requirements Ensign college of public health is deeply committed to public health and and therefore in instilling the skills required to meet that commitment. The goal is that graduates will use the skills they have gained to raise the level of health and life in the people of West Africa. There are many opportunities for research, healthcare development and community engagement and we welcome all the potential learners to come and join us as we work toward identifying, analysing and intervening in today's most pressing public health issues. Source: Yen The pony hairstyle in Ghana is a go-to style that is easy to wear. Pony hairstyle in Ghana is particularly popular over the hot summer days. The Ghana ponytail is fashionable among most women because of its simplicity and elegance. The different types of pony hairstyles in Ghana ponytail are popular with many women since they blend well with each look that one can possibly choose to wear. The ponytail hairstyles in Ghana are simple, yet can still offer a wide variety of options for salon-goers and DIY enthusiasts. Source: free-hairstyles.com Source: UGC The Ghana ponytail hairstyles are mostly an adaptation of the European ponytail. The styles are, however, given an African twist. These pony styles are particularly friendly to younger women and kids. The outcome of the ponytail may be dependent on the volume of the hair or the preference of the wearer of the style. The Ghanaian pony can either be done purely using natural hair or have synthetic additions to make it voluminous. Here are some types of pony hairstyles that you can try. 1. Ghana cornrow ponytail Source: theworldtreetop.com Source: UGC The cornrow ponytail is a simple and elegant way to achieve the Ghanaian ponytail hairstyle. This Ghanaian ponytail hairstyle is an excellent way to have a fashionable look that is still protective of the hair. The cornrows are good when it comes to protecting hair from damage. With this pony style, you can choose to do cornrows on the entire hair or just pick a few sections of the hair to do the cornrows. The most important thing to consider with this hairstyle is the length of the hair. Short hair may require reinforcing the cornrows with a braid or thread. This way the style will come out looking more presentable. The other thing to note is the texture of the hair. Coarse hair might require a blow-dry or relaxing to achieve a neat ponytail. READ ALSO: Beautiful afro twist braids hairstyles 2. Ghana braids in ponytail Source: sistahsbraidtoo.com Source: UGC Out of all the possible ponytail styles available, the braids in ponytail style is the most popular in Ghana and the rest of Africa. In this style, the hair is braided first. Once the whole head is braided, the braids are held in ponytail style to come up with a simple type of ponytail. This style is very elegant and allows the hair to grow as the ponytail is in position. The braids in ponytail style is preferred due to the coarse texture of most hairs in Ghana. This rough texture makes it simpler for most ladies to opt for the braiding. READ ALSO: Marley braids hairstyles The length of the ponytail with the braided hairstyle depends on the length of the braid chosen for use. Therefore, to achieve the perfect long ponytail, one must go for a long braid. 3. Ghana ponytail hairstyle with bangs Source: modern-hair-styles.com Source: UGC The ponytail hairstyle can be a bit monotonous. One of the ways to break monotony is to have banged hair. This is the perfect pony hairstyle for ladies with broader foreheads. The bangs not only add spice to the ponytail hairstyle in Ghana, but also serve as additions to the volume of the hair making the style look more elegant. The bangs can either be the natural hair of the person or a weave addition. The weave addition is likely to be of the human hair type to prevent having two different textures on the head. A semi-human weave can also be used to make the textures almost similar to that of the hair. The most important thing is to ensure that the design is trimmed to fit the forehead well and not overpower the hair. 4. Ponytail updos for long hair Source: hairstylesideas.org Source: UGC The ponytail hairstyle was initially meant for long hair. It is easier for someone with longer hair to have the perfect ponytail updo without much struggle. All you need to achieve this hairstyle is to ensure that the hair is clean and conditioned before combing it into a ponytail style and then, fixing the hair band. In some instances, one may feel the need to straighten the hair by blow drying or relaxing it. The choice is, however, dependent on the preference of the wearer of the ponytail hairstyles. The angle of fall of the ponytail can either be in the middle or lower or higher above, also depending on the preference of the user. 5. Ponytail with curls for Ghanaian hair Source: gprprevencion.com Source: UGC Out of the many pony hairstyles in Ghana 2018, the ponytail with curls style is the most popular. This is because the curls on the ponytail add more class to the hairstyle. The curls also give the hair a sense of youthfulness and bounce that might be lacking in straight hair. The curly ponytail is achieved by first setting the hair into curls under a drier or applying a curl activator onto the hair. The choice of how to achieve curls is dependent on the texture of the hair. Once the curls have been achieved, one can then style the hair into a ponytail. The ponytail can be elongated by using a ponytail weave to make it more appealing. READ ALSO: Best perm cut hairstyles in Ghana 6. Weave ponytail for ladies Source: bikramormond.com Source: UGC The weave ponytail is the second most common for Ghana ponytail hairstyles. This basically involves the use of weaves to achieve a ponytail on the hair. This style is perfect for ladies with short or less hair as it adds volume to the hair and gives it the perfect height for the desired ponytail. This style requires an experienced salon specialist to handle to come up with a neat result. In some cases, hair is left all around the scalp while the weave is put at intervals to make it look more natural. This is known as tracking. Tracking is a smart way of achieving the perfect ponytail while protecting sections of the hair and giving it time to grow without disturbance. 7. Weave ponytail with bangs The weave ponytail with bangs is a pony style that has become very popular in weddings. This style is simple and classy. It also allows room for accessories such as the beads or pearls to be used around the ponytail. Most bridal parties prefer this look since it is easy to achieve and can be used after the ceremony. The outcome and texture of the pony hairstyle will be dependent on the weave that was chosen. Some people prefer the rugged or curly weave while others will go for the straight type of weave. The type of weave determines the overall outcome of the ponytail hairstyle. This look is simple to manage since all that will be necessary is to brush up on the ponytail and bangs or to spray it to give it a glow. 8. Long weave ponytail for ladies Source: .weavegoodhair.com Source: UGC The long weave ponytail is a favorite for many ladies as it is the perfect or ideal ponytail. The hairstyle is mainly a weave, either human-hair or synthetic that is sewn onto the hair to achieve the perfect long ponytail. This style is mainly used for fashion runways by different designers across Ghana. The most important factor to consider is how the weave is put and the bulk that will be used to come out with the perfect long weave. The long weave ponytail is a favorite for many since it can be used to make the perfect hair buns in case one needs a change in style. The volume of the weave will be dependent on the preference of the wearer of the weave. 9. Natural ponytail styles Source: YouTube.com/NaturalLovesMoi Source: UGC In this approach, the ponytails are done on natural hair that has just been shampooed and conditioned. This style is gentle on the hair as it might only need styling gel and there is not much processing done to damage the hair. This style favors people with long hair since the ponytail is easier to achieve and neater when the hair is longer. This pony style is however susceptible to faster damage and needs a lot of care and maintenance to keep it neat. 10. Ponytail for dread-locked hair Source: pinterest.ca/mayeenatural Source: UGC The dread locked hair pony style allows people with dreadlocks to experience a ponytail. To achieve the ponytail, the dread locked hair can either be held as a pony style directly or braided into lines or twists depending on the preference of the wearer. This is one of the ways of achieving a neat dread locked style as most times, people prefer to leave the locks hanging. The ponytail is one of the styles that make dreadlocks perfect for official events. The ponytail makes the dreadlocks more stylish and appealing especially since retouching is done to achieve the perfect ponytail. READ ALSO: Best dreadlocks styles for short Hair 11. Ghanaian lines braid ponytail Source: shopify.com Source: UGC In recent years, the Ghanaian lines have become a favorite hairstyle worldwide. The Ghanaian lines can also be made into a ponytail. The only difference between the Ghanaian line and braid ponytail is the approach, and the time it takes to achieve the ponytail. The Ghanaian line ponytail style is also less bulky on the head compared to the braided style. The less bulky feeling is because it only uses a few braids compared to the braided ponytail style. The Ghanaian lines ponytail style is popular since it is an elegant and stylish way to achieve a simple ponytail with braids. This style requires minimum management as it only needs spraying. 12. Crochet braids ponytail Source: pinterest.com/mrswilkins515 Source: UGC The crochet braids and weave have become very popular in Ghana. The hairstyle is achieved by crocheting the braids into lines on the hair rather than doing the direct braiding. This protects the hair from direct damage and too much strain. This crochet style also takes less time to make at the salon and hence, is preferred by most ladies. 13. Twisted braided hair ponytail Source: napturalnicole.com Source: UGC This ponytail hairstyle is achieved by first braiding the hair into locks of twists. The twists are then held as a ponytail to produce a simple but elegant ponytail. The twists can be plainly for the natural hair or achieved with braids. For the natural braids, once the twists have lasted for a week, they can be unplaited and then held into a strawed ponytail. That is the advantage of having a twisted ponytail. The twists on the hair also serve as protection for the hair and encourage the hair to grow in volume. The twists on the hair also contribute to some sophistication of the pony styles. READ ALSO: African natural hairstyles for wedding in Ghana 14. The wig ponytail Source: makromikro.me Source: UGC The wig ponytail is the simplest ponytail to achieve. In this style, one can pre-style the wig into a ponytail before wearing it. Alternatively, one can wear the wig then style it into a ponytail. The choice of the wig is what matters most when it comes to this pony style. The length of the hair on the wig is the most important factor to consider while picking out the wig for a ponytail hairstyle. The advantage of using a wig for a ponytail is that you can always style it however you choose when it is not held as a ponytail. 15. Vintage ponytail This is a ponytail that is held with the hair styled into straws or tiny curls to give it a perfect vintage look. The vintage ponytail is all about having curly or strawed hair or even loosely dread locked hair into a ponytail. This look is all about having the hair in its state and not caring much about straightening it or relaxing it. It is about embracing the natural texture and curls of the hair. It is a simple style to achieve on your own as all the hair needs is a shampooing or conditioning. This is a style that embraces the natural beauty of the hair and its natural ponytail. Takeaway In conclusion, pony hairstyles are simple styles that suit women from all walks of life. Pony styles give women the much-needed youthfulness and elegance that they need to make them feel confident all day. Apart from events and special occasions, pony hairstyles in Ghana have been embraced as part of the fashion styles that will live with us for a long time. READ ALSO: Kinky braid hairstyles in Nigeria Source: Yen Korle-Bu is a third level government funded health institution that is situated in Accra Ghana. It is the first institution to be established in the Gold Coast and West Africa as a whole.The institution was established in the year 1945, in which the establishment was supervised by the first West African female doctor, Agnes Yewande Savage. It is basically situated in the Accra metropolitan which makes it easier for anyone to locate the physical location. Their main activities are monitored by the Ministry of Education of Ghana which ensures that they produce high quality studies to their students. Korle-Bu Nursing Training forms for admission must be filled and submitted back to the institution. The diploma in nursing is awarded by the university of Ghana to a student who has completed the nursing training for a period of three years. This is after admission of which you will be required to fill in the korle bu nursing training admission forms .The nurses and midwifery council (NMC) has the responsibility of regulating the activities, the curriculum and the examinations done by the students in the college. Korle-Bu Nursing Training College admission The institution accepts new admissions, however you have to have no criminal record in any way. You also need to be between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age. In addition, you will also need to be of good health to be accepted by the institution. There are selection interviews that you will be required to pass. As a student, you will also be required to have an aggregate score in SSCE24/WASSCE: 36 or above in six subjects, 3 scores and also 3 electives. All these are required to have credits. If you are able to meet all these admission requirements, you can now get the Korle-Bu Nursing Training admission forms 2018 on their website. How to apply for admission in Korle-Bu Nursing Training college If you are interested in applying for admission then you must follow these steps to be considered. 1. Buy application codes from the Ghana commercial bank or any of the Agricultural development bank. The codes are at a cost 100 Ghana cedis. This will include the notifications sent to you. 2. You can also pay with MTN by simply going to this website, then click on the mobile money option and follow the prompts. 3. After the payment, as an applicant, you will receive a voucher that will contain your unique serial number and your pin. 4. You will in addition need a dedicated email address and a dedicated phone number. 5. Use the serial number (SN) and pin (PIN) to access the 2018 Korle-Bu Nursing Training forms 6. Note that you cannot access the online application form without the SN and the PIN. 7. Fill the application form correctly and accurately as any wrong entry will automatically disqualify you from being admitted to the college. 8. After you have filled the application form, you will given a uniqur reference number. You will use this number to track your application process. 9. If you meet the admission requirements you will be invited to a competitive interview. READ ALSO: Presbyterian University College courses and tuition fees Korle-Bu Nursing Training courses offered Distant learning is available but the foreign students fees are not government sponsored. Apart from the nursing courses, the college also offers midwifery courses. There is a very wide range of the courses offered in the Korle-Bu Nursing Training college, these are some of the courses offered. Diploma courses Community health-health promotion and social marrketing Community health(pest control) Community health (health promotion and social marketing) Community health-disease control (top-up) Community mental health (post basic) Community health (nutrition) Community health-nutrition (top-up) Health information management Health information management (top-up) Medical laboratory technology Medical laboratory technology (top-up) Optical technology Optical techonology (top-up) Radiography Registered dental surgery assistant Technical officer (community health-disease control and surveillance option) Community mental health Certificate courses Certificate community health (field technician) Certificate dispensing optics Certificate health records management Certificate health records management (top up) Certificate in lower limb orthotics Certificate in lower limb prosthetics Korle-Bu Nursing Training college fees The institution boasts of tuition fees and other academic-related charges that are very affordable to students.In addition, you can find the Korle-Bu Nursing Training college forms online easily. Their main policy, however, is based on paying on or before the re-opening day. They demand that the fees are paid before the semester ends, failure to that, the student is barred from taking any examinations whatsoever. The 2018/2019 fees structure though, is yet to be updated by the administration of the institution. In addition, if a student pays the examination fee after the exams are done they will not be examined with a new set of examination questions. Their website does not provide with the updated with the latest fee structure and so if anyone wants to check the fees structure then they need to keep revisiting the website. Within the website you can also find the Korle-Bu Nursing Training forms. Korle-Bu Nursing Training College contact information If you wish to contact the college you can go to their website or contact them using the following contact information Korle-Bu Nursing Training College: P.O Box: KB81/KB83. Korle-Bu Helplines: 0302 677 166/0302 665401/0302 665478 Fax: +233802677166 READ ALSO: Islamic University College Ghana courses and admission requirements The Korle-Bu Nursing and Midwifery Training College is a good school for studying these two programmes. The contact information is also open if anyone wants to contact them in any way about any clarification. With an online application as this, the applicant work is made easier, they will only have to invited to the interview. The applicant will not have to keep going back and forth to visit the physical location of the college. Source: Yen The 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections will be keenly contested between the two major parties in the country. It will be a straight fight between the incumbent, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the biggest opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC). Though we are two years away, there have been lot of predictions by some popular men of God as to who will emerge winner of the 2020 polls. President Akufo-Addo Source: UGC READ ALSO: Ghanaians give various ideas on how to prepare a meal with GHc4 YEN.com.gh is projecting a victory for the NPP due to the following reasons; 1. The two-term convention Ghanaians are expected to vote massively for the NPP for a second-term based on the convention of giving political parties a second chance in power. Since 1992, the political party that has won power is given a second four-year term to at least complete and execute their plans and projects. Based on this convention, YEN is predicting a second term for the Akufo-Addo led NPP administration. 2. Free SHS The NPPs Free SHS is currently and arguably the best and biggest social project undertaken by any government in the fourth republic. It is being projected that President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has already locked down votes in the 2020 elections because of the free SHS policy. The NPP has also won hearts and minds with the free SHS across the political divide. The NPP government has made it clear that in spite of foreseeable challenges with the implementation of the free SHS, it was prepared to brave it for the sake of the Ghanaian child and the nations future. Interestingly, the first batch of students enjoying Free SHS will be of voting age in 2020 and it is expected that they will massively endorse Nana Addo. READ ALSO: Menzgold assures clients over delay in dividend payment 3. NABCo Unemployment has always been a big challenge in Ghana. Thousands of Ghanaians do not have jobs, a situation which is gradually becoming a security threat. The unemployment situation has led the NPP government to introduce the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) programme. The NaBCo programme is a policy that is intended to provide jobs for thousands of the unemployed youth. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the NaBCo in Kumasi as an initiative by the government to provide employment for 100,000 unemployed graduates. The programme will operate on seven modules designed to meet the pressing needs of the nation, while providing jobs for the teeming youth who have received tertiary education but are struggling to find jobs, partly because of the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The NPPs ability to provide decent jobs for the youth means another four-year term in government is all but secured. Ghana Funny Tricky Questions: 6X9? | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: Malaysia women caned for attempting to have lesbian sex Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen.com.gh - The Audit Service has reportedly spent GHC7.6 million on 27 vehicles - This was sourced from the Audit Services 2017 budgetary allocation, as well as funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Information available to YEN.com.gh shows that the Audit Service has spent an amount of GHC7.6 million on 27 vehicles. The purchase, it is alleged was done without resorting to the required tender procedures. The vehicles, which comprise five Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, one Toyota Land Cruiser V8 and 21 Toyota IMV Hilux Deluxe, were purchased from the Audit Services 2017 budgetary allocation, as well as funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo Source: ghananewsonline.com.gh Source: UGC READ ALSO: Capital Bank: Dr. Nduom jumps to Otabil's defense with a memory verse The Land Cruiser V8 is valued at about GH529,805. Although the procurement of the vehicles went through the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), the expenditure was well above the threshold of the Auditor-General, as well as the Entity Tender Committee of the Audit Service. The Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, however, parried the allegations that he procured the vehicles, and shifted the blame to one of his four deputies, who he is yet to name. The purchases were made at a time Domelevo is said to be at loggerheads with members of the Governing Board of the Audit Service who have accused him of sidelining members in the running of the Service. He has been accused of ignoring the inputs of the governing board of the Audit Service by taking unilateral decisions in contravention of the 1992 Constitution and the Audit Service Board. When queried if the governing board was aware of the purchases, the Auditor-General said by law the board does not have the mandate for procurements. Explaining further, he said his deputy might have gone to the Central Tender Board for approval for the procurement of the vehicles. READ ALSO: Placement for 2018 BECE candidates out Ghana News Today: National Cathedral Drama / Kofi Anan to be buried back home | #Yencomgh: Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen The water crisis has become a common problem in most African countries. This precious global resource is fast running out. To make matters worse, most states are struggling to clean and recycle their own wastewater. Though this problem is often about quality instead of quantity, reliable resources have warned that the continued climate change combined with population growth and the neglect of wastewater plans will result in water shortages in many countries by 2025. The best solution to this water crisis is digging boreholes; they offer many benefits like saving money in the long run and being self-sufficient. This post will outline borehole drilling companies in Ghana. Source: hilldrill.com Source: UGC Borehole drilling encompasses the drilling and casing of a hole to get the groundwater. There are two broad forms of water borehole drilling. The first one is shallow/unconfined wells which are normally completed within the topmost saturated aquifer while the other is deep/confined wells which are sunk via an impermeable stratum into the aquifer beneath. To get the best services, you need to know borehole drilling companies in Accra Ghana. Keep reading on to find out more about the companies you can pick for mechanized borehole services today. READ ALSO: List of waste management companies in Ghana List of borehole drilling companies in Ghana Here are the companies that can offer borehole drilling services if you are in Ghana in no particular order. 1. Global Water Ghana Limited (solar boreholes) Source: globalengineeringgh.com Source: UGC One of the most popular companies that provides water drilling services and solar borehole in Ghana is Global Water Ghana limited. This company is into boreholes for institutions, communities and household consumption. Established in 2012, the company specializes in providing a wide range of services across the country like: Water treatment General construction Borehole drilling Plumbing services Swimming pool construction Geological survey Pump installation & storage services This company was operating before it got its formal registration in the year 2012. They started out as water treatment and borehole drilling service company, but due to the increased demand from their clients, it became necessary to broaden their services. This is why they currently provide multi-disciplinary construction services. Global Water continues to strive to become the best multi-disciplinary practice service provider in order to offer their clients the specialists solutions required in the ever-changing project and construction environment. They always focus on teamwork on each project as their key success element and believe in a hands-on approach for all the projects they take on. If you have an inquiry or request or you need additional information, do not hesitate to contact them. You can visit their website, call them on phone via 0302903420 or mobile phone (0265756680). They are located at Adenta Down Lane, Accra, Ghana. READ ALSO: Price of cement in Ghana 2018 2. Able Water Solution Source: ablewatersolutions.wordpress.com Source: UGC Able Water Solution is a registered mechanised borehole services company that deals in water sanitation, borehole drilling, and general plumbing works. They are the company you should consider if you need to drill a borehole to get a constant supply of water not only in the dry season but also for a lifetime. They work in all regions of Ghana and have well-trained engineers who execute all the projects their clients provide. Their services include: Borehole drilling and construction Water test analysis Pump supply and installation Geographical survey for the borehole sitting General plumbing works The company is competent when it comes to delivering services to their clients. They always ensure they surpass their clients expectations and this is a value that has kept them going since their establishment in 2014. Some of the companies they have worked for include: Unilever Ghana Limited, GS International Developers, Ghana Prison Service, Meridian Port Services (MPS), GRIDCO Ghana Limited, Lincoln Community School, Blooming Africa just to name a few. They have flexible payments rates for anyone who wants to drill a borehole. Note that the price may vary depending on your region, transportation, and other expenses. If you need more information about the pricing or you have any question, you can visit their website or call at +233 500209541 or 233 273767557. You can also send them an email via this address ablewatersolutionghana@gmail.com. READ ALSO: List of Rural banks in Ghana 3. Massoud ISS Water Ventures Source: massoudventures.com Source: UGC Established in 2013, Massoud ISS Water Ventures is one of the reliable borehole drilling companies in Kumasi Ghana you can contact. They offer borehole drilling services for water wells, geophysical investigation, hand-dug wells as well as groundwater monitoring. They always provide the best solution from the initial geophysical survey to drilling and turning on the water tap. To date, Massoud Water Ventures has managed to execute many major supply projects like: Pipeline distribution Elevated tank construction Borehole mechanization and drilling The company offers its services to NGOs, companies and individual household. They also provide a wide array of hand pump accessories. The base workshop is located at Suame Magazine. The company also undertakes the rehabilitation of boreholes hand pumps like Afridev hand pump, Indian Mark II, and Nira AF-85 hand pumps, as well as electric pumps. For information on any of their services or products, you can send a mail to P.O.BOX S.E 779, Suame Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana or call Phone (0506949260), Mobile phone (0506949260), (0261303895). You may also visit their website and their support team will be glad to help. READ ALSO: List of car rental companies in Ghana 4. Mint Borehole Drilling Services Source: nhslodwar.com Source: UGC If you are searching for borehole drilling companies in Takoradi or borehole drilling companies in Tamale, you will definitely come across Mint Borehole Drilling Services. This company has been working towards meeting different water requirements for many people in all areas in the country. They seek to provide clean drinking water in order to meet the growing demand for water in Ghana. Mint borehole drilling has three rigs. They have completed several projects in challenging terrains of Ghana; these projects demonstrate their expertise and technical skills in drilling wells and offering assured water supply. They have expertise in undertaking different borehole projects in terrains such as Conglomerates, Metamorphic, Alluvium, Basement Rock, Sedimentary, and Volcanic. Mint borehole drilling services have worked in all regions of Central, Eastern, Northern, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Upper East, Volta, Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Western. Whether you live in flat plains or high plains of Ghana, this company will work diligently to provide borehole services of 6 to 16-inches to meet the kind of water requirements you have. Their customized solutions are aimed at ensuring customers maximize their gain by getting trouble-free water supply for a long time. This company constantly incorporates the latest technology while offering their services to ensure commercial customers, individual household, and the entire community gets dependable sources of water. Services they offer include: Geo physical survey Borehole servicing and rehabilitation Borehole Drilling Supply of Hand Pump and Submersible pumps If you need information on the services they provide, do not hesitate to contact this reliable company through phone on 0202461557, or mobile phone (0244867465, 0240826452). The company is located at Kofi Annan Av. North Legon, Accra, Ghana. READ ALSO: List of cocoa processing companies in Ghana 5. M-Mesh Borehole Drilling Source: universalaquaghana.com Source: UGC Established in 2006, M-Mesh Borehole Drilling is an expert borehole drilling company that has its head office in Accra Ghana. However, they have agencies in Cape Coast, Weniba, Western Region, Ashanti region, , Central Region, Northern Region, Volta Region, Brong Ahafo Region and Koforidua . They handle drilling and mechanization of borehole water system for companies, homes, institutions, and many more. They can offer mechanized borehole services with an electric submersible pump. This pump supplies customers with water immediately the pump controller is switched on. Other services include: Plumbing services Mechanised borehole with a hand pump Hydrological survey for drilling Water quality test Installation of hand pumps and electrical submersible pumps Repair of old pumps and boreholes Construction of concrete water reservoir and stands Water treatment services Hydrofracking of dry borehole. Hydrofracking helps to increase the volume of water if a borehole has a low or less supply water-yielding capacity. Their technical engineers are always ready to help so do not hesitate to call them using +233547179464 or +233209863853. You also visit their Facebook page for more information. READ ALSO: List of packaging companies in Ghana 6. Elite Borehole & Watercare Limited Source: dando.co.uk Source: UGC Founded in 2012, Elite Watercare Limited is a service providing company that offers innovative water solutions to household and companies in Ghana. They provide services like: Site survey New borehole drilling Pump installation and replacement Old borehole maintenance and repair Equipment supply (poly tanks, steel and submersible water pumps, poly tank stands) General water treatment and care (salt, color, scent, particles, iron, and reverse osmosis) All the services and products are offered nationwide, and this has made them one of the best water borehole and treatment companies not only in Ghana but also beyond the borders. For more information, you can visit the company at Westlands Legon, Accra, Ghana, or call them via +233245928363. The Facebook page of the company is . READ ALSO: Is Menzgold Investment legit or a scam? 7. Tovila Water Solutions Source: tovilawatersolutions.com Source: UGC Tovila Water Solutions was established in 2012 to be a water solution consultancy firm that specializes in research and water treatment and engineering services. Their primary goal is to ensure that the quality of water citizens take is sustainable for healthy living and can increase productivity. Their services include borehole and drilling services (the exploration, drilling, construction and installation of pipes, pumps and storage tanks), online water treatment training and customized water treatment solutions. Note that the company does not just sell water treatment systems, but they also provide customized water treatment solutions. Their reverse osmosis systems can be purchased as a solution rather than a system. They also have various types of filters for different filtration needs to get rid of manganese, iron, sediments of any size and other suspended particles often found in water. Feel free to contact this company through Phone +(233) 50 1336290 / +(233) 50 1336291 or Mobile phone +(233) 24 5302321 WhatsApp: +(233) 233302321. You can also visit their website. READ ALSO: List of telecommunication companies in Ghana 2018 8. Echad Ghana Limited Source: echad.in Source: UGC Echad Ghana Limited is another drilling and construction company thats capable of offering excellent services for your entire commercial, domestic, agriculture, mining and industrial boreholes. The company is well established, certified and licensed to offer different services different services in Ghana. They take pride in being a full-service drilling company that provides the customers with services such as: Hydrogeological survey Pumping testing Water analysis Rehabilitation of borehole Drilling of a borehole Water treatment Pump installation Video well inspection Hydrofracking Echad is located at Florenbert Plaza, Boulevard, West Legon, and Accra in Ghana. You can contact them via Phone +233 30 242 3363, mobile phone +233 24 453 5989 or visit the website. Hopefully, these borehole drilling companies in Ghana have given you an idea of the companies you should contact if you need borehole drilling, hydro-geological survey, water analysis, hydro-fracking, water treatment or installation of pumps services. You can be sure you will get quality services, on-time delivery, great value, and honest service. READ ALSO: List of furniture companies in Ghana 2018 Source: Yen - President Akufo-Addo has told Chinese authorities directly that his government will not spare any Chinese national involved in illegal small-scale mining - According to the Ghanaian president, he would not relax the laws on illegal small-scale mining because of its adverse effect on water bodies and lands in the country President Akufo-Addo has told Chinese authorities that the Ghana government will not hesitate to prosecute any Chinese national caught engaging in illegal mining activities. According to him, illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, has led to the destruction of many lands and water bodies in Ghana, and must therefore not be condoned. The President made the statement whiles addressing some Chinese officials and a section of Ghanaians as part of his state visit to China. President Akufo-Addo with the Xi Jinping, the Chinese Premier. Photo credit: Presidency.gov.gh Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Three reasons why NPP would win the 2020 elections He said the laws on illegal mining need to be enforced, adding that an arrest of a Chinese illegal miner was not an attack on China. This phenomenon of galamsey has left a devastation of large tracts of Ghana lands. In many areas the lands have become ugly because of this indiscriminate exploitation of the lands with some of them going deep into forest reserves, President Akufo-Addo said. People go and dig in forest reserves at midnight hoping to escape the scrutiny of the law enforcement agencies and they have active support and connivance sometimes of our own men "Our water bodies across the country, you drive through Ghana, you cant drink Birem River anymore because it is now a dirty tract of water. There is no future if we continue down that road and together we have to stop it. Unfortunately for us, again, there are foreigners who are acting in this area. Some of them come from here [China]. In my meeting with President Xi Jinping yesterday, I said it to him frankly that we have this situation and many of his compatriots are involved in this exercise and I want him to understand that when the law enforcement agencies in Ghana act against them, were not acting against Chinese. READ ALSO: 5 cars that you should be driving in Ghanas hard economy He further stated that Ghanaians do not dislike Chinese and neither does that country have any anti-Chinese laws and policies. He assured that Ghana will always open its arms to welcome Chinese investors, but he would not compromise on the fight against galamsey. We dont have anti-Chinese policies in Ghana, we dont have any hatred or dislike for China, on the contrary, weve welcomed Chinese investments in our economy, China today is the largest trading partner of Ghanaso, we have no quarrel with Chinese presence in Ghana but we do have a quarrel with those who get involved in this illegal mining and as far as it is concerned, I dont intend to change my mind, no curve, no bend; Im not changing my mind about this fight against galamsey, President Akufo-Addo added. Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: Malaysia women caned for attempting to have lesbian sex Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen - The Ghana Police Service has cautioned the public on the rise in robbery and defilement cases - The report however said the crime rate in general, has declined, with major offences such as rape, murder and narcotics all maintaining a steady rate of occurrence The Ghana Police Service has expressed worry about the rise in cases of robbery and defilement across the country. The latest annual report released by the police indicates that most of these cases were recorded following street robberies. The report identified crimes like rape, murder and narcotics as crimes that have been on the rise in the country. Robbery and defilement on the rise - Ghana Police Source: Instagram READ ALSO: Three reasons why NPP would win the 2020 elections It said while crime in general has declined, the most affected in recent times have been mobile money operators. According to the police, mobile money operators are being targeted due to the proliferation of the service and the perception that they always have money on them. A critical look at the data indicates that street robbery has accounted for the slight increase in the robbery cases recorded between the years 2016-2017. Street robbery has accounted for the increase in robbery in 2017, sections of the report read. The report also said the police must periodically organise swoops if they are to be able to reduce the crime rate in the country. To effectively manage the crime situation, especially robberies, the police periodically conduct intelligence swoops by the new Directorate of Intelligence, it added. Part of the plan to combat crime has also seen the police put in place measures to establish intelligence units at the regional levels. Until now, the police had its intelligence unit only stationed at its headquarters in Accra. READ ALSO: Menzgold assures clients over delay in dividend payment The police has also increased its motorbike and vehicular patrols as well as its snap checks in a bid to reduce crime. Meanwhile, parents have also been advised to keep watchful eyes on their daughters in order not to expose them to threats of defilement. Ghana Funny Tricky Questions: 6X9? | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: Ghanaians give various ideas on how to prepare a meal with GHc4 Your suggestions are welcome in the comment box. Also do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen - An automatic apprentice, Richard Osarfo, has been apprehended for stealing a government vehicle - The vehicle is the property of the Ghana Highway Authority - The suspect jumped into the vehicle and sped off after the driver of the vehicle left the key in the ignition with the engine running Information available to YEN.com.gh shows that a 24-year-old auto mechanic apprentice, Osarfo Richard, has been sentenced for stealing a government vehicle. A Koforidua Circuit court presided over by Her Honour, Mercy Adei Kotei, sentenced him to either pay a fine of GHC2,400, or in default, go to prison for 18 months. The suspect is reported to have stolen a vehicle with registration number GV 623-14, belonging to the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA). Richard Osarfo, the suspect Source: adomonline.com Source: UGC READ ALSO: Three reasons why the NPP will win the 2020 elections on a silver platter He was therefore charged with stealing, contrary to Section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960(Act 29). Presenting the case in court, Assistant State Attorney, Cyril Boateng Keteku, said on September 1, 2018, Samuel Oyetey Tetteh, an accountant of the Ghana Highway Authority, was driving from Suhum to Koforidua in a blue-black Nissan Patrol vehicle with registration number Gv 623 14. Upon reaching Koforidua-Effiduasi, he parked opposite the Miracle Rock Church to buy some items in a shop. Keteku went on to say that Tetteh left the engine of the vehicle running, with the key still in the ignition. Shortly after departing from the vehicle, the suspect, Osarfo Richard, was seen jumping into the vehicle and driving off on with top speed. Luck, however eluded Richard when he was involved in an accident on the Commercial Bank street near the Total 2 fuel filling station and he was arrested by the police. READ ALSO: Bride slaps mother-in-law over food at wedding reception Ghana News Today: President Akufo-Addos Tour | #Yencomgh Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook page or on Instagram with your stories, photos or videos Source: Yen Jim Watts has been in business with Commercial Art Glass for 21 years in Barnum. Kara Pearson Gwinn Even as most of Denver's urban neighborhoods have seen an influx of development that's pushing real estate prices higher, not much has changed in Barnum, one of the city's last bastions of affordability. There's not much room for development in Barnum, the working-class neighborhood bounded by Sixth Avenue to the north, Federal Boulevard to the east, Alameda Avenue to the south and Perry Street to the west. And, though the city of Denver draws a distinction between Barnum and Barnum West, residents consider it all to be one neighborhood, which extends the western boundary to Sheridan Boulevard. The name dates back to 1878, when master showman P.T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus fame paid $11,000 for the 760-acre tract of land that became the neighborhood. Though Denver folklore suggests Barnum planned to establish a winter home for his circus in the city, he never wintered his animals anywhere but Connecticut or Florida and only made four documented trips to Colorado, according to the Denver Public Library. P.T. sold as much of his land as possible before selling the rest to his daughter, Helen Buchtel, for $1. Much of the neighborhood's initial development was a result of efforts by Helen and her second husband, William Buchtel. The land was incorporated into the city of Denver in 1896. Today, Barnum is home to about 11,500 people in 3,764 households, according to the neighborhood's application to Denver's Sustainable Neighborhood program . The majority of its residents (77 percent) are Latino, and nearly one-third are children and youth younger than 18. The majority of Barnum's dwellings are single-family homes, and 66 percent of occupied housing units are owner-occupied, compared to just 50 percent for Denver as a whole. The neighborhood's namesake comes from master showman P.T. Barnum. Food desert, housing oasis Most commercial space in the neighborhood is limited to the major corridors on its perimeter, though it does have a small "downtown" area at First Avenue and Knox Court. "We're two miles from any supermarket," says Kaye Boeke, president of the registered neighborhood organization, Concerned Citizens for Barnum . "There are folks who don't have reliable transportation or cars and folks who just don't want to go that far." Though there are a number of small Latino markets in Barnum, residents would like to see a supermarket built, Boeke says. Re:Vision, a cultivator of community food systems, has received funding that will help build a food co-op in Westwood , the neighborhood immediately south of Barnum West, which will give Barnum residents a closer place to shop, but none of the large grocers have plans to build stores in the neighborhood. "The neighborhood is lower-income, so it's probably not attractive to the full-service grocers," she says. "The only way they'll come is if the neighborhood totally gentrifies, and we don't want that either. This is the last bastion of houses in the $200,000 price range." Over the last 90 days, the median sale price of a home in Barnum was about $230,000, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage that got its start inventing map-based search. But investors are taking note of the neighborhood, which likely will push prices higher. Seikou Investment Group , a company that connects buyers and sellers of investment property, has targeted the Barnum neighborhood because it's a good neighborhood for renters, says Teal Nipp, president of the company. "Unlike other neighborhoods in Denver, the price of the properties allows them to cash-flow," Nipp says. "It's one of the last neighborhoods in Denver that is affordable for our rental portfolio." Jim Watts, who has had his Commercial Art Glass business at First Avenue and Knox Court since 1994, says the neighborhood hadn't changed much until the recession forced many Barnum residents into foreclosure. "Homes were lost and picked up by investor types -- fix-and-flippers," Watts said. "I fit that description, as well. In '08 and '09 when nobody was buying stained glass, I purchased several foreclosures. People have been putting money into properties and selling them to a different clientele." During his 21 years in Barnum, Watts also has seen a number of businesses come and go. "When I first moved there 20 years ago, there were four or five haircutting businesses," Watts says. "Little by little, these properties have been changing hands. The commercial properties that have changed are primarily Hispanic-owned." Jim Watts has been in business with Commercial Art Glass for 21 years in Barnum. Links to the city Connections from Barnum to other parts of the city are improving. A new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Sixth Avenue at Knox Court connects Barnum Park North with Barnum Park South. Though there isn't a light-rail station in Barnum itself, the neighborhood now has access to the 12.1-mile W Line that runs from the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden to Denver Union Station downtown. Barnum residents have reasonably easy access to stations at Sheridan, Perry and Knox. And that's critical here, where transit is a conduit for residents to access work and education, as well as healthy food. In 2013, the median household income in Barnum was $36,985, compared with $51,089 in Denver, according to Photos by "It's not a story of poor Latinos," Boeke says. "It's a story of poor folk."Photos by Kara Pearson Gwinn A press statement from the Ghana Education Service (GES) shows that over 67,000 candidates who sat for the 2018 BECE did not get placement. The circular has shown that out of the total 521,710 registered candidates, 67,382 candidates failed to meet the requirement for selection into any of the four-choice schools they selected. Head of the GES Public Relations Unit, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, says unplaced candidates are to do a self-placement to get themselves into senior high schools with vacancies. READ ALSO: Doomsday prophets in Ghana bleach their faces - Sam Korankye Ankrah The statement noted that candidates are placed in two categories Green Track and Gold Track, signaling the commencement of the double-track system. Candidates can access the placement portal by dialing *713*24# to buy a placement code at a cost of GH5.00 after which they log onto www.cssps.gov.gh to print out their placement. Also, candidates can check their placement by purchasing the CSSPS scratch card and texting the 10-digit code plus their index number to the shortcode 1060 on all mobile networks. In all, 83 candidates had their results canceled because they took along their mobile phones to their various examination halls. These BECE candidates also were caught for receiving external assistance. In addition, 2,061 others had their results withheld pending investigations into alleged malpractices. Meanwhile, WAEC states it is in the process of dispatching the results to the various schools. The release said another batch of 134 candidates had their subject results canceled for bringing foreign materials into the examination hall and for collusion and engaging in irregular activity during the examination. READ ALSO: Accra will soon be the cleanest city in Africa - Accra Mayor In all, 509,827 candidates made up of 263,291 males and 246,536 females sat for the examination. The examination was administered at 1,772 centres and out of those who initially registered for the examination, 0.93% of the candidates were absent. Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: Yen The Deputy Majority Leader and Minister of State for Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has lost her mother, Emily Engman. Madam Engman died at the Ridge Hospital where she had been on admission. The 56-year-old woman was taken ill for a short time. Adwoa Safo at her mother's one-week observance Source: Facebook Already, a one-week observance has been held for Madam Engman. READ ALSO: Top police officer dies after bouts of intimacy with girlfriend in his office Dr Bawumia and other dignitaries Source: Facebook The one-week observance was well-attended by people from government, Parliament and the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) leadership. Ms Adwoa Safo has, on behalf of her family, taken to Facebook to express her gratitude to all those who attended the event. Akrobeto with other dignitaries Source: Facebook The Dome Kwabenya MP wrote: "On behalf of my Siblings and Family, we express our heartfelt gratitude for your valued presence, donations, prayers and support exhibited during the One Week Celebration of our dear Mum, Madam Emily Engman. Our utmost Thanks goes to the Vice President, H.E. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Chief of Staff, Hon. Frema Osei-Opare, Senior Members of the Government and Party, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, the Leadership of the New Patriotic Party, the Municipal Chief Executive of Ga East, Hon. Janet Mensah, the Dome Kwabenya Constituency and all friends and loved ones for the show of Love in our moment of grief this past weekend. May God richly bless us all. Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo MP, Dome-Kwabenya." READ ALSO: Bride slaps mother-in-law over food at wedding reception Meanwhile, a Ghanaian lady has embarrassed herself on social media after her failed attempt to correct a sentence written by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia on Twitter. Dr Bawumia, after attending a sod-cutting ceremony in Accra, shared photos on his official Twitter account. "This morning, I cut sod for work to begin on the construction of a Police Housing Project at the National Police Training School, Tesano-Accra," Dr Bawumia tweeted. READ ALSO: Sarkodie responds to Counsellor Lutterodts claim that he should marry more than one But the lady, Yvonne Quarcoo, who uses the Twitter handle, @yvonne_quarcoo, felt that there was a grammatical error in the post. In a Twitter post, the lady falsely asserted that whoever was in charge of Dr Bawumia's Twitter account got it all wrong by spelling 'sod'. Ghana Funny Tricky Questions: 6X9? | #Yencomgh: Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook/Instagram pages with your stories, photos Source: Yen News 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. While most con artists just try to sell you a shady Rolex for $50, every so often an ambitious grifter comes along claiming that he's actually Mr. Rolex, and that if you give him a million dollars, he will take you to a magical clockwork land where not only can you tell time ... you can tell it what to do . And the craziest part is how often it seems to work. For example ... 5 A Man Bluffed His Way Into A 20-Year Soccer Career Without Ever Playing Born in the soccer-obsessed hills of Brazil to a soccer legend father, Carlos "Kaiser" Raposo knew that being a player was the best possible life he could hope for. The only hurdle was that he ... wasn't very good at soccer. But what he lacked in ball-handling skills he made up for with charm. He would buddy up with other players and have them vouch for him to get spots on their teams. When a team signed him up, Kaiser would mask his incompetence by bribing another player to brutally tackle him during training so he could fake an injury. If that didn't work, he'd simply have his grandma die again so he'd be too stricken with grief to play. You'd think that after the 19th time, they would've caught on. It sounds basic, but Kaiser worked insanely hard to convince the world he was the best soccer player nobody had seen play. He spent his free time feeding reporters fake stories about his career, and even carried around a very grainy VHS tape of someone who looked a bit like him scoring incredible goals. He also bought a toy cell phone (this was the '80s, so they all looked fake anyway) and pretended to have long negotiations in foreign languages to drive up his price. Until that one time he was supposedly taking a call from an English team, and the coach informed him that he spoke English and knew Kaiser was spouting gibberish. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby used to be an oil company executive before taking holy orders. So he knows as much about business as he does about the teachings of Jesus Christ. And the central insight of the Archbishop's powerful report on the British economy marks an astonishing break from the teaching of the Church. The Archbishop in defiance of Christian teaching considers that God and Mammon can indeed live together. But he argues that hard-nosed economic dynamism is not nearly enough. A modern economy will only work properly if is also fair and just. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (pictured) used to be an oil company executive before taking holy orders As he rightly points out, life has become much too tough for millions of decent, hard-working people who have seen their incomes fall sharply over the past decade. And as their incomes fall, their livelihoods have become more insecure. Meanwhile, the rich many of whom hide their assets overseas have grown ever richer. The Archbishop does not simply consider this a moral abomination. He also thinks it is an economic mistake. That is why Welby argues for a transformation of British society as profound as the one masterminded by Labour leader Clem Attlee after the Second World War, or Margaret Thatcher's free-market reforms of the Eighties. I wholeheartedly agree with him about the need for such reforms. But I am afraid that massive question marks surround his solutions. Welby, in defiance of almost all theory and practice, believes he can solve Britain's economic problems by putting up more taxes. To repeat more taxes! The fact is that Mrs Thatcher brought about her economic miracle by reducing and not increasing taxation. Whatever else one thinks of President Trump, you have to admit that his tax cuts last year have brought US employment and prosperity to record levels. I also feel intense qualms about Welby's support for a state investment bank. History teaches us that such institutions throw good money after bad. Much better leave money in the hands of taxpayers than allow politicians to pick and choose industrial winners. Let us not forget that archbishops of Canterbury do not always get it right when they meddle in the economy. Robert Runcie made a fool of himself when he took a stand against Maggie Thatcher with his Faith in the City report. However, I believe that the Welby proposals which were prepared with the high-powered centre-Left think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research contain a number of truly worthwhile proposals that deserve serious consideration. The fact is that Mrs Thatcher (pictured in 1994) brought about her economic miracle by reducing and not increasing taxation First and foremost is the Archbishop's determination to confront out-of-control 21st-century racketeers such as retailer Amazon and internet giants Google and Facebook. Until now, British politicians such as David Cameron and Tony Blair have cravenly given in to these unscrupulous companies, which are changing the face of our country. The fact is that they pay far too little tax in Britain. They use this unfair advantage to drive honest firms that do pay honest tax out of business. Welby is surely right to call an end to this rank economic and moral injustice. All decent people will support his demand that these unscrupulous titans be made subject to much tougher regulation. To be fair to the Archbishop, his tax proposals are in effect a return to the radical policies of the Thatcher/Lawson period, when taxation was levelled equally on investment and earnings alike. Recent adjustments by clever-dick chancellors such as George Osborne and Gordon Brown reversed that. Rich investors who gain windfall profits from stocks and shares or property pay far less taxation than ordinary folk who work hard for their earnings. The Archbishop wants to force the rich to make a bigger contribution to society so that the rest of us especially young people have a better chance in life. What's wrong with that? There are many flaws in this report, but it is still a huge contribution to the debate. It is exceptionally well written and far higher in quality than many party manifestos. In many ways it comes as a reminder of the policies aimed at hard-working, hard-up people advocated by Theresa May when she became Prime Minister two years ago. As a vicar's daughter, she is in the perfect position to learn from the Archbishop's report. And so she should. For all its faults, it contains many worthwhile ideas. As Lieutenant Colonel George Custer did not quite tell his men at the Battle of Little Bighorn: We dont roll over just because weve got a bit of push-back. Those were the words of Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab yesterday when asked if he realised Theresa Mays Chequers proposal was opposed so strongly by the European Commission that it was a floater. Dead in the water, was the description of pro-Brussels Stephen Kinnock (Lab, Aberavon). Quite a few Eurosceptics also made plain their distaste for the Chequers thing. It is a policy with few friends. We dont roll over just because weve got a bit of push-back, murmured Mr Raab. His tone was the same throughout his Statement which updated MPs, fresh back from the summer recess, on the state of the Brexit negotiations. Dominic Raab has shown his skills as a lawyer in reassuring doubters over the on-going Brexit negotiations Slim, high-browed Mr Raab insisted things between him and the ECs Michel Barnier were going reasonably well. Weve injected some additional pace into negotiations, he said. A neighbour of mine concluded that this must mean they had started speaking faster. As regards to startling talk of disaster, Mr Raab said in a negotiation there are efforts to put pressure on all sides. He also described continued worries over the Irish border as an attempt to create leverage over London. He asserted, with the slightest growl, that that wont work. Mr Raab, with his otherwise level voice and calm demeanour, could have been an airline pilot coming on to the intercom to reassure passengers that an appalling bout of turbulence, which had seen the in-flight trolley on the ceiling and the cabin crew flung all round the galley, was really nothing to worry about. Hello there, folks, this is Captain Raab. Well soon have you comfortable but for the moment please just return to your seats and fasten your belts as a precautionary measure. At which point the oxygen masks leap out of their overhead lockers and the planes engines start making the low whine of a Stuka dive-bomber. Actually, Mr Raab was rather effective. He has a lawyers grasp of detail much more so than his Labour opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, who is supposed to have been a hot-shot lawyer but who consistently underimpresses in the Chamber. Sir Keir Starmer, appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show has been less than impressive compared to Mr Raab If there was a theme to yesterdays exchanges, it was a certain deflated air among the Europhiles. Some of them met M Barnier on Monday and they now seem depressed. It was a measure of the extent to which Mr Raabs aura of lawyerly competence hypnotised the Chamber that when he said the scope and the contours of the agreement are now clear he was not washed away by mockery. Scope, contours: these are peachy words, meaningless but freighted by a certain technical character. Civil servants use such terms to baffle ministers. Mr Raab was using them to anaesthetise the Commons. Sir Keir did not say what he wanted instead of the current impasse between Brussels and London. He was just generally peevish, like a child short of sleep. Some of the backbench champions of the two sides of the argument (Europhile Anna Soubry and her gang, Jacob Rees-Mogg and his) were absent. Instead we heard from the likes of former Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, who said the Irish border question was not a real problem a point firmly reinforced by Nigel Dodds of the DUP, who said some anti-Brexit people were just using it to create mischief. Mr Raab, shown here addressing MPs in the House of Commons last week, said Britain may still avoid a 39billion divorce fee even without a deal Emma Reynolds (Lab, Wolverhampton NE) worried about the EC telling European car makers to stop using British components. Mr Raab suggested that was just negotiating talk and told her she should show a bit of mettle and stand up for this country. If theres no deal, do we get to keep our 39billion? asked Philip Hollobone (Con, Kettering). Maybe, said Mr Raab. Chris Bryant (Lab, Rhondda) wondered what queues we would in future use at airport passport barriers. My sort of question. Mr Raab said that would be up to the Home Secretary. A New York judge has ordered that a woman return a pricey engagement ring to her ex-fiance, five years after the man filed suit against her to get the rock back. Rodney Ripley, 54, proposed to Jennifer Rutten, 50, on Dec. 5, 2011. Yet less than a year later, the couple broke up, and Ripley asked to get the ring back but Rutten refused. 'I was dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and he started harassing me,' she complained, according to the New York Post. Give it back: Rodney Ripley, 54, proposed to Jennifer Rutten, 50, on Dec. 5, 2011 but the split less than a year later. A judge has now ordered her to return the $40,000 ring (not pictured) Ripley and Rutten are both from Wisconsin, but Ripley proposed on the Brooklyn Bridge because Rutten was in New York at the time, working for the American Red Cross. He gave her a Tacori 3-carat cushion-cut sparkler, and held onto the $39,057.10 receipt. He also had it insured for $40,000. When they broke up and he asked for it back several times, but she did not return it so he sued. The legal battle went on for five years, as Rutten and her lawyer tried numerous tactics to deny Ripley the ring. First, they argued that the ring was worth less than Ripley said, only $13,000 which would make it less than the $25,000 required to filed a civil suit. After Ripley turned over a receipt proving the suit should go forward, Rutten claimed New York didn't have jurisdiction, because she didn't live there. That tactic didn't work either. She then accused her ex of being abusive which, even if true, wouldn't have legally entitled her to the ring. 'From what I recall, he became angrier, he became more typically abusive, emotionally abusive,' she said. 'I was angry, I didnt want to return it.' In 2016, Bradley Moss and Amy Bzura (pictured) broke off their engagement. A judge ordered Bzura to return the ring. She also sued for the Moss family to pay for part of the wedding In New York state, a ring is not legally considered a gift, but a condition for marriage. That means that if a marriage is called off, the person who purchased it has the legal right to it. Similar stipulations exist in Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico. Only in Montana is an engagement ring considered an outright gift. 'Here the undisputed facts show that the ring was given in contemplation of marriage and that marriage did not occur,' Justice Robert Reed wrote in his decision. 'Thus, Ripley is entitled to the return of the ring.' Ripley's diamond suit isn't the only one to make headlines in recent years. In 2016, Bradley Moss, then 31, and Amy Bzura, then 27, broke off their engagement the night before their wedding, when a family fistfight broke out over dinner. The couples' families then argued over who would pay the bill for the $325,000 wedding that was cancelled. It escalated when Bzura's family suing Moss' for the $89,919, which was the cost of the 79 guests that the Moss family had invited. Moss then sued Bzura for the return $125,000 ring. Months later, courts rules that Bzura had to return the emerald-cut diamond. Teenage plastic surgery is on the rise, and more and more adolescents are opting to go under the knife over the summer right before they return to school. Dr. David Cangello, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, told Dailymail.com that rhinoplasty is by far the most popular procedure for back-to-schoolers, followed by ostoplasty procedure to change the shape, position, or size of the ears. 'These are two procedures that can really improve confidence,' he said, noting that kids with large, prominent noses or ears can get bullied over their appearances. New look: More and more teens are seeking out plastic surgery before heading back to school 'While bullying isnt always the motivating factor for kids seeking correction, improving self-confidence is,' he explained. Dr. Cangello said his teenage patients are commonly around 16 or 17 years old, although he has seen adolescents as young as 15 seeking out these types of procedures. Younger patients who have sought out rhinoplasty have told him that they wanted to look and feel their best for their prom and yearbook photos, among other things. However, the surgeon stressed that a minor under the age of 18 can't have surgery without parental consent. 'It is important that parents dont coax their children into having surgery because they feel that a feature needs to be fixed,' he said. 'I've seen adults who have told me that they finally sought cause their nose bothered them their whole life and that a parent used to make fun of their nose. 'For kids who do express insecurity about their nose or ears, I think that parents should be supportive,' he added. 'It can truly be life altering for people to undergo procedures such as rhinoplasty or otoplasty.' According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, approximately 66,347 cosmetic surgical procedures were performed on people ages 13 to 19 in 2016 a three per cent increase from 2015. Rhinoplasty was the most commonly performed procedure, followed by breast augmentation, and breast reduction in men. Dr. Cangello told DailyMail.com that he definitely sees more young women seeking out plastic surgery, but he noted that there is a 'fair share of men as well.' Expert: Plastic surgeon Dr. David Cangello said rhinoplasty is by far the most popular procedure for back-to-schoolers Although some warn of the dangers of our celebrity-obsessed culture fueling teens' desire to go under the knife, he explained that rhinoplasty and otoplasty can be confidence boosters for young adults. 'As long as the kids are mature enough physically and emotionally and in good health, there is no reason not to perform these procedures,' he said. 'I just took the splint off a 21-year old girl two days ago and she was beaming. 'She said, "I can finally smile and asked to hug me." The benefit of these procedures is profound for patients and highly rewarding for me.' There has also been an increase in nonsurgical procedures in teens, with laser hair removal being the most commonly performed, followed by laser skin resurfacing and botulinum toxin type A injection. In comparison to the year before, the number of teens getting injectables increased by five per cent in 2016. The phenomenon has been credited the 'celebrity worship in teenagers' and the propagated belief among adolescents that Botox can 'prevent aging' a theory that has not been scientifically validated. Look: Although he doesn't perform these types of procedures on teens, Dr. Cangello believes the Kardashians have inspired people to get lip augmentation, liposuction, and fat transfers On the record: Kourtney (left), 39, has been open about her breast implants, but her younger sister Kim (right), 37, has only admitted to having Botox In addition to botulinum toxin type A, teens are also getting hyaluronic acids injected into their cheeks and lips. The growing number of celebrities with augmented cheeks and lips is thought to be the the cause of more and more teens seeking these types of procedures. Dr. Cangello believes the Kardashians have been huge influences on people seeking lip augmentation, liposuction, and fat transfers to the buttocks, but he noted that he doesn't perform those types of procedures on young people. However, that doesn't mean young people aren't going elsewhere to get these procedures that have been made famous by the reality TV stars who have denied most of their rumored plastic surgeries. Kourtney, 39, has been open about her breast implants, but her younger sister Kim, 37, has only admitted to having Botox. And while their younger half-sister Kylie Jenner famously confessed to having lip fillers, she has insisted that she hasn't had any other plastic surgery. We all have those days when pulling back the sheets and stepping out of bed into the cold seems completely unbearable. But for those that wish to enjoy the cozy warmth of their comforter all day long, there is now a fashion-focused alternative to wandering around wrapped in blankets: a jumpsuit that doubles up as a snug sleeping bag. Created by adult onesie brand Onepiece as part of its new Fall 18 collection, the funky, and less-than figure-flattering, design envelopes the wearer in a thick sleeping bag material that can withstand temperatures as low as 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Get cozy! Norwegian onesie brand Onepiece has a created a new jumpsuit that can transform into a sleeping bag Ready, steady, sleep! The $249 unisex design has legs that zip together to turn it into a tubular sleeping bag The polyester ensemble is also water resistant, making it ideal for anyone who wants to go trudging about in the snow this winter, without sacrificing any coziness or comfort. And while it might not make for the most sartorially successful outfit to grace your closet, what the $249 design lacks in style, it makes up for in practicality thanks to its handy ability to transform from a two-legged jumpsuit into a tubular sleeping bag with just the tug of a zipper. Indeed, the jumpsuit was designed with festivals in mind - ensuring that anyone who braves a chillier-than-wanted musical event will not only remain snug as a bug all day long, they'll also be able to bed down for a quick nap whenever the mood strikes, without having to worry about getting changed, or facing any cold temperatures before diving into their sleeping bag. 'Since we started Onepiece 10 years ago, we've been to hundreds of festivals, constantly getting lost, not finding our way back to camp,' the brand's website says of the motivation behind the jumpsuit. 'What's better than a sleeping bag you can wear, always with you, always ready for a nap.' Strut your stuff: The water resistant creation also has buttons on the back of each leg, so that the bottoms can be turned up and kept clean of any dirt or water on the ground Netflix and... onesie? According to a spokesperson for the brand, the sleeping bag jumpsuit is designed to be worn at festivals and on camping trips, as well as on lazy Sundays Warm and toasty: The new jumpsuit can withstand temperatures as low as 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and also boasts a large hood for extra warmth As well as featuring zippers that connect the two legs of the jumpsuit and turn it into a sleeping bag, the design also has buttons on the back of each calf, which allow the wearer to hook up the bottoms of each leg to stop them from dragging on the ground and getting dirty. The jumpsuit also features a pocket in the hood, perfect for storing your most precious belongings - or for stuffing with something soft to turn it into a comfy pillow when you are ready to bed down. And, just like a sleeping bag, the jumpsuit also comes with a matching tote bag so you can transport it and store it easily and without fuss - although keep in mind the puffy outerwear may take a fair amount of stuffing order to cram it into the carrier. Based in Norway, Onepiece is a brand that thrives on the country's popular cultural trend of hygge - a concept that focuses on combing comfort, warmth, peacefulness, safety and contentment - all of which are very neatly wrapped up in the adult onesie company's latest offering. The brand has also proven itself to be incredibly popular with A-listers, boasting a legion of celebrity fans including Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Gigi Hadid, Halle Berry, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift, so don't be surprised if you see the sleeping bag jumpsuit being worn by a slew of stars this fall. Anyone looking for a slightly more low-key look this fall can also opt for one of the brand's more traditional seasonal offerings, which include a collection of motocross-inspired pieces, as well as a few simpler, single-color creations. While as children we are often told that you need to wash and condition your hair - and regularly - for super smooth locks, in fact the opposite may be true. Leading hairdressers have revealed that slapping on on an extra dollop of conditioner after a visit to the salon to colour your locks is a complete waste of time. Speaking to FEMAIL, celebrity hairdresser Anthony Nader revealed what you should use instead of conditioner on coloured hair - as well as the one thing the majority of Australian women get wrong when washing their hair. Countless hairdressers said that women should forgo conditioner in favour of a hair mask; pop star Taylor Swift (pictured) famously doesn't use conditioner 'While all hair types need conditioner, if you have highly coloured hair, some sort of deep conditioning is more necessary,' celebrity stylist Anthony Nader (pictured) told FEMAIL According to the founder of Not Another Salon, Sophia Hilton, if your hair is dyed or regularly uses heated styling tools, you're better off ditching conditioner in favour of an intensive hair mask: 'I don't see the point of conditioners when there's a product available that's better and stronger,' she told Refinery 29. 'Conditioners can only nourish so much, whereas hair masks typically have smaller particles, so the product absorbs better, and your hair stays conditioned for longer.' This is something that chimes somewhat with Anthony Nader, who has worked with the likes of Cate Blanchett in his hairdressing past. 'While all hair types need conditioner to some degree, if you have highly coloured hair, some sort of deep conditioning is more necessary,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Anthony said that women in general wash their hair too much, and instead need to adopt a more French approach of washing their locks less like Pia Miller (pictured) Anthony explained that he loves to use a mask on coloured hair, because 'it has smaller particles than a regular conditioner and doesn't sit on top of the hair scales as much'. 'Think of using a mask on your hair strands as like waxing a car,' he said. 'When you wax the surface of a car, it's protected for longer and the shine is impeccable.' The celebrity stylist said you should regularly use a mask and leave-in conditioning spray for luscious locks (pictured: Gwyneth Paltrow) What are Anthony Nader's tips for coloured hair? * Skip the conditioning on the roots as they don't need it. * Start using a leave-in conditioning spray daily and once a week just condition your mid-lengths and ends with a lightweight conditioner. * Use a mask regularly as this will penetrate the hair better. * Switch your heated tools down to the lowest setting to avoid causing breakage and damage. Advertisement When it comes to what the majority of women get wrong when washing their hair, Anthony said in fact we're overwashing in a major way. 'I think that Australians tend to wash their hair far too many times a week which is unnecessary,' he said. 'We should be taking a note out of those refined French women and their beautiful understated hair and just washing once, maybe twice a week max.' The celebrity stylist said that overwashing will only cause more damage by 'drying out your locks and making your colour appear duller and flatter'. Speaking about his tips for looking after coloured hair, Anthony said it's all about using no conditioner on the roots and going easy on the heated tools. 'You've only got one chance with your hair, so be kind to it,' he added. Aldi released its luxury homewares collection on Wednesday and, as expected, it was an instant success. Australian customers devoted to the 'Special Buys' section of the global supermarket snapped up $29 towel packs, quilt cover sets and ottomans at a much cheaper rate than you'd find the same items elsewhere. But it was one product in particular that had people rushing into their closest store: a $99 Diana Velvet Slipper chair. Scroll down for video But it was one product in particular that had people rushing into their closest store: a $99 Diana Velvet Slipper chair (pictured) The plush aquamarine colour captured the eye of the Internet with countless people praising it. 'Wow I love that chair count me in,' one person wrote on Facebook. 'Buy me everything. What a price!' Another added, followed by 'we desperately need a chair update'. The chair comes in a monochromatic shade of grey as well - and bears a striking similarity to the Peacock Coco Velvet Slipper chair at Temple & Webster. The difference? It's almost $550 more expensive. The chair comes in a monochromatic shade of grey as well - and bears a striking similarity to the Peacock Coco Velvet Slipper chair at Temple & Webster (pictured) The sale, which started on Wednesday September 5, has an entire range of high quality, luxe pieces for your bedroom, bathroom and living areas. There are three different styles to choose from, including plantation, indigo earth and neo classic, each with their own accented hues. The neo classic collection features the queen size alloy quilt cover set for $59.99, four monochroma towels for $29.99, a two metre Corinthian woven rug for $49.99 and an atlas marble side table for the same price. Aldi Australia suspected the nation would be looking to renovate around this time and have curated next week's Special Buys for the sole purpose of solving this problem Their St Lucia four-piece towel set ($29.99) is made with a delightful moss green thread and matches the macrame gumball foot rest ($39.99) There are three different styles to choose from, including plantation, indigo earth and neo classic, each with their own accented hues There is a mixture of black and white marble accents, minimalist grey plush throws for the bed ($16.99) and cushions ($16.99) worthy of any glamorous, modern home. If your style is more earthen you'll fall in love with the plantation range. A mixture of ocean blues and sand-tinted nudes it's a Byron Bay dweller's delight at a fraction of the cost you'd normally pay. Their St Lucia four-piece towel set ($29.99) is made with a delightful moss green thread and matches the macrame gumball foot rest ($39.99). There is a mixture of black and white marble accents, minimalist grey plush throws for the bed ($16.99) and cushions ($16.99) worthy of any glamorous, modern home Meanwhile the indigo earth offering appears to be Moroccan-inspired with burnt orange and navy shades abounding patterned throws and towels Fringed jute decorator mats ($24.99) would delightfully span the hallway or living room of a sun-streaked home and marry in well with a pineapple pillow ($16.95). Meanwhile the indigo earth offering appears to be Moroccan-inspired with burnt orange and navy shades abounding patterned throws and towels. You can buy a framed art wall stack for $49.99, a wooden tall boy for $149, an accent chair ($99.99) and candle ($9.99) in-store next week. To make things as easy as possible to turn your home into a designer retreat, Aldi's buying team takes a user-friendly approach to its packaging design A mixture of ocean blues and sand-tinted nudes it's a Byron Bay dweller's delight at a fraction of the cost you'd normally pay The Style Your Room range is made with the customer in mind. To make things as easy as possible to turn your home into a designer retreat, Aldi's buying team takes a user-friendly approach to its packaging design. 'Every product across the range has a "Shop the Look" tag on its packaging so that customers can easily identify the items in their preferred collection.' It's a smart little touch that will help you select as much of your favourite collection as you want. Beauty blogger and model Rachel Tee Tyler has uploaded more than one thousand photos to her Instagram account, reaching 350,000 people every time she does. The 28-year-old Australian has had plenty of practice both behind and in front of the camera, recently shooting with Bonds underwear for their 'Queendom' campaign. While speaking to Cosmpolitan about all things makeup and photography, Rachel let it slip that she follows the 'three C' approach to taking her selfies. Beauty blogger Rachel Tee Tyler has uploaded more than one thousand photos to her Instagram account, reaching 350,000 people They are concept, camera and composition - and when understood - can make or break your social presence. Here, FEMAIL uncovers how to master the perfect snap and why that trio of words is so important. Concept Whether you're taking a photo to update your Facebook profile or shooting for a Vogue cover shoot, you need to map out what you're trying to convey first. If you're trying to show off a near-natural beauty look you've created, keep the elements around you soft as well: opt for white lace detailing in your clothing and position yourself outside in a native environment. Whether you're taking a photo to update your Facebook profile or shooting for a Vogue cover shoot, you need to map out what you're trying to convey first Whereas if your photo is an artful underground music shot with plenty of shadows and neon signage you'll be conveying a more urban feel online. Rachel has a mixture of both looks on her social media accounts, showing her fans she can adapt to a range of different themes and styles. It's her chameleon style that makes her so well liked. Camera Rachel uses the Olympus PEN E-PL9 camera to take all of her photos - and it's easy to see why. Its flip-down selfie screen, 4K video and compact size also make it a great tool for selfies and vlogging - two things the beauty blogger is doing regularly. Rachel uses the Olympus PEN E-PL9 camera to take all of her photos - and it's easy to see why Other fan favourites of the influencer elite include the Canon EOS 70D Digital SLR camera and Sony a5100. If you want to ensure your image quality is top notch you'll need to invest in a DSLR - although the iPhone X does work for the average Instagrammer. Composition Most people don't take their best selfies from a face-forward angle. It may take a slight head tilt, a pop of the hip and balancing on one foot before you're happy with the outcome. Consider what mood you're trying to set in the photo and move your body in a way that will convey that Kylie Jenner once confessed to taking 500 selfies before she chooses one to upload, and more often than not it will take more than one try to get it right. Rachel uses her hands as a focal point of the photo - sometimes grazing her forehead with a finger or spreading her arms wide in an enveloping hug. Consider what mood you're trying to set in the photo and move your body in a way that will convey that. A French fashion editor and It-girl has tied the knot with her businessman beau in front of a host of glamorous guests near Bordeaux. Blogger turned designer Anne-Laure Moreau, known to her 460,000 Instagram followers as Adenorah, wed Edouard Moreau over the weekend in a predictably stylish affair in which she underwent not one but two outfit changes. The bride, whose maiden name is Mais and lives in Paris, wore a breathtaking boho dress custom made by Wednesday Atelier featuring a sweeping skirt, breezy v-neck bodice and delicate lace detail. The pair said their vows in front of an impeccably dressed congregation at the Chapelle de l'Herbe, Sainte Marie, Cap Ferret. Tres chic! Anne-Laure Moreau wed business manager Edouard Moreau over the weekend in an ultra-stylish ceremony in which she underwent not one but two outfit changes (pictured in her second dress after the ceremony at the Chapelle de l'Herbe, Sainte Marie, Cap Ferret) The stunning seaside town provided the perfect backdrop for the stylish nuptials, with snaps from inside the reception showing tables festooned with Diptyque scented candles and elaborate floral centrepieces. The bride teamed her gown with Miu Miu shoes, vintage Cartier jewels and a wedding ring from Stone Paris, according to Vogue - while the groom wore a De Fursac suit and Tod's shoes. While her bridesmaids wore frocks from Jacquemus and The Loeil, with shoes from Anne-Laure's own newly-launched label Musier, the fashion bible reports. The bride, who was born on La Reunion and grew up in Biarritz, carried a colourful bunch of wildflowers arranged by French florists Mar de chez Gaztelur. Bride and groom Anne-Laure and Edouard Moreau following their wedding ceremony this weekend. The stunning seaside town of Sainte-Marie provided the perfect backdrop for the decadent nuptials, with snaps from inside the reception showing the ultra-stylish set-up Stylish guests assemble outside before the wedding reception. After the ceremony, guests feasted on a cheese bouquet before dancing the night away at the Chateau de l'Isle near Bordeaux - with the bride changing into a ruched mini number from Magda Butrym Guests pose for a snap outside the reception venue. London photography duo Morgane Lay and Jonny Cochrane - who recently shot Vincent Cassel and new wife Tina Kunakey for Vanity Fair Italia - were tasked with capturing the day, but guests shared unofficial snaps on Instagram Anne-Laure and Edouard Moreau said their wedding vows in front of an achingly cool congregation at the Chapelle de l'Herbe, Sainte Marie, Cap Ferret over the weekend (pictured) A detail from the wedding of Anne-Laure and Edouard Moreau. Posting a series of snaps of their big day on Instagram, the bride wrote: 'It's not wedding spam, it's just love' Guests shared snaps from inside the couple's reception showing tables festooned with Diptyque scented candles and elaborate floral centrepieces (pictured) Guests enjoyed a cheese buffet (pictured) at the wedding reception of Anne-Laure and Edouard Moreau over the weekend, with tables festooned with figs and wildflowers After the ceremony, guests feasted on a cheese bouquet before dancing the night away at the Chateau de l'Isle near Bordeaux - with the bride changing into a ruched mini number from Magda Butrym. London photography duo Morgane Lay and Jonny Cochrane - who recently shot Vincent Cassel and new wife Tina Kunakey for Vanity Fair Italia - were tasked with capturing the day. The couple officially tied the knot last month in a civil ceremony with Anne-Laure wearing a customised frock from Pronovias. And posting a series of snaps of their big day on Instagram, the bride wrote: 'It's not wedding spam, it's just love. 'Thank you all for being there, for your love and support, this weekend was a dream.' A mother-of-two has given her home and wardrobe a 1950s revamp in a bid to 'distract' people from her disability. Helen Brundrett, 40, from Manchester, was left unable to walk after the birth of her second child Arthur seven years ago, and was desperate to regain her confidence. Also mother to Fraser, 10, Helen says embracing retro living has helped her find her own identity and feel she is being noticed for something other than her crutches or wheelchair. Turning heads with her stunning vintage wardrobe - which includes traditional tea dresses, capri pants and waist-clinching belts - with her victory rolls and vampish red lipstick, she looks every inch the fifties starlet. Helen Brundrett, 40, of Manchester, was determined to be noticed for more than her disability so she revamped her home and wardrobe to replicate the 1950s Recalling her ordeal, Helen explained: 'With Fraser I was fine, but with Arthur, I suffered terrible pelvic pain. I could barely walk, and would be dragging my legs, as I couldn't lift my feet. 'Eventually, I ended up bedridden and doctors said I had a condition called symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), where the pelvic joint becomes swollen and unstable.' The full-time mother continued: 'It was thought I'd get better after birth, but I never did. I tried to soldier on as best I could, but in the end I had to accept I couldn't walk unaided anymore, suck it up and get a wheelchair. 'Now, I need a wheelchair or crutches whenever I go out, so the way I dress is a way of distracting from that. I don't want people to see my chair first I want them to see my fabulous frock.' Helen was left unable to walk after the birth of her second child Arthur, now seven, and was desperate to regain her confidence so turned to vintage dressing (seen with crutches) Also mother to Fraser, 10, Helen says embracing retro living has helped her find her own identity, seen wearing a bardot top and patterned skirt in her vintage-themed home Growing up, Helen, whose husband, Mark, 44, works in children's services, loved everything retro, from 1940s jazz to black and white films - although she lacked the confidence to adopt a vintage look. But, around a year after having Arthur, her thinking changed. She continued: 'It was a combination of being older and a bit more confident, and the fact I felt I'd lost my identity a little. I think women can feel that anyway when they have kids, but I was also dealing with all these health problems on top. 'I remember after getting my chair, I thought, 'If this is me now, I might as well make the most of it.' 'I finally bought a 1950s-style circle skirt I'd fallen in love with and it went from there. Gradually, I replaced all my old wardrobe.' Now, Helen, who cannot work due to her condition, said she dresses up whenever she leaves the house, and trawls specialist online stores, vintage fairs and charity shops for her finds. Turning heads with her stunning vintage get-ups - which include traditional tea dresses and vibrant prints, Helen feels she has finally found herself Helen teams many of her ensembles with waist-clinching belts victory rolls and vampish red lipstick, so she looks every inch the 50s starlet. With her fabulous ensembles, Helen finally feels as though she is being noticed for something other than her crutches or wheelchair She continued: 'I don't even like taking the bins out if I haven't got my hair done. My husband always jokes about it, saying I can be too glamorous, but I don't think there's any such thing. 'I can tone down my look and go 1950s casual, with capri pants and a tie up shirt, but I love doing the full victory rolls and red lipstick. 'Now, I feel old and frumpy if I wear modern clothes. I had to get a long haul flight to New York recently and realised I didn't own anything comfy to wear for it. I bought some joggers and a denim jacket, but just felt so odd in them. Growing up, Helen, whose husband, Mark, 44, works in children's services, loved everything retro, from 1940s jazz to black and white films and she has finally channeled that When she was younger she lacked the confidence to adopt a vintage look but has now embraced the trend and lifestyle About a year after having Arthur, her thinking changed and she felt confident enough to start experimenting with her clothes and hairstyles 'It's like I'm in fancy dress if I wear anything normal.' A dab hand at tracking down bargains, Helen manages to get a lot of her pieces for around 10 a pop. She also estimates that not following high street trends has saved her money, as she is not replacing clothes every few months, as they go out of style. As well as her wardrobe, she has also revamped her home - kitting out her kitchen, living room and breakfast room in retro decor. And, while they do not dress up themselves, she said her family love living in a time warp. Helen, pictured here before her retro transformation, wore 'safer' options before but now she admits that she doesn't feel confident when she wears 'modern' clothing Helen is seen when she used to dress in modern clothing, before she had trouble walking 'We all dress very differently, but they're great at helping me pick things out,' she said. 'My boys will tell me they like the dresses I wear and my friends and family are always asking me if I want old furniture they're chucking out. 'A lot of the vintage touches throughout our house have been donated by loved ones, as they know I like anything with a story.' Documenting her looks and lifestyle on social media, Helen has earned hundreds of online fans. Meanwhile, reactions are just as positive in real life, with admiring strangers often stopping her to compliment her look. Helen has a 1950s-style kitchen and is often gifted furniture from friends who know she likes things 'with a story' Helen said she receives compliments from admiring strangers on her look, especially from older generations Helen said her look is a way of reclaiming her confidence now she is disabled and often finds her outfits for under 10 Disabled mother-of-two Helen said she feels 'old and frumpy' in modern clothes (pictured here in retro lipstick and bright clothing) Helen, pictured here in a 1950s-style diner, looks right at home in her colour-coordinated ensemble 'Sometimes I will worry before I'm about to walk into a room that people will thing I look strange,' she said. 'Some people don't get it and don't understand why I want to look like this. 'But the older generation especially are really complimentary, as they remember the look the first time around. 'I just love the 1950s look. It's so glamorous and, if anything, I'd feel like I was in a costume if I wore anything else.' A romantic hopeful who admitted he was wearing a wig to hide his baldness over dinner on First Dates Hotel won the heart of his date - and fans of the show. Paul Bowen, 28, from Lancashire, was praised by his date Kimmie, 30, from Manchester, for his honesty. The pastry entrepreneur explained to his date that he had lost the majority of his hair by the time he was 20 years old, and decided a hair piece was the only answer. Viewers took to Twitter to gush over Paul's 'impressive' wig and one even said if things didn't work out for the pair then they would happily date the pie maker. Paul Bowen admitted to his date Kimmie over dinner on Channel 4's First Dates Hotel that he wore a wig because he had gone bald The bakery boss became a viral hit last year when he filmed his excitement at getting a new wig and documented the dramatic change it had for his previously bald head in another comedic video that racked up more than 15million views Viewers praised Paul for being brave and telling Kimmie about wearing a wig, saying that if things didn't work out with her they would be happy to date the pie maker Paul became a viral hit last year when he filmed his excitement at getting a new wig, and documented the dramatic change made to his previously bald head in another comedic video that racked up more than 15million views. He explained to the cameras: 'On a date there's always something I like to tell them first rather than go a few dates down the line. I like to be open and honest about it.' Paul then dropped the bombshell to Kimmie: 'There's something I have to admit, I will just tell you now just to get it over with. 'My hair is a wig.' Doggy day care assistant Kimmie was unfazed by his revelation saying: 'That is one of the best wigs I've ever seen in my life. So your hair fell out?' 'By 20 years old it was pretty much gone. So I went to this clinic and I said I was thinking of a hair transplant, but he said "sorry Paul you're too late for a hair transplant it's too far gone,' Paul revealed. 'The only option for you is a non-surgical hair piece and I just went "a f***ing wig?!" Kimmie was totally smitten telling Paul that he suited a bald head as well as with hair. Paul explained to his date that he had lost the majority of his hair by the time he was 20 years old and a hair piece was the only answe The end of the first date went well as the pair had plenty of chemistry, talking about their families and what they want in a partner He charmed his way through the date after complaining originally that girls don't normally go for his look. 'I think girls like me, but something goes wrong. Girls they want that shredded look, the tatts, the hair... I'm just an average Joe. 'Girls like tall, dark and handsome and I'm just small and ginger. It's dead hard.' He then recalled a brutal encounter with a woman on a night out: 'Girls say having no hair doesn't matter, but I'm telling you it does. You can put a fancy shirt on but there's always something missing. 'I was actually at the bar and I was chatting with this girl, I bought her a drink and she took it then at the end of the night I asked if I could get her number and she said "no I don't date bald people". 'It was like "ow". Paul recalled a brutal encounter with a woman on a night out where he bought her drinks all night but then when he asked for her number she told him she 'didn't date bald men' The cute pair went on a second date the following day on the show which is filmed on location in Italy and sees people from the UK matched on blind dates Kimmie said afterwards: 'I appreciated how honest you were straight away about your baldness, it's how you should be, it was nice' The pair enjoyed their dinner along with Paul's awkward jokes and he picked up the bill with both of them agreeing they'd like to see each other again. In First Dates Hotel, which is filmed on location in Italy, they were seen going on a second date the next day for coffee and there was a promising future for the pair. Kimmie said afterwards: 'I appreciated how honest you were straight away about your baldness, it's how you should be, it was nice. 'Not a lot of people are like that nowadays. You were really brave to be honest.' First Dates Hotel returns next Tuesday on Channel 4 at 9.15pm Great British Bake Off contestant Manon Legreve has already impressed the judges but it was not her mouth-watering culinary creations that had viewers talking after last night's episode. The French-born baker faced accusations of cheating after she left a plastic wrapper on her showstopper cake to stop it from melting before it was presented to the judges. It came after she became the first contestant ever to say 'f****d' in the tent - a feat that left even laid-back presenter Noel Fielding open-mouthed in shock. French-born Great British Bake Off contestant Manon Legreve faced accusations of cheating after she left a plastic wrapper on her showstopper cake to stop it from melting before it was presented to the judges. Pictured, Paul Hollywood peeling the wrapper off the cake The talented baker, pictured, took the decision to leave the plastic wrap on her chocolate cake collar because it hadn't set in the soaring heat. She was unabashed when questioned by Paul Manon also became the first contestant ever to say 'f****d' in the tent - a feat that left even laid-back presenter Noel Fielding open-mouthed in shock at the slip, pictured The scandalous moments left viewers reeling, with some accusing Manon of 'not playing by the rules'. Others pointed out that swearing is not allowed on the 'wholesome' show Another posted: 'Why is no one pointing it that Manon CHEATED by leaving her plastic collar on, therefore giving it extra time to set! CHEAT!!!!' One tweeted: 'Manon is a rule breaker. No one breaks rules on bake off. I love her #BakeOff #GBBO #CakeWeek.' Last nights episode saw the 11 contestants trying to cope with making a chocolate-covered cake in sweltering temperatures. It was filmed at the start of May, when the heat outside climbed to an unseasonal 28C (82F). Two contestants in particular who failed to cope were Luke Thompson and Terry Hartill. Manon took the strategic decision to leave the plastic wrap on the bottom layer of her two-tier princess castle cake (seen in foreground) to stop it from melting before it was judged The move meant the tempered chocolate collar, pictured, a key part of the showstopper challenge, had time to set before it was brought before the judges at the end of the show Other contestants came unstuck in the hot tent, with temperatures outside climbing to an unseasonal 28C (82F). Pictured, Luke's attempt at a white chocolate and raspberry showstopper was left a soggy, sloping mess by the time it was presented to judges Some outraged Bake Off fans called for Manon to be booted off the show for 'cheating' Terrys champagne and strawberries Eiffel Tower collar cake failed to set, slumping to one side before collapsing. Lukes white chocolate and raspberry showstopper failed to set and was criticised by judge Paul Hollywood, who said his sponge wasnt good. Manon, noticing her chocolate also hadn't set in the final moments of the challenge, decided to leave the plastic acetate on until the moment it came before the judges. Trying to cut into the two-layer princess cake, Hollywood asked: 'What's going on? Why wasn't this taken off?',' he added later: 'It's a very, very nice cake. Very smart. It's a shame you left the acetate on.' Many viewers took a less measured approach, with one tweeting: 'Manon so clearly just cheated!!! Well fuming.' Another added: 'wtf Manon ya cheat???? surely her choc can't have saved her when it was set like 10 mins after the finishing time?' Presenters Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig were left shocked, pictured, when Manon said the word 'f****d' while having a conversation at her station during the showstopper challenge The moment caught viewers off-guard but some declared it a highlight of the popular show Earlier in the show Manon, who won star baker last week, left viewers reeling when she said 'f****d' while chatting with Fielding and co-presenter Sandi Toksvig during the showstopper. Pointing to boy and girl cake-toppers she made for her cake, Fielding asked: 'Are these us? Is this Sandi?' Deadpan Manon responded: 'Yeah thats you, youre fast asleep. And thats Sandi f**ked off because youre late.' Shocked by her expression, Noel looked into the camera and announced: 'I think shes looking at the wrong script!' Research scientist Rahul Mandal excelled in the heat and was named star baker. His chocolate orange layer cake with shards of chocolate won the first Hollywood handshake of the series. iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The White House is doubling down on its warning to the Syrian regime not to use chemical weapons ahead of an expected assault on Idlib province in northwest Syria, saying the U.S. will respond "swiftly and appropriately." It's the strongest warning yet as the U.S. tries to assert a greater role in Syria and prevent what it says would be a humanitarian disaster, even as Syria and its allies, including Russia, prepare for an offensive into the heavily populated province. But the threat of retaliation extends only to the potential use of chemical weapons, with critics charging that the U.S. has done nothing to stop Assad's march on rebel enclaves elsewhere in the country. In a statement on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the U.S. was "closely monitoring the situation in Idlib province, Syria, where millions of innocent civilians are under threat of an imminent Assad regime attack, backed by Russia and Iran." In particular, Sanders warned that "If [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its Allies will respond swiftly and appropriately," after the Trump administration has twice ordered airstrikes on Assad regime targets following its use of chemical weapons. But more broadly, the threat of an Assad offensive into Idlib would be "an unacceptable, reckless escalation of the conflict," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement Tuesday, adding Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, and they agreed on this point. Still, there were reports Tuesday of Russian fighter jets already bombing parts of the suburbs around Idlib city as it backs Assad in what could be an all-out offensive to retake the province seen as the last stronghold of Syrian rebel groups. The Russian government maintains that Idlib is a "hotbed of terrorism," with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that President Trump's opposition to Russian military action there shows his "limited approach" to the situation. There are some groups the U.S. and its allies consider terrorists based in Idlib, including al Qaeda's affiliate Hay'at Tahrir al Sham. But there are also nearly three million civilians living there, more than one million of them displaced from elsewhere in Syria, according to human rights groups. Any offensive would, therefore, be incredibly deadly or unleash an even larger wave of refugees into neighboring Turkey and beyond. The U.S. military campaign in Syria is instead focused on fighting another terror group in the north and east of the country -- ISIS. The president and his top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have said since Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that they want to work with Russia on counterterrorism. But the divide over Idlib shows how difficult that will be, with the two sides in disagreement on who even is a terrorist. In a tweet on Monday, Trump called for Assad to "not recklessly attack Idlib Province," adding that "the Russians and Iranian would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy." His Twitter message was seen as an escalation of the U.S. war of words, as Trump has rarely weighed in on Syria, where he has said he wants to withdraw U.S. troops and aid. For two weeks now, Defense Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Pompeo have been urging Assad and his allies not to wage an offensive into Idlib province. That message was also communicated in person to the Russian ambassador in Washington by Amb. David Satterfield, top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, and Amb. Jim Jeffrey, the new Special Representative for Syria Engagement. But the U.S.'s strongest words have been saved for a warning that the U.S. would respond to another chemical weapons attack, as it did after the attacks in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 and Douma in April 2018. Each attack killed nearly a hundred civilians, including women and children. In response to the Douma attack earlier this year, the U.S., France, and the United Kingdom launched targeted airstrikes at three locations related to chemical weapons development. The Assad regime has denied the use of chemical weapons and delayed independent chemical weapons inspectors' access to the site of the attack. For weeks, Moscow has attempted to portray the U.S. and its partners as the ones actually planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in Idlib as a pretext for again striking Assad. "This is absurd," Pentagon spokesperson Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson told ABC News in a statement on Friday. "That Russia is seeking to plant false lies about chemical weapons use suggests that Moscow is seeking to deflect from its own culpability when these heinous weapons are used. Russia's efforts to obscure the truth only underscore its years-long role in abetting the murder and mayhem conducted by the Assad regime." After the Douma attack, the Russian government said it had evidence that the chemical weapons attack was "staged," despite U.S. intelligence assessments that it was conducted by the Syrian regime with knowledge by the Russians. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A mother-of-two has described her fury after being denied a seat on a packed commuter train while breastfeeding her son. Kate Hitchens was forced to stand for half an hour as she travelled home from Stratford to Wickford on Tuesday after a work event. The 32-year-old, from Essex, said she felt 'uncomfortable and embarrassed' breastfeeding six-month-old Charlie while standing up on the busy carriage and claims fellow commuters noticed but did not offer her a seat. She told MailOnline: 'I'd actually spent the afternoon in London after the event and had used the tube, everyone until this point had been really friendly and helpful on the underground, helping with my buggy up stairs and offering their seats. Mother-of-two Kate Hitchens, from Essex, posted this snap to Instagram after she was forced to stand for half an hour as she travelled home from Stratford to Wickford on Tuesday with following a work event (pictured with baby Charlie); her post has racked up over 500 likes 'I actually declined one teenage boy's offer of his seat as Charlie was happy in his buggy and I didn't feel I needed it more than he did at the time.' But to her dismay, when she boarded her commuter train back to Wickford and the youngster began crying out for a feed, there was no offers of somewhere to sit. Frustrated, the blogger snapped a selfie during her train ride and penned an Instagram post about her ordeal which quickly racked up almost 600 likes in a matter of hours. Kate, who is also mother to three-year-old Oliver, wrote: 'On my way home from London on a packed commuter train and this is what I faced. 'What has the world come to that a mother has to stand up on a moving train breastfeeding a wriggling and writhing six-month-old, 20 lb baby?! Kate Hitchens with baby Charlie, who she was carrying as she travelled from London to Wickford this week. Also a mother to three-year-old OIiver, she blogs about family recipes 'The point here isn't just that I found it difficult because I was nursing (although that was b****y difficult!), but that not one person offered a mother carrying a small child a seat for around half an hour, or three stops!' Admitting that she felt too 'silly' to ask to sit down, Kate claims that some of her fellow passengers saw she was struggling because they 'made eye contact and smiled'. She added: 'I cannot get my head around not offering a parent with a child a seat. 'Next time you see someone with a child on a train - if you're able bodied and fit and healthy please offer your seat to them.' Kate told MailOnline: 'I felt uncomfortable and embarrassed breastfeeding standing up on the busy train. Although I'm happy to feed anywhere he needs it, I do still try and be discreet and not show my breasts, wearing clothing designed for nursing. Kate (pictured in a recent snap with her son Charlie) snapped a selfie during her breastfeeding train ride this week and penned an Instagram post about her ordeal which has since racked up almost 600 likes in a matter of hours Mother-of-two Kate with six-month old Charlie and Oliver, three months. The blogger was left upset and uncomfortable after commuters forced her to stand on a train for half an hour 'Because I was having to stand up and hold [Charlie's] 20 lb weight, I was uncomfortable physically as well as personally. 'As the train moved he pulled and it hurt. I also felt uncomfortable myself as I accidentally exposed more of myself to the people standing around me than I usually would sitting down, trying to hold him wriggling in one arm whilst sorting myself out with the other hand was difficult. 'Usually I balance him on my knee so I have both hands free and can do my top up discreetly.' Kate writes a blog, hitchenskitchen.co.uk, chronicling the ups and downs of weaning her baby as well as healthy family recipes. Prince Charles attended a star-studded engagement on Wednesday where he joined the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Myleene Klass at the Royal Albert Hall. Charles, patron of Children & the Arts, joined his industry leaders for a conference to discuss creativity in school after it was revealed that he is 'very concerned' about the decline of artistic subjects. The Prince of Wales received a warm welcome from the stars who had assembled alongside their families at the request of the royal. The 69-year-old could be seen catching up with old friend Myleene Klass, whom he has met on a number of occasions, as well as he two daughters Hero, seven, and Ava, 11. Following his visit to the historic theatre, Charles was joined by the Duchess of Cornwall at St Katharine Docks where they met with Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan. The trio paid a visit to the newly refurbished 'Maiden' Yacht which will work with partner charities to promote the education of girls around the world. Scroll down for video Prince Charles joined Myleene Klass and her two daughters Ava and Hero at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday for a conference on creativity in school Other celebrity guests included actor Benedict Cumberbatch (centre) who was seen having a stimulating conversation with His Majesty alongside Amanda Holden (left) and Arlene Phillips (right) The Yacht was famously used by the first all-female crew to sail in the Whitbread Round the World Race in which they finished second in 1990 At the Royal Albert Hall event, broadcaster and professional classical musician, Myleene said: The idea that someone can look at the arts and decide that it is a softer subject has never had to sit in a hot, suffocating practice room for eight hours just to try and perfect a peace. 'The dedication that it takes, the life skills that you learn, are second to none. Other celebrity guests included actor Benedict Cumberbatch who was seen having a stimulating conversation with His Majesty alongside Amanda Holden and Arlene Phillips. Charles looked in great spirits as he left HMS President with his wife Camilla after their visit to the newly refurbished 'Maiden' Yacht at St Katharine Docks are introduced to crew members of the the newly refurbished 'Maiden' Yacht by the original skipper Tracy Edwards MBE during their visit to St Katharine Docks Camilla had a practice run at the wheel of the 'Maiden' Yacht as she visited with Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan on an overcast day in London Mind how you go! The Prince of Wales watched his step as he dismounted the 'Maiden' Yacht at St Katharine Dock forllowing a guided tour Andrew Lloyd Webber was among the other VIPs at the event today and joined the prince to watch a performance from a local school choir. The heir to the throne gave an off-the-cuff speech during the event to discuss creativity in schools. Charles bemoaned the fact that as a nation we too often fragment life and should appreciate how valuable our creative industries are to us as a nation both economically and socially. Highlighting the role his own grandmother, the late Queen Mother, had in encouraging him to embrace the sphere, he said: It seems to me that we fragment life too often. Andrew Lloyd Webber was among the other VIPs at the event today and joined the prince to watch a performance from a local school choir (pictured) Sir Lenny Henry could be seen introducing the royal to a group of local school children also attending the conference Zoe Wannamaker (right) and Meera Syal (left) were seen shaking hands with the prince as he made his way around the room of guests Shortly after Charles made the short trip to the Old Vic to celebrate the theatre's 200th anniversary where he joined actress Imelda Staunton for a performance The royal appeared to be enjoying the special performance and was unable to wipe the smile off his face throughout the play Apart from the joy of all the arts, it is a very good discipline. It makes you look. And I think half the problem nowadays is that people arent encouraged to observe and really look. I know so many actors, actresses and musicians are there because they have had a grandmother, a mother or father or teacher who inspire them to take interest. As a result, we in this country have a fantastic reputation for its creative industries. We dont realise enough how much these creative industries contribute to our whole economy. Ahoy there! Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall stands at the helm of the 'Maiden' yacht during an official visit at St Katharine Docks The royal couple were joined by their counterpart Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan during a visit to see the Maiden yacht at HMS President in London Prince Charles looked in great spirits during this afternoon's visit to HMS President with his wife Camilla and Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan, after attending a creativity conference at the Royal Albert Hall Mind your step! The heir to the throne seemed to wobble a little as he climbed off the Maiden Yacht at HMS President while his wife Camilla looked on If you are thinking just in purely economic terms its worthwhile, but also in terms of developing the whole person and having a real understanding about life, the arts and the creative side of life is vital. So of course are engineering skills and all these things, but we mustnt see things in separate compartments. I hope that we might be able to understand the need we have in this country to ensure these things are joined up and operating in harmony. The prince had earlier arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in London in a new electric Jaguar costing 60,000 that he will now use for official engagements. Asked how the eco-friend drive was, Charles chuckled: Silent but deadly! Charles was later joined by Camilla to meet Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan (seen right) at St Katherine Dock The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince of Wales are joining the princess to visit the newly refurbished 'Maiden' Yacht which will work with partner charities to promote the education of girls around the world The royal couple were accompanied by local cabin crew who were on hand to help them on and off the boat today And it seems that the royal has already settled in to his new motor, which he has believed to have got earlier this week, with his famous cushion seen on the backseat today. It has previously been reported that the 69-year-old always travels with a cushion to sit on to 'help his sore back.' He first attended a round table discussion with luminaries including Lord Lloyd Webber and his brother, musician Julian, about how to encourage creativity and the arts in schools. The prince founded his charity in 2006 to tackle inequality through concentrated arts experiences. The charity works with venues across the UK to reach children who may be in danger of missing out on creative and cultural experiences. Much of the discussion centred on whether there was a need for an arts tsar and how to encourage schools to promote arts on the timetable. Prince Charles arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in his state of the art 60,000 electric Jaguar on Wednesday for a conference on arts in schools The 69-year-old royal appeared to be in good spirits as he arrived at the London landmark in his new motor on Wednesday Lord Hall, Director General of the BBC, enthused about the role the public broadcaster had has in promoting and inspiring the creative arts, particularly by encouraging young performers. This is about us all working to together on the things that matter to us, he said. Lord Lloyd Webber also called for a new music tsar and said: Arts in education, whatever anyone likes to say, has had their funding reduced. I believe this to be a great, great mistake. 'Its also about the attitude of teachers and wanting children to embrace and enjoy arts in the widest possible form. 'The arts on the widest level are vital to this country. Its not just about turning kids into musicians or telling them to go into the theatre or whatever, its about empowering our kids. We owe it to our kids that we do exactly that. Charles is said to be 'very keen' to encourage other children to 'share the magic' of performance and will discuss this at today's conference The grandfather-of-three appeared to have put his mark on his new car already with the cushion he famously travels with seen on the backseat He then paid a visit to the Old Vic theatre in celebration of its 200th anniversary where he took a seat alongside Imelda Staunton for a performance. It was revealed today that His Royal Highness is 'very concerned' about the decline of the arts in schools, the boss of one of his charities has said. Rosie Millard, chief executive of Charles's Children & The Arts organisation, made the comment before stars gathered to discuss the issue at his request. The former BBC arts correspondent said the Royal Albert Hall conference was 'the next stage' in a campaign to 'increase and stop the general slide of arts and creativity in schools for children and young people. What features does Jaguar's new electric car have? -One full charge gives you a range of up to 292 miles -It has an automatic transmission -Five seats and 656 litres of boot space -Can reach 60 mph in 4.5 seconds -A top speed of 124 mph -The interior features a floating console at the heart of the cabin where you can control everything, including temperatures of the seats -You can even use your smartphone to ensure the vehicle is at the desired temperature before you enter it Advertisement 'The prince is very concerned about it and he wanted to have this day to bring together educationalists, politicians and arts leaders, artists and people to whom this matters and for whom arts has been their life.' Ms Millard spoke about how the prince's passion for the arts was fostered by his grandmother. 'The Prince of Wales is aware that he has had an amazing life and because of his position has outstanding access to arts and creativity which he's always been a huge supporter of.' She added: 'When he was a young boy he was taken by the Queen Mother to see the Bolshoi Ballet and to see Shakespeare and he said he didn't really understand it ... but he was aware of the magic of arts performance and the magic, beauty and creativity of culture.' She said he was 'very keen' that all children and young people across the country should 'share that magic and have a chance to see that magic.' She added that parents needed to be reassured that doing an art or music A-level would not result in their child 'starving in a garret'. Ms Millard went on to say that the arts should not be the preserve of the middle classes at home and should be 'baked into the school day'. The coalition government, during Michael Gove's tenure as education secretary, introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) which measures the numbers of pupils achieving a grade C - or grade 5 under the new grading system - at GCSE in English, maths, science, history or geography, and a language. There were concerns at the time the focus on these core subjects would squeeze out others, such as art and drama. The Royal Albert Hall event will see leading figures from movies, music, television and politics discuss the state of the arts and creativity in schools. BBC director-general Tony Hall and former Tate director Nicholas Serota will be some of the individuals attending. Other guests include comic Lenny Henry, performer Myleene Klass, designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber, actors Adrian Lester, Robert Lindsay, David Morrissey, Meera Syal and Zoe Wanamaker, and Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright and Arts Minister Michael Ellis. As the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe and Letizia are well-versed in shaking hands and posing for photos wherever they go. But today's meet and greet saw them come face to face with a rather unusual guest. The royal couple were introduced to a large white bull as they attended the opening of the agriculture and fish fair in Salamanca, Spain. Scroll down for video King Felipe and Queen Letizia were introduced to a large white bull as they attended the opening of the agriculture and fish fair in Salamanca, Spain, pictured Letizia struck the perfect balance between smart and casual in a shirt dress at the fair. The frock fell to just below the sleeves and she turned up the cuffs to add a touch of sartorial flair Letizia wore her hair in an elegant low bun, adding a touch of colour to her make-up with blusher and eyeshadow as she joined King Felipe at the fair in Salamanca on Wednesday There was a handler standing between the VIP visitors and the impressive beast, but that didn't stop Letizia and Felipe from looking a little dubious. Letizia struck the perfect balance between smart and casual in a button-down shirt dress for the occasion. The chic frock fell to just below the sleeves and Letizia turned up the cuffs to add a touch of sartorial flair. Brave Felipe extended a hand towards the bull as they were introduced to the impressive animal at the fair. Despite wearing leather shoes, the king was still willing to stand on the sand However King Felipe appeared rather nervous as he came face-to-face with an inquisitive bull at the popular event on Wednesday The king appeared somewhat apprehensive as he posed near the grand bulls on show, at one point sheepishly waving his hand and appearing to wave at one unsuspecting creature She finished the look with a trendy striped belt which cinched in her waist. Injecting a splash of colour, she coordinated her belt with a bold red envelope clutch and adding height to her stature in delicate black slingbacks. Letizia wore her hair in an elegant low bun, adding a touch of colour to her make-up with blusher and eyeshadow. Meanwhile Felipe cut an imposing figure in a grey suit, crisp blue shirt and flower-embellished tie. Showing off her fashion credentials, Letizia opted for a button-up denim shirt dress, cinched in at the waist by a striped belt at the fair Injecting a splash of colour, Letizia coordinated her belt with a bold red envelope clutch and adding height to her stature in delicate black slingbacks The king appeared somewhat apprehensive as he posed near the grand bulls on show, at one point sheepishly waving his hand and appearing to wave at one unsuspecting creature. Letizia was seen looking on and smiling as she kept a safe distant from the handsome beasts. The event aims to promote business and commercial activities in Spain's province of Castile and Leon. This year, the event is focusing on industrial baking and patisserie necessities in Salamanca, as well as publicising its new facilities in the city. The couple married ten years ago at Cathedral Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena in Madrid. Relieved couple Letizia and Felipe were then seen exploring the rest of the 2018 Salamanca September Fair The event aims to promote business and commercial activities in Spain's province of Castile and Leon Letizia wore her hair in an elegant low bun, adding a touch of colour to her make-up with blusher and eyeshadow As term time begins this week, social media has been flooded with snaps of youngsters embarking on the new school year but a security expert has warned that proud parents could be putting their youngsters at risk. Raj Samani, chief scientist at Cyber security company McAfee, argues that predators can easily piece together information from a back to school photo posted online. Speaking to Femail, the British security expert said: 'Before proud parents share their childrens first day photos on social media, they must consider the potential consequences of what they post. 'These sorts of images can be used to gather personal information such as school, location, a childs full name, or even birth dates to paint a picture of who they are. 'Parents must think twice about what they share on social media, their privacy settings and who they allow in their social network - before it is too late.' Revealing his top tips to staying safe online for parents, Raj highlighted the importance of disabling location-tagging and setting ground rules with friends. Security expert Raj Samani has warned parents against posting pictures of their children's first day at school, arguing that they could fall into the wrong hands (stock images used) How parents can keep their children safe online 1. Think and then post Before posting a picture on social media, ensure that there is nothing in the photo that could be used as an identifier like birth dates, visible home addresses, school uniforms, financial details or passwords in the photo. Parents should ask themselves if this is a photo that they would be okay with a stranger seeing 2. Disable geo-tagging Many social networks will tag a users location when a photo is uploaded. Parents should ensure this feature is turned off so as not to give away their current location. This is especially important when posting photos away from home. Raj Samani, chief scientist at Cyber security company McAfee, shared the stark warning to parents 3. Maximise privacy settings on social media Parents should only share photos and other social media posts with their intended audience. Everything posted on a social network should be treated as if its public. Deleted never means disappeared forever. 4. Set ground rules with friends, family and children Be clear with friends and family about guidelines when posting about your children. These rules can help avoid unwanted situations where a family member has shared photos without explicit permission. 5. Ask for consent Requesting a childs consent before you post pics is essential but be prepared for them to say no. We should always consider their digital reputation and bright futures before sharing. Cynthia Nixon has opened up about her mother's illegal abortion, in an effort to highlight the bleak future some could face if the procedure were criminalized or restricted again. Nixon, 52, explained in a new video released on Tuesday as part of her run for New York governor that her mother Anne Knoll Nixon, who died in 2013, had an abortion when it was still illegal in New York State. The candidate has made reproductive rights one of the cornerstones of her campaign, and has highlighted the dangers of illegal abortions several times in the past, including as part of her work as an activist prior to her gubernatorial run. Scroll down for video Past: Cynthia Nixon opened up about her mother's illegal abortion in a new campaign video released on Tuesday as part of her run for New York governor Talk: Nixon (pictured with her mother Anne Knoll Nixon in 2011) , 52, explained that her mother, who died in 2013, told her when she was younger that she had gotten an illegal abortion 'When I got old enough, my mother told me she had had an abortion and that she had had an abortion when it was actually illegal in New York,' Nixon said in her new campaign video. 'She said it was a really awful experience and she really didn't want to talk about it in any detail, but at the same time I could tell how important it was that she convey this information to me. 'I think that that's also a forgotten part of it, what a deep, dark secret you had to keep.' Nixon also recounted how she attended her first reproductive rights event at the age of 13. 'It was a great kind of moment of female solidarity,' she said. 'It's an important issue in and of itself but I also think it's really important as a marker. Do you support people's rights to make choices about their own lives?' Conversation: 'She said it was a really awful experience and she really didn't want to talk about it in any detail,' Nixon said of her mother (pictured in an archive photo) The candidate shared the video on her Instagram account on Wednesday as part of her push against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, 53. 'With #BrettKavanaugh's confirmation hearings underway, I can't help but think of my mother and the story of her illegal abortion,' she wrote. 'We can never go back. #StopKavanaugh #SCOTUS' During his decade as a judge, Kavanaugh, who was being grilled by Senate lawmakers on Wednesday, has not ruled directly on abortion but has signaled sympathy for legal arguments made by anti-abortion advocates. Last October, he was on a panel of judges that issued an order preventing a 17-year-old illegal immigrant detained in Texas by U.S. authorities from immediately obtaining an abortion. That decision was overturned by the full appeals court and she had the abortion. In a 2017 speech, Kavanaugh praised several opinions written by former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, including his dissent in Roe v. Wade. Mother-daughter: Nixon (pictured with her mother in 2004) said she could tell how important it was for her mother to tell her daughter about the illegal procedure Previously: She also mentioned the abortion at a rally in July, during which she held a coat hanger as a way to warn against the dangers of illegal procedures Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing has strong political overtones ahead of the November election, but Democrats lack the votes to block his confirmation. They fear Kavanaugh will push the court to the right on abortion, guns and other issues, and that he will side with Trump in cases stemming from Mueller's investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign. Kavanaugh could potentially be the deciding vote on overturning the 1973 decision. The court is currently split four-four on ideological lines. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative whom Kavanaugh would replace, disappointed conservatives by backing abortion rights in two key cases. Conservatives hope Kavanaugh will seal a majority that would at least be willing to curb abortion rights if not overturn Roe. This is not the first time Nixon has discussed her mother's abortion. She mentioned it at a rally in July, during which she held a coat hanger as a way to warn against the dangers of illegal procedures. Platform: The gubernatorial candidate (pictured campaigning in Brooklyn on Monday) has often spoken out in support of reproductive rights Judge: Nixon shared the video on her Instagram account on Wednesday as part of her push against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, 53 Nixon also wrote about her mother's experience in a 2016 essay for Time Magazine defending abortion rights. 'Over 50 years ago, my mother had an abortion,' she wrote. 'She was a working woman in New York City with an office job for Goodson and Todman, the TV game show producers who created everything from What's My Line? to Family Feud. 'She never was willing to tell me any details about her abortion, except to let me know that she had one and it was awful and scary.' Nixon added: 'Abortion at that time was illegal and often unsafe. Many women back then were so desperate they attempted to perform the abortion themselves, in some cases causing irreparable harm to their bodies. Some women died. Most were made to feel ashamed. 'I am deeply grateful that my mother was able to get the abortion she needed without any health complications but I am heartsick to contemplate what her experience must have been so that she was unable to speak about it, even decades later.' Early September: the time of year when social media feeds are filled with photographs of grinning children wearing spotless uniforms on the first day of the new school year. This week, over half 53 per cent of UK parents will plan to share snaps of their youngsters on the doorsteps of their homes as they set off to school, attracting comments like: Aw, so cute and How time flies. Yet when four-year-old Lucy Lewis starts Reception this week, her mother Nicola wont be posting any pictures of this milestone moment. When Lucy was just two years old, she was stalked by a stranger who collected all the happy family snapshots Nicola had posted online and re-posted them on more than ten fake social media accounts, interspersed with shots of a pornographic model of the same name. Experts revealed the dangers many parents are unaware of when posting photographs of their children on social media. Gemma Hawkins, 31, (pictured with her children Lilly and Teddy) recalls the shock of discovering images of her son being used without her permission on Instagram Mum of one Nicola, 33, from Bromley, Kent, says: I used to post sweet snaps of Lucy in a new dress or playing with her toys on my Twitter feed, which only had about 200 followers, including lots of friends and family. Then one day I got a notification that a complete stranger was re-tweeting my photos. When I looked, this persons feed was full of them. I couldnt tell who it was as the profile picture was a cartoon character, the location was given as Canada, and they used weird, made-up names. When I sent a message asking why this person was using my childs image in such a disturbing way, they never replied. Panicked, Nicola, who works as an artist, blocked the account only to find more kept popping up over the next month, on both Twitter and Facebook, with some using her child as the header picture until eventually she had to call in the police. Nicola says: You think: There are billions of pictures of kids out there, why would anyone take an unhealthy interest in mine? But then it happens to you. It was terrifying. I felt like I was being watched constantly. Yet despite risks that include attracting the interest of paedophiles (horribly, its often photos of children in school uniform that hold most interest for them), fraudsters and even burglars, this week UK parents will add millions more pictures to the 1.3 billion they post on social media every year. A third of them, often revealing the schools children attend (through badges and logos) and even clues to addresses, such as door numbers, will be shared on accounts which are not private, according to new research released by cyber security firm McAfee. And this week, it became all too clear just how many cruise the web with dark intentions. In a speech to technology giants, Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed there are at least 80,000 paedophiles active in the UK on social media. A crop of fresh new photos flagged with hashtags such as #firstdayofschool2018 (which on Instagram alone brings up 2.5 million images) gives paedophiles a vast new library of images to comb through. Gemma says she received over 100 friend requests a day on Instagram from strangers who had images of child pornography on their accounts. She says nothing happened when she reported the problem to the social media platform (file image) According to security expert Will Geddes, the author of Parent Alert! How To Keep Your Kids Safe Online, many parents have no idea how their perfectly innocent picture of precious family memories can be used in disturbing ways. One way photos can be abused is deep faking in which normal childhood pictures are manipulated so that the head of a child is superimposed onto anothers naked body or adult pornographic images. They are then uploaded and shared via paedophile sites. Millions more gleaned from parents social media accounts are not tampered with at all. Yet the lurid comments from users make it clear their interest is unhealthy. Mum-of-two Gemma Hawkins, from the South-East, was shocked to discover how her eight-year-old sons pictures were being used without her knowledge. As a result of her experience, the only people Gemma, 31, will be sharing start-of-term pictures of Teddy and his sister Lilly, six, with are her parents. How common is identity fraud? Identity fraud in Britain hit a record high of 174,523 incidents last year, up 125 per cent since 2007 Advertisement Gemma says: I always thought I was careful. I posted pictures on Instagram, but I kept my settings private. But then in January, I got a friend request from a modelling promotion page and I accepted. Now I feel I was naive, but at the time I thought it was harmless. Not once did I send them any pictures of my son or give them permission to use his pictures. But within a few days, I started getting over 100 friend requests a day from men I didnt know. When I clicked on the profile pictures, there were no faces, but images of child pornography. Then I saw pictures of my son on the modelling promotion account. From my feed, and without my permission, theyd taken a picture of him playing on a rope swing and also messing about with some paint, so hed had to take his shirt off. There were comments like Handsome Lad and Good looking boy. I felt sick. I messaged the account to ask them to take the pictures down and they ignored me. Will Geddes warns photos with school badges can lead predators to a child's exact location (file images) I reported them to Instagram and they didnt do anything, so I closed my account. I felt terrible. Id failed Teddy because its my job as a mother to protect him. It really opened my eyes to how easily photos of children can be stolen and misused. Yet its often photos of children in school uniform that most interest paedophiles, a taste fostered by easy access to the huge number of openly available pornographic sites with titles such as School Uniform Porn, featuring young adults dressed up as pupils. A quick look through recent court reports of paedophile cases illustrates how many ask victims to send pictures of themselves in their school uniforms while they are grooming them. Will Geddes says parents must also bear in mind how easily school badges on blazers, sweatshirts and rucksacks can lead predators to your childs exact location. It opens up to an undesirable person the opportunity to think: Oh, thats where that child goes to school. While they are more likely to just circulate pictures, I dont think you can discount the risk that they develop an unhealthy interest in the child or the school. In the vast majority of cases, parents will never have the slightest inkling of how their childs pictures are used for the sexual gratification of predators, says Will. Alexandra Neil, 32, found a profile with over 30 stolen photos of her children. The profile owner pretended the images were of their own children (file image) Police have to prioritise investigating images that show children being actively abused and dont have time to trace parents when pictures of children in uniform are found. Alexandra Neil, 32, from South-West London, is another mother-of-two who was shocked to discover more than 30 photos of her children stolen from her Instagram account. Two weeks ago, I had a private message from one of my followers saying shed seen some pictures of my children posted on another page, under another womans name, pretending they were hers. While they had used the childrens real names, the captions were different and the woman was saying how she looked forward to seeing them. Alexandra said: The page had been set up a few weeks earlier and already had nearly 400 followers. It was extremely scary, especially as the profile was fake. There was no evidence this woman existed in real life. I told them to stop, but I never heard back and eventually Instagram took the account down last week. It made me stop wanting to put my life and family out there. Experts claim not only can posting photos reveal someone's location it can also open up families to crimes including burglary (file image) While Alexandra was never able to find out why the page was set up, another possible reason for the theft of childrens photos is the disturbing rise of what are known as baby role play pages on the internet, in which Instagram users create bizarre fictional lives using pictures of other peoples children. But beyond sexual or fantasy uses of such snaps, experts also point out that first-day-of-school pictures open up your family to crimes such as burglary. Consumer security expert Pete Turner, of cybersecurity firm Avast, says: Firstly, they give away the school a child attends. Secondly, posting that photo online is likely to disclose the familys home address. Todays smartphones include location trackers, which applications like Instagram and Facebook use to determine someones location. More often than not, people grant these applications permission to track them when they sign up for the service, often without realising. So, in a couple of clicks, the two locations where a child spends most of their time could be exposed. To a lesser extent, it could also help a burglar to approximate the times of morning or evening routines, such as school runs. Doorstep pictures could even put your child at risk of fraud in the future, according to research by Barclays Bank, because they provide valuable insights that fraudsters can exploit. Barclays Bank estimates that, by 2030, the trend for 'sharenting' will account for two-thirds of online identity fraud against young people (file image) The bank warns that an innocent first-day-of-term snap could be used to circumnavigate a security question such as the name of someones first school, which is the kind of security question someone might use to access bank accounts when they come of age. Information like this can also be pieced together to fraudulently take out a credit card or a bank loan in the childs name. Indeed, Barclays experts predict that, by 2030, the trend for sharenting will be the reason for two-thirds of online identity fraud against young people. Will Geddes believes that even though the National Crime Agency and other bodies are doing all they can, parents must be on the front line. Ask yourself, would you feel comfortable leaving the photo on a table in a public coffee shop? he says. Are you happy theres nothing that a stranger could benefit from seeing? For Nicola, the stalking of her daughter ended after two months when the person behind it contacted her via the call app FaceTime on Christmas Day, after finding her mobile number on the website she uses to sell her art. It turned out to be a mentally disturbed teenager in Canada who had created a fantasy in her head that she was friends with her daughter. Nicola said: I answered the call from a Canadian number I didnt know and there was this young girl. I hung up immediately and blocked the number. However, the call meant she could persuade the Canadian police to trace the number and visit the girls family. The girl lived with her grandparents, who had no idea what she was up to on her iPad in the bedroom. I dont know how she found Lucy or why she focused on her. But it showed me there are people out there who will fixate on young children and I am not prepared to give them any bait. Some names have been changed. Rose McGowan and her partner, non-binary model Rain Dove, made an appearance together at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London on Wednesday evening. The actress, 45, and the model, 27, looked loved up as they posed together on the red carpet and during the event, just hours after Asia Argento returned to Twitter following a six-week hiatus to attack Dove. Dove wore a dark suit with the event and at one point posed with their hands on McGowan's waist for a couple shot. Couple: Rose McGowan and her partner, non-binary model Rain Dove, made an appearance together at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London on Wednesday evening Outfits: Dove, 27, wore a dark suit with the event, while McGowan, 45, went for a $1,109 metallic trench coat by Osman Loved-up: The pair posed for a series of couple shots, including one that saw Dove rest their hand on McGowan's shoulder while looking tenderly at the actress Celebration: Rose took home the Inspiration Award at the event Other photos see Dove looking lovingly at McGowan, who wore a $1,109 metallic trench coat by Osman to the event. It turned out to be a bumper evening for the actress, who accepted the Inspiration Award at the event; and as well as making a fashion statement, Rose also took the opportunity to speak out about the public abuse she has suffered at the hands of the public, while calling for men around the world to 'change' for the better. 'I come in peace, truly,' she told the audience, according to Mail Online's Showbusiness Editor Louise Saunders, who was reporting from the event. 'My monster paid off people in your industry... people [try to] ridicule me, to paint me as imbalanced and as a whore.' She went on: 'People ask if what I do is for women, its not. Its for men. Youre sold an illusion from birth that youre better. Its in you to change and I see you as the humans as you are. 'My platform is one of freedom [for] humanity. I want women to hate themselves less and know they deserve a seat at the table. '...I was silenced by my rapist for twenty years but then I realized I had more followers than the head of the senate and thought f*** it.' Thought process: McGowan explained on Twitter prior to the event that she chose to wear the trench after being thrown by the dress code, which required women to wear cocktail dresses Duo: McGowan and Dove looked loved-up as they posed for photos at the event inside the Tate Modern gallery in London Together: The pair held hands as they posed for a red carpet picture upon their arrival Making a statement: Rose took the opportunity to hit out at those who have 'tried to paint me as imbalanced and as a whore' as she accepted the Inspiration Award at the event 'I come in peace': The actress made an incredibly powerful speech as she accepted her award Earlier in the day, McGowan used said platform to air some person thoughts, revealing on Twitter why she had decided to wear the trench coat rather than a dress. 'Breaking News: I have decided to what to wear to tonights @BritishGQ Man of the Year awards,' she wrote in a long thread. 'The dress code said women should wear cocktail or evening gowns. This threw me. Mostly because those kinds of dress give me Hollywood PTSD that is peculiar to someone like me.' She added: 'A survivor of the Hollywood former sex symbol machine. Very few, if any, survive with a mind fully intact, it's no wonder Garbo retreated from the public at large. It's a peculiar beast our kind of world, and unknowable by most.' McGowan added that she wore a blue robin egg sheath dress from Topshop, which she got for $19, under the trench coat, and that her shoes were a vegan model by Stella McCartney. In her thread, the actress, who turned 45 on Wednesday and used the hashtag #birthdaymusing, gave Dove a shout-out. 'I'll be with my love @raindovemodel someone who's brought water energy to my fire,' she wrote. 'They have allowed me space [to] heal and to explore showing my softer side to the outside world. Reminding me always to be what I say I am.' Rose McGowan shares her thoughts on Twitter ahead of GQ Men of the Year Awards Advertisement Earlier on Wednesday, Argento attacked Dove in a series of tweets. The actress, who had been absent from social media for the past six weeks, returned to Twitter after the model criticized Argento's attorney for refusing to acknowledge that she had a sexual relationship with actor Jimmy Bennett when the boy was underage. 'I will 100% help support You through this process with whatever resources I have that can assist the healing necessary - but You need to be honest. I cant help a dishonest being,' wrote Dove. Argento responded by firing back: 'Very funny coming from a sick pathological liar like you, who made money out of me by selling selected text messages in order to portray me for something I am not.' Her return to social media came at the same time X Factor Italia formally announced that Argento would appear only in the first half of the show's new season, and be replaced for the live episodes when they air later this year. The Italian star, 42, also used her return to Twitter to attack Dove for information they relayed regarding the death of Anthony Bourdain. Underage: Dove, 27, criticized Argento and her lawyer for recent statements, including their recent claim that the actress was sexually assaulted by Jimmy Bennett in 2014 (pair above at that 2014 meet-up in California) Shots fired: 'Very funny coming from a sick pathological liar like you, who made money out of me by selling selected text messages,' tweeted Argento (above in one Twitter exchange from Wednesday) It was Dove's texts with Argento that confirmed the actress had sexual relations with Bennett in a California hotel room back in 2014, more than a decade after the actress first worked with the boy at the age of 6 in her film adaptation of JT Leroy's The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Argento, who was one of the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, initially lied about her encounter with Bennett following a New York Times report that revealed the young man had received a $380,000 payment from the actress' partner Anthony Bourdain when he threatened to file a $7.5 million lawsuit. Just hours after she denied ever having sex with Bennett, TMZ published a text exchange between Dove and with Argento, confirming most of the Times report. Argento and her lawyer are now claiming that she was the victim, and Bennett sexually assaulted her that day in the hotel. Dove voiced their opinion on this latest version of events from Argento by writing in one tweet: 'NO Jimmy Bennet didnt rape Asia. We must hold all beings to the truth here. Dont need to kno the whole story but what we do know should b truthful.' Argento then took aim at Dove for making claims about the death of Bourdain. She posted a handful of cryptic text exchanges she had with the model that seem to suggest they both believe the celebrity chef did not take his own life. 'Why did you tell me you knew the truth about my partners death and pretended to be some sort of 007? You wrote me hundreds of lies, for over a month. I have all the text messages. Now its time for YOU to tell the truth, if you are capable. Your ex calls you a pathological liar,' wrote Argento. She followed that up by stating: 'Then tell me why did you invent that articulate, humongous, gross lie about you and your NETWORK knowing the truth about Anthonys death?'. Conspiracy: Months prior, Bourdain had agreed to fund Argento's $380,000 payment to Bennett, who was threatening to sue the actress for $7.5 million (tweets from Wednesday above) Allegations: Dove told Argento he had unreleased information about Bourdain death in texts posted by the actress on Wednesday (above) Dove, who engaged with Argento throughout her attack, replied: 'That wasnt a lie. We did a lot of great work including - which You saw yourself- the toxicology report which French authorities dumbed down to the media. And then later on redacted and said yeah there was alcohol. And Im not 007. Im just part of a common research team.' Argento then posted a text conversation she had with Dove about documents concerning Bourdain's death that she hoped to get to a journalist for an investigative piece about the Emmy winner. In another exchange shared by Argento, Dove writes about a 'network' being involved in Bourdain's death and how 'dangerous' it was to be investigating the matter. They also claim to have see documents and exchanges between unknown parties, prompting Argento to tweet: 'Go tell that to @CNN. What you did (if you did it! I highly doubt it) is criminal.' Dove responded: 'Alright love. But You are just deflecting. Ill own my own path itll clearly be a fun week. But You still must own urs. 100%. You had a sexual dynamic w Jimmy Bennett. Whether u felt used or extorted or that ur friend was rude the engagement still happened. & he didnt rape u.' Argento did not dispute Dove's claims in that tweet, and instead accused the model of deflecting, before adding: 'Dont call me love. All that is left of your answers is treachery and deceit.' She later closed out her attack by writing: 'You cant help yourself but keep lying, can you? You never sent me or showed me any documents. And remember, there was a witness.' Dove went offline at the exact same time, but not before posting a few final remarks. 'Ok, through the gates of Hell I walk willingly with You if only for the truth to see the light of the fire,' said the model to Argento in one post. Dove then said in a final tweet: 'Fair for U to be angry- U are trapped and want to take everything down with U. I am not afraid of what is coming. But the truth still remains You slept w Jimmy Bennett. You lied when You demand others accused of sexual assault to be honest. This hurts victims voices everywhere.' The model is a new acquaintance of Argento, whom she met through McGowan. Dove started dating the actress earlier this year in the wake of McGowan's rage-filled rant at a transgender woman at a New York City book signing for her memoir Brave that many found to be transphobic. In the wake of that incident, Dove offered to help the actress repair her image. Dove said that she released the texts with McGowan's blessing, and also sent her exchanges with the actress to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Plane food hasn't always had the best reputation, but as time goes on that seems to be improving. New technologies mean tastier meals and one Australian chef has revealed how cabin crew manage to keep the rice they serve fluffy, even at 35,000 feet. Neil Perry told Escape that the easiest way to keep rice moist and in perfect condition is to use cabbage. The world renowned chef explained that the vegetable leaves are wrapped around rice dishes and removed just prior to service to ensure they keep the rice palatable. Scroll down for video New technologies mean tastier meals and Neil Perry (pictured) has revealed how cabin crew manage to keep the rice they serve fluffy, even at 35,000 feet Neil said that the easiest way to keep rice moist is to wrap cabbage leaves around rice dishes until they're served (pictured: an in-flight meal) Neil isn't the first person to reveal secrets involving plane food as previously a celebrity chef revealed his $4 trick to improving any in-flight meal. Jason Atherton, who was awarded a Michelin Star for his London restaurant Pollen Street Social in 2011, included the nifty trick in a list of travel tips. The English chef said the secret to spicing up a bland in-flight meal was bringing a bottle of Tabasco sauce, which he learnt from Hollywood star Jude Law. 'It was [Jude] Law who told me to always take Tabasco on a plane. Airplane food is always bland, so it's great to give it kick,' he told Live Mint. Jason Atherton said the secret to spicing up a bland in-flight meal was bringing a bottle of Tabasco sauce, which he learnt from Hollywood star Jude Law 'But I just try my hardest not to eat on planes. I can normally do it up to about 12 hours,' he continued. 'If I go to Australia, I have to eat, obviously, because it's 24 hours on a plane for me. I just eat the protein, drowned in Tabasco.' Although airline food has become more and more advanced over the years there are certain foods customers will most likely never be served. Speaking to Traveller, Sydney chef Matt Moran, a member of the Singapore Airlines culinary panel, said food needs to be kept 'really simple'. 'It was [Jude] Law who told me to always take Tabasco on a plane. Airplane food is always bland, so it's great to give it kick,' he said 'I think people want to identify what they are eating on a plane,' he explained. He said serving food like beef cheeks, seared beef medallions and lamb racks are a good idea. But he said scallops won't be served any time soon as they don't reheat well. Fried foods like potato chips and tempura are also on the no-fly list as they just won't crisp up again. A Cornish seafood restaurant with a 'refreshing lack of pomp' and a Michelin star eatery in Wales serving 19 course meals are among the UK's top ten restaurants, according to The Good Food Guide 2018. The Waitrose & Partners annual guide has awarded the top spot to Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall for the second year running, praising the eatery for its 'ingenious' yet simple seafood menu. Additionally, Chef Nathan has achieved a perfect cooking score of 10 for the third year in a row, thanks to dishes such as raw scallops with peas and mint and John Dory, with hazelnuts and red wine dressing. Cumbria's L'Enclume, came in second place and also retained its perfect ten with Clare Smyth's restaurant Core in Notting Hill in third place, the guide's highest ever new entry with a third score of 10. The prestigious list recognises the very best talent in the country and restaurants are ranked by a cooking score, editor appraisal and feedback from readers. Read on to discover the UK's top five restaurants of 2018. The restaurant awarded the top spot in The Good Food Guide for the second year running is Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall The Good Food Guide's top British restaurants of 2018 1. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall The Port Isaac seafood restaurant has been crowned number one thanks to Nathan's 'confident cooking' and 'knack for deploying first-rate seafood to its ultimate advantage', scoring a perfect ten for the third year running. The restaurant is noted for having 'a refreshing lack of pomp' with a tasting menu that is 'ingenious in its simplicity, yet continues to surprise'. Waitrose & Partners Good Food Guide Editor, Elizabeth Carter noted: 'This is the perfect Good Food Guide restaurant, embodying everything we champion. Expect cooking that is consistently of the highest quality combining the freshest ingredients, from shellfish and fish from sea and estuary, to locally grown fruits and vegetables.' Commenting on being crowned the GFG's No.1 restaurant yet again, Nathan Outlaw said: 'Learning that we had been placed in the top spot last year and retained a cooking score of 10/10 from the previous year was amazing, but this is just mind-blowing. 'My aim has always been to offer customers food cooked simply but with subtle layers of flavour and to make a visit an experience to remember, for not only the food, but also for the professional and welcoming hospitality our Front of House team provide' Scallops with creamed corn at Restaurant Nathan Outlaw which has been named the UK's best dining establishment for the second year running 2. Restaurant L'Enclume in Cumbria The restaurant which prides itself on providing seasonal food sourced locally has retained last year's score of ten. The guide comments that 'L'Enclume delivers a complete package, with unobtrusive but attentive service that underscores the impressive food and drink', noting that chef Simon Rogan 'has achieved something of a miracle. His farm-to-table operation has influenced chefs right across the country and the guide writes that it's 'beyond dispute that British food owes him a lot'. Diners can expect dishes such as aged veal in coal oil; native lobster with broad beans and elderflower, and Goosnargh duck with cherries and smoked beetroot. Restaurant L'Enclume in Cumbria has come runner-up in the list of the top 50, retaining its perfect 10 score for the second year running thanks to dishes such as spiced poached rhubarb, apple & marigold leaves and rhubarb mousse The farm-to-table operation has influenced chefs right across the country and the guide writes that it's 'beyond dispute that British food owes chef Simon Rogan a lot' The guide comments that 'L'Enclume delivers a complete package, with unobtrusive but attentive service that underscores the impressive food and drink', noting that chef Simon Rogan 'has achieved something of a miracle 3. Restaurant Core in Notting Hill, London Clare Smyth's restaurant Core - her first solo venture- is the Guide's highest ever new entry. She appears in the top 10 at No.3 and receives a perfect cooking score of 10, joining Restaurant Nathan Outlaw and Simon Rogan's L'Enclume. Absent from the Guide for two years, Smyth, who previously headed the kitchens at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, is back with a smash hit. Diners will be treated to a 13-course tasting menu, featuring dishes such as jellied eel, toasted seaweed and malt vinegar and Skate with Morecambe bay shrimps, Swiss chard and brown butter. Pan roasted wild halibut is served with charcoal grilled and pickled kohlrabis, clams and clam sabayon at Clare Smyth's restaurant Core - her first solo venture Clare Smyth's restaurant Core in London's upscale Notting Hill- her first solo venture- is the Guide's highest ever new entry Absent from the Guide for two years, Smyth, who previously headed the kitchens at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, is back with a smash hit 4. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham The eponymous restaurant of Satwant Singh 'Sat' Bains boasts two Michelin stars. He opened Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in 2002 and a year later it became Nottingham's first Michelin star restaurant. In 2006 it won the AA's Restaurant of the Year for England and in 2009 the restaurant received the AA's highest accolade of five rosettes. It offers a seven-course tasting menu for 95, with dishes such as smoked eel with apple, turnip, seaweed and Manjimup truffle and glazed veal sweetbread with celeriac, remoulade and thyme. Hay roasted Veal sweetbread with Celeriac, remoulade, pickled truffle puree and chicken jus at Sat Bains in Nottingham Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham boasts two Michelin stars and has been named the fourth best restaurant in the UK Chef Satwant Singh 'Sat' Bains opened Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in 2002 and a year later it was Nottingham's first Michelin star dining establishment 5. Restaurant Ynyshir in Powys, Wales (with Chef Of The Year Gareth Ward) Another new entry to the top 10 is Ynyshir in Powys, whose chef Gareth Ward has been given the Editors' Award for Chef of the Year. The restaurant has climbed seven places in the Top 50 since last year, from twelfth place to fifth. Gareth is commended in the Guide, with Elizabeth Carter saying: 'I was as impressed by the sheer enthusiasm and skill as by the fiercely seasonal Welsh produce which Gareth Ward's industrious kitchen bakes, pickles, ferments, cures and bottles. 'He delivers flavour in small punchy bites. Eighteen courses later, I predict you'll be in complete agreement that this is one of our most brilliant, innovative chefs'. Restaurant Ynyshir in Powys, Wales, comes in at four with the Chef Of The Year award going to Gareth Ward Gareth Ward's 200 day aged Welsh wagyu with BBQ-wasabi and beer dressing A 38-year-old woman was left with a 'broken heart' after taking part in a Zumba class to raise money for charity. Cardiologists diagnosed the unnamed social worker with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome. The ailment, usually triggered by a horrible shock, such as the death of a loved one, is similar to that of a heart attack and can prove deadly. Doctors in Michigan claimed the only possible cause of her broken heart was Zumba, a class that combines dance moves with Latin music. The unnamed social worker, from Michigan, was left with a broken heart from the outdoor workout, doctors have revealed Writing in the case report, the doctors said: 'Zumba is considered an activity with excessive sympathetic stimulation. 'Our patient did not have one clear trigger for her overt takotsubo cardiomyopathy other than the Zumba activity.' The woman visited Wayne State University School of Medicines emergency department complaining of throbbing chest pain, after taking part in the Zumba workout. Writing in the Journal of Medical Case Reports, a team of medics led by Dr Sana Chams revealed the class was part of a fundraising event. The womans discomfort, which began around two hours after the workout, was typical of exercise-induced chest pain, they said. She also admitted enduring episodes of a fluttery feeling and at times feeling lightheaded - two potential symptoms of a serious heart problem. Dr Chams and colleagues were able to relieve her pain with a drug usually given to patients with angina, chest pain caused by reduced blood flow. The team then thoroughly quizzed the woman about her medical history, in order to determine the root cause of her chest pain. Her notes revealed she had been taking 125mg of spironolactone a drug with pain as a known side effect - each day to combat her excess bodily hair. WHAT IS BROKEN HEART SYNDROME? Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is also known among the medical community as broken heart syndrome and stress-induced cardiomyopathy. The condition usually triggered by a horrible shock, such as the death of a loved one is similar to a heart attack. It occurs when extreme stress causes the heart to become stunned, resulting in one of its main chambers the left ventricle changing shape. It was first identified in Japan the 1990s and the term takotsubo means octopus pot, which describes the deformed shape of the heart. Scientists are still trying to understand exactly how it occurs and why some people are affected and not others. Last year a major project by Swiss researchers found the condition was commonly triggered by happy events as well as sorrow. Advertisement The patient denied any family history of heart disease or illegal drug use, which may have explained her worrying symptoms. Upon further questioning, she admitted to being a former occasional smoker and having drank alcohol socially. The woman also denied having endured any hugely stressful periods in her life and had not been on the receiving end of any major news. But she did state that she never did any kind of exercise except for the activities of daily living, according to the doctors. Dr Chams and colleagues decided to conduct a series of tests on the woman, to see if there was a physical cause of her pain. A echocardiogram showed signs of apical ballooning syndrome, another medical name for takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The condition, which has no known cause, makes the heart weaken, leading it work poorly and triggering symptoms such as chest pain. The patient was eventually diagnosed with the syndrome, first reported in the 1990s, after fulfilling all four of the diagnostic criteria. The woman was given a beta blocker and told to wear a LifeVest, a defibrillator that monitors a patients heart rate externally. A follow-up appointment a month later revealed the woman had no definitive signs of any lasting damage from her broken heart. The British Heart Foundation says up to 15 per cent of people who have experienced takotsubo cardiomyopathy before will have another episode. A woman diagnosed with the same incurable cancer as her friend is not allowed to take a life-prolonging medication prescribed to her because of NHS red tape which boils down to nothing more than unlucky timing. Caroline Watts and Joanne Myatt, who have been close friends for 12 years, share a lot of things in common. They are both 42 years old, social workers and live in Lancashire. And they both also have incurable secondary breast cancer. But in a cruel twist of fate, NHS red tape means only one of them is eligible for a life-prolonging drug which could give them precious extra months. Only Mrs Watts is allowed to take palbociclib, a targeted cancer therapy proven to slow the growth of her aggressive breast cancer. She told MailOnline it's 'heart-wrenching' that Mrs Myatt, diagnosed in 2016, can't take the same drug because she had already begun therapy when the new medication became available. Guidelines set by NICE, which advises the NHS, said in December last year that palbociclib should only be offered to women at the beginning of their treatment. And although the new medicine is a lifeline for Mrs Watts, it came too late for her friend, who has had to turn back to chemotherapy to stave off her disease. Caroline Watts (left) and Joanne Myatt (right), both 42, have known each other for 12 years, worked together, live less than 40 miles apart and both have the same type of incurable cancer Mrs Myatt and Mrs Watts met in 2006 when they worked together as social workers in Lancaster and the Isle of Man. The pair, who have now stopped working, have become close friends through their shared ordeal and are now in regular contact and go running together. Both were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 30s Mrs Myatt in 2006 and Mrs Watts in 2013 but made good recoveries after surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. And despite living cancer-free for years, in a tragic coincidence both were again diagnosed with cancer this time incurable just 18 months apart. But even more unluckily for Mrs Myatt, who lives in Buckshaw Village near Preston, the pairs similarities don't extend to the cancer therapy theyre receiving. Mrs Watts, from Wray near Lancaster, is being treated with 3,000-a-month palbociclib alongside hormonal therapy letrozole, which together are keeping her condition stable. But her friend was refused palbociclib because she had already begun letrozole treatment when the former became available on the NHS. Official guidelines say patients who have already started treatment cannot have the drug. Its devastating to not even be able to try a drug that could work for you,' Mrs Myatt told MailOnline. 'I understand a line has to be drawn but it feels unfair that other people make decisions about your life and how much it's worth. Mrs Watts (pictured with her husband Mark and children, whom she declined to name) has been given a drug which was not available to her friend, simply because of the time difference between their diagnoses Mrs Myatt married her husband, Martin, after being successfully treated for breast cancer when she was first diagnosed in 2006 she lived for 10 years without cancer before it returned Mrs Watts, pictured with her husband Mark, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and, following successful surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she made a good recovery Since being diagnosed with secondary breast cancer and being 18 months to live in 2016, Mrs Myatt has outlived her prognosis and still goes running every other day Its hard waking up every day knowing what you know, and that theres a drug which could make your treatment last longer but you cant have it. Because Mrs Watts was not diagnosed with secondary cancer until January this year, she was able to start both drugs at the same time in line with official advice. She said: For me to be prescribed a drug that Jo isnt is utterly heart wrenching. Knowing youve got something that could help them does make you feel guilty. 'Letrozole can keep the cancer stable or reduce it but the cancer can develop resistance to it. Palbociclib will hopefully extend how long it works for. WHY WAS ONE OF THE WOMEN DENIED AN IMPORTANT DRUG? The difference between Caroline Watts' and Joanne Myatt's cancer treatments was simply a result of unlucky timing. Caroline Watts was prescribed and continues to take a hormone treatment letrozole alongside a drug newly available on the NHS called palbociclib. Palbociclib, which works by blocking breast cancer cells from thriving on oestrogen, became available to NHS patients in December 2017. Before a drug can be prescribed by the health service it must be approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). Once NICE has recommended NHS funding for a drug it sets rules on how it should be given to patients. NICE's guide for palbociclib, which costs 2,950 for a three-week course, was that it could be used as an 'initial therapy' for patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Its designation as an 'initial therapy' means it must be used first, so people who are already being treated for secondary breast cancer are not eligible. Joanne Myatt had already started her letrozole treatment before palbociclib became available so, despite having the same cancer as her friend and still being on the medicine which is taken alongside palbociclib, she was not allowed the drug on the NHS. Source: NICE Advertisement 'With the combination it's possible I could get another two years progression-free. Although palbociclib which works by blocking breast cancer cells from thriving on oestrogen has been used to treat the disease in the US since 2015, it only became NHS-funded in December. As part of its official regulations, the National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) ruled it should only be given to women at the start of secondary cancer treatment. NICE is a non-government body which advises the NHS on which drugs to use, and decides which medicines the NHS will fund and for whom. It ruled out Mrs Myatt for palbociclib and, after the cancer which has spread to her liver and bones became resistant to letrozole, she has had to resort back to chemotherapy. She will find out this week whether the more gruelling treatment is working. A NICE spokesperson said: 'NICEs recommendation for palbociclib to be made available on the NHS was published in December 2017. 'The recommendation was for use only as an initial treatment for locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, meaning that patients who had already received other treatments at this disease stage would not be eligible.' Already six months past the end of the 18 months doctors gave her to live in 2016, Mrs Myatt said she is 'under no illusions' about the seriousness of her illness. She said: 'It's daunting but you've got to live day-to-day I try to stay healthy and run every other day and do yoga. 'My quality of life is really good; I feel well and I'm lucky to be able to do what I can do. There are still a few treatments on the NHS I could try.' Both women are now raising money to fund potential future treatments after realising their best options may not always be available on the health service. Combined, they have more than 54,000 donated by well-wishers, and are investigating potential future therapies. Mrs Watts said: What Im having now isnt going to work forever but there are other lines of treatment. Its just not acceptable to me that one day my therapist will tell me weve tried everything. Mrs Myatt, pictured with husband Martin, was denied a potentially life-prolonging drug because it became available on the NHS after she had already started cancer therapy Mrs Watts (pictured with husband Mark) is taking both hormonal drug letrozole and the newly-sanctioned palbociclib, which together are keeping her incurable cancer stable The future isnt guaranteed for anybody and nobody knows how your individual cancer will react to different therapies.' The pair are keen to warn women about the threat of secondary breast cancer after their own shock diagnoses years after they thought they had been cured. WHAT IS SECONDARY BREAST CANCER? Secondary breast cancer, also known as metastatic breast cancer, is when tumour cells which started in the breast move to other parts of the body. The secondary cancer can take years to return, and does not always reappear in the breast. Some 35,000 people are thought to be living with the disease some 35 per cent of women who get breast cancer will be diagnosed with secondary cancer within 10 years. Places commonly affected by spreading cancer include the bones, brain, liver, lungs and skin. While primary breast cancer can usually be operated on or cured with drugs or radiation, secondary cancer is incurable. Because secondary cancer has already started spreading around the body you can never be completely cured of it. But chemotherapy, hormone drugs and other treatments can slow down the growth and spread of tumours and improve patients' lives. Life expectancy varies depending on how advanced the cancer is, but many women live for years with the condition under control. Source: Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now Advertisement Secondary breast cancer is when one or more breast tumours which have been treated spread to other parts of the body. Mrs Watts and Mrs Myatt say women are not given enough warning about the possibility of the cancer returning in future. Some 35 per cent of women who get breast cancer will be diagnosed with secondary cancer within 10 years, according to the charity Breast Cancer Now. And the second diagnosis is often worse because the disease is likely to have spread through the body, making it far more difficult to treat. Both Mrs Watts and Mrs Myatt were given stage four incurable diagnoses straight away. It was an indescribable shock to be told I had cancer for a second time, Mrs Watts said. When youre diagnosed with breast cancer nobody tells you you could get secondary cancer afterwards. Youre checking your breast to check it isnt coming back but actually it often comes back somewhere else mine was a pain in my side. And the way people describe cancer as a battle makes you feel like a loser when it comes back, when in reality your treatment either works or it doesnt. Its not a matter of how hard you fight. The pair live less than 40 miles apart, with Mrs Myatt in Buckshaw Village, near Chorley and Mrs Watts in Wray, near Lancaster, and have a lot in common both are 42, worked for Lancaster social services, and have been diagnosed with cancer twice Mrs Myatt, pictured with husband Martin, said: 'People think you can have a mammogram every year and youll be fine but thats not true' Mrs Watts said it was an 'indescribable shock' to be told she had cancer a second time and more research needs to be funded for secondary cancer instead of primary, which is easier to treat Mrs Myatt found out she had stage four cancer when she went to the doctors feeling unwell, and was told her liver was failing. She added: People think you can have a mammogram every year and youll be fine but thats not true. The cancer never returned in my breast it went straight to my liver and bones. There are an estimated 35,000 people living with this in the UK and you feel like a failure because you havent beaten it.' Mrs Watts said: Only about seven per cent of breast cancer funding goes into secondary but nobody dies of primary cancer any more. Theres a bit of a pinkification of breast cancer and charity fundraising, but this isnt a big pink party its a deadly disease which is killing a lot of women. To donate to either woman's fundraiser visit their GoFundMe pages: Mrs Watts's here and Mrs Myatt's here. The NHS is hiding the true number of people who are dying from antibiotic-resistant superbugs, the government's health chief has warned. Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, are not properly recording patients' cause of death when they are killed by the infections. She said families are 'rarely told' if their relative has died of a drug-resistant bacteria because it would 'look as if the NHS is failing'. Infections which do not respond to normal medications a phenomenon called antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are on the rise and expected to kill up to 10 million people a year by 2050. And research has shown at least 700,000 patients are already dying each year from untreatable infections around the world, Dame Sally told the government. She pointed the finger at the health service for not properly recording causes of death, pharmaceutical companies for not investing in new antibiotics, and the government for cutting health budgets. Growing numbers of people are dying because of infections which have evolved to become resistant to antibiotics, but England's Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, says the NHS is not recording the deaths properly out of fear the figures will make the health service look bad Speaking to the UK Government's Health Select Committee, Dame Sally said that without antibiotics, modern medicine will be 'lost'. She called for a rule change to make sure it is routinely recorded on people's death certificates if they died of an antibiotic-resistant infection. She said: 'That would really wake people up to the deaths as they happen,' The Telegraph reported. 'One of the problems at the moment is families often dont know that their bereavement was due to infection,' Dame Sally added. 'And theyre rarely told that the infection was resistant to treatment because it looks as if the NHS is failing.' Dame Sally claimed the NHS avoids admitting people have died because of AMR because it would make the health service look bad. Infections which have become resistant to medicines are mostly ones which used to be easy to treat. WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fuelling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out unnecessarily. Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the 'dark ages' if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years. In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years. Advertisement But overprescribing antibiotics and giving too many to farm animals has allowed some bacteria to learn how to survive routine treatments like penicillin. Dame Sally made the comments alongside the economist Lord Jim O'Neill, who produced a report on AMR in 2016. She said: 'Jim's work showed that at least 700,000 people a year are dying from infections that are untreatable. 'There are horror stories like the woman in the US with gonorrhoea who was resistant to 22 or 23 drugs. 'And in this country, we have people who are dying of resistant infections or those who don't die but double their time in hospital and they have that morbidity and suffering and it costs the NHS at this time at least 180 million every year.' Lord O'Neill's 2016 review concluded that AMB could one day be a bigger threat to mankind than cancer. He criticised the government for not prioritising action on antibiotic resistance, and pointed the finger at pharmaceutical companies for not developing new drugs. Dame Sally added that companies were being 'short-sighted' by not creating new therapies to be used in future. And she raised concerns about cuts to sexual health funding, warning that the common sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly difficult to treat. 'I am very worried about our sexual health services,' she said. 'The information I am receiving suggests that savings are too great and we are seeing a degradation of many of those sexual health services.' Thirty more people have contracted Salmonella from eating Kellogg Co's Honey Smacks cereal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed. That brings the total number to 130 cases in 36 states - 34 of whom have been hospitalized. Health officials had thought the outbreak, which started in March, was brought under control in June when they recalled 1.3 million cases of the cereal in affected states. But now they are warning Americans, again, to avoid the product nationwide. Salmonella bacteria can survive for a long time in dry heat, such as in toasted cereals 'Do not eat any Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal, regardless of package size or best-by date. Check your home for it and throw it away or return it to the place of purchase for a refund,' the CDC said on Tuesday. Following the latest reports, three more states - Delaware, Maine and Minnesota - have been added to the list of places that will issue recalls. However, an FDA investigation has found the contaminated cereal is still being sold in some locations that were meant to recall it. Illnesses in this outbreak started on dates ranging from March 3 to August 7, CDC said, adding the investigation is still ongoing. Kellogg had not yet shipped any new cereal to retailers and that people who bought the potentially affected product can contact it for a full refund, the company said in a statement The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clear how such vast quantities of Honey Smacks got infected, but it is not surprising to food safety specialists. While Salmonella is typically associated with under-cooked chicken and eggs, it is known to thrive and survive in dry heat. Toasted cereals, therefore, are a welcome home for the bacteria. Honey Smacks' ingredients are listed as: Sugar, Wheat, Dextrose, Honey, Contains 2% or Less of Vegetable, Salt, Caramel Color, Soy Lecithin, BHT for Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), Niacinamide, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Hydrochloride), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12. Britain's main supplier of insulin is stockpiling the medicine in case Brexit disrupts the supply chain. Around 4.6 million people in the country are thought to have diabetes and many of them rely on insulin to stay healthy. Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk supplies more than half of the UK's insulin and has revealed it's importing enough of the vital medication to last four months. The move comes just weeks after medical experts warned millions of diabetics' health would be at risk if there was an insulin shortage after Brexit. Novo Nordisk is stockpiling amid fears Britain will leave the European Union without new trade deals in March, which could make it difficult to import drugs. The company said it is committed to making sure its patients' health is not affected by Brexit. Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has said it will stash 16 weeks' worth of insulin almost triple the government's six-week recommendation to make sure people with diabetes are not hit by drug shortages after Brexit Novo Nordisk will build up a 16-week reserve of insulin in the UK before January next year. The medication is vital for hundreds of thousands of Brits who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, in which the body cannot use its own insulin. Britain plans to exit the European Union on March 29 2019 and, in the event of no international trade agreements being made before then, importing and exporting goods could become slower and more expensive. Without insulin, diabetics risk having dangerously high blood sugar which could send them into a coma. The government led by Prime Minister Theresa May, who herself has type 1 diabetes advised companies to build a six week supply of meds for the country. And the leading insulin supplier has gone a step further, The Independent reported. 'Our first commitment is to ensure that patients treated with our medicines remain unaffected in the event of a no-deal Brexit,' said Pinder Sahota, Novo Nordisk UK's corporate vice president. 'Our decision to increase stock is in line with the technical notices and guidance published by the government to industry.' WHY DO DIABETICS INJECT INSULIN? Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas, an organ in your body that helps with digestion. Insulin helps your body use glucose which comes from sugar in the food and drink you consume for muscle energy. Glucose is initially absorbed by the gut from food and passed into the blood, where the body decides what to do with it. Insulin makes this decision by regulating how much sugar moves from the blood into the blood cells, muscles or fat cells, where it can be used up or stored. But diabetes can mean the pancreas does not make any insulin, it doesn't make enough, or the insulin it does make doesn't work properly. This can lead to the levels of sugar in the blood becoming dangerously high or low which can cause fatigue, feeling hungry or thirsty, or in extreme cases life-threatening coma. To avoid this and stop blood sugar getting too high, diabetics can inject insulin into their body as a medication to bring their blood sugar down. Source: Diabetes.org Advertisement And the Danish company's move comes just weeks after Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said millions of diabetics could be put in danger by drug shortages after Brexit. Sir Michael told the Pharmaceutical Journal in July: 'We make no insulin in the UK. We import every drop of it. 'You can't transport insulin around ordinarily because it must be temperature-controlled. 'And there are 3.5 million people who rely on insulin, not least the prime minister. 'We can't suddenly start manufacturing insulin it's got to be sorted, no question.' Novo Nordisk's stockpiling will double its current seven-week reserves over the next few months. Dan Howarth, head of care at Diabetes UK, told The Independent: 'This further commitment from Novo Nordisk will no doubt reassure those people with diabetes who rely on the insulin this company produces. 'Insulin and other diabetes medication aren't optional extras for the millions of people in the UK who rely on them. 'It's incredibly important that the companies involved in their production and distribution, and those involved in guaranteeing their entry into the UK, work together so that supply continues uninterrupted.' French insulin supplier Sanofi has also said it will increase its reserves by nearly a third to build a 14-week stockpile. It can still be bought from pharmacies in its gel form, such as Voltaren Diclofenac was banned over-the-counter in the UK due to heart concerns Taking the drug diclofenac also raises the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding A common painkiller that is prescribed to millions in the UK may increase a person's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke by 50 per cent, research suggests. A study of more than 6.3 million adults found that diclofenac, which is prescribed under the brand names Motifene and Diclomax among others, also puts patients at a higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding compared to other painkillers. Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is approved for the relief of gout, severe allergic conjunctivitis, pain post surgery and arthritis in the UK. Heart concerns caused British regulators to ban tablet forms of the drug from being sold over-the-counter in 2015. It can still be bought from pharmacies in its gel form, such as Voltaren, to relieve pain and inflammation. The common painkiller diclofenac, which is prescribed to millions in the UK, may increase a person's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke by 50 per cent (stock) On the back of the study's findings, published in the British Medical Journal, the Danish researchers are calling from the drug's UK ban to be expanded worldwide. The scientists, from Aarhus University Hospital, said: 'It is time to acknowledge the potential health risk of diclofenac and reduce its use. 'Dicofenac should not be available over the counter and when prescribed should be accompanied by an appropriate front package warning about its potential risks.' The scientists analysed national registry data for millions of Danish adults. All of the study's participants had been taking prescription medications for at least a year before the trial began in January 1996. The average age of the participants taking NSAIDs ranged from 46 to 49, while the patients starting paracetamol, another painkiller, were around 56. The researchers divided the participants into groups depending on their risk of suffering a heart-related event, which was ranked low, moderate or high. Results show diclofenac is overwhelmingly associated with an increased risk of major heart problems, such as an irregular heart beat, ischemic stroke, heart failure or a heart attack within 30 days of starting the treatment, compared with other painkillers (stock) WHAT IS DICLOFENAC? Diclofenac is a painkiller that is used to treat aches and pain in the joints, muscles and bones. In the UK, the drug can only be issued in its tablet form on prescription and is approved for: Gout and other forms of arthritis Post-surgery pain Severe allergic conjunctivitis Brands of the tablet form of the drug include Motifene and Diclomax. Diclofenac was made prescription only in the UK in 2015 after studies suggested it increases a person's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke even if taken at a low dose for a short time. The drug can still be bought in a gel form over-the-counter, with brands including Voltaren. Injection or eye drop forms of the drug are available but are usually only given in hospital. In the US, diclofenac is available on prescription. Brands include Solaraze, Cambia and Zipsor. Advertisement Results show diclofenac is overwhelmingly associated with an increased risk of major heart problems, such as an irregular heart beat, ischemic stroke, heart failure or a heart attack within 30 days of starting the treatment, compared with taking ibuprofen, naproxen or paracetamol. With each year a patient stays on diclofenac, this risk increases. Participants who started the study with a low risk and then took diclofenac had on average one more heart attack or stroke compared to those who took ibufrofen. The same results occurred when diclofenac was the same compared against naproxen. In comparison to those taking paracetamol, diclofenac users have three more heart attacks or strokes. Those who take no drugs at all fare best, with four fewer heart attacks or strokes, on average, compared to those on diclofenac. This increased risk affects men and women of all ages, including those with an initially low risk of a heart attack or stroke. Although some patients may need NSAIDs to improve their quality of life, 'despite potential side effects,' diclofenac may not be the best option, according to the researchers, who add the drug's risks need assessing immediately. In 2013, the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency announced diclofenac tablets have a small but significant effect on a user's risk of suffering a heart-related event. Although the drug's product information was updated to reflect this risk, it was not until 2015 that a review by the Commission on Human Medicines concluded that these complications cannot be ruled out even if diclofenac is taken for a short time at a low dose. In the interest of patient safety, diclofenac was made prescription only in the UK on the back of this review. A woman who is covered from head to toe in tiny tumours reveals how she has been refused entry into public swimming pools and even asked to move on flights by heartless strangers. Gail Appelgren, 57, from Edmonton in Alberta,Canada, has battled with neurofibromatosis (NF) her whole life, which she believes makes her 'special' and 'unique'. Her condition has left her with 180 growths on one hand alone, as well as tumours twice the size of her fist on her back. Despite the cruel comments she receives from strangers, Mrs Appelgren, a retired social worker, said: 'I don't cover up, I wear sleeveless shirts and tops. I'm a regular person, I laugh and cry, like you or anybody else. 'When I look in the mirror, I don't see neurofibromatosis, I see Gail looking back at me. I see my smile and my bright eyes, that's the way I've always been.' Gail Appelgren, who is covered in thousands of tumours all over her body, refuses to hide her condition, known as neurofibromatosis, despite many assuming she has a contagious disease Pictured at 14, the age she was diagnosed with NF, Mrs Appelgren always had a large tumour on her chest, as well as lots of flat birthmarks. It was not until she developed a growth on her breast that hung down and grew under her armpit that her condition was realised Despite enduring cruel comments from strangers, Mrs Appelgren (pictured with her husband Tim Golumbia, 55, who also has NF) refuses to let her appearance affect her Speaking of her condition, Mrs Appelgren said: 'I cannot even guess how many bumps I have, they are in the thousands and thousands. 'My entire torso has wall-to-wall bumps. There are so many they are growing on each other or out of each other. 'When I look at my one hand I count 180 from the wrist up but the other has double that number. 'The biggest is on my stomach and others range from the size of my fist of my stomach and one on my back and tail bone that was twice my fist size, to smaller than that.' Although others gawk at her appearance, Mrs Appelgren refuses to let it impact her confidence. She said: 'I think I'm unique and special because I have a condition a lot of people don't understand, even some doctors don't know about it. 'I live every day to the fullest, as I get older the more complications I have with NF but I'm a happy and active person.' WHAT IS NEUROFIBROMATOSIS? Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common genetic condition that affects one in 3,000 people in the UK to some extent. It's caused by a genetic mutation that affects nerve tissue growth. Around half of cases are inherited from a parent and the other half occur spontaneously. Early symptoms include flat brown birthmarks, and lumps and bumps in unusual places. It is also associated with mild learning difficulties, although most people with NF1 are otherwise healthy and live to a normal life expectancy. There is no cure, however, surgery can be performed to remove the benign growths. Source: The Neuro Foundation Advertisement Despite being content with her growths, Mrs Appelgren still requires up two surgeries a year to help manage the pain of her disorder. She is pictured after her first operation this year Mrs Appelgren describes her torso as being 'wall-to-wall bumps'. On one hand alone, she counted 180 growths, with some on her back and tailbone being twice the size of her fist Mrs Appelgren previously said she was too busy for love until she met Tim in 2010. Pictured on their wedding day in 2014, the couple are celebrating their four-year anniversary The pair refuse to let their NF hold them back, despite one woman asking Mr Golumbia if he caught NF from his wife due to him having fewer growths than her Although Mrs Appelgren has always had a large tumour on her chest and numerous flat birthmarks, it was not until she turned 12 that the growths on her body began to multiply at a rapid rate. At 14 years old, she was finally diagnosed with NF after developing a large mass on her breast that hung down and grew under her armpit. Despite numerous surgeries to remove the large mass, which was 22cm (nine inches) across and hung 30cm (12 inches) down, it continued to grow back, with Mrs Appelgren risking her life during every operation. She said: 'When I had part of the large one removed from my chest, they almost lost me because I lost so much blood, but I was determined and lived on. 'It was so big that they couldn't get to the root of it, so had to go in for a second time. They removed more of the tissue from my chest and some of my ribs, then rebuilt it.' Mrs Appelgren still undergoes up to two surgeries a year to help manage the pain of her disorder, with small tumours continuing to grow back regardless. Mrs Appelgren believes her appearance makes her 'unique' and 'special'. Although her condition is painful, she insists she 'lives life to the fullest' and is a 'happy, active person' Mrs Appelgren is pictured at 23 after having surgery to remove a tumour from her foot Despite her confidence, Mrs Appelgren admits the stigma around NF often lands her and her husband Tim Golumbia, 55, who also suffers from NF, into difficult situations. She said: 'We were on a flight to our vacation destination when the flight attendant came and told me that someone was on the airplane and thought I was contagious. 'They added that my husband must have caught it from me as he did not have as many bumps. We were already in the air and the flight attendant said she didn't know how to deal with this issue. 'So, I gave her a piece of paper with the spelling of condition and recommended she Google and research the condition. I assured her I was not contagious. 'When we were leaving the country, on our way home we were detained at the airport but no explanation was provided. Mrs Appelgren, who said she was too busy for love until she met Mr Golumbia in 2010, added: 'Once, when Tim came with me to a medical appointment, a man moved and said, "You are contagious", as Tim had some bumps but not as many as I had. 'A doctor I saw earlier this year, not my regular doctor, told me to just get a skin transplant.' As she grew older, Mrs Appelgren's tumours began to multiply at a rapid rate. Despite having surgery to remove them, the growths came back bigger, causing her more discomfort Pictured at 25 on holiday in Cuba, Mrs Appelgren has always refused to cover up, describing herself as just a normal person who does not even see her bumps when she looks in the mirror As a very young child, pictured at three, she did not suffer from NF but it soon developed Although she has endured cruel comments all her life, Mrs Appelgren relishes educating others on NF. She said: 'I love people asking about it, I want to tell them. Seeing me it's very obvious that I don't look like a lot of other people. I tell them that I have a condition that makes me look different. 'It's something I've dealt with all my life, but I would like to say I'm not contagious. 'I have been asked not to swim in the pool, not to touch fruit at the supermarket and more. 'When a little boy asked me about my condition, I explained that it makes me special and unique. He said, "Isn't there anything they can do for you?" I shook my head and he replied, "You are fine the way you are".' Ebola has now killed 82 people in an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Four more people have died since Monday and 11 new cases have been reported since August 28, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports. In a desperate attempt to contain the outbreak, aid workers have educated nearly 2.5 million people about how to reduce the risk of spreading the lethal virus. But officials admitted it is becoming hard to track where the infection is being transmitted because the outbreak is near a dangerous conflict zone. Saturday, September 1, marked a month since the beginning of the outbreak and 122 cases of Ebola have been reported 91 of those confirmed. Nearly 70 per cent of people thought to have been infected have died of the disease, but DRC health officials are rolling out experimental drugs to treat patients, and at least two people have recovered following treatment. The WHO's latest situation report on the outbreak, released yesterday, said 'recent trends suggest control measures are working'. At least 122 people have been infected with Ebola in the outbreak around the North Kivu region in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo since it was first declared on August 1 the city of Beni has been the centre of the current outbreak An Ebola patient is led to be treated by medical workers in Beni: Since the outbreak began some 4,296 people are thought to have come into contact with people who had the virus and 16 medical workers have been infected The Ebola virus is spreading near the city of Beni in the North Kivu region in the DRC's north-east, near the border with Uganda. Some 16 health workers have caught the virus and one has died from it. Since the outbreak began, officials have identified 4,296 people who have been in contact with those who caught the virus. More than half of those people are still being monitored. And the country's efforts to keep the outbreak from spiralling out of control have been praised as a 'global first and a ray of hope' by the WHO. UNICEF this week said it has now reached 2,454,000 people with its Ebola prevention messages in the past month. 'An increasing number of communities are now aware about Ebola and how to prevent its transmission,' said Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano, a UNICEF representative. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO'S CURRENT EBOLA OUTBREAK IN NUMBERS 122 cases of Ebola have been reported 91 of those cases are confirmed 31 are 'probable' Ebola cases 82 people have died of the virus 62 of cases have been in women 16 health workers have caught Ebola One health worker as died 4,296 people have been in contact with Ebola patients 2,454,000 people have been reached by UNICEF's Ebola prevention messages 11 million people live in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of DRC, where the outbreak is taking place Source: World Health Organization Advertisement 'The active involvement of concerned communities is key to stopping the spread of the disease. 'We are working closely with them to promote hand-washing and good hygiene practices, and to identify and assist people that might be infected with the virus.' At-risk populations are being reached through community engagement, radio, door-to-door activities, church meetings and adolescent groups, and prevention messages are shared in four different languages. Last Friday, the WHO said there are still 'substantial risks' in trying to beat the Ebola outbreak in the east of DRC. The UN agency said that although efforts to stop the virus spreading are working, it is proving hard to keep track of where the virus is active. Four of 13 recent cases in the city of Beni were not previously identified as contacts of other patients, meaning officials don't know how they were exposed to Ebola. An important part of preventing the spread of the virus is monitoring people who have been in contact with others infected with the fever, to make sure they don't develop symptoms and spread the infection. If people develop the infection without coming into contact with previous patients it could mean the virus is coming from elsewhere. This makes it harder for health workers to track down and contain all the sources of the fast-spreading disease. The WHO also reports 'sporadic instances' of high-risk behaviors like unsafe burials, which could worsen the outbreak because Ebola can still be caught from corpses. Some 82 people have died in the most recent Ebola outbreak taking place in the North Kivu province in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pictured: Health workers carry the body of a suspected victim last Wednesday, August 22, in Mangina, a town near Beni But there are rays of hope for the troubled African country two infected patients have recovered after being given an experimental therapeutic drug. The UN health agency in a statement said most patients recently admitted to Ebola clinics were given experimental treatments and that many contacts of cases have been immunized with a novel vaccine. More than 3,400 people have been given medicines and experts say the DRC's medical assault on the infection is a 'global first'. Two of the first 10 people to have been given an experimental cure known as mAb114 made a recovery from the deadly infection. In a statement the DRC's health ministry confirmed: 'These two people are among the first 10 patients to have received the therapeutic molecule mAb114.' Developed in the US, mAb114 was the first of five experimental treatments the DRC has begun using in the outbreak. The health ministry has confirmed four other experimental drugs have been approved for use in the country ZMapp, Remdesivir, Favipiravir and Regn3450-3471-347. The World Health Organization said the country's attempts to stop the virus were 'a global first, and a ray of hope for people with the disease.' The mayor in the city of Beni, Jean Edmond Nyonyi Masumbuko Bwanakawa, has announced treatment for Ebola will be free in the region for three months. He hopes the move will encourage people to seek immediate medical help and not be put off by a fear of having to pay for healthcare. An Ebola patient is checked by two medical workers after being admitted into a Biosecure Emergency Care Unit (CUBE) in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo The current Ebola outbreak is the 10th to strike the Congo since 1976, when the virus was first identified and named after the Ebola River in the north of the country. The outbreak was announced just days after another was declared over in the north-west of the Congo at the start of August. Yet the new outbreak has already dwarfed the one earlier this summer and has stoked more fears among the medical community. Virologists feared it would be 'reminiscent' of the 2014 Ebola pandemic, which decimated West Africa and killed 11,000 people. There are also concerns that conflict in the region might make the outbreak hard to control, as the infected could be displaced to refugee camps where the virus can thrive. Aid workers have been told they will have to navigate their response among more than 100 armed groups. A WHO spokesperson said: 'This is an active conflict zone. The major barrier will be safely accessing the affected population.' A womans tongue turned black and hairy because of a drug she took after both her legs were crushed in a car crash. The unidentified 55-year-old was diagnosed with black hairy tongue a harmless condition often caused by poor oral hygiene. Doctors in St Louis have revealed it was caused by minocycline, an antibiotic that was given to her to combat a wound infection. The unidentified 55-year-old was diagnosed with black hairy tongue a harmless condition often caused by poor oral hygiene The drugs bizarre side effect, a known cause of black hairy tongue, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The woman was rushed immediately to Washington University Hospital in St Louis following her motor vehicle accident. Dr Yasir Hamad and Dr David Warren, who wrote the report, revealed that she sustained a severe crush injury to both legs. They gave her IV drips of meropenem, another antibiotic, and oral minocycline tablets to combat a wound infection. Within a month, her tongue returned to its normal colour, doctors in St Louis wrote in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine WHAT IS BLACK HAIRY TONGUE? Black hairy tongue is a temporary and harmless condition that makes the tongue turn dark and furry, the Mayo Clinic states. It is usually caused by a build-up of dead skin cells on the on the papilla finger-like projections on the surface of the tongue that contain taste buds. But it can also be associated with poor oral hygiene, tobacco, irritating mouthwashes and certain antibiotics, doctors say. According to Mayo Clinic, antibiotics can change the normal bacteria or yeast content of the mouth, causing the bizarre discolouring. Advertisement After just one week of the treatment, the patient noticed her tongue was slowly turning black. She also reported nausea and a bad taste in her mouth. Writing in the prestigious journal, the medics said: Black hairy tongue, resulting from treatment with minocycline, was suspected. Black hairy tongue is a temporary and harmless condition that makes the tongue turn dark and furry, the Mayo Clinic states. It is usually caused by a build-up of dead skin cells on the on the papilla finger-like projections on the surface of the tongue that contain taste buds. But it can also be associated with poor oral hygiene, tobacco, irritating mouthwashes and certain antibiotics, the doctors wrote. Doctors decided to stop giving the patient minocycline and they urged her to ensure she was brushing her teeth as often as she should. Within a month, her tongue returned to its normal colour, Dr Hamad and Dr Warren explained in the NEJMs Images in Clinical Medicine. Stephen Fry's prostate cancer diagnosis led to a surge in referrals to NHS services and may partly be to blame for missed waiting time targets. Matthew Swindells, national director for operations and information at NHS England, revealed there had been an 'extraordinary spike in demand' in recent months. This was 'largely driven' by the announcement that the TV presenter and comic had undergone surgery to have his prostate removed early this year, he said. Fry, 61, urged 'men of a certain age' to get themselves tested after revealing his diagnosis back in February in a heartfelt video. Stephen Fry, 61, celebrated his 61st birthday last month and admitted on Twitter that he was 'happy to still be here' He discovered he had the disease in the run-up to Christmas and underwent an operation to have his prostate removed shortly after. The TV legend celebrated his 61st birthday last month and admitted on Twitter that he was 'happy to still be here'. Figures from April to June show 80.8 per cent of patients with suspected cancer started treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred by a GP. This is below the Government target of 85 per cent for the 18th consecutive quarter, and the worst quarterly performance against this target since records began. Mr Swindells said the drop in performance against cancer targets was a 'complex story'. Speaking at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester, he said: 'When we look at the data, there's been an extraordinary spike in demand. Stephen Fry uploaded a 12 minute video to his blog revealing: 'For the last two months I've been in the throes of a rather unwelcome and unexpected adventure' 'I'm told [it's] largely driven by Stephen Fry getting prostate cancer and the media coverage of that. 'We have seen increases in referrals into a number of the cancer specialties, particularly urology, in the sort of 15 per cent level jump this year, which is unprecedented.' Mr Swindells admitted to the audience that the numbers look 'terrible'. But he added the health service 'treated more patients in the first quarter of this year within 62 days than it ever has before'. Mr Swindells said: 'The NHS managed to respond to a 15 per cent jump in demand with about a 12 per cent jump in supply.' He added it was encouraging to see more people get tested for cancer. Mr Swindells said: 'We now have as an NHS to be able to work out how we manage our demand and our capacity and get smarter.' The 14-day wait target from GP referral for suspected cancer to the outpatient appointment was also missed for a whole quarter. In the clip, the 60-year-old said: 'My family and my darling husband were just marvelous.' Pictured: The QI star with husband Elliot Spencer in February last year Fry (left) presented the BAFTAs for a number of years before his final award ceremony last year. He was replaced by Joanna Lumley this year Fry is pictured with his long-time colleague Hugh Laurie (left at a London after party in June 1990 and right on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 2016) said he was lucky to have the support of his friends This was the first time since records began in 2008/09, the figures released last month show. Between April and June, 91.4 per cent of patients with suspected cancer urgently referred by a GP were seen within 14 days, below the target of 93 per cent. Fry paid tribute to his husband, Elliot Spencer, for his support in the time since his operation, in the video posted in February. He said: 'Here's hoping I get another few years left on this planet because I enjoy life at the moment and that's marvellous thing to be able to say and I'd rather it didn't go away.' 'You think you are going to recover pretty well but it's all pretty undignified and unfortunate, but my family and my darling husband were just marvellous.' Fry, who pulled out of presenting the Bafta Film awards for the first time in years before making the video, described the cancer as an 'aggressive little bugger'. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. There are over 47,000 patients in the UK diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. The day before her 21st birthday in February, Kaitlin Holton was getting ready to go out to dinner with her friends when suddenly her left arm went numb. Soon afterwards, her face started to droop and her speech began to slur. Holton, a student at the University of Indianapolis, in Indiana, knew these were the signs of a stroke, but she brushed them off. However, after she filled in her mother - who is a nurse - on her symptoms the following day, she was rushed to the emergency room despite insisting that she was fine. But doctors confirmed that Holton had indeed suffered a stroke and, if she had waited any longer to seek medical treatment, she could have died. Kaitlin Holton, 21 (left and right), of Indianapolis, Indiana, was prepared to celebrate her 21st birthday in February when she felt her left arm go numb, her face droop and her speech slur. She ignored her symptoms until she told her mother, who rushed her to the emergency room Doctors at Franciscan Health confirmed Holton had suffered a stroke due to a heart defect known as a patent foramen ovale, which occurs when a hole in the heart doesn't close after birth. Pictured: Holton in the hospital Strokes occur when an artery or blood vessel that carries oxygen or nutrients to the brain bursts or becomes blocked. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says strokes occur in 795,000 Americans each year and kill around 140,000. According to analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology, around 75 percent of strokes occur in people aged 65 or older. But the same analysis found that there was a 32 percent increase in strokes among 18- to 34- year-old women and a 15 percent increase among men in the same age range between 2003 and 2012. However, when the symptoms hit Kaitlin on the night of February 16, she didn't believe she could be suffering from a stroke. 'Never in a million years did I think that was the case. I was too young for that,' she told the Daily Journal. The next day, Holton was getting ready for a birthday dinner when she casually mentioned to her mother, Kimberly, the symptoms she had experienced. Kimberly, a former nurse with Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, knew the signs of a stroke and rushed her daughter to the emergency room. HOW CAN F.A.S.T. SAVE YOU DURING A STROKE? The main symptoms of stroke can be remembered with the word F.A.S.T. This will help you more quickly identify someone having a stroke. Face: Ask the person to smile and see if their mouth or eye droops Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. They may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase and see if their speech is slurred or garbled Time: If you observe any of these signs or symptoms, it's time to call 911 immediately Source: National Stroke Association Advertisement 'I was in complete denial, even though I knew the symptoms, because I had relatives who had strokes,' Holton told the newspaper. 'On your 21st birthday, the last thing you want to do is go to the ER. But I thought, in two or three hours I'd be done and then we could go to dinner or whatever.' Holton spent her 21st birthday - and the next five days - in the emergency room at Franciscan Health. Both an MRI and a CT scan confirmed that Holton had suffered a stroke. But she learned that it stemmed from a heart condition she wasn't aware she had. Doctors told her she had a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a defect where there is a hole in the heart that didn't close after birth. When a fetus is developing, there is a small opening - a foramen ovale - that is present in the wall between the heart's upper chambers, which allows oxygen to flow from mother to baby. However, within the first few days after birth, this hole is supposed to close. According to the Mayo Clinic, about 25 percent of the healthy population has a PFO -but most people don't know they have it or ever need treatment for it. The Mayo Clinic also states that a PFO is most common in people with disorders such as unexplained strokes and migraines with aura. 'People with PFO, they are prone more than the general population, to have a stroke, not because PFO by itself causes a stroke, but it puts them risk,' Dr Abdelkader Almanfi, an interventional cardiologist at Franciscan who treated Holton, told WISH-TV. He also discovered that Holton had a blood clot in a vein in the right side of her heart and, without the PFO, the clot could have traveled to her lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. The hole had allowed a clot in Holton's heart to travel from the right side of her body to the left side and into the brain. Doctors used a piece of mesh to patch the hole. Pictured, left and right: Holton Holton now takes baby aspirin every day and hopes that sharing her story will help spread awareness of the condition. Pictured: Holton and her brothers But because of her condition, her clot traveled from the right side of the body to the left side and to her brain, which led to her stroke. Holton told the Indianapolis Star that she was given two treatment options: a daily blood thinner she could take for the rest of her life or surgery to close the hole. The 21-year-old, who was worried that the medication would interfere with the outdoor activities she likes to do, chose the minimally-invasive procedure. Known as a transcatheterization, the procedure involves inserting a catheter into the groin with a small mesh piece inside, which seals the hole in the heart on both sides. Over time, heart tissue will grow over the mesh and fix the defect. Despite needing to take baby asprin every day, Holton said her life has mostly returned to normal. She told the Daily Journal that she even managed to make honor roll despite missing two weeks of school. Holton hopes that by sharing her story, more people will be made aware of the heart condition that caused her stroke. 'The heart condition that I had is so common, I want people to understand the surgery that helped me and if they go through it, feel comfortable with it,' she said. 'This surgery is a life changer, and you can go back to living a normal life.' Children who don't get enough sleep perform worse in school, health officials have warned, as California considers delaying its school start times. According to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), students who sleep at least eight hours every night get better grades and have better attendance. But more than 60 percent of middle schoolers and 70 percent of high schools don't get enough sleep every night, affecting their performance in school and leading to other physical and mental health issues - including depression and substance abuse. Experts say that most teens are night owls and don't produce melatonin, the hormone that makes you drowsy, until much later at night but are forced to begin school around 8am each day. California Governor Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to decide if he will sign a bill into law that would ban the state's public middle and high schools from starting before 8.30am. Children who don't get enough sleep perform worse in school and have poor attendance, health officials at the CDC have warned (file image) Health experts says the solution is not as simple as making sure children go to bed earlier. They explain that kids' brains function differently from those of adults. 'We have some evidence that most teenagers are night owls,' Dr Rebecca Robbins, a postdoctoral fellow and sleep researcher at the NYU Langone School of Medicine, told Daily Mail Online. She explains this has to do with production of the hormone melatonin. Light is the main cue that influences our daily (circadian) rhythms. When the sun rises, the brain sends signals to the pineal gland to suppress melatonin production. When the sun sets, the pineal gland receives signals to secrete melatonin to make you drowsy. 'There is this phase shift where melatonin is not secreted in the brain until much later,' Dr Robbins said. 'Lots of teens find it hard to get to sleep until midnight or 1am. Unfortunately, because we live in a society that values being a morning person, we then make them get up really early for school.' The CDC recommends a few tips to improve children's sleep, including making sure they go to bed at the same time each night, keeping their bedrooms cool and dimming the lights. However, there is a growing body of research that suggests delaying school start times can also help. A 2016 review of 38 studies examined the association between school start times and sleep. It found that delaying the start time by half an hour resulted in better attendance, less tardiness, fewer students falling asleep in class and improved grades. The CDC found that fewer than one in five US public middle schools and high schools began at the recommended start time of 8.30am during the 2011-12 school year. The average start time was found to be 8.03am. 'Schools that have a start time of 8.30am or later allow adolescent students the opportunity to get the recommended amount of sleep on school nights: about 8.5 to 9.5 hours,' researchers wrote. 'Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks such as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs - as well as poor academic performance.' A 2016 study from Brown University School of Public Health in Rhode Island confirmed this, finding that poor sleep health among middle schoolers was an indicator of alcohol and marijuana use later in adolescence. Last week, California lawmakers passed a bill in both chambers, known as SB328, that would ban middle schools and high schools in the state from starting before 8.30am. According to CDC data, almost 79 percent of public middle and high schools in the Golden State start before this time. Governor Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to decide if he will sign the bill into law. If he does, schools will have three years to comply with the law. 'This is the single most cost-effective thing we can do to improve high school graduation rates,' Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, told the Associated Press. Opponents of the bill say it should be up to the local school boards, not the state, to put start times in place. 'When it comes to education, the farther away the decisions are made from the classroom, the worse those decisions are,' Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, told the AP. Japanese cars are the most dependable motors on the market, and high-end Teslas are most likely to let their owners down. That's according to a keenly-watched reliability survey, which found that Suzuki along with four other Japanese brands were among the top six most robust, while the US electric car company has the shakiest track record. The What Car? Reliability Survey also listed the most and least dependable new models you can buy in showrooms today, based on the feedback of more than 18,000 motorists. Meanwhile, exclusive data released to This is Money and MailOnline also tells you which used cars you can rely on... and which ones you can't. Top of the charts: Suzuki has been named the most reliable car brand by a new poll of more than 18,000 drivers. The Sx4 S-Cross (pictured) was named the joint most dependable new car in the What Car? Reliability Survey 2018 The survey is one of the biggest of its kind in the UK, processing the feedback of 18,284 owners of some 159 models spanning 31 different brands. Suzuki, which mainly makes cheap and cheerful small cars and 4x4s, topped the overall manufacturer rankings for new cars up to four years old with a reliability score of 97.7 per cent, joined by Lexus, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru in the top six. The only non-Japanese mark in the top order was Korean firm Kia, taking fourth spot, with sister brand Hyundai in ninth. At the opposite end of the spectrum it was American luxury electric-car giant Tesla that recorded the worst reliability track record. Despite the cheapest brand new Tesla setting buyers back more than 60,000, its reliability score of 57.3 per cent was by far the worst rating. Land Rover - which was second from bottom - scored at 76.5 per cent for reliability of cars between one and four years old. Elon Musk's Tesla came out bottom of the brand rankings with a lowly reliability score of just 57.3%. The 60,000 Model S (pictured) was also named the least reliable model Most (and least) reliable car brands 1. Suzuki - 97.7% 2. Lexus - 97.5% 3. Toyota - 96.8% =4. Kia - 95.8% =4. Mitsubishi - 95.8% =4. Subaru - 95.8% 7. Skoda - 95.6% 8. Alfa Romeo - 95.5% 9. Hyundai - 95.4% 10. Seat - 95.2% =11. Vauxhall - 94.6% =11. Mazda - 94.6% 13. Dacia - 94.1% 14. Fiat - 94.0% 15. Honda - 93.8% 16. BMW - 93.4% 17. Volkswagen - 92.9% 18. Ford - 92.7% 19. Renault - 91.7% =20. Audi - 91.5% =20. Volvo - 91.5% 22. Mini - 91.2% 23. Porsche - 90.9% 24. Peugeot - 89.4% 25. Citroen - 88.1% 26. Mercedes-Benz - 88.0% 27. Nissan - 87.1% 28. Jaguar - 84.9% 29. Jeep - 82.7% 30. Land Rover - 76.5% 31. Tesla - 57.3% Source: What Car? Reliability Survey 2018 The trend continued when the data revealed which specific models were most and least reliable. For newer cars it was the current Toyota Yaris and Suxuki SX4 S-Cross that led the table, both recording a staggering 100 per cent dependability record, according to their owners. The electric Nissan Leaf took third spot, ahead of the Toyota RAV4 and BMW 3 Series. The Toyota Yaris (left) was the model with the joint highest reliability score of 100%. The recently replaced Nissan Leaf (right) ranked at number 3, making it the most dependable electric car Most and least reliable new models MOST RELIABLE =1. Toyota Yaris (2011 - Present) - 100.0% =1. Suzuki Sx4 S-Cross (2013 - Present) - 100.0% 3. Nissan Leaf (2011 - 2017) - 99.7% 4. Toyota RAV 4X4 (2013 - 2018) - 99.6% 5. BMW 3 Series (2005 - 2014) - 99.5% Source: What Car? Reliability Survey 2018 LEAST RELIABLE 1. Tesla Model S (2013 - Present) - 50.9% 2. Range Rover (2013 - present) - 67.3% 3. Ford Edge Diesel (2016 - present) - 70.7% 4. Range Rover Evoque (2011 - present) - 73.2% 5. Land Rover Discovery Sport (2015 - present) - 74.7% Anchoring the standings was the Tesla Model S, which costs from 61,600 in the UK. Owners' reports of breakdowns and necessary repairs saw it gain a reliability score of just 50.9 per cent - almost half that of the most dependable Japanese cars. A spokesperson for Tesla branded the survey as 'statistically meaningless'. 'Only 28 Model S owners responded out of a total of 18,000 car owners surveyed by What Car?,' they said. 'Thats less than 0.3 per cent of UK Tesla owners, so this survey is statistically meaningless. 'The results of this survey are also at odds not only with our internal figures showing customer satisfaction scores for Model S and X at well over 90 per cent, but with statistically valid surveys like our Net Promotor Score and Consumer Reports customer satisfaction survey, which weve topped every year since 2013, with 90 per cent of Tesla owners saying they would buy the same car again more than any other brand.' They continued: 'We are committed to making the worlds best cars, and in order to ensure the highest quality, we review every vehicle for even the smallest refinement before it leaves the factory. 'To the extent repairs are needed, the majority of work carried out on cars up to 4 years old is done under warranty and free of charge to the customer while they are supplied with a courtesy car. 'Unlike other manufacturers, Tesla repairs can also be carried out in a customers driveway or office by mobile service, or even via over-the-air updates, to minimise any disruption.' The results also didn't make favourable reading for Land Rover either, with three of its models - the Discovery Sport, Range Rover and Range Rover Evoque - among the top five models with the poorest owner ratings. Look away Land Rover: The British marque had three separate models in the list of the 5 most unreliable new cars. That included the 81,500 Range Rover (pictured) with a score of just 67.3% Overall, around 30 per cent of the respondents with cars less than four years old said their car had suffered at least one fault in the past 12 months. Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: 'Reliability is a huge consideration for any prospective car buyer, as your car is likely to be your second biggest monthly expense after mortgage or rent payments. 'You want your car to last and you dont want to have to fork out huge amounts to fix faults and keep it running. 'Our annual survey has shown that it is Japanese models that continue to dominate the top of the reliability rankings, both for car model and brand rankings.' Used cars you can - and can't - count on This is Money has teamed up with What Car? to also reveal which older used cars you should and shouldn't consider buying on the second-hand market. This is based on the feedback from owners of cars that are between 4 and 12 years of age - so those built between 2014 and 2006. Here's are the most reliable five models, and the ones with the worst dependability score from their owners. Most reliable used cars 1. Toyota RAV4 (2013-2018) 100% reliability score The Toyota RAV4 was designed to be a robust offroader. Glowing owner feedback saw it score a remarkable 100% reliability rating One of the trim levels of this generation of RAV4 is 'Invincible'. It lives up to the name. No faults were reported on pre-2015 cars. 2. Skoda Citigo (2012-present) 99.3% reliability score The Citigo is Skoda's answer to cheap and cheerful motoring. It's also dependable, according to owners Only six per cent of Citigos had a problem. Brakes and braking systems were the only isues, though cars remained driveable and were fixed under warranty the same day. 3. Toyota Yaris Hybrid (2011-present) 99.1% reliability score The Yaris Hybrid was, for some time, one of the smallest cars on sale with a combination of petrol and electric power. It's as reliable as it is green Only eight per cent of cars had a problem, with those being minor like battery and automatic window wipers. All cars fixed in less than a day and repair bills didnt exceed 100. 4. BMW X5 (2013-present) - 98.9% reliability score WHile earlier versions of the X5 are remembered for being flaky when it comes to reliability, the current model is the complete opposite Only seven per cent of X5s had an issue, with exhausts being the only fault listed. All cars were fixed under warranty the same day. 5. Lexus CT (2011-present) - 98.8% reliability score Lexus has always had a very strong reliability track record, frequently topping these surveys. The CT hatchback is no different Just five per cent of Lexus' hybrid hatchback had to be repaired, with radio, sat nav and tyre pressure warning systems being minor headaches. All cars could still be driven and were repaired the same day under warranty. Least reliable used cars 1. Alfa Mito (2008-present) 27.7% reliability score It's no surprise to see an Alfa in the list. The Mito scored a woeful 27.7% reliability rating, based on owner feedback More than two in five cars had at least one fault. A quarter of owners reported suspension problems, while 21 per cent had gearbox and clutch issues. Around half remained driveable and most were repaired under warranty, but a small percentage of owners had to pay out more than 1,500 when billed by garages. 2. Range Rover (2002-2013) - 35.4% reliability score Land Rover just can't shake that poor reliability track record. For a car that's supposed to be able to handle mountains it seems to only be scaling service lifts in repair garages Some 56 per cent of cars had an issue. Most common of these problems was the battery (28 per cent) followed by repairs to the engine, engine electrics, exhaust, fuel system, suspension and wheels and tyres, all of which occurred on 11 per cent of cars. Most cars could still be driven, but more than half of owners paid out between 500 and 1,000. 3. Jaguar XJ (2010-present) 38.1% reliability score The Jaguar XJ is the British brand's answer to the popular German luxury saloon cars. Unfortunately, they're more problematic than premium Like the Range Rover, 56 per cent of cars had a fault. A quarter of these were engine electrics while 13 per cent of models had to have the brakes, engine or exterior lights repaired. Two-thirds of cars could still be driven, but lots of owners paid out 300 to 500. 4. Volkswagen Polo (2002-2009) 38.4% reliability score Many younger drivers might be tempted by a second-hand Polo like this, but What Car? readers say they often suffer from issues Two in five cars had a fault, of which 27 per cent were related to the brakes and 20 per cent linked to the suspension components. More than half couldnt be driven and took more than a day to fix, but most repair bills were below 200. 5. BMW 1 Series (2004-2011) 40.1% reliability score The first-generation 1 Series was a huge step into the hatchback market for BMW. It appears this original attempt isn't proving all that reliable Almost three in five cars (58 per cent) had problems. Some 16 per cent were battery and engine-related while 13 per cent were brake issues. Two-thirds of cars could still be driven, but some repair bills topped 1,500. Fuller, Smith & Turner's finance director James Douglas is moving to Germany PUB EXIT The finance director of pub chain Fuller, Smith & Turner has stepped down after 11 years. James Douglas is moving to Germany for his wifes work. STORE UNVEILED Retailer Amazon has opened its biggest bricks and mortar store yet in Seattle. The Amazon Go branch, the third of its kind, has no check-outs but bills shoppers automatically online. RETAIL EXPANSION Spanish retail giant Inditex is making all its brands including Zara available online to every country in the world by 2020. INDEX DROPOUT Troubled German lender Deutsche Bank is to drop out of an index of the biggest Eurozone firms, Euro Stoxx 50, in an embarrassing blow. It follows a 38 per cent fall in its share price this year. BITCOIN FUNDRAISER One of Chinas biggest bitcoin firms, Bitmain Technologies, is seeking to raise 780million ahead of a stock market float. CITIBANK FLOOD Three of the most senior executives at Citibank are leaving. Chief finance officer John Gerspach, Europe chief Jim Cowles and North America boss Bill Mills are all due to go within a year. COMPETITION BOSS The Financial Conduct Authority has appointed Sheldon Mills as director of competition. The lawyer, 42, was a senior director at the Competition and Markets Authority. SHOPPING APP Picture sharing app Instagram is launching a shopping app. GAMING RECORD Video games firm Frontier Developments is expecting a record year despite profits falling 64 per cent to 2.8million in the year to May 31. It sold 1m copies of Jurassic World Evolution since June and predicts net record revenues of more than 80million this year. WASN'T ME Embattled retailer Steinhoffs former boss Markus Jooste has told South African MPs he was unaware of a black hole in company accounts when he left in December. GOLD DIGGING Miner Randgold Resources restarted production at one of its most important gold mines, Tongon in Ivory Coast, after strikes. PRINT SELL-OFF Scottish firm John Menzies has sold off its print media division Menzies Distribution to Endless for 74.5million, to concentrate on its aviation arm. Berkeley chief exec Rob Perrins pocketed 7.8m, including 7.1m in bonuses Housebuilder Berkeley has warned stamp duty is suffocating the London housing market as it saw a revolt over a 28million payout to its bosses. Official figures have shown prices in the capital are falling at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, which Berkeley blamed on stamp duty rises introduced in 2014 by then-chancellor George Osborne. It said: London remains constrained by high transaction costs, restrictive income multiple limits on mortgage borrowing and prevailing economic uncertainty, accentuated by Brexit. Its warning came as nearly 8 per cent of shareholder votes were cast against a pay report at its annual general meeting. Berkeleys seven executives were handed 28.3million overall for the year to April 30. The group has warned of a profits dip next year of around 30 per cent after a 15 per cent surge in the year to April. The boss of John Lewis has unveiled a multi-million makeover of the department store chain but her announcement was overshadowed by job cuts. Managing director Paula Nickolds, 45, has opened an upmarket footwear room with shoes costing up to 695. She is ploughing 3.5million into its beauty halls as well as setting aside 3million for staff training. Revamp: John Lewis has opened an upmarket footwear room with shoes costing up to 695 and is ploughing 3.5m into its beauty halls as well as setting aside 3m for staff training 'While others are investing in drones we're investing in our partners, while others are cutting back we're investing in the very thing that is our point of difference,' she said. But her comments came just 24 hours after John Lewis axed around 270 jobs in its IT, finance and security departments. Employees have already seen bonuses slashed to the lowest level in more than 60 years, while the group made around 1,440 workers redundant last year. M&S beefs up top team Marks & Spencer has recruited a top director from Canadas biggest food retailer as bosses Archie Norman and Steve Rowe beef up its management team. Jeremy Pee, senior vice president at Loblaw, will take the new role of chief digital and data officer in December. At Loblaw, Pee was responsible for building and growing online businesses in grocery, beauty, clothing and pharmacy. His appointment is the latest in a string of recruits which has seen M&Ss top team overhauled. The chain hopes to make a third of its sales online. The group has a unique partnership structure which distributes profits to all employees described as 'partners' through bonuses. John Lewis is preparing to reveal a major slump in half-year profits next week which are expected to fall to zero. Maureen Hinton, group retail research director at Globaldata, said: 'The job cuts are obviously uncomfortable for John Lewis, it comes at a time when they're streamlining the business. But we are in a very tough trading environment, there's a lot of change going on in retail.' Analyst Nick Bubb added: 'For all the talk about investment and increasing market share, the fact is that John Lewis profits are going backwards. Price-matching the distressed sale promotions at House of Fraser and Debenhams has hit the bottom-line hard. 'The best hope in the medium to long term is that House of Fraser and Debenhams largely disappear so that John Lewis can scoop up most of their business.' More than 60billion was wiped off the value of American technology titans last night after US lawmakers declared it was the end of the Wild West for social media. Shares in Twitter, Facebook, Google, Snap, Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon fell as investors fretted about the prospect of tighter regulation. The sell-off will worry British investors with money tied up in the US tech giants through individual share holdings or funds exposed to the stocks. Shares in Twitter, Facebook, Google, Snap, Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon fell as investors fretted about the prospect of tighter regulation The slide in share prices began as Facebook operating chief Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey were questioned by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington about their efforts to tackle election interference. During the hearing, senators told the executives that Silicon Valley would be unable to tackle meddling by countries such as Iran and Russia alone, with some saying the only answer was tough new laws. The committees Republican chairman, Richard Burr, told them: Weve learned about how vulnerable social media is to corruption and misuse. The very worst examples of this are absolutely chilling and a threat to our democracy. Unfortunately, what I described as a national security vulnerability... remains unaddressed. 'Clearly, this problem is not going away. Mark Warner, the panels top-ranking Democratic senator, told them: Each of you have come a long way with respect to recognising the threat. The bad news, Im afraid, is that there is a lot of work still to do. And Im sceptical that ultimately youll be able to truly address this challenge on your own. Congress is going to have to take action here. The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end. Other members of the committee warned that user data held by the firms could become a weapon of choice for foreign adversaries. Responding to the criticism, Sandberg admitted Facebook had been slow to act on interference in the 2016 US presidential election. But she insisted the firm had since been proactively banning users and removing pages that appeared suspicious. Meanwhile, Dorsey responded to concerns about misinformation on Twitter and accusations from politicians that the platform censors right-wing views. He said: Required changes wont be fast or easy. Were committing to the people and this committee to do it openly. Google had also been invited but declined. The senate hearing sent Twitter shares down 6.1 per cent and Facebook fell 2.3 per cent. Netflix dropped 6.2 per cent, Amazon eased 2.2 per cent and Microsoft lost 2.9 per cent. When the markets closed, more than $80billion or about 62billion was wiped off the value of US tech firms. The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it is closing 54 more of its branches up and down the country next year. The bank, which taxpayers still own a 62 per cent slice of, said the additional closures were going ahead because it was no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank. The bank's latest round of closures will be made in addition to the 162 closures and 792 redundancies announced in May. SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO SEE IF YOUR BRANCH IS CLOSING Closures: The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it is closing 54 more of its branches The closures announced today mean RBS will end up with just 54 branches across England and Wales. Unite union has branded the move, which will see 258 RBS staff made redundant, 'utterly disgusting', claiming it will further decimate communities relying on local bank branches. Meanwhile, rival Lloyds Banking Group will cut 380 jobs as it continues to reorganise the business, trade union Accord has said. The move will hit staff in the bank's commercial banking, people and productivity, and retail and transformation divisions. The reorganisation will also involve the creation of 435 new roles, which will result in a net increase of 55 positions. 'Whilst on the face of it the plans look positive, not all existing colleagues will have the transferable skills for the newly created roles and will mean some will face redundancy,' Accord said. Earlier this year, research from consumer group Which? revealed that around 60 bank branches are being closed every month, risking financially isolating millions of consumers, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, reliant on cash and branch services. In a statement, RBS said: 'As we are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other in England and Wales - NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. 'As a result we have reviewed our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and have made the difficult decision to close 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.' Among the branches being closed include those located in Basildon, Bolton Harwood, Kingston Upon Thames, Notting Hill Gate in London, Swansea and Wolverhampton. Unions reacted with fury to the news, describing the decision as a hammer blow to the disabled and elderly. In charge: Ross McEwan became RBS' chief executive in October 2013 Sparse: The closures announced today mean RBS will end up with just 54 branches across England and Wales Rob MacGregor, of union Unite, said: 'It is utterly disgusting that Royal Bank of Scotland has the audacity to announce that yet more important local bank branches will permanently close their doors. 'This announcement heaps further misery on communities across England and Wales that have already seen the demise of local banking services as branches that were signposted by the bank earlier in 2018 as an alternative for customers whose branches were closing, now suffering a similar fate. 'The disabled, elderly and many local businesses will today be deeply disappointed that their bank has chosen to withdraw from their community and no longer provide them with the access to banking services which we all deserve.' RBS said that since 2014, branch transactions across its sites in England and Wales had fallen by 30 per cent, while online customer numbers grew by 53 per cent and mobile transaction levels rose by 74 per cent over the period. A spokesman for RBS said: 'We will now focus on investing in our Royal Bank network in England and Wales to make sure customers have a consistent range of products and services wherever they bank, be it Scotland, England or Wales.' RBS said it will be writing to customers affected by the branch closures to inform them about how they can carry on banking. The group said RBS customers can now use NatWest branches for their everyday banking, such as withdrawing cash, checking balances or paying in. Shares in RBS are up 1.97 per cent or 4.85p to 251.35p. In June, figures published by consumer group Which? revealed that around 60 bank branches are being closed every month. At the time, Which? money expert, Gareth Shaw, said: 'While the decision is clearly a commercial one for a bank to take, it is also crucial that banks do recognise the needs of their customers and the communities they serve, before simply shutting their doors and their customers out.' Mothers have been left horrified after discovering that their favourite family park is being used as a gay hook-up point. The romps are reportedly happening in bushland directly opposite a children's play ground. Disgusted mothers have been forced to pick up used condoms and tubes of lubricant so that their children don't have to see them. Mother-of-three Clare Tapp claims that she has seen men come into Deepwater Park in New South Wales for sex and has spotted dirty condoms in the bush, local media reports. Deepwater Park is located along the beautiful Georges River in Milperra, some 24 kilometers west of Sydney's CBD 'We walked through Deepwater with a female friend and we had two encounters way too close with men in their fantastic acts. 'I didn't need to see that. I'm horrified.' Mother-of-five Hannah Tuton told the Canterbury-Bankstown Express that she had seen two men dressed in work clothes enter the bushland directly opposite the play equipment. 'They were in the bush for about 15 minutes then exited and left separately,' she said. Deepwater Park is located along the beautiful Georges River in Milperra, some 24 kilometres west of Sydney's CBD, and is a popular recreational spot for mothers to bring their children. A City of Canterbury Bankstown spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the council is working with the local police to combat all forms of anti-social behaviour in the park. This includes locking the gate at sundown and installing signage. The council is also considering further measures to combat the issue. 'If, at any time, residents see anti-social behavior in any park, they are urged to contact Police immediately,' the spokesperson said. This is not the first time locals have spotted strange things in the park. Back in 2014, Facebook user Brett Fish found some miscellaneous items including a nurses uniform and handcuffs. Advertisement They pose jauntily before the camera, some draped only in a shawl, some wearing only fancy hosiery, others looking pensive and clad in nothing at all. The women are surrounded by curtains and lace, pictured doing everything from bathing and reading to preening in preparation for male customers. Their barely-dressed ease in front of the lens is remarkable, their calm faces framed either by opulent 1890s hairstyles or left to tumble seductively over their bare shoulders. This is life inside an 1890s American brothel, an intimate portrait of a segment of society so frequently kept behind closed doors, discussed only in hushed tones. And this extraordinary set of photographs shot for the private collection of a commercial photographer named William Goldman in Reading, Pennsylvania at the end of the 19th century was almost lost to history, as well. Then an art curator happened upon them at a vintage fair in northern California, setting him on a journey to identify the city, the brothel and the photographer who captured them so intimately more than 100 years ago. Now the photos feature in a new book, published this week, titled Working Girls: An American Brothel, Circa 1892 The Secret Photographs of William Goldman. The photographs were taken two decades before the famous E. J. Bellocq pictures of 1913 sex workers in Storyville, New Orleans - meaning Goldman's pictures are the earliest known body of work on this subject in the United States. They were discovered around a decade ago by Robert Flynn Johnson, and his book offers a fascinating insight into the lives of prostitutes in the 1890s. Through research and clues, Johnson figured out that the anonymous photographs depicted women who worked at an upmarket brothel run by single mother Sal Shearer in Reading around 1892 at a time when the city was teeming with young, unmarried male railroad and factory workers and other laborers. William Goldman, a commercial photographer in industrial Reading, Pennsylvania, took private photographs in the 1890s of women working at one of the city's more upmarket brothels - an establishment run by a single mother named Sal Shearer, who dressed her girls as upper-middle-class ladies to feed into male laborers' fantasies The photographs were discovered by author and art curator Robert Flynn Johnson about ten years ago at a vintage paper sale in northern California; he had no information about their origin but noticed one image depicted a prostitute reading a newspaper, the Reading Eagle, from August of 1892 - giving him clues that eventually led him to that Pennsylvania city Working with local Reading historian George M. Meiser IX - to whom he would eventually dedicate his book - Johnson tracked the photos to Sal Shearer's brothel and identified the man behind the lens as commercial photographer Goldman, who was also a patron of the establishment and kept the pictures in albums for his private collection Goldman's photos were taken two decades before the famous E.J. Bellocq photographs of 1913 sex workers in Storyville, Louisiana - meaning the Reading photographer's collection marks the earliest known body of work on this subject in the United States The girls at Sal Shearers brothel, Johnson explains, likely charged more for their time than other brothels in town - $3 or $4 as opposed to $1 or $2 because the establishment catered to a particular fantasy or predilection amongst the male clientele. Many of the men had not yet made enough money to marry and start their own families, and the brothels answered a definite need in the testosterone-laden city. Reading, located in southeastern Pennsylvania, about 120 miles from New York and 60 miles from Pennsylvania, was an industrial and railroad center throughout much of the 19th Century, especially important for moving coal. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was one of the first railroads in the US and highly successful, though problems surfaced in the years just before the time period during which Goldman shot his photos, when competition encroached and the railroad company went into receivership before gaining strength again. Johnson, author and former curator of prints at the Achenbach Foundation at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, explains that the city fathers considered prostitutes the necessary evil. They considered it a safety valve for the community, so these men wouldnt be accosting their own daughters and sisters on the street. He explains: At Sal Shearers establishment, the men went in there and they didnt want to sleep with a farm girl or an immigrant woman. Thats who the women were, of course, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. They wanted to fantasize that they were sleeping with the boss daughter, so to speak so therefore the madam dressed her girls up as upper-middle-class with really nice clothes and stockings and all of that. Not only were the men buying sex, they were buying the fantasy and so the women were in a situation where they were being protected and not hurt in any way, they were being paid and they were wearing nice clothes and makeup and all that sort of thing the clothes were a very important aspect of the whole fantasy, the whole illusion. It was a different era, Johnson points out, arguing that working at a place such as Sal Shearers brothel was not necessarily the worst option. These women in the 1890s, these women didnt have much prospects, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. They were in an urban environment; they could work at a hotel, where theyd be sexually harassed; they could work at a restaurant and be sexually harassed; they could be a nanny in a household and be sexually harassed by the husband when the wife was away; they could work in a box factory for a dollar a day or they might become a prostitute, where at least theyd be protected and wear nice clothes and stuff. Burlesque star Dita von Teese, who wrote the foreword for the book, echoes the view of brothels as a necessary evil in town, where men with certain desires visited women who would oblige. In this case, it was the desire of a man to capture the beauty and sensuality of the women he befriended, she writes. Johnson says the photographs reminded me of Degas, reminded me of Rodin. They were beautiful and honest, and thats why I had enthusiasm for them.' He adds: The thing that struck me, for sure, is that there are photos from around this period or a bit later that you dont want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Either theyre pornographic pictures or theyre the kind of French winky postcard the naughty photographs that were made, especially in France, to monetize to sell. And these photographs were never monetized, as far as we can tell he never published these photographs. These were his private albums' Goldman photographed the girls posed and also going about their day-to-day activities at the brothel such as reading, bathing and preparing for male customers; in the late 19th Century, Reading was awash with young, unmarried male workers employed by factories and railroads. Johnson says that 'the city fathers considered prostitutes the necessary evil. They considered it a safety valve for the community, so these men wouldnt be accosting their own daughters and sisters on the street The brothel was located six or eight blocks from Goldman's studio; Johnson says that the photographer 'became friends with Sal Shearer and he became friends with the girls and they seemingly were extremely comfortable with him' Unmarried women faced few prospects at the time, Johnson explains; sexual harassment of women working as domestic help or in restaurants, or they could make $1 a day in a factory - but if they worked as prostitutes, they enjoyed some level of protection and fine clothes There is much to learn and (most of all!) take pleasure in with this discovery. As these lost photographs illustrate more than a century later, one periods social problem is anothers cultural revelation. Johnson had no idea about the photos backstory when he first caught sight of the images at a vintage fair in Concord, California about ten years ago. They reminded me of Degas, reminded me of Rodin, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. They were beautiful and honest, and thats why I had enthusiasm for them. The woman displaying the photographs, priced individually, was selling items from the estate of her late collector husband. Johnson who has published books featuring other artistic photographs of unknown subjects and origin asked her for a better price if he bought the pictures in bulk, but the pair clashed, and he left with only two. It was a decision he soon regretted. Over the next couple of days, I realized that maybe Id made a mistake that her personality had turned me off to the quality of the art, he says. So I had [her] card, so I called her up and said, Well, you know, I bought a couple of these photographs at that fair over the weekend do you still have any of them? And she said, Have them? Youre the only person whos interested in those. Goldman, pictured, included a naked self-portrait in his collection, which helped Johnson and historial Meiser identify him as the man who photographed the women So Johnson drove three hours to view more of the collection and purchased about 50 additional photographs, eventually amassing several hundred as he sought to turn the distinctive images into a book an endeavor which turned into a bit of a detective story as Johnson tried identifying the brothel, the photographer and the women captured by his lens. One of the photographs was the key to everything else, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. Without that photograph, these would have been beautiful, mysterious, anonymous photographs, period. I would not have been able to connect it to a photographer, a brothel or a city but one of the photographs had one of the prostitutes reading the Reading Eagle of August of 1892. I called up the historical society in Reading, Pennsylvania from California, and I said, What was the name of your newspaper in 1892? And they said, The same as it is today: The Reading Eagle. And I said to myself: Bingo, Johnson says. Thats where I started my search, and it was like a detective story. He made several trips to Reading and enlisted the aid of local historian George M. Meiser IX to whom the eventual book would be dedicated. Their efforts identified the establishment as that run by Sal Shearer, who had been abandoned by her husband and tried working as a seamstress unsuccessfully before opening up the brothel. Meiser also helped identify the photographer, a local man who worked in commercial photography named William Goldman whose naked self-portrait within the collection of photographs led to his own identification. Goldman, it turned out, had been a friend of the women, a fan of private and artistic photo shoots and it seems a brothel client. Obviously, if these albums had seen the light of day in his community during his lifetime, it wouldve been a scandal, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. He wouldve gone out of business; he wouldve lost all his clientele, because his profession was to take photographs of businessmen and weddings and school events and things like that so he was just a professional photographer, and his studio was six or eight blocks away from the brothel. 'And he was obviously a patron and he became friends with Sal Shearer and he became friends with the girls and they seemingly were extremely comfortable with him. He adds: The thing that struck me, for sure, is that there are photos from around this period or a bit later that you dont want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Either theyre pornographic pictures or theyre the kind of French winky postcard the naughty photographs that were made, especially in France, to monetize to sell. And these photographs were never monetized, as far as we can tell he never published these photographs. These were his private albums. Johnson divided the book into 14 chapters exploring themes such as Customers, Erotic Poses, Artistic Photos, Off Duty and Side Jobs. He had used the prostitutes for some of his commercial work, Johnson says. He had them pose as Joan of Arc, he had them pose as jockeys, he had them pose as Cleopatra, he had them pose as the birth of Venus. He made commercial photographs with them sometimes for peoples parlors, decorative work, but he also behind the scenes took photographs of them in the brothels and then had the girls come to his studio. He took artistic photographs in there, too. In addition to his own research and impressions in the book, Johnson included writings by von Teese, historian and UC-Davis professor Ruth Rosen and Dennita Sewell, curator of fashion design at Phoenix Art Museum. The book includes a foreword by burlesque star Dita von Teese, as well as writings about the sociological history by professor and historian Ruth Rosen, and Dennita Sewell - curator of fashion design at Phoenix Art Museum - who explores the costume history. Johnson says: 'The idea of me lining up three women authors for this book, I think, was very important ... the last think I wanted this book to come off [as] is the male gaze, so to speak. I didnt want to be accused of being some misogynist curator who decided he found some pics of women without their knickers on' If the pictures had come out during Goldman's lifetime, they would certainly have caused a scandal and he would have lost his work in commercial photography as well as his standing in the local Reading community; hence the photographer kept the images in private albums The photographer also 'used the prostitutes for some of his commercial work, Johnson says. He had them pose as Joan of Arc, he had them pose as jockeys, he had them pose as Cleopatra, he had them pose as the birth of Venus. He made commercial photographs with them sometimes for peoples parlors, decorative work, but he also behind the scenes took photographs of them in the brothels and then had the girls come to his studio. He took artistic photographs in there, too Burlesque star Dita Von Teese writes in the foreword: 'For these working girls who were already going against the drudgery of toiling in a factor or as a domestic, who were surviving in a patriarchal world by their wits and sexuality, the opportunity to sit for Mr Goldman was very likely not only thrilling it was also empowering' The idea of me lining up three women authors for this book, I think, was very important, Johnson tells DailyMail.com. It will be important, because something I wanted to the last think I wanted this book to come off [as] is the male gaze, so to speak. I didnt want to be accused of being some misogynist curator who decided he found some pics of women without their knickers on, you know? He adds: I wrote about the art history, Ruth Rosen wrote about the sociological history, Dennita Sewell wrote about the costume history, and Dita wrote about the experience of being the seductress, so to speak, or the performer. So between all of those things, I think weve really told a responsible overview, history of these photographs, in addition to them just being about photographs to look at. The photos are presented by author Robert Flynn Johnson in new book Working Girls: An American Brothel, circa 1892 / The Private Photographs of William Goldman, copyright 2018 Von Teese who became involved because she and Johnson have mutual friends writes in the foreword of the book: Sexuality is subjective. One womans last gasp for survival can be anothers act of independence. One mans whore can be a muse in the eye of the artist. This fascinating collection of found images more than a century old could not have originated just as a case study on the women employed at a brothel. The local photographer and his anonymous muses appear to straddle an artful titillation, at times striving toward Degas nudes and at another, more in the spirit of a strip and tease. There is beauty in even the most mundane moments. She adds: For these working girls who were already going against the drudgery of toiling in a factor or as a domestic, who were surviving in a patriarchal world by their wits and sexuality, the opportunity to sit for Mr Goldman was very likely not only thrilling it was also empowering. And in addition to shining a light on the intimate lives of the 1890s women pictured, Johnson said, hes gratified by the fact that the meticulous, private work of a commercial photographer will finally see the light of day; after a book launch at New Yorks Rizzoli Bookstore on September 12, Goldmans photographs will be exhibited at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery. When this book comes out, William Goldman will be a known photographer, Johnson says with satisfaction. I mean, he died in 1922; nobody remembers him. He didnt have any children or anything and Im giving William Goldman his second act with his secret photographs. A tiny village in Alaska has experienced a boom in tourism over recent years as polar bears spend more time on land than on diminishing Arctic sea ice. More than 2,000 people visited the northern Alaskan village of Kaktovik on the Beaufort Sea last year to see polar bears in the wild, the state's Energy Desk reported Monday. The community is located on the Beaufort Sea coast, an area where rapid global warming has sped up the movement of sea ice, the primary habitat of polar bears. As ice has receded to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food. Far off the tourist path until recent years, the new residents of the tiny village of Kaktovic in Northern Alaska are polar bears retreating from their natural habitats due to climate change. Now thousands of people flock to the remote location each fall to get up close to the creatures Bruce Inglangasak (pictured above) was concerned visitors would be deterred by the local tradition of subsistence whaling, but has instead seen growing numbers of photographers on his wildlife viewing tours The village had less than 50 visitors annually before 2011, said Jennifer Reed, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 'Today we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors, many from around the world each year,' Reed said. Polar bears have always been a common sight on sea ice near Kaktovik, but residents started noticing a change in the mid-1990s. More bears seemed to stay on land, and researchers began taking note of more female bears making dens in the snow on land instead of on the ice. US Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began hearing reports of increasing numbers of polar bears in the area in the early 2000s, Reed said. As more attention was given to the plight of polar bears about a decade ago, more tourists started heading to Kaktovik. Most visit in the fall, when bears are forced toward land because sea ice is the farthest away from the shore. Average high temperatures during this part of the year hover around freezing. Some bears become stranded near Kaktovik until the sea freezes over in October or November. More summer dens have resulted in more cubs (pictured above) being born on land for the first time The fall is also when residents of Kaktovik kill three bowhead whales. Bruce Inglangasak, an Inupiaq subsistence hunter who offers wildlife viewing tours, said residents were unsure how tourists would react to whaling. 'The community was scared about, you know, activists (who would) try to get us to shut down the subsistence whaling,' Inglangasak said. 'But that's not true.' Inglangasak said he's been offering polar bear tours since 2003 or 2004. Most of his clients are from China and Europe, as well as from the continental US, and arrive in Kaktovik on charter planes from Anchorage and Fairbanks. Many tourists stay several days in the village, which has two small hotels, Inglangasak said. Thousands of Detroit's public school students were told Tuesday to drink from district-supplied water coolers or bottled water on the first day of classes, after drinking fountains were shut off because of contaminants in some water fixtures. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last week that elevated levels of lead or copper were found in fixtures at 34 schools. Test results are pending for other schools. The discovery of contaminated water in Detroit's schools follows a lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In 2014 and 2015, Flint didn't properly treat corrosive water that was pulled from the Flint River. As a result, lead in old pipes contaminated the water going into homes and businesses, and it streamed from household taps as a brown and smelly fluid. Scroll down for video When teacher Cedric Cook learned that his school, Noble, would have no drinking fountain or sink water from Tuesday for two months, he volunteered to haul bottled water to campus as all public schools in Detroit grapple with the issue of water polluted by copper and lead fixtures and pipes Some children in the city were subsequently found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, which can lead to developmental delays and other health problems. Eager to not undergo the same health and financial fallout as Flint, officials decided no students at Detroit's 106 public schools should drink water from existing fountains or sinks until a solution can be found and the water declared safe. School officials believe old fixtures, not the water source, may be to blame. 'We're still providing water that we believe is safer, and, ultimately, we actually believe students will drink more water than they did previously,' Vitti said Tuesday at Gardner Elementary on Detroit's west side. 'But this is about teaching and learning, not a conversation about water. It's an injustice that children and parents have to think about quality water, but we did the overall testing to be transparent and be proactive.' 'I can sleep better at night and actually look in the mirror knowing that we did the right thing,' he added. Detroit Federation of Teachers president Ivy Bailey responded by assisting her colleagues at Noble School with bottles of water from the American Federation of Teachers on Tuesday. The AFT is also providing Detroit schools with hand sanitizer as water from some sinks is also contaminated District-provided water coolers and paper cups will be replacing the traditional water fountain at all 106 public schools in Detroit until results are in from each property and a long-term plan for central water stations is put into place Vitti said the cost of the coolers and bottled water will be $200,000 over two months, and he's looking at developing a long-term plan for new central water stations at every school with independent piping systems. But as parent Quala Bennett dropped two children off at Gardner Elementary Tuesday, she wondered why the district only recently began testing its water. 'I don't understand why it's still a problem. I don't understand why now they're checking the school system,' Bennett said. 'They should have done that once the whole Flint thing happened.' 'Detroit Schools should not have waited until the start of the school year to alert parents about the water issues,' said Rhonda Walton, whose grandson is a kindergartner at Gardner. 'That's something that should have been ongoing over the summer,' Walton said. 'They knew that we had to be at school by today. And those issues should have been corrected by today.' Some 50,000 Detroit public school students, like those pictured above at Gardner, started the school year with dry sinks and fountains, and will likely rely on aid from the district by way of water coolers, bottled water and supplies of hand sanitizers well into fall Walton also said she reminds her grandson not to drink the water. 'We're not touching that water if we don't have to,' she said. Ken Coleman, a spokesman for the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the union would deliver bottled water and hand sanitizer to Noble Elementary-Middle School on Detroit's west side Tuesday afternoon, and that more would be distributed to other schools later. The American Federation of Teachers is providing the water and hand sanitizer. Local teachers' union leaders are expected to meet Tuesday afternoon with the American Federation of Teachers to discuss how to address issue. 'We see this as an effort to augment what already is being provided by the district,' Coleman said. 'It's our opportunity to help make the school setting a better learning environment for our students.' The father of an Australian teenager who died during a trip to Bali with friends has spoken about his grief. Kristen Mace, 19, from Melbourne, drowned after falling into a pool at her Seminyak accommodation while suffering a suspected epileptic seizure on Sunday morning. On what would be her 20th birthday her father, Justin Mace, spoke to ABC News about the unbelievable pain of losing a daughter - just three weeks after he lost his wife to cancer. The former Firbank Girls' Grammar School student, who had a history of epilepsy, was walking next to the pool when she had a seizure '[Kristen] was sitting out at the table having breakfast in the morning and her friend was inside having a shower,' he said. 'She looked out the window, saw Kristen was half in the pool, half out the pool, face down, so she screamed and called for help. 'It would appear she's fallen and hit her head we don't know how long she was like that for.' He said it was a struggle coming to terms with the death of his daughter just weeks after his wife, Jodie Mace, died after a battle with cancer. Justin Mace (pictured left) said it was a struggle coming to terms with the death of his daughter just weeks after his wife, Jodie Mace (pictured right), died after a battle with cancer Kristen Mace (pictured), from Melbourne, lost her life in an 'unfortunate accident' on the Indonesia island on Monday, just two days before she would have turned 20 He described his daughter as 'the life of the party' and 'very unique', something he said he would greatly miss. Now her family face a battle to bring her body home, and are raising money to pay for the repatriation. Her father is now in Bali to identify the body and organise the repatriation, the costs of which are not covered by Ms Mace's insurance because she did not list her epilepsy on her travel insurance. The former Firbank Girls' Grammar School student, who had a history of epilepsy, was walking next to the pool when she allegedly had a seizure, family friends said. Ms Mace's lifeless body was later found in the water by a friend. Witnesses who attempted CPR were unable to revive her. The accident came just three weeks after her mother Jodie died of brain cancer, and the family had just attended the funeral in Brighton, in the city's south-east. Ms Mace (pictured) lost her mother Jodie to brain cancer just three weeks before the accident 'The impact on the Mace family no doubt is indescribable,' a family friend told Nine News. 'Kristen was an amazing girl and will be dearly missed by all. 'The circumstances over the last three weeks for the Mace family are beyond tragic.' Ms Mace's death has prompted an outpouring of grief from family and friends, and hundreds of people have already donated almost $50,000 on GoFundMe. Jenny Williams, Firbank Girls' Grammar School Principal, put out a statement offering the school's condolences. 'We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Firbank Old Grammarian, Krissy Mace, who graduated from our School in the Class of 2016,' she told The Herald Sun. Mr Mace (pictured) is now in Bali to identify the body and organise the repatriation, the costs of which are not covered by Ms Mace's insurance because she did not list her epilepsy on her travel insurance Ms Mace's death has prompted an outpouring of grief from family and friends, and hundreds of people have already donated almost $50,000 on GoFundMe 'She is fondly remembered by staff and students alike she was part of our family and a lifelong member of our community.' 'Our thoughts are with her family particularly as this tragic loss comes only weeks after the passing of her mother. We extend our support and condolences Krissy will be greatly missed.' The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Daily Mail Australia consular assistance is being provided to Ms Mace's family. 'For privacy reasons we are unable to provide further details,' a DFAT spokesperson said. A bikini model has clashed with a Supreme Court judge after she was told to 'sit down' during a debate about bail after she was charged with a string of offences. Patrice Ruby Poutu, 31, represented herself after her bail was revoked at Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland, the Courier-Mail reported. Charged with stealing a car, wilful damage, trespass, drug possession and breach of bail, Poutu was told by Justice Martin Burns that she was not a good candidate for bail, to which she asked: 'How can I change it so that I am a good candidate?' 'You can't, sit down,' Justice Burns replied. Patrice Ruby Poutu, 31, represented herself after her bail was revoked at Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland Poutu was told to not interrupt as she was refused bail, with Justice Burns saying he was not confident that she would comply with her conditions Poutu was told to not interrupt as she was refused bail, with Justice Burns saying he was not confident that she would comply with her conditions. 'You are not a good candidate for bail, Ms Poutu, you need to get that into your head,' Justice Burns said. Poutu has spent 41 days in jail after her bail was revoked on July 26. As her request was refused, Justice Burns said he suspected Poutu had an 'underlying drug problem'. 'She has not shown cause why her continued detention in custody is not justified,' he said. Poutu is expected to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on September 17. A think tank for regional Australian issues has issued a report that highlights the top 10 places across Australia that are most vulnerable to job replacement by new technology. According to the data from the Regional Australia Institute, Mount Gambier in South Australia is most at risk of losing jobs to automation, with 33.49% of its occupations classified as 'highly vulnerable'. According to the data, Mount Gambier in South Australia is most at risk of losing jobs to automation Regional areas and industry and service hubs are more susceptible to job replacement by new technology Mount Gambier's economy is driven by the service industry and its key areas of business include retail, hospitality and tourism. Most vulnerable areas 1. Mount Gambier - 33.49% 2. Gawler - 32.84% 3. Sorell - 32.86% 4. Griffith - 32.01% 5. Warrnambool - 31.95% 6. Albury - 31.84% 7. Victor Harbor - 31.82% 8. Shellharbour - 31.72% 9. Tea Tree Gully - 31.66% 10. Moonee Valley - 31.63% Advertisement The South Australian town of Gawler came in second with 32.84% of jobs deemed 'highly vulnerable'. A semi-rural area, Gawler has a population of 26,472 and key industries include retail, tourism, construction and healthcare. The Tasmanian town of Sorell didn't fare much better, with 32.06%. With a population of just 2,907, most people are employed in clerical and administrative work or construction. Other South Australian regions that made it into the top 10 list include Victor Harbor and the City of Tea Tree Gully. The Victorian towns of Moonee Valley and Warrnambool both had a percentage of vulnerable jobs higher than 31%, as did New South Wales' Albury, Griffith and Shellharbour. Least vulnerable areas 1. North Sydney - 19.95% 2. Nedlands - 17.88% 3. Subiaco - 22.85% 4. Sydney - 25.61% 5. Ryde - 21.38% 6. Canberra - 24.25% 7. Melbourne - 25.64% 8. Lane Cove - 20.31% 9. Yarra - 22.16% 10. Port Phillip - 22.68% Advertisement But why are these places considered more at risk than others? The think tank shows that the professions most at risk of being replaced by robots are in the fields of retail and hospitality, particularly checkout operators, office cashiers and receptionists. The fields least at risk include medical professions and midwifery, teaching and legal, social and welfare professions. Regional areas and industry and service hubs have a higher proportion of people working in these high-risk industries, thus making them more susceptible to job replacement. Large metropolitan areas, on the other hand, have lower risks of job replacement. Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne are all cities that are considered to have a low level of vulnerability. Regional Australia Institute CEO Jack Archer believes that regional areas should start preparing for the future. However, he remains optimistic that while some jobs will be lost or dramatically changed due to automation, many new jobs will be created in the process. The fields least at risk include medical professions and midwifery, as well as teaching and legal, social and welfare professions The professions most at risk of being replaced by robots are in the fields of retail and hospitality 'Some regional areas are more susceptible to automation than others, and each region also has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses to deal with the changing nature of work,' Mr Archer said. Further work is expected to be released by the think tank over coming months to help regions gear for the future and focus on creating job opportunities in regional Australia. Labor frontbencher Tony Burke lobbied for a controversial Islamic hate preacher who advocates the execution of homosexuals to be granted a business visa. The former immigration minister and member for Watson in Sydney's south-west sent a letter to the Australian embassy in Jordan on behalf of Mohammed Rateb Abdalah Ali al-Nabulsi on July 21 last year. The Voice of Islam radio station had invited Mr Nabulsi to Australia for a series of public engagements and sought the help of Mr Burke to secure his visa. Mohammed Rateb Abdalah Ali al-Nabulsi (pictured) was denied entry last November after the Voice of Islam radio show invited him to be a guest speaker at charity events Labor frontbencher Tony Burke (pictured) lobbied for a business visa to be granted to the controversial Islamic hate preacher, who advocates for the execution of homosexuals Mr Nabulsi was denied entry to Australia despite the opposition frontbencher's efforts, The Australian confirmed. Mr Burke's office allegedly called Immigration to find out the status of the Syrian's visa prior to writing to the embassy. Australian intelligence officials have declared Mr Nabulsi a hate preacher, as his views on women would be 'abhorrent' to many Australians. Despite this, he had been granted visas to enter the country in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2013, before being red-flagged in 2017. The Islamic scholar has called for the execution of homosexuals and the subjugation of women, whom he labels the 'devil's temptation'. In a television broadcast on MEMRI-TV in 2011, Mr Nabulsi said: 'Homosexuality involves a filthy place, and does not generate offsprings.' 'Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the homosexual. That is why, brothers, homosexuality carries the death penalty,' he said. 'There are thousands of notions around the world, according to which a homosexual is a normal person, with homosexual genes. 'Therefore, the British health secretary says: 'I'm a homosexual.' He said it just like that, in a press conference. It's frightening... We are extremely lucky in our countries.' In his letter to the department, Mr Burke said that Mr Nabulsi had followed his visa conditions on previous visits. In his letter to the department, Mr Burke said that Mr Nabulsi had followed his visa conditions on previous visits The revelations come as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton weathers a scandal over his ministerial decisions to overturn Border Authority decisions to deny entry to Australia to two European au pairs. Mr Burke told The Australian that he asked Mr Dutton whether there were any specific issues he should be aware of, but Mr Dutton didn't respond. 'It is outrageous and appalling that there were character concerns about this specific individual and he never bothered to let me know, even though I had specifically asked,' Mr Burke said. 'Mr Dutton needs to answer the question as to why he kept character concerns secret from an MP who was seeking that exact information.' The Senate legal affairs committee will on Wednesday begin its inquiry into whether Mr Dutton misused his ministerial powers by intervening in cases. Thousands of parents across Australia will have to pick up their children from care early today as workers hold their fourth strike in the last 18 months. Seven thousand childcare workers are expected to join the 'Big Steps' national walkout in protest over low wages, with a total of 350 centres closing for the afternoon. It will be the biggest industrial walkout to date over the issue, with workers arguing that they should be paid as much as men in the manufacturing sector. Thousands of parents across Australia will have to pick up their children from care early today as workers hold their fourth strike in the last 18 months 'We have been calling for some time for government to come up with a solution and we're getting bigger and stronger every time,' United Voice union boss Helen Gibbons told Daily Mali Australia. 'We want a fair wage for early educators and we won't stop until that's a reality.' At least 30 centres in Sydney will close at lunchtime so staff can meet at 4pm in Martin Place this afternoon for a major rally. Gibbons estimates that at least 40,000 families across the country will be impacted by the strike, and all affected parents have been informed. Educators are walking off the job with the unwavering support of parents who have chosen to keep their children at home for the afternoon so that their educators can participate, she said. 'It's a hallmark of the relationship between parents and childhood educators.' 7,000 childcare workers are expected to take join the 'Big Steps' national walk-out in protest over low wages, with a total of 350 centres closing for the afternoon Gibbons explained that Australias educators must have qualifications, yet they earn an 'appalling' $22 an hour and are some of the lowest-paid professionals in the country. 'Educators are tired of being discriminated against because most of us are women,' one childhood educator said. 'Without us, Australia would grind to a halt, but we can't afford to stop until we are recognised for who we are.' NSW Early Childhood Minister Sarah Mitchell was quizzed on the industrial action at a budget estimates hearing. When it comes to issues of pay parity, yes Im aware of those matters but ultimately the rates are set by the Fair Work Commission at a Federal level, Mitchell said. United Voice union boss Helen Gibbons (left) said parents of children attending centres taking part in the strike have been informed, while NSW Early Childhood Minister Sarah Mitchell (right) said that she was aware of the pay parity issues Childcare workers lost a test case at the Fair Work Commission in February this year for failing to produce any evidence whatsoever that their work was undervalued. The NSW Government has announced $200 million in subsidies for all three-year-olds to attend preschool as of next year, but many experts have criticised the proposition. The vast majority of NSW-based three-year-old children will fail to see any benefits from theproposal, said the Australian Childcare Alliance. Opposition Early Childhood spokeswoman Kate Washington expects only 5 per cent of three-year-olds in the state to benefit from the scheme. When more than 80 per cent of the States three-year-olds obtain their preschooling in long day-care services, and community preschools are full of four-year-olds, the governments universal three-year-old funding in a lie, she said. After this years budget was released, nine early childhood providers signed an open letter to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, saying that the proposal was far from universal. As drought-stricken farmers continue to struggle across Australia, supermarkets are selling refrigerated milk at 'every day' low prices. Bizarrely, bottled water is moving off the shelves for double the price following a breakdown by the litre. Celebrity Chef Matt Moran, who grew up on a dairy farm in Tamworth, shared a photo on Instagram, expressing his dismay at the national supermarket giant. Matt Moran cannot believe the advertised price of Coles' milk given the struggles of farmers The development come as Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning rejected a potential milk levy to support drought-stricken farmers, declaring he 'doesn't want to push up prices for mums and dads pouring milk on their cornflakes'. The Queensland Dairy Farmers Organisation (QDO) wants to see the price of milk increased by ten cents, with the additional proceeds to be passed on directly to farmers. More than 22,000 people have signed a change.org petition from by the QDO, with Woolworths also a proud supporter. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is against a milk levy increase to help our farmers Mr Morrison publicly expressed his doubt over the proposed levy increase. 'My first instinct is never to try and solve a problem with a tax, and I don't want to see any increase in prices for Australians,' the Prime Minister told the Nine Network. 'I want to ensure we can ensure the sustainability and viability of our dairy sector, but not doing that at a cost to mums and dads pouring milk on their cornflakes.' The PM did add the levy increase would be considered in cabinet. 'A proposal will come (from Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud),' he said. 'We will then consider it carefully.' Mr Littleproud has been in contact with Woolworths and Coles' CEOs, with the former quick to back the levy if approved. Coles have been a little more cautious, with the process only likely to eventuate if both companies are on board. 'This is a whole of industry approach. We are hoping that Coles will now come on the journey,'' Littleproud said. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison doesn't support a milk levy increase to help farmers 'I've spoken to the Coles CEO who has indicated to me he's a little bit more circumspect about it, he is concerned about a 10c levy and the pressures on households. 'I've also chatted with farmer's kitchen tables, they told me that they can't wait any longer, they need relief now.' Mr Littleproud also said his agricultural partners are working closely with retailers to ensure the small levy can be facilitated. 'The conversations have been constructive, they know the farmers need to have an industry into the future, so they are very much open to whatever ideas and policies can be put forward,'' he said. 'We are doing everything we can to make sure the 10c (levy) goes directly to the farmers.' Sir Peter Cosgrove has announced he will stand down as Governor-General in March, leading to speculation he may be replaced by Julie Bishop. 'My plan is to retire at the end of March,' Mr Cosgrove told The Australian, meaning his tenure should end before the next federal election, widely thought to be held next April. The 71-year-old said that he has enjoyed his tenure but 'if you do the job properly, at the end of five years you're probably running out of puff a bit.' Sir Peter Cosgrove has announced he will stand down as Governor General before the next federal election, leading to speculation he may be replaced by Julie Bishop Given that Julie Bishop has recently resigned to the back bench following a chaotic change of leadership in the Liberal Party, speculation is growing she may be in line to replace him. Ms Bishop, 62, has considerable experience dealing with diplomats from her time as Foreign Minister. She has been preselected for the Liberal seat of Curtin in Western Australia but has made no formal announcement that she will run in the election. Bill Shorten has previously spoken to the new Prime Minister Scott Morrison asking to extend Sir Peter's term for six months until September next year, well after the next election. Mr Shorten claimed that this would allow a newly elected prime minister time to nominate a successor. Cosgrove, 71, said that he has enjoyed his tenure but 'if you do the job properly, at the end of five years you're probably running out of puff a bit' 'You very much, when you retire, you take, in a profile sense, a back seat. You don't want an immediate past governor-general turning up and making a pronouncement or something,' Mr Cosgrove said about his plans following stepping down. He says he still hopes to be involved in many projects within the community, but with a lower profile. Prison guards are being given training courses to remind them they can't have sex with jailbirds following an alleged affair between an officer and inmate. In a budget estimates meeting on Tuesday, NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin said the Maintaining Professional Boundaries training courses were necessary. 'It's to remind staff what it means to do the right thing about how to react if they discover that somebody is doing the wrong thing or if they themselves feel vulnerable,' he said. NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin (pictured) said the Maintaining Professional Boundaries training courses were necessary Amy Connors (pictured) and convicted killer Sione Penisini are alleged to have had a sexual relationship at Kempsey maximum-security prison Connors, a married mother-of-two, was reported to be pregnant with Penisini's (pictured) child, but her family has denied those claims, according to radio station 2GB A Corrective Services spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph that the course will cover various topics such as 'risk and protective factors, and self-care'. 'The course will also cover strategies for maintaining strong professional boundaries and how to continue to be professional,' she said. Amy Connors and convicted cop killer Sione Penisini are alleged to have had a sexual relationship within the walls of Kempsey maximum-security prison on the New South Wales north coast. Connors, a married mother-of-two, was reported to be pregnant with Penisini's child, but her family has denied those claims. Police officer Glenn McEnally (pictured) was murdered by Sione Penisini in 2002 Penisini was sentenced to 36 years jail in 2002 after being convicted of murdering police officer Glenn McEnally. Corrective Services staff reportedly had Connors and Penisini under surveillance for a month before they swooped, suspending the guard from duty. Penisini has since been moved to Goulburn Supermax jail, home to Australia's most hardened criminals, after allegedly assaulting a fellow prisoner in recent weeks. Penisini allegedly 'groomed' Connors by pushing her into weight-loss surgery. Connors, 34, was eventually suspended following the investigation by Correction Services. She was charged with misconduct in public office and larceny, and will have her case heard before the court on November 21. Melbourne police have revealed a series of high-tech, non-lethal weapons to tackle gang violence in the city following a violent brawl over the weekend. Police came under fire for not taking stronger action at the incident on Sunday morning which reportedly involved 200 youths of African and Islander descent and saw six injured and one hospitalised. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton announced that over the last six months 100 Operational Response Unit riot police have been training with new weapons and they are now ready to be deployed. Public disorder will not be tolerated, Ashton told The Age. We will be sending a clear message to people that we will be dealing with this with all the tools we have available. He said that the tactics police will use will be quite confronting and that eventually 300 police would be trained to use the new equipment. The new weapons include 15 semi-automatic 175-shot pepper-ball rifles that fire capsicum rounds, pellets the size of marbles and dye markers to brand offenders for identification later. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton (pictured, left) announced that over the last six months, 100 riot police have been training with new weapons that are now ready to be deployed There are also 40mm launchers that fire squash-ball-like projectiles designed to hit offenders from 50 metres away and with the force of a very hard punch. Other weapons include stinger grenades that roll into crowds emitting light, smoke and rubber pellets up to waist height, noise distraction devices designed to disperse violent crowds, and canisters that will detonate a cloud of capsicum and are to be used as a last resort. The new equipment is expected to minimise injuries to police as they will not need to physically confront rioters, and the officers will also be issued with new lightweight body armour and helmets. Police tactics will be quite confronting and 300 police will eventually use the new equipment The purpose is to keep public order while minimising the risk of injuries to police, the public and offenders, said Superintendent Tim Tully from the Operations Support Division. As well as the new equipment, new strategies will be put in place to ensure a greater police presence at potential riot scenes. The new riot police will be positioned out of sight at events tipped to turn violent, and a riot command truck will be used to record violent activity and help identity those who escape arrest at the scene. As well as the new equipment, new strategies will be put in place to ensure a greater police presence at events tipped to turn violent Officers were repeatedly warned of the potential for violence at the record launch party on Saturday evening before the event ended in a brawl, a car rampage and a victim in a serious condition in hospital. About 200 youths, many of African and Pacific Islander heritage, were involved in the melee which spilled out from the Gasometer Hotel in Collingwood in the early hours of Sunday morning. Victoria Police revealed they held concerns for the event and were aware of several teens attending who had criminal convictions, The Australian reported. Deputy police commissioner Bob Hill said: 'Certainly (66Records) is a group we've been well and truly aware of and been monitoring. A crowd of more than 200 people had spilled onto the streets following a record label launch party 'Victoria Police were aware that we were having people participating or attending the event that were known to us, that were known to have a criminal history that presented a risk.' Wayne Gatt, the police association boss, raised questions regarding allegations police on the ground made requests for additional staff, but were rejected. 'It had all the hallmarks of a brawl waiting to happen. (Extra resources) certainly weren't dedicated to that venue, I understand that they were sharing another nine high-risk events that night,' Mr Gatt said. Mr Hill disputed those claims and said police were monitoring the venue, and were on the scene within minutes of the car collision. While he did concede arrests could have occurred, he commended the tactical commander and police for their work and risk assessment on a case-by-case basis. 'We have one main offender who was the driver of the car,' Commander Tim Hansen said Laa Chol (left and right) died at a party she attended in Melbourne in late July. It is not known if Sunday's violence was a revenge attack over her death The admission came as 18-year-old David Bilal was left in a serious condition after he was hit by a car during the brawl. The man was allegedly with a teenager accused of the stabbing death of Laa Chol, 19, on the night she died. Mr Hill said there is currently no information to indicate the two incidents are related, or that the brawl was the result of a revenge attack for the alleged murder. The victim remains at The Alfred Hospital in a serious condition, as his father urges a stop to the violence. 'It's a parent's worst nightmare, you know what I mean. It was Father's Day and the last thing you want is to go and check out if your son is alive or not,' he told the Herald Sun. 'This madness has to stop.' Blood is seen on a car at the scene after a vehicle smashed into parked cars in the early hours of Sunday The admission of police awareness comes only a day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison provided a scathing assessment of Melbourne's gang crisis in the wake of the street brawl. The prime minister said there is a reason problems are occurring in Melbourne and not in Australia's other major cities. 'We have the highest proportion of Sudanese population in New South Wales. [But] we don't have these problems. Why is it happening in Melbourne?' he asked on 3AW Radio on Monday. 'There is a law and order problem, clearly, in Victoria, even though we have the same challenges in other cities in the country.' Scott Morrison (with wife Jenny) has provided a scathing assessment of Melbourne's gang crisis in the wake of a violent street brawl The prime minister recounted how former New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione changed the name of the NSW Police Service to NSW Police Force, bringing about a cultural change. 'Law and order means something in New South Wales and I feel for Victorians who are asking the big question, why is this happening in our city and it's not happening in other places?' he said. 'There's not the same issue, even though we have the same challenges in other cities in the country, including in my home city of Sydney, because we have a police force that's a force.' 'There is a law and order problem, clearly, in Victoria, even though we have the same challenges in other cities in the country,' Mr Morrison said He said it was up to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to ensure 'there is a police force that is a force'. 'When you don't have that control and rule of law being imposed and forced in your community, people take advantage of it,' he said. Mr Morrison did not accept there is a racial element to Melbourne's gang violence. 'There is a high proportion of Sudanese in New South Wales too, but we don't have that problem. This is a law and order problem,' he said. The organiser of an event which sparked a wild brawl and left a teenager fighting for life warned revellers 'violence will not be tolerated' 'During the affray, a car has collided with a number of parked cars on Mater Street and pinned one person against the parked vehicle,' police Commander Tim Hansen told reporters. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest the injured man had any involvement in any capacity with Ms Chol's death, or any wrongdoing on the night of her death. Six other people were also injured in the brawl while three cars were damaged, and police are still searching for the instigators. No arrests have been made as yet. Three patrol cars were on duty to keep an eye on the 66 Records launch and police had flagged the venue for monitoring after recent crimes involving the Pacific Islander and African communities. Event organiser J-Nelly told revellers to be on their best behaviour in a Facebook post on Friday, saying 'violence will not be tolerated'. 'A moment of anger isn't worth a lifetime of bad labeling (sic),' he wrote. This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going. Wealthy families should pay more tax to help the poor, the Archbishop of Canterbury declares today. In a major intervention sure to spark controversy, Justin Welby says he wants to rake in an extra 9billion a year with a shake-up of inheritance tax. Multinationals who dodge their dues would also be hit. Proceeds would fund a higher minimum wage and pay for 10,000 handouts to help the young buy homes. The recommendations come in a report co-written by the Archbishop that says Britain's economy is broken. Demanding radical action to reduce 'damaging wealth inequality', its key proposals include: Wealthy families should pay more tax to help the poor, the Archbishop of Canterbury (pictured with his wife Caroline) declares today Higher capital gains tax and taxes on dividends netting up to 27billion a year; A 13billion-a-year corporation tax hike; The creation of a 186billion 'Citizens Wealth Fund' by 2030. The report, drawn up by the Left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research, calls for inheritance tax to be scrapped and replaced by a gifts tax. An individual would be able to receive 125,000 over their lifetime with any further gifts subject to income tax. The tax-free threshold for an entire estate is currently 325,000, or 650,000 for a couple. The report points out that many families avoid death duties by exploiting a rule that allows gifts to become tax-free after seven years. The Archbishop is also demanding a 'backstop tax' to make multinationals such as Starbucks and Amazon pay more tax on their profits. In his article for the Mail, the Most Rev Welby writes: 'We cannot continue with an economy that works so badly for so many. Chronically low pay means a hard day's work no longer keeps people out of poverty: today, a majority of the poor are working families.' It was 'particularly hard for young people, many of whom are set to be poorer than their parents, unable to find secure work and with little prospect of getting on the housing ladder'. The archbishop adds: 'The wealthiest 10 per cent of households own more than 900 times the wealth of the poorest 10 per cent, and five times more than the bottom half of all households combined.' And it was 'an obvious injustice that income from work is taxed at a higher rate than income from capital gains or share dividends.' All income should be taxed on the same basis, just as it was under Margaret Thatcher, he says. Using his faith to justify his proposals, the Archbishop says: 'As a Christian I start with learning from Jesus Christ that people matter equally, are equally loved by God, and that justice in society matters deeply a theme that runs throughout the Bible.' The Citizens Wealth Fund would be funded with 90billion income from the new 'lifetime gifts tax' over ten years, 57billion in proceeds of planned state asset sales such as RBS, income from the 11billion Crown Estate and other sources. It would give 25-year-olds a 10,000 'universal minimum inheritance' to get on the housing ladder or start a business. It could also provide all citizens with a small annual dividend. The report suggests giving English regions as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the power to set their own immigration levels. The City high flyer betting on Brexit Dame Helena Morrissey, a mother of nine, is a rising City star A self-styled 'progressive Brexiteer' is among the authors of the report by the Institute for Public Policy Research. Dame Helena Morrissey, a mother of nine, is a rising City star. The financier has said a Brexit-induced shake-up in the Square Mile could open up opportunities for women. Dominic Barton, a director at consultancy giant McKinsey, also served on the panel. He sat alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury and Frances O'Grady, a prominent Remainer and general secretary of the TUC. The IPPR's Commission on Economic Justice was launched after the 2016 European Union referendum. The think-tank became well known in the 1990s for promoting Tony Blair's policies and is seen as left of centre. Advertisement It calls for a 'global talent visa' to give the brightest immigrants a fast track to a British passport, for German-style worker directors on boards and for more bargaining power for unions. Former Tory Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said last night that the report's calls for higher taxation would concern some Conservatives but it deserved to be taken seriously. 'I agree that greater fairness is required in the way the economy is run and there is a big appetite for finding ways to achieve that,' she said. 'But we need to think hard before approving big tax rises.' Miss Morgan, who chairs the Commons Treasury committee, added: 'Our aim should be to make the whole nation wealthier.' The IPPR insists the proposals would not reduce Britain's competitiveness. 'All the evidence is that a fairer economy is a more productive and happier one,' it says. 'Countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway have high tax rates and yet come top in surveys of well-being and life satisfaction. 'Britain feels split along old dividing lines gender, class, income, geography or ethnicity and new ones: the generational divide, attitudes to immigration and whether we voted to leave or remain in the EU. 'The UK economy needs fundamental reform. We cannot muddle through. 'Fundamental reform has happened twice before in the last century following crises: the Attlee government's reforms in the 1940s and the Thatcher free market reforms in the 1980s. Change of this magnitude is needed again. 'The inexorable rise of executive pay has been a significant factor in making Britain one of Europe's most unequal societies. This contributes to a deep sense of unfairness.' The think-tank called for a 'more active and powerful state to produce prosperity and justice' without resorting to central planning or state control. 'Why I believe we need to tax wealth more': Archbishop of Canterbury's declaration in his own words I'm proud to live in a country that is the world's fifth largest economy. We have world-leading businesses characterised by extraordinary innovation, high productivity, strong exports, highly skilled jobs and good pay. We have low unemployment, lower than for many decades. Economically, politically, and often morally, we remain a global power. There is much of which we can be proud. Yet despite these strengths, it is evident that for many people, the economy is not working. It no longer fulfils the promise of rising living standards. Justin Welby, the Archbishop Of Canterbury has said he believes we need to tax wealth more to help lower middle income earners For more than a decade, most people have seen no improvement in their pay, even while the economy as a whole has continued to grow. As the Bank of England has shown, for nearly 40 years the share of our national income going into people's pay has been falling while the share going to profits has been on the rise. Chronically low pay means that a hard day's work no longer keeps people out of poverty: today, a majority of the poor are working families. It is particularly hard for young people, so many of whom are set to be poorer than their parents, unable to find secure work and with little prospect of getting on the housing ladder. And meanwhile the divisions between the nations and regions of our country have grown larger. In London, we have the wealthiest region in northern Europe; yet six of the ten poorest regions are also here in the UK. I do not believe we can continue with an economy that works so badly for so many. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (pictured) held back tears as spoke at a child sexual abuse inquiry in London As a Christian I start with learning from Jesus Christ that people matter equally, are equally loved by God, and that justice in society matters deeply a theme that runs throughout the Bible. That's why over the past two years I've been a member of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice. My fellow commissioners come from all walks of life: from CEOs of major businesses to entrepreneurs shaping the new economy, from leading investors to prominent trade unionists. The report the commission is publishing today comes to a simple but profound conclusion. If we are to get the economy working properly again, it needs reform. This kind of change has happened twice before in the last century following periods of crisis both after 1945 with the Attlee Government and in the 1980s with Mrs Thatcher. At the heart of our report is a simple but profound truth. If we make the economy fairer for ordinary people, we will also make it stronger. When prosperity and justice go hand in hand, every part of society benefits. That's why the Commission says we need to 'hard-wire' justice into the economy. People need decent pay for a good standard of living but also so they can afford to buy the goods and services that business creates. Raising pay will encourage firms into raising their productivity. The Commission puts forward three key ideas: First, a boost to our manufacturing and exporting sectors. The commission proposes a strategy of 'new industrialisation' to build more world-leading firms and create better-paying jobs right across the country. Second, it proposes an immediate increase in the minimum wage so that it becomes a real living wage. It would add around 30 a week to the pay packets of full-time minimum wage earners. For companies that might find this difficult to afford while they raise their productivity, the commission proposes a reduction in national insurance. It also proposes that people on zero-hours contracts should be paid 20 per cent above the new higher minimum wage to prevent employers shirking their responsibilities. Third, trade unions need a stronger role in helping workers bargain on pay and conditions. In today's fragmented workforce, many low-paid workers are too insecure to ask for more pay. The gig economy and zero hours contracts are ways of holding down costs. That can be good, but not when it leaves families needing to go to food banks to survive. In the food banks in which the Church of England participates more than 40 per cent of those who come are in work. Countries like Germany and Sweden have strong trade unions that often work in close cooperation with employers recognising that it is in the interest of the country as a whole and they also have higher pay and productivity. Our companies and markets also need reform. Too many British businesses have become focused on short-term profits. The commission proposes changes to the way companies are governed so that they are focused on long-term success. And we have let too many markets become uncompetitive, dominated by a small number of excessively powerful firms. This is particularly true in the digital economy, where a small number of giant companies lead. The commission proposes new ways of making markets more open and competitive, where entrepreneurs can flourish in start-ups, and where the public interest is protected from enabling innovation to protecting the free Press that is vital for our democracy. Taxation will always be controversial. But it is also essential: it pays for things that we all need. Every family depends on decent schools, good hospitals, roads and public transport, as well as our remarkable armed services and the police that protect us. Businesses depend on these things too. Mr Welby revealed before the EU referendum in 2016 that he planned to vote Remain, but said he had 'desire to tell others how to vote' Today our society is rapidly ageing. Not only does this mean that more people need and deserve more health and social care in old age, it also means there are fewer working-age people to pay for these services. I welcome the honesty of the recent public acknowledgement that taxes are likely to have to rise to pay for the health and social care our society needs. The commission believes we now need a new deal on tax, so that it promotes prosperity and justice at the same time. It argues for reform of the way income tax is levied, so that taxes are cut for those on lower and middle incomes. It also argues that we need to tax wealth more. Today the wealthiest 10 per cent of households own more than 900 times the wealth of the poorest 10 per cent, and five times more than the bottom half of all households combined. It is an obvious injustice that income from work is taxed at a higher rate than income from capital gains or share dividends. The commission proposes that all income is taxed on the same basis, just as it was under Mrs Thatcher. Finally, the commission proposes a level playing field for business taxation. It is fundamentally unfair that firms focused on the UK economy especially small businesses pay their business taxes responsibly while multinational firms create complex schemes to avoid paying what they owe. That's why it suggests a new form of corporation tax to close these loopholes. The members of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice are citizens, not politicians. We supported different sides in the Brexit debate. But all of us believe that our country needs fundamental economic reform for the sake of justice, no matter the shape of our future relationship with the EU. Now is the time for the whole country and all political parties to come together around an agenda of economic reform. Making the economy fairer will benefit us all. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is recorded as giving one of the greatest challenges possible to his disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion when he describes the judgment of God at the end of time. In that passage he explicitly says that judgment is linked to justice, namely, in the way in which we treat those who are most vulnerable and weakest. Out of that extraordinary passage comes the Christian call to work for the common good and for the welfare of everyone in our society. HIS BLUEPRINT Bid to stop rich exploiting seven years loophole It is simple to avoid paying many taxes on wealth including inheritance tax, the Institute for Public Policy Research warns. Its report says many wealthy families use the so-called seven year rule to get round the single persons maximum 325,000 tax-free bequest or 650,000 for a couple. If someone survives for seven years after gifting large sums, no inheritance tax is levied. To combat this, the report calls for IHT to be abolished and replaced with a lifetime gifts tax on all gifts received during a persons life over a certain amount, set initially at around 125,000. It states: All further gifts would be classed as income ... and taxed at income tax rates. Small gifts and those between spouses and civil partners would be exempt. The report says this would raise 15billion a year 9billion more than current IHT revenue. The report also says taxing capital gains and share dividends at lower rates than income from work benefits those with wealth and encourages tax avoidance. Income tax rates range from 20 to 45 per cent, with capital gains at 10 and 20 per cent (18 and 28 per cent on property except main homes) and dividends taxed between 7.5 and 38 per cent. Bid to stop rich exploiting seven years loophole A Citizens Wealth Fund worth 186billion would be set up under the think-tanks plan to tackle inequality. From 2030 the fund would give 10,000 grants to 25-year-olds to help them on to the homeowning ladder or start up in business. Half of the money to pay for this would come from higher levies on inheritance. The rest would come from existing plans to sell state assets such as Royal Bank of Scotland and the 330million-a-year income from the 11billion Crown Estates, made up of royal possessions such as farms and forests, Ascot racecourse, Windsor Great Park and property in London. At present the 330million is paid into Treasury coffers. The report says the fund would be owned by and run in the interests of the whole population. 25-year-olds should get 10,000 handout Multinationals accused of avoiding tax are also targeted in the IPPR report. They would be hit by an Alternative Minimum Corporation Tax based on a complex formula involving the firms estimated UK profits. The report says it would be a backstop tax on corporations that report low profits to HM Revenue & Customs. It should be applied when a firm declared profits below a certain percentage of its global profits for more than five years, it said. Companies including Amazon and Starbucks have been accused of avoiding hundreds of millions of pounds in tax. Crackdown on firms that hide profits Multinationals accused of avoiding tax are also targeted in the IPPR report. They would be hit by an Alternative Minimum Corporation Tax based on a complex formula involving the firms estimated UK profits. The report says it would be a backstop tax on corporations that report low profits to HM Revenue & Customs. It should be applied when a firm declared profits below a certain percentage of its global profits for more than five years, it said. Companies including Amazon and Starbucks have been accused of avoiding hundreds of millions of pounds in tax. 2020s set to be decade of disruption The 2020s will be a decade of disruption as we confront the impacts of Brexit, globalisation and other changes, the report warns. Doing nothing will not keep things the same, it will make things worse, it says. Leaving the EU represents a momentous change and few parts of the economy will be unaffected. The UK is deeply embedded in the complex supply chains of the EU single market. The changes will inevitably lead to uncertainty and disruption. The economy will need to be as strong and resilient as possible if it is to thrive. Our structural weaknesses made change necessary before Brexit; they will make it all the more important afterwards. Ministers last night vowed to press ahead with plans to cut the number of MPs by 50 despite warnings that they face defeat in the Commons. In a letter to Tory MPs, party chairman Brandon Lewis and Theresa Mays deputy David Lidington said failure to press ahead with a controversial boundary review would leave Britain with the most out-of-date boundaries in modern political history. Tory whips have warned Mrs May that they could struggle to win the Commons vote needed to put the new boundaries in place ahead of the next election. But in their letter last night, the two Cabinet ministers warned that leaving the borders as they are would cement the existing bias in the electoral system towards Labour. Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis and the Prime Minister's deputy David Lidington have written to MPs. Lidington warned that failing to press ahead could leave Britain with 'the most out-of-date boundaries in modern political history' Without such reforms, there will be a significant bias at the next election that will unfairly discriminate against voters in Conservative constituencies, they wrote. The absence of fair and equal boundaries risks gerrymandering the election in favour of Jeremy Corbyn. But Conservative MP Peter Bone said at least ten Tories were opposed to slashing the size of the Commons in principle, with several more poised to vote against the plans due to fears about their own futures. Mr Bone urged Mrs May to think again and order a boundary review based on keeping the existing 650 MPs. There are a number of us opposed to this in principle, he said. We do not agree with the idea of reducing parliamentary scrutiny. Why should the number of MPs be cut by 50 while the size of government remains the same? All it means is there will be 50 fewer MPs to hold the Government to account. I dont think there is any chance of getting it through and the whips know that. Instead of going down this route, the Prime Minister should think again. The idea of cutting the number of MPs was a PR stunt dreamed up by David Cameron. Circumstances have changed we are now going to have to do the work of Members of the European Parliament as well. The letter also promises jittery MPs that no colleague will be left behind by the review a reference to a pledge to find a seat for all existing MPs who want to stay on. Theresa May, who has been touring Africa this month, has been fighting on all fronts this month as she responds to criticism from Boris Johnson, pictured with May at a NATO summit this summer, over her Brexit plans. David Davis, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are among the MPs whose seats face being carved up by the changes. The Boundary Commission is due to deliver its final proposals to ministers today ahead of their publication on Monday. Tory MPs have been invited to a briefing on the details next week, ahead of a vote, which is likely to take place this autumn. The existing boundaries are based on data from the turn of the century. Demographic changes mean some constituencies have twice as many voters as others. An assessment of the proposals by the Electoral Calculus website in July suggested the changes could be worth an extra 20 seats to the Tories at the next election. The Tory pledge to equalise the size of constituencies and cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 has been in place since 2010. It was blocked by Nick Clegg during the Coalition government and is now under threat from the Tory rebels. Labour will also oppose the changes. Shadow cabinet minister Cat Smith said: With no plans to reduce the number of Ministers it will weaken the role of Parliament, to the advantage of the Executive. Asia Argento has claimed Jimmy Bennett was the one who sexually assaulted her when he was 17 years old - as it is revealed she has halted the remainder of the $380,000 hush money her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain promised him. Argento's lawyer Mark Jay Heller told TMZ that Bennett had 'sexually attacked' her at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, California in 2013 and he was lucky she decided not to prosecute him. The allegations first surfaced last month when it was revealed that Argento had secretly paid off Bennett, a former child star, after he accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17. Argento's boyfriend - the late Anthony Bourdain - arranged to pay Bennett a $380,000 in an out-of-court settlement in order to protect her, according to her attorney. Heller revealed on Tuesday that Argento will not pay Bennett the balance of the settlement - $130,000 - because the arrangement was made by Bourdain before he took his own life in June. Asia Argento has claimed Jimmy Bennett was the one who sexually assaulted her when he was 17 years old - as it is revealed she has halted the remainder of the $380,000 hush money her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain promised him Days after the news broke about the assault allegations, text messages that were allegedly sent by Argento to a friend and published by TMZ revealed she did in fact have sex with Bennett when she was 37 and the boy just 17. 'The horny kid jumped me... I had sex with him it felt weird,' one text message read. Her attorney pointed to those messages on Tuesday when he argued that Bennett was the one who sexually assaulted her and that he tried to extort her when he realized she was dating Bourdain. 'Asia does not intend to prosecute Bennett for his conduct and recognizes that his unfortunate past, his stalled acting career, and a lawsuit against his own parents for allegedly misappropriating more than a million and a half dollars from his account might explain his desperation to seek money from Asia and Bourdain for this falsely alleged incident that took place more than 5 years ago,' her attorney said. When the story broke, Argento denied having a sexual relationship with Bennett. Her lawyer defended that statement on Tuesday, saying she was being honest because it was just a one-time thing and not a relationship. In a statement to Page Six, Heller said: 'Her relationship with Bennett was never sexual, but rather the relationship was a long distance friendship over many years.' Asia Argento (right) is stopping payment of the remainder of the $380,000 to Jimmy Bennett, an actor who has accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17 years old. Attorney Mark Jay Heller says the arrangement was made by her ex-boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain (left) Heller acknowledged that Bennett and Bourdain entered into the arrangement for a $380,000 settlement. The lawyer says Bourdain wanted to protect Argento. 'Now that Mr. Bourdain has passed away and is not able to comment on his desire to avoid potential scandal Asia will not permit any portion of the balance of the $380,000 payment to be paid to Bennett who has already received $250,000 from Anthony Bourdain,' Heller said. Argento's attorney suggested the allegations against her was an attempt to discredit her after she came forward and accused disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein of raping her. 'Asia's courage to originally make the accusations against Harvey Weinstein has not waned,' Heller said. 'Phase Two of the #metoo movement dictates that the voice of a victim, even one with a history that may be in question, should be heard and she is hopeful that in the Court of Public Opinion it will ultimately be determined that Asia never initiated an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, but rather she was attacked by Bennett and might even be suffering the fallback of a smear campaign by those already accused who may have a vested interest in their accusers being denied credibility.' Argento has been accused of luring Bennett to her California hotel room back in 2013. Once there, she sent away his chaperone, plied him with alcohol and showed him her love letters before kissing the teen. The Italian actress, who is 20 years his senior, then pushed him onto the bed where she performed oral sex on Bennett before climbing on top of him and having sex with him, he claimed in his notice of intent to sue the actress. Bennett, who once played Argento's son in a movie when he was seven years old, filed the notice in November 2017 - just one month after she became one of the first actresses to publicly accuse disgraced Miramax producer Weinstein of sexual assault. Asia Argento and 17-Year-Old Boy in Bed in Sexual Encounter https://t.co/y6EeKOdPT7 TMZ (@TMZ) August 22, 2018 Argento's texts to a friend Friend: 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 F: So it was rape? Or an attempted secual action? A: I has sex with him it felt weird. i didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter. F: 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 F: Yeah we don't always think og 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 Documents first obtained by the New York Times reveal that Argento, who was dating Bourdain until his suicide in June, settled the claim out of court earlier this year for $380,000. The original notice, which was sent to the newspaper anonymously from an encrypted email, asked for $3.5 million in damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery. It was sent to Anthony Bourdain's lawyer, Richard Hofstetter, who was representing Argento at the time. In it, Bennett's lawyers, who had characterized the hotel encounter as 'sexual battery', claimed the sexual assault was so traumatizing that it had affected their client's acting career. ASIA ARGENTO SAYS BOURDAIN URGED SEX ASSAULT SETTLEMENT 'I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article dated 20 August 2018, as circulated also in national and international news. 'I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett. 'I was linked to him during several years by friendship only, which ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett - who was then undergoing severe economic problems and who had previously taken legal actions against his own family requesting millions in damages - unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me. Bennett knew my boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, was of great perceived wealth and had his own reputation as a beloved public figure to protect. 'Antony [sic] insisted the matter be handled privately and this was also what Bennett wanted. Anthony was afraid of the possible negativity that such person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us. We decided to deal compassionately with Bennetts demand for help and give it to him. Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions into our life. 'This is, therefore, the umpteeth development of a sequence of events that brings me great sadness and that constitutes a long-standing persecution. I have therefore no other choice but to oppose such false allegation and will assume in the short term and all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.' Advertisement TMZ published the texts, including one that reads: 'It wasn't raped but I was frozen. He was on top of me. After, he told me I had been his sexual fantasy since was 12.' One day later, Argento denied ever having sex with Bennett in a statement while suggesting the young man extorted her and Bourdain, who paid out the settlement. TMZ also published an image reported to be a post-coital photo of the two taken in May 2013. Argento also allegedly claims to have been unaware that Bennett was a minor when they had sex in 2013 in the texts, despite raving about how talented the boy was when they met in 2003 on the set of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things on Twitter just months before their encounter. In that tweet, posted in August 2012, she wrote: 'At 7 you were already one of the most accomplished actors I'd ever met.' 'The public knows nothing, only what NYT wrote. Which is one-sided. The shakedown letter. The horny kid jumped me,' reads one text. When asked if it was rape, the person reported to be Argento responds: 'I had sex with him and it felt weird. I didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter.' The other person, who is not identified, then asks why she did not report the incident, which she responds to by saying she 'always felt bad for this Hollywood failed child actor, a casualty of the machine, of his parents.' Then, in a move that seems to be directly out of the Harvey Weinstein's playbook, Argento allegedly reveals that a private investigator was hired by Bourdain to follow the boy and there are '80 pages' of notes in a text. Argento also speaks of her plans should she lose work for this incident, stating that she would 'move to Africa or the Amazon forest' in one text. This alleged text conversation took place just after The New York Times published its piece on Argento's settlement with Bennett. 'I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article,' said Argento in a statement just days after the Times report. 'I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.' She goes on to state that Bennett went after her because of her relationship with Bourdain, a 'man of great perceived wealth' who 'had his own reputation as a beloved public figure to protect.' Bourdain paid the settlement despite the fact that it represented almost half of his cash and savings at the time, with court papers submitted after the chef's death revealing $425,000 of his $1.2 million estate was in cash. 'Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life,' writes Argento in her statement. She says that at the request of both Bourdain and Bennett, the matter was settled privately That payout was only a fraction of the $3.5 million that Bennett had requested in the notice. 'This is, therefore, the umpteenth development of a sequence of events that brings me great sadness and that constitutes a long-standing persecution,' claims Argento . CNN pulled two episodes of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown featuring girlfriend Asia Argento. The late Bourdain deemed the Rome episode their 'most beautiful show', the couple are pictured on set of the episode where they met 'I have therefore no other choice but to oppose such false allegations and will assume in the short term all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.' TMZ reported on Tuesday that Argento told Bourdain she was 'too broke' to pay the settlement, and the two referred to Bennett as a 'donkey' in text messages. Up until his death, Bourdain was the host of the popular CNN food and travel show Parts Unknown. In light of the news of the payout to Bennett, it was learned this past weekend that CNN had removed episodes of the show that featured Argento. Two of the episodes feature the Italian actress - one in Rome which the late chef deemed 'our most beautiful show, and another set in Hong Kong which Bourdain called a 'professional highlight' of his career. 'This was a very special show for me because it was an odd and miraculous confluence of events,' Bourdain said of the Hong Kong episode, which Argento directed and aired shortly before his death. Restaurants are set to be forced to display calorie counts on their menus under controversial plans that have triggered a Cabinet row. The Department of Health is set to unveil plans within days to impose the new rules on all food outlets, including small cafes and fast food businesses. But the Treasury has moved to try and block the plan blaming the risks of spiralling costs for small food companies - warning menus would need reprinting every time a recipe is changed. Chief Secretary Liz Truss has accused health officials of underestimating the cost of the policy and written a letter to David Lidington, the PM's deputy, to intervene. The Treasury estimates that calculating the precise calorie content of each dish and printing menus could cost restaurants up to 500. Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (pictured) has accused health officials of underestimating the cost of forcing restaurants to publish calorie counts on menus Under the proposals, restaurant menus (file image) would need to include details of calorie content and need reprinting every time a recipe was changed In the letter Ms Truss made it clear the Treasury could block the policy, the Daily Telegraph reported. 'At this stage I am not agreeing to any preferred option or final policy change for small or micro businesses,' the letter said. 'We should take a final decision following this consultation and informed by the evidence submitted to it. 'HM Treasury clearance is required for government's response to this consultation.' Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in June that the Government would seek views on introducing calorie counts on menus. A draft consultation, expected to be released this week, states that legislation will ensure there is consistent calorie labelling for restaurants, cafes, takeaways and online deliveries. It says: 'Making this information available can help people to make informed and healthy choices for themselves and their family to regulate their energy intake and that of their children.' Jeremy Hunt (pictured in Downing Street yesterday) announced a consultation on the plan while he was Health Secretary in July But Mrs Truss warned the proposals 'could result in job losses and higher food prices being passed on to consumers'. She added: 'It could cost businesses up to 13million an average of 500 each for 26,000 businesses per year and individual costs may be particularly burdensome to micro and small businesses which frequently change their menus. 'I am also concerned that the accompanying impact assessment may underestimate the cost to businesses.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'The Government announced its intention to consult on mandatory calorie labelling on menus as part of the second chapter of the childhood obesity plan in July and we will set out our next steps in due course.' Jean-Claude Junckers right-hand man in Brussels faced calls to quit yesterday after a watchdog suggested Eurocrats broke the law to promote him. Martin Selmayr was fast-tracked into his role as secretary-general of the EU Commission in a way which stretched and possibly even overstretched the limits of the law, an inquiry ruled. The German official, nicknamed The Monster by Juncker for his ruthlessness, was even handed the position despite being unqualified to fill it, the report said. He should have first served in a deputy post. Martin Selymar, left, pictured with Jean-Claude Juncker, has been urged to resign over the way the German official was appointed the EU's top civil servant An EU watchdog claimed Mr Selmayr was unqualified for his role and was 'parachuted' into the EU's top job because of his previous role Juncker's chief of staff Yesterdays scathing report by the EU watchdog also poured scorn on the Commission the arm of the EU which oversees Brexit and of which Mr Juncker is president for its defensive and evasive response to the allegations. Its leaders showed either a lack of self-awareness and understanding of the valid concerns or a wilful refusal to admit to them, the investigation found. In her report the European Ombudsman, Emily OReilly, said Brussels bosses were guilty of acts of maladministration. Mr Juncker was found to have allowed lines to blur between administrative independence and his political closeness to Mr Selmayr, previously his chief of staff. It meant Mr Selmayr was effectively parachuted into the EUs most senior civil service post. Despite the damning findings, the Commission yesterday said nobody would face disciplinary action and even suggested that the reports conclusions were the result of misunderstandings. But critics branded the EU body corrupt and called for Mr Selmayr to resign so a new secretary-general could be appointed. Williamson mauls Barnier Ministers rounded on Michel Barnier yesterday after he rejected Theresa Mays Chequers deal. The EUs chief Brexit negotiator has said he is strongly opposed to the Governments Brexit plan. But arriving for the Cabinet meeting at No 10, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: Michel Barnier doesnt know an awful lot about British politics. In the Commons, MPs urged Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab to abandon the plans, saying it was hopeless to continue faced with Mr Barniers opposition. But Mr Raab said they were being used by Mr Barnier to undermine the Governments negotiating position. Advertisement Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: The really shocking thing is that this is how the EU always behaves. It makes up the rules as it goes along. No one is ever held accountable, no one is ever punished, Im so glad were leaving. If the EU allows this appointment to stand, it will be a confirmation of what we have long suspected that it doesnt believe in keeping its own rules. Fellow Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman added: This is a very strong and extraordinary condemnation coming from an EU body. The whole appointment process must be repeated and done properly. Mr Selmayr must re-apply for the post. The probe followed complaints that Mr Juncker promoted Mr Selmayr in February without following due process. Mr Selmayr, a 47-year-old lawyer and fanatical Euro-federalist, caused controversy after allegedly leaking details of a key Brexit dinner at Downing Street between Theresa May and Mr Juncker last year a claim he denies. A British woman facing prison in the US after she was accused of killing a patient who died just minutes after a botched cosmetic buttock operation could be held in rat-infested cells 'covered in faeces and vomit', a court has heard. Donna Francis, 37, gave Kelly Mayhew, 34, three silicone injections in her bottom in the basement of her house in New York in May 2015. But on the third dose Ms Mayhew 'turned purple' and immediately went into shock. She died shortly after. Francis is facing extradition to the US after being indicted by a jury in Queens, New York. British woman Donna Francis (left) gave Kelly Mayhew, 34, (right) three silicone injections in her bottom in her New York basement in May 2015. Ms Mayhew died shortly after Instead of calling an ambulance, Francis allegedly cleared up her equipment and ran from the house, fleeing to London when she learned the woman had died. More than a year later an arrest warrant was issued and a jury indicted Francis for 'criminally negligent homicide'. She was finally tracked down and arrested by police in London in December 2017. A lawyer giving evidence on behalf of the defence described the 'filthy' conditions Francis would be subjected to while being screened upon arrival in the US. She would be brought to either Manhattan Detention Complex or Brooklyn Detention Centre, both of which house male inmates. It would be the first time either would house a female inmate. Zachary Katznelson, who works for prisoners' rights NGO Legal Aids Society, said: 'My experience, and I have spoken now with at least over 100 people who have been incarcerated, is that the screening frequently takes three to four days and people during that time are held in filthiness. 'The walls have vomit, faeces, dried milk on them ... they are caked in filth. 'Other times the water doesn't work at all. There are vermin, mice, roaches and rats on occasion. 'There are no mats, no bedding, no cleaning facilities ... often the toilets don't work. Emergency services rushed to the house and found Mayhew unconsious. They performed CPR and rushed her to the hospital, where she died. Francis allegedly cleared up her equipment and ran from the house, fleeing to London when she learned the woman had died Francis (pictured, left, avoiding reporters) is facing extradition to the US after being indicted by a jury in Queens, New York. She argued her extradition breached her right to a family life and she faces inhumane conditions and torture under European Convention on Human Rights 'I have never heard of a woman being screened in those facilities.' He said that although the average time spent in screening is three to four days, people have spent up to seven days in the centres. Francis is likely to be sent to one of two jails in Suffolk County, one of which - Riverhead - often 'denies' prisoners access to mental health assessments and had people 'die' in the cells, according to Mr Katznelson. Mayhew died after the third silicone injection when she turned purple and her body went into shock. Her mother said she implored Francis to call 911, but instead the woman fled He said: 'People experiencing mental health crises in the jail are often ignored or put into isolation or held in their cells 23 hours a day.' The jail does not have metal health facilities in place to treat anyone with acute problems, he said, adding: 'The only option is to send them to hospital.' Although Mr Katznelson had not been to the jail, he spoke with a number of inmates and staff at Riverside, who reported inadequate facilities. He said: 'For example one of the problems in the jail is one of sewage, where the toilets frequently back up and overflow. 'Instead of the waste going down it goes up in the toilets of other cells and floods onto the floor.' The court heard the assistant District Attorney George Farrugia had estimated Francis would spend a year in prison on remand. Cross examining, Catherine Brown, representing US authorities, argued that the assistant District Attorney had said Francis would be given singled out and given special treatment because it was an international case. She said: 'Do you not the receiving authority will adhere to those conditions because it's a matter of an international agreement?' But Mr Katznelson said: 'I don't know of anyone who has been singled out and always been treated fairly. 'There's a grave risk she would not be because that is consistently the case.' He also said he did not know how she would held in appropriate conditions in an all-male detention centre. Ms Brown questioned Mr Katznelson's impartiality as he has an upcoming lawsuit concerning the conditions in the Brooklyn and Manhattan detention centres. He said: 'I am open and honest with what I see and hear. Francis fled to London after learning Ms Mayhew had died. She was finally tracked down and arrested. The home out of which she conducted her business is pictured 'When I discover unconstitutional conditions I'm obliged to try and remedy them.' Ms Brown said that Suffolk County had set out a budget for the year, which included funding plans for both jails, the other being Yaphank correctional facility, and there had been no allocation to repair the plumbing. She said: 'Do you not think if there were serious ongoing problems with the sanitary facilities, it would be mentioned here?' Mr Katznelson said the repairs would costs 'tens of millions of dollars'. He said: 'The fact that the department isn't choosing to address the repairs is down to the department. 'It would be of huge cost to them.' A previous court heard that the mother of the victim, who was with her for the procedure, begged Francis for help when her daughter stopped breathing but Francis simply packed up her equipment and fled the scene. Emergency services found Kelly unconscious at the home in Mayhew and rushed her to hospital, but sadly she passed away. NYPD detectives got an arrest warrant for Francis a year later and a jury indicted her for 'criminally negligent homicide'. Francis had fled to the UK but was tracked down in London last year by the Met Police, where she was working as a hospital driver. She was bailed on the condition that she wear an electronic tag. The Supreme Court in New York charged her with three offences including criminal negligent homicide and two counts of unauthorised practice of a professional. The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison for each offence. Francis has been fighting her extradition arguing it breached her right to a family life under Article 8 and she faces inhumane conditions and torture under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judgment in the extradition case was adjourned at Westminster Magistrates' Court until October 25. Francis, who wore a black suit and wept through most of the proceedings, was released on conditional bail until that date. Simin Doyich is accused of stalking a businessman with whom she had an affair A millionaire hedge fund manager and his wife were stalked and abused by his jilted mistress after he ended their relationship, a court heard. The businessman met Simin Doyich, 44, on the Illicit Encounters website - an online dating service for married people - before whisking her away on luxury business trips where they romped in five-star hotels. The wealthy 55-year-old also had sex with her in his office in which she role-played as a 'sexy' secretary coming in for a job interview. Doyich, from West Hampstead, north-westLondon, later claimed she was carrying his child. But he ended their fling soon after - which sparked a wave of abuse against him and his wife. She even accused him of rape before dropping the allegation earlier this year. Doyich allegedly posted intimate details of their affair on social media site Twitter during the targeted campaign of harassment. She wrote that his wife was ugly and came from a trashy family - and claimed she had sexually assaulted her husband as he was not keen on having sex with her, the court heard. The businessman met Doyich on the Illicit Encounters website - an online dating service for married people (pictured, file photo) She uploaded pics of her unborn child online and turned up at the man's work unannounced, jurors were told. She also followed the couple's friends on Twitter and friends of their sons, Inner London crown court heard. Prosecutor Jenny Burgess said: 'At the end of 2016 the husband decided to embark on an extramarital affair. 'What he wanted was a little bit of fun. He did not intend to leave his wife and made this abundantly clear to her from the outset. However, he soon came to the realisation she wanted more.' The pair flew to Zurich on a 'business trip' in February last year. They stayed in a luxury five-star hotel, got spa treatments and had sex multiple times. But the affair took a twist on the journey home when she discovered her lover had been texting his wife. Back at home, the pair engaged in role-play sex at his office before jetting off to Paris a day later. She also followed the couple's friends on Twitter and friends of their sons, Inner London crown court heard But she became angry again after catching him texting his wife. She later told him she was pregnant. After hearing news of the child, the man came clean to his wife and said he had told his mistress that he never wanted to see her again. But she allegedly turned up at his London office and bombarded him with 81 unwanted phone calls. The man told the court: 'I felt under siege. I felt, 'What have I done and how can I stop it'?' He offered to fund an abortion, but the mistress said she'd keep the baby, it was said. She later claimed she had miscarried. The woman denies two counts of stalking, causing serious alarm or distress. Trial continues. Advertisement Eleven people have been killed, a million are without power and thousands have been left stranded after a fierce typhoon lashed Japan. Hundreds more were injured when homes and infrastructure along the west coast were devastated by Typhoon Jebi - Japan's most powerful storm in a quarter of a century. Kansai International Airport - one of the country's busiest - was cut off when a 2,500-ton tanker smashed into the terminal's sole access road meaning thousands had to spend the night in the partially flooded facility. This morning, boats were ferrying stranded passengers to the mainland while footage showed a caravan of buses making a perilous trip across the damaged bridge - yards from the spot where the ship had crashed into the carriageway amid 135mph winds yesterday. Runways were flooded as high waves washed into the facility on Tuesday, knocking out electricity and inundating buildings. Elsewhere, a large commercial ship was washed onto a breakwater, and shipping containers were left floating in the sea. In Kyoto, the former imperial capital and a popular tourist destination, wooden shrine buildings and tall orange-red entrance gates were knocked down. Soaring trees fell at a shrine in Nara, another historic city. Jebi, or 'swallow' in Korean, has since slammed into Russia territory - causing flash floods on Sakhalin Island to Japan's north. Kansai International Airport - one of the country's busiest - was cut off when a 2,500-ton tanker smashed into the terminal's sole access road (pictured today) meaning thousands had to spend the night in the partially flooded facility Kansai International Airport is built on artificial islands in Osaka Bay, and the high seas flooded one of its two runways (pictured), cargo storage and other facilities, said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. One passenger was slightly injured by shards from a window shattered by the storm Passengers stranded at Kansai International Airport queue outside the terminal today as they wait for the arrival of a special bus service to transport them out of the area, in Izumisato, western Japan More than 1.2 million people had been advised to leave their homes as Jebi approached the Kansai area - Japan's industrial heartland. Around 16,000 people spent the night in shelters, local media said. This was the scene today in Kobe, western Japan after cars were left piled up in a heap More than 100 used cars at a storage site caught fire after the area was submerged due to a high tide as Typhoon Jebi smashed into Nishinomiya Dozens of cars exploded into flames after their electrical systems were shorted out by sea water in a car park in Nishinomiya Aftermath: The winds were so powerful that they drove this ship up and over a breakwater in Nishinomiya, western Japan (pictured today) Jebi, or 'swallow' in Korean, has since slammed into Russia - causing flash floods (pictured) on Sakhalin Island to Japan's north By Wednesday lunchtime several hundred people had been ferried to Kobe on a specially chartered boat, but more than two thousand were still awaiting rescue. There was no indication yet when the airport, which runs over 400 flights a day, might reopen. 'We had a blackout so there was no air conditioning. It was hot,' a woman told public broadcaster NHK after being ferried to Kobe. 'I'd never expected this amount of damage from a typhoon.' Appearing relieved but exhausted, passengers said they had to spend the night feeling uneasy in the dark. Hideko Senoo, 51, who was planning a family trip to India, said she could not even buy drinks at vending machines after food at convenience stores were all sold out. 'We could not use vending machines or access to wireless local network to get information, and we didn't even know about this boat service,' she told Kyodo News. Another passenger, Miki Yamada, said she spent the night at an airport cafeteria, Kyodo said. 'It was a rather scary night, as we were so isolated.' Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the death toll in the storm stood at 10, with 300 people injured. Air passengers (pictured today) were forced to spend the night in Kansai International Airport after it was cut off in the fierce storm Scaffolding crumpled into the streets below when the typhoon lashed the city of Osaka in western Japan yesterday. A crane was brought in today to start the clean-up operation (pictured) The morning after: Trees were ripped out of the ground by the force of the 135mph typhoon as it ripped across Nishi-ku, Osaka city Road block: A major clean-up operation is getting underway in Japan today in the aftermath of 135mph Typhoon Jebi Japan woke up to scenes of devastation this morning with buildings torn to pieces and major infrastructure damaged. Wind damage is pictured at an industrial unit in Osaka today Dozens of large shipping containers stacked up at a port in the city of Osaka were tossed around in winds topping 135mph The powerful winds destroyed many buildings and structures, including a wall of the South Noh stage at Nishi Honganji temple in Kyoto (pictured today) A ship was driven up on to a sea wall (pictured today), such was the force of the wind when Typhoon Jebi struck in Nishinomiya, western Japan Giant cranes at a port in Nishinomiya, western Japan, came crashing down (pictured today) after being battered by high winds during the Typhoo A huge tanker came adrift (pictured) and smashed sideways into a bridge linking the mainland with Kansai International Airport Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tweeting on his official account, said the government was working to get the airport back online. 'We will do our best to get the airport functioning again,' he said. He said 2.4 million households had lost power in the storm, with service restored to only half by Wednesday morning. 'We continue to make utmost efforts to respond to disaster damage and restore infrastructure,' he added. The deaths included a man in his 70s who was blown to the ground from his apartment in Osaka prefecture. Police said five others died elsewhere in the prefecture after being hit by flying objects or falling from their apartments. In nearby Shiga prefecture, a 71-year-old man died when a storage building collapsed on him, and a man in his 70s died after falling from a roof in Mie, officials said. Debris is pictured at an industrial storage unit in the city of Osaka this morning - hours after Typhoon Jebi swept through the area Wind damage: Cladding was ripped off the outside of a number of buildings in the city of Osaka (pictured today) A 2,591-tonne tanker was sent crashing into a bridge connecting Kansai airport, built on a man-made island in a bay, to the mainland. The bridge was damaged but the tanker was empty and none of its crew was injured, the coast guard said Electricity pylons lie in twisted ruins after being brought down by the ferocity of gusts when the typhoon hit Tadaoka, Osaka A man stands next to the overturned car blown by strong wind as Typhoon Jebi, the strongest storm in 25 years, hit Osaka A car is squashed by fallen ad board in Wakayama, Japan. Eleven people were confirmed dead and a further 221 people injured Hundreds of flights have been cancelled across Japan after the typhoon struck. This was the scene at Kansai International Airport yesterday A truck sits at an angle on a bridge after being blown over by strong winds caused by Typhoon Jebi in Sakade, Japan Typhoon Jebi smashed the country's west coast as it made landfall yesterday with violent winds sparking evacuations in the area. This was the scene as boats and debris drifted along in the storm in Nishinomiya City Daihatsu Motor Co stopped production at its Kyoto and Osaka factories, while Panasonic halted work at its air conditioning and refrigerator factory in Shiga. Major beverage maker Kirin Co suspended production at its brewery in Kobe, according to Kyodo News agency. In nearby Nishinomiya in Hyogo prefecture, about 100 cars at a seaside dealership burned after their electrical systems were shorted out by sea water, fire officials and news reports said. In Osaka, the Universal Studios Japan theme park remained closed for a second straight day. A news release said it would open again on Thursday. More than 1.2 million people had been advised to leave their homes as Jebi approached the Kansai area - Japan's industrial heartland. Around 16,000 people spent the night in shelters, local media said. Japan is regularly hit by powerful typhoons in the summer and autumn, many of which cause flooding and landslides in rural areas. This was the view from a window at Kansai International airport in Japan after it was flooded during the typhoon Pile up: Cars were left in a crumpled heap after being blown over during the typhoon when it hit the city of Osaka Fierce winds toppled heavy containers stacked up near a port in the Japanese city of Osaka as the typhoon struck land Emergency response: Rescue teams walk past the remains of traffic lights which collapsed when the typhoon struck Osaka Tides in some areas were the highest since a typhoon in 1961 with flooding covering the runways at Kansai International Airport in Osaka. The strong winds sent a 2,591-tonne tanker crashing into a bridge (pictured) connecting the airport, built on a man-made island in a bay, to the mainland Jebi was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 1993. The storm headed north across Japan's main island of Honshu towards the Sea of Japan Jebi appears to have caused damage to the region's infrastructure on an unusual scale. In the tourist magnet of Kyoto - home to ancient temples and shrines - it brought down part of the ceiling of the main railway station, while in nearby Osaka, the high winds peeled scaffolding from a multi-story building. Footage on NHK showed a 328ft tall ferris wheel in Osaka spinning furiously in the strong wind despite being switched off. 'I've never seen such a thing,' a 19-year-old man at the scene told NHK. Businesses, factories and schools in the affected area shut down while the storm barrelled across the country, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights, ferry services and some bullet trains. Despite its strength, the storm was far from the deadliest Japan has seen in recent years. In 2011, Typhoon Talas killed at least 82 people in the area, while in 2013, a storm that hit south of Tokyo left 40 people dead. Earlier this year torrential rains lashed the west of the country, sparking flooding that killed more than 200 people as it laid waste to villages and caused hillsides to collapse. Japan's weather agency has issued warnings about possible landslides, flooding and violent winds, as well as high tides, lightning and tornadoes across of western Japan including the major cities of Osaka and Kyoto. Water crashes over a sea wall in Kochi Prefecture, western Japan Dash cam footage shows how lorries were blown over by the powerful winds as Japan suffered its worst storm in 25 years Powerful winds caused havoc in western parts of the country. Footage has emerged showing roofing panels being torn off buildings (left) and a ferris wheel being blown around by the force of the wind With winds of up to 100 mph at its centre, Jebi is classed as a 'very strong' typhoon, the weather agency's chief forecaster Ryuta Kurora said A U.S. soldier killed in eastern Afghanistan in an apparent insider attack has been identified as Army Command Sergeant Major Timothy Bolyard. Bolyard, 42, of Thornton, West Virginia, died on Monday of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Afghanistan's Logar province, the Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday. He was said to have been in Afghanistan supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel and was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade out of Fort Benning, Georgia. The Pentagon confirmed that Army Command Sergeant Major Timothy Bolyard, 42, of Thornton, West Virginia, died from wounds sustained during a suspected insider attack The attack occurred on Monday at 12:30pm at Camp Maiwand, Stars and Stripes reported. An Afghan Army official said that gunfire from within a police Humvee hit Bolyard and another US service member in the back and that the shooter was an Afghan police officer, who fled the scene but was later captured and detained. The second US service member was wounded, but said to be in stable condition. Bolyard joined the Army in 1994 and was an armor/cavalry scout senior sergeant on his 13th deployment overseas, eight of which were combat deployments, according to Newsweek. He was said to have been the highest enlisted soldier in his 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment unit, which was part of the Fort Benning 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Brigade. Star and Stripes said that Bolyard died while on his second deployment in Afghanistan and he had also previously been deployed in Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and Albania. Bolyard was on his 13th deployment when he died. It was said that a Afghan policeman shot at him and another US service member from inside a Humvee. The incident is under investigation Bolyard (center) was highly-decorated throughout his 24-year career, receiving six Bronze Star Medals two with valor as well as four Meritorious Service Medals, among others The attack was said to have occurred Monday at 12:30pm at Afghanistan's Camp Maiwand The highly-decorated soldier had been awarded six Bronze Star Medals two with valor as well as four Meritorious Service Medals, six Army Commendation Medals, nine Army Achievement Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal with four Campaign Stars, the Kosovo Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star and the Combat Action Badge, according to Army Times. The Pentagon said Monday's incident is under investigation. Insider attacks, often known as 'green on blue' attacks in which Afghan service members or attackers wearing Afghan uniforms fire on US or coalition troops, have been a regular feature of the conflict in Afghanistan, although their frequency has diminished in recent years. Bolyard is the second US service member to have been killed in a suspected insider attack this year. In July, the Pentagon said that Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, California, died of wounds sustained during an attack in Tarin Kowt District, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Two other service members were wounded in that attack. John Bash laid the hammer down on eagle-eyed liberals Tuesday after they accused his wife of making a white supremacist hand gesture during the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The US attorney said on social media neither he nor his Mexican-Jewish wife, Zina Bash, had a clue as to what the hateful signal stood for until she was suddenly chastised on Twitter for allegedly making it. Zina, who formerly served as a law clerk for Kavanaugh, sat directly behind him at the court hearing with her arms crossed. Her right hand was seemingly positioned in an 'OK' sign - which is commonly associated with members of the alt-right. Her furious husband later slammed the claims and said they are 'idiotic and sickening', and added he hopes 'people will clearly condemn' them. Brett Kavanaugh's former law clerk, Zina Bash, is pictured behind the Supreme Court nominee Tuesday at his hearing. She is accused of making an alt-right hand gesture above Zina's right hand is seemingly positioned in an 'OK' sign, which some claim is on purpose. Her husband called the claims against his Mexican-Jewish wife 'idiotic and sickening' The US attorney said neither he nor Zina had a clue as to what the hateful signal stood for until she was chastised for it on Twitter He wrote on Twitter: 'The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. 'We weren't even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing. 'Zina is Mexican on her mother's side and Jewish on her father's side. She was born in Mexico. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors.' Cato Institute fellow, Ilya Shapiro, also chimed in: 'My friend Zina Bash, whose father is Polish-American Jew (whose parents escaped the Holocaust) and mother immigrated from Mexico, is not a white supremacist.' Zina was born in Mexico and her grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust. She is pictured above with husband John Outgoing White House Counsel Don McGahn (R) and Zina Bash look on during the US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh to be Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 4, 2018 Bash and White House Counsel Don McGahn listen during the hearing on September 4, 2018 in Washington, DC Kavanaugh delivers his opening statement during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 4, 2018 Kavanaugh (C) is escorted by Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs Amy Swonger (L) and White House employee Bash (R) as he heads for a meeting on Capitol Hill July 11, 2018 in Washington, DC John went on to assure the public that his family does not take part in hate groups that 'aim to terrorize and demean other people.' He added straightforwardly: 'Never have and never would.' President Trump's former associate counsel further said the vicious comments were aimed at his young daughter for whatever reason. 'Some of the Twitter comments have even referred to our baby daughter... I know that there are good folks on both sides of the political divide,' the US attorney concluded in his message. John, seen left in Texas in March 2018, said Zina (right in her Facebook and LinkedIn photo) is Mexican on her mother's side and Jewish on her father's side. She was born in Mexico Harvard Law grad Zina, who is one of four children, has not personally remarked on the matter. Zina's father Dr Lawrence Richard Gelman met his wife Maria Esperanza in Monterrey, Mexico. They have been married 38 years. Speaking about his political affiliations he is quoted on empowertexans.com as saying: 'I don't belong to anything, I hate politicsWe [as a society] are affected by what goes on in Washington, and Austin; my involvement wasn't intentional, it was more of a self-defense. When you've got your kids, [you] want to try to return the way things used to be, the way things are supposed to be.' He received his medical degree in anesthesia from the Medical College of Wisconsin and has also penned the book 'The Fall from Grace' in 2014 which explores the 'gradual undermining of American constitutional values by the counter revolutionary forces of fascism.' Thousands are without power along the Gulf Coast and one child died after the region endured Tropical Storm Gordon that made landfall Tuesday. As of 11am Wednesday, Alabama Power said about 12,000 outages in the greater Mobile area remain, according to AL.com. Meanwhile a dozen Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos have been given permission to re-open a day after the threat of severe tropical weather forced them to close. Wednesday's announcement from gambling regulators was the latest sign of things getting back to normal on Mississippi's coast. Gambling hall closures are typical in advance of tropical storms and hurricanes, because casinos are in waterfront locations. While casinos themselves typically dont flood, access roads and parking areas often do. Tropical Storm Gordon came ashore just west of the Alabama line, then weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday as it moved north. The remnants are expected to pose a heavy rain and flood threat as it moves toward Arkansas and the Great Lakes region. Susan Jones walks through a flooded road from Tropical Storm Gordon, Wednesday, in Dauphin Island, Alabama A vehicle drives through a flooded street from Tropical Storm Gordon on Wednesday in Dauphin Island, Alabama Ndoc Nguyen waits on a pier as fishing boats return to harbor, after being moved inland due to Tropical Storm Gordon, which made landfall nearby Tuesday night, in Biloxi, Mississippi Gordon has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression as its moving inland but flooding is expected in its wake The storm has been blamed for the death of a baby who was killed when a tree limb fell on a mobile home in the Florida panhandle. Gordon made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday. Gordon was located about 35 miles south-southwest of Mobile, Alabama and was packing maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, the Miami-based weather forecaster said. A storm must reach winds of 74 miles per hour to reach hurricane status but never did. Authorities in northwest Florida say a tree fell on a mobile home, killing a child in Escambia County. It is the first death directly related to the tropical storm, according to WALA-TV. Tropical Storm Gordon hurled rough surf, high winds and heavy rain, strengthening as it spun toward the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. Gordon came ashore late Tuesday along the Mississippi Gulf coast near the Louisiana state line. Summer Ranaldson walks to her car in the rain as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches on Tuesday in Mobile, Alabama Charles Phanthapannha stands in the rain outside a bar as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches in Mobile late Tuesday Nick Eberlein, bartender at The Merry Widow, draws a new sign as Tropical Storm Gordon arrives at night on Tuesday in Mobile A woman uses a beach umbrella to stay dry as she crosses Scenic Highway 98 in Miramar Beach, Florida on Tuesday Boats ride out the incoming waves and rain from Tropical Storm Gordon in Dauphin Island, Alabama on Tuesday Tropical Storm Gordon hurled rough surf, high winds and heavy rain, strengthening as it spun toward the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. The image above was taken on Tuesday in Dauphin Island Authorities in Alabama say up to 32,000 people were without electricity in areas including Dauphin Island, Bayou la Batre, Theodore, downtown Mobile and West Mobile, according to local reports on Tuesday, but by Wednesday a majority of customers were back on. Earlier on Tuesday, families filled sandbags, took patio furniture inside and stocked up on batteries and bottled water as the Gulf Coast prepared for Gordon, which was forecast to become the second hurricane to hit the region in less than a year. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency and companies cut 9 per cent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production. The forecast calls for significant rainfall throughout the region - with southern Alabama and Mississippi seeing the most precipitation The intensity of the wind is expected to die down the further inland Gordon moves Authorities are concerned over potentially life-threatening storm surges along the coast 'Im asking all residents to do their part in getting ready for this storm,' New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement. 'The citys absolute No.1 priority is to ensure the safety of our residents.' Beaches around Mobile, Alabama, were being washed by storm-driven waves on Tuesday morning, said Stephen Miller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. The storm saw gusty winds and heavy rain along the coast of the western Florida Panhandle and along the Texas coast, the National Hurricane Center said in an afternoon advisory Tuesday. Video: storm surge flooding well ahead of #TropicalStormGordon on the west side of Dauphin Island, AL @breakingweather @accuweather pic.twitter.com/1C9cV0eDb1 Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) September 4, 2018 The satellite image taken on Tuesday night shows the storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast In Mississippi, state officials ordered 12 casinos along the Gulf Coast to close as Gordon approaches Laura Cunningham (left), Hunter Shows (center), and Brandon Perry (right) watch the waves crash from Tropical Storm Gordon on Tuesday in Dauphin Island Update: storm surge, strong wind with road under a few feet of water west side of Dauphin Island, AL #TropicalStormGordon @breakingweather @accuweather #alwx pic.twitter.com/E3CuseicUE Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) September 5, 2018 A car drives through a road as it slowly begins to flood as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches on Tuesday in Dauphin Island, Alabama U.S. oil producer Anadarko Petroleum Corp evacuated workers and shut production at two offshore oil platforms on Monday, and other companies with production and refining operations along the Gulf Coast said they were securing facilities. The Gulf of Mexico is home to 17 per cent of U.S. crude oil and 5 percent of natural gas output daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last year, hurricanes hit Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing widespread destruction and thousands of deaths. The Inn at Ocean Springs and the Roost Hotel in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, had guests planning to ride out the storm, said Kristin Smith, general manager of both hotels. 'A lot of guests are real comfortable sticking it out in our rooms,' Smith said in a telephone interview. 'Any of our guests who feel like they want to go home we encourage them to follow their instincts.' Just hours before the storm was expected to come ashore, a few people remained on the beach, soaking in the sun before the tropical rain bands became more numerous. Others did their familiar pre-storm preparation rituals, including the staff at The Hotel Whiskey in Pass Christian, Mississippi, only about a block away from the Gulf of Mexico. Storm clouds loom over a beach as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches Waveland, Mississippi, on Tuesday Chris Stebly tries to catch some waves as Tropical Storm Gordon heads towards the coast on Tuesday in Dauphin Island, Alabama Children play in the sand on Crystal Beach as waves from Tropical Storm Gordon churn the Gulf of Mexico in Destin, Florida, Tuesday Mitchell Nugent paddles a board toward waves near Crystal Beach as Tropical Storm Gordon churns the Gulf of Mexico in Destub, Florida, Tuesday Sheets of rain and heavy clouds move into the city ahead of the landfall of Tropical Storm Gordon in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tuesday Residents fill bags with sand as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches Bay St. Louis, Mississippi Inmates with the Hancock County Department of Corrections fill bags with sand as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches Bay St. Louis, Mississippi Governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all declared states of emergency for Gordon, allowing them to quickly mobilize state resources and National Guard troops to help during and after the storm. The storm is still forecast to go above the 74 mph threshold to be a hurricane before hitting land late Tuesday or on Wednesday. The US Coast Guard has already closed Mississippi ports in Gulfport and Pascagoula and the port in Mobile, Alabama, in anticipation of hurricane force winds within 12 hours. President Donald Trump said in a tweet the federal government is ready to help anyone in Tropical Storm Gordons path. A storm surge warning has been issued for the area stretching from Shell Beach, Louisiana, to Dauphin Island, Alabama. The warning means there is danger of life-threatening inundation. The region could see rising waters of 3 to 5 feet. 'The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large waves,' the center said. Senior Hurricane Specialist Stacy Stewart watches monitors at the National Hurricane Center, Tuesda in Miami Evan Green, 8, gets out of the water as the first clouds from Tropical Storm Gordon come in on Tuesday in Dauphin Island Sailors prepare the Sea Biscuit to leave Long Beach Harbor Tuesday in Long Beach, Mississippi, in advance of Tropical Storm Gordon Kamdn Boose, 4, helps his family fill sandbags at Long Beach Harbor, Mississippi, Tuesday Miami Beach Police said via Twitter that the Labor Day holiday was 'NOT a beach day,' with rough surf and potential rip currents. Red flags flew over Pensacola-area beaches in Floridas Panhandle, where swimming and wading in the Gulf of Mexico was prohibited. More than 4,000 Florida Power & Light customers lost power Monday due to weather conditions. Separately, Tropical Storm Florence continues to hold steady over the eastern Atlantic. Forecasters say little change in strength is expected in coming days and no coastal watches or warnings are in effect. Storm Gordon has seen oil prices break past $70 per barrel, after two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms were evacuated as the hurricane rolls in. A surfer enjoys the waves kicked up by Tropical Storm Gordon Monday in Miami as heavy rain and gusty winds are hitting the Keys and south Florida Walter Augier (L) and Jhon M. fish as rain and wind are whipped up by Tropical Storm Gordon in Miami Monday Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the leading social network and other internet firms are in an arms race to defend democracy against 'sophisticated adversaries'. Writing in the Washington Post, Zuckerberg argues that Facebook's enemies were 'getting smarter over time' and that public and private sectors needed to join forces. Zuckerberg's op-ed came on the eve of hearings during which lawmakers are expected to grill top executives from Facebook and Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, said social networks like his are in an arms race with 'sophisticated adversaries' in the fight for democracy Google's potential participation in these hearings is unclear. The hearings come with online firms facing intense scrutiny for allowing the propagation of misinformation and hate speech, and amid allegations of political bias from the president and his allies. 'Companies such as Facebook face sophisticated, well-funded adversaries who are getting smarter over time, too,' Zuckerberg said in an op-ed piece outlining progress being made on the front by the leading social network. 'It's an arms race, and it will take the combined forces of the US private and public sectors to protect America's democracy from outside interference.' After days of vitriol from President Donald Trump, big Silicon Valley firms face lawmakers with a chance to burnish their image - or face a fresh bashing. Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg were set to appear at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday. Zuckerberg's op-ed on 'defending democracy' came on the eve of hearings during which lawmakers are expected to grill top executives from Facebook and Twitter. Lawmakers were seeking a top executive from Google or its parent Alphabet, but it remained unclear if the search giant would be represented. Sources familiar with the matter said Google offered chief legal officer Kent Walker, who the company said is most knowledgeable on foreign interference, but that senators had asked for the participation of CEO Sundar Pichai or Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Dorsey testifies later in the day at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on online 'transparency and accountability.' The tech giants are likely to face a cool reception at best from members of Congress, said Roslyn Layton, an American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar specializing in telecom and internet issues. 'The Democrats are upset about the spread of misinformation in the 2016 election, and the Republicans over the perception of bias,' Layton said. 'They are equally angry, but for different reasons.' Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a University of Pennsylvania professor and author of an upcoming book on Russia's role in election hacking, said the hearings could give the companies a platform to explain how they operate. 'Hearings are an opportunity as well as a liability,' she said. 'These companies have put in place fixes (on foreign manipulation) but they have done it incrementally, and they have not communicated that to a national audience.' The Australian tourism and travel website Wotif is celebrating its 18th birthday by funding the construction of a new 'big thing' - and the final decision on what it is and where it goes will be left up to the public. The monument is set to join the ranks of Australia's other great tourism attractions, including the Big Banana and Big Pineapple. Voting opened on Wednesday, and people can lodge their ideas and their favoured potential location. The Australian tourism and travel website Wotif is celebrating its 18th birthday by funding a new 'big thing' for the nation The monument is set to join the ranks of Australia's other great tourism attractions, including the Big Banana (pictured) and Big Pineapple Wotif has provided a series of inspirational mock-ups of potential Big Things, with ideas spanning from Big Grapes in the Barossa Valley to the Big Bin Chicken in Sydney Harbour. Research commissioned by Wotif suggests Australians as a whole affiliate the well-known monuments with the country and are proud of their connotations. 'Widely regarded as a cult Aussie phenomenon, the research reveals our fascination with 'Big Things', including a desire to travel around the country to visit these oversized monuments,' the findings reveal. Wotif has provided a series of inspirational mock-ups of potential Big Things, with ideas including Big Grapes in the Barossa Valley Another popular choice is the Big Bin Chicken near Sydney Harbour 'Ninety per cent of Aussies have visited a 'Big Thing' in their lifetime and the average traveller has visited five 'Big Things'.' Wotif also said more than half of Australians will choose to stop off while on the highway if they pass one of the items, while 39 per cent will travel out of their way to visit one while on a road trip. Wotif believes a new Big Thing is a great way to boost tourism and give back to the people and places that helped build their success. The site started as a backyard business and has grown to a multi-million dollar company, booking approximately four hotel rooms for customers every minute. This week Larry the Lobster (pictured) was saved from being relocated from the small coastal town of Kingston, South Australia The Big Merino is a famous monument that attracts a host of tourists and visitors each year 'Regional Australia plays a critical role in the Australian tourism industry, accounting for 44 cents of every tourism dollar spent here. But it is often overlooked,' Wotif managing director Daniel Finch said. 'As the search for Australia's 'Next Big Thing' begins, we are excited to be able to put not just the big cities, but also regional areas on the map to create excitement within these communities and a new reason to visit, helping to boost local economies.' The Big Footy is a popular example of what Wotif could create if it is voted as the best option Is the Big Camel the one? Participants must vote if they want it to take up residency in their home town The competition comes as one of Australia's most beloved Big Things was sold this week. Larry the Big Lobster, situated in the small coastal town of Kingston, South Australia, was bought by a millionaire pastoralist to save it from being relocated. There are roughly 150 things in Australia's collection of large objects scattered across the country, including the Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, the Big Merino and the Big Prawn. All entries will be judged by a panel within Wotif, with a shortlist of finalists announced on September 25. The public will then have two weeks to vote on their favourite, and by midday on October 9, Australia's Next Big Thing will be decided. Wotif is hoping for the project to be completed and unveiled by the end of 2018. Saving up for your first property can be a long process that seems almost impossible. And now new research released by financial comparison website RateCity reveals how long it really takes to put away enough money for a deposit in Australia's capital cities. Prospective homeowners in Sydney have the longest wait as the study shows it's the most expensive city in the country to buy property. The study shows prospective homeowners in Sydney have the longest wait to save up for a home deposit A couple with two incomes can take five years to save for a deposit on a property in Sydney New research released by financial comparison website RateCity reveals how long it really takes to save for a deposit in Australia's capital cities To afford a 10 per cent deposit for a median-priced unit of $740,093, home owners will have to save for a grand total of nine years and six months if they are putting away $200 per week. A couple with two incomes who put away a total of $400 per week can reduce the overall time to five years. Melbourne fares slightly better, with buyers saving around $200 per week waiting about six years before they can reach their goal. Darwin has proved to be the easiest city to get a foothold on the property ladder, with single buyers able to afford a deposit after just over three years of saving. This is reduced to one year and seven months for those who can afford to save $400 a week. Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide remain among the more affordable of Australia's cities. RateCity research director Sally Tindall remains optimistic about the new figures, believing they prove getting into the housing market is tough, but not impossible. 'As the property market declines and investors dip out, there's now a real opportunity for first home buyers to get into the market,' she said. 'There are a couple of things they can do to maximise their chances of getting a home. They include saving a big enough deposit to avoid paying lenders mortgage insurance and taking advantage of the first home buyer grants and stamp duty exemptions in your state.' RateCity's tips for hopeful property owners including avoiding paying stamp duty where possible. For example in Melbourne, if a first homebuyer purchased a property under $600K they will be exempt from stamp duty. Another top tip is to make your cash go further by parking it in a high-interest-earning savings account or a term deposit. RateCity's tips for hopeful property owners including avoiding paying stamp duty where possible A two-year-old Florida boy has been found dead five days after his mother says he was kidnapped by a man after they both got into his car while they were out walking at night. The body of Jordan Belliveau was found in woodland in the city of Largo on Tuesday. That same day his mother, Charisse Stinson, was charged with first-degree murder. Cops did not say what evidence led to that charge or how they think the boy died. The 21-year-old said she and Jordan were walking on Saturday night when she accepted a ride from a stranger named 'Antwan' in a white Toyota Camry. She told them he punched her in the face and knocked her unconscious. Jordan Belliveau was found in woodland in the city of Largo on Tuesday. That same day his mother, Charisse Stinson, was charged with first-degree murder Jordan and the man were gone when she woke up hours later in some nearby woods, she claimed. Police have released a sketch of the man they are hunting over the incident. Stinson denied knowing who he was. 'THE AMBER Alert for Jordan Belliveau has been canceled. Sadly, the child has been found deceased,' the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said in a tweet on Tuesday. Police on Monday recovered 'bloody items' from the apartment where Stinson lived with Jordan, although they did not explain whether these were connected to his disappearance, reported ABC News. Prior to her arrest for murder, Largo police Maj. Stephen Slaughter called Stinson a 'struggling single mom.' He confirmed Monday that child protective services had investigated the family for domestic violence, and officers recovered bloody items from the home. Jordan's mother claimed he was abducted by a driver who invited them into his car. Pictured is a photo of Jordan (left) and a police sketch of the alleged abductor Jordan's father, also called Jordan Belliveau, has written on social media about his distress since his son went missing. The 22-year-old said he was celebrating his birthday in a hotel when Stinson told him Jordan was missing. Belliveau told the Tampa Bay Times he was high at the time so went to sleep but started searching for him the next day. He texted Stinson to say 'just tell me where he is', to which she replied a minute later: 'I do not know if I knew where my baby was we would not be going through this.' He and Stinson had a tempestuous relationship and faced financial problems, according to court records. On July 14, Belliveau was arrested after Stinson accused him of punching her when he tried to drop Jordan off. She did not want the boy back at the time, the mother told police. Belliveau is set to be arraigned on September 24 and denies the charges. Law enforcement at the spot where Jordan was found on Tuesday. His mother was taken into custody BREAKING: @LargoPD confirm the body of missing 2-year-old Jordan Belliveau was found in a wooden area south of McMullen Rd in Largo. #Florida. Devastated family members are hoping for more answers in this case. Calling for #JusticeForJordan @10NewsWTSP pic.twitter.com/WjEezxm462 Sarah Rosario (@sarahbrosario) September 4, 2018 Belliveau was also arrested in January 2017 over claims he held a gun to Stinson's head and left red marks around her throat. Then in April that year, Stinson was arrested accused of domestic battery against Belliveau, who the next day asked for charges not to be filed. They both argued over who should look after Jordan, who they called 'Junior', and never married. Stinson also faced an eviction order over allegations she had failed to pay rent. The Australian Paramedics Association has apologised for claiming the family of a dying man attacked ambulance workers who were trying to save him. The outraged family of Sydney man Hamze Ibrahim, 25, hotly disputed reports they acted aggressively towards paramedics, leading to an APA investigation. Representatives of the New South Wales APA have now concluded there were 'factual inaccuracies' in the report, and have apologised unreservedly. APA NSW secretary Steve Pearce on Sunday claimed relatives of Mr Ibrahim were responsible for his death by hindering paramedics called to revive him. The Australian Paramedics Association has apologised for claiming the family of a dying man (pictured with his wife) attacked ambulance workers who were trying to save him The outraged family of Sydney man Hamze Ibrahim (pictured with his wife Hanan), 25, hotly disputed reports they acted aggressively towards paramedics 'Any statement in the previous media release to the effect that Mr Ibrahim's family members either contributed or were in any way responsible for his death is wholly incorrect and should not have been published,' the APA said in a statement. 'Likewise, APA further acknowledges that at no time did Mr Ibrahim's family members obstruct or threaten paramedics. 'APA deeply regrets publishing its previous media release and unreservedly apologises for any grief, embarrassment or distress it caused to family members of Mr Ibrahim.' The initial report claimed paramedics treating Mr Ibrahim for a drug overdose were attacked and forced to take refuge inside a unit in Riverwood, in Sydney's west, on Sunday morning. APA NSW secretary Steve Pearce (pictured) on Sunday claimed relatives of Mr Ibrahim were responsible for his death by hindering paramedics called to revive him Representatives of the News South Wales APA have now concluded there were 'factual inaccuracies' in the report, and apologised unreservedly (pictured is the scene of the incident) Claims 80 angry men surrounded the unit and demanded drugs and a defibrillator to treat the dying man themselves were denied by family members. Mr Ibrahim's cousin, who gave his name as Issa, denied anyone was aggressive towards paramedics. 'Yes, there were a lot of people there but no one attacked nobody. We were listening, we were cooperating, and doing exactly what the sergeant was telling us,' he said. 'The only thing that was wrong over there was, you know, the females crying and getting a bit loud, but they weren't aggressive towards police.' Issa called the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday morning to defend police reports that his cousin died from a drug overdose. The initial report claimed paramedics treating Mr Ibrahim (pictured with wife Hanan) for a drug overdose were attacked and forced to take refuge inside a unit '[The claims] make my cousin sound like he's a junkie, when he had never taken a drug in his life,' he said. He said his family was 'thankful' for the paramedics' presence at the scene. Following the interview, Mr Ibrahim's family's lawyer Raed Rahal released a statement hitting back at the Australian Paramedics Association's version of the morning's events. The family claimed Mr Ibrahim suffered from sleep apnoea and did not use drugs. 'Many members of Mr. Ibrahim's extended family and his friends attended the residence upon hearing of this tragedy,' the statement read. 'The large number of people who did attend were emotional and many had difficulty accepting what had occurred, however, none were violent or threatening towards paramedics or police. Mr Ibrahim's cousin, who gave his name as Issa, denied anyone was aggressive towards paramedics (pictured is Mr Ibrahim, with his wife) 'The sheer number of people, who did attend the residence, and the tense emotional circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a 25-year-old man, may have caused the paramedics to believe they required police attendance. 'The inaccurate comments made on behalf of the association, which in essence, blames the family for the death of Mr Ibrahim, are totally devoid of compassion and empathy.' 'Mr Ibrahim was a hard working and dedicated family man who was loved and respected by family and friends,' Mr Rahal said. 'He leaves behind a wife, a mother, siblings and a large extended family who are all devastated at his sudden passing.' Police also disputed the initial APA report, saying fewer than 20 officers attended in contrast to the 150 claimed by paramedics. New figures show that the vast majority of offences in Victoria are committed by Australians and New Zealanders, despite the popularly held view that South Sudanese immigrants commit more crime. Earlier this year former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that there was 'real concern about Sudanese gangs' in Melbourne. Nyadol Nyuon, a practising lawyer and social justice advocate, defended the South Sudanese community to ABC's News Breakfast program, saying that 'South Sudanese commit about 1 per cent of the offences'. New crime figures show that the vast majority of crime in Victoria is committed by Australians and New Zealanders (pictured, a car involved in a brawl in Collingwood) Earlier this year former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that there was 'real concern about Sudanese gangs' in Melbourne (Victorian police pictured) The claim is backed up by the new figures from the Crime Statistics Agency, which show that in the 12 months to March 2018 Australian and New Zealanders made up 73.5 per cent of alleged crimes committed in Victoria. The figures also show that people born in Sudan and South Sudan made up 1.1 per cent of crimes committed in the state. There has been much debate over the issue following high-profile incidents in recent years, including groups of youths rioting during the 2016 Melbourne Moomba festival, the vandalising of the Ecoville Community Centre in Tarneit in 2017, and the alleged murder of a 19-year-old Sudanese woman in a Melbourne apartment building earlier this year. In the early hours of Sunday morning, 200 people were involved in a mass brawl on the a Collingwood street that resulted in a man being struck by a vehicle. Many of those involved were reportedly of African and Pacific Islander descent. In the early hours of Sunday morning 200 people were involved in a mass brawl on a Collingwood street CRIMES COMMITTED IN VICTORIA BY NATIONALITY 2017 Australia 71.3 per cent Sudan / South Sudan 1.1 India 1.4 New Zealand 2.2 UK and Ireland 1.3 Vietnam 1.1 Advertisement The issue will be at the forefront of Victoria's election in November. Australians account for 64.8 per cent of the state's population, New Zealanders 1.6 per cent, and people born in Sudan and South Sudan account for just 0.14 per cent. This means there is a greater crime rate when compared to population for South Sudanese immigrants. However, some contest that the group's age range accounts for their over-representation, not their nationality. 'We know that the heightened time of offending is between 18 and 25 years,' Monash University's Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes told the ABC. 'When you're talking about comparing Sudanese groups with other groups, they're a very young group and they need to be age-standardised in order for you to make these comparisons,' she added. Members of the public have already reported 7000 incidents of an elaborate new scam. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) warned more than $200,000 has already been handed over to the thieves, who threaten targets with outstanding bills. The scammers are calling taxpayers and impersonating tax officers, claiming the person has a debt to pay. The scammers are calling taxpayers and impersonating tax officers, claiming the person has a debt to pay They then ask for the phone number of the victim's tax agent, and create a three-way phone conversation with a second impersonator, this time pretending to be an employee at the tax agent's office. They then suggest there is a warrant out for the victim's arrest, and convince them to clear an alleged debt to clear the warrant. 'One recent example had a taxpayer unfortunately thinking the telephone conversation was legitimate, and ended up withdrawing thousands of dollars in cash and depositing it into a Bitcoin ATM, fearing the police had a warrant out for his arrest,' Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson told Tweed Daily News. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) warned more than $200,000 has already been handed over to the thieves, who threaten targets with outstanding bills The timeliness of the scam has only enhanced its effectiveness, with people often expecting calls from the ATO during tax time. 'We are at the halfway point of tax time, and we've seen an increase in reports in recent months. In September we typically see these high volumes continue, so we are warning the community to be on the lookout for things that don't look or feel quite right,' Ms Anderson said. 'During July and August the ATO received over 7000 scam reports to our dedicated phone line, with close to $190,000 being paid to scammers and over 1600 people handed over their personal or financial information.' She also said the fake tax debt is still the most successful scam in the market, while others are continuing to rise. 'It's very hard to get your money back.' Consumers are told to maintain awareness and report any activity that doesn't seem quite right to ATO's dedicated scams line, 1800 008 540. A 17-year-old has been arrested after balancing himself on a tripod over a train line, in a dangerous protest against coal mining. Newcastle teenager Ballyn Teagle hung from the ten metre high tripod at the Hunter River Rail Bridge at Sandgate where he then started a Facebook live stream. His video started at around 6am this morning and he said he was protesting to support Frontline Action on Coal. Newcastle teenager Ballyn Teagle (17) hung from the ten metre high tripod at the Hunter River Rail Bridge at Sandgate where he then started a Facebook live stream Police arrived at 6.15am and urged him to come down. Despite initial refusals, the teenager was eventually removed by Police Rescue at around 8.30am. Teagle had also erected a banner which read 'Where is our plan?' and he said in his Facebook live stream that he was calling on everyone from executives to the general public to 'think outside their wallets' when it comes to coal. 'The fact that we have no meaningful plan to transition from fossil fuels frustrates me beyond belief,' he said. 'We have had the technology for years and still our leaders drag their feet, actively ignoring the obvious warning signs of a world heating up.' The coal industry brings in $47 billion to the economy every year and employs 80,000 workers. Rail services were suspended during the protest and NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that a male supporter in the vicinity was also arrested. He was taken to Waratah Police station where he is expected to be charged for trespassing, aid and abet offences, Police said. Frontline Action on Coal provided regular updates on Teagle's situation to followers on Facebook throughout the protest. 'The fact that we have no meaningful plan to transition from fossil fuels frustrates me beyond belief,' the teenager said in his Facebook live stream of the protest 'Ballyn has been taken into police custody and we're hoping he will be released soon,' the group wrote in its latest update. 'Ballyn's action this morning is a testament to the fact that young people have had enough of the governments inaction in ensuring that they, and their children, have a future that isn't destroyed by climate change,' a spokesperson for Frontline Action on Coal told Daily Mail Australia. 'Ballyn had, and continues to have the full support of Frontline Action on Coal, and we thank him for standing up for what he and many other Australians believe: that we can no longer wait for dysfunctional governments to take action on ensuring Australia's greenhouse gas emissions decrease and is instead taking that power into their own hands.' Police arrived at 6.15am and urged him to come down. Despite initial refusals, the teenager was eventually removed by Police Rescue at around 8.30am The spokesperson also said that Ballyn was in 'very high spirits' and is preparing for a number of live TV interviews this evening. This is the second time this week that protestors have strung themselves over railway lines in the Sandgate area. On Monday, university student Sarah Barron also balanced over a railway line in support of Frontline Action on Coal. Barron and two others were arrested and charged. Ivanka Trump reportedly was offended when she was told by strategist Steve Bannon she was merely a White House 'staffer' by answering: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter,' it has been claimed. Famed reporter Bob Woodward includes the explosive anecdote in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House. Excerpts of the book were reported on Tuesday by The Washington Post. In the book, Woodward writes of an 'expletive-laden altercation' between the then-adviser Bannon and President Donald Trump's eldest daughter. In the exchange, a furious Bannon lashed out at Ivanka Trump. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon reportedly yelled at her. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Scroll down for video Ivanka Trump reportedly was offended when she was told by strategist Steve Bannon she was merely a White House 'staffer' by answering: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter,' it has been claimed. She is seen outside her Washington, D.C. home last month 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter,' Ivanka is reported to have told Bannon. Bannon was said to have been upset with Ivanka's reported tendency to bypass the standard chain of command and take up issues directly with her father. Every other White House aide was required to report to the chief of staff at the time, Reince Priebus. But the reported exchange apparently highlighted the fact that Ivanka felt she was not bound by the same rules. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are senior advisers to the president even though they have no previous experience in government. The reported clash between Ivanka and Bannon is one of a number of shocking details about the inner workings of the Trump White House as told by Woodward. According to the author, Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated last year but his defense secretary ignored the request. Bannon was said to have been upset with Ivanka's reported tendency to bypass the standard chain of command and take up issues directly with her father Woodward often depicts top Trump aides as sometimes disregarding presidential orders to limit what they saw as damaging and dangerous behavior. 'It's just another bad book,' Trump told the Daily Caller. The Republican president said in a Twitter post that quotes in the book attributed to Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and others 'were made up frauds, a con on the public.' The book portrays Trump as prone to profane outbursts and impulsive decision-making, painting a picture of chaos that Woodward says amounts to an 'administrative coup d'etat' and a 'nervous breakdown' of the executive branch. According to the book, Trump told Mattis that he wanted to have Assad assassinated after the Syrian president launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017. Mattis told Trump he would 'get right on it,' but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally. Famed reporter Bob Woodward includes the explosive anecdote in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House Mattis told associates after a separate incident that Trump acted like 'a fifth- or sixth-grader,' according to the book. In a statement on Tuesday, Mattis dismissed the book as 'a uniquely Washington brand of literature' and said the contemptuous words about Trump attributed to him 'were never uttered by me or in my presence.' White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the book was 'nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad.' Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, cast doubt on the account about Assad. 'I have the pleasure of being privy to those conversations ... and I have not once heard the president talk about assassinating Assad,' Haley told reporters on Tuesday. Woodward gained national fame for his reporting on the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, and has since written a number of books that provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of presidential administrations and other Washington institutions. For this book, Woodward spoke to top aides and other insiders with the understanding that he would not reveal how he got his information, the Post reported. Among his other revelations: former top economic adviser Gary Cohn stole a letter off Trump's desk that the president planned to sign that would withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. The book portrays President Donald Trump (above) as prone to profane outbursts and impulsive decision-making, painting a picture of chaos that Woodward says amounts to an 'administrative coup d'etat' and a 'nervous breakdown' of the executive branch Cohn, who tried to rein in Trump's protectionist impulses, also planned to remove a similar memo that would have withdrawn the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, Woodward wrote. 'I'll just take the paper off his desk,' Cohn told another White House aide, according to the book. Trump said that did not take place. 'It's just made up,' he told the Daily Caller. The United States remains part of both trade agreements as it negotiates new terms. Other aides insulted Trump behind his back. Kelly called Trump an 'idiot,' and said, 'We're in Crazytown. ... This is the worst job I've ever had.' Trump treated top aides with scorn, the book says, telling Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was past his prime and calling Attorney General Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded.' Trump insists Bob Woodward's book interview request never made it to the Oval Office President Donald Trump complained on a recorded phone call no one ever contacted him about veteran journalist Bob Woodward's interview request then complained advisor Kellyanne Conway should have come to him directly. The Washington Post released a recorded August 14 phone call between the famously well-sourced author and the president soon after the paper reported on a copy of 'Fear,' Woodward's forthcoming book on Trump. Trump does admit at one point during the call that a senator had passed along Woodward's request for an interview, but at other times says he had no idea about it. The call begins with Woodward, after alerting the president he was recording, regretting the two hadn't been able to connect and Trump saying he wished he had known about the book which was already coming out at the time of the call. 'She should have come to me,' Trump said of Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, (seen at the White House on August 29) during a conversation with Bob Woodward about an interview request Trump claims he never was told about 'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?' Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room. At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call. 'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her. Conway then told Woodward: 'Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names. 'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he got no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump got back on. Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly. 'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said. 'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said. Advertisement Kelly, in remarks released by the White House, said he never called the president an idiot and called the story 'total BS.' Trump has grown paranoid and anxious over an ongoing federal inquiry into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, prompting aides to compare Trump to former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, Woodward reported. Trump's former lawyer John Dowd conducted a mock interview with Trump to convince him that he would commit perjury if he agreed to talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation, the book says. Trump did not speak with Woodward until the manuscript was complete, the newspaper reported. 'So I have another bad book coming out. Big deal,' Trump told Woodward, according to a transcript of a telephone call released by the Post. A father-of-28 has pleaded guilty to sexual assault in court and was told to set an example for his children and stop offending before it was too late. Queensland man Victor Francis Sebasio, 61, from Bamaga in the farthest regions of the state faced Cairns District Court and pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault. Sebasio was already on a suspended sentence for a prior conviction for a sexually related crime, just two months after appearing in court for an earlier breach of that same conviction, the Cairns Post reported. Queensland man Victor Francis Sebasio, 61, from Bamaga in the farthest regions of the state faced Cairns District Court and pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault Defence barrister James Sheridan told the court his client had turned to the church in an effort to curve his ways and rehabilitate. However Judge Dean Morzone told Sebasio that his actions had shown a demonstration of 'your disrespect of (the victim), she felt sick on seeing you in the community' before sentencing him to four months jail. The sentence was suspended for a period of six months. The incident, which occurred in May of 2017, took place at Sebasio's workplace in Cairns where he approached a female co-worker from behind. He grabbed her by the hips and touched her inappropriately before she was able to push him away. Prosecutor Aaron Dunkerton spoke on behalf of the victim and said the woman's daily life had been impacted by the assault. 'This was an uninvited sexual advance in the workplace, she couldnt go back to work because she felt uncomfortable working around males,' he said. Before sentencing Judge Morzone had some choice words for Sebasio. According to figures released by the Queensland Police Service 208 sexual offences occurred in a Queensland workplace between 2016 and 2017 'Let this be the last time you are in this place and show an example to the 28 children you have fathered,' he said. According to figures released by the Queensland Police Service 208 sexual offences occurred in a Queensland workplace between 2016 and 2017, 51 of those were rape or attempted rape and 157 were for all other sexual offences. However overall, sexual offences in Queensland between 2016 and 2017 dropped by 11 per cent, which was 660 less reported offences from the number reported in the previous financial year. 'As with previous years, Northern Region recorded the highest rates of offences against the person,' the statistical report read. Donald Trump has slammed Bob Woodward's bombshell book as a 'fraud' and denied ever calling attorney general Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded'. 'The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions mentally retarded and a dumb southerner". I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!' he tweeted at 11pm on Tuesday. Trump also tweeted statements from John Kelly and James Mattis that refuted quotes attributed to them by Woodward questioning his mental faculties. Kelly allegedly called Trump an 'idiot' while Mattis compared him to a 'fifth grader'. 'The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?' Scroll down for video Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday to accuse famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward of fabricating quotes and information in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House At 11pm [ET] Trump went on to deny another claim in the book regarding slurs he allegedly made against Attorney General Jeff Sessions 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner,' Trump (left, on August 29) reportedly said of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia probe. He is pictured in DC on August 31 Trump repeatedly ripped into sessions after he decided to to recuse himself from the Russia probe. In addition to calling him a 'traitor', the President allegedly said: 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.' Woodward quoted Kelly as ripping in to Trump after he blew a fuse at a meeting. 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails,' the White House Chief of Staff allegedly said. 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' But Kelly hit back at the claims on Tuesday, saying in a statement: 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite... 'This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.' In another episode, Trump questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea. When Trump asked about it, Defense Secretary Mattis schooled him: 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III. Mattis then told colleagues Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.' But on Tuesday he denied the account, saying: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. 'While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Rob Manning, said Mattis was never interviewed by Woodward. 'Mr. Woodward never discussed or verified the alleged quotes included in his book with Secretary Mattis' or anyone within the Defense Department, Manning said. Previous accounts during Trump's first year had former secretary of state Rex Tillerson calling Trump a 'moron,' and Tillerson did not explicitly deny it. This would mean three of Trump's most senior advisors have ridiculed his mental capacity. Woodward also reported that after Syria's Bashar Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them' Mattis assured Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they'd do nothing of the kind, Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Trump ultimately ordered. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley denied Tuesday that Trump had ever planned to assassinate Assad. She told reporters at U.N. headquarters that she had been privy to conversations about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks, 'and I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad.' She said people should take what is written in books about the president with 'a grain of salt.' Defense Secretary Mattis (left, at the Pentagon on August 28) and Kelly, White House chief of staff, (right, in the White House on August 27) both questioned quotes attributed to them Trump also tweeted official statements from Kelly and Mattis as part of a barrage of posts on Tuesday evening In a taped phone call with Trump that the journalist released hand-in-hand with excerpts from the forthcoming book on Tuesday, Woodward recounts how he tried to reach the president to fact-check claims he had made. Trump says he wished he had known about the book which was already coming out at the time of the call. 'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?' Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room. At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call. 'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her. Conway then told Woodward: 'Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names. 'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he got no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump got back on. Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly. 'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said. 'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said. The president noted that the book was almost certain to contain embarrassing information about his administration - and that it would probably be 'very inaccurate' as he geared up for the coming bloodbath. Woodward assured him that it wouldn't, and the two ended the call that took place in August amicably. Highlights: The most searing quotes in Bob Woodward's book WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TRUMP: JOHN KELLY, CHIEF OF STAFF: 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: 'Fifth- or sixth-grader' REX TILLERSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: 'He's a f***ing moron.' JOHN DOWN, FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'F***ing liar.' JOHN DOWD ON HOW TRANSCRIPT OF A MUELLER INTERVIEW WOULD BE DESCRIBED BY FOREIGN LEADERS: 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?' GARY COHN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: 'A professional liar' ROB PORTER, FORMER STAFF SECRETARY WHO QUIT WHEN BOTH EX-WIVES ACCUSED HIM OF ABUSE: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' WHAT THEY SAID TO EACH OTHER: STEVE BANNON TO IVANKA TRUMP: 'You're nothing but a f***ing staffer! You walk around this place and act like you're on charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' IVANKA TRUMP TO STEVE BANNON: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter and I'm never going to be a staffer!' JOHN KELLY TO GARY COHN: 'If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times.' DOWD TO ROBERT MUELLER: 'He just made something up. That's his nature.' WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT THEM: BARACK OBAMA: 'Weak d**k' RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'Rudy, you're a baby. I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?' WILBUR ROSS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime.' H.R McMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: 'Dresses like a beer salesman.' REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: 'Like a little rat. He just scurries around.' AFTER EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT FATAH AL-SISSI ASKED IF HE WAS GOING TO BE AROUND: 'Like a kick in the nuts.' BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN DICTATOR: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them.' Advertisement The president was singing a different tune on Tuesday, hinting that Woodward could have 'made up' anecdotes in his book, including a story about Gary Cohn absconding with an order to end the United States' trade deal with South Korea to keep Trump from making an international mess. 'That's false. It's just made up,' Trump told The Daily Caller in a furious response to the book. 'There was nobody taking anything from me.' Trump suggested that 'disgruntled employees' may have made the claims -- or that they could have been falsified Woodward in their entirety. 'It could just be made up by the author,' Trump said of the journalist he once defended on Twitter against slights levied against him by the Obama administration. The damaging statement about the widely respected journalist had former President George W. Bush's White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher shaking his head. 'I've been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn't like. But never once - never - did I think Woodward made it up,' Fleisher said. 'Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight. Someone told it to him.' Trump's press secretary piled on with a statement that said: 'This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.' In the response to Woodward's book, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders argued that 'sometimes' Trump's approach to the office is 'unconventional' but it 'always gets results.' 'Democrats and their allies in the media understand the President's policies are working and with success like this, no one can beat him in 2020 not even close.' The White House did not hold a televised question and answer session with reporters again on Tuesday, choosing instead to respond to the explosive book that hits shelves on Sept. 11 through written statements. Trump held off on eviscerating Woodward on Twitter, as well, responding to him instead in the interview with The Daily Caller. MAYBE HE MADE IT UP: That was Trump's charge on Tuesday as he tried to get out from under Woodward's damaging allegations. Ari Fleisher, the former press secretary to George W. Bush, said in a tweet that the charge didn't add up Trump was once a fan of Bob Woodward - but now the president says he might be a liar White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed the work of the famed journalist as 'nothing more than fabricated stories' The book also recounts efforts by Cohn to try to head-off what he considered rash or ill-advised policy moves by Trump. Cohn 'stole a letter off Trump's desk' to prevent the president from executing a planned withdrawal from the United States-South Korea trade pact. The book even ventures into the advice Trump received from his former lead lawyer on the Russia investigation, John Dowd. 'Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit,' he advised Trump, according to the book. Dowd is also said to have explained to special counsel Robert Mueller face-to-face that he didn't want his client to testify, because he feared that Trump would be cast as an imbecile. He reportedly told him: 'I'm not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?'' According to Woodward, Mueller replied: 'John, I understand.' Extracts from veteran Watergate reporter Bob Woodard's (left) new book (right) set off explosions across the political world Trump insists Bob Woodward's book interview request never made it to the Oval Office President Donald Trump complained on a recorded phone call no one ever contacted him about veteran journalist Bob Woodward's interview request then complained advisor Kellyanne Conway should have come to him directly. The Washington Post released a recorded August 14 phone call between the famously well-sourced author and the president soon after the paper reported on a copy of 'Fear,' Woodward's forthcoming book on Trump. Trump does admit at one point during the call that a senator had passed along Woodward's request for an interview, but at other times says he had no idea about it. The call begins with Woodward, after alerting the president he was recording, regretting the two hadn't been able to connect and Trump saying he wished he had known about the book which was already coming out at the time of the call. 'She should have come to me,' Trump said of Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, (seen at the White House on August 29) during a conversation with Bob Woodward about an interview request Trump claims he never was told about 'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?' Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room. At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call. 'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her. Conway then told Woodward: 'Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names. 'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he got no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump got back on. Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly. 'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said. 'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said. Advertisement Dowd said Tuesday in emails to the Washington Examiner that anecdotes and quotes attributed to him including a claim that he called Trump a 'f**king liar' and that a mock session with Trump in advance of a potential interview with Mueller revealed the 'full nightmare' he was dealing with are not true. 'I have not read Bob Woodward's book, which appears to be the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents,' he told the outlet. 'I do not intend to address every inaccurate statement attributed to me but I do want to make this clear: there was no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment' of a mock interview at the Special Counsel's office. Further, I did not refer to the President as a 'liar' and did not say that he was likely to end up in an 'orange jump suit.' The email from Dowd concluded: 'It was a great honor and distinct privilege to serve President Trump.' Trump said his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, (pictured in DC on February 7) scurries around 'like a rat' Former director of the U.S. National Economic Council Gary Cohn snatched a letter off Trump's desk to keep him from precipitously moving to pull out of a trade deal. Cohn is seen on the right next to Jared Kushner on March 8 Woodward also described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' According to another anecdote, Trump told former staff secretary Rob Porter former chief of staff Reince Priebus was 'like a little rat. He just scurries around.' Porter in turn allegedly said on Trump: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, 80, a billionaire investor, wasn't spared Trump's criticism, either. 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime,' Trump reportedly told him. Trump also reportedly called his personal Rudy Giuliani a 'baby', and compared former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to a 'beer salesman'. Ivanka Trump 'got into an expletive-laden screaming match with Steve Bannon' By Ariel Zilber Woodward described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' Ivanka Trump reportedly was offended when she was told by strategist Steve Bannon she was merely a White House 'staffer' by answering: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter,' it has been claimed. She is seen outside her Washington, D.C. home last month Bannon was said to have been upset with Ivanka's reported tendency to bypass the standard chain of command and take up issues directly with her father. Every other White House aide was required to report to the chief of staff at the time, Reince Priebus. But the reported exchange apparently highlighted the fact that Ivanka felt she was not bound by the same rules. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are senior advisers to the president even though they have no previous experience in government. Advertisement The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury,' which led to a rift between Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, who spoke with Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Wolff's book attracted attention with its vivid anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies. Woodward's work also comes weeks after former White House aide and 'Apprentice' contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman published an expose on her time in the West Wing, including audio recordings of her firing by Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Kelly's decision. While White House aides have become increasingly numb to fresh scandals, the latest book still increased tensions in the West Wing, especially given the intimate details shared and the number of people Woodward appeared to have interviewed. Some White House officials expressed surprise at the number of erstwhile Trump loyalists willing to offer embarrassing stories of the president and his inner circle. White House aides on Tuesday coordinated with other officials quoted in the book to dispute troublesome passages. But insiders speculated the fallout could be worse than that from 'Fire and Fury,' given Woodward's storied reputation. Woodward's book was already ranked the top-selling book on Amazon on Tuesday. Trump has been increasingly critical of anonymous sources used by reporters covering his administration. Woodward's account relies on deep background conversations with sources, meaning their identities are not disclosed. The family of a Sydney man buried on Wednesday has slammed a belated apology from the paramedics' union, which wrongly accused them of attacking ambulance workers trying to save his life. They claim the apology, made just hours before the funeral for Hamze Ibrahim, 25, is too little too late and that a slur would be 'left on his name' forever. A media statement put out by the Australian Paramedics' Association on Sunday claimed members of Mr Ibrahim's family had contributed to the death by stopping ambulance workers from treating Mr Ibrahim - and also claimed he died of a drug overdose. The family maintains his death at his home in Riverwood in western Sydney was instead due to a respiratory problem after a long battle with sleep apnoea - and is considering legal action against the union. Mr Ibrahim was also due to fly to Lebanon the next day for a gastric banding operation, but became ill in the early hours of the morning and an ambulance was called to help him, but he died at the scene. The devastated family of Hamze Ibrahim (pictured with his wife Hanan) say the apology provided to them by the paramedics union gave them little comfort Mr Ibrahim, 25, died on Sunday morning at his Riverwood home, in Sydney's south-west, after a battle with sleep apnoea, according to his family (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) He was due to fly to Lebanon the next day for a gastric banding operation, but became ill in the early hours of the morning and an ambulance was called to help him, but he died at the scene (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) As her husband's body was laid to rest, Mrs Ibrahim and other women released bunches of white balloons into the sky (pictured) In a media statement put out by the APA on Monday Mr Pearce blamed the man's death on his family who had 'interfered' with emergency workers doing their job (pictured is Mr Ibrahim and his wife Hanan) Following his tragic death, the Australian Paramedics Association boss Steve Pearce claimed up to 80 of Mr Ibrahim's family and friends 'ambushed' paramedics trying to resuscitate him. In a media statement put out by the APA on Monday Mr Pearce blamed the man's death on his family who had 'interfered' with emergency workers doing their job. Just hours before Mr Ibrahim's funeral on Wednesday, the APA released an apology to the family, saying they were wrong in their claims. But Mr Ibrahim's family said it was 'too little, too late'. 'It's cold comfort and all a bit late now, isn't it,' a cousin of Mr Ibrahim told Daily Mail Australia. 'The damage to his name has been done. They've made him look like a drug user, like a bad person... you can't undo that.' The Australian Paramedics Association has apologised for claiming the family of a dying man (pictured with his wife) attacked ambulance workers who were trying to save him 'It's cold comfort and all a bit late now, isn't it,' a cousin of Mr Ibrahim told Daily Mail Australia (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) Draped in a traditional Islamic garment, Mr Ibrahim's silver coffin was carried to its burial site by a group of male mourners at Rookwood Cemetery (pictured) 'Those cruel claims were just wrong. Ok, so now they say 'we were wrong', but they shouldn't have said it in the first place'. Draped in a traditional Islamic garment, Mr Ibrahim's silver coffin was carried to its burial site by a group of male mourners at Rookwood Cemetery. As it was lowered into the ground those standing around the burial site let out cries of 'allahu akbar'. Mr Ibrahim's distraught wife Hanan was comforted throughout the service by dozens of women, all wearing traditional white head scarves. As her husband's body was laid to rest, Mrs Ibrahim and other women released bunches of white balloons into the sky. Mr Ibrahim's distraught wife Hanan was comforted throughout the service by dozens of women, all wearing traditional white head scarves (pictured) Up to 300 people mourners gathered around Mr Ibrahim's grave site, hugging and crying (pictured) APA NSW secretary Steve Pearce (pictured) on Sunday claimed relatives of Mr Ibrahim were responsible for his death by hindering paramedics called to revive him Up to 300 people mourners gathered around Mr Ibrahim's grave site, hugging and crying. A solicitor representing Mr Ibrahim's family, Raed Rahal, said the dead man should be remembered for the 'fun-loving, caring person' that he was. 'The pain family and friends are suffering at this time has been unjustifiably and unnecessarily amplified by the self-serving, reckless and unfounded comments made by Australian Paramedics Association,' Mr Rahal said on Monday. He added: 'Matters as to any future claim will be considered once the family has had time to grieve. In a statement on Wednesday the New South Wales APA made an 'unreserved apology' for their first media statement. A solicitor representing Mr Ibrahim's family, Raed Rahal, said the dead man should be remembered for the 'fun-loving, caring person' that he was (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) In a statement on Wednesday the New South Wales APA made an 'unreserved apology' for their first media statement (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) 'Any statement in the previous media release to the effect that Mr Ibrahim's family members either contributed or were in any way responsible for his death is wholly incorrect and should not have been published,' the APA said in a statement. 'Likewise, APA further acknowledges that at no time did Mr Ibrahim's family members obstruct or threaten paramedics. 'APA deeply regrets publishing its previous media release and unreservedly apologises for any grief, embarrassment or distress it caused to family members of Mr Ibrahim.' Police also disputed the initial APA report, saying fewer than 20 officers attended in contrast to the 150 claimed by paramedics. Just hours before Mr Ibrahim's funeral on Wednesday, the APA released an apology to the family, saying they were wrong in their claims (pictured is Mr Ibrahim's funeral) The once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos is now set to formally dissolve just weeks after its CEO was charged with criminal fraud. Theranos told its shareholders via email on Tuesday that it plans to dissolve and pay out remaining cash to creditors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the scandal-plagued company, was indicted by federal prosecutors in June for allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and the public in a multi-million dollar scheme. The company's former second-in-command, Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani, was also charged. Blood-testing startup Theranos is now set to formally dissolve just weeks after its CEO Elizabeth Holmes was charged with criminal fraud for allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and the public in a multi-million dollar scheme Holmes, who was once considered a wunderkind of Silicon Valley, and Balwani were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud each. She launched Theranos in 2003 in Palo Alto, California, pitching its technology as a cheaper way to run dozens of blood tests. Holmes advertised the company as a cheaper and more efficient way for patients to test for life-threatening conditions, like cancer and diabetes, with just a few drops of blood from their fingers. But prosecutors allege that Holmes and Balwani deliberately misled investors, policymakers and the public about the accuracy of Theranos' blood-testing technologies going back to at least 2013. A notoriously secretive company, Theranos shared very little about its blood-testing machine, nicknamed Edison, with the public or medical community. Holmes said she was inspired to start the company in response to her fear of needles. Holmes, who was once considered a wunderkind of Silicon Valley, launched Theranos in 2003 in Palo Alto, California, pitching its technology as a cheaper way to run dozens of blood tests Prosecutors allege that Holmes and Balwani deliberately misled investors, policymakers and the public about the accuracy of Theranos' blood-testing technologies She carefully crafted her image as well, wearing almost entirely black turtleneck sweaters that earned her the moniker in Silicon Valley as 'the next Steve Jobs.' Investors bought what Holmes was selling and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the company. At one time, Theranos was worth more than $10 billion and Holmes the youngest self-made female billionaire. But an investigation by The Wall Street Journal two years ago found that Theranos' technology was inaccurate at best, and that the company was using routine blood-testing equipment for the vast majority of its tests. The story raised concerns about the accuracy of Theranos' blood testing technology, which put patients at risk of having conditions either misdiagnosed or ignored. The Journal's investigation marked the beginning of the end of Theranos. Walgreens ended its blood-testing partnership with the company, and the Department of Health and Human Services effectively banned Theranos in 2016 from doing any blood testing work at all. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil fraud charges against Holmes and Balwani earlier this year. Holmes settled with the SEC by agreeing to pay $500,000 in fines and penalties, while Balwani is fighting the charges. Talks between British and French officials will be held in London today to find a resolution to the scallop wars. The French Navy said yesterday it is ready to intervene to prevent further clashes between fishermen harvesting the shellfish in the English Channel after heated confrontations. Agriculture Minister George Eustice is expected to be quizzed about the issue when he appears before the Commons Environment Committee. French officials and industry representatives are set to meet their UK counterparts later to discuss ways to resolve the row. UK and French officials are meeting in London today in a bid to resolve the recent 'scallop wars'. Pictured: French fishermen throw rocks at a British boat off Normandy coast last week About 35 French boats confronted five British craft off the coast of northern France last week, with UK crews reporting that rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were hurled at them during the confrontation. Some of the fishermen from both sides also rammed each other, video footage showed. The clashes have occurred in a scallop-rich area known as the Baie de Somme, off the coast of Normandy. National regulations allow British ships to fish legally in the area all year round but French fishermen are banned from taking the molluscs between May 15 and October 1 to conserve stocks. But scallops aren't the only thing that is causing tension. On Monday two French boats based in Normandy caught 44 tuna fish while hunting for bream off the Channel Islands - adding to already simmering tensions between the two nations. Footage shows French fishing rivals using a petrol bomb to stop their UK counterparts catching scallops in the English Channel The tuna, each weighing between 50kg and 120kg and worth more than 100,000 in total, were then brought ashore at Granville in France to be sold. Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). French fishermen are allowed to keep bluefin tuna while their British counterparts are banned from doing it. The bluefins are usually only found in the Bay of Biscay and Mediterranean but rising water temperatures are sending more into UK waters. The UK has no quota to catch bluefin tuna but France, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus do. France's agriculture minister Stephane Travert said yesterday that the French navy is 'ready to step in' if more clashes break out. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the comments were in line with Environment Secretary Michael Gove's position that it was for the French to take any steps needed to prevent violence in the area. Downing Street said both sides were hoping for an 'amicable' solution from the talks. British and French fishermen are at loggerheads over scallops and have clashed off the coast of Normandy and Jersey over tuna A man has appeared in court on charges of burglary after he broke into a local zoo and attempted to steal a squirrel monkey to give to his girlfriend. John Owen Casford, 23, told the Wellington District Court he was 'high as a kite' when he broke into the squirrel monkey enclosure at the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand on April 7. The alarm wasn't raised until the following morning when staff found an enclosure gate open and discovered one of their female monkeys injured and hiding inside. John Owen Casford, 23, told the Wellington District Court he was 'high as a kite' when he broke into the squirrel monkey enclosure at the Wellington Zoo and tried taking one Casford was able to gain access to the grounds via an unsecured gate before breaking two padlocks to enter into the enclosure, the NZ Herald reported. Casford then sustained a number of serious injuries inside the enclosure which the judge highlighted during proceedings. 'I don't know what happened in the squirrel monkey enclosure. The squirrel monkeys know. You say you couldn't find them and I don't speak squirrel,' he said. 'What I know is that by daybreak all the monkeys were distressed, two of them were injured, and you had a broken leg, two fractured teeth, a sprained ankle, and bruises on your back.' Casford said he had broken his leg after jumping into the enclosure. While Casford was unable to successfully capture any of the squirrel monkeys some of them are now suffering from stress, months after the incident, and another was injured. One monkey had a haematoma on its elbow while a number of others had scratch marks which indicated they had at least been grabbed One monkey had a haematoma on its elbow while a number of others had scratch marks which indicated they had at least been grabbed. Casford also faced court on Wednesday for unrelated charges which included an unprovoked attack another Wellington man, another attack at Westport and two other assaults, one on a council worker and one on a 'night shelter resident' He pleaded guilty to all charges. He was sentenced for all offences on Wednesday with the judge handing him a two year and seven month jail term. The Australian economy has finally shaken off the aftermath of the mining and housing boom, growing at its fastest pace in nearly six years. The economy expanded by 0.9 per cent in the June quarter and 3.4 per cent over the 12 months to June, national accounts data released on Wednesday show. The growth exceeded economists' expectations for quarterly growth of 0.7 per cent and an annual improvement of 2.8 per cent. The Australian economy has grown by 3.4 per cent over the 12 months to June - the fastest pace since the peak of the mining boom in September 2012 (pictured) The latest annual growth is the steepest since September 2012, when the mining boom reached its peak. Australians splashing their cash played a starring role in growth in the three months to June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show. Household expenditure was up 0.7 per cent, helping to push domestic demand 0.6 per cent higher. Figures from the ABS show consumer spending played a key role in driving growth, while new treasurer Josh Frydenberg (pictured) linked the spending with the fact there are more Australians are in work New treasurer Josh Frydenberg was quick to link the spending with recent improvements to the number of Australians in work. 'You get more people earning more money, there's more spending, and that has a real impact on generating more product across the economy,' he told reporters in Canberra. Employment improvements have also chipped into a rise in compensation to employees, he said. But Labor finance spokesman Jim Chalmers said wages are rising far slower than company profits and while people may be spending more, they are saving less. 'It's not a sustainable way for us to grow the economy to have decade-low household savings,' Mr Chalmers told reporters. 'Growth in this country needs to be inclusive and it needs to be bottom-up.' A Labor finance spokesman said however that wages were rising far less than company profits, with Mr Frydenberg (pictured) saying he expects them to go up as the economy keeps expanding ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett said the falling household saving rate 'raises a question' about the sustainability of consumer spending. Mr Frydenberg said lifting wages is an important challenge for the government and expects them to go up as the economy keeps expanding. Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier hailed the strong economy as the means to providing services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme. 'If you don't have a strong economy, then you can't support nation-changing programs like this,' he told reporters. The girlfriend of an electrocuted tradesman has issued a heartbreaking plea following his death. Jaime-Lee Digby fronted the media on Wednesday. 'No person should go to work one day and not make it home alive by the evening.' Her boyfriend, Luke Bray, 24, was electrocuted while working in the roof of a home in Carlton, in Sydney's south, in February. Scroll down for video The girlfriend of an electrocuted tradesman has issued a heartbreaking plea following his death Luke Bray, 24, was electrocuted while working in the roof of a home in Carlton, in Sydney's south, in February (right) Power was switched off at the mains, but is believed to have been still flowing into the house via illegal wiring without the tradesman's knowledge. 'There was another wire coming into the house poor young kid, and his workmates were devastated,' a neighbour told The Daily Telegraph. Paramedics desperately tried to save Mr Bray - a former Navy sailor from far north Queensland - but were unable to revive him. Paramedics desperately tried to save Mr Bray - a former Navy sailor from far north Queensland - but were unable to revive him Power was switched off at the mains, but is believed to have been still flowing into the house via illegal wiring without the tradesman's knowledge 'For the love of my life, taken too soon. I lost the most incredible man but I gained me a perfect angel,' (pictured Ms Digby's tattoo) Sharing the loving story of when they first met, Ms Digby could not help but share the pain she felt after finding something amongst his belongings following his death. 'Luke and I met on the navy we were on the same ship together. Things went very, very quickly,' she said laughing at the memory. 'When this happened it tore my entire life apart. I lived here all by myself at the time, so I had to fly my parents down from the Sunny Coast to go and identify his body. 'I then had to collect his belongings from the police station of which had a receipt for an engagement ring...its been very, very painful.' 'I then had to collect his belongings from the police station of which had a receipt for an engagement ring...its been very, very painful.' Power was switched off at the mains, but is believed to have been still flowing into the house via illegal wiring without the tradesman's knowledge (pictured is the scene of the incident) An academic who slammed Qantas after a flight attendant called her Miss instead of Doctor has sparked a fierce debate over whether the airline was really at fault. Dr Siobhan O'Dwyer, an Australian academic currently working in the UK, took to Twitter on Friday to complain about her experience of being called Miss. 'Hey Qantas, my name is Dr O'Dwyer. My ticket says Dr O'Dwyer. Do not look at my ticket, look at me, look back at my ticket, decide it's a typo and call me Miss O'Dwyer. I did not spend 8 years at university to be called Miss,' she wrote. Dr Siobhan O'Dwyer, an Australian academic currently working in the UK, took to Twitter on Friday to complain about her experience of being called Miss Dr O'Dwyer's tweet sparked a fierce debate online over whether the airline was really at fault The post has received nearly 8000 likes and sparked debate about whether Dr O'Dwyer, who has a PhD in Philosophy, or the flight attendant was in the wrong. Some have said Dr O'Dwyer was simply looking for an ego boost while others argued that to not call her doctor was a sign of disrespect. Fellow academic Dr Mel Thomson tweeted her support, writing: 'You have all of the solidarity on this issue.' 'I'm first gen to finish high school (let alone get several degrees) in my family I'll be damned is some trolley dolly gets to decide what honorific I get called, FFS.' 'I did not spend 8 years at university to be called Miss,' Dr O'Dwyer reasoned Many people took offence with Dr Thomson's use of the term 'trolley dolly', saying it was disrespectful to women and the flight attendant profession. 'Please don't refer to us as trolley dollies. We may not have completed a PhD however we are required by law 2 maintain quals (sic) that enable us to evacuate an aircraft in 90 secs, keep u alive in-flight, prevent hijacking, put out fires etc,' an airline steward using the Twitter handle Belleo tweeted. Fellow academic Dr Mel Thomson tweeted her support, but was slammed for calling flight attendants 'trolley dolly' 'I have always used the correct honorific. And I have always been especially careful to ensure I used it when I saw it on a woman's boarding pass as I was proud to be able to support the woman and her achievements in a male-centric world,' she continued. 'You've just gone and sh*t on that with your condescending comment about us.' British man Tim Almond said people who insisted on being called Doctor on planes when they didn't have a medical degree could UK man Tim Almond said he had two friends with doctorates who refused to use their correct title outside of professional conferences. 'You're asking for trouble on an aircraft. A passenger gets stuck and they'll ask you for help,' he tweeted. Qantas said they stood by the professionalism of their cabin crew. 'We are extremely proud of our cabin crew who respectfully serve our customers day in and day out and play a vital safety role,' a Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 'Please don't refer to us as trolley dollies' an airline steward using the Twitter handle Belleo tweeted After her tweet went viral, Dr O'Dwyer took to social media to say she had been 'copping so much flak' for the post. 'This was not about my ego. It was about highlighting one of a thousand instances of sexism that women encounter every day. Its not about the title, its about the fact that this wouldnt have happened if I was a man,' she wrote. Twitter users were divided over Dr O'Dwyer's reasoning, with some accusing her of making a big deal out of nothing and others agreeing it was a case of sexism. 'Your tweet is exactly about ego. How many male doctors write tweets to Qantas complaining they get called Mr & not Dr ? If they did, they would cop exactly same the responses as you,' one man wrote. 'Why dont the trolls understand that its about equality?,' argued another. People boasting on social media about tattoos that depict horrific acts of violence against police officers has stoked a backlash online. One man has 'F*** the NSW Police Force' tattooed in large font on his back. His tattoo also includes an images of a police officer being shot in the back of the head. Another man's back is covered in an image of a kangaroo with a shotgun standing over a dead police officer. These are just some of the designs Australians are getting permanently on their skin. 'F*** the NSW Police Force' is one of many tattoos Australians are getting permanently on their skin People are boasting about their ink that depicts horrible acts of violence against police officers on social media The images are all over social media, from Brown Cardian's Facebook page to Instagram, and the response from social media is overwhelming. 'I've really been racking my brain what I can get done on my back, these have really inspired me,' one person responded. 'Get your back lazered off and start something like this I reckon,' another person said. But not everyone was supportive. 'Haha thats a solid montage of a few poor life choices,' one person commented. 'On a positive note... it is good to see the last guy likes and respect all the other state and territory police forces.' A senior Russian politician is facing fury and ridicule over a hunting video in which he shoots dead a 'hibernating' wild brown bear in its den at point blank range. Communist Sergey Levchenko, is the powerful governor of gold-rich Irkutsk region in Siberia. The 63-year-old can be seen firing the rifle, which was a birthday gift, for the first time. A sidekick of the politician then tells him: 'There's a head, fire at the head.' Scroll down for video. Sergey Levchenko can be seen using his birthday rifle for the first time to shoot the sleeping brown bear in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, which he rules as governor The Communist Party politician then shot the 'hibernating' bear by pointing his gun into the bears den The group of around six men then pull the dead bear from its den by attaching a rope around its head Then the Communist Party governor shot into a hole where a bear was hibernating. The slain giant beast was then pulled out dead as a trophy for the politician by a group of around six men, who hooked a rope around its neck to haul it from the hole. Around Levchenko were acolytes watching and fawningly congratulating him on his kill, which critics said is the same as shooting a 'sitting duck'. Another henchman asks him as he shakes his hand: 'Well, have you reached the goal?' As the brown bear is pulled from its den one member of the group adds: 'What a beast - handsome.' The governor claims the leaking of the video was a dirty trick as part of a political smear campaign against him by Vladimir Putin's supporters ahead of legislative elections Irkutsk region. Levchenko's critics posted the footage with a message in Russian which reads: 'A sleeping bear is shot at point-blank range.' And: 'Any hunter, indeed any decent human being, can judge for themselves what happens here.' After the killing, one of Levchenko's henchman shakes his hand asks him: 'Well, have you reached the goal?' As the large brown bear is hauled from its den a hunting dog sniffs around the corpse and bites the animal's leg After pulling the bear from its hole the group throw it on a rock to display it as a trophy YouTube users berated the Red governor as an 'animal torturer', 'a beast', and a 'vile killer'. Police and prosecutors have been urged to examine the footage to see if he broke the law in killing a sleeping bear. A top animal rights MP, Nikolai Nikolaev, who heads the parliament's Natural Resources Committee, claimed the slaying 'is worthy of neither a governor, a Siberian, nor a man'. He warned: 'Personally, I know that hunting of bears in dens is forbidden by law. 'And if someone has framed Levchenko, then it is not his political opponents, but the organisers of this scandalous action. 'Maybe they had a license. Maybe they did, but killing the animal in a den is already poaching. 'There is also an ethical angle in this story - people were shocked with this video. 'It caused a serious public outcry, and it's impossible to keep silent about the situation.' In Russia, it is generally against the law to hunt bears in November, and transgressors can be punished by up to five years in prison. It is also illegal to kill hibernating bears and it has emerged the recently leaked footage was shot in November 2016. The governor's spokeswoman said the bear was shot in a game reserve - with a permit. She said: 'The hunt was preceded by appeals from local residents who complained about the bear.' But she did not explain why the governor was needed to personally shoot the wild animal. Levchenko claims the video was posted by his critics and Vladimir Putin's supporters ahead of a crucial legislative vote in the region In Russia it is illegal to hunt bears in November and to kill hibernating bears. The recently leaked footage of the killing was shot in November 2016 The den where the unsuspecting bear was sleeping when it was shot by Irkutsk governor Levchenko in 2016 Nikolai Tereshchenko, a hunter who accompanied Levchenko in the video, said the shooting was 'legal' and that the bear was an 'insomniac' posing a danger to people. He said: 'To prevent any casualties, we did this. 'The dogs tracked his scent and drove the animal into its den.' Others suggest the governor may have been fooled and the bear was shot before the hunt was 'staged' to make him think how he had killed his first wild animal. In 2015 Levchenko shocked Russian politics by beating the incumbent governor of Irkutsk and member of Putin's United Russia party - which has a bear as its symbol. Ken Livingstone has said 'no one should have any worries' about the Labour anti-Semitism crisis and has defended his controversial comments Hitler supported Zionism. The former Mayor of London, 73, backed the Labour Party's decision to include a get-out clause ensuring the adoption of the international definition of anti-Semitism yesterday would not 'undermine freedom of expression on Israel'. Speaking on Good Morning Britain he said the anti-Semitism row that has plagued the party for years should be of no real concern. He said: 'No one should have any worries about this stuff. Anti-Semitism is about people who hate and loathe Jews. It's not about criticising the Israeli Government's policy towards the Palestinians.' Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning Ken Livingstone said people 'should not worry' about the anti-Semitism crisis in Labour that came to a head at its NEC meeting yesterday He added: 'People who hate Jews blacks or homosexuals are never going to join the Labour Party because we have always been defending the rights of people like that.' The retired politician also stood by his highly-controversial claims Adolf Hitler supported Zionism, when quizzed by hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. Yesterday Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was branded 'contemptible' by Jewish leaders after he argued it is not anti-Semitic to call the state of Israel racist. At a meeting of the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) yesterday he asked them to endorse a statement saying is not 'anti-Semitic to describe Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist'. Describing Israel as a 'racist endeavour' directly contravenes one of the key examples of the international definition of anti-Semitism. Corbyn was eventually forced to back down after it became clear he could not get the statement through. Instead the NEC adopted the full definition of anti-Semitism as laid down by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), including all 11 examples it lists. The retired politician (pictured in 2016) also stood by his highly-controversial claims Adolf Hitler supported Zionism, when quizzed by hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid But it also endorsed a get-out clause to make it clear that adopting the full definition will not undermine 'freedom of expression on Israel'. Speaking on TV this morning, Corbyn's former colleague Mr Livingstone refused to back down on comments made about Hitler and Zionism two years ago, which saw him suspended from the party. He claimed he said Hitler did a deal with German Zionists in 1933, not that he was a Zionist himself. Asked whether he stood by his previous statement, he replied: 'Absolutely. I said that in the 1930s Hitler supported Zionism. 'Not because he liked German Jews, but because he did a deal with the German Zionists. There's a complete difference. He did a deal.' Pressed a second time, he added: 'This has dragged on for two years. Speaking on Good Morning Britain he said the anti-Semitism row that has plagued the party for years should be of no real concern 'And still no one has asked me what I actually said. It has been lie after lie all over the media. 'There were claims I said Jews were like Nazis. This is the problem with fake news. 'Nobody has ever found a shred of evidence I've said any of this nonsense.' He claimed after his suspension from Labour in 2016 Jewish people had approached him in the street to tell him they supported his outlandish claims. He said: 'In the two weeks after my suspension people came up to me and said: 'I'm Jewish and I know what you said to be true - dont give into these people.' Mr Livingstone resigned from the party this year. Asked whether he was sorry for offending the Jewish community, he said: 'I'm sorry for any Jewish person who's upset by all these allegations and smears.' But he refused to apologise for the comments. On the NEC's clause on not undermining freedom of speech on Israel he said the IHRA is 'vague'. He told the programme: 'The man who drafted the anti-Semitism guidelines Kenneth Stern, an American lawyer who is Jewish himself, he has admitted the examples he added to it are a bit vaguely worded and can be used to limit freedom of speech. 'So Labour's just simply added a statement saying that that's not going to happen.' He also maintained he is not anti-Semitic, saying: 'The simple fact is, just before I resigned from the Labour Party, a senior official told me they'd found about 50 members who had tweeted something anti-Semitic. 'Thats one in out of every 10,000. When I was Mayor of London anti-Semitic incidents halved.' Leah Cambridge, 29, pictured with her fiance Scott Franks, 31, died after the procedure The Turkish cosmetic surgery clinic where a British mother-of-three died after a botched 5,000 'Brazilian buttock lift' has declared it is 'open for business'. Leah Cambridge is said to have suffered unexpected complications and had three heart attacks after the procedure at the Elite Aftercare private hospital. The hospital in Izmir, which is popular with reality TV stars from the likes of Geordie Shore and The Only Way is Essex, told how it was 'devastated' at 29-year-old Miss Cambridge's death. But it insisted 'preliminary investigations have not raised any concerns over surgical competence or standards of care' - and so it remained open. It said the death had caused 'a great deal of thought, reflection and consideration' and it was 'taking all reasonable steps to protect and reassure our clients'. Miss Cambridge's devastated fiance Scott Franks, 31, said he was a 'broken man' after losing his partner of ten years, who was self-conscious about her figure. Miss Cambridge spent 5,000 on a 'Brazilian buttock lift' but faced unexpected complications But had spoken out to warn people considering the treatment that they needed to be 'aware of the full situation' following the death of the mother-of-three. The procedure was carried out at Elite Aftercare last week. It involved transferring excess fat from the patient's stomach to her bottom, to improve its shape. Mr Franks, a scaffolding manager from Leeds, said: 'Leah was paranoid that she had excess weight from having three kids round her stomach. '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.' The family understand the problems faced by Miss Cambridge resulted from fat deposits getting into her blood while she was under general anaesthetic. It was claimed last week that the Turkish surgeon who carried out the operation told other patients he always made them as big as he could. The operation was carried out at the Elite Aftercare private hospital in Izmir, western Turkey A TV crew captured Dr Ali Uckan boasting to another patient who asked him to make her bottom as big as possible, saying: 'That's what I do every time.' Turkish surgeon Dr Ali Uckan told patients he always made their bottoms as big as he could Elite Aftercare boasts that The Only Way is Essex stars Lauren Goodger and Amber Turner have had cosmetic surgery there, along with Geordie Shore's Chloe Ferry. Celebrity Big Brother contestant Chloe Khan is said to have had a 'Brazilian butt lift' at the clinic as well. On its website the Turkish clinic states that the 'butt lift' operation, which usually takes 'one or two hours' is a 'perfect and most natural way to enhance and shape the buttocks via surgery, sculpting your waist and resulting in a desirable hourglass-like shape.' In the 'frequently asked questions' section of the website it asks 'how safe is the procedure?' Potential patients are told: 'Any type of surgery should not be taken lightly as there are risks in all procedures. 'The safest aspect of the Brazilian Butt Lift is that it lets your surgeon use your own body tissue to augment your buttock. This avoids the need for any foreign material or implants. The clinic is run by Caraline Douglas, 38, and Gina Korkmazer, 29, two sisters who were set to star in their own reality show about their cosmetic surgery lifestyles 'Complications can rarely occur. The vast majority of complications are related to the liposuction portion of the procedure and can usually be managed with additional liposuction. 'Although uncommon, areas of concern can include; bleeding, infection, anaesthesia problems, fat necrosis and decreased sensation.' Given the nature of the tragedy a full inquest into Miss Cambridge's death is likely to be held in the UK at a later date. The British medical authorities are unlikely to investigate the incident, although the coroner may request evidence from medical experts. A spokesman for Britain's General Medical Council said it was 'not within our remit' to regulate doctors abroad and action would only be considered if the surgeon involved was on the UK register. The Only Way is Essex's Lauren Goodger (left) and Amber Turner (right) have used the hospital An Elite Aftercare statement issued last night said: 'The recent tragic incident has precipitated a great deal of thought, reflection and consideration here at Elite Aftercare. We are devastated that one of our clients has passed away during surgery. Elite Aftercare issued a lengthy statement on Instagram yesterday about the death 'We also understand how worrying this news is to all our clients who are currently booked in for surgery and also potential new clients who are considering surgery. 'We are saddened and disappointed that, before the cause of death has been officially established, there has been significant unfounded speculation in the press and in the media's coverage of this story. 'However, we understand that an official post-mortem will be undertaken shortly, which it is hoped will objectively establish the cause of Leah's death. 'Rest assured that we are treating this matter with the seriousness and gravity that it deserves and are taking all reasonable steps to protect and reassure our clients. 'We can wholeheartedly assure you that all our preliminary investigations have not raised any concerns over surgical competence or standards of care. 'We therefore remain open for business and fully engaged with the investigation to ensure that our clients' needs remains at the centre of what we do so that can be assured that surgical competence and the standards of care that are offered by Elite Aftercare remain of the very highest order.' Elite Aftercare (pictured) said that its 'preliminary investigations have not raised any concerns over surgical competence or standards of care' and so it remained open The clinic is run by Caraline Douglas, 38, and Gina Korkmazer, 29, two sisters who were set to star in their own reality show about their cosmetic surgery lifestyles. Following the death, consultant surgeon Gerard Lambe, of the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons, warned against travelling outside the UK or US for cosmetic procedures 'as you cannot be certain about the surgeons or hospital you are being treated in'. He added: 'The death in Turkey of Leah Cambridge after a BBL, or 'Brazilian bum lift', has highlighted the risks of both this dangerous procedure and of travelling abroad to have cosmetic surgery. 'Your health is priceless so do not, for the sake of a discounted price on a procedure fee, compromise your safety.' Georgia police say a teen stabbed his on-again, off-again girlfriend to death in a 'crime of passion.' The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports 17-year-old India Chapman was stabbed eight times on Friday in what arrest warrants say was a 'crime of passion' by 18-year-old Sincere Brown. It's unclear what events that led up to the slaying caused it to be termed a 'crime of passion.' Authorities said India Chapman, 17 (left), was fatally stabbed by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Sincere Brown on Friday. Chapman is pictured with her mother, Schara, who has not been able to walk for years and has a limited income, according to a family friend Chapman was said to have been stabbed eight times. Brown allegedly attempted to hide her body, which was eventually found by one of his relatives The two attended the same high school until April 2017, although it is unclear which school they were set to attend when school resumed after Labor Day. Police said Chapman's body was later found by one of Brown's relatives near a county home in Atlanta, Georgia, 11 Alive reported. Dekalb County police said Brown also attempted to hide Chapman's death. Brown was arrested Friday evening and now faces charges of murder and concealing death of another. He is currently being held without bond, according to jail records. Details about what led to Chapman's murder have not yet been released. It's unclear if Brown has a lawyer. Chapman's family friends have created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to cover her funeral costs. The fundraiser's description states that Chapman's mother, Schara, has not been able to walk for years and has a limited income. Chapman's funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 2pm in Atlanta. A transgender woman was left humiliated after her bank account was frozen when a phone banking system identified her voice as a man's. Distraught Sophia Reis, 47, from Carlton, Nottinghamshire, said she was left 'humiliated and embarrassed' and is now battling with the bank to ensure that other transgender people aren't treated the same. Miss Reis, who moved to Nottingham 18 years ago, said she informed Santander last November that she would no longer be named Sergio on the account. Scroll for video Miss Reis (pictured) moved to England in September 1997 as a single parent with her three-year-old son She said the bank changed her details and her new identity was registered, but on Thursday, August 30, she went through a traumatic ordeal with Santander's phone banking staff. Miss Reis, who works as a customer service advisor, did not pass the security check and was not allowed to transfer 72 to a friend on her debit card. The next day the bank froze her account and she could not pay for items in Tesco. She said: 'The embarrassment and humiliation I felt was unbelievable. Santander has apologised to Miss Reis and said they have offered her a 'gesture of good will' 'I went into the bank in Clumber Street and said 'you have got all my documentation and I changed my name on November 11.' 'They said 'my voice did not match my profile because it sounded like a man on the phone and not a woman.' 'I was crying my eyes out and I am not that type of person at all. I am a very courteous person and I am outgoing but to feel that way when all I asked was for my money to be transferred...I feel mistreated.' She said that despite informing the phone banking staff that she was a transgender woman, they did not pay attention. She now wants to ensure that other transgender people don't go through the same ordeal. 'They were not taking any notice of me,' she added. 'I work as a woman, I identify myself as a woman and I look good as a woman but for the first time in my life I felt embarrassed about being who I am. 'It was humiliating having to go into my bank and to explain myself when all my information was at the click of a button.' She said that as a multi-million pound company, it should have better systems in place: 'Santander is a multi-million pound company that should have a flag on their system for people who are a minority like myself. 'It could have been someone with throat cancer calling and you can't see the person on the other end of the phone.' A spokeswoman for Santander said: 'We have apologised to Miss Reis for the experience she had when using our telephone banking service and offered her a gesture of goodwill. 'It was certainly not our intention to cause any offence, and our service was not as good as it should have been. 'When verifying customers are who they say they are we have to balance our duty to protect the security of their accounts. 'If a customer rings up with their banking credentials they should be able to pass security with no problems. Miss Reis said she went through a 'traumatic ordeal' with Santander's phone banking staff 'Santander works closely with LGBT+ colleagues and charities to identify the barriers that are in place to access our services. 'We want all of our customers to be treated equally and fairly.' Miss Reis, originally from Portugal, moved to England in September 1997 as a single parent with her three-year-old son. Through family circumstances, she could never address herself as a woman and set up home in Grantham. But it was during a night out in Nottingham that she began to feel the city was the perfect place to make the transition. 'For the first time in my life I saw gay and lesbian people together and no-one paid attention,' she said. 'I thought 'this is the place where I want to live' and within weeks I was working and living here. 'My son is old enough now and I said 'the woman you know will be coming out more often.' She is hoping to have sex reassignment surgery next year. Theresa May today demanded Jeremy Corbyn say sorry for jibing at British Zionists today as the Labour leader faced fury from his own MPs over the anti-Semitism crisis. The Prime Minister delivered a stinging attack on Mr Corbyn as the leaders clashed at PMQs for the first time after the summer break. Mrs May highlighted comments made by the veteran left-winger at a conference in 2013, revealed by MailOnline, when he complained that British Zionists had 'no sense of English irony' 'I believe that we should all be united in our determination to tackle anti-Semitism, so when the leader of the Labour Party stands up he should apologise for saying Jewish people who have lived in this country their whole lives do not understand English irony,' Mrs May said to cheers in the House of Commons. A clearly furious Mr Corbyn insisted that racism should be tackled 'wherever it arises'. 'There is no place for racism in any form in our society. On that we are all agreed and we should tackle it wherever it arises, in our parties as well and that includes the Conservative Party,' he said. The Prime Minister delivered a stinging attack on Mr Corbyn as the leaders clashed at PMQs for the first time after the summer break (pictured) In the Commons today (pictured) Mrs May highlighted comments made by the veteran left-winger at a conference in 2013, revealed by MailOnline, when he complained that British Zionists had 'no sense of English irony' Mr Corbyn last night failed to quell anger over a wave of vile abuse that has been wracking Labour despite finally bowing to demands to adopt the international definition of anti-Semitism. He caused new offence by trying to add a lengthy personal statement detailing protection for people who call Israel racist - a caveat that was rejected even by loyalists on the party's ruling NEC. He was branded 'contemptible' by Jewish leaders after the attempt emerged. Mrs May raised the issue when Mr Corbyn tried to challenge her handling of Brexit. 'I'm making sure that the economy works for everyone, I'm building a stronger, fairer country,' she said. 'What is (he) doing? He is trying to change his party so anti-Semites can call the creation of Israel racist and he should be ashamed of himself.' At least half a dozen MPs are thought to be considering whether to match Frank Field's sensational resignation from the Parliamentary Labour Party last week. Former minister Dame Margaret Hodge today claimed it showed the 'reluctance' of Mr Corbyn to tackle anti-Semitism head on and 'sullied' the belated adoption of the IHRA definition. Dame Margaret said Mr Corbyn must now 'own' the definition and try to take the first step to 'rebuild trust' with Jews following months of strife. The criticism was dismissed by shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti today, who insisted there was no 'sullying' or caveats added. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving home this morning) has been dogged by accusations that he has allowed anti-Semitism to go unchallenged in the party since he became leader Mr Corbyn (pictured last night) was branded 'contemptible' for bringing a second personal statement to the meeting on anti-Semitism and Palestinian rights. Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge (pictured at the Jewish Labour Movement conference on Sunday) today claimed it showed the 'reluctance' of Mr Corbyn to tackle anti-Semitism head on and 'sullied' the belated adoption of the IHRA definition Dame Margaret told the Today programme the adoption of the IHRA definition and examples was only 'a start' to resolving the issue. 'Absolutely this is not over,' Dame Margaret told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'This is the start. 'I campaigned for the full IHRA definition to be adopted. I'm delighted by that. I'm saddened it was sullied by this argument over an additional statement. I'm saddened that the leader of the Labour Party chose to try to amend it. Red Ken dismisses anti-Semitism storm as nothing to worry about Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning Ken Livingstone said people 'should not worry' about the anti-Semitism crisis in Labour that came to a head at its NEC meeting yesterday Ken Livingstone has said 'no one should have any worries' about the Labour anti-Semitism crisis and has defended his controversial comments Hitler supported Zionism. The former Mayor of London, 73, backed the Labour Party's decision to include a get-out clause ensuring the adoption of the international definition of anti-Semitism yesterday would not 'undermine freedom of expression on Israel'. Speaking on Good Morning Britain he said the anti-Semitism row that has plagued the party for years should be of no real concern. He said: 'No one should have any worries about this stuff. Anti-Semitism is about people who hate and loathe Jews. It's not about criticising the Israeli Government's policy towards the Palestinians.' Advertisement 'I now wait and say there has to be further action and there has to be a real commitment.' Labour MP John Mann told The Times Mr Corbyn's personal statement would have added to 'turmoil' in the party had he got it through the NEC yesterday. He said: 'What was he thinking of, after all we have gone through, to try and create another almighty row? 'It would have been turmoil if his proposal had been accepted.' Labour Friends of Israel director Jennifer Gerber said of Mr Corbyn's statement: 'It is contemptible but utterly unsurprising that Jeremy Corbyn prioritised and fought for the right of anti-Semites to describe the world's only Jewish state as racist in a meeting supposedly about combating anti-Semitism. 'It is now even more clear that Jeremy Corbyn is part of the problem not the solution.' Lady Chakrabarti, who conducted an inquiry into anti-Semitism for Mr Corbyn, insisted that the NEC's additional statement did not dilute its commitment to fighting the problem. The shadow attorney general told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'There was no sullying. The words were not a caveat, were not a dilution; the words are true, which is that accepting these examples, in my view, in no way negates reasonable free speech around these difficult issues around Israel and Palestine.' The NEC statement was 'about reassuring people that you can be a critic of Israel without being anti-Semitic, you just need to conduct your debate in a certain way,' she said. Lady Chakrabarti dismissed comparisons - made by former chief rabbi Lord Sacks - between Mr Corbyn's previous comments about Zionism with the 'rivers of blood' speech made by Enoch Powell. Insisting Mr Corbyn had been 'misquoted, misrepresented and spun', she said: 'I'm a British Asian who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I remember the real Enoch Powell, before this stuff gets hyperbolised and exaggerated. 'I know what it's like to be listening to misreports in the media that make you feel scared.' At least half a dozen MPs are thought to considering whether to match Frank Field's sensational resignation last week. Labour MP Luciana Berger (left) has said she no longer feels comfortable in the party due to handling of anti-Semitic abuse. John Mann (right) has warned that British Jews are leaving Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone also played down the row today. He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'No one should have any worries about this stuff. 'Anti-Semitism is about people who hate and loathe Jews. It's not about criticising the Israeli Government's policy towards the Palestinians.' Despite the full adoption of the IHRA definition and its 11 examples after months of strife at yesterday's meeting, questions about anti-Semitism and Labour's rulebook will emerge again later this month. Corbyn ally Chris Williamson is berated by protesters A furious protester angrily confronted Chris Williamson and accused him of being a 'Labour fascist' in a tense showdown outside Labour headquarters. Mr Williamson - a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn - turned up at yesterday's rally to speak to applauding Momentum crowds in a speech criticising Israel. But as he spoke to reporters afterwards he was confronted by Damon Lenszner, 58, who shouted at him through a megaphone 'fascist, Labour fascist.' Speaking to MailOnline afterwards, Mr Lenszner, who is Jewish, said that Jeremy Corbyn has allowed his hatred of Israel to infect the party. He said: 'I'm here to try to persuade the Labour Party that I once voted for to adopt the IHRA in full.' Asked why he called Nr Williamson a fascist, he said: 'The guys that sit alongside Corbyn and on the NEC making up this legislation for the party have taken up Jeremy Corbyn's hatred of Israel to such an extent it is spilling over into anti-Semitism.' Earlier Mr Williamson had been greeted with a rapturous round of applause when he turned up at the momentum demonstration against the IHRA definition. He was greeted with high fives, handshakes and hugs as he arrived at the demonstration. And in a speech he railed against the current government in Israel and said that Labour members must be free to criticise it. Asked later by reporters about about Peter Willsman's re-election to the NEC, he said the activist's remarks about Jewish 'Trump fanatics' had been 'misrepresented'. 'I think his comments have been misrepresented. We heard a snippet of a longer conversation, obviously. 'I don't believe that that's his view. 'The Jewish community is not a homogeneous group, there are a range of different opinions.' He said many Jewish Labour members were 'here to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people' and their concerns with the IHRA examples. Advertisement Jewish groups are to be consulted further on how the party's code of conduct is policed as part of a wider democracy review. Rules on what can be considered under any complaint, and how far back in time investigators should go in a probe, are being considered. It is seen as a statute of limitations by critics who fear the rulebook is being drafted to stop Mr Corbyn's past statements being used against him. The statement Labour did issue on protecting the right to criticise Israel was also widely condemned. Leading Jewish MP Dame Margaret Hodge, who has branded Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite, condemned the new caveat. She said: 'Two steps forward and one step back. Why dilute the welcome adoption in full of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism with an unnecessary qualification?' Labour Against Anti-Semitism said: 'We are disappointed by the decision of Labour's governing body, the NEC, to diminish the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism via the attachment of a ''clarification'' that risks giving racists in the party a get out of jail card. 'The NEC has been told repeatedly that it needs to adopt the IHRA in full, without caveats or conditions, if it wants the Labour Party to begin the process of dealing with its anti-Semitism crisis.' The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism dismissed Labour's get out clause. A spokesman said: 'The definition already includes such a caveat, and any such addition is an attempt to undermine the definition's validity, despite its adoption around the world. 'We have also seen an amendment that Jeremy Corbyn attempted to add to the definition.' The British Board of Deputies of British Jews said Labour's decision to adopt the definition in full with all its example was the 'right call'. President Marie van der Zyl said: 'It is very long overdue and regrettable that Labour has wasted a whole summer trying to dictate to Jews what constitutes offence against us. 'However the adoption of the internationally-recognised definition by itself, can only be the beginning. Action is what matters.' Following today's meeting a Labour spokesman said: 'The NEC has today adopted all of the IHRA examples of anti-Semitism, in addition to the IHRA definition which Labour adopted in 2016, alongside a statement which ensures this will not in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians. 'The NEC welcomed Jeremy Corbyn's statement to the meeting about action against antisemitism, solidarity with the Jewish community and protection of Palestinian rights, as an important contribution to the consultation on Labour's Code of Conduct.' Peter Willsman (pictured) was applauded by Momentum activists as he turned up for the NEC gathering at the party's HQ today. But Jewish protesters angrily chanted 'shame on you' Protesters against the leadership's position on the anti-Semitism definition gathered outside the Labour NEC meeting today (pictured), but there were also supporters At the start of yesterday's crunch meeting, the Corbyn ally who ranted about Jewish 'Trump fanatics' was cheered as he arrived for a crunch meeting of Labour's ruling body today. Peter Willsman was applauded by Momentum activists as he turned up for the NEC gathering at the party's HQ - with some hugging him and punching the air as he walked in. But a group of Jewish protesters who had also gathered outside the offices angrily chanted 'shame on you' as he walked in. The tense scenes came after Mr Willsman was re-elected to the NEC on Monday with more than 70,000 votes despite his diatribe in July, when he accused critics of 'making up' complaints about anti-Semitism. Mr Willsman refused to answer questions on his remarks or whether he would back adopting the IHRA definition, but smiled and thanked his 'comrades' for their support. Mr Willsman won 70,321 votes to claim the ninth and last spot on the committee. Yasmine Dar was first in the election with 88,176 votes Labour deputy leader Tom Watson (pictured arriving at the NEC meeting in London's Victoria today) said he hopes the adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism could be the start of a journey to rebuild trust with the Jewish community Mr Corbyn arrived later for the showdown - but avoided embarrassing questions from the media by using a backdoor to get into the building. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said he hoped the definition would be adopted as he arrived at the offices in London Victoria for yesterday's meeting. He said: 'I hope we can adopt the IHRA definition today, I hope that is the start of the journey in rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.' The latest controversy was sparked over the summer when the party stopped short of including all examples from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism in its code of conduct. Left-wingers argued that the rules - which include banning jibes about the Israeli state being a racist endeavour - would hamper criticism of Israel. But many MPs and Jewish groups view watering down the definition as totally unacceptable, and Mr Corbyn himself has been forced to deny being an anti-Semite. Mr Corbyn is facing demands to show 'remorse' for his failure to tackle the wave of vile abuse that has been wracking the party since he took charge. The future of grocery shopping will arrive in Australia on Thursday with Woolworths trialling a system that will see customers scan goods with their phone, removing the need to ever go through a checkout. Woolworths' new high-tech system will be rolled out at just one store initially - at swanky Double Bay in Sydney's harbourside East. The trial is aimed at a new generation of shoppers used to do just about all their transactions on their phone instead of using the old-style checkouts and cash registers. It's been called the 'future of bricks and mortar retailing' by using the app to scan barcodes of the items as customers chuck them in the trolley or basket Customers will download an app, which is linked to their debit or credit cards, and then use it to scan barcodes of the items as customers chuck them in the trolley. Special scales have been installed to assist in the scanning of fruit and vegetables. Customers then pay via the app and tap off at an exit pole in the store. Woolworths will launch a high-tech way of shopping in Sydney's Double Bay on Thursday leaving the days of the checkout behind The final step is not crucial but research found customers preferred some acknowledgment that they had paid so it did not seem as though they had stolen the items, Woolworths' head of digital and payments, Paul Monnington told Fairfax. Bricks and mortar retailing is getting high-tech across the globe as it competes with online shopping, and Australian retailers are catching on. Amazon has had three 'Walk and Go' stores in Seattle since 2016. The store allows customers to walk in, scan the items they want and their account is automatically charged. Mr Monnington said it was the natural next step as they had been getting feedback from customers that they are busier and busier and are using their mobile phones all the time. Gary Mortimer, an associate professor at the Queensland University of Technology's school of business, said Woolworths' trial was a response to the global trend. 'One of the pain points shoppers often talk about is having to line up at the checkouts. This type of technology removes that element of the shopping experience completely and puts the power back into the consumer's hands.' Woolworths has no plans to extend the high-tech shopping experience beyond the Double Bay store just yet. A convicted member of a notorious paedophile ring is appealing his jail sentence. In March, Alfred John Impicciatore, 48, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in a Western Australia prison for repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl while her father, who is also serving time in jail, watched on and joined in. On Wednesday, Impicciatore launched an appeal against the sentence, saying police didn't follow procedures when eliciting a confession. No date has been set yet for his appeal hearing. Alfred John Impicciatore (pictured) is appealing a prison sentence given to him for the rape of a 13-year-old girl, whose father offered her to other men and joined in on the molestation Two charges against Impicciatore came out of admissions he made to police. Impicciatore had tried to get a video of his police interview ruled inadmissible for the trial, claiming police detained him longer than was allowed, but his bid failed. He was the only member of the Evil 8 to fight the charges against him. At one point, he fled the state and had to be extradited from NSW. Trial Judge Mark Herron said during sentencing that Impicciatore had not showed any remorse and had taken advantage of a girl who was extremely vulnerable. "Your actions were depraved and were entirely for your own sexual gratification," Judge Herron said. Impicciatore (pictured outside court last November), said the police footage used in his sentencing was wrongly acquired, saying police detained him for longer than allowed Eight men were originally implicated in the investigation, but one was never charged with offences related to the girl. The girl's father, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to dozens of charges and was sentenced in June 2016 to 22-and-a-half years in jail. He later lost an appeal against the length of his sentence. The five other men received sentences ranging from three years to almost 13 years. Indian police have arrested a woman and four others after her nine-year-old stepdaughter was allegedly gang-raped, murdered and mutilated, in the latest horrific crime to shock the country. The child's decomposed body was found on Tuesday hidden behind bushes about a kilometre from her home in the Baramulla district of Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. Her father had reported her missing 12 days earlier. Police said the woman, aged 36, was jealous of her stepdaughter and of her husband's second wife, and on August 24 took the girl to a forested area. A Kashmiri police officer was filmed breaking down in tears as he spoke about the death during a public announcement on Tuesday There she allegedly directed her own 14-year-old son and his two teenage friends, aged 14 and 19, to take turns in raping the child. The stepmother is accused of then strangling the girl while her son hit the child on the head with an axe. His friend brought vehicle battery acid from home and sprinkled it on the body while another friend gouged out her eyes before dumping the corpse in the bushes. A 28-year-old man has also been arrested over the case. 'Physical condition and preliminary forensic analysis of dead body substantiated all these facts,' said a police statement issued on Tuesday. Local police Superintendent Imtiyaz Hussain told AFP the teenage offenders have confessed to the crime and separately corroborated the facts during questioning. 'They will be sent to a juvenile home and dealt with according to the state's juvenile law,' Hussain said. The nine year old girl's death is the latest rape scandal to hit India. Pictured: Indian women protest against rape in New Delhi in June 2018 Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King today derided the Government's 'incompetent' preparations for no deal. He said the failure to properly prepare for the talks with Brussels had left Britain on track for 'Brexit in name only'. Lord King, who backed Brexit, said the last-minute preparations for a no-deal Brexit had left Britain without a credible bargaining position. Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King (file image) today derided the Government's 'incompetent' preparations for no deal He made the comments after ministers confirmed efforts were under way to stockpile medicines and ensure an 'adequate' food supply if talks fail. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab insisted to MPs yesterday that Britain was ready 'deal or no deal'. Lord King told the BBC: 'Frankly, if a government cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes, whatever position you take on the EU, it illustrates a whole lack of preparation. 'It doesn't tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the EU is good or bad, it tells us everything about the incompetence of the preparation for it.' Brexit in name only would leave Britain closely linked to the EU after leaving, a state Brexiteers say would leave it subject to EU rules but unable to reap the benefits of a full divorce. Asked if that meant the Government had been incompetent, Lord King said: 'The group of people tasked with trying to make decisions on all of this is Parliament as a whole not just the Government, and the civil service, who have brought us to a position where we are now being told that we have to accept a certain course of action otherwise it would be catastrophic. 'Now, it beggars belief that the sixth biggest economy in the world should get itself into that position.' Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab insisted to MPs yesterday (pictured) that Britain was ready 'deal or no deal' Lord King, who was in charge of the UK's central bank from 2003 until 2013, said that credible plans should have been put in place to leave without a deal because Britain cannot impose a deal on the EU. However he warned that such plans can not be drawn up in six months and would take several years. Lord King said he feared biggest risk to the UK was that the referendum had failed to resolve the issue of Brexit and it 'isn't going to go away'. A 59-year-old woman accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy while on holiday told him: 'Your mum thinks you're a boy but I know you're a man,' a court heard. Gail Dickinson, of Glenrothes, Fife, was allegedly seen by the victim's grandmother having sex on the balcony of an apartment in San Antonio in Ibiza. Ms Dickinson was said to be a friend of the family and had gone to the Spanish island with the youngster, his mother, grandmother and brother. Dunfermline Sheriff Court was told during the holiday, where they all shared a flat together, the schoolboy's grandmother heard her telling him: 'You've got a lovely package there.' Gail Dickinson, of Glenrothes, Fife, was allegedly seen by the victim's grandmother having sex on the balcony of an apartment while on holiday Dickinson denies that she engaged in sexual activity with the boy by kissing him on the lips, touching him on the body, performing oral sex on him and engaging in sexual intercourse in June last year She told the court: 'I thought she was talking about his private parts and that it was very, very inappropriate,' the Daily Record reports. She said she had split up Dickinson and the boy when she found them in the living room and her grandson was partially naked and 'clearly aroused.' She then told him to go to bed but later heard whispering from the balcony. When she looked through a gap in the curtains, she saw the pair engaged in sexual intercourse. She then told the court that she saw Dickinson performing a sex act on the boy and added: 'I could tell from his face he was enjoying it.' She added that Dickinson was 'making demands' and the boy was following 'like a robot.' She added: 'It was a horrible situation. I couldn't believe it.' But she told how she was too shocked to intervene adding: 'I didn't want a rumpus to start'. Ms Dickinson was said to be a friend of the family and had gone to resort of San Antonio (pictured) in Ibiza with the youngster, his mother, grandmother and brother Later she confronted Dickinson, who told her she must have been dreaming but added: 'I'm terrible, you must hate me.' The witness then told her daughter and Dickinson was told to leave the flat. When the family returned home the police were contacted. Earlier the boy gave evidence via video link, saying he had been out for drinks in the evening with his mother and Dickinson. The boy admitted he was 'pretty drunk' when they returned to the flat, and told how 'Gail was coming on to me She was touching my shoulders and legs.' He told how he went to bed, but later went back to Dickinson, who led him out on to the balcony where they had sex. He told the court: 'I was stunned it happened. When I woke up in the morning I felt pretty rubbish. I regretted it. 'It wouldn't have happened if I was sober.' Dickinson denies that she engaged in sexual activity with the boy by kissing him on the lips, touching him on the body, performing oral sex on him and engaging in sexual intercourse in June last year. The trial continues. A newlywed couple flying back from their dream honeymoon claim they were kicked off the plane for complaining about the food. Marcus and Zarrah Hayles, of Sherwood, Nottinghamshire, flew to Cuba with Thomas Cook after their wedding in August. But on the flight home they claim they were reprimanded by cabin crew and met by police when they landed - over a complaint about the on-board catering. The couple, 38 and 34, were two hours into their journey back to Manchester Airport when they say they had not been offered any food or drink. Marcus and Zarrah Hayles, of Sherwood, Nottinghamshire, claim they were kicked off a Thomas Cook plane on the way back from their honeymoon in Cuba last month When the food arrived, they claim it was the combined main meal and snack, which was due later on in the flight. Mr Hayles complained about the service and admitted saying 'what the f***, but says the comment was not aimed at the flight attendant. The pair claim they were greeted by police when they landed at Manchester Airport He claimed they were then approached by one member of the cabin crew who said they did not tolerate swearing on the flight and could face arrest. The couple replied by saying they did not want any trouble and were surprised when they landed to be greeted by police and escorted off the plane. Mrs Hayles, a post office worker, said: 'Two officers said 'can you please come with us?' and escorted us off the flight in front of everyone. 'I have never been so humiliated. I have never been in a situation like this before. 'It was such a beautiful occasion - the wedding and the honeymoon - and this has left a big dent in our memories.' A Thomas Cook Airlines spokesman said: 'The safety of our customers and crew is always our first priority and we will not tolerate any form of abusive behaviour on board our aircraft.' MailOnline has contacted Greater Manchester Police for comment. China could soon put its J-20 stealth fighter into mass production by the end of the year after fixing earlier problems with its engine. Development of the aircraft's new WS-15 engine has been for years hindered by issues related to the blades overheating at top speeds. However, Chinese technicians have now solved the problems after conducting successful ground tests and trial flights with the corrected engine, putting the goal of a consistently high quality product in sight, sources told South China Morning Post. The new and improved engine features cutting-edge single-crystal turbine blades and will allow the Chinese jet to fly undetected at supersonic speeds, on par with the United States' F-35. Scroll down for video J-20 stealth fighter made its first public flight at the Zhuhai Airshow in China in 2016 (pictured) The improved engine of the J-20 (left) features single-crystal turbine blades and will allow the Chinese jet to fly undetected at supersonic speeds, on par with the United States' F-35 (right) China's J-20 jet Top speed: 1,305 mph Range: 2,113 mi Length: 67 Wingspan: 42 0 Weight: 43,000 lbs Engine Type: Xian WS-15 turbofan engines Cost: $110m Manufacturer: Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Advertisement 'The WS-15 is expected to be ready for widespread installation in the J-20s by the end of this year,' one of the sources told SCMP. Although some 'minor problems' remained, these should be resolved once the engine had been more 'extensively run in the aircraft', the source added. China has put the warplane into combat service in early February, hoping it will narrow the military gap with the US. It has been working alongside other fourth-generation aircraft, such as the J-16 and J-10 fighters. Beijing expects the US to deploy between 200 and 300 F-35s in the Asia-Pacific by 2025, meaning that China needs a similar number of J-20s, or at least 200 of them, according to the report citing military expert Zhou Chenming. China currently has about 20. A second military source told reporters that the problems with the WS-15 needed to be resolved before large numbers of the J-20 could be manufactured. J-20 stealth fighter takes part in a flight test in Chengdu in 2011. China could soon put its the jet into mass production by the end of the year after fixing earlier problems with its engine '[Having] a home-grown engine is a must for the J-20 to enter mass production, as no other country would be prepared to give China such cutting-edge technology.' People's Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke was previously quoted as saying the J-20 deployment would 'help the air force better shoulder the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity'. China's J-20 stealth fighter jets were commissioned into military service last September, reported state-run Xinhua News Agency. It is said to be capable of carrying multiple types of air-to-air missiles and could apparently dodge radar detectors. It was reported in April that the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation was set to open a fourth production line for the stealth fighter in 2019. Valet Mirosla Maciag stole items from customers cars at Manchester Airport A valet for the official 'meet-and-greet' service at Manchester Airport who stole items from customers' cars including cash, an iPad and designer sunglasses has escaped jail. Mirosla Maciag, 56, had been entrusted to park vehicles for customers due to fly out of Manchester but he secretly rifled through them for items unwittingly left behind. His crimes were exposed following a police sting operation after travellers complained of items going missing from their vehicles when they returned to collect them after their holidays. Officers placed 25 in cash inside an Audi car Maciag was instructed to park only to find the money gone after he parked it. The sneak thief was searched and found to have the cash in his pocket. His home in Heywood, near Rochdale was subsequently raided and various items including several pairs of designer sunglasses were seized. At Manchester Magistrates Court Maciag, who was contracted through a third party agency - Contact Industrial Recruitment, admitted theft of items from four cars. He denied stealing items from six other cars. The court accepted his denial after he insisted colleagues also had access to the vehicles and these thefts remain unsolved. Maciag, originally from Poland, had been working at Manchester Airport's Meet and Greet service when items were reported missing from customers cars between October and November last year. Maciag secretly rifled through vehicles for items left behind including an iPad and cash The reception of the Manchester Airport Meet and Greet Service Management at the company began looking at its records and were able to find out who had access to those vehicles and Maciag's name was said to have 'stuck out' in relation to the items that had gone missing. Prosecuting, James Towey, said: 'Cash to the value of 25 was placed into an Audi vehicle and the defendant was given that vehicle. But that cash was taken by the defendant and, after being spoken to at the airport, he was arrested and found to be in possession of that cash. The court heard other thefts included taking an iPod valued at 200 from a BMW. It also included theft of cash and a pair of Hugo Boss sunglasses from another car and a silver iPad to the value of 170 belonging to a doctor. A house search was done at the defendant's property and a number of other items were found. In relation to these victims, all the property has been recovered. Mr Towey said: 'I submit there is a significant degree of culpability - these offences were committed by a man with a high degree of trust.' In a statement, Lee Lane, a manager at Manchester Airport Meet and Greet service said: 'These types of incidents have a negative impact on our business and affect our reputation. Customers will use the Meet and Greet service expecting to get a great service. Our staff are in a position of trust and are expected to be professional at all times.' Maciag, who has now been dismissed from his role, was sentenced to 18 months jail suspended for two years and was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay 200 in costs and surcharges. Maciag was caught following a police sting after complaints of items going missing. Stock picture of the Manchester Airport arrivals section In mitigation defence lawyer Miss Alia Khokhar, said: 'He fully accepts that what he did was unacceptable and he broke the trust expected by his customers and employer. He has expressed regret with what he has done. 'He has been in the UK for about four years now and this is the first time he has found himself before the court. Even back in Poland, he has never found himself before the court. 'At the time of the offence, he was in a relationship with his now ex-partner. He says that he was finding it very difficult to make ends meet and his partner at the time was making financial demands from him that he couldn't meet. 'Although they were both working, he said that she was putting away her entire wage into her savings account and his wage was used to pay for their living - such as rent. This left him with hardly any money left over.' The lawyer said many of the sunglasses seized from Maciag's home were bought legitimately on eBay but since his arrest he had split up with his partner and she had changed all of the passwords to their account. At Manchester Magistrates Court (pictured) Maciag admitted theft of items from four cars. Miss Khokhar added: 'He now works for Rolls Royce as a driver three days a week and earns around 1,100 a month. He tells me that he sends money back to his elderly mother in Poland and this comes out of his wage. 'This is the first and last time he hopes to appear before this court. He has been very stressed out and fearful of the consequences of appearing at this court today.' Sentencing, chair of the magistrates Andrew Jeffay said: 'Compensation is not necessary as these items have been returned, but you will forfeit all the items that are believed to have been stolen over that period and that does include the sunglasses.' The news of his sentence was welcomed by the airport. A Manchester Airport spokesman, said: 'We take all reports of crime on the airport site seriously and in this instance we worked with Greater Manchester Police after reports of thefts from vehicles. Following a joint operation he was apprehended and we welcome Mirosla Maciag's successful prosecution.' The case comes amid reports of other valets from airport meet-and-greet companies stealing from cars entrusted to them, crashing their vehicles or racing in them at almost twice the speed limit. The reports have sparked calls for greater regulation on companies offering the service. A Muslim woman in Denmark has been fined 120 for wearing a burqa in public. The Turkish tourist walked into a police station in the Scandinavian country in a full-face covering and was handed the on-the-spot fine. She had only gone to the station to renew her visa and was not aware of Denmark's recent law change that makes it illegal to wear such garments in public. Danish authorities say the 48-year-old woman then removed her veil and left. Police in Aarhus, western Denmark, fined her 120 (1,000 kroner) when she walked into the police station yesterday. The traditional burqa is banned in public in Denmark and can attract a fine from police after MPs approved the new rule from August 1 (file photo) Ayah, 37, a woman in a face veil weeps as she hugs a police officer during a protest in Copenhagen last month Despite protests Danish MPs passed a vote to make it illegal to wear Islamic face coverings in public from the start of last month No other details of the incident were available by officers. Denmark's 'burqa ban', which came into effect on August 1, prohibits garments covering the face, including burqas and niqabs. Both are rarely seen in Denmark. Restrictions on Islamic face veils were approved by Danish MPs in May after being brought forward by the country's centre-right coalition, known for tightening asylum and immigration rules in recent years. Anyone forcing a person to wear garments covering the face by using force or threats can be fined or face up to two years in prison. Austria, France and Belgium have similar bans, claiming they are not aimed at any religion in particular, and don't ban headscarves, turbans or the traditional Jewish skull cap. As of 2017, non-Western immigrants, about half of whom are Muslim, account for 8.7 per cent of Denmark's 5.7 million population. Protesters wearing niqab and body-length burqas marched in Denmark last month after the country's ban on wearing face veils in public was put into action. Hundreds of demonstrators, most with children, marched in solidarity with Muslim women despite risking fines or jail time. Non-niqab-wearing Muslim women and non-Muslim Danes with faces masked or covered also took part as a protest against the ban. Police officers stand guard as masked demonstrators surround the Bellahoj Police Station in Copenhagen as part of the protest against Denmark's face veil ban Danish women wore niqabs, hijabs and burqas, risking a fine of 120 1,000 (kroner) or jail for those caught wearing the face veil in public Non-Muslim men and women who covered their face in solidarity with women no longer allowed to wear the niqab During the protest a woman in a full face veil was seen being hugged by a police officer. Last month a woman wearing a niqab became the first person in Denmark to be fined under the new laws banning full-face Islamic veils. A 28-year-old female was fined after getting into a fight with another woman, who had tried to tear of her veil in the town of Horsholm. At Copenhagen Fashion Week, models wearing burqas and niqabs strutted down the catwalk in protest at the ban on Islamic face coverings. Iranian-born designer Reza Etamadi caused a stir as he showed off his MUF10 brand on Wednesday, days after the law came into effect on August 1. Mr Etamadi said that by enforcing the ban, authorities were violating women's rights and 'the free choice we in the Western world are known for and proud to have'. Iranian-born designer Reza Etamadi caused a stir as he showed off his MUF10 which included women in face veils A furious mother has claimed Coles staff are snatching the collectable cases for the supermarket's Little Shop promotion before customers can get their hands on them. The woman said she was at the Coles store in Yamba, northern New South Wales, when she heard staff 'bragging' about taking the highly-sought after cases. Her daughter made the claims in the closed Coles Little Shop - Minis Swap Group Australia Facebook group on Wednesday. 'She was going about her shopping when she got to the self serve area and overheard two staff bragging about how a box of the collectable cases came in this morning and they were all gone to staff already,' the woman's daughter posted. A woman has claimed Coles staff have been 'bragging' about getting their hands on the supermarket's Little Shop promotion collectable cases (pictured) before customers can The woman's daughter took to a closed Facebook group to make the claims 'My mum spun around and said excuse me? To which the girl responded we are apart (sic) of the community too we can get them - mum said not while you're in that uniform at work and not spending money as a paying customer outside of work hours you're not.' She said her mother complained to the store and Coles' head office and claimed she was told 'this has been happening with staff all over the country'. A Coles spokesman told news.com.au a head office staff member never said such a thing when contacted. The daughter said her mother was also told by senior store employees the cases had been taken off staff. The collectable cases are a highly-sought after component of the Coles Little Shop promotion The Little Shop promotion includes 30 miniature branded products, including Nutella and Milo (pictured) The collectable cases provide a home for the 30 miniature items Coles is offering through their Little Shop promotion, which ends on September 11. Customers are given one of the miniature branded products, which include Vegemite, Nutella and Weet-Bix, for every $30 spent. The woman said she has three children herself and has collected three sets of the collectables but has yet to find one of the cases. She added that 'just by an off chance of mum hearing this girl brag about it they got caught out. I am furious'. The Coles spokesman said the woman who made the complaint had been offered one of the cases. He added the Yamba store had received a delivery of collectable cases on Tuesday but they were handed out to the public within 10 minutes. The Facebook post attracted a deluge of comments, including a photo of 'bulk Coles minis' which were being advertised on social media for $1,000. Daily Mail Australia contacted Coles for comment. A newborn has been rescued alive from a toilet bowl in a hospital in north-east China after its mother attempted to abandoned it there. The baby was discovered by shocked witnesses who heard cries coming from inside a cubicle in Tianjin city. They immediately alerted nurses to the toilet. The young mother was reportedly trying to leave the facility and was stopped by witnesses and other nurses at the scene. A newborn has been rescued alive from a toilet bowl in a hospital in north-east China after her mother attempted to abandoned her there. Nurses rushed to pluck it from the toilet Reports said the child appeared healthy and was in stable condition, and that its mother became pregnant out of wedlock and did not inform her family. Footage taken inside a women's bathroom at the Tianjin Third Central Hospital on Sunday shows nurses rushing into a cubicle to pluck the newborn from a toilet bowl. Nurses found the baby, whose gender was not revealed, and the mother's placenta inside the toilet, according to reports. Footage taken inside a women's bathroom at the Tianjin Third Central Hospital on Sunday shows nurses rushing into a cubicle to pluck the newborn from a toilet bowl Nurses found the baby and the mother's placenta inside the hospital toilet An experienced head nurse was seen wrapping the newborn in a towel before cleaning the child by the washbasins. She can also be seen wiping blood off the baby's face. In the clip, she calls for an obstetrician to assist her, while also telling hospital staff: 'Don't let her leave!' - presumably referring to the baby's mother. Her identity has not been revealed and the incident is under police investigation. Two men who were trapped 160 metres below the ground have been rescued after a dramatic six hour operation. Two miners, working at the Tahmoor coal mine, about 75 kilometres south-west of Sydney, were trapped in a lift cart at around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon, sparking the desperate rescue. Just before midnight, the two men were rescued as a crane hoisted the cart out of the shaft, which a senior officer told Daily Mail Australia was stuck about halfway up. The incident is understood to have occurred when a mechanical fault with the lift trapped the two men. Two miners have been rescued from a lift shaft in a coal mine in Tahmoor (pictured) The two men were trapped about 160 metres below the ground, authorities told Daily Mail Australia. The two men are reportedly uninjured. Rescue crews were seen setting up a crane to extract the lift cart they were stuck in. The two men were trapped in the lift shaft for more than six hours, though authorities say they were lucky to be well ventilated and in constant contact with their rescuers A Fire and Rescue NSW spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the men were safe, able to communicate with their rescuers and had plenty of ventilation. Four fire crews were on the scene, including specialist rescue and technical rescue units, and four senior fire officers. Authorities were working with miners on site to best plan out an approach. The operation was overseen by NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Resources Regulator. Fewer than one in five voters now expect Britain to get a good deal out of Brexit talks, according to new research by leading poll expert Sir John Curtice. The proportion expecting a good deal has fallen from 33 per cent in February 2017 to just 17 per cent in June 2018. Those predicting a bad deal have increased from 37 per cent to 57 per cent over the same period, according to a survey for NatCen Social Research. Fewer than one in five voters now expect Britain to get a good deal out of Brexit talks, according to new research by leading poll expert Sir John Curtice According to the research from Sir John (pictured), the proportion expecting a good deal has fallen from 33 per cent in February 2017 to just 17 per cent in June 2018 The survey - conducted ahead of the publication of Theresa May's Chequers plan for future relations with the EU - found that 51 per cent expect the UK economy to be worse off as a result of Brexit, up from 39 per cent in June 2016. Just 38 per cent said Brexit would mean lower immigration, compared to 64 per cent in June 2016. Just 13 per cent said the UK Government had handled negotiations well - down from 29 per cent in February 2017 - while 64 per cent said it had handled them badly. But there was little support for the EU's approach to negotiations, with 57 per cent saying Brussels had handled them badly and 16 per cent well. The report, authored by polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice of Strathclyde University, found that 59 per cent of members of a NatCen panel now say they would vote Remain in a second referendum, with just 41 per cent backing Leave. However, the researchers cautioned that this apparently comfortable lead for Remain may be wrong because the same panel predicted voting against Brexit by a margin of 53 per cent-47 per cent in the 2016 referendum. Theresa May (pictured last week in Kenya) has been scrambling to build support for her struggling Chequers plan for Brexit The survey found that just 81 per cent of 2016 Leave voters would back Brexit now, with 12 per cent saying they had switched to Remain. By contrast, just 6 per cent of Remain voters have changed sides, with 90 per cent sticking by their original decision. Among those who did not vote in 2016, almost half (49 per cent) said they would now vote against Brexit, compared to 23 per cent who would back Leave in a second referendum. The report said: 'Instead of a narrow majority in favour of leaving the EU recorded in the referendum in June (2016), there might now be a narrow majority in favour of Remain, though in any second referendum much might turn on the relative propensity of Leave and Remain supporters to make it to the polling station.' This is the moment a police officer tasered her own force's race relations adviser in the face after mistaking him for a wanted suspect. Acting sergeant Claire Boddie used 'unnecessary, unreasonable or disproportionate' force when she used the Taser on Judah Adunbi, her misconduct hearing was told yesterday. But Pc Boddie was today cleared of misconduct after Tasering the adviser when he refused to identify himself. Bodycam footage shows Mr Adunbi at the moment he was struck in the face by one of the Taser's barbs. This bodycam footage shows Judah Adunbi at the moment Pc Boddie discharged her Taser at him in the confrontation The race relations adviser can be seen tumbling to the floor after the officer used the Taser on him in Bristol Mr Adunbi lies on the ground after the officer Tasered him when he would not reveal his identity to her Police constable Claire Boddie (left) mistook Judah Adunbi (right) for a wanted suspect She was on uniformed duty with colleague Pc Darren Weston in the Easton area of Bristol at about 9.10am on January 14 last year. Alan Bell, secretary of Avon and Somerset Police Federation, said Pc Boddie was 'relieved and could now concentrate on 'doing what she is good at'. 'Obviously she is relieved,' he said. 'Police officers do expect to be scrutinised for the decisions they made, however 18 months, a criminal trial then a gross misconduct hearing does put a lot of pressure on someone. The alleged conduct of officer who fired Taser 1. Pc Boddie was on uniformed duty with another officer and equipped with a Taser. 2. She encountered a male, who she suspected was wanted by police. Pc Boddie tried to engage with the man, who became hostile and aggressive and threatened her colleague. 3. Pc Boddie drew her Taser and aimed it at the male, warning him she'd drawn a Taser as he had threatened her colleague. She then holstered her Taser as she believed the male was becoming more compliant. 4. The man continued to behave in an aggressive manner towards Pc Boddie and her colleague. The male pushed her colleagues hand/arm off him. 5. At this point Pc Boddie drew her Taser for a second time. 6. Immediately prior to firing the Taser, he male was moving away from her colleague and his hands were by his sides. 7. Immediately prior to firing the Taser, Pc Boddie had the opportunity to warn the male that she had drawn her Taser and were preparing to use it and did not warn the male prior to firing her Taser at him. 8. Pc Boddie fired her Taser in such a way that one of the barbs struck the male in the face. Advertisement 'She can concentrate on doing what she is good at - that's being a police officer.' Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police Andy Marsh expressed 'regret' for the distress experienced by Mr Adunbi. He warned against falling into 'blame culture' but said there was a difference between a mistake and misconduct. 'Following this outcome, I'd like to recognise the significant impact this incident has had on Judah Adunbi and regret the distress he's experienced over the past year and a half,' he said. 'This was a very difficult situation and I clearly wish it had never happened. It's always regretful when cases of genuine mistaken identity occur and we'll take all the necessary steps to make sure this doesn't happen. 'The initial incident, subsequent court case and misconduct proceedings have had a profound impact on all of us, especially Pc Boddie.' Pc Boddie and her colleague were driving to another incident when they saw Mr Adunbi, 65, walking on the side of the road with his dog. A misconduct hearing at Avon and Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead heard they believed Mr Adunbi was wanted man Royston McCalla and stopped to speak to him. 'This case starts off with an incident of mistaken identity,' George Thomas, presenting the case against Pc Boddie, said. 'It escalated from that to the point at which Pc Boddie used a Taser on Mr Adunbi. One of the barbs of the Taser struck Mr Adunbi in the face, causing a minor injury to his chin.' Pc Boddie insists she was acting in accordance with her training and the force she used on Mr Adunbi was lawful, claiming that he posed a threat as he had keys in his hand and was 'using violence to escape'. She was cleared of assaulting Mr Adunbi following a trial in Salisbury in May. Mr Thomas said Pc Boddie used the X26 Taser on Mr Adunbi when he was moving away from her and had his hands down. The officer had previously drawn her Taser and warned Mr Adunbi that she had done so, but did not do this immediately before she discharged the weapon. 'Having drawn the Taser, she fired it from a reasonably close range in such a way that one of the barbs struck Mr Adunbi in the face,' he said. 'It is not alleged that Pc Boddie deliberately aimed that Taser to Mr Adunbi's face.' Footage taken from bodycams worn by Pc Boddie and Pc Weston, as well as a mobile phone recording, was played to the hearing. A misconduct notice alleges that Mr Adunbi (pictured on the floor) was moving away from Pc Boddie's colleague and his arms were by his sides immediately before the Taser was fired It showed the officers repeatedly asking Mr Adunbi to identify himself, with the community elder replying: 'I'm not telling you my name. I have done nothing wrong.' He is heard shouting: 'Why you coming to torment me? Go f*** off about your business and don't follow me. Stop, stop, if you put your hand on me I'm gonna f*** you up. 'I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you if you put arms on me I'm going to defend myself. This is not the first time you have done this.' In the mobile phone footage, a neighbour is heard telling the officers: 'He is just trying to get into his house. Leave him alone.' Mr Thomas said Mr Adunbi, who had previously been stopped and accused of being Mr McCalla, was under 'no obligation' to provide officers with his identity. 'It is apparent from the footage that angry though he is, Mr Adunbi is indignant that he has been stopped,' he said. Mr Adunbi, pictured (left) with his dog Hazel and (right) at a community event, helped set up an advisory group to help police with race relations Pc Boddie drew her Taser at Mr Adunbi and used it to put a 'red dot' on him, before putting it away. There was a scuffle after Mr Adunbi used his keys to open his gate and Pc Boddie discharged her Taser, shouting that she had done so. Mr Thomas described this as an 'unnecessary, unreasonable or disproportionate use of force in the circumstances'. He said there was a 'three second window' between Pc Boddie claiming she had seen Mr Adunbi punch Pc Weston and her discharging the Taser. 'It doesn't appear that she really takes any care to aim it, other than roughly in Mr Adunbi's direction, before she pulls the trigger,' Mr Thomas said. Mr Adunbi was later taken to hospital to have the barb removed from his face. Pc Boddie started her policing career in 1994, working at Avon and Somerset Police as a special constable. She joined Wiltshire Police as an officer in 2008. Mr Adunbi needed to go to hospital to have the taser's barb removed from his face In 2012, she attended an initial Taser training course and was authorised to carry the weapon. She completed refresher training in 2013 and transferred to Avon and Somerset Police that year. She completed a second initial Taser training course in 2014. Giving evidence at the hearing, Pc Boddie said she had never been accused of misconduct before, or of using unlawful force. The officer said she was acting using the National Decision Model at all times, with Mr McCalla having markers for violence and weapons. She said Mr Adunbi threatened that he would 'put to sleep' Pc Weston, adding that she took this to mean: 'That he was going to kill him.' Pc Boddie said she drew the Taser for the first time but Mr Adunbi was still not 'fully calmed down' and she still 'viewed him as a threat'. After putting it away, Mr Adunbi was in a 'fighting stance' and used his gate to 'crush' Pc Weston as the officer attempted to handcuff him, she said. In a statement, Pc Weston said: 'He has pulled the gate against me with a lot of strength. I have tried to grab his left wrist to apply handcuffs and he has wrenched it from me with force. He needs to be arrested.' Pc Boddie said she believed Mr Adunbi had punched her colleague and drew her Taser for a second time, aiming it at Mr Adunbi's chest area. Police Constable Alan Bates demonstrates the new camera with police dog Spike in a disused factory. The dog was able to easily able to find PC Bates in a pitch-black room They already already have superb sight, smell and hearing, but now Durhams police dogs are wearing military-grade cameras that show armed officers what they can see. The cameras, designed for and used by the US special forces, are virtually identical to those used to film the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, in 2011. But now these British police dogs will wear them in an attempt to help officers with anything from robberies and crashes to sieges and terrorism incidents. Mounted on the back of the specially-trained dogs, the cameras send live footage to a screen that the officers can wear on their wrist. The technology allows the police to see in the dark - from the dogs perspective. 'We can use it to clear a larger area or building, places where its easier to hide, or where its dangerous or difficult to send a human,' dog handler Police Constable Alan Bates explained. Scroll down for video The camera is made by tactical electronics will now be mounted on the dog's back after those worn on the animal's head caused problems with the picture 'If its pitch black we can use the infrared capability, combine that with the dogs nose and sense of hearing, and we can locate somebody a lot quicker than if it were you or I searching with a bog-standard flashlight. 'We can then hold the dog in a certain position to cover a particular area if the dog were to indicate at a door to a room, that would give us a clue that someones in that room.' PC Bates demonstrated the nigh-vision abilities in a disused factory with police dog Spike, who was able to find him in a pitch-black room. Despite the darkness, the images appearing on the screen clearly showed what was in the room. Armed police officers wear a screen on their wrist which will allow them to see what the hi-tech camera is picking up from the dog's perspective Infrared capabilities mean that the officers will be able to 'see in the dark'. The cameras are useful for anything from robberies and crashes to sieges and terrorist incidents But not all dogs will have the chance to wear the new kit - as Durham Constabulary states that only those with 'excellent obedience and control at a distance' will be selected to undergo the additional training. 'The equipment that we see on Spike is made by tactical electronics and its now mounted on his back, whereas previously weve had camera systems which were mounted on the dogs head and caused problems for stability of the picture,' PC Bates added. 'Dogs dont tend to like it, theyll shake their head and try to get the kit off. 'Youll see that Spikes a lot more comfortable with the camera on his back; its a lot more stable, practical and technology has moved on. The equipment is designed for and used by US special forces and is virtually identical to cameras used to film the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, in 2011 'It has infrared capability so we can see at night, the footage is secure so it cant be eavesdropped by anybody so its secure for the police and in particular the firearms officers and the tactics we use the kit for. 'The kit that we use is the commercial version of what the US use for their special forces.' Durham Police have been working with manufacturer Tactical Electronics UK since January last year to develop the more practical cameras. The gear is also being used by North Yorkshire and Cleveland police forces and has already been used during a number of firearms and other high-risk incidents in the North-East. A 16-year-old cashier was left traumatised after she was held up by an armed robber wielding a hammer at an IGA supermarket in Queensland. Police said the hooded man brazenly walked into the Mount Warren Park business in the outer eastern area of Logan City, south of Brisbane, shortly after 8pm on Tuesday. CCTV footage released by Queensland Police shows the man calmly walking into the store, bypassing customers, and making his way around the counter to the cashier. Scroll down for video Police said the hooded man (pictured) brazenly walked into the Mount Warren Park business in the outer eastern area of Logan City shortly after 8pm on Tuesday CCTV footage released by Queensland Police shows the man (pictured) calmly walking into the store, bypassing customers, and making his way around the counter to the cashier Police allege the man then demanded the female cashier to open the register and give him the money inside. In the video, the girl is shown opening the till for the hooded man and then moving out of his way so that he can remove its contents. The footage next shows the hooded man running towards another man - believed to be the store manager - while waving the hammer in the air. Police allege that the man stole a sum of cash and several packets of cigarettes before fleeing the scene in a silver-coloured car. Following the incident, the Mount Warren Park business posted a CCTV image of the man on their Facebook page, urging anyone with information to come forward. CCTV footage shows the hooded man (pictured) remove the contents of the IGA supermarket register After unloading the till, the hooded man is seen running towards another man - believed to be the store manager - while waving the hammer in the air. 'He threatened one our friendly new 16 year old girls with a claw hammer before turning on the store manager,' the post stated. 'He left the scene on foot heading south down Mt Warren Blvd with an undisclosed amount of money. 'Please share this and help get him off our streets. Lets make Mt Warren safe again.' Police confirmed no one was injured during the incident and are seeking assistance from anyone who can help identify the man. Some 30 people including a woman are appearing in court today and tomorrow charged with child sex grooming offences including rape and human trafficking. The offences relate to five young girls and teenagers and were allegedly carried out between 2005 and 2012, when the complainants were 12 to 18 years old. About 40 police officers gathered outside Kirklees Magistrates' Court to keep the peace with 31 defendants set to appear over alleged crimes around Huddersfield. Amin Ali Choli (left), 36, is charged with two rapes, and Shaqeel Hussain (right), 35, is charged with one rape and two counts of trafficking Umar Zaman (left), 30, and Basharat Hussain (right), 31, are both charged with two rapes Usman Ali (left), 32, and Abdul Majid (right), 34, are both charged with two counts of rape Mohammed Suhail Arif, 30, pictured arriving at court today, was charged with one rape Protesters claiming to be from the English Defence League and others from the Socialist Party were also present outside the court in West Yorkshire this morning. Today, 17 men and a woman appeared before District Judge Michael Fanning in small batches. Twelve more defendants are due to appear at the same court tomorrow. The 18 who appeared today were all given conditional bail and ordered to appear at Leeds Crown Court on November 1. The defendants (all from Huddersfield except where stated) were: Iftikar Ali, 37, of Holly Road, charged with three rapes and one attempted rape Umar Zaman, 30, of Bishops Court, charged with two rapes Basharat Hussain, 31, charged with two rapes The one female defendant, Fehreen Rafiq (left), 38, is charged with two counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, and Mohammed Dogar (right), 35, is charged with facilitating the commission of a child sex offence Gul Riaz, 42, pictured outside the court in West Yorkshire, was charged with one rape Banaras Hussain, who is charged with one count of rape, appears at court this morning Iftikar Ali (left), 37, was charged with three rapes and one attempted rape, while Mohammed Sajjad (right), 31, was charged with four counts of rape and one count of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence Banaras Hussain, 37, of Shipley, charged with one rape Mubasher Hussain, 35, charged with one rape and one sexual assault Abdul Majid, 34, charged with two rapes Gul Riaz, 42, charged with one rape Fehreen Rafiq, 38, charged with two counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence Mohammed Sajjad, 31, charged with four counts of rape and one count of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence Usman Ali, 32, charged with two counts of rape Around 40 police officers gathered outside Kirklees Magistrates' Court this morning Protesters stand outside Kirklees Magistrates' Court ahead of the hearings this morning Police were present with 31 people set to appear over the alleged crimes around Huddersfield Police stand guard outside the court in West Yorkshire this morning ahead of the appearances Head teachers may have to cut the length of the school week as part of a new drive to help save money. Schools have warned the move could jeopardise the education for tens of thousands of pupils due to cut-backs on funding. At least 24 schools, including 14 in the Birmingham area alone, have now reduced the school week to just 4.5 day weeks, having scrapped Friday afternoon lessons. Now more than 200 other head teachers have warned they may have to take similar actions. It comes amid an investigation by the Mirror which found many special needs pupils were still not getting support as teaching assistants have been axed, leading to fears of behavioural problems. At least 24 schools in Britain have cut Friday afternoon lessons as part of a drive to save money (stock image) That is coupled with a lack of basic equipment, growing class sizes, no cash to repair leaky buildings, staff shortages and cancelled school trips. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Union of Headteachers, said: 'The idea that some schools have moved to a 4.5 day week and that others are considering the same option ought to be ringing serious alarm bells with the Government. 'School budgets are at breaking point. School leaders have made all the obvious savings, now they are faced with having to make major changes to the way they provide education.' Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, told the Mirror: 'Unless this is addressed a dire situation will only get worse. 'Children and young people deserve better than this bargain basement version of an education system.' Cutting the school week short on Friday lunchtime would allow head teachers to employ fewer classroom assistants, who provide cover for teachers who are doing vital preparation for other lessons. Kate Baptiste, head of St Monica's Catholic Primary School in Enfield, North London, said she was spending a greater percentage of her schools budget on salaries through statutory pay rises while incomes remained the same. She said: 'I used to spend 80% of my budget on salaries, now it is 92%. The knock-on effect is that we have fewer resources for the children. Our deficit is now 77,000. Within three years, by 2020, it will be 377,668.' Jules White, head of a secondary school in West Sussex, said: 'The Government must do far more to support our education system if it truly wants to end the burning social injustices that Theresa May spoke of when she came in to office.' The Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed there has been an eight per cent cut in budgets to school since 2010 (stock image) The Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed there has been an eight per cent cut in budgets to school since 2010. Funding is expected to fall by nearly three per cent between last year and 2010, even with the additional 1billion-a-year the Government is providing by scrapping free school meals for infants. Music and swimming lessons at some schools have had to be cut as part of a money-saving drive. Justine Greening, then Education Secretary, said schools would get an increase of 0.5% per pupil from this school year and a 1% increase from 2019-20. She said cash would go directly to schools rather than local authorities and minimum funding levels of 4,800 per pupil at secondaries would boost schools that are currently underfunded. Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: 'For many pupils and schools, funding will fall in real terms between now and 2020. 'There is no new money for education and this funding for schools is coming from other cuts to education budgets.' Disturbing video has emerged showing barbecued kittens for sale in an Indonesian market that has ignored orders to stop selling cat and dog meat. Footage shows cruel traders bludgeoning the animals to death and then blowtorching them in front of shocked onlookers at an 'extreme market' in Tomohon, a city in North Sulawesi Province. Horrified campaigners who are battling to end the barbaric industry claim some of the animals were still alive when they were being blasted with flames. Charities say officials from the Mayor of Tomohon's office pledged to end the sale and slaughter of dogs and cats at the market in February. Last month, Indonesia said it was also preparing a regulation to ban the trade of meat derived from pets and exotic animals. Disturbing video has emerged showing barbecued kittens for sale in an Indonesian market that has ignored orders to stop selling car and dog meat Footage shows cruel traders bludgeoning the animals to death and then blowtorching them in front of shocked onlookers at an 'extreme market' in Tomohon, a city in North Sulawesi Province Horrified campaigners who are battling to end the barbaric industry claim some of the animals were still alive when they were being blasted with flames People in some parts of the Southeast Asian nation are known to consume dog meat and the government faces pressure from animal rights groups to tackle the issue. Despite the government's pledge, newly released pictures show men holding cats upside down by the legs before using rods to batter them to death. Videos shot by campaigners also show dogs - some already with sores on their heads - cowering in cages as workers pull the howling animals out and bludgeon their heads with wooden batons while visitors to the market, some with children, watch. The animals are then blasted with blowtorches to remove their hair in preparation for butchering and sale. Members of the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition - consisting of animal rights charities including the Humane Society International - have urged the Indonesian government to keep to its pledge to outlaw the cat and dog meat trade. Charities say officials from the Mayor of Tomohon's office pledged to end the sale and slaughter of dogs and cats at the market in February The bodies of three dogs lie in a heap in the 'extreme market' in Tomohon, a city in North Sulawesi Province The animals are blasted with blowtorches to remove their hair in preparation for butchering and sale Videos shot by campaigners also show dogs - some already with sores on their heads - cowering in cages as workers pull the howling animals out Lola Webber, from DMFI, said of the footage: 'It was the most horrific cruelty we have witnessed so far in our campaign to shut down this hideous trade, and it was all done in full view of very young children. 'By the end of our filming we were all spattered with blood and brain matter from the bludgeoning, showing how easy it would be for customers and tourists to become infected with diseases such as rabies, and in fact two of our team were extremely sick following the market visit. 'We are really grateful that the horrific cruelty and human-health risks of this appalling trade has been publicly recognised by the Indonesian government, but our latest evidence clearly shows the need for an immediate ban cannot be ignored. This is an urgent situation requiring immediate action.' There has been mounting pressure on the country to outlaw the industry. Members of the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition - consisting of animal rights charities including the Humane Society International - have urged the Indonesian government to keep to its pledge to outlaw the cat and dog meat trade There is no data on how much dog meat is consumed in Indonesia, but 2015 research cited by the agriculture ministry showed that about 730,000 dogs enter the capital, Jakarta, from West Java each year for consumption A car lies on a piece of corrugated iron roof sheet as traders prepare to blowtorch it at the market Caged dogs are dragged out an beaten around the head before being blasted with flames Some of the caged dogs could be seen with sores on their heads at the Indonesian market More than 90 celebrities including Cameron Diaz, Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres signed a letter urging President Joko Widodo to act. In August, Syamsu Ma'arif, director of veterinary public health at the agriculture ministry, told Reuters that dog meat 'is not food, according to our food law'. He added that the ministry was still gathering material to back planned regulations. However, he gave no timeline for it to be issued or when it would take effect. There is no data on how much dog meat is consumed in Indonesia, but 2015 research cited by the agriculture ministry showed that about 730,000 dogs enter the capital, Jakarta, from West Java each year for consumption. By comparison, nearby Vietnam consumes five million dogs every year, the Asia Canine Protection Alliance says. An oil worker accused of killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters and stuffing their bodies in barrels is on suicide watch in custody as he awaits trial. Chris Watts, 33, must spend 23 hours alone in his cell at Colorado's Weld County Jail and is constantly watched on CCTV to make sure he doesn't self-harm. Guards have to check on him ever ten minutes and must make eye contact with him when they do. Chris Watts (left in court), 33, must spend 23 hours alone in his cell at Colorado's Weld County Jail and is constantly watched on CCTV to make sure he doesn't self-harm Chris Watts is accused of killing Shanann Watts and children Celeste and Bella (pictured together) He has no privileges and cannot access weights, reading material and television, a source told HLN's Crime & Justice with Ashleigh Banfield. In his hour out of his cell, Watts is taken to a room where he can shower and make phone calls. He does not meet any other prisoners. Watts was accused of killing Shanann Watts, and their two children Celeste and Bella, aged three and four, last month after their bodies were discovered at an oil field where he worked. Police later found Watts 'was actively involved in an affair with a co-worker' - something he had initially denied. Last week, a criminologist claimed Watts may have committed the alleged murders because he wanted to start a new life with his lover. Denise Mowder, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at MSU Denver, told the Denver Channel she believes that Watts may have wanted to rid himself of his family to be with her. Denise Mowder, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at MSU Denver, said she believes that Watts may have wanted to rid himself of his family to be with her Christopher Watts is accused of killing Shanann Watts, and their two children Celeste and Bella (pictured together) 'I think he had a vision of another life with this other woman carefree, no responsibilities,' she said. 'Two children and another on the way, that's a big responsibility.' She added that she was surprised it hadn't been a murder suicide. 'I'm pretty surprised he didn't kill himself, too. Oftentimes, it goes in a pattern,' said Mowder. She said that most cases of men killing their children were triggered by rage but 30 per cent were sparked by spousal revenge, and another ten say they don't know why. The day before his arrest, Watts had pleaded for his family's safe return saying in an on-camera interview: 'I just want people to know that I want my family back. I want them safe and I want them here'. Mowder, who was also a prosecutor for several years, said that the fact that Watts went on the news to plead for people to try and find his 'missing' family after they disappeared reveals that he planned to blame an intruder, play victim and then begin his new life. 'This whole facade he put on right after they started looking for them that was very odd, and it makes me wonder if he wasn't trying to find an out to be with the girlfriend,' said Mowder. 'Somebody else did it. I'm the poor grieving father.' Mowder said that the fact he tried to point his finger at his wife, was typical of domestic abusers. Watts, 33, was charged with nine felony counts - including three counts of first degree murder - on Tuesday morning Watts had told police that he murdered Shanann because she had killed their two children. Investigators didn't believe his story, and charged him with nine felony counts - including three counts of first-degree murder, two of murdering children in his trust, one of terminating a pregnancy and three of tampering with bodies. 'When he said she was the one strangling the children, I knew right then he was the one who strangled the children, because he can give all the details of what he said she did because he was doing it himself,' she said. 'It's going to be hard on the family to hear the lies. And there's some secrets there, I'm afraid. It's going to be hard for the jury. It's going to be hard for the public to really understand because there is no understanding it,' Mowder said. Watts was arrested last week in the slayings of his wife and their two children and the affidavit states he told his wife he wanted to separate when she returned home. Watts was last week arrested for murdering his wife Shanann and their two young daughters Shanann suffered from lupus and was pregnant with their third child. According to co-worker Nickole Utoft Atkinson, she was feeling unwell during their business trip to Arizona. 'A double joy is a shared joy and a double sorrow is not a shared sorrow,' he ends the presentation to a round of applause. He has not entered a plea to murder and other felony charges and faces the death penalty if found guilty. Detectives believe Watts killed his children first and then killed his 15-week pregnant wife. During his court appearance on Tuesday, Watts hung his head and stayed silent. Shanann's father, Frank Rzucek, wept silently but uncontrollably as the charges were read. The girls' bodies were found in barrels and his wife's in a shallow grave. Well-wishers have left toys, dozens of flowers, candles and balloons in the front yard of the $400,000 house on Saratoga Trail in Frederick that the couple bought in 2013. Advertisement Theresa May will wreak revenge on Vladimir Putin by ordering a covert war on his spy network as she accused two of its assassins of carrying out the Salisbury novichok attack. The Prime Minister said the security services would target the GRU, the military intelligence unit the pair work for. Cyber warfare, espionage, financial sanctions and travel bans could be used, sources said. Interpol has been put on red alert to detain the two agents, who use the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Mrs May has warned they would be brought to Britain for trial if they ever left Russia - but experts have said that Vladimir Putin will personally ensure the assassins never leave the country and reward them with lucrative promotions despite botching their assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Historian Yuri Felshtinsky, author of The Putin Corporation whose friend Alexander Litvinenko was murdered after the co-authored a book together, told MailOnline: 'Even though they botched their covert attack, President Putin will praise the two members of the GRU and reward them in ways that will advance their career, promoting them as heroes now that their cover is blown'. Theresa May yesterday blamed the Kremlin for the novichok attack and hinted the assassination order may have come directly from Mr Putin because only he has the power in Russian law to order killings abroad. UK Security Minister Ben Wallace said today that the Russian President bears ultimate responsibility because 'his government that controls, funds and directs' the GRU and said Britain is '100 per cent sure' the assassins named yesterday carried out the attack. Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, went further by saying: President Putin bears responsibility for a war-like act' while Bob Seely, a Tory MP and Russia expert, said the order could only have come from the Russian head of state. This diplomatic row will heat up further today when British and Russian officials come face-to-face at the UN Security Council. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia will be represented at Thursday's meeting - called by Britain to update members on progress in the Salisbury investigation - alongside UK allies such as the US and France. These are the two Russian spies being sought over the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury in March. Police say it is unlikely Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are their real names, as they are thought to have many aliases Poisoning victim Charlie Rowley has urged police to bring the two suspects to justice. Mr Rowley, 48, and his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury after coming into contact with the substance months after the same nerve agent was used against former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Mr Rowley (pictured), 48, and his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury after coming into contact with the substance months after the same nerve agent was used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July and a still frail Mr Rowley made an impassioned call to see the suspects, said by police to be Russian military intelligence officers, 'brought to justice'. There are fears his calls could prove futile because Russia's president Vladimir Putin would protect his 'heroes' and prevent them ever leaving the country, which has no extradition treaty with Britain. It echoes the case of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, was murdered using radioactive polonium in London. Andrei Lugovoy, widely suspected of the killing, remained in Russia where he claimed it was'more likely that the moon will become part of the Earth' than that he would face justice in Britain. In a day of extraordinary revelations, it emerged that the two suspects had 'near-identical passport numbers' suggesting the travel documents were issued at the same time ahead of their journey to the UK. While an apartment in a 25-story building registered to one of the suspects in Moscow proved to be bogus as it was revealed to be the home of an elderly female cleaner - with residents telling Russian media they had never seen a man coming or going on that floor. Services announced Petrov and Boshirov as the two men responsible for the attack on Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in March. Astonishing CCTV images show Petrov and Boshirov grinning as they walk around the Wiltshire city on the day Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with the military-grade chemical weapon. Map shows Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov's movement on the day of the poisoning Petrov (right) was seen grinning in Salisbury on the day police believe the men smeared Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door It has been possible to reconstruct their journey from Moscow to London, on to the Wiltshire cathedral city and back on a plane to Russia Alexander Litvinenko Former KGB agent Litvinenko was poisoned after radioactive polonium 210 was slipped into his tea pot in 2006, a killing which a judge said was probably approved by President Vladimir Putin. An inquiry found two Russian men - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun - had deliberately poisoned Litvinenko by putting polonium-210 into his drink at a London hotel, leading to an agonising death. Litvinenko in hospital before his death It said the use of the radioactive substance - which could only have come from a nuclear reactor - was a 'strong indicator' of state involvement and that the two men had probably been acting under the direction of the FSB. Possible motives included Litvinenko's work for British intelligence agencies, his criticism of the FSB, and his association with other Russian dissidents, while it said there was also a 'personal dimension' to the antagonism between him and Putin. International arrest warrants issued for Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun remain in force although Russia continues to refuse their extradition. Mr Lugovoi became a Russian MP in 2007 soon after the interest in him over Litvinenko's death. This meant he now has political immunity and cannot be prosecuted. An inquiry found two Russian men - Andrei Lugovoi (pictured) and Dmitri Kovtun - had deliberately poisoned Litvinenko Advertisement Prime Minister Theresa May today revealed the two men are thought to be officers in Russia's GRU military intelligence service, according to British agencies. The Novichok attack left a trail of the deadly nerve agent around Salisbury, with mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess dying after she came into contact with the chemical. Mrs Sturgess's partner Charlie Rowley and county police officer Nick Bailey were also hospitalised. In response, Mr Rowley said from his hospital bed that he while he did not recognise the pair, he wants to see the men 'brought to justice'. He told ITV News: 'I don't recognise the two suspects, but I want to see them brought to justice. 'I am glad that Police are making progress with their investigation but at the same time, it's upsetting to see Dawn's face everywhere, because it brings all the hurt and pain at losing her back to reality. 'It is progress to see the suspects identified in the Skripal case. But we need to make sure that these people are also held accountable for Dawn's murder. She was a beautiful woman whose life was unjustly taken away because of them.' Despite Mr Rowley's calls, Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert for the Institute of International Relations, said the pair will never be brought to justice, even if Putin loses his grip on power. He told Sky News: 'Even if the government changes in Moscow, the Russian constitution explicitly bars the extradition of Russian citizens and given that we assume these two, whatever their real names are, it's not what's on their passport, given that they are Russian citizens, they are not going to be extradited. 'The only chance is if they are stupid enough to try to travel abroad but to be perfectly honest, their holiday plans are going to be Crimea rather than anywhere else.' Crystal clear CCTV images released today show the two Russian agents entering Britain at Gatwick, strolling around Salisbury on the day of the attack, and leaving the UK at Heathrow Airport just hours after the Skripals were found collapsed in a park. Prosecutors will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men, as no agreement exists between the countries, but a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained in case either of the pair are ever spotted outside of Russia. Theresa May told MPs that British secret services believe the two suspects are officers of the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU. She said it's unlikely the agency would have been allowed to carry out such a brazen attack on its own and the hit was 'almost certainly approved at a senior level of the Russian state'. Mrs May added: 'The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. 'The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and all our citizens. On the basis of what we have learnt in the Salisbury investigation and what we know about this organisation more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts specifically against the GRU.' The pair were caught on CCTV at Salisbury train station on March 3, the day before Mr Skripal was poisoned. Scotland Yard believe they came to the town to carry out a reconnaissance mission Police released an image of the perfume bottle believed to have contained the Novichok and the box it was hidden in. This was picked up by Salisbury resident Dawn Sturgess weeks after the attack. She sprayed it on her wrists before she died Mr Skripal was a colonel in the GRU before he was jailed for selling secrets to the West and brought to Britain in a spy swap. The Prime Minister's announcement therefore suggests the hit may have been organised by his former colleagues. Police said it is likely the suspects, who are aged around 40, were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. They are appealing to anyone around the world who knows their real identities to contact them. In a busy morning of announcements and statements, prosecutors revealed Petrov and Boshirov are wanted for conspiracy to murder Mr Skripal and the attempted murder of his daughter. If caught, the Russians will also be charged with the attempted murder of DS Bailey and the use of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act. But Russian authorities denied all knowledge of the two men, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova telling reporters: 'The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us.' Novichok 'assassins' movements revealed: Spies flew into Britain from Russia before getting train to Salisbury Scotland Yard today released detailed information about the movements of the prime suspects in the Novichok nerve agent attack. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov arrived in the UK on a Friday afternoon in March and checked into a budget hotel in east London. On the Saturday, the day before the attack, they carried out a reconnaissance trip to Salisbury before returning to London. On the Sunday, they took another train to Salisbury and are thought to have smeared the Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door. That afternoon they returned to London and flew from Heathrow hours after the Skripals were found collapsed in a park. Friday, 2 March: 3pm: The suspects arrive at Gatwick airport, having flown from Moscow on Aeroflot flight SU2588. CCTV images from 3pm on Friday, March 2 show Petrov (left) and Boshirov (right) arriving at Gatwick airport on a flight from Moscow Friday, March 2 5.40pm: After travelling into London by train, the pair arrive at Victoria station. 6pm: They travelled to Waterloo station, where they were seen between 6pm and 7pm. 7pm: The pair then travelled to the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, East London, where they stayed on the night of the Friday, 2 March. Saturday, 3 March: 11am: They left the hotel and took the underground to Waterloo station, arriving at approximately 11.45am. The two spies were pictured in Salisbury the day before the attack, when they carried out a reconnaissance trip 2.25pm: Having caught a train to Salisbury from Waterloo, they arrive in the cathedral city, the day before the attack. 4.10pm: After carrying out what police believe was reconnaissance of the Salisbury area, they leave the city and return to London. 8.05pm: They return to their hotel in Bow and stay there for the night. Sunday, 4 March: 8am: They made the same journey from the hotel, again using the underground from Bow to Waterloo station before continuing their journey by train to Salisbury. CCTV later showed them in the vicinity of Mr Skripal's house and police believe that they contaminated the front door with Novichok. The pair are pictured at Salisbury train station on the morning of the day the Skripals were poisoned The pair are pictured in Wilton Road, Salisbury shortly before midday on March, 4, the day the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok The pair were then seen on Salisbury's Fisherton Road on March 4 shortly after 1pm, around the time the nerve agent is thought to have been smeared on their target's front door As they walk around Salisbury on the day of the attack, they are seen on CCTV in Fisherton Road shortly after 1pm The pair were seen at Salisbury train station shortly before 2pm on March 4. This is thought to be after they left the Novichok on the door 4.45pm: The arrived at back Waterloo Station after the hour and half journey from Salisbury. 6.30pm: They boarded the London Underground to London Heathrow Airport. 10:30pm: They fly out of London, returning to Moscow on Aeroflot flight SU2585. The two men were then seen going through security at Heathrow on their way back to Russia at 7.30pm, just hours after the Skripals were found collapsed in the park in Salisbury Advertisement Biometric data is required from Russians seeking British visas, meaning anti-terror police could hold their genuine fingerprints and iris data. But there are fears the pair could avoid justice but simply staying in Russia for the rest of their lives, like the alleged killers of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in 2006. The charge d'affaires at Russia's London embassy was today summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down by an official as Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko is not currently in the country. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'He was informed of the charges we have brought against two Russian citizens, the fact that they were GRU officers and of our determination that they should be brought to justice. 'We also made clear that the UK expects the Russian state to account for the reckless and outrageous actions of the GRU and that the UK expects that Russia provides a full account of its chemical weapons programme to the OPCW.' Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury in attack which the UK has blamed on Russia Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill after they came into contact with Novichok. It is thought they found a bottle used to store the chemical Why won't Russia extradite the suspects? British authorities today said they would not apply to extradite the suspects as any request would be rejected by Putin's regime. The Russian constitution forbids the extradition of Russian citizens to another state. A European Arrest Warrant (EAW) has been obtained, which means that if either man travels to a country covered by the scheme they will be arrested. Police investigating the Salisbury poisoning are also seeking to circulate Interpol 'red notices'. The potential for a deadlock carries echoes of the aftermath of the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. In that case, two men were identified as suspects but were never handed over to Britain. Advertisement Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the military-grade chemical weapon in Salisbury in March. Police officer Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was also poisoned when he attended the retired spy's suburban home. Like the Skripals, he recovered after receiving life-saving treatment at the city's hospital. But in June, mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died and her partner Charlie Rowley were hospitalised after they fell ill at his home in nearby Amesbury. Police have now released an image of the perfume bottle used by the would-be assassins to transport the Novichok. Mrs Sturgess found the bottle and put the substance on her wrists. Today's announcement relates to the initial attack, but Mr Basu confirmed that officers have now linked the attack on the Skripals to events in Amesbury less than four months later, in which Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 48, were exposed to the same nerve agent. Scotland Yard's counter terror Commissioner Neil Basu said: 'Today marks the most significant moment so far in what has been one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing; the charging of two suspects both Russian nationals - in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.' Mr Basu added: 'We do not believe Dawn and Charlie were deliberately targeted, but became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of. 'We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals' front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders.' The Skripals were found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury in March, sparking a huge investigation which involved anti-terror police, the military and chemical weapons experts Britain's most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick added: 'We remain absolutely determined to identify and bring about a prosecution in the UK courts of those persons responsible for these attacks and we will do all we can to get justice for the victims and their families.' The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed yesterday the toxic chemical that killed Dawn Sturgess was the same nerve agent as that which poisoned the Skripals three months earlier. The OPCW said it was not possible to conclude whether the nerve agent used in the two incidents was from the same batch. The Russian state has previously denied involvement. Its embassy in London yesterday demanded access to the Skripals. A statement released by the Russian Embassy on Tuesday claimed the circumstances of the March attack as 'obscure' and accused British authorities of keeping the Skripals in isolation ever since their release from hospital. It said: 'They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement.' Mrs Sturgess's former home in Salisbury was closed off by police in July as her death meant the investigation became a murder probe It is thought Novichok was smeared on the front door handle of Mr Skripal's Salisbury home 'We're open for business as usual': 48-a-night east London hotel where Salisbury 'assassins' left traces of Novichok six months ago issues safety reassurance to customers after police urge former guests to get in touch The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that 'low' levels of Novichok were found in the two-star 48 a night hotel in May during part of their investigations A budget hotel used by the two Salisbury poison suspects today insisted they are 'open for business' after it emerged traces of nerve agent Novichok were discovered in a room. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov stayed in the City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London, before carrying out the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that 'low' levels of Novichok were found in the two-star 48 a night hotel in May during part of their investigations. In a statement released by the Metropolitan Police today, it said 'we are fully supporting the police investigation' and said they are 'open for business as usual.' Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu insisted there was no threat to public health, but has asked anyone who stayed there between March 4 and May 4 to contact police. It added: 'We are reassured that the police and Public Health England have confirmed very clearly that there is no health risk whatsoever to our guests or our staff. 'We are receiving a lot of media attention, and we would kindly ask that you allow our staff and guests to go about their business unhindered.' In a timeline released by police today Petrov and Boshirov travelled to London on March 2 after landing at Gatwick, making their way to the hotel in Bow. They stayed there for two nights and then went to Salisbury for reconnaissance before returning to the City Stay Hotel for the night. The hotel, on Bow Road in East London, is situated next to a train station. It is where the two Russian suspects stayed during their time in the UK The next day, the suspects travelled to Salisbury again, which is when they smeared Novichok on the Skripal's door. Mr Basu said today: 'Two swabs showed contamination of Novichok at levels below that which would cause concern for public health. 'A decision was made to take further samples from the room as a precautionary measure, including in the same areas originally tested, and all results came back negative. 'We believe the first process of taking swabs removed the contamination, so low were the traces of Novichok in the room. Following these tests, experts deemed the room was safe and that it posed no risk to the public.' One of the rooms at the 48-a-night City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London where the novichok hitmen stayed while in UK The lobby of the hotel, with table and chairs and a television on the wall Mr Basu said there has been no reports of anyone falling ill who stayed in the hotel between March 4 and May 4. Mr Basu added: 'It is likely, given what we have learnt from this investigation, that anyone exposed to Novichock will have experienced symptoms within 12 hours of exposure. 'The levels of Novichok we found in the room at the time of police sampling in May were such that they were not enough to cause short or long-term health effects to anyone exposed to it, at that point or thereafter. 'We will continue to work closely with Public Health England as new information comes to light. 'We are asking anyone who stayed at the hotel between 4 March and 4 May to call 0800 789 321 or email Salisbury2018@met.police.uk. Staff from PHE will be on hand to give advice and reassurance.' One of the twin rooms inside the hotel. It looks over a railway line, has discarded cigarette butts on its doorstep and graffiti drawn onto the front Today, police officers guarded the entrance and staff declined to comment. The hotel, which over looks a railway line, has discarded cigarette butts on its doorstep and graffiti drawn onto the front. Black metal bars are positioned over windows and grass has overgrown on the side of the hotel. Although there is no exterior CCTV, there is a camera in the front lobby. One hotel guest, retired Army Major Khalid from Bangladesh, said he was paying 258 for five nights. He said: 'The police are inside. I'm in room 6 and they are near my room outside rooms 7,8 and 9. 'I didn't know what happened until now but I am sure the police have made the hotel safe again for guests to stay.' Revealed: How 'assassins' faked a Nina Ricci perfume bottle full of toxic nerve agent then 'recklessly threw it away', leading to the death of British woman Russian agents suspected of carrying out the Novichok attack used a glass container made to look like a perfume bottle. Charlie Rowley, 48, told police he found a box he thought contained perfume in a charity bin on Wednesday June 27. The box and bottle were labelled as Premier Jour by Nina Ricci - but Scotland Yard has confirmed that they were counterfeits and had been specially adapted. Inside the box was a bottle and applicator, and police said Mr Rowley tried to put the two parts together at his home address in Amesbury on Saturday June 30. In doing so, he got some of the contents on himself. He said his partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, had applied some of the substance to her wrists before feeling unwell. After he told police where he found the box, cordons were put in place and two bins behind shops in Catherine Street, Salisbury, were removed. Previously, during a search of Mr Rowley's home in Muggleton Road, Amesbury, on July 10, a small box labelled as Nina Ricci Premier Jour was recovered from a rubbish bag in the kitchen. The deadly chemical weapon is thought to have been smuggled around Britain disguised as perfume in this box On July 11, a small glass bottle with a modified nozzle was found on a kitchen worktop. Tests undertaken at the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory established that the bottle contained a 'significant amount of Novichok', Scotland Yard said. The Novichok container was designed to look like a bottle of Premier Jour by Nina Ricci. File photo Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, just over a week after she and Mr Rowley fell ill. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said the manner in which the bottle and packaging was adapted made it a 'perfect cover' for smuggling the weapon into the country. He added: 'We have carried out numerous inquiries in relation to the bottle and are now able to release an image of it with the nozzle attached. 'We are also releasing an image of the box that the bottle and nozzle were in. 'We have spoken to Nina Ricci and undertaken further inquiries. Nina Ricci and our inquiries have confirmed that it is not a genuine Nina Ricci perfume bottle, box or nozzle. 'It is in fact a counterfeit box, bottle and nozzle that have been especially adapted. 'I'd like to reassure anyone who has bought Nina Ricci perfume from a legitimate source that they should not be concerned. It is safe. 'We cannot account for the whereabouts of the bottle, nozzle or box between the attack on the Skripals on March 4 and when Charlie Rowley said he found it on Wednesday June 27.' Advertisement Who are the GRU and how was double agent Sergei Skripal involved with them? The GRU - an acronym for Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye or Main Intelligence Directorate - was founded in 1918 after Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin insisted on its independence from other secret services and the GRU was seen as a rival by other Soviet secret services, such as the KGB. According to Yuri Shvets, a former KGB agent, GRU officers were referred to as 'boots' - tough but unsophisticated. 'The GRU took its officers from the trenches,' he said, whereas KGB picked its agents from the USSR's best universities. The GRU headquarters in Moscow. The agency's operatives were originally seen as rougher and less sophisticated than their KGB counterparts, according to former agents The GRU would train agents and then send them to represent the Soviet Union abroad as military attaches in foreign embassies, according to historian John Barron. But once a member of the GRU, it is believed to be exceptionally difficult to leave. And those who do so to joined foreign agencies were punished savagely. A younger Sergei Skripal. He went on to unmask dozens of secret agents and feed information to MI6 Viktor Suvorov, a GRU officer who defected to Britain in 1978, said new recruits were shown a video of a traitor from the agency being burned alive in a furnace as a warning. Unlike the KGB, the GRU was not split up when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It has a special status and answers directly to the chief of the general staff, one of the three people who control Russia's portable nuclear control system. GRU chiefs are reportedly picked by Putin himself. The GRU is now considered Russia's largest foreign intelligence service, according to Reuters, dwarfing Moscow's better-known Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which is the successor to the KGB's First Chief Directorate. Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in GRU , was considered by the Kremlin to be one of the most damaging spies of his generation. He was responsible for unmasking dozens of secret agents threatening Western interests by operating undercover in Europe. Col Skripal, 66, allegedly received 78,000 in exchange for taking huge risks to pass classified information to MI6. In 2006, he was sentenced to 13 years in a Russian labour camp after being convicted of passing invaluable Russian secrets to the UK. A senior source in Moscow said at the time: 'This man is a big hero for MI6.' He was sentenced to 13 years in a Russian labour camp when he was convicted of passing secrets to Britain After being convicted of 'high treason in the form of espionage' by Moscow's military court, Col Skripal was stripped of his rank, medals and state awards. He was alleged by Russia's security service, the FSB, to have begun working for the British secret services while serving in the army in the 1990s. GRU, one of whose divisions has an emblem featuring a bat, was founded after the Russian Revolution He passed information classified as state secrets and was paid for the work by MI6, the FSB claimed. Col Skripal pleaded guilty at the trial and co-operated with investigators, reports said at the time. He admitted his activities and gave a full account of his spying, which led to a reduced sentence. In July 2010, he was pardoned by then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and was one of four spies exchanged for ten Russian agents deported from the US in an historic swap involving red-headed 'femme fatale' Anna Chapman. After the swap at Vienna airport, Col Skripal was one of two spies who came to Britain and he has kept a low profile for the past eight years. The former spy was living at an address in Salisbury, Wiltshire, when the suspected poisoning took place in the city centre. Russia says names of Novichok poisoning suspects 'mean nothing' to them as it continues to deny links to attempted assassination of former spy - despite 'killers' flying in from Moscow Russia said Wednesday it did not know the names of two Russians Britain has blamed for a nerve agent attack on a former spy and accused London of manipulating information. 'The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. 'We once again call on the British side to switch from public accusations and manipulating information to practical cooperation through law enforcement agencies,' Zakharova said in televised remarks. Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the names of the suspects mean nothing to Russia. Vladimir Putin previously claimed he had never heard of Sergei Skripal before the attack took place Russia's permanent representative at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Alexander Shulgin, called the UK statement a 'provocation'. 'Right from the start we said that Russia has nothing to do with what happened in Salisbury,' Shulgin told Russian state television. The Russian Foreign Office meanwhile tweeted the clip of the PM jerkily dancing in Africa last week sliced with a video of their press chief Maria Zakharova and her rhythmic moves. Mr Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that the names of the two Russian men suspected in the poisoning 'do not mean anything to me'. Mr Ushakov pointed to the fact that British authorities mentioned that they think the men's names are aliases, and wondered 'why this has been done and what kind of a message' Britain is trying to send to the Russian government. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would not apply for their extradition but it added that it obtained a European arrest warrant for the two men. Advertisement There is a close correlation between the surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes and the scandal rocking Labour, MPs were today told. Dave Rich, the head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), said incidents soared from a few dozen a month to over 100 in spring 2016 - Just when the crisis erupted in Jeremy Corbyn's party. And he urged the Labour leader to finally listen to the Jewish community and pass reforms to root out the racism and usher in a 'cultural change'. It comes as a new Survation poll published in the Jewish Chronicle reveals that four out of ten Jews would consider leaving the UK if Mr Corbyn becomes PM. The Labour leader last night failed to quell anger over vile abuse wracking Labour despite bowing to demands to adopt the international definition of anti-Semitism. He caused new offence by trying to add a statement detailing protection for people who call Israel racist - a caveat rejected even by loyalists on the party's ruling NEC. Speaking to the women and equalities select committee today, Mr Rich said: 'Over the last two years we have seen a much closer correlation between events in the Labour Party and our anti-Semitic incidents statistics than any other single factor.' Dave Rich, the head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST) (pictured today in parliament in front of the women and equalities select committee) said incidents soared from a few dozen a month to over 100 in spring 2016 - Just when the crisis erupted in Jeremy Corbyn's party Laura Marks, chairwoman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, (pictured, far left at the committee in Parliament today) said their has been a 'tide change' in the Jewish community over the past three years and that the unease is 'palpable' Detailing anti-Semitism incidents reported to the CST, he said: 'We recorded 129 incidents in June and 129 in July, but we had recorded 135 in May the month prior and 100 incidents in April. 'The big uptick in anti-Semitism incidents we recorded came in April and May. Now around that time came the whole issue about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party really hit the front-pages with the suspensions of Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone. Jewish couple are packing their bags for Israel over the anti-Semitism crisis A leading Jewish lawyer and his partner have said they are leaving the UK after being bombarded by anti-Semitic abuse and death threats by Jeremy Corbyn supporters. Mark Lewis, an ex Labour supporter who represented victims in the phone-hacking case, and Mandy Blumenthal said they are planning to move to Israel by the end of the year. They accused Mr Corbyn of moving the 'rock anti-Semites have crawled out from' and said they have received a growing wave of hate and threats since he became Labour leader. Mr Lewis said a man has been sent to prison for threatening to kill him simply because he is Jewish. He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Show: 'The online abuse might continue, the Israelis might not like me because I am too left, might not like me because they think I am too right, whatever their view. 'But they are not going to dislike me because I am Jewish. And there is only so much you can take when you are getting threats to kill you. 'When you are getting threats from people that they want you to be ill etc, it's a drip drip effect.' Ms Blumenthal said: 'People are in the majority of circles that I mix in actually talking about their options of leaving here because of the anti-Semitism.' Advertisement 'So we took that increase to be in response to those incidents that were happening here in the Labour Party. 'It may be the debate around Brexit and increase in hate crime after that debate kept the anti-Semitic incidents sustained at a higher level, and maybe they would have fallen away had it not been for that, but we had already seen an uptick before other hate crime. 'Over the last two years we have seen a much closer correlation between events in the Labour Party and our anti-Semitic incidents statistics than any other single factor.' Mr Rich said that while he is not suggesting everyone committing the hate crimes are in the Labour Party, he warned the scandal is feeding a toxic atmosphere. And he urged Mr Corbyn to listen to the Jewish community and make the reforms needed to root out the abuse. He said this must be seen as more than mere 'technical' changes, but 'a cultural change as well'. At least half a dozen Labour MPs are considering following Frank Field and quitting over the scandal. Meanwhile, a poll today found that 39 per cent of the 710 British Jews who were quizzed for the survey said they would consider emigrating if Mr Corbyn gets the keys to No10. Last month Mark Lewis, an ex Labour supporter and leading Jewish lawyer,, and his partner Mandy Blumenthal revealed they are leaving Britain for Israel because of the scandal. They accused Mr Corbyn of moving the 'rock anti-Semites have crawled out from' and said they have received a growing wave of hate and threats since he became Labour leader. He told MailOnline today: 'Waiting to see if Corbyn will become PM is already too late. The damage has already been done. 'He has moved the rock which was covering many very nasty creatures. 'Even after the reluctant acceptance of the IHRA definition of antisemitism (and its caveat that renders it meaningless) Corbyn made sure that his personal proposal was leaked so that his nasty gang knew that he was still with them. 'Of course it is an individual decision but for those who will listen, I say get out while you can.' In today's select committee hearing, Mr Rich also demanded tougher laws for social media companies, where much of the anti-Jewish hatred is peddled. He said: 'I would say the Government needs to be looking at the legal responsibilities of the social media companies and their status in law.' His words were echoed by Danny Stone, director of the Antisemitism Trust, who said: 'It is all about the social media companies at the moment.' MPs were also warned the Jewish community have been so shaken by the anti-Semitism crisis that they are gloomier about their lives in Britain than they have been for many years. Laura Marks, chairwoman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said there has been a 'tide change' in the Jewish community over the past three years. She said that while there has not been a big exodus of Jewish families from the UK yet, there is a new 'uneasiness' which is 'palpable'. The stark warning to the women and equalities select committee (pictured today in Parliament) comes as Labour continues to be engulfed by the bitter anti-Semitism crisis which has rocked Jeremy Corbyn's leadership Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving home this morning) has been dogged by accusations that he has allowed anti-Semitism to go unchallenged in the party since he became leader Ms Marks told the committee the Jewish community is more fearful today than they have been for many years. She said: 'About four years ago after I think the Paris attacks I was asked on the radio, is it true that the Jews are packing their bags? It was a whole thing that the Jews are packing their bags. 'I said this is absolute nonsense. 'And I think there has been a tide change in the Jewish community and whether or not people are packing their bags - I don't know if people are packing their bags - but there is an uneasiness in the community that is palpable and very different from three or four years ago. 'We see it around us all the time - nobody is talking about anything mush else. Which is very depressing.' A 'stressed and hungry' sea lion stranded about a quarter of a mile from water for four days has been rolled into a front-end loader and returned to the ocean. The stranded 1,700lb male Stellar sea lion was first spotted sitting by the side of a road in a a residential area by a bewildered motorist in Sitka, Alaska, at 3am on August 31. He notified scientists at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries (NOAA) about the creature, which spent time on a resident's timber deck, and even took refuge under trees in a nearby wooded area. Scroll down for video The rogue sea lion on a resident's front deck, after the 1,700lb male waddled away from Sitka Harbor, in Sitka, Alaska and became stranded The Steller (or northern) sea lion is the largest member of the family Otariidae, the 'eared seals,' which includes all sea lions and fur seals Police, firefighters and scientists, above, were all involved in the effort to get it safely back to the ocean after it waddled out of the water and got lost The stranded 1,700lb male Stellar sea lion was first spotted sitting by the side of a road in a a residential area by a bewildered motorist On September 2, scientists tweeted: NOAA is asking the public to clear the area in Sitka where a male Stellar sea lion is in distress, and is hiding in the woods; the incident is drawing onlookers. Please, for your own safety and the well-being of the animal, if you are in the area, leave. Police, firefighters and scientists were all involved in the effort to get it safely back to the ocean after it waddled out of the water and got lost. Volunteer firefighters sprayed water on the sea lion, to try and coax it back to the ocean - to no avail But this method ended up scaring the sea lion, which then tried to make an escape The sea lion started heading for the woods to escape from the large group trying to help him The Steller (or northern) sea lion is the largest member of the family Otariidae, the eared seals, which includes all sea lions and fur seals. Local law enforcement cautioned drivers in the area and started the delicate process of trying to coax the sea lion back to the ocean using a hose. But their efforts were unsuccessful because the animal had become stressed and dehydrated. On September 3 - four days after the sea lion was first spotted - rescuers made the decision to sedate it and transport it back to Sitka Harbor. The dehydrated creature then took refuge under trees, prompting the above tweet from NOAA Fisheries for members of the public to 'stay clear' of the area The mammoth creature was knocked out by a NOAA vet using a dart and rolled onto the barrel of a digger, before being placed on the back of a pick-up truck. NOAA spokesperson Julie Speegle said the snoozing sea lion was given medication to counteract the sedatives and was carefully monitored in the ocean after its release. Despite its ordeal, the mammal was munching on a fish moments after jumping into the harbor's waves from the University of Southeast Alaska boat ramp. A decision was made to sedate the mammoth sea lion, and roll him onto the front-end loader He was taken directly to the ocean, where scientists kept a close watch on him After a four-day effort, the sea lion was successfully returned to the ocean in Sitka Harbor Speegle said: 'We tried to coax the sea lion in the right direction towards the water with a fire hose. 'It worked for a little while, he was going the right way, but when he got to a road, he just veered into the woods. 'He's an adult male and weighs about 1,700lbs so there was no moving him manually. 'At this point he was tired and dehydrated. 'We decided to let him calm down; he was frightened and confused. He seemed stressed because obviously he was looking for the ocean.' He spent Sunday night under the cover of the woods, 'but he wasn't budging', Speegle said. 'On Monday, our vet came down and at 1pm they managed to sedate him using a dart. 'It was then that they were able to use a front loader and a truck to transport him back to the harbor. 'We watched him for a few hours to make sure everything was okay, but the first thing he did was eat a fish so that was a really good sign,' Speegle added. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries experts watched as he ate his first fish. The video of his release, top, was filmed by Cindy Bonner Duncan Stellar sea lions feed on cod, herring, pollock and salmon, along with octopus and squid. Sitka Volunteer Fire Department, which sprayed water on the creature, posted a video of its return to the ocean on Facebook. Local residents were happy to see the sea lion had been successfully rescued, with one person commenting: Lucky! Stay away from the killer whales. Scientists involved in the rescue said it was unclear why the sea lion had ventured so far from the shore, but NOAA is keeping a close eye on the adventurous animal. Speegle said: 'We collected some scat for analysis to check his overall health and we fitted him with a satellite tag so we can track his location. 'We are involved in a lot of rescues but this situation was out of the ordinary for sure.' Facebook chief Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey become the latest tech executives to get a grilling from Congress over foreign manipulation Tuesday, where angry Republicans also probe them on President Donald Trump's charges of bias. The pair appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee as Russian election meddling continues to loom over Congress with the mid-terms just two months away and the value of both company stocks took an immediate dive. Twitter's stock plunged 6 per cent during Dorsey's testimony. By early afternoon, it was off 5 per cent. Early in the hearing, panel vice chair Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said regulation is in the cards. 'Congress is going to have to take action here,' said Warner, who was a telecomm investor before he came to Congress. 'The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end,' he said. Sworn in: Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO and second-most senior executive, and Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO and co-founder, take the oath before being questioned by senators on the Intelligence Committee Facebook's stock was down nearly 2 per cent at the start of the hearing. Some lawmakers immediately took shots at another tech giant, Google, who wasn't there. The firm, the subject of recent complaints by Trump about supposed anti-conservative bias in search programs was represented by an empty chair next to its tech competitors. Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio said executives 'don't want to be here to answer these questions,' then posited: 'Maybe because they're arrogant.' Google's parent company Alphabet was also down almost 2 per cent. President Trump warned last week the firms were 'treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.' Twitter shares were down 6 per cent in trading during Dorsey's testimony, CNBC reported. Trump has called Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe a 'witch hunt,' but the intelligence community has concluded that the Kremlin orchestrated efforts to manipulate social media platforms to try to sway the electorate and sow divisions. The firms said shoring up defenses for their platforms was a 'national security priority.' Sandberg compared the effort to stay ahead of would-be manipulators overseas to an arms race. 'We are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting,' she said. Senators wanted Larry Page, the chief executive officer of Google's parent company Alphabet, to testify. The company instead offered Google's senior vice president for global affairs and chief legal officer Kent Walker, who lawmakers said was not senior enough to answer their questions. Senators left an empty chair for Google after the company declined to send an executive the lawmakers deemed senior enough to testify Testifying: Jack Dorsey and Sherly Sandberg are testifying on election interference and their preparations for the mid-terms with less than two months until voting Big event: The Senate committee room was packed for the evidence from the Facebook and Twitter leaders Making his point: Alex Jones of Infowars held an impromptu press conference outside the committee hearing where Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey were being quizzed on Facebook and Twitter's election security Banned: Alex Jones of Infowars, who has been kicked off Twitter, was in the audience for the hearing and had interrupted a live CNBC broadcast just beforehand Walker said he will be submitting written testimony to the committee and will be in Washington to brief lawmakers on Google's efforts to combat possible foreign influence operations. Trump has upped his criticism of social media firms, accusing them of interfering in both the 2016 and 2018 elections. 'I think they already have,' he told the Daily Caller in an interview published Wednesday. He then switched to 2016, where special counsel Robert Mueller has been probing Russian interference to harm Democrat Hillary Clinton and boost Trump. 'I mean the true interference in the last election was that if you look at all, virtually all of those companies are super liberal companies in favor of Hillary Clinton,' Trump said. He continued, without providing any concrete evidence: 'Maybe I did a better job because I'm good with the Twitter and I'm good at social media, but the truth is they were all on Hillary Clinton's side, and if you look at what was going on with Facebook and with Google and all of it, they were very much on her side,' Trump said. The execs are defending their companies against lawmakers who say they aren't doing enough combat continuing foreign efforts to influence American politics. Sandberg, who will testify alongside Dorsey, will acknowledge to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the company was too slow to respond to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election and American society, but insist it is doing better. 'That's on us,' she wrote in prepared testimony released by Facebook. 'This interference was completely unacceptable. It violated the values of our company and of the country we love.' Sandberg says the platform is 'now blocking millions of attempts to register false accounts each and every day' and is 'making progress on fake news.' 'As these past few weeks and months have shown, this work is starting to pay off.' She said the accounts are taken down if they are foreign or domestic. Dorsey, who broke with tradition and did not wear a tie to testify, said Twitter is identify 8 to 10 million suspicious accounts every week. Dorsey, in prepared testimony for a House committee, pushes back on the allegations of bias. 'Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules,' he plans to say. 'We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially. We do not shadowban anyone based on political ideology. In fact, from a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform,' he will tell the Energy and Commerce Committee. 'We've removed hundreds of pages and accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior - meaning they misled others about who they were and what they were doing,' Sandberg said in written testimony released on Tuesday. Warner said questions remain on where the tech companies will go moving forward and that will likely require Congressional action. 'Each of you have come a long way with respect to recognizing the threat,' he said. 'The bad news, I'm afraid, is that there is a lot of work still to do. And I'm skeptical that, ultimately, you'll be able to truly address this challenge on your own. Congress is going to have to take action here.' 'The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end,' he said. 'Where we go from here is an open question.' 'I mean the true interference in the last election was that if you look at all, virtually all of those companies are super liberal companies in favor of Hillary Clinton,' President Trump told the Daily Caller, diminishing conclusions of Russian interference Facebook, Twitter and other technology firms have been on the defensive for many months over political influence activity on their sites as well as concerns over user privacy. Their executives have traveled to Washington several times to testify in Congress, including 10 hours of questioning of Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over two days in April. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been looking into Russian efforts to influence U.S. public opinion throughout Trump's presidency, after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that entities backed by the Kremlin had sought to boost his chances of winning the White House in 2016. Moscow denies involvement, and Trump - backed by some of his fellow Republicans in Congress - has repeatedly dismissed investigations of the issue as a partisan witch hunt or hoax. Some Republicans have also charged social media companies with bias against Trump and other conservatives. Twitter's Dorsey was to follow his Senate testimony on Wednesday morning with an appearance at an afternoon hearing looking at that issue in the House of Representatives. Here to reassure: Jack Dorsey and Sheryl Sandberg are trying to convince senators on the Intelligence Committee that their social networks are ready for the midterms Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg acknowledged the company was too slow to respond to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election Dorsey will tell the House Energy and Commerce Committee that Twitter 'does not use political ideology to make any decisions,' according to written testimony also made public on Tuesday. Trump faulted Twitter on July 26, without citing any evidence, for limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans through a practice known as shadow banning. Last week Trump 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. Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House, but the House's approach to the election issue has been far more partisan than in the Senate. In the Senate, both the Republican Intelligence Committee chairman, Richard Burr, and Democratic vice chairman, Mark Warner, said they called Wednesday's hearing to press the social media companies to do more. 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. The mother of a Belgian executive who fell to his death in Moscow has claimed he was murdered by assassins who 'knocked him out and threw him out of the window'. Research scientist Bruno Charles De Cooman plunged from a high-rise apartment building close to the Kremlin in the Russian capital last week. Russian officials are working on the premise he took his own life - but Belgian police have asked to speak to their Moscow counterparts as they launch their own probe. De Cooman's family has voiced suspicion about the circumstances surrounding his death and his mother, Marie Madeline Meunier, has said she believes her son, believed to have been 59, was killed by people who were waiting for him upstairs. The mother of a Belgian executive who fell to his death in Moscow has claimed he was murdered by assassins who 'knocked him out and threw him out of the window'. Bruno Charles De Cooman, from Belgium, was named as the new VP for Research and Development at NLMK a year ago She told Belgian broadcaster RTL that her son left work unusually around noon and asked his driver to wait for him below the entrance to the building, saying he would not take long. 'They knocked him out and threw him out the window,' she told VTM television, a Flemish network. 'I want to know the truth and it's in the hands of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,' she said. Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said it has opened a routine investigation into the fall, which happened at a 12-storey building on the embankment on the opposite side of the Moskva river from the Kremlin. Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for Belgian federal prosecutors, said there is no reason at this point to doubt the approach of Russian officials, who are reportedly working on the premise he killed himself and are not treating it as a criminal case. 'We opened an investigation because it was a violent death,' Van Der Sypt told AFP. Dr De Cooman was found on the street below this block of flats in Moscow - not far from the Kremlin 'We will contact the Russian investigators. We have a cooperation agreement with the prosecutors in Moscow,' he said. 'We'll see what they see in their files,' he added. 'We're trying to gather as much information as possible. 'The driver is Belgian. It seems logical to us that we talk to the driver when he returns home. But we have no idea when,' Van Der Sypt added. Russian news media quoted the driver as saying he saw De Cooman falling from the eighth-floor floor window of the building on Serafimovich Street on the opposite side of the Moskva river from the Kremlin. De Cooman, a former professor at the University of Ghent in Belgium, had been vice president of research and development at the Russian group Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) since 2017. 'Bruno De Cooman's death is an enormous loss for the Group and the entire sector, for his friends and family,' said Grigory Fedorishin, NLMK Group President. 'He has made an invaluable contribution to the development of global steelmaking through product innovation.' Meunier said Belgian investigators must interview the driver and obtain her son's phone to study his call log. TASS news agency quoted a source as saying no traces of a struggle were found during a preliminary search of the businessman's flat. Russia's investigative committee declined to comment when an AFP journalist phoned staff on Tuesday for more information in the case. A source close to the case told TASS that Russian investigators were working on the premise that De Cooman committed suicide. However, several Russian media outlets said no suicide note was found. NLMK is owned by Vladimir Lisin who Forbes lists as one of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs. The group employs about 2,500 people in Europe, with about 1,000 in Belgium. A furious mum has blasted jewellery retailer Claire's Accessories after her daughter, 7, was hospitalised when the back of her earring got stuck in her ear - and had to have it scooped out using a scalpel. Enraged Suzie Nisbet claims when Lily's ears were pierced she was assured by staff at the high street retailer that she could safely change her earrings after just three weeks - providing their own-brand cleaning solution was used regularly. Suzie, 39, said that despite religiously cleaning her ears three times a day for a month with the 15 lotion, the schoolgirl was left screaming in agony from the pain in her right ear after changing her earrings. Suzie Nisbet with her seven-year-old daughter Lily who was hospitalised after an earring she was wearing, bought at Claire's Accessories, became embedded in her ear Lily breathing gas and air as she had the earring removed in hospital Lily had the earring removed under local anaesthetic to extract the embedded earring back Suzie Nisbet with the Claire's Accessories own-brand cleaning solution used to clean her daughter's ears Convinced the butterfly back had fallen off as Lily slept, Suzie spent three days tugging at the piercing in a bid to take the earring out and thoroughly clean it. However a nurse family friend visiting for lunch a week after she changed her earrings took one look at Lily's ear and advised them to get it checked out, suspecting the back had become embedded under the skin and the ear infected. Lily spent four hours at The Princess Alexandra Hospital's A&E department in Harlow, Essex, last Thursday on gas and air and under local anaesthetic to extract the embedded earring back. The schoolgirl was in that much pain it took two nurses, one to remove it and one to hold her down, to successfully get it out. Claire's Accessories claim the lotion is thoroughly tested and that three weeks of use is an appropriate and approved length of time. They advise customers to seek medical advice if any redness, swelling or pain occurs. Right: Lily at home with a plaster on her ear after the earring extraction. Left: the earrings she bought from Claire's Accessories Receptionist Suzie from Harlow said: 'I'm really furious with Claire's Accessories. I trusted them as a global brand when they said the earrings could be changed in three weeks and then this happens. 'In hospital there was nothing I could do for Lily, all I could do was hold her hand and try to make her giggle. I felt so helpless, I just felt like crying. 'I felt so guilty as I was the one who'd taken her there to get them done. If I could have gone through it for her, I would have done.' Mum-of-three Suzie took Lily to the Harlow branch of the chain on August 1 to see whether they had time to get her ears pierced before going back to school - believing she would need six weeks' healing time. Lily is pictured here with her family after getting her ears pierced at Claire's Accesories But little Lily was thrilled when they were told that she could safely take them out in as little as three weeks if she used a special cleaning solution. Suzie said: 'The school she goes to doesn't tolerate any piercings, they're strict like that, so her ears needed to be healed by the time she went back to school. 'I didn't think we'd have time before then but I said I'd ask. 'I was told that with this particular solution they would be healed within three weeks. I did think it was quick, but I didn't question it as Claire's is a reputable store and I trusted them. 'Lily was absolutely delighted. She's a real girly girl and was on top of the world when she had them done as she'd wanted them pierced for such a long time. 'She was very proud of them and loved showing them off. I also bought three pairs of sterling silver earrings for her to put in when she could change them, she was thrilled.' Suzie claims she diligently cleaned the piercings with the Rapid Aftercare Lotion every morning, lunchtime and before Lily went to bed and said they looked fine when the first set of earrings came out on August 22. It was approximately a week after that, that her right ear showed sign of infection. Suzie said: 'We regularly cleaned it as we'd been told to and it looked absolutely fine, no sign of infection at all. 'Three weeks to the day after she got her ears pierced, Lily was keeping count, she really wanted to put a new pair of earrings in. 'On the day we took them out they looked ok, they weren't weeping, so we put the new ones in. 'About a week after that she came downstairs complaining that it felt weird and we noticed there was some weeping. 'We didn't think it was possible for the back to get stuck in her ear due to the size of it and searched her bed to try and find it. 'I couldn't push the earring back or forwards, it was absolutely horrible. 'She was screaming every time I tried to remove it, at this point I didn't realise the back was still in there, I thought the lump was an infection. 'My friend who's a nurse came round for lunch. She took one look at her ear and said it was the back of her earring in her ear. 'I felt absolutely terrible, so guilty, as I'd spent three days trying to tug it out.' Left, Lily pictured in hospital and right with her dad Mark and mother Suzie Suzie who lives with husband Mark Nisbet, a civil servant and son Charlie Nisbet, 9, took Lily to A&E at 11am last Thursday. Suzie said: 'She's a really healthy kid and has not even been on antibiotics before. She was given gas and air and some numbing cream but they were unable to get it out. 'It took another more senior nurse, who was so lovely and put her at ease, to get the thing out. 'They gave her a local anaesthetic and then she was just puffing away on gas and air. They had to get another nurse in to hold her down as Lily kept trying to swipe her away. They tried to prise it out but it wasn't coming. 'At that point they said it was too embedded and that she would need to use a scalpel. Those 20 minutes felt like four hours, it was so traumatising for us all. 'When the needle went into her ear it obviously really hurt her as it was so sensitive and she screamed out. She was then properly crying too, it was horrendous. 'When the anaesthetic kicked in the nurse got the scalpel and had to re-open the wound and pop it out. 'She just threw it into this bowl then the front came out and that was it. They then cleaned it up and put a plaster on it, thankfully it didn't need stitches, and has healed really well. 'It was horrific watching her go through such agony. 'My son Charlie was with us. They normally fight like cat and dog and but he held her hand throughout it, he was so sweet.' Suzie, whose eldest son Craig Nisbet, 20, is at university in Dublin, has vowed never to step foot in a Claire's Accessories store again and is now urging the chain not to encourage customers to change lobe piercings in just three weeks. Suzie said: 'Lily is normally a chatterbox but after she had the earring out she was very quiet and reserved, I think she was in shock. 'She's back to her normal self but she's adamant she's not getting her ears pierced again anytime soon. 'This was bad advice given by a name I trusted. I don't know why they are pushing the three-week healing process guidelines. A piercing is a wound and needs at least six weeks to heal. 'I feel very disappointed in Claire's Accessories - we were such good customers but not any more.' Lily lying on a hospital bed after the earring got lodged in her ear Lily, who had her 7th birthday party at Claire's Accessories earlier this year, said that she wanted to make sure no-one else had the same experience as her. Lily said: 'I wanted my ears pierced because all my friends and family have them done and I wanted to join in and look like them. 'I woke up one morning and my ear started to feel like it was vibrating, it felt really sore and yucky. It was really painful, it was hot and sore. Hospital was really weird and scary, I was worried they were going to cut off my ear. 'I will leave getting my ears pierced until I'm older.' A spokesman for Claire's Accessories, an ear piercing specialist, said: 'Our piercing procedure and all of our piercing instruments, supplies and earrings are designed to promote the safest and most hygienic piercing experience. 'The rapid after care lotion is dermatologist and paediatrician tested for the effective care of the pierced ear. Three weeks of use is an appropriate and approved length of time. 'The Rapid lotion is safe and allergy tested and it's soothing formula is skin friendly. 'If undue pain / swelling / redness occurs at any time, seek medical advice immediately. Do not remove studs before the relevant medical advice.' AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has revealed he helped secure an Argentinian polo player's visa application who was a 'friend of a friend', before saving a French au pair who worked for his second cousin Callum McLachlan. The AFL head is giving evidence to a Senate committee over lobbying Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to save au pair Alexandre Deuwel. He told the inquiry on Wednesday he asked the AFL's head of government relations Jude Donnelly - a former Liberal staffer - to check on a business visa application for the polo player in 2014. Scroll down for video AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has revealed he helped secure a visa application for an Argentinian polo player who was a 'friend of a friend' McLachlan saved French au pair Alexandra Deuwel (pictured), who worked for his second cousin Callum McLachlan. He referred the case to Peter Dutton who overturned deportation Callum McLachlan contacted his relative, who directed Ms Donnelly to forward an email from him to the minister's chief-of-staff. Ms Donnelly said she asked a former colleague in then Prime Minister Tony Abbott's office about the status of the application and was told it had already been approved and was being processed. The AFL boss said: 'I was contacted by someone who was waiting on a business visa, a friend of a friend, who was wanting to come into the country who had language issues. 'I asked Ms Donnelly to understand whether the visa had been approved or not.' Ms Donnelly's request was made when Scott Morrison was immigration minister - but Mr Morrison said he had no recollection of the matter. In a separate case revealed by leaked secret documents and emails, French woman Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide airport in October 2015 after admitting she intended to work in breach of her tourist visa for the AFL boss' second cousin. Mr Dutton then overturned departmental advice, allowing Ms Deuwel to stay in the country on a tourist visa. Mr McLachlan told the inquiry on Wednesday he asked the AFL's head of government relations Jude Donnelly (right) - a former Liberal staffer - to check on a business visa application for the polo player in 2014. The Department of Home Affairs has referred the leak to the Australian Federal Police. The Home Affair minister, who has stepped in to make visitor visa decisions just 25 times, told reporters he had received 9000 requests for intervention on visa matters from MPs and senators alone. Migration agent Eve Watts also appeared at Wednesday's inquiry, revealing she struggled to see any public interest in granting the foreign au pairs a visa. A young boy has been reunited with his mother after she woke from a coma following a horror car crash which killed two people. Rachel Elliott, 25, was thrown from a Peugeot 306 which ploughed into a wall and lamppost at 3.30am in Bundoran, Ireland, on August 19. The driver of the vehicle, carrying six adults, lost control and two 20-year-olds, Shiva Devine and Conall McAleer, were killed. Two others were seriously injured. Following surgery at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, young mum Rachel was put into an induced coma. Heartwarming pictures posted on Snapchat by Rachel's sister Donna showed the moment she was reunited with son Ronnie The mother-of-one was placed in a medically-induced coma after a horror car crash in Bundoran, Ireland on August 19 But emotional pictures taken from the hospital on Tuesday show the moment Rachel was finally reunited with her son Ronnie after waking up from the coma. Rachel's sister Donna wrote on Facebook: 'I've a very happy nephew on his way to see his mummy. Said he is going to see give u pink medicine to make u feel better. She later added: 'Mother and son time. To say the least they were very happy to be reunited. Very emotional day..we love u xx.' According to doctors Rachel has suffered life-changing injuries to her brain, back and pelvis. Son Ronnie brought his mother a horde of gifts as he saw her for the first time since the accident Six people were said to have been in the car at the time of the accident, with two killed and two others seriously injured Her family previously revealed they were going through 'a living nightmare'. 'It's heart-wrenching seeing her there and you can't do anything,' Donna told the Impartial Reporter. 'We just want her to pull through, we need her to pull through. She has to pull through for her wee boy Ronnie. 'We are numb, it is a living nightmare. We don't know if she will make it, it's waiting game for us. We don't have any answers.' Rachel was said to have sustained life-changing injuries to her brain, back and pelvis in the crash A couple who earned two million airline points by signing up to dozens of credit cards are now traveling the world 'for free'. Chad and Hannah Janis, 25, who met while studying in Utah, moved to New York in 2017 and began working on Wall Street. Together the couple earned $225,000 in their 12 months in banking, but say their jobs were always intended as a means to an end. After spending a year signing up to - and using - 26 different credit cards, they will be able to fly to 40 countries, in business class, by using their earned airline points. Credit card scheme: The married couple signed up to dozens of credit cards in order to earn the sign-up bonus points to use for flights On the journey: The couple have now began their round-the-world trip which will see them fly to 40 different countries using their saved-up airline points Courtesy of Hannah and Chad The couple estimate that they have saved $84,000 in travel expenses. 'After earning over two million airline points in the last year, we quit our finance jobs, sold our stuff, and are taking off,' the Janises wrote on their Instagram last week. 'Our tickets are already booked entirely with points, and we are headed out for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to over 40 countries in business class for free.' The couple told news.com.au that the key to their success was understanding how to be able to get a credit card's signup bonus by spending just enough money to hit the 'minimum spend requirement'. Big saver: The couple estimate that they have saved $84,000 in travel expenses 'We've already booked out the next eight months of free flights, the majority of which were through Singapore Airlines' business class round-the-world offering (240,000 points per person),' Mr Janis told the website. 'From there, we used the points we earned with other airlines through our cards' sign-up bonuses to book ancillary, 'shorter' flight tickets such as our flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Vava'u, Tonga, and many others. 'We also have several hundred thousand points with hotel programs. The couple have now launched their own website Wall Street Minimalists, where they outline how they earned their two million points in 12 months using their first 26 credit cards. Some of the cards they opened were linked to hotel groups, such as a Chase Marriot Rewards credit card which saw them 'save' $6,000 by getting a weeklong stay at a Marriott resort in Fiji. Ross Kemp previously said Birmingham was 'more shocking than war-torn Afghanistan', and donning the same body armour as he did in Hellman's province the former Eastenders star took to the streets of the UK's second city to speak to members some of Britain's biggest gangs. The TV hardman, 54, discovers a sawn-off shotgun when he joins West Midlands Police's tactical firearms unit for a raid in Billesley, Birmingham as part of an ITV documentary: Ross Kemp And The Armed Police. In a shocking clip released ahead of tonight's show, a gang member tells Kemp he felt 'empowered' the first time he got his hands on a gun aged just 15. He adds that children as young as 12 are getting involved in firearms as 'it's easy to turn a child into a killer'. The gangster then boasts to Kemp he can make one phone call and get him a new gun in a few minutes'. The thug goes on to criticise the police and says the UK is going to 'become like America with more guns on the street and more police'. He continues 'I was locked up as a child for nothing. The police aren't squeaky clean'. In the show, which airs tonight, he also speaks to an arms smuggler, who makes 500,000 a week, that tells him the lack of police on the streets is making life too easy for the gangs. Shockingly, the gang member actually tells Kemp there should be more police on the streets. The Office Of National Statistics confirmed last year that the West Midlands had 'the highest rate of non-air firearm offences per 1100,000 population' in the UK and in this week alone there have been 12 stabbings in the city. In a shocking clip released ahead of tonight's show, a gang member tells Kemp he felt 'empowered' the first time he got his hands on a gun aged just 15 In March, Kemp said: 'I am making a documentary about our armed response units and counter terrorist units armed police across the UK... '[I'm asking] do we have enough to meet the threat that is now posed to us? 'Not only by terrorists but also by the increase in the use of hand guns by drugs gangs... [I] wear the same body armour that I wore in Syria on the streets of Birmingham.' The man who identifies as a member of 'one of Birmingham's biggest gangs' says that children as young as 12 are getting involved in firearms as 'it's easy to turn a child into a killer' Kemp's father was a Detective Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Police and carried a gun, he says in the documentary that his father 'wouldn't trust a lot of the people he worked alongside with a sharp pencil, let alone a firearm.' The documentary maker also expresses his concern that the UK is heading towards a state where all police carry guns. Armed officers on UK streets has increased by 1,500 in the last two years, in response to an increased terror threat but there are 20,000 fewer police on the street compared to eight years ago due to government cuts. The thug goes on to criticise the police and says the UK is going to 'become like America with more guns on the street and more police Advertisement The movements of the two Russian agents during their 55-hour whistlestop trip to the UK were set out in painstaking detail by Scotland Yard today. Novichok suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov arrived in the UK on a Friday afternoon on Friday March 2 and, after two nights in a budget hotel in east London, flew back to Russia on the evening of Sunday March 4. On the Saturday, the day before the attack, they carried out a reconnaissance trip to Salisbury before returning to London. On the Sunday, they took another train to Salisbury and are thought to have smeared the Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door. That afternoon they returned to London and flew from Heathrow hours after the Skripals were found collapsed in a park. Here MailOnline sets out their movements during their three days in southern England... The suspects flew in from Moscow two days before the attack and flew out again on the evening the Novichok was planted On the Sunday, they took another train to Salisbury and are thought to have smeared the Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door Friday, 2 March: 3pm: The suspects arrive at Gatwick airport, having flown from Moscow on Aeroflot flight SU2588. The first CCTV image shows the man we know as 'Petrov' and 'Boshirov' arriving through security. The first CCTV image shows the man we know as 'Petrov' (left) and 'Boshirov' (right) arriving at London Gatwick airport at 4.22pm on March 2 Friday, March 2 5.40pm: After travelling into London by train, the pair arrive at Victoria station. 6pm: They travelled to Waterloo station, where they were seen between 6pm and 7pm. 7pm: The pair then travelled to the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, East London, where they stayed on the night of the Friday, 2 March. The two Russian suspects spent the night at the City Stay Hotel in Bow, east London. Police officers stand guard outside the two star 48 hotel today Saturday, 3 March: 11am: They left the hotel and took the underground to Waterloo station, arriving at approximately 11.45am. 2.25pm: Having caught a train to Salisbury from Waterloo, they arrive in the cathedral city, the day before the attack. 4.11pm: After carrying out what police believe was reconnaissance of the Salisbury area, they were spotted at Salisbury train station waiting to return to London. Both of the suspects are spotted at Salsibury train station on Saturday, where authorities believe they are carrying out reconnaissance mission 8.05pm: They return to their hotel in Bow and stay there for the night. Sunday, 4 March: 8am: They made the same journey from the hotel, again using the underground from Bow to Waterloo station before continuing their journey by train to Salisbury. 11.48am: CCTV images of the suspects show the pair arriving in Salisbury train station. The pair are pictured at Salisbury train station at 11.48am, on the day the Skripals were poisoned Pictured: Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov walking on Wilton Road, Salisbury, on March 4 at 11.58am - just moments before the attack, authorities say 1.05pm: Around an hour after being spotted on Wilton Road, they were seen walking down Fisherton Road, Salisbury. 1.08pm: Three minutes later, they were caught on CCTV walking on Fisherton road again. Around an hour after being spotted on Wilton Road, they were seen walking down Fisherton Road, Salisbury The two suspects again spotted on Fisherton road at 1.08pm on Sunday, March 4 1.50pm: Both suspects seen at Salisbury train station. Suspects seen at Salisbury train station at 1.50pm on the day of the poisoning, ready to return back to London 4.45pm: They arrived back at Waterloo station after catching a train from Salisbury. 6.30pm: They boarded the London Underground to London Heathrow Airport. 7.28pm: Suspects spotted passing through passport control at Heathrow Airport with their luggage. A doctor has sued a WhatsApp group admin after he became fed up with 'annoying messages wasting my time'. The medic, based in Saudi Arabia, filed a lawsuit against the individual complaining that he was being sent 'useless' messages. He found out he had been added to the forum on returning from Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, according to local media. The unnamed man is quoted as saying: 'They kept sending useless, annoying messages and wasted my time.' A doctor has sued a WhatsApp group admin after he became fed up with 'annoying messages wasting my time' He is said to have made the complaint after tracking what had been sent through to him during a 24 hour period. However, legal experts in the country have warned that the case could end up being dismissed, StepFeed reports. 'If he doesn't prove he suffered anything negative because he was added to the WhatsApp group, a judge might dismiss the case,' Saudi lawyer Khaled Abou Rashed told Okaz newspaper. According to StepFeed, the reaction to his complaint has been mixed among social media users in Saudi Arabia. One asked: 'He doesn't have time for WhatsApp but has time to sue someone?' Another questioned why the man had not simply just left the group. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator said Theresa May's controversial Chequers proposal is dead in the water, an MP today revealed. Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said Michel Barnier tore into the plan in his native French tongue. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who was appearing in front of the EU scrutiny select committee today, angrily demanded to know more details, saying: 'I want to be clear if it is your characterisation?' But Mr Kinnock said that Mr Barnier had told the meeting 'Les propositions sont mortes' - which translates as 'the proposals are dead'. The revelations are a major blow for the PM, who is scrambling to try to get the EU and her own MPs to back her plan - with just 43 days to go to a crunch EU summit which was supposes to decide on it. Her plans sparked a major outcry among Tory members and triggered the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson. Today's remarks in the select committee came after Mrs May told MPs in PMQs that Chequers is the only deal on the table. Labour MP Stephen Kinnock (pictured today in Parliament for the select committee hearing) said Michel Barnier tore into the plan in his native French tongue Dominic Raab (pictured today in Parliament, left, alongside the PM's chief Brexit adviser Olly Robbins) angrily demanded to know more details, saying: I want to be clear if it is your characterisation? Stephen Kinnock said the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured meeting with Dominic Raab last month in Brussels) said he made the comments at a public meeting Mrs May said: 'What we're doing is negotiating a Brexit deal that will deliver for this country, deliver on the vote of the British people, and that will ensure we do so protecting jobs, maintaining our union and ensuring no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.' Mr Raab and the PM's chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins faced a wave of criticism from MPs in the select committee hearing over the Chequers plan. Ex Brexit Minster David Jones said the Government is 'flogging a dead horse' while Tory MP and committee chairman Bill Cash said: Would you advise the Prime Minster to put Chequers out of its - misery its now effectively dead and satisfies virtually no one. 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 Earlier today, the Prime Minister used the first parliamentary showdown after the summer holidays to challenge Jeremy Corbyn to rule out support for a second referendum on Brexit. She twice asked the Labour leader to join her in ruling out a re-run of the 2016 vote but received no reply. Instead Mr Corbyn lashed for 'dancing round the issues' in a quip about her much mocked performances on her Africa tour last week. The Labour leader said Mrs May has no plausible Brexit plan, highlighting Mervyn's King's accusation the negotiation was 'incompetent' today. And he warned the PM 'no deal is a bad deal' in a scene setter for a crucial few weeks in the Brexit talks. In other developments today, a rival Brexit blueprint emerged promoted by Eurosceptics based on Canada's free trade deal model. It was claimed former Brexit Secretary David Davis may endorse the plan with a foreword, leading to hopes Boris Johnson could adopt it were he to follow through on rumours he wants to seize No 10. Mrs May said: 'We will not have a second referendum. He should stand up and rule out a second referendum.' Mr Corbyn later mocked Mrs May for dancing during her recent Africa trade mission, telling the PM that she 'can't keep dancing round all the issues' over Brexit. Mrs May shook her head before laughing at the remark. Mr Corbyn went on: 'It seems that Panasonic have taken the cue and decided to dance off altogether - they're relocating out of this country. 'Could the Prime Minister tell the House how many other companies have been in touch with her or her ministerial team and told her privately that they intend to relocate in the absence of a serious, sensible deal with the European Union?' Mrs May said businesses have 'shown confidence' in the economy before reeling off a list of investment projects. She added Mr Corbyn had given mixed messages over trade deals and free movement, claiming: 'He can't even agree with himself on his own position.' Theresa May (pictured today at PMQs) challenged Jeremy Corbyn to rule out support for a second referendum on Brexit in an angry first PMQs of a stormy autumn The Prime Minister twice asked the Labour leader to join her in ruling out a re-run of the 2016 vote but received no reply Instead Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today at PMQs) lashed the PM for 'dancing round the issues' in a quip about her much mocked performances on her Africa tour last week. Trade expert Shanker Singham, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, is the author of the rumoured 14-page alternative Brexit plan, City AM revealed today. Sources told the paper the document contains detailed proposals for resolving the Irish border issue; stresses the need for full regulatory autonomy, with full control over tariffs and trade deals; outlines policies to boost the UK's attractiveness and competitiveness; and slams the UK's negotiators for failing to bat off 'EU obstructionism' in the course of talks so far. It was claimed former Brexit Secretary David Davis may endorse an alternative Brexit blueprint with a foreword Earlier this week Brexiteer ringleader Jacob Rees-Mogg said he and top EU negotiator Michel Barnier agreed that Chequers 'is absolute rubbish' Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson - many Brexiteers favoured choice to depose Mrs May - has also demanded the Government 'chuck Chequers'. The PMQs clash came after former Bank of England Governor Lord King today derided the Government's 'incompetent' preparations for no deal. He said the failure to properly prepare for the talks with Brussels had left Britain on track for 'Brexit in name only'. Lord King, who backed Brexit, said the last-minute preparations for a no-deal Brexit had left Britain without a credible bargaining position. He made the comments after ministers confirmed efforts were under way to stockpile medicines and ensure an 'adequate' food supply if talks fail. Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King (file image) today derided the Government's 'incompetent' preparations for no deal Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab insisted to MPs yesterday that Britain was ready 'deal or no deal'. Lord King told the BBC: 'Frankly, if a government cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes, whatever position you take on the EU, it illustrates a whole lack of preparation. 'It doesn't tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the EU is good or bad, it tells us everything about the incompetence of the preparation for it.' Brexit in name only would leave Britain closely linked to the EU after leaving, a state Brexiteers say would leave it subject to EU rules but unable to reap the benefits of a full divorce. Asked if that meant the Government had been incompetent, Lord King said: 'The group of people tasked with trying to make decisions on all of this is Parliament as a whole not just the Government, and the civil service, who have brought us to a position where we are now being told that we have to accept a certain course of action otherwise it would be catastrophic. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab insisted to MPs yesterday (pictured) that Britain was ready 'deal or no deal' 'Now, it beggars belief that the sixth biggest economy in the world should get itself into that position.' Lord King, who was in charge of the UK's central bank from 2003 until 2013, said that credible plans should have been put in place to leave without a deal because Britain cannot impose a deal on the EU. However he warned that such plans can not be drawn up in six months and would take several years. Lord King said he feared biggest risk to the UK was that the referendum had failed to resolve the issue of Brexit and it 'isn't going to go away'. Kim Kardashian has revealed she is working with the White House to free another convicted felon. In June, the superstar celebrated freeing Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old from Tennessee who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on non-violent drug charges. President Trump commuted her sentence after Kardashian's tireless campaign against her harsh mandatory punishment. The reality star has now revealed she will fight the cause of Chris Young, a 30-year-old drug dealer who is serving life at a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky. Kim Kardashian will fight the cause of Chris Young (pictured), a 30-year-old who is serving life at a federal prison in Lexington In June, the superstar (pictured) celebrated freeing Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old from Tennessee who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on non-violent drug charges Kardashian will officially announce the news on Jason Flom's Wrongful Conviction podcast later today. According to a preview by Page Six, she says: 'Yesterday, I had a call with a gentleman that's in prison for a drug case - got life. It's so unfair. He's 30 years old. He's been in for almost 10 years.' I felt like the only person that understood all the adversity I'd been through was gone. I was lost, and I made a lot of bad decisions Chris Young after his brother's death 'I was on the phone with the judge that sentenced him to life, who resigned because he had never been on the side of having to do something so unfair, and now he is fighting [alongside] us to get [Young] out.' Young has been in jail since he was arrested at a Shell gas station in Clarksville, Tennessee in December. He was talking to a drug dealer named Robert Porter while standing next to Porter's car which contained eight ounces of cocaine and six ounces of crack. Young went to trial after turning down a guilty plea because he felt the sentence offered was too long. He was found guilty of conspiracy with intent to possess and distribute 500 grams of cocaine and 280 grams of crack, intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a high school, and knowingly possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Due to previous convictions, the judge had no choice but to give him life in prison. Young had been arrested for drug possession with a firearm in 2006 and for possession of less than a half-gram of cocaine in 2007, the same year his brother Robert killed himself. He later told Vice of his brother's death: 'I felt like the only person that understood all the adversity I'd been through was gone. I was lost, and I made a lot of bad decisions.' The judge who sentenced Young, Kevin Sharp (pictured), left the bench in protest at 'unfair' mandatory sentences The judge who sentenced Young, Kevin Sharp, left the bench in protest at 'unfair' mandatory sentences. He said at Young's sentencing hearing in 2014: 'Each defendant is supposed to be treated as an individual. I don't think that's happening here.' Young had testified that his mother was a drug addict and their home would sometimes have no lights or water. He worked at a funeral home but soon joined his friends dealing drugs as a way to survive, he said. Young said at his sentencing he had been relentlessly studying in jail to 'better himself.' He told Vice: 'I look at this like I'm in college. I don't get to go to frat parties or talk to women, but this is the time to get my skill set. When I'm reading in my cell, it's like I'm studying in my dorm room.' Judge Sharp told the Tennessean: 'If there was any way I could have not given him life in prison I would have done it.' He added: 'Most of the defendants (in drug cases) are not dangerous. They're just kids who lack any opportunities and any supervision, lack education and have ended up doing what appears to be at the time the path of least resistance to make a living.' Russia said Wednesday it did not know the names of two Russians Britain has blamed for a nerve agent attack on a former spy and accused London of manipulating information. 'The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. British police identified Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov as the men who tried to kill Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok in March. UK authorities said the names were likely to be aliases. Scroll down for video Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov (right) are wanted by police in connection with the Salisbury spy poisoning in March The pair were caught on CCTV at Salisbury train station shortly after 4pm on March 3, the day Mr Skripal was poisoned 'We once again call on the British side to switch from public accusations and manipulating information to practical cooperation through law enforcement agencies,' Zakharova said in televised remarks. Russia's permanent representative at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Alexander Shulgin, called the UK statement a 'provocation'. 'Right from the start we said that Russia has nothing to do with what happened in Salisbury,' Shulgin told Russian state television. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would not apply for their extradition but it added that it obtained a European arrest warrant for the two men. The CPS said the pair faced charges of conspiracy to murder Skripal, and the attempted murder of him, his daughter and Nick Bailey, a policeman injured in the attack. Petrov (right) was seen grinning in Salisbury on the day police believe the men smeared Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door Scotland Yard's counter terror Commissioner Neil Basu (pictured) said today was the most 'significant development so far' in the investigation Skripal was a colonel in Russian military intelligence who was jailed for betraying agents to Britain's MI6 security service. He moved to England in 2010 as part of a spy swap. The nerve agent was believed to have been smeared on the front door of his house in the sleepy Wiltshire cathedral city of Salisbury in March. London blamed the Russian state for the attack, but Moscow strongly denied any involvement. The Skripals and Bailey both recovered, but in June, a British couple fell ill from the same type of nerve agent in the nearby town of Amesbury. One of them, 44-year-old mother of three Dawn Sturgess, died in July. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury in attack which the UK has blamed on Russia Police launched one of the most stringent investigations in recent memory in an effort to track down those responsible for the Novichok attack in March CCTV images show Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov grinning as they walk around the Wiltshire city on the day former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the military grade nerve agent. The pair were also pictured leaving Britain at Heathrow Airport shortly after the attack and have never returned. Making the announcement, Scotland Yard's counter terror Commissioner Neil Basu said: 'Today marks the most significant moment so far in what has been one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing; the charging of two suspects both Russian nationals - in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.' Mr Basu said it is likely the suspects were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. They are believed to be aged around 40. A CPS spokesman said: 'Prosecutors from the Counter Terrorism Division have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are Russian nationals.' Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons on Wednesday that CCTV evidence 'clearly' places the two Russians in the vicinity of the Skripals' house shortly before the attack on them. She said: 'This hard evidence has enabled the independent Crown Prosecution Service to conclude they have a sufficient basis on which to bring charges'. Mrs May said around 250 detectives had trawled through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage to identify the attackers and had taken more than 1,400 statements. 'Working around the clock, they have carried out painstaking and methodical work to ascertain exactly which individuals were responsible and the methods they used to carry out the attack,' she told MPs. May told MPs that 'this was not a rogue operation' and would 'almost certainly' have been approved at a 'senior level of the Russian state'. Police are on the hunt for a heartless thief who stole a wallet from a dying man. David Lovett suffered a cardiac arrest on a station platform at Hastings station in East Sussex on his way home from live music show. But as he lay dying, supported by two kind-hearted strangers, police believe they have CCTV images of a man rifling through the 66-year-old's belongings and stealing his wallet - making it difficult for authorities to identify him. David (pictured) had travelled to the town to see Lipstick on Your Collar at the White Rock Theatre David died at Hastings on August 25, but it took police three days to inform his family because the thief stole all his identity documents. Son Rich Lovett said: 'It's the lowest of the low. 'I'm very angry that someone has done this to my father when he was at death's door. 'I know it was my father but even it had been another member of the public I would be extremely horrified and angry.' David, from Worthing, West Sussex, was seen slumping to the floor after struggling to breathe - with two women running to his aid and alerting staff. Police believe they saw this man rifling through David's wallet While they tried to revive David, a man was caught on CCTV walking over and picking up the father's wallet from the ground. Detectives eventually managed to track down David's address from his train tickets, which he had bought online. Rich, 39, said his father had travelled to the town to see Lipstick on Your Collar at the White Rock Theatre. Rich said he wanted to thank the two women, railway staff and paramedics who helped his father at the scene. He added: 'Everybody that was there worked together, they all helped - they may never have known who he was but they all came to his aid.' British Transport Police are currently appealing for anyone with information to come forward. A British Transport Police spokesperson said: 'The victim was suffering a cardiac arrest when his wallet was taken, however despite the best efforts of paramedics the man later passed away. 'The incident occurred on Tuesday, August 28 at approximately 10.23pm. 'Officers would like to speak to the man pictured in the images because they believe he may have information which could help officers investigate.' British Transport Police are asking for anyone who can identify the man to call 0800 405040 or text 61016 quoting 681 of 25/8/18. Photographs have revealed the inside of the budget hotel where the two Salisbury poison suspects stayed before carrying out the Novichok attack. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were guests at the City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London, before poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that 'low' levels of the nerve agent were found in the two-star 48 a night hotel in May - two months after the poisonings - during part of their investigations. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu insisted there was no threat to public health, but has asked anyone who stayed there between March 4 and May 4 to contact police. Police officers stand guard outside the two star 48 a night hotel in Bow, east London today The hotel, on Bow Road, is situated next to a train station. It is where the two Russian suspects stayed during their time in the UK The guesthouse released a statement through the Met saying it was 'fully supporting the police investigation' The guesthouse later released a statement through the Metropolitan Police saying it was ' fully supporting the police investigation' and said they are 'open for business as usual.' Images of the interior show some of the 20 small single and double rooms, some with en suite, and a lobby with a sofa and television. It is just minutes from the a train station, and booking websites say the hotel has free wifi and offers breakfast for an additional charge. Although superior rooms have their own en-suite - some have a shared bathroom. One of the bedrooms inside the hotel. Rooms are available for as little as 48 a night The lobby of the hotel, with table and chairs and a television on the wall Black metal bars can be seen here positioned over windows One of the twin rooms inside the hotel. It looks over a railway line, has discarded cigarette butts on its doorstep and graffiti drawn onto the front A website called LateRooms.com states the hotel has given itself a two star rating. Customers also have access to a communal kitchen. It is unclear which rooms the pair stayed in as hotel staff had refused to comment with reporters and news crews not allowed access to the narrow three storey building on the busy Bow Road today. A police officer stayed outside the entrance to the premises while other officers went inside. One of the 'superior rooms' inside the hotel, which is located on Bow Road in east London The guesthouse has a communal living room, with tables and chairs and a sofa in the corner Reception staff said they had been told by management not to comment but to direct press to the Metropolitan Police statement. Two bewildered French tourists who said they arrived '30 minutes ago' knew little about the incident. The CityStay Hotel sits in between Bow Church DLR station and the local branch of Barclays Bank. Opposite is an Enterprise car rental carpark, an opticians and a petrol garage. These are the two Russians being sought over the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury One online review of the hotel, left on uk.hotels.com, said they had been disturbed during their March stay by 'loud noise'. He posted the comment on March 3 - the same day the suspects are believed to have left the hotel. The reviewer, known Alex, posted: 'Lots of loud noise from next door or above, worse due to them using metal stairs outside my room.' Alex also commented that he believed people, possibly staff, were 'shouting loudly early in the morning' and were 'rude' during his stay. Other reviewers said the rooms were 'not good value' and were basic - but clean. Another guest from Northern Ireland called Liz said 'not to expect a warm welcome' in the foreboding entrance area due to rude staff. The pair were caught on CCTV at Salisbury train station shortly after 4pm on March 3 Pictures online of the hotel show the rooms are small and often cramped as beds take up the majority of space. Some rooms appear to have a good view of Canary Wharf. Black metal bars are positioned over windows and grass has overgrown on the side of the hotel. Although there is no exterior CCTV, there is a camera in the front lobby. One hotel guest, retired Army Major Khalid from Bangladesh, said he was paying 258 for five nights. Petrov (right) was seen grinning in Salisbury on the day police believe the men smeared Novichok on Mr Skripal's front door He said: 'The police are inside. I'm in room 6 and they are near my room outside rooms 7,8 and 9. 'I didn't know what happened until now but I am sure the police have made the hotel safe again for guests to stay.' In a statement the hotel said: 'The City Stay Hotel in Bow Road is open for business as usual. We are fully supporting the police investigation. 'We are reassured that the police and Public Health England have confirmed very clearly that there is no health risk whatsoever to our guests or to our staff. 'We are receiving a lot of media attention, and we would kindly ask that you allow our staff and guests to go about their business unhindered.' In a timeline released by police today Petrov and Boshirov travelled to London on March 2 after landing at Gatwick, making their way to the hotel in Bow. They stayed there for two nights and then went to Salisbury for reconnaissance before returning to the City Stay Hotel for the night. The next day, the suspects travelled to Salisbury again, which is when they smeared Novichok on the Skripal's door. Mr Basu said today: 'Two swabs showed contamination of Novichok at levels below that which would cause concern for public health. 'A decision was made to take further samples from the room as a precautionary measure, including in the same areas originally tested, and all results came back negative. 'We believe the first process of taking swabs removed the contamination, so low were the traces of Novichok in the room. Police released an image of the perfume bottle believed to have contained the Novichok and the box it was hidden in. This was picked up by Dawn Sturgess, who sprayed it on her wrists, before she collapsed and died 'Following these tests, experts deemed the room was safe and that it posed no risk to the public.' He said there has been no reports of anyone falling ill who stayed in the hotel between March 4 and May 4. Mr Basu added: 'It is likely, given what we have learnt from this investigation, that anyone exposed to Novichock will have experienced symptoms within 12 hours of exposure. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury in attack which the UK has blamed on Russia 'The levels of Novichok we found in the room at the time of police sampling in May were such that they were not enough to cause short or long-term health effects to anyone exposed to it, at that point or thereafter. 'We will continue to work closely with Public Health England as new information comes to light. 'We are asking anyone who stayed at the hotel between 4 March and 4 May to call 0800 789 321 or email Salisbury2018@met.police.uk. Staff from PHE will be on hand to give advice and reassurance.' Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill after they came into contact with Novichok. It is thought they found a bottle used to store the chemical The same deadly nerve agent was also said to be responsible for the killing of mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, in June. Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up the fake Nina Ricci 'Premier Jour' perfume used to poison the Skripals. The teenage girl held captive in a storage container in New Hampshire by a violent predator who abducted her on her way home for school has spoken out about the horror she endured four years after escaping his lair. Abigail Hernandez, now 19, was abducted by Nathaniel Kibby, 39, as she walked home from school in Conway, New Hampshire, in October 2013. The zombie apocalypse-obsessed abductor had offered her a ride home and she accepted because her feet were blistered from the boots she was wearing. For nine months, he held her captive in a shipping container stashed on his rural property. Kibby forced her to wear a shock collar which struck her if she screamed and he sexually assaulted her repeatedly. Scroll down for video Abigail Hernandez, now 19, spoke out in an interview which will air on Friday about being held captive and sexually assaulted repeatedly over the course of nine months between October 2013 and July 2014 In an interview with ABC'S 20/20 which will air on Friday, Hernandez, whose identity had been protected in the past because she is the victim of sexual crimes, spoke about the time she spent in captivity. Nathaniel Kibby, 39, is serving between 45 and 90 years imprisonment for kidnapping the teen She revealed that Kibby, who is now likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, would not tell her his name and instead instructed her to all him 'master'. The young woman also explained how he started using the dog collar on her. 'He said, "You know, I'm thinking of finding something a little more humane for you to keep you quiet." 'He said, "I'm thinking of a shock collar. You know, that like dogs wear." 'I remember he put it on me. And he told me, "Okay, try and scream." 'I just slowly started to raise my voice. And then, it shocked me. So, he's like, "Okay, now you know what it feels like,"' she said. In July 2014, Kibby suddenly decided to let the teenager go. It took her a week before she revealed to her family and law enforcement agencies who he was because she was so afraid of him. In July 2014, Hernandez bravely faced her kidnapper in court and thanked him for letting her go (they are pictured during the court hearing above) Kibby held the girl hostage in a storage container on his property in rural New Hampshire (picture) for nine months without suspicion She knew his name because she had seen it written on a cook book inside the home. Kibby was arrested at his home which was 30 miles north of where he took Abigail. Abigail went missing in October 2013 days before her 15th birthday. It sparked a large manhunt which lasted nine months In the nine months she spent in his captivity, she was only ever allowed to write one letter to her family under his instruction. After his arrest, she bravely confronted him in court and thanked him for letting her go. 'I want you to know that I appreciate my freedom because of you and I enjoy my life because of you. I just want to thank you for giving me my freedom back,' she said. Kibby was sentenced to a minimum of 45 years behind bars and was charged with a litany of crimes including kidnapping and sexual assault. He said he decided to let Abigail go because he'd 'terrorized her enough'. Neighbors testified at his sentencing hearings that he was a gun-obsessed loner who was convinced there would be a zombie apocalypse. They said they half expected him to unravel and do something violent but that kidnapping a child was one of the last things they predicted he would do. Ripped off store owners have warned others to watch out for an alleged Eftpos scam involving stolen credit cards. A group of bandits in Western Australia have allegedly used a simple technique to dodge payment, and at least two Perth camera stores were recently ripped off to the tune of a combined $36,000. Western Australia Police were investigating a number of frauds that allegedly occurred in July and August which were believed to be linked. CCTV footage from a Camera House store in Perth showed two women at the counter after committing to purchases valued at $15,000. Camera House store owner Liddio (pictured) was 'absolutely gutted' after his store was ripped off $15,000 in an alleged Eftpos scam One woman slotted a card into the Eftpos machine but didn't push it all the way through, so it didn't register. In front of the unaware shop assistants, she allegedly then cancelled the transaction and instead manually typed in a stolen credit card number, which was approved. 'Anyone Australia-wide is at risk of this situation,' store owner Liddio told A Current Affair. Western Australia Police are now investigating a number of recent alleged frauds involving stolen credit cards Liddio, who has been In retail for many years, was 'absolutely gutted' by the alleged theft. Russell, another Perth camera store owner and his employee Cooper also claimed they were allegedly ripped off by the same group with the scam. Security footage showed a woman allegedly punching in 16 digits of a stolen credit card while her accomplice distracted Cooper from observing the brazen theft right in front of his eyes. The women left the store with $21,000 of allegedly stolen high-end camera equipment. Russell contacted the Commonwealth Bank to recover the $21,000 but was told the Eftpos machines could not be protected from the alleged fraud and that it was up to the vendor to observe what the customer was doing. Perth camera store owner Russell (left), pictured with employee Cooper were also allegedly stung by the Eftpos scam He's now gravely concerned about the potential impact on his financial situation. 'It's like being kicked in the guts when you're down - it hurts, it hurts financially,' Russell said. 'I don't think it's a good enough response. It borders on an admission of liability from the Commonwealth Bank.' Luckily for Liddio, he was able to get passwords set up on his store's older NAB Eftpos terminals to avoid being stung by the scam again. A Commonwealth Bank spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that merchants agree to take on liability for misuse of the terminal, including fraudulent activity, as part of their agreement with the bank. Russell has to accept liability for the losses because of his store's newly installed Commonwealth Bank Eftpos terminal (stock image) 'CBA undertakes education and awareness programs with its merchant clients in the use of the terminal, including scenarios involving fraud,' he said. 'Given the rise in fraudulent use of the manual function across the industry, and the prevalent acceptance of contactless transactions, CBA is currently reviewing how it can further assist merchants mitigate exploitation of the manual function.' Theresa May today branded Russian's GRU military intelligence agency a 'threat to all our allies and all our citizens' - as she vowed the Salisbury attackers will be arrested if they ever leave the country again. The Prime Minister said a 'body of evidence' amassed by the UK authorities had identified the pair as officers of Moscow's version of MI6 - and also indicated the nerve agent outrage was ordered from the highest levels of the Russian state. She said that the UK would issue an Interpol red notice for the arrest of the two men. 'Should either of these individuals ever again travel outsideRussia we will make every possible step to detain them, extradite them and bring them to face justice here in the United Kingdom,' the premier said. Mrs May added: 'We will deploy the full range of tools across our security apparatus in order to deter the threat from the GRU.' The warning came in a statement to MPs after two Russians were named as the prime suspects in the Novichok chemical weapons outrage in Salisbury. Theresa May delivered an update to the House of Commons today on the Salisbury investigation (pictured) These are the two Russians being sought over the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury in March. Police say it is unlikely Petrov and Boshirov are their real names, as they are thought to have many aliases Astonishing CCTV images show Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov grinning as they walk around the Wiltshire city on the day former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the military grade chemical weapon. The attack left a trail of the deadly nerve agent around Salisbury, with mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess dying after she came into contact with it and county police officer Nick Bailey being hospitalised during the investigation. The CPS today announced Petrov and Boshirov are wanted for conspiracy to murder Mr Skripal and the attempted murder of his daughter. If caught, the Russians will also be charged with the attempted murder of DS Bailey and the use of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act. Speaking in the Commons, Mrs May said: 'We repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March, and they have replied with obfuscation and lies. 'This has included trying to pass the blame for this attack onto terrorists, onto our international partners, and even onto the future mother-in-law of Yulia Skripal. 'They even claimed that I, myself, invented Novichok. Their attempts to hide the truth by pushing out a deluge of disinformation simply reinforces their culpability. 'As we made clear in March, only Russia had the technical means, operational experience and motive to carry out the attack.' Mrs May said that alongside the police probe into Salisbury the security services had been sifting through evidence. 'Based on this work, I can today tell the House that, based on a body of intelligence, the Government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU,' she said. 'The GRU is a highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. 'So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state.' The pair were pictured leaving Britain at Heathrow Airport shortly after the attack and have never returned. Prosecutors will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men, as no agreement exists between the countries, but a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained in case the pair are spotted outside of Russia. Making the announcement, Scotland Yard's counter terror Commissioner Neil Basu said: 'Today marks the most significant moment so far in what has been one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing; the charging of two suspects both Russian nationals - in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.' The pair were caught on CCTV at Salisbury train station shortly after 4pm on March 3, the day Mr Skirpal was poisoned Mr Basu said it is likely the suspects, who are aged around 40, were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. Scotland Yard are appealing to anyone around the world who knows their real identities to contact them. A CPS spokesman said: 'Prosecutors from the Counter Terrorism Division have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are Russian nationals.' Simin Doyich (pictured) is accused of stalking her ex-lover when the affair ended The former mistress of a fund manager stalked him when he refused to leave his wife, a court heard. Simin Doyich met up for sex sessions with the 55-year-old, who cannot be named, at his home, in his office and during a trip to Zurich after meeting on the dating site Illicit Encounters. The 44-year-old became pregnant with her lovers child but when he ended the affair she allegedly claimed he had raped her, Inner London Crown Court heard. She took to social media to broadcast their relationship and even posted pictures of her unborn child on Twitter as she stalked the married couple for eight months last year, leaving the fund manager feeling 'under siege', jurors were told. The fund manager says that he swore on the lives of his sons that he would not have sex with his own wife unless he got permission. Doyich allegedly posted their sexy WhatsApp messages and pixelated photos of them together while branding his wife 'ugly and her family trashy. She is accused of claiming the wife had sexually assaulted her husband for years as he did not want to have sex with her. One tweet said, Ms X should not be trusted in charge of children at her sons school, and another referenced family mental health issues such as sadly committing suicide'. The businessman met Doyich on the Illicit Encounters website - an online dating service for married people (pictured, file photo) She attached links to articles about couples trapped in a sexless marriage and emojis of faeces and pig faces, the court heard. Giving evidence the fund manager told jurors: I was flattered by the attention that she was giving me and yes I was attracted to her. I probably showed off about my work, that I have my own business and she knew I was a fund manager. Initially they exchanged explicit messages and Doyich sent him porn that she had downloaded. Ms Doyich (pictured) allegedly told her ex-lover she was going to post underwear to his address The fund manager told jurors that Doyich pressed for their first meeting and he said he wanted to meet for dinner first to see if they were compatible. But she said why dont you just book a hotel room and well go and have sex and eventually I agreed to that, he said. They booked into the Churchill Hotel, Marylebone, on January 10 and a week later he visited her flat for sex and they would continue to do so for weeks. I had invited her on a business trip to Zurich on the 7th of February, he said. It was fun. We met at City Airport and traveled to Zurich and had a pleasant evening. We had sex and we had a pleasant day. I was working but I had arranged for the defendant to have some treatments in the spa. But on the way home I sent a text message to my wife and the defendant again got incredibly angry about it. He described her visiting the office as his secretary on the night before they went to Paris. This was at the time my wife and children were away in Lanzarote, so the defendant had suggested we go and see a movie which we did although we left halfway through because it was such a terrible movie - it was one of the 50 Shades of Grey (films). She suggested it might be fun to engage in some roleplay by coming round to my office and pretending that she was being interviewed to be my secretary, this was eight in the evening. They had sex in the office but he said: I became very uncomfortable about her being in the office. I became concerned that somebody else could come in the office and I suggested that we leave and actually that we go to my house. She also followed the couple's friends on Twitter and friends of their sons, Inner London crown court heard As she was passing my desk she picked up on of my business cards. I took it off her and she became insulted and as if she was not trustworthy and so I relented foolishly and let her keep it. The house was completely empty. We went up to the top floor, we had sex and then we went down to the basement where we listened to music and I arranged for an Uber to take the defendant home. The following day, Valentines Day, they went to Paris, he said. We had a pleasant time, we travelled by Eurostar, stayed in a nice hotel, we had dinner and then the following day we went for a walk near the Eiffel Tower,' he said. On the way back on the train I received a text from my wife and again the same behaviour, she kicked off and she sat in silence for the whole trip back. Detailing the stalking campaign the married man told the court: I started to receive a barrage of messages from the defendant, the jist of which was that she would reveal to my wife what had been going on unless I emailed her back or WhatsApped her back, unless I issue a statement that I would never have sex with my wife again unless the defendant approved it. I wanted just to shut her up so I did it. The cheating husband told her: I swear on the lives of my sons I will not have sex with my wife unless I get permission. A few days later he went to join his wife and children in Lanzarote where she continued her threats. She sent me messages, in particular an image - she had asked me while we were seeing each other to buy her some underwear from Agent Provocateur, he said. She sent me an image of her putting this underwear in an envelope, stating that she was going to post it to my home address to be there when we got back from Lanzarote. My wife became completely aware that something was going on, I was under a lot of pressure, I had obviously acted terribly foolishly but I wanted to come clean so I confessed to my wife. I then called Ms Doyich and told her that I had confessed to my wife and that I never wanted to see her again and that she should stop communicating with me. She didnt believe me so I then forced my wife to come on the phone and tell Ms Doyich that that was what had happened and after that I deleted everything I have ever received from Ms Doyich from my phone. In March the phone calls began, more than 80 in the first two weeks, these were eerily silent, where a call would come in from a withheld number and nobody would speak, then the caller would hang up. He said: I felt under siege, I felt what have I done and how can I stop this happening. It wasnt only phone calls on my mobile it was phone calls at work and my colleague noticed something was going on. He said, sounds like you have got a stalker and I had to arrange with my chief operating officer, I told him what was going on and he arranged for her number to be blocked on the landline somehow, even though it was being withheld. On 2 March he received an email about her pregnancy and she asked him to arrange an appointment for her. She wanted to go and see a particular specialist who was unable but I arranged for her to see someone more quickly so that timely action could be taken and I ended up arranging for her to see a private GP at the London General Practice. She declined to have a blood test but produced a urine sample which was positive but she produced that in a separate room so I dont know if that was her urine or if it had been doctored. As soon as the test results came back she stormed out of the room and I chased after her and persuaded her to have a cup of coffee. I made clear that I would fund a termination but that if she decided to go ahead with the pregnancy I recognised the obligation that I would have financially. She told me that she wanted to proceed even though she had told me before she couldnt carry a baby to term. The couple finally complained to police last July and she was interviewed in September. Doyich claimed she had fallen pregnant after he had raped her and had miscarried the day he told her not to contact him until after the birth. She claimed she was receiving counselling and had used Twitter to cope with depression. But on the day she was charged with stalking she stated she wanted the investigation reopened and it was only in July this year police finally dropped the rape allegation. Doyich, of west Hampstead, denies two counts of stalking causing serious alarm or distress.The trial continues. The Salisbury 'assassins' wanted in connection to the lethal Novichok poisoning attacks used a perfume bottle to administer the deadly nerve agent before 'recklessly' throwing it away, British authorities revealed. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are wanted in connection to the lethal nerve agent poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skrpial and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, as well as Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley in Amesbury. Detectives have now formally linked the attack on the Skripals in March to the incident in Amesbury in June, which killed Dawn Sturgess and severely poisoned Charlie Rowley. Police have released images of the perfume bottle they say was adapted to help the two Russian suspects carry out their lethal attack Police have released images of the counterfeit perfume box found by Charlie Rowley on June 27, months after the initial Salisbury attack on March 4 Police have spoken to Nina Ricci, who confirmed the bottle, box or nozzle were not genuine. Chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE described the level of sophistication involved in the bottle mechanism. He said: 'The bottle itself is highly engineered, specifically designed for this purpose is highly sophisticated to prevent leakage in travel and application. 'This is something made by real experts in a top, top quality laboratory,' Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said the manner in which the bottle and packaging was adapted made it a 'perfect cover' for smuggling the weapon into the country. He added: 'We have carried out numerous inquiries in relation to the bottle and are now able to release an image of it with the nozzle attached. 'We are also releasing an image of the box that the bottle and nozzle were in. 'We have spoken to Nina Ricci and undertaken further inquiries. Nina Ricci and our inquiries have confirmed that it is not a genuine Nina Ricci perfume bottle, box or nozzle. 'It is in fact a counterfeit box, bottle and nozzle that have been especially adapted. 'I'd like to reassure anyone who has bought Nina Ricci perfume from a legitimate source that they should not be concerned. It is safe.' CCTV images from 3pm on Friday, March 2 show Petrov (left) and Boshirov (right) arriving at Gatwick airport on a flight from Moscow Authorities remain unsure of the location of the bottle, nozzle and the box between the dates of the two attacks, the first on the Skripals on March 4 and the second when Mr Rowley found it on Wednesday, June 27. Mr Rowley recalled finding a box he thought contained perfume in a charity bin, where he found the bottle and applicator. Mr Basu said: 'He tried to put the two parts together at his home address on Saturday, 30 June, and in doing so got some of the contents on himself. 'He said Dawn had applied some of the substance to her wrists before feeling unwell. 'After Charlie told police where he found the box, cordons were put in place and two bins behind shops in Catherine Street, Salisbury, were removed. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury in attack which the UK has blamed on Russia Dawn Sturgess (left) collapsed and died after being exposed to Novichok with her friend Charlie Rowley (right) 'Previously, during a search of Charlie's home address in Muggleton Road on 10 July a small box labelled as Nina Ricci Premier Jour was recovered from a rubbish bag in the kitchen. 'On 11 July a small glass bottle with a modified nozzle was found on a kitchen worktop. Tests undertaken at DSTL established the bottle contained a significant amount of Novichok.' Police are appealing to anyone with information on the pink box or glass bottle to contact them on 0800 789 321 or Salisbury2018@met.police.uk. Donald Trump says he 'never even discussed' a plot to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as claimed in a bombshell book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward. Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office that Woodward's expose on his presidency, 'Fear,' is a 'work of fiction' and an assassination attempt on Assad was 'never even contemplated, nor would it be contemplated, and it should not have been written about in the book.' 'The book means nothing. It's a work of fiction. Already General Mattis has come out very, very strongly. And I think you know General Mattis, he does what he wants to do, he's a very independent guy. He was insulted by the remarks that were attributed to him and he came out with a very strong statement,' Trump protested. 'General John Kelly, the same exact thing. He said he was insulted by what it said.' Trump told reporters as he met with the Emir of Kuwait, 'If you look back at Woodward's past, you have the same problem with other presidents. He likes to get publicity, sell some books.' Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office that Bob Woodward's book on his presidency, 'Fear' is 'total fiction' and the alleged assassination plot was 'never even contemplated, nor would it be contemplated, and it should not have been written about in the book' The president continued to fume about Woodward's book, ripping into him minutes later in an unexpected White House avail with press. 'We have a deal with South Korea. I read another phony thing in the book about the trade deal, that certain people didn't want me to look at. We've made a deal with South Korea. It may be signed during the United Nations conference in a couple of weeks. The deal is done,' he claimed, 'and we'll do a ceremonial signing over the next very short period of time. But that was another thing in the book that was just totally false.' In a third appearance, Trump alleged that Woodward had 'accuracy' problems going back to President George W. Bush and had similar experiences with Barack Obama. 'Every time he wrote a book, they were complaining about it; they were complaining about the lack of accuracy,' he said. 'In the end, I'm very happy with the way it turned out because I think the book has been totally discredited.' The president had reacted earlier on Wednesday to the publication of the newest mud-dragging book about his presidency by musing publicly that stronger libel laws should have prevented it. 'Isnt it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Dont know why Washington politicians dont change libel laws?' Trump tweeted following initial news coverage of 'Fear,' a book by famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward. Libel, the act of publishing false and defamatory material about specific people or institutions, is typically adjudicated at the state level. That means Trump would need to persuade state legislatures to tighten their existing statutes in order to generate a meaningful change. President Donald Trump on Wednesday hinted at the herculean task of changing America's libel laws, following initial revelations from a critical book by Bob Woodward Trump wrote on Twitter that he doesn't 'know why Washington politicians don't change libel laws' ignoring the fact that state laws, not federal laws, generally address libel White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders wouldn't take the bait and dodged a question on 'Good Morning America' about whether the claims in Woodward's book 'Fear' amount to libel Minutes after the president tweeted about libel, his press secretary was deriding Woodward more gently in a 'Good Morning America' interview. 'We've seen a few excerpts that have been pretty widely pushed back on by some of the most-respected people in our country,' Sarah Sanders told reporters afterward in response to a question about whether the author had libeled Trump. 'We'll see what happens.' In January the famously litigious president railed against author Michael Wolff following the publication of 'Fire and Fury,' saying he planned to 'take a strong look' at reforming America's libel laws. 'Fear' is the third deeply sourced anti-Trump book of the year, following tomes by Michael Wolff and Omarosa Manigault-Newman He said at the time that he wanted a path for courtroom consequences 'when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone.' 'Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness. ... You can't say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account,' he said then. Trump had already hinted multiple times in the past, both as a candidate and as president, that he would like to make it easier to push back against media outlets that he believes treat him unfairly. In March 2017 he specifically went after The New York Times in a tweet, saying it had 'disgraced the media world.' 'Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?' he asked. His specific beefs with Woodward's reporting include stern denials that he ever called attorney general Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded'. 'The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and "a dumb southerner". I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!' he tweeted Tuesday. Trump also tweeted statements from Kelly and Mattis that refuted other parts of Woodward's book, which alleges that the White House chief of staff called Trump an 'idiot' and and the Pentagon compared him to a 'fifth grader.' In press avails on Wednesday afternoon he claimed that both men had refuted Woodward's book 'very strongly' in statements, even though they did not address all of the journalist's claims, including an allegation that Kelly referred to the White House as 'crazytown' and Trump directed Mattis to 'f***ing kill' Assad. Underscoring a fundamental allegation of authors writing about the current White House, Trump claimed he was not aware of the statements before they were provided to the media. He later claimed that Mattis told him he'd be making a statement after Trump asked him point-blank about Woodward's claims. The president told Mattis would 'stay' in his role as Pentagon chief, dispelling rumors that the book would cause his defense secretary to be ousted. 'I think he's a terrific person. He's doing a fantastic job as secretary,' Trump said after The Washington Post reported on rumblings of a shake-up. Trump charged on Tuesday that Woodward may have fabricated parts of his book, and former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said in a tweet that the charges didn't add up Trump also claimed on Wednesday that Woodward timed the release of the damning excerpts to the testimony of his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 'The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?' the president originally wrote on Twitter. He hit on the issue more directly, later, when he said: 'If you look at it, it was put out to inference with the Kavanaugh hearings, which I don't think its done.' Trump first raised the idea of libel law reform during a February 2016 campaign rally in Fort Worth, Texas, warning the Times and The Washington Post that 'we're going to open up those libel laws, folks, and we're going to have people sue you like you never got sued before.' 'If I become president oh, do they have problems,' he told 8,000 screaming fans. 'And one of the things I'm gonna do ... I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,' Trump boasted. 'We're going to open up those libel laws. So that when The New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected.' Most state laws set a tough standard for proving libel against public figures like Trump. Cases filed by ordinary Americans can be won on the basis of whether or not a statement is false when it's published. But public figures have to prove 'actual malice' meaning that a news outlet knew a statement was false when it published it, and that it intended to cause harm to its target. Woodward's book portrays the president as an impetuous and sometimes vicious boss who repeatedly ripped into Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he decided to to recuse himself from the Justice Department's Russia probe. The president has gone after media outlets in the past, suggesting that changing libel laws would help him fight back against 'fake news' coverage Highlights: The most searing quotes in Bob Woodward's book WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TRUMP: JOHN KELLY, CHIEF OF STAFF: 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: 'Fifth- or sixth-grader' REX TILLERSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: 'He's a f***ing moron.' JOHN DOWN, FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'F***ing liar.' JOHN DOWD ON HOW TRANSCRIPT OF A MUELLER INTERVIEW WOULD BE DESCRIBED BY FOREIGN LEADERS: 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?' GARY COHN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: 'A professional liar' ROB PORTER, FORMER STAFF SECRETARY WHO QUIT WHEN BOTH EX-WIVES ACCUSED HIM OF ABUSE: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' WHAT THEY SAID TO EACH OTHER: STEVE BANNON TO IVANKA TRUMP: 'You're nothing but a f***ing staffer! You walk around this place and act like you're on charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' IVANKA TRUMP TO STEVE BANNON: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter and I'm never going to be a staffer!' JOHN KELLY TO GARY COHN: 'If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times.' DOWD TO ROBERT MUELLER: 'He just made something up. That's his nature.' WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT THEM: BARACK OBAMA: 'Weak d**k' RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'Rudy, you're a baby. I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?' WILBUR ROSS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime.' H.R McMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: 'Dresses like a beer salesman.' REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: 'Like a little rat. He just scurries around.' AFTER EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT FATAH AL-SISSI ASKED IF HE WAS GOING TO BE AROUND: 'Like a kick in the nuts.' BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN DICTATOR: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them.' Advertisement The president allegedly called him a 'traitor' and vented: 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.' Trump has repeatedly ripped into Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe. In addition to calling him a 'traitor,' the president allegedly said, 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.' Woodward also said that Kelly castigated Trump as 'an idiot,' saying, 'It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. The White House chief of staff allegedly said, 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' Kelly denied making the claims in a statement put out by the White House. 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite,' he said. 'This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.' In another episode, Trump is said to have questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea. Mattis is said to have schooled him. 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III,' he reportedly said. The Pentagon chief is said to have told colleagues after the incident that Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.' On Tuesday he denied the account, saying in a statement of his own: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. 'While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Rob Manning, said Mattis was never interviewed by Woodward. 'Mr. Woodward never discussed or verified the alleged quotes included in his book with Secretary Mattis' or anyone within the Defense Department, Manning said. Previous accounts during Trump's first year had former secretary of state Rex Tillerson calling Trump a 'moron,' and Tillerson did not explicitly deny it. This would mean three of Trump's most senior advisors have ridiculed his mental capacity. Woodward also reported that after Syria's Bashar Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying: 'Kill him! Let's go in.' AMERICA'S LIBEL LAWS THAT TRUMP LOVES TO HATE Most statutes allowing Americans to sue for libel and defamation are state laws, but the definition of libel is largely the same everywhere in the U.S. Libel is the act of publishing a false statement about someone that harms them or their reputation. In most states it's considered a 'civil tort,' not a crime, which means a newspaper, author or broadcaster can be hauled into court to face a lawsuit filed by the victim. But 17 states do have criminal statutes prohibiting defamation. In general, ordinary people only need to prove that a statement of fact was false in order to win a libel case. But so-called 'public figures' which can range from the President of the United States to practically anyone with a Wikipedia profile have a higher burden of proof called 'actual malice.' That means proving that the writer or broadcaster knew in advance that a statement was wrong and recklessly published it anyway. How that is any different from what Trump said he wanted is hard to tell. He said: 'If somebody says something that's totally false and knowingly false, that the person that has been abused, defamed, libeled, [should] have meaningful recourse.' The key word is 'knowingly' which is precisely the 'actual malice' test set by the courts. Most states allow people who are libeled by a news outlet or other publisher to demand a formal retraction. If that happens, they lose the right to sue. However, in many cases such a correction is one of the demands a lawsuit makes along with money. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, setting a high bar for plaintiffs to prove they were defamed. That also restricts Congress from passing federal libel laws that might override state laws. Advertisement Mattis assured Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they'd do nothing of the kind, Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Trump ultimately ordered. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley denied Tuesday that Trump had ever planned to assassinate Assad. She told reporters at U.N. headquarters that she had been privy to conversations about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks, 'and I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad.' She said people should take what is written in books about the president with 'a grain of salt.' Woodward also described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' According to another anecdote, Trump told former staff secretary Rob Porter former chief of staff Reince Priebus was 'like a little rat. He just scurries around.' Porter in turn allegedly said on Trump: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, 80, a billionaire investor, wasn't spared Trump's criticism, either. 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime,' Trump reportedly told him. Trump also reportedly called his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani a 'baby', and compared former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to a 'beer salesman'. The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury,' which led to a rift between Trump and Bannon, his former chief strategist, who spoke with Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Wolff's book attracted attention with its vivid anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies. Woodward's book follows former White House aide and 'Apprentice' contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman's expose on her time in the West Wing, including audio recordings of her firing by Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Kelly's decision. While White House aides have become increasingly numb to fresh scandals, the latest book increased tensions in the West Wing, especially given the intimate details shared and the number of people Woodward appeared to have interviewed. Some White House officials expressed surprise at the number of erstwhile Trump loyalists willing to offer embarrassing stories of the president and his inner circle. White House aides on Tuesday coordinated with other officials quoted in the book to dispute troublesome passages. But insiders speculated the fallout could be worse than that from 'Fire and Fury,' given Woodward's storied reputation. Woodward's book was already ranked the top-selling book on Amazon on Tuesday. Trump has been increasingly critical of anonymous sources used by reporters covering his administration. Woodward's account relies on deep background conversations with sources, meaning their identities are not disclosed. Crafty councillors have unveiled their latest weapon against speeding motorists - a cardboard cut-out traffic cop. Residents in Eglington Crescent, Edinburgh, complained about motorists regularly breaching 20mph limits. But now they will be able to commandeer one of four Pop Up Bob figures - which come complete with hi-vis jacket and speed gun. Scroll down for video Cardboard cop-out? Edinburgh council has supplied annoyed residents of Eglington Crescent with a Pop Up Bob figure in an attempt to stop motorists breaking the speed limit Bob will be on two to three-week deployments to help enforce the 20mph limits. But while officers from The City of Edinburgh Council have praised the pretend policeman as a useful road safety tool, others are not quite so convinced. Labour councillor Gordon Munro questioned the effectiveness of what he labelled a 'token gesture'. 'We pay 2.6million for 54 extra police for our city,' the Leith councillor said. 2D Plod: The Pop Up Bob figure has drawn criticism from Labour councillor Gordon Munro who questioned its effectiveness and asked why the city's extra police weren't being used 'Surely this could be one of the tasks set for the 54 police were paying for? Unless were getting cardboard cutbacks in return for our money? 'I wouldve thought if it was a true partnership they would be supporting it with policing. 'How effective are these going to be once drivers realise thats all they are? Real police is what will inhibit driving.' The Pop Up Bob cops are issued with advice that suggests posting him outside 'on alternate days' in the hope of duping drivers into thinking he might be real. 'Alongside high-visibility patrols and safety cameras, the pop-up Bob prop is used in areas to help deter speeding and is a visual reminder to drivers to make sure that they drive in a responsible manner,' said Superintendent Mark Rennie. 'The cut out of a police officer holding a speed gun, which is not used in place of genuine officers, can be deployed to areas where speeding has been reported as an issue. Traffic scam? Some residents from the Haymarket area of Edinburgh think the fake policeman could be effective but only for a short amount of time 'Road safety is important to those who live and work in the city and as such is a divisional priority that we are committed to tackling along with our partners.' But some residents around the Haymarket part of Edinburgh have taken to social media to slam the cop cutouts. One resident wrote online: 'I dont think hes cut out for the job.' Another joked: 'This is a perfect late night pissed up thieving for any local student. Brilliant ornament for any student flat.' But another thought the cut-out might have some short-lived success, stating: 'I can see how this would actually work, for a short time anyway. 'I doubt that you would find many drivers who dont check their speed when they see a yellow jacket.' Pop Up Bob is part of a new online toolkit of activities and resources to help communities reduce speeds and encourage more responsible and healthier behaviour. It also includes tips on organising cycle rides in 20mph streets and can be downloaded from the council website. Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Macinnes, said: 'Our 20mph toolkit is about giving communities the resources to encourage and support safer speeds amongst the people who live there or travel through. 'We know many people in Edinburgh support 20mph so its really important that we help them to spread the word. 'In partnership with Police Scotland, were giving people the opportunity to use Pop Up Bob as a visual reminder to residents and other drivers that they should drive responsibly. 'This is in no way a replacement for real officers but it means community members can do their own bit by deterring speeding in local areas where its felt to be an issue.' Ambassador Ngo Duc Manh (Photo: VNA) Ambassador Manh: The visit is of great significance as it continues to confirm Vietnams consistent foreign policies in attaching great importance to reinforcing and promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership with the Russian Federation, considering it one of the leading important and trusted partners of Vietnam. In fact, the Vietnam - Russia relationship has recently seen strong development, both in Party and State relationship, cooperation among localities and people-to-people exchanges. The trusted political relationship has been continuously increased through bilateral exchanges. The two sides have cooperated and given mutual support at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, APEC, ASEM and ASEAN. Continued development has been reported in economics, trade and investment cooperation, with two-way trade turnover of USD3.55 billion in 2017 and a year-on-year increase of 42% in the first half of 2018. The cooperation has also expanded in security, defence, education and training and science and technology. In particular, the recent strong development among localities has also been seen in economics, trade, culture, tourism and people-to-people. However, it is necessary to look at the slow growth of economics and trade cooperation, which does not fit the potential and the expectations of the two countries leaders. Reporter: What should be done to create a breakthrough in economics and trade cooperation? Ambassador Manh: I think that a lot of work should be done to realize the target of USD10 billion in two-way trade turnover by 2020. Besides synchronously carrying out cooperative agreements, relevant agencies and businesses should seek new ways of cooperation; for example, the establishment of a joint-venture producing agricultural products consumed in Russia and across the Commonwealth of Independent States. The two sides should also accelerate the implementation of cooperative projects on automobile, tractors, alternative energy, seedlings and pesticides for agricultural production, as well as medical and pharmaceutical projects. The fact shows that many Vietnamese products like agricultural products, coffee, tea, clothing and footwear appeal to Russian customers; however, they do not appear much in the Russian supermarket network. The Vietnamese Embassy in Russia is studying obstacles facing Vietnamese products attempting to penetrate the Russian market, to report them at the upcoming meeting of the Vietnam - Russia Inter-governmental Committee on economics, trade, science and technology cooperation. Meanwhile, the two countries businesses should work together with authorized agencies toward better product penetration. Reporter: How do you assess the prospect of development in the Vietnam - Russia relationship after the visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong? Ambassador Manh: The visit will create a new impulse for deepening the Vietnam - Russia comprehensive strategic partnership. Political trust will continue to be reinforced while bilateral cooperation will be expanded and more effective. I hope that the two countries will witness many more successful cooperative projects in the near future, making contributions to the two countries development, for peace, happiness, stability and cooperation in the region and in the world. Reporter: Thank you very much! A man who is on the US Marshals' 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list for allegedly killing his sister and an ex-girlfriend in New York City in 2002 has been captured in Connecticut. Andre Neverson, 54, was caught around 3.45pm Tuesday afternoon in Bridgeport outside a home where he had been hiding. The Trinidad and Tabago native has been on the most wanted list since February 2004. Authorities allege Neverson fatally shot his 39-year-old sister Patricia Neverson in the head and the stomach on July 8, 2002. Andre Neverson (pictured), 54, was caught around 3.45pm Tuesday afternoon in Bridgeport outside a home where he had been hiding Authorities allege Neverson fatally shot his 39-year-old sister Patricia Neverson (left) in the head and the stomach on July 8, 2002. The next day, Neverson allegedly abducted his ex-girlfriend, Donna Davis (right). Her body was found on July 11, 2002 The next day, Neverson allegedly abducted his ex-girlfriend, Donna Davis, from the Audrey Cohen College in Queens, where she was studying hospital administration. Her body was found two days later on July 11, 2002, with a gunshot wound to the head. Neverson served a five-year prison sentence for attempted murder after he shot the uncle of another ex-girlfriend in 2002. At the time of both murders, he was paroled by the state of New York for attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a firearm. On November 6, 2002, the Neverson, armed with a handgun, allegedly entered the home of another ex-girlfriend in an attempt to visit his daughter. The woman's brother interrupted the incident and Neverson fled the scene. On Tuesday, Patricia Neverson's son, Akim Neverson (right), said he's 'relieved' that his uncle (left) has been captured. Akim, who now works as a correction officer, was 17 years old when his mother was killed Neverson (pictured) has also been featured on America's Most Wanted. He is expected to be transferred back to New York City, but it's unclear when he will be returned At the time, the New York City Police Department searched the area for the felon, but never located him. On Tuesday, Patricia Neverson's son, Akim Neverson, told the New York Daily News that he hadn't heard about his uncle's arrest. 'I haven't really digested it,' he said. 'I'm definitely relieved he's somewhere, rather than he's jumping out of some bush, trying to end my life.' Akim, who now works as a correction officer, was 17 years old when his mother was killed. Marshals said Neverson was also in the US illegally. After finding out that Neverson was hiding in a Bridgeport house, US Marshals from the Connecticut Violent Fugitive Task Force and officers of the Bridgeport Police Department monitored the home. They took Neverson into custody as he left the home around Tuesday afternoon. 'The United States Marshals Service is extremely pleased to have a violent criminal, who murdered two women in New York, off the streets of Connecticut after 16 years on the run,' said US Marshal Brian Taylor, District of Connecticut. Neverson has also been featured on America's Most Wanted. He is expected to be transferred back to New York City, but it's unclear when he will be returned. An ugly brawl outside a Gold Coast hotel involving a film crew and fans of a popular Asian boy band has ended with a 26-year-old student being taken to hospital. The violent fight erupted shortly after the film crew's bus arrived at the Azzura Greens Resort at Hope Island in Queensland around midday on Wednesday. It's alleged the film crew, who were transporting Chinese boy band, Nine Percent, lashed out a group of fans who were tailing them for photos, Nine News reported. Scroll down for video An ugly brawl outside a Gold Coast hotel (pictured) involving a film crew and fans of a popular Asian pop band has ended with a 26-year-old student being taken to hospital The group - dubbed China's version of One Direction - are believed to be on the Gold Coast to film a music video, and fans have been following their every move since 16-year-old band member Justin Huang arrived last month. Video footage of the all-in brawl captured on a bystander's mobile phone shows the film crew and fans violently kicking and punching each other. In the video, up to 20 people can be seen lashing out, and one man is shown being kicked and punched to the ground, while countless bystanders watch on. At one point in the video, the terrifying brawl spills dangerously onto the nearby road in front of the luxurious resort. More footage from the video shows a fight break out between two girls, with one girl with green hair being attacked by another girl before the angry mob joins in. Police eventually broke up the group and arrested five people, including three men and two women, who were charged with common assault and public nuisance, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. Boy band Nine Percent (pictured) have been dubbed China's version of One Direction A 26-year-old Griffith University student who was allegedly punched and kicked to the ground was taken to hospital for treatment. One of the student's friends told Nine News he didn't know why the film crew started 'pushing us and punching us'. 'Ten people punched my friend. One person,' he said. New details about Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz's birth family have emerged and reveal he comes from a line of career criminal women. The 19-year-old is currently in custody awaiting his next court date on 17 murder charges. He is likely to be put on Florida's death row unless his attorneys find a way for him to be jailed for life instead. Cruz was brought up not by his birth mother but by Lynda and Roger Cruz, a couple who adopted him and his half-brother Zachary when they were young. Both Lynda and Roger died before he committed the mass shooting. Now, the arrest records of his birth mother Brenda Woodward, 62, have been revealed. Nikolas Cruz's birth mother Brenda Woodward, 62, is pictured in an undated mugshot. She has been arrested 46 times including in 1998 when she was caught buying crack cocaine while six months pregnant with the Parkland shooter They are lengthy and vary in seriousness but perhaps the most poignant is her June 1998 arrest for possession of crack cocaine. She was six months pregnant with Nikolas at the time. Danielle Woodward, 31, is Nikolas's half-sister. She was taken out of her mother's care as an infant then grew up with her grandmother but was forced to live on the street when she died. Danielle - who has never met Nikolas - was arrested for bringing a firearm to school as a teenager Brenda has been in and out of jail and is currently living in Florida. She has never spoken about the shooting. Before she had Nikolas, her first child, Danielle, was removed from her care and given to the state. Danielle, 31, began living in the streets when her grandmother, who eventually won custody of her, died when she was a teenager. She too has a lengthy rap sheet which includes charges for bringing a firearm to school when she was a teenage student. She is currently serving an eight-year sentence at the Lowell Annex prison in Ocala for attempted second degree murder of a police officer. Records show that Brenda has been arrested 46 times in the past, mostly in Miami where she was well known to police as a one-woman crime machine. Danielle's criminal history is also mostly in Miami. She has been arrested 19 times, according to public records. On June 7, 1998, Brenda was followed by police into a well known drug trafficking zone in Miami. Records obtained by The Miami Herald described how officers watched her handing cash from the window of her car to a man who gave her a bag in exchange. When they approached her vehicle and looked inside the bag, police found five crystals of crack cocaine. Nikolas was adopted as a baby by Lynda Cruz (pictured with him) and her husband Roger. Roger died in 2004 She gave birth to Nikolas on September 24, three months later. He was adopted not long after birth and went to live with Lynda and Roger. A month later, Brenda was back in custody on a domestic violence charge. The following year, she gave birth to Zachary Cruz. He has a different father to Nikolas. It's not clear when his birthday is but it is in the same year his mother was arrested for grand theft auto. Lynda and Roger adopted Zachary when he was born and the two half-brothers grew up in Parkland. As her two sons grew up in their care, Brenda carried on with her life of violence and drugs. Nikolas and his half-brother Zachary, Brenda'a third birth child, are shown at their adoptive mother's funeral in 2017. Lynda died suddenly and Nikolas was struggling to cope with the loss when he committed mass murder Other charges after she lost both of the boys include beating a friend with a tire iron, threatening to burn her house down, trespassing and others. Their childhood was normal but Nikolas, it would later be revealed, always had a tendency towards violence and guns. Roger died in 2004. The boys continue to live with Lynda and Nikolas became more violent. She died in November 2017 and it was her death which, it is believed, set Nikolas' spiral towards mass murder in motion. Cruz murdered 17 classmates and teachers on February 14 when he stormed Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland with an AR-15 rifle. He was arrested after fleeing the school. Zachary was arrested not long afterwards after disobeying orders to stay away from campus. He is the only person who has visited Nikolas in custody. A man killed the mother of his teenage children before turning the gun on himself, police say. Police were called to a home in Carrollton, Texas, on Monday afternoon, after a neighbor called 911 when two teenagers came to his home begging for help. The teenagers had told the neighbor their father had shot their mother Michelle Deriggs, 46, while the family were all at home, Dallas News reported. Michelle Deriggs was murdered by the father of her teenage children, while the entire family was inside their Texas home on Monday. Her two kids fled the home to find help and told a neighbor their dad had shot her When officers arrived at the property, they say a man was seen out the front of the property, holding a shotgun. Despite police efforts to have the man, identified as Nigel Jerome Damian DeRiggs, 49, drop his weapon, he turned and barricaded himself inside the house, and a single gunshot was heard just 10 minutes later. Posts to social media suggest Michelle was devoted to her family, and deeply involved in local social justice causes. Ahead of her birthday in February, the mother-of-two asked friends to make a donation instead of buying her a gift, and she used the funds to make care packages to donate to the homeless in her community. After she spent the day handing the packages out with friends and family, she encouraged others to spend time with those less fortunate. When police arrived, Nigel Jerome 'Damian' Deriggs was out the front of the family home (pictured) with a shotgun. Officers say he turned and barricaded himself inside before shooting himself dead I truly had an amazing day loving on new friends in the homeless community, she wrote. If you are down, just go by and sit with these guys. I swear they have more joy than people living in mansions. When you see them remember that they are people just like you who desire to be loved and cared for. Michelle and Damian were not believed to be married, after filing for divorce in 2001 due to a personality conflict. Police are yet to reveal the motive behind the fatal shooting, and the teenagers are in the care of a relative. A two-year-old girl has died after being shot in northwestern Indiana, police say. Jayla Miller was found inside a house in Gary at around 7pm on Tuesday with a single gunshot wound to the head. It is unclear if she shot herself or someone else did. Cmdr. Jack Hamady of Gary Police Department said she was taken to a local hospital before being airlifted to Chicago, about 30 miles to the northwest. Scroll down for video Jayla Miller was found inside a house in Gary at around 7pm on Tuesday with a single gunshot wound to the head. It is unclear if she shot herself or someone else did Hamady announced Wednesday morning that the girl died. Her name has not been released. He said the girl's 22-year-old mother and the mother's boyfriend are being questioned about the incident on Wednesday. They are believed to have been inside the home, reported Fox 32. He says police have presented preliminary findings to prosecutors for review and possible charges. The coroner's office in Cook County, Illinois, is investigating. The house in Gary (pictured) where Jayla was found. It is unclear if she shot herself or someone else did Sarah Sanders said in a new rebuttal of Bob Woodward book on Wednesday that a damaging characterization of the White House as 'crazytown' and the president as 'unhinged' can't possibly be true. 'I don't think you can have the type of success that we've had in this White House under this president if that book was an accurate reflection of what is taking place,' she told reporters after blasting the book on two morning shows. Sanders denied that current aides to Donald Trump believe he is an imbecile, as the president is portrayed in excerpts from the book that emerged as the White House was focused on another fight the one to get Brett Kavanaugh on the high court. She said a series of matching accounts across bombshell books that have humiliated the White House are works of 'fiction' from anonymous sources with axes to grind against the president. Sarah Sanders said in a new rebuttal of Bob Woodward book on Wednesday that a damaging characterization of the White House as 'crazytown' and the president as 'unhinged' can't possibly be true Sanders avoided calling Woodward himself a liar, avoiding a trap laid by the president in an interview when he suggested the respected journalist 'made up' anecdotes in his book that is based on hundreds of hours of recorded interviews. The president in a Wednesday tweet encouraged Congress to take a fresh look at libel laws as he desperately searched for ways to retaliate. Sanders wouldn't take the bait, telling a reporter who asked if the book was met the current standards, 'I think we have to see the rest of the book. 'We've seen a few excerpts that have been pretty widely pushed back on by some of the most-respected people in our country,' Sanders said. 'We'll see what happens.' Sanders on 'GMA' said the book is based on the claims of anonymous sources and disgruntled former staffers. 'This is just another repeat of pure fiction.' 'I don't think there are that many current staffers that are painting that picture,' she asserted to assembled journalists later. She told reporters after the interview that Woodward's sources were sharing the same rehearsed stories they'd shared with other authors writing shock-and-awe books about the sitting president. 'Certainly, just because they keep getting told doesn't make them more true,' she said of the pattern of degrading comments. 'I think that's a ridiculous accusation.' She said the fact that the 'same people keep writing the same type of books' about Trump proves nothing. Trump slammed Woodward's book as a 'fraud' and labeled him a 'Dem operative' after the famed Watergate journalist wrote that John Kelly called the president 'an idiot' and James Mattis compared him to a 'fifth grader'. The president said in a tweet on Tuesday night: 'The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?' Mattis and Kelly both dismissed claims they had questioned Trump's intellect. The president personally denied a claim in the book that he used a slur to describe Attorney General Jeff Sessions. 'The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions mentally retarded and a dumb southerner". I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!' Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday to accuse famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward of fabricating quotes and information in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House At 11pm [ET] Trump went on to deny another claim in the book regarding slurs he allegedly made against Attorney General Jeff Sessions Trump (left) dismissed as 'made up frauds' quotes from James Mattis and John Kelly which were deeply critical of Trump. Woodward is pictured on the right Trump has repeatedly ripped into Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe. In addition to calling him a 'traitor,' the president allegedly said, 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.' Woodward also said that Kelly castigated Trump as 'an idiot,' saying, 'It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. The White House chief of staff allegedly said, 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' Kelly denied making the claims in a statement put out by the White House. 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite,' he said. 'This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.' In another episode, Trump is said to have questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea. Mattis is said to have schooled him. 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III,' he reportedly said. The Pentagon chief is said to have told colleagues after the incident that Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.' On Tuesday he denied the account, saying in a statement of his own: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. 'While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Rob Manning, said Mattis was never interviewed by Woodward. 'Mr. Woodward never discussed or verified the alleged quotes included in his book with Secretary Mattis' or anyone within the Defense Department, Manning said. Previous accounts during Trump's first year had former secretary of state Rex Tillerson calling Trump a 'moron,' and Tillerson did not explicitly deny it. This would mean three of Trump's most senior advisors have ridiculed his mental capacity. Woodward also reported that after Syria's Bashar Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying: 'Kill him! Let's go in.' Mattis assured Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they'd do nothing of the kind, Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Trump ultimately ordered. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley denied Tuesday that Trump had ever planned to assassinate Assad. She told reporters at U.N. headquarters that she had been privy to conversations about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks, 'and I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad.' She said people should take what is written in books about the president with 'a grain of salt.' Defense Secretary Mattis (left, at the Pentagon on August 28) and Kelly, White House chief of staff, (right, in the White House on August 27) both questioned quotes attributed to them Trump also tweeted official statements from Kelly and Mattis as part of a barrage of posts on Tuesday evening Highlights: The most searing quotes in Bob Woodward's book WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TRUMP: JOHN KELLY, CHIEF OF STAFF: 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: 'Fifth- or sixth-grader' REX TILLERSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: 'He's a f***ing moron.' JOHN DOWN, FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'F***ing liar.' JOHN DOWD ON HOW TRANSCRIPT OF A MUELLER INTERVIEW WOULD BE DESCRIBED BY FOREIGN LEADERS: 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?' GARY COHN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: 'A professional liar' ROB PORTER, FORMER STAFF SECRETARY WHO QUIT WHEN BOTH EX-WIVES ACCUSED HIM OF ABUSE: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' WHAT THEY SAID TO EACH OTHER: STEVE BANNON TO IVANKA TRUMP: 'You're nothing but a f***ing staffer! You walk around this place and act like you're on charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' IVANKA TRUMP TO STEVE BANNON: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter and I'm never going to be a staffer!' JOHN KELLY TO GARY COHN: 'If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times.' DOWD TO ROBERT MUELLER: 'He just made something up. That's his nature.' WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT THEM: BARACK OBAMA: 'Weak d**k' RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'Rudy, you're a baby. I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?' WILBUR ROSS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime.' H.R McMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: 'Dresses like a beer salesman.' REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: 'Like a little rat. He just scurries around.' AFTER EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT FATAH AL-SISSI ASKED IF HE WAS GOING TO BE AROUND: 'Like a kick in the nuts.' BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN DICTATOR: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them.' Advertisement In a taped phone call with Trump that the journalist released hand-in-hand with excerpts from the forthcoming book on Tuesday, Woodward recounts how he tried to reach the president to fact-check claims he had made. Trump says he wished he had known about the book which was already coming out at the time of the call. 'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?' Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room. At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call. 'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her. Conway then told Woodward, 'yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names. 'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he received no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump hopped back on. Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly. 'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said. 'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said. The president noted that the book was almost certain to contain embarrassing information about his administration - and that it would probably be 'very inaccurate' as he geared up for the coming bloodbath. Woodward assured him that it wouldn't, and the two ended the call that took place in August amicably. MAYBE HE MADE IT UP: That was Trump's charge on Tuesday as he tried to get out from under Woodward's damaging allegations. Ari Fleisher, the former press secretary to George W. Bush, said in a tweet that the charge didn't add up Trump was once a fan of Bob Woodward - but now the president says he might be a liar White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed the work of the famed journalist as 'nothing more than fabricated stories' The president was singing a different tune on Tuesday, hinting that Woodward could have 'made up' anecdotes in his book, including a story about Gary Cohn absconding with an order to end the United States' trade deal with South Korea to keep Trump from making an international mess. 'That's false. It's just made up,' Trump told The Daily Caller in a furious response to the book. 'There was nobody taking anything from me.' Trump suggested that 'disgruntled employees' may have made the claims -- or that they could have been falsified Woodward in their entirety. 'It could just be made up by the author,' Trump said of the journalist he once defended on Twitter against slights levied against him by the Obama administration. The damaging statement about the widely respected journalist had former President George W. Bush's White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher shaking his head. Extracts from veteran Watergate reporter Bob Woodard's new book set off explosions across the political world 'I've been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn't like. But never once - never - did I think Woodward made it up,' Fleisher said. 'Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight. Someone told it to him.' Trump's press secretary piled on with a statement that said: 'This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.' In the response to Woodward's book, Sanders argued that 'sometimes' Trump's approach to the office is 'unconventional' but it 'always gets results.' 'Democrats and their allies in the media understand the President's policies are working and with success like this, no one can beat him in 2020 not even close.' The White House did not hold a televised question and answer session with reporters on Tuesday, choosing instead to respond to the explosive book that hits shelves on Sept. 11 through written statements. Trump held off on eviscerating Woodward on Twitter, as well, responding to him in the interview with The Daily Caller before lashing out at him later on Twitter. The book recounts efforts by Cohn to try to head-off what he considered rash or ill-advised policy moves by Trump. Cohn 'stole a letter off Trump's desk' to prevent the president from executing a planned withdrawal from the United States-South Korea trade pact. Mattis told colleagues Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader', according to the book It even ventures into the advice Trump received from his former lead lawyer on the Russia investigation, John Dowd. 'Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit,' he advised Trump, according to the book. Dowd is also said to have explained to special counsel Robert Mueller face-to-face that he didn't want his client to testify, because he feared that Trump would be cast as an imbecile. He reportedly told him: 'I'm not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?'' According to Woodward, Mueller replied: 'John, I understand.' Trump insists Bob Woodward's book interview request never made it to the Oval Office President Donald Trump complained on a recorded phone call no one ever contacted him about veteran journalist Bob Woodward's interview request then complained advisor Kellyanne Conway should have come to him directly. The Washington Post released a recorded August 14 phone call between the famously well-sourced author and the president soon after the paper reported on a copy of 'Fear,' Woodward's forthcoming book on Trump. Trump does admit at one point during the call that a senator had passed along Woodward's request for an interview, but at other times says he had no idea about it. The call begins with Woodward, after alerting the president he was recording, regretting the two hadn't been able to connect and Trump saying he wished he had known about the book which was already coming out at the time of the call. 'She should have come to me,' Trump said of Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, (seen at the White House on August 29) during a conversation with Bob Woodward about an interview request Trump claims he never was told about 'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?' Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room. At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call. 'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her. Conway then told Woodward: 'Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names. 'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he got no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump got back on. Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly. 'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said. 'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said. Advertisement Dowd said Tuesday in emails to the Washington Examiner that anecdotes and quotes attributed to him including a claim that he called Trump a 'f**king liar' and that a mock session with Trump in advance of a potential interview with Mueller revealed the 'full nightmare' he was dealing with are not true. 'I have not read Bob Woodward's book, which appears to be the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents,' he told the outlet. 'I do not intend to address every inaccurate statement attributed to me but I do want to make this clear: there was no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment' of a mock interview at the Special Counsel's office. Further, I did not refer to the President as a 'liar' and did not say that he was likely to end up in an 'orange jump suit.' The email from Dowd concluded: 'It was a great honor and distinct privilege to serve President Trump.' 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner,' Trump reportedly said of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia probe. He is pictured in DC on August 31 Trump said his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, (pictured in DC on February 7) scurries around 'like a rat' Former director of the U.S. National Economic Council Gary Cohn snatched a letter off Trump's desk to keep him from precipitously moving to pull out of a trade deal. Cohn is seen on the right next to Jared Kushner on March 8 Woodward also described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' According to another anecdote, Trump told former staff secretary Rob Porter that former chief of staff Reince Priebus was 'like a little rat. He just scurries around.' Porter in turn allegedly said on Trump: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, 80, a billionaire investor, wasn't spared Trump's criticism, either. 'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime,' Trump reportedly told him. Trump also reportedly called his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani a 'baby', and compared former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to a 'beer salesman'. Ivanka Trump 'got into an expletive-laden screaming match with Steve Bannon' By Ariel Zilber Woodward described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon. 'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!' Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' Ivanka Trump reportedly was offended when she was told by strategist Steve Bannon she was merely a White House 'staffer' by answering: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter,' it has been claimed. She is seen outside her Washington, D.C. home last month Bannon was said to have been upset with Ivanka's reported tendency to bypass the standard chain of command and take up issues directly with her father. Every other White House aide was required to report to the chief of staff at the time, Reince Priebus. But the reported exchange apparently highlighted the fact that Ivanka felt she was not bound by the same rules. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are senior advisers to the president even though they have no previous experience in government. Advertisement The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury,' which led to a rift between Trump and Bannon, his former chief strategist, who spoke with Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Wolff's book attracted attention with its vivid anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies. Woodward's work also comes weeks after former White House aide and 'Apprentice' contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman published an expose on her time in the West Wing, including audio recordings of her firing by Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Kelly's decision. While White House aides have become increasingly numb to fresh scandals, the latest book still increased tensions in the West Wing, especially given the intimate details shared and the number of people Woodward appeared to have interviewed. Some White House officials expressed surprise at the number of erstwhile Trump loyalists willing to offer embarrassing stories of the president and his inner circle. White House aides on Tuesday coordinated with other officials quoted in the book to dispute troublesome passages. But insiders speculated the fallout could be worse than that from 'Fire and Fury,' given Woodward's storied reputation. Woodward's book was already ranked the top-selling book on Amazon on Tuesday. Trump has been increasingly critical of anonymous sources used by reporters covering his administration. Woodward's account relies on deep background conversations with sources, meaning their identities are not disclosed. Police shot a jihadists knifeman who stabbed two US tourists in Amsterdam just nine seconds after he began his attack, it has emerged. A 'spotter' had been tracking the 19-year-old, named as Jawed Santani, when he pulled out a blade and attacked the two 38-year-olds at the Dutch capital's central station last week. Just moments later, the Afghan asylum seeker was shot in the hip by officers, according to Amsterdam's police chief. The suspect had arrived on a train after travelling from his home in Piesport, western Germany, on Friday at around noon. Police shot a jihadists knifeman who stabbed two US tourists in Amsterdam just nine seconds after he began his attack, it has emerged. A 'spotter' had been tracking the 19-year-old, named as Jawed Santani (pictured), when he pulled out a blade and attacked the two 38-year-olds at the Dutch capital's central station last week Moments later, the Afghan asylum seeker was shot in the hip by police officers, officials say Amsterdam's police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said an officer trained to spot pickpockets and potential terrorists noticed the Afghan's 'abnormal behaviour' at the station. Aalbersberg told Dutch TV: 'He called two colleagues over. While they are working out how to go and talk to him, they see he starts stabbing.' One of the Americans was knifed in the back before the second was stabbed. But by this stage police were just over 60ft away and immediately drew their weapons. Santani was shot as he ran towards another person and was later arrested. Aalbersberg added: 'Within nine seconds it was over and the officers made the difference during one precise moment.' These actions had saved lives, he said, adding that police used CCTV to determine within minutes that he had acted alone. The suspect's lawyer Simon van der Woude said: 'My client seems to have taken into account that he would not survive this action because a last will and testament was found in his house in Germany.' Santani had been living in the town of Piesport on the Rivel Moselle in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate having been accepted as an asylum seeker in 2015. Meanwhile, the two Americans injured in the attack have thanked Dutch police and medical staff. The 19-year-old suspect is accused of stabbing the Americans in an unprovoked attack after he arrived at Amsterdam's Central Station on an international train. Prosecutors say he did not know the victims were U.S. citizens y, the Americans, whose identities have not been released, paid tribute to the police, saying they 'cannot thank them enough for what they did to save their lives'. PIctured: Amsterdam station In a written statement distributed by the U.S. embassy, the Americans, whose identities have not been released, paid tribute to the police, saying they 'cannot thank them enough for what they did to save their lives.' The victims also thanked an information kiosk attendant at the station for rushing to their aid, and nurses, a surgeon and American consular staff for their support since the attack. 'The victims and their families said they appreciate everyone's support, thoughts, and prayers. The families are focusing on both physical and emotional recovery. They hope to return to living meaningful and productive lives in the United States,' the statement said. 'They want to thank everyone from the bottom of their hearts.' The 19-year-old suspect is accused of stabbing the Americans in an unprovoked attack after he arrived at Amsterdam's Central Station on an international train. Prosecutors say he did not know the victims were U.S. citizens. Prosecutors say the suspect believes that Islam is 'insulted' in the Netherlands, and that drove him to travel to the Netherlands to carry out an attack. 'It is apparent from his statements that he believes that in the Netherlands, the Prophet Muhammad, the Quran, Islam and Allah are repeatedly insulted,' prosecutors said in a statement Monday, noting that the young Afghan man specifically mentioned Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who is well known for his fierce anti-Islam rhetoric. A judge has said female sex offenders should be treated the same as male ones after jailing a middle-aged mother for grooming a schoolboy over Facebook. Karen Robb, 43, sent explicit messages to the child and exposed her breasts to him on a video web chat between December 2016 and August 2017. She claimed she and the boy had 'fallen in love' after they met up and planned to 'hold hands' in public and do 'naughty things'. The mother-of-one, of Blackpool, Lancashire, had no direct sexual contact with the boy and was jailed for 16 months today. Karen Robb, 43 (pictured) sent explicit messages to a 15-year-old and exposed her breasts to him on a video chat between December 2016 and August 2017 Guilty: Mother-of-one Karen Robb, 43, was jailed for 16 months after admitting sexual grooming of a child She admitted one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming and one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child. The affair started when the boy added her on social media and ended when his mother saw messages on his phone and the defendant's husband suspected her of being unfaithful. Jailing her and subjecting her to a 10-year restraining and sexual harm prevention order, judge Heather Lloyd told her: 'When you began this conduct you knew his age. 'It may well be that as a rather naive teenager he started these conversations but when that happened, you as an adult mother, should have taken him off your account or contacted his mother. 'Instead of exchanging images of each other and encouraging him, you should have told him to stop and should have ended it there and there. 'There was a discussion about meeting up to arrange in a private place to do 'naughty things. The mother-of-one (pictured) of Blackpool, Lancashire, had no direct sexual contact with the boy and was jailed for 16 months today 'It is clear that he became to think that he had feelings for you. You have denied deriving any sexual pleasure from this behaviour but I do not accept that. 'Of course you did, otherwise you would not have acted as you did and it is clear you were flatted by the attention you was getting. 'It may well be that you did find him attractive and were at this low point in your life but he was a child. 'This was not a moment of madness and this conversation and behaviour lasted for weeks. 'Your criminal behaviour has meant to loss of the relationship with the father of your son and this has also meant the loss of contact with your own son. 'I am concerned that you lack insight into the seriousness of what you have done. Robb (pictured) claimed she and the boy had 'fallen in love' after they met up and planned to 'hold hands' in public and do 'naughty things' 'This child is particularly vulnerable due to his personal circumstance and this went on for some time. 'I do take into account the fact that this was a particularly difficult time in your life and you have no previous convictions. 'It is true most offenders involved in this criminality are male, but there are female offenders too. 'There is no reason to treat a female sexual offender and a male sexual offender in any different ways. I am not satisfied that it is appropriate to suspend your sentence in this case.' Robb (pictured) admitted one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming and one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child Wearing a baggy Hawaii T shirt and blue hoodie, she was watched by her new boyfriend from the public gallery. Earlier the court heard Robb, who is unemployed, exchanged a large number of Facebook messages with the victim between Christmas 2016 and August last year. Prosecutor Francis McEntee said: 'They became friends online and began communicating. 'Being naive, he did engage willingly in what was an inappropriate online relationship. 'He explained his love for her and she began to engage more and more with exchange. 'Conversation began to get explicit when she said that he loved his private parts. 'She is clearly taking advantage of naive and vulnerable young man. 'The defendant appeared on an online video service to the victim and was naked on a bed touching her breasts. 'She asked the defendant to expose his private parts to her. There is a discussion about meeting and there is a naive expression presented by the victim when he says 'I would like to hold hands with you'. 'This never took place and when they did meet it is clear that no sexual contact took place. 'The parents of the victim became aware of the contact after his mother checked his phone. 'She confronted him about the exchanged and they decided to deal with it as a family but it was the involvement of the defendants then-partner that brought the attention to the police.' Robb is pictured as a child with comedians Bobby Davro (left) and Mick Miller (right) Defence lawyer John Woodward said: 'At the time, she was coming to the end of a relationship that she had with her partner of 15 years. 'She told probation he was violent to her at the end of this relationship. 'She was effectively homeless and staying in hotels. She took some comfort from communicating with other males on Facebook. 'Her partner became suspicious of extra-marital affairs but this was a one-off. She was flattered by the attention he gave her. 'Initially she told he that 'we cannot do this'. She herself was vulnerable. She acted stupidly and would be the first to admit that. 'She did succumb to him persuading her to do things and that is something she very much regrets. Her remorse is genuine. 'Her life is completely different now to how it was then and she has a settled partner. 'She apologies very much to the victim and his parents for what she did. 'She has an 11-year-old child who has learning difficulties who she has not been seen since her former partner will not let her. This has caused her real distress and upset.' Fontana police detained Jonathan Emmanuel Ward, 21, on Thursday at his home on the 7000 block of Nebraska Street Police are searching for possible victims of a man said to have entered a California home to masturbate in a teenage girl's room. Fontana police detained Jonathan Emmanuel Ward, 21, on Thursday at his home on the 7000 block of Nebraska Street. At 2:42am on Thursday, police responded to a call at the 14100 block of Stanislaus County where a woman claimed that a man was inside her home. She told police the man was in her 13-year-old daughter's room and was masturbating while she slept, according to a Fontana Police Department news release obtained by KTLA. By the time officers arrived, the man had already left the scene. Surveillance video showed the naked man inside the residence, and at one point, he 'looked directly into the camera and placed his finger over his lips as if signaling to be quiet'. The suspect is said to have entered a woman's home at 2.42am on Thursday to masturbate in a 13-year-old girl's bedroom After arresting Ward, police learned that there may be other victims including those who have not been in contact with police. A dance studio in Inland Empire is said to have been a particular place of interest for the suspect. Ward allegedly 'became infatuated with several young girls' at the studio. He is believed to have used the girls social media accounts to determine where they lived. When police arrived, they claim that the suspect was seen on surveillance video and he even looked into the camera at one point 'Ward would often enter the rear yards of the victim's residence and on occasion, enter their homes when he would find an unlocked door,' the police report stated. Ward was charged with suspicion of burglary, child annoyance and indecent exposure. Last year, Ward was arrested for similar charges. A $1million bail enhancement was given as a result. A news conference is scheduled for Wednesday where authorities will share images and videos of the suspect in hopes of finding other victims. More than a dozen men who were near the World Trade Centre on 9/11 have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Of the 15 men diagnosed with breast cancer, a type of cancer where 99 per cent of victims are women, five are first responders who arrived at the scene in the wake of the terror attack, and others worked or studied in the area. Seventeen years after the 2001 attacks, scores of people are still developing illnesses just from being near Ground Zero, including cancers, asthma and gastrointestinal illnesses. Rare cancer for men: Of the 15 men diagnosed with breast cancer, a type of cancer where 99 per cent of victims are women, five are 9/11 responders One of them is Jeff Flynn, 65, who worked as an account manager neat the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. 'I do feel like my breast cancer was related to exposure to 9/11 toxins. There's no history of breast cancer in my family,' he told the New York Post. 'I spent months breathing that crap in. You can wind up with any cancer from being down there.' Though it took years for scientists to document and for the government to acknowledge just how much lasting damage the attacks did to more than 400,000 people exposed to contaminants, some effects were immediate, and the signs were in the air. Long-term damage: In the 17 years since the terror attack against the World Trade Centre on 11th September 2001, thousands have been diagnosed with illnesses related to attack Witnesses and rescue workers have described the thick, dusky yellow haze hanging over the city streets and the inescapable, acrid smell. Rates of Hodgkin's lymphoma are more than 50 per cent higher among emergency responders to the Twin Towers attacks than they are in the general population, according to statistics from a National Institutes of Health study. In 2011, a law was enacted to provide funding to those who are still feeling the effects of the terrorist attack long after the dust has settled. It saw the establishing of the federal World Trade Center Health Program, which recognizes hundreds of illnesses related to the attack and provides funding to help people diagnosed with any of them, including Mr Flynn and the other 14 men with breast cancer. Mr. Koizumi Masayoshi - Thang Long Factory Manager, Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd directly handed over these new bikes to under privileged pupils who have excellent academic results, are living in poor families, far from the school or have no means of transportation. The new bikes (worth nearly VND185 million) will help them to go to school safely and more convenient. Mr. Koizumi Masayoshi (right) with a representative from Bac Giang provincial Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union posed with local pupils. (Photo: Thuy Huyen) Pupils are the future of each nation. Education development plays an important role. Canon Vietnam understands this issue, and wishes to bring the best things for pupils in particular and Vietnamese society in general. I do hope these new bikes will be used effectively, safely and durably, said Mr. Koizumi Masayoshi. Beneficiaries of this years program (deployed since 2012) are Tu Son high school (Luc Nam district), Huong Mai secondary school (Viet Yen district), Phong Van secondary school (Luc Ngan district), My Thai secondary school (Lang Giang district), Hoa Son secondary school (Hiep Hoa district), Thang Cuong elementary and secondary school (Yen Dung district), Binh Son secondary school (Luc Nam district), Bo Ha high school (Yen The district), and Huong Son secondary school (Lang Giang district). On this occasion, the Japanese company also presented a Canon printer to Tu Son high school, hoping to improve the training quality for teachers and pupils. This September, Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd is projected to work with the Bac Ninh provincial Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to offer 130 bikes to 10 schools in Tien Du and Gia Binh districts. So far, some 1,570 bikes have transferred to pupils in 64 secondary and high schools of 14 districts from Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces - Kinh Bac region./. British and French fishermen have reached an agreement in the so-called Scallop Wars over fishing in the Channel - but the UK's fishing chief has hinted that it will be rejected if it's 'not good enough.' The Government has agreed that UK ships will not fish scallops in French waters in return for 'reasonable compensation' following clashes at sea between rival boats. Tensions boiled over last week when five British vessels sparred with dozens of French boats in the sensitive Seine Bay, with video footage showing fishermen from both sides ramming each other. But following a day of talks in London, the two sides have reached agreement on the principles of a deal that should bring the hostilities to an end. Jim Portus, the chief executive of Britain's South Western Fish Producers Organisation, said the deal 'satisfies the honour of fishermen on both sides'. But he added: 'If it's not good enough on Friday, it will be rejected,' he said. Scroll down for video Jim Portus, the chief executive of Britain's South Western Fish Producers Organisation, said the deal 'satisfies the honour of fishermen on both sides' The agreement-in-process will prevent the smaller British ships taking advantage of the May to October window, but Portus said the talks will only be finalised if British fishermen are fully compensated. 'If it's not good enough on Friday, it will be rejected,' he said. Asked if the French apologised, Portus said: 'Regret was voiced before we started our negotiations.' He added to that UK fishermen have been urged to avoid the Bay de Seine until the agreement is signed on Friday. 'Until the deal is signed on Friday, we are asking them to avoid the area (Bay de Seine) for the next two days,' he told Sky News. 'Then we will see details of the deal on Friday. Quite frankly if it's not good enough it'll still be rejected. 'The owners of the vessels have got to know they are going to be as well-off in terms of their income from where they are allowed to fish. 'This is a small area of the English channel from which they will be excluded for about three weeks.' The clashes, which occurred around 12 nautical miles from the Normandy coastline, were the most serious in years of wrangling over the area's prized scallops. 'The UK and French fishing industries and governments held constructive talks today about scallop fishing in the eastern Channel including Baie de Seine,' the British and French governments said in a joint statement. 'An agreement on the principles of a deal has been reached,' they said. French fishermen were incensed that British boats were accessing the highly productive waters, while their own government limited them to fishing there to between October and May to allow stocks to replenish. Deals struck previously exempted British boats less than 15 metres (50 feet) long from the restrictions, a loophole French fishermen want to see closed and which led to deadlock in reaching an agreement earlier this year. 'The previous agreement involving the UK 15-metre-and-over fleet will be renewed,' the joint statement said. French fisherman Dimitri Rogoff speaks to the media before leaders meet in London 'In addition, there is agreement in principle for UK under-15-metre vessels to be included in the deal. 'This is subject to a reasonable compensation package, the details of which will be defined in Paris on Friday. 'In the meantime, there is a voluntary agreement for all UK vessels to respect the French closure period in the Baie de Seine.' Mark Powell, whose boat the Golden Fleece II was caught up in the so-called 'Scallop Wars' last week, claims he is being unfairly targeted by French authorities to punish British crews British and French officials and fishing industry representatives met in London to try and prevent further conflicts over scallop fishing. The talks follow an incident last week in which French and British fishermen angrily bumped boats over access to fisheries off the French coast. About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters during the incident. UK crews reported rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were hurled at them during the confrontation. Some of the fishermen from both sides also rammed each other, video footage showed. French fishermen are seen throwing rocks at a British boat off Normandy coast last week British Fisheries Minister George Eustice said the goal of the talks is to reach a new agreement that would prevent more confrontations. An agreement reached in 2013 has broken down, leading to the clashes. The clashes have occurred in a scallop-rich area known as the Baie de Somme, off the coast of Normandy. National regulations allow British ships to fish legally in the area all year round but French fishermen are banned from taking the molluscs between May 15 and October 1 to conserve stocks. Meanwhile, the British skipper of one of the boats attacked by French trawlermen is facing a 9,000 fine after being accused of illegally fishing a small number of under-sized scallops. Mark Powell, whose boat the Golden Fleece II was caught up in the so-called 'Scallop Wars' last week, claims he is being unfairly targeted by French authorities in order to punish British crews. Footage shows French fishing rivals using a petrol bomb to stop their UK counterparts catching scallops in the English Channel He was arrested and detained by French authorities who boarded his boat and confiscated his 20,000 catch which they say included 180 (162) of under-sized scallops. EU laws intended to protect sea life forbid fishermen from catching scallop under around four inches in length so they can grow large enough to spawn. But Mr Powell, 49, denies catching any under-sized scallops and said the French were simply 'looking for technicalities all the time to have a go at the British fleet'. He faces a court hearing in two weeks where he could be fined 10,000 (8,954) if found guilty over the incident in Le Havre last September. Mr Powell's boat was involved in a clash with a 40-strong flotilla of French vessels which surrounded them off the coast of Normandy in the early hours of Tuesday. But scallops aren't the only thing that is causing tension. On Monday, two French boats based in Normandy caught 44 tuna fish while hunting for bream off the Channel Islands - adding to already simmering tensions between the two nations. The tuna, each weighing between 50kg and 120kg and worth more than 100,000 in total, were then brought ashore at Granville in France to be sold. British and French fishermen are at loggerheads over scallops and have clashed off the coast of Normandy and Jersey over tuna Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). French fishermen are allowed to keep bluefin tuna while their British counterparts are banned from doing it. The bluefins are usually only found in the Bay of Biscay and Mediterranean but rising water temperatures are sending more into UK waters. The UK has no quota to catch bluefin tuna but France, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus do. France's agriculture minister Stephane Travert said yesterday that the French navy is 'ready to step in' if more clashes break out. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the comments were in line with Environment Secretary Michael Gove's position that it was for the French to take any steps needed to prevent violence in the area. A man who drunkenly poured beer over an Anzac memorial has told a Sydney court the bizarre act was a tribute to his veteran grandfather. A heavily intoxicated Gregory Akerstrom, 43, was arrested in August after police caught him pouring beer on the war memorial in Martin Place. He was also seen putting a wreath of flowers in the statue's hand, a cigarette lighter on its arm and a smoke in its rifle, before dancing in a puddle of beer. Facing Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday, Akerstrom pleaded guilty to the defacement of a war memorial, saying he had intended to honour his grandfather. A drunken pensioner was arrested after defacing an inner-city Sydney war memorial (pictured) In court, Akerstrom's defence lawyer argued the display was a misguided effort to pay homage to his late grandfather, The Daily Telegraph reported. They heard Akerstrom's late grandfather was a WWI veteran who served in the Light Horse brigade. 'He was simply showing his interpretation of respect,' his lawyer said. The court was told Akerstrom was a schizophrenic on the Disability Support Pension. In handing down a judgement, Magistrate Katherine Thompson said while she understood he may not have known the offence he was causing, defacing a war memorial is 'a very serious affront to the dignity of those served'. Akerstrom was convicted and fined $300, but told reporters outside of court he meant no harm. Gwyneth Paltrow's high-end lifestyle and wellness brand Goop has agreed to offer its customers refunds and pay $145,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of making unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits of vaginal eggs. The complaint was brought against Goop on Friday by the California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force comprised of prosecutors from 10 district attorney's offices in California, acting on a report filed by the ad watchdog truthinadvertising.org a year ago. The lawsuit alleged that the Santa Monica-based brand founded by the Academy Award-winning Shakespeare in Love star made unproven claims about the Jade Egg, Rose Quartz Egg and Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend, which were 'not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.' Scroll down for video Egg crackdown: Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop has agreed to pay $145,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of making unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits of the Rose Quartz (left) and Jade (right) vaginal eggs retailing for $55 and $66, respectively Paltrow, 45, first touted the supposed health benefits of egg-shaped stones in January 2017, claiming they could balance hormones and boost orgasms This diagram posted on goop.com shows how the egg should be inserted into a woman's body Goop advertised that the Jade and Rose Quartz eggs - retailing on its website for $66 and $55, respectively - could balance hormones, regulate menstrual cycles, prevent uterine prolapse and increase bladder control when inserted into a woman's vagina and left there for hours. According to Goop, the Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend - a $22 mixture of floral extracts - could help prevent depression if ingested or added to bathwater. The California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force also took issue with the Inner Judge Flower Essence blend, whose description claims that it could prevent depression, guilt and shame The settlement was announced by the California task force on Tuesday, stating that under the terms of the judgement, Paltrow's company has agreed to pay $145,0000 in civil penalties. Goop also has been barred from making any claims regarding the health benefits of its products 'without possessing competent and reliable scientific evidence,' and from manufacturing or selling any falsely advertised medical devices. It's important to hold companies accountable for unsubstantiated claims, especially when the claims have the potential to affect womens health, said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. On its part, Goop has not admitted to any wrongdoing and defended its marketing practices, but said in a statement released on Tuesday to Bloomberg that the company wanted to settle the matter 'quickly and amicably'. As part of the agreement with the district attorney's offices, Goop has promised to offer full refunds to any customer who purchased any of the aforementioned products between January 12 and August 31, 2017. Paltrow, 45, who has two children with her ex-husband Chris Martin, first touted the supposed benefits of egg-shaped stones in a Q&A posted on her website in early 2017, claiming that the Jade Egg boosts orgasms, vaginal muscle tone and 'feminine energy' dubbed yoni. The Iron Man star suggested women clench the stone inside their vagina all day to exercise their pelvic floor. Paltrow's pronouncements drew swift rebuke from members of the medical community, with Bay Area gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter leading the way by dismissing the idea of the eggs as potentially dangerous nonsense that could lead to bacterial vaginosis and even deadly toxic shock syndrome. 'I read the post on Goop and all I can tell you is it is the biggest load of garbage I have read on your site since vaginal steaming,' Dr Gunter wrote in a barbed open letter to Paltrow. 'The claim that they can balance hormones is, quite simply, biologically impossible,' Gunter went on. 'As for female energy? I'm a gynecologist and I don't know what that is. How does one test for it? Organically sourced, fair trade urine pH sticks coming soon to GOOP for $77 I presume?' Paltrow, who founded Goop in 2008, has been roundly criticized and mocked for peddling eccentric and high-priced health fads, including the infamous vaginal steam clean Paltrow is known for suggesting eccentric and expensive health fads on Goop, which she founded in 2008, arguably the most famous among them being the vaginal steam clean, which such A-listers as model Chrissy Teigen and actress Busy Philipps have recently tried. As of Wednesday morning, the Rose Quartz Egg was still being sold on goop.com. Its description reads: 'made of heart-activating rose quartz - associated with positive energy and love - this yoni egg is associated with the heart chakra. The Jade Egg is also still available for purchase, promising women 'to increase sexual energy and pleasure' and connect 'the second chakra (the heart) and yoni for optimal self-love and well-being.' The Inner Judge Flower Essence blend's description on goop.com touted the $22 tincture as 'a purifying organic floral blend that assists in the clearing of guilt, shame, self-criticism and blame.' According to the ad copy, the floral concoction 'supports self-acceptance, flexibility, compassion and forgiveness. It can be used frequently (every 5-15 mins) to help prevent shame spirals downward toward depressive states. Lisa Brennan-Jobs made headlines last month when she revealed that Steve Jobs told her she 'smelled like a toilet' as he laid on his deathbed. But now Lisa, who sprayed a rose mist on herself before visiting her billionaire father, revealed that what he said that day was actually true. 'I have to be clear about the toilet phrase,' she said during an interview with the Today Show's Hoda Kotb on Wednesday. 'I really did. I explain in the book, I was spraying myself with a natural rose water. So even though it wasn't a particularly nice phrase, it was true.' Scroll down for video Lisa Brennan Jobs made headlines last month when she said Steve Jobs told her she 'smelled like a toilet' as he laid on his deathbed. Now she revealed she 'really did' Lisa sprayed a rose mist on herself before visiting Jobs, who was dying from pancreatic cancer. While she said it wasn't a 'particularly nice phrase, it was true'. They are pictured here in 1987 The toilet remark is just one of many stories that are told in Lisa's new memoir Small Fry, which was released on Tuesday. Jobs' daughter said it 'took a long time' to write the book about her childhood and complicated relationship with Jobs, who denied he was her father for years. 'It was really cathartic and in some ways very joyful to go back and spend time with my young parents,' she said. 'They were younger than I am now, so it was nice to do that.' Lisa, 40, wrote about a number of painful moments with her father, including when her mother Chrisann Brennan had to call him and beg for money. Little Lisa took the phone out of her mother's hand and said 'Just give her some money, okay?' before hanging up on her father. 'My aunt witnessed that scene,' Lisa told Kotb. 'I think I was kind of a tough little scrappy soul.' Jobs' daughter said it 'took a long time' to write the book about her childhood and complicated relationship with her father, but that she also found it 'cathartic' Lisa recalled one touching moment to Hoda Kotb when her father sat through her boyfriend's play, despite the fact that it was 'freezing cold' and he didn't have a sweater 'Sometimes you save things from your past that you don't quite understand. They're little boxes and you preserve them for later when you can unwrap them and try and understand what they meant. And I think this whole book was a way to understand.' But despite the many difficult times, Lisa also remembers feeling 'profound love and admiration' for her billionaire father. One time included when Jobs sat through her boyfriend's play in the 'freezing cold'. 'He didn't have a sweater,' Lisa recalled. 'And only he and I can know how cold that night was. And he didn't complain.' 'He sat through the whole thing because he knew how important it was to me.' These were among the 'joyful, tender, dear moments' that they were able to create after Jobs returned to Lisa's life, years after denying he was her father. 'He made the decision to come back and get to know me after he wasn't really around when I was younger,' she said. 'But I must have felt so confused and angry,' Lisa added. 'It was some combination of these things.' As he lay dying after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Jobs turned tender toward his daughter and frequently apologized about the times they had 'missed together'. Laurene Powell Jobs, the Apple founder's widow (pictured together in 2005), and his sister Mona Simpson released a statement speaking out against the book 'The thing he kept on saying was "I owe you one, and I'm so sorry'", Lisa recalled. At the time Lisa didn't fully forgive him, saying she felt 'a little bit paralyzed'. But now, seven years on, those feelings have shifted. 'Do you forgive him now?' Kotb asked. 'In many ways, yes,' Lisa replied. 'I understand him more, and understand myself more.' And if there was one thing Lisa could wish for, it would be for more time with her father. 'I lost the chance to have more friendship with him,' she said. 'I wish we'd had more time together, and I think he wished that too.' 'Because we did like each other, and when we spent time together and got along, it was great. I wish we had more time.' While Small Fry has been a healing process for Lisa, her aunt and stepmom did not feel the same way. Laurene Powell-Jobs, the Apple founder's widow, and his sister Mona Simpson released a statement speaking out against the book. 'Lisa is part of our family, so it was with sadness that we read her book, which differs dramatically from our memories of those times,' it read. Lisa wrote unsparingly of her relationship with Jobs. Her mother Chrisann Brennan (right) was with him for five years but when she told him she was pregnant, he left her She dove into detail of how Jobs ended things with her mother when she fell pregnant with Lisa, and later told everyone 'It's not my kid' 'The portrayal of Steve is not the husband and father we knew. Steve loved Lisa, and he regretted that he was not the father he should have been during her early childhood.' 'It was a great comfort to Steve to have Lisa home with all of us during the last days of his life, and we are all grateful for the years we spent together as a family'. Lisa said she recognized that it is always difficult to 'read about your own life and your own experiences in someone else's words'. 'I've been written about since I was three years old,' she said. 'There have been books and movies since. It can be hurtful.' 'But when I was thinking about writing this book, I realize that people have a right to tell their own story as honestly and accurately as they can.' And, Lisa added, there was far more to Little Fry than just the story of her father. 'In many ways, this is a coming of age story of a girl growing up in California in the 1980s and 90s,' she said. 'I think it's easy to forget - because there's this distraction of this famous person - that we all have complexity in our lives.' 'So if you're going to read the 400 pages, you have to buckle up for whispering in libraries, dangling earrings, and adolescent angst and all of that.' Jobs's admission he was Lisa's father came only after an acrimonious court case which saw her subjected to DNA testing. The relationship he built with her was difficult until his death Chrisann, an aspiring artist, supported them by working as a cleaner, waitress and babysitter at a church. By the time Lisa was seven she had moved 13 times around San Francisco Lisa's book has been making a splash long before it hit bookshelves as she shared tale after tale of her famous but private father. She dove into detail of how Jobs ended things with her mother when she fell pregnant with Lisa, and later told everyone 'It's not my kid'. Acrimony and a court case followed during which Jobs took a paternity test and still denied that he was Lisa's father. Lisa was forced to take a DNA test and in December 1980 Jobs was ordered to pay $385 a month in child support by the state of California. The case had dragged on for months but in the final days Jobs' lawyers rushed to resolve it. Four days later Apple went public and overnight Jobs became worth more than $200million. There are stories of Jobs ripping apart a waitress over a carrot salad and telling Lisa she was going to 'get nothing' after she asked about his Porsche. Jobs vacationed in Greece in 2006, posing with his second wife Laurene Powell-Jobs, daughters Eve and Erin and Lisa, the daughter he had once refused to acknowledge She also recalled moments Jobs was cruel to his future wife, telling dinner guests when Laurene left the room that 'she doesn't have taste'. Lisa said Small Fry is not just about her father, but also a coming age story as she grew up in California in the 1980s and 90s In one painful memory, Lisa recalled the moment her younger half-sister Eve told a guest that she was 'daddy's mistake'. But there were happy times as well. Lisa said she always felt a strong bond with Jobs, and said time spent together with always was 'electrical and magical'. They would watch classic films and play the piano when she visited his house as a child, and he often took her out rollerskating. And, when she was 27 years old and on vacation with her father in Bono's villa in the South of France, he finally admitted to naming an early Apple computer after her. Over lunch Bono asked Jobs about the early years of Apple and whether or not he named the Lisa after his daughter. 'Yeah, it was,' Jobs replied. Lisa was shocked and told Bono: 'That's the first time he's said yes. Thank you for asking'. Days before he died, Jobs admitted that he wished he 'could go back' and change how he treated her. 'I didn't spend enough time with you when you were little,' he told her. I wish we'd had more time...now it's too late'. Small Fry, A Memoir by Lisa Brennan-Jobs is available on Amazon.com. A ban intending to clamp down on hard liquor at frat house parties following pledge deaths last year has been ordered for fraternities in the United States and Canada. The ban does leave room for hard liquor to be dispensed at fraternities, provided the drinks are served by someone with a liquor license. In a news alert released Tuesday, the North-American Intrafraternity Conference revealed that all international and national fraternities of the NIC have a year to prohibit drinks with an alcohol content of 15 per cent or more from fraternity chapters and events, unless it is served by licensed third-party vendors. The North-American Intrafraternity Conference announced that its fraternities will ban hard alcohol starting September 2019. The decision comes in the wake of the high-profile, alcohol-related, deaths of pledges Timothy Piazza, 19, and Maxwell Gruver, 18, in 2017 The rule was adopted on August 27 in a 'near-unanimous vote' of its 66 national and international fraternities, and must be implemented by September 1, 2019. Chapter facilities and events held outside the US have until September 2020 to comply. The group has more than 6,100 chapters on 800 campuses in the US and Canada, with an estimated 385,000 undergraduate members and nearly 4.2million alumni. The ban will allow hard liquor to be served at events provided it's doled out by a third party with a liquor license 'At their core, fraternities are about brotherhood, personal development and providing a community of support. Alcohol abuse and its serious consequences endanger this very purpose,' Judson Horras, NIC President & CEO said in the news alert. The hard liquor ban adoption 'shows fraternities clear commitment and leadership to further their focus on the safety of members and all in our communities,' Horras added. The hard liquor ban will extend to all fraternity house common areas and private quarters, including those belonging to students who are over the legal drinking age, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In the US, the legal drinking age is 21, with the bulk of college students living in fraternity house being younger than that age. Underage drinking on college campuses is a common occurrence, however, and is often seen to going hand-in-hand at parties, including fraternity and sorority mixers. The NIC's ban comes on the heels of high-profile deaths of fraternity pledges at Louisiana State University and Penn State University in 2017. Authorities said that both deaths were alcohol-related. The NIC revealed that the decision to ban hard liquor at fraternity houses and events was almost unanimous. Pictured: Louisiana State University's Phi Delta Theta fraternity, where Gruver was forced to chug alcohol while pledging and was left to choke on his own vomit The ban does allow for hard liquor to be served, provided it is done by someone with a liquor license. Pictured: Penn State University's Beta Theta Pi, where Piazza died after consuming 18 alcoholic beverages in just under 90 minutes as part of a hazing ritual and fell down the stairs The Interfraternity Council at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, voted in February 2015 to ban hard liquor from fraternity properties and all chapter events. Seth Gutwein, the current Purdue IFC president, said the result has been 'a positive shift in our culture when it comes to the health and safety of our members and guests.' 'With all NIC fraternities implementing this critical change, it will provide strong support for fraternities to move as one to make campus communities safer,' Gutwein said in the NIC news release. The NIC said the new rule follows the adoption of other alcohol-related initiatives in the past year, including a conference-wide adoption of good-Samaritan medical policies, piloting further measures to reduce alcohol, and advocating for stronger anti-hazing laws. In February 2017, 19-year-old Timothy Piazza died after consuming 18 alcoholic beverages in just under 90 minutes as part of a hazing ritual and suffering fatal injuries when he tumbled down flights of stairs while pledging at Penn State University's Beta Theta Pi. Piazza's parents have now settled their lawsuit against the Beta Theta Pi national organization for an undisclosed sum. About 25 Penn State Beta Theta Pi fraternity members have been charged with hazing and other offences, three of whom have already pleaded guilty. In September 2017, Maxwell Gruver, 18, died from acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration, after a night of being forced to chug alcohol while pledging Louisiana State University's Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Gruver's blood-alcohol content was found to be more than six times the legal limit for driving and he had been left to inhale his vomit and other fluid into his lungs. Authorities initially arrested 10 people in connection with Gruver's death, but the grand jury only indicted four of them. All four have since pleaded not guilty. An Egyptian bus driver who allegedly sexually assaulted one of his female passengers was made to stand on top of his vehicle in just his underwear as part of a a public humiliation. Photos surfaced on Twitter of the ceremony showing the man nearly naked in the street surrounded by a huge crowd of people. Onlookers can be seen taking photos and pointing at the alleged attacker as he was made to stand on the roof for some time until the police arrived. Twitter users who said they were at the scene claimed the man had attempted to abuse the woman after she was left alone on his bus. Photos posted on Twitter of the incident showed a bus driver standing on the roof of a vehicle dressed only in his underwear It was only when a nearby pedestrian heard her screaming for help that they jumped on board and cornered the man. The bus driver was then stripped down to his underwear and made to stand on the roof of his vehicle until police arrived and arrested him immediately. Social media users were quick to praise the mob's actions after the images of him went viral. 'Good on the people who did this and publicly shamed him until officers arrived,' one person said, 'If this happens a few more times, we'll no longer have to deal with harassers.' Another simply tweeted: 'He deserves this.' But some people came to the defence of the bus driver, saying he should not be subjected to mob justice. 'This a crime and an insult to a human being. This is a jungle, not a country. He made a mistake, he should be handed over to the police and be punished by them,' one person commented. According to a 2013 report, released by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment. The pound surged today on speculation that Britain and German are ready to fudge a Brexit deal to avoid chaos next March. Sterling rose more than 1 per cent amid claims ambitions are being downgraded for the 'political declaration' on trade that will accompany the divorce. That could pave the way for the two year transition period to happen - effectively easing the time pressure on thrashing details of a future relationship. It is the latest sharp market movement on Brexit rumours as anxiety grows about the impact negotiations collapsing. However, the idea - which has been tagged 'blind Brexit' - appears to assume that Tory Brexiteers would be willing to sign off the 39billion divorce bill without knowing what the UK will receive in return. Sterling rose above 1.29 against the US dollar today on speculation about an impending fudge over Brexit The pound has been struggling in recent weeks as the standoff between the EU and UK deepens. A slew of government planning papers released over the summer demonstrated the potential complexity of dealing with a no-deal outcome. Disputed Treasury forecasts have suggested the UK economy could miss out on 10 per cent growth over the next 15 years - and the EU will also be badly damaged. There was a spike in the value of the pound last week after comments from Michel Barnier that the bloc was ready to offer Britain an 'unprecedented' package. Sources close to French President Emmanuel Macron were also said to have stressed the importance of reaching agreement. However, the optimism ebbed away after Mr Barnier made clear he is still implacably opposed to Mrs May's Chequers blueprint for a soft Brexit. Tory Eurosceptics and Remainers have also roundly condemned the proposals - which would see the UK follow rules on goods and collect some taxes for the bloc. According to Bloomberg today, both Britain and Berlin are now ready to accept a less detailed agreement on Britain's future trade ties with the EU. Sterling rose above 1.29 against the US dollar on the report, while against the euro it went up 0.5 per cent to 1.11. Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: 'The reports indicate that both sides are prepared to forego ironing out some details on the future relationship now, in order to get a deal done. According to Bloomberg today, both Theresa May and Angela Merkel (pictured left and right together in Berlin in July) are now ready to accept a less detailed agreement on Britain's future trade ties with the EU 'A couple of health warnings on this: first, Germany does not despite its clear dominance of the bloc economically actually speak for the EU position. Michel Barnier may well have something to say about this report. As might Theresa May. 'Second, we've heard these kinds of rumours lift the pound before and it should be treated with caution. There is a strong chance that this rally could run out of steam and retrace in fairly short order.' The pound has taken a severe hammering in recent weeks following comments from a number of MPs and key figures. The wife of a horse racing figure is fighting for her life after her luxury Mercedes collided with a police car. Gai Vieira was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after the crash in Sydney's south just before midday on Wednesday. Ms Vieira's husband is Bert Vieira, a part-owner of horse Trapeze Artist, one of the favourites to win the $13 million The Everest race, the Daily Telegraph reported. Scroll down for video The wife of a Sydney horse racing figure is fighting for her life in hospital after her Mercedes collided with a police car in the city's south on Wednesday. The accident scene is pictured Gai Vieira (left, who is the husband of Bert Vieira, pictured right) was rushed to St George Hospital in a critical condition The 68-year-old's vehicle collided with the highway patrol car at the intersection of The Kingsway and Connels Road at Cronulla. She was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to St George Hospital where she underwent surgery. A two-year-old boy who was a passenger in the vehicle was unjuried but was taken to the same hospital as a precaution. The male Senior Constable who was behind the wheel of the police car was treated for minor facial injuries. The highway patrol police car and Ms Vieira's Mercedes collided at the intersection of The Kingsway and Connels Road at Cronulla Nine News reported it is understood the police vehicle was chasing after another car at the time. 'The sirens were on but I didn't see any lights,' a witness told the network. A critical incident investigation has been launched, which will be subject to an independent review. The Everest is billed as 'the world's richest race on turf'. It will take place at Sydney's Royal Randwick on October 13. Jeremy Corbyn faced a backlash over his 'weaselly words' on Russian blame for Salisbury today. The Labour leader was taken to task by Theresa May, Boris Johnson and even his own MPs for equivocating over the nerve agent outrage. Mr Corbyn was widely criticised earlier this year when he resisted stating that the Russian authorities were behind the poison attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia. He also previously played down Moscow's annexation of the Crimea in 2014, suggesting that NATO was to blame for the aggression. It came as he revealed he had visited the area of Salisbury earlier this year - but critics hit out at him for failing to tell local politicians about the visit. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons today) was taken to task by Theresa May, Boris Johnson and even his own MPs for equivocating over the nerve agent outrage During her statement, Mrs May pointedly thanked the SNP and other MPs for their tough stance on Russian involvement Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson (pictured today) also delivered a withering assault on Mr Corbyn's response The Tory leader of Salisbury Council hit out at Jeremy Corbyn for visiting the area without telling him Responding to the PM's revelation today that two GRU military intelligence officers had been identified as responsible for the Novichok attack, the veteran left-winger said the Russian government must 'give a full account of how this nerve agent came to be used in the UK'. He added: 'We will back any further reasonable and effective actions, whether against Russia as a state or the GRU as an organisation. taken to 'secure co-operation from the Russian government' in bringing the suspects to trial. Corbyn sparks fresh criticism over mysterious Salisbury visit Jeremy Corbyn today sparked fresh criticism after he reveled he visited Salisbury - but did not tell local politicians. The Labour leader told the Commons that he visited the town in July where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the Cold War nerve agent Novichok. Labour sources said he was on a private visit and that is why he did not tell a local politicians. But local politicians hit out at the Labour leader for the snub. John Glen, Tory MP for Salisbury, told MailOnline: 'Jeremy Corbyn can go wherever he likes privately, obviously, but I was surprised he did not take the opportunity to make it known and to perhaps meet some of the people of this community. 'This is in stark contrast to Frank Field who came on Easter Saturday when it was very difficult.' He added: 'I think my constituents will be appalled that he finds it beyond himself to condemn the Russian state given the evidence that has been presented. 'How he cannot understand that the Russian state itself is responsible for what happened is beyond me and it's beyond the understanding of most of the epopel in the country. 'It is a stubborn adherence to a fixed view of Russia which is grounded in a romanticised notion of Russia rather than the reality of the state it is today.' Advertisement Moscow has flatly refused to extradite any Russian citizens for years, including the suspect in the Litvinenko murder. During her statement, Mrs May pointedly thanked the SNP for their tough stance on Russian involvement. 'I only wish that clear condemnation would be possible from the leaders of all parties in this House,' she said. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson also delivered a withering assault on Mr Corbyn's response. He said: 'I think the whole House will have noted what I'm afraid was the somewhat weaselly language of the leader of the Opposition in failing to condemn what is now, I think, incontrovertible, in the eyes of all right-thinking people, involvement of the Russian state at the highest level in the Salisbury poisonings.' Labour backbencher Chris Leslie said it was 'important that we do from all corners of this chamber express confidence and faith in the police and security services'. In a thinly-veiled rebuke to Mr Corbyn and his allies, the MP added: 'Can I urge the PM to ignogr the cranks and ideological extremists whose first instinct seems to be to sow mistrust in our security professionals.' In the same tense session, the Labour leader told the Commons he visited Salisbury in July. Labour sources said he was on a private visit and that is why he did not tell a local politicians. But local politicians hit out at the Labour leader for the snub. John Glen, Tory MP for Salisbury, told MailOnline: 'Jeremy Corbyn can go wherever he likes privately, obviously, but I was surprised he did not take the opportunity to make it known and to perhaps meet some of the people of this community. 'This is in stark contrast to Frank Field who came on Easter Saturday when it was very difficult.' He added: 'I think my constituents will be appalled that he finds it beyond himself to condemn the Russian state given the evidence that has been presented. 'How he cannot understand that the Russian state itself is responsible for what happened is beyond me and it's beyond the understanding of most of the epopel in the country. 'It is a stubborn adherence to a fixed view of Russia which is grounded in a romanticised notion of Russia rather than the reality of the state it is today.' Tory leader of Salisbury Council Matthew Dean said on Twitter: 'Was very surprised to hear Jeremy Corbyn saying in the Commons that he visited Salisbury. Labour backbencher Chris Leslie (pictured) said it was 'important that we do from all corners of this chamber express confidence and faith in the police and security services' MPs gathered to hear an update from the PM on the Salisbury nerve agent attack investigation 'Certainly I wasnt aware & sadly didnt have the opportunity to brief him or introduce him to local residents, businesses, members of the emergency services or military.' A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the Labour leader had been led by the evidence that 'points toward' Russian state culpability for the attack. He said: 'Jeremy has had a series of security briefings since March, including today. 'He has proceeded on the basis of the evidence and that is the right approach. '(Since March) that evidence has shifted to direct Russian authorship of the attack. 'That is why Jeremy clearly said we would support reasonable and effective steps the Government might take against the Russian state or the GRU.' Mr Corbyn's spokesman said action must be 'proportionate' and said Labour backed further crackdown on Russian citizens using London as a financial base. He said Mr Corbyn wanted pressure on the Kremlin to give up the two suspects but accepted it was 'unlikely' to be the case. Bill Cosby, pictured in court before a verdict against him was read in April, saw his Walk of Fame star vandalized Monday Bill Cosby's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized with the words 'serial rapist' on Monday according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The authorities took a vandalism report and there are security cameras but so far no suspects have been named, according to ABC News. Cosby's Walk of Fame star was also defaced in 2014, when someone wrote the word 'rapist' as the old allegations against the actor resurfaced. The new vandalism has since been cleaned off. The 81-year-old comedian, who was convicted April 26 of aggravated indecent assault, was accused of drugging and assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. He is back in court later this month for sentencing. The weeks-long retrial included testimony from five other women who were among the dozens to accuse Cosby of similar sexual misconduct. The former TV star, once known as 'America's Dad' for his portrayal of kindly Dr Cliff Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show', is now under house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor awaiting sentencing. 'Serial Rapist': Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually Andrea Constand, has had similar accusations against him by dozens of women In July the Montgomery County District Attorney's office that prosecuted Cosby requested a hearing on Tuesday so a judge can make the final decision on whether the 81-year-old comedian should be considered sexually violent. He is only allowed to leave to visit doctors or lawyers ahead of his September 24 hearing. Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison but his representatives have said he plans to appeal. The report by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which examined 14 different criteria, is not public. Copies are given to the prosecutor, defense attorney and court before the hearing and the board's assessor will likely testify about how she made the recommendation. State law already requires Cosby to register as a sex offender because of the nature of the charge of which he was convicted. The sexually violent predator classification would require increased treatment in prison and increased notification of neighbors upon release. A person deemed a predator is subject to lifetime of at least monthly, mandatory sex offender counseling with a treatment provider approved by the state board. Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA) The capitals tourism turnover totaled VND645 billion, a year-on-year rise of 5%. Specifically, the Thang Long Royal Citadel greeted 4,081 tourists, a two-fold increase from the same period last year; Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism received nearly 20,000 tourists, up about 20%; Huong Son relic welcomed 850 tourists, up 6% and hot spots in Ba Vi such as Khoang Xanh, Ao Vua, Ba Vi National Park and Tan Da lured 39,000 tourists, up over 10%. According to survey, the average room occupancy was higher than the same period last year at 65% for the 1 to 5-star hotels bloc, up 2% and 69% for the 3 to 5-star hotels bloc. Tourist markets sending the most tourists to Vietnam were China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and France./. An Italian priest has said brides with plunging necklines should pay more for their weddings as a 'decency tax'. Father Cristiano Bobbo, of Oriago near Venice, said there should be a levy so that the 'least dressed pay the most' for their ceremonies. 'We could set up a sort of offering to be levied in proportion to the decency of the dress of the bride, who often present themselves looking coarse and vulgar, so the least dressed pay the most,' he said. An Italian priest has said brides with plunging necklines should pay more for their weddings as a 'decency tax' Father Bobbo later clarified the remark as being intended as 'jocular provocation' - but added that it was something he would like to do, ANSA reports. He is said to have written to parishioners voicing his concern over brides who turn up for their church wedding wearing gowns that were 'inappropriate for the circumstances'. Instead, brides should chose wedding outfits that are in good taste', he said. According to the Daily Telegraph, Father Bobbo's comments were met with a mixed reaction online in Italy. One said it was like 'going back to the 1940s' and asking whether a low neckline was really worthy of taking such action. But others called his plan 'common sense' with one asking: 'If people want to turn up in church semi-naked, why are they getting married in church?' Ten passengers were removed from a quarantined Emirates flight that had rapper Vanilla Ice onboard at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday morning. 'So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place,' Vanilla Ice tweeted. The double decker A380 aircraft, which was traveling from Dubai to New York City, landed at the Queens airport Wednesday morning shortly after 9am. Initial reports said up to 100 passengers fell ill, but a statement from Emirates put that number at just 10. Scroll down for video Rapper Vanilla Ice was onboard the Emirates flight that had to be quarantined Wednesday morning after several passengers fell ill The rapper (pictured in April), whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, followed that tweet with a second one that expressed his relief of not being on the same level as the sick passengers The rapper, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, followed that tweet with a second one that expressed his relief of not being on the same level as the sick passengers. 'This is crazy. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy Im up top, its a double-decker plane 380,' he tweeted. Shortly after the reports of 100 people falling ill on the plane made its rounds on the internet, Emirates released a statement on Twitter that claimed only 10 people had been treated. 'Emirates can confirm that about 10 passengers on #EK203 from Dubai to New York were taken ill,' the statement read. 'On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities. All others will disembark shortly. 'The safety & care of our customers is our first priority,' the airline wrote. The double decker A380 aircraft, which was traveling from Dubai to New York City, landed at the Queens airport Wednesday morning shortly after 9am First responders (pictured) were waiting on the tarmac for the plane to arrive at the airport Shortly after the reports of 100 people falling ill on the plane made its rounds on the internet, Emirates released a statement (pictured) on Twitter that claimed only 10 people had been treated A DailyMail.com request for comment to Emirates was not immediately returned to clarify that discrepancy. But apparently, dozens of passengers reported feeling sick but only 10 were taken to the hospital. A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio later confirmed that 10 people were hospitalized and another eight were treated at the airport. Airport officials said Emirates Flight 203 was carrying 500 passengers when some of them reported feeling sick. The pilot raised concerns to air traffic controllers that many of his passengers appeared to be sick with fevers over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and several of them were coughing. Passengers shared photos from inside the plane as they prepared to disembark Photos showed officials from the Port Authority Police and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention waiting in a staging area to check passengers after they landed One passenger was seen being transported on a stretcher by paramedics to an ambulance The woman was fully covered with blankets and was wearing a face mask Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. Photos of the scene showed paramedics transporting passengers from the plane to the ambulances on stretchers. Other photos showed officials from the Port Authority Police and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention waiting in a staging area to check passengers after they landed. Passengers were exiting the plane with their luggage and getting on to buses. Some even shared photos from inside the plane as they prepared to disembark. A few passengers also tweeted about the flight. Larry Coben, who said he was on board the aircraft, wrote on Twitter that passengers are being asked to fill out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention form and that CDC personnel had boarded the aircraft. He also shared photos of passengers getting their temperatures taken. 'Deplaning and having temperature taken,' Coben tweeted. Some sick passengers were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with non-life-threatening conditions, according to a New York City Fire Department spokesman. A few passengers also tweeted about the flight. Larry Coben wrote on Twitter that passengers were being asked to fill out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention form (pictured) He also shared photos of passengers (left and right) getting their temperatures taken as they got off the plane One passenger called the flight the 'worst' one ever in a tweet CDC public health officers were working with other agencies to evaluate passengers, including taking temperatures and making arrangements for transport to hospitals, spokesman Benjamin Haynes said in the statement. Passengers who were not ill were allowed to continue with their travel plans, Haynes added. Another passenger, Erin Sykes, tweeted: '@emirates worst flight ever Dubai to NYC; plane was basically a flying infermary [sic].' 'Many of these people should never have been allowed to board. Now sitting on the ground after 14 hour flight unable to leave. @EmiratesSupport #emirates #worstairline,' the woman added. In an interview, Sykes said she saw a few passengers being taken off the plane first for medical attention, but she added that 'many, many' others were showing signs of illness. 'Very intense coughing. Violently sick. Going into the bathroom a lot,' she said when asked to describe the scene. Passenger, Raghida Dergham, who was sitting in the business section of the aircraft said in an interview that sick passengers were in a 'lower level' economy section of the plane. 'I feel great. I feel fine,' she said. 'Nobody was alarmed. ... It was handled very well.' But others said they suspected that some passengers were sick before they got on the plane and that the airline should have done more to protect others. 'Why did they allow them on the flight? ... I sat with them for 13 hours. If it's a virus, we're all getting sick,' Srinivasa Rao said. Passenger, Raghida Dergham (right), said she was sitting in the business section of the aircraft and that the situation was 'handled very well'. But passenger, Srinivasa Rao (left) said the airline should have done more to protect its non-sick passengers The aircraft (pictured) was taken to a location away from the terminal so that emergency officials could evaluate the situation, officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement It's unclear what caused the high fevers and coughing, and health officials are still investigating. But fears abound that the sickened passengers could have contracted MERS - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome - which Saudi Arabia has been battling to control since 2012. MERS has been singled out by global health authorities as the most concerning virus at the moment because it is notoriously resistant to antibiotics. Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague and Ebola: Story Of An Outbreak, told the DailyMail.com that it is unlikely, based on the symptoms reported so far. CDC officials say cases involve fever, coughing, and flu-like symptoms. According to Garrett, the biggest concern for medics to look out for is respiratory symptoms. It is also unlikely that MERS would strike so many so quickly, says Amesh Adalja, MD. He said it would be 'odd to have so many probably random people becoming unwell at the same time from an infection'. The aircraft was taken to a location away from the terminal so that emergency officials could evaluate the situation, officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said they were monitoring the situation and President Donald Trump was being updated as new information became available. A month-long investigation by the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency led to the apprehension of 364 undocumented immigrants in six Midwestern states. Federal agents with the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) unit detained 18 women and 346 men from 25 countries during the 30-day enforcement period, ICE stated in a press release last week. The immigration agency officers, working under the direction of the ICE Chicago center that oversees the six-state region, were able to capture 71 immigrants that were fugitives and another 97 that illegally came to the country after they had been deported. ICE officers with the Enforcement and Removal Operations unit carried out a 30-day investigation, arresting 364 undocumented immigrants across six Midwestern states [file photo] The Midwest investigation led to the arrest of 236 undocumented Mexicans, 54 immigrants from Guatemala and 40 from Honduras that made it across the US border without proper legal documentation. Of the 364 arrested, 187 had prior convictions. On July 24, ERO agents arrested a Mexican man, 46, in Wood Dale, Illinois, who had been previously convicted for attempted murder. He remained under ICE custody awaiting deportation. During a seven-day period in August, immigration officers in Indianapolis successfully arrested an 18-year-old male fugitive from Honduras who was sought by authorities in Louisiana for the rape of a minor. ICE was awaiting to extradite him to Louisiana. ICE was able to detain an a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala in Shelbyville, Kentucky, for the distribution of child pornography, and kept him in custody pending deportation. The large scale arrests were effective in Illinois (134), Kentucky (60), Indiana (52), Kansas (43), Missouri (42). Wisconsin's operation led to the apprehension of another 33 immigrants. The announcement came on the same week as ICE raided a Texas trailer-manufacturing business and arrested 160 undocumented workers, the largest ever workplace operation in the last decade. It was at least the second immigration raid targeting the business that's located in Summer, Texas, 100 miles northeast of Dallas, the last coming in 2014. A young girl will think twice before getting on a dirt bike again without a helmet on after suffering life-changing injuries when she crashed face-first into a gate. Teeleah Jones, nine, was visiting a friend's farm in Toodyay, northeast of Perth, on August 11 when she hopped on a dirt bike, which she had never ridden before. Her parents have shared gruesome photos of their daughter's horrifying injuries to raise awareness about the dangers of riding without a helmet. Teeleah Jones (pictured) suffered extensive injuries in a dirt bike accident. She wasn't wearing a helmet at the time Teeleah lost control and crashed into a gate at high speed, suffering extensive injuries. They included a lacerated lip, crumpled jaw, a tooth knocked out, one cracked tooth, and two teeth pushed 90 per cent upwards into her gum. All teeth damaged in the shocking accident were her adult teeth. Teeleah also broke her wrist and fractured her finger and required three hours surgery on her mouth the day after the accident. Teeleah (pictured) needed three hours of surgery on her mouth the day after the shocking accident last month 'We have been advised she will need to have ongoing treatment, which includes continuous root canals, continuous modification of braces, her teeth will need to be replaced when she becomes an adult with implants,' her dad Justin wrote on a GoFundMe page. 'Parents... Please also make sure your child or any child in your care wears a helmet. No matter how short of a ride it may be. It could end up like this or worse.' A month on from the terrifying ordeal, Teeleah can still only eat soft foods and can't bite with her front teeth. 'We know bones can heal but the teeth are obviously our biggest worry and they are going to be our biggest expense,' her mother Teegan Robinson told Perth Now. 'When it first happened she did not want to leave the house, she did not want to go out in public, we had to cover all the mirrors up because she didn't want to look at herself.' Teeleah's parents have publicly shared photos of her daughter's horrifying injuries to warn other parents to ensure their children wear a helmet when riding a bike The other mother has since apologised for letting Teeleah get on the bike without her parents' permission, who weren't present at the time. 'They didn't ask me, but I would have said make sure she has shoes, long pants, long sleeves and a helmet, otherwise she wouldn't have been riding and she didn't have any of them on (apart from leggings),' Ms Robinson said. The GoFundMe page was set up to raise fund towards Teeleah's ongoing medical costs, which has raised more than $6,200 of the $20,000 goal. Any leftover funds will be donated to Perth's Children's Hospital's Starlight Foundation. Teeleah Jones before the accident on August 11 Earlier this week, Father's Day ended in tragedy for one family after a motorcycle accident claimed the life of a 11-year-old boy in regional Victoria. Emergency services were called to a Tambo Upper property in in the state's East Gippsland region after the boy crashed into a tree on Sunday. He could not be revived at the scene, despite the desperate attempts of paramedics. A Kidsafe fact sheet on farm safety advises parents to provide children with age appropriate bikes and safety gear and to teach them how to operate them safely in safe places to ride. 'Children under the age of 16 years do not operate or take the position of a passenger on a quad bike or motorcycle,' the fact sheet states. Kim Kardashian spent several hours at the White House on Wednesday highlighting a drug-charge case of a convicted felon she's hoping to free. Kardashian participated in a criminal justice reform roundtable with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and highlighted the case of Chris Young, a felon drug dealer she wants Donald Trump to free. It is unclear whether she extended her stay at the White House to meet with the president. A spokesperson for the president declined to comment. President Trump was not scheduled to take part in the conversation, but that also the case last time Kardashian was on the property. She and Trump ended up visiting in the Oval Office in June without reporters present. The White House distributed a hand-out photo after the fact. Meeting time: Kim Kardashian was at a White House round table on criminal justice reform. She sat beside former federal judge Kevin Sharp, who quit the bench in protest at mandatory drug sentencing, including the case of Chris Young, the felon drug dealer she wants freed In charge: Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law chaired the meeting dedicated to criminal justice reform, which his wife Ivanka Trump also attended. The White House released no pictures but Kim Kardashian did - on her Instagram story Ivanka at the table: The First Daughter was at the opposite end of the meeting from her husband Jared Kushner Down to business: Kim Kardashian was accompanied at the meeting by other criminal justice campaigners, and the general counsel of Koch Industries. The conservative Koch brothers back criminal justice reform to reduce sentences for drugs Kim shared this photo with Jared and Ivanka hours after her visit White House visit: Kim Kardashian was accompanied by CNN political commentator Van Jones as she walked outside the White House after her meeting with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Kim Kardashian spent several hours at the White House on Wednesday highlighting a drug-charge case of a convicted felon she's hoping to free Kushner was leading the meeting on Wednesday that included a lawyer for Alice Johnson, Kardashian West, Van Jones and the Koch Industries' general counsel. The president was not scheduled to take part in the conversation, but that also the case last time Kardashian was on the property 'Today at the White House, members of the Administration are hosting a listening session about the clemency process. The discussion is mainly focused on ways to improve that process to ensure deserving cases receive a fair review,' Hogan Gidley, a deputy press secretary at the White House, in a statement said. In June, the reality TV star helped to free Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother from Tennessee who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on non-violent drug charges. President Trump commuted Johnson's sentence after Kardashian's tireless campaign against her harsh, mandatory punishment. The reality star is taking on the cause now of Chris Young, a 30-year-old drug dealer who is serving a life term at a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky. Kardashian plead Young's case on Jason Flom's Wrongful Conviction podcast on Wednesday. Kim Kardashian is at the White House to highlight a drug-charge case Chris Young, a convicted felon she's hoping to free. The 30-year-old convicted drug dealer is serving a life term at a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky The president was not scheduled to take part in the conversation, but that also the case last time Kardashian was on the property. She and Trump visited in the Oval Office in June without reporters present. The White House distributed a hand-out photo after the fact According to Page Six, she said: 'Yesterday, I had a call with a gentleman that's in prison for a drug case - got life. It's so unfair. He's 30 years old. He's been in for almost 10 years.' I felt like the only person that understood all the adversity I'd been through was gone. I was lost, and I made a lot of bad decisions Chris Young after his brother's death 'I was on the phone with the judge that sentenced him to life, who resigned because he had never been on the side of having to do something so unfair, and now he is fighting [alongside] us to get [Young] out.' Young has been in jail since he was arrested at a Shell gas station in Clarksville, Tennessee in December 2010. He was talking to a drug dealer named Robert Porter while standing next to Porter's car, which contained eight ounces of cocaine and six ounces of crack. Young went to trial after three years in custody, turning down a guilty plea because he felt the 14-year-sentence prosecutors offered was too long. He was found guilty of conspiracy with intent to possess and distribute 500 grams of cocaine and 280 grams of crack, intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a high school, and knowingly possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Because of previous drug convictions, the judge had no choice but to give him life in prison. Young had been arrested for drug possession with a firearm in 2006 and for possession of less than a half-gram of cocaine in 2007 - the same year his brother Robert committed suicide. He later said of his brother's death: 'I felt like the only person that understood all the adversity I'd been through was gone. I was lost, and I made a lot of bad decisions.' The judge who sentenced Young, Kevin Sharp, left the bench in protest of 'unfair' mandatory sentences. He was also a participant in the meeting at the White House. He said at Young's sentencing hearing in 2014, 'Each defendant is supposed to be treated as an individual. I don't think that's happening here.' Young had testified that his mother was a drug addict and their home would sometimes have no lights or water. He worked at a funeral home but soon joined his friends dealing drugs as a way to survive, he said. Young said at his sentencing he had been relentlessly studying in jail to 'better himself.' He said: 'I look at this like I'm in college. I don't get to go to frat parties or talk to women, but this is the time to get my skill set. When I'm reading in my cell, it's like I'm studying in my dorm room.' Judge Sharp told the Tennessean: 'If there was any way I could have not given him life in prison I would have done it.' He added: 'Most of the defendants (in drug cases) are not dangerous. They're just kids who lack any opportunities and any supervision, lack education and have ended up doing what appears to be at the time the path of least resistance to make a living.' Asia Argento attacked the gender-nonconforming partner of her former friend and #MeToo advocate Rose McGowan in a series of tweets on Wednesday. The actress, who had been absent from social media for the past six weeks, returned to Twitter after model Rain Dove Dubilewski, 27, criticized Argento's attorney for refusing to acknowledge that she had a sexual relationship with actor Jimmy Bennett when the boy was underage. 'I will 100% help support You through this process with whatever resources I have that can assist the healing necessary - but You need to be honest. I cant help a dishonest being,' wrote Dove. Argento responded by firing back: 'Very funny coming from a sick pathological liar like you, who made money out of me by selling selected text messages in order to portray me for something I am not.' Her return to social media came at the same time X Factor Italia formally announced that Argento would appear only in the first half of the show's new season, and be replaced for the live episodes when they air later this year. The Italian star, 42, also used her return to Twitter to attack Dove for information they relayed regarding the death of Anthony Bourdain. Scroll down for video Twitter tirade: Asia Argento returned to Twitter following a six-week hiatus on Wednesday to attack Rain Dove Dubilewski, Rose McGowan's nonbinary partner (Dove and McGowan above in March) Out and about: Dove and McGowan were all smiles just hours after the Twitter spat at the GQ Awards in London (above) Underage: Dove, 27, criticized Argento and her lawyer for recent statements, including their recent claim that the actress was sexually assaulted by Jimmy Bennett in 2014 (pair above at that 2014 meet-up in California) Shots fired: 'Very funny coming from a sick pathological liar like you, who made money out of me by selling selected text messages,' tweeted Argento (above in one Twitter exchange from Wednesday) Exchange: The actress then accused Dove of misleading her with theories about the death of her late partner Anthony Bourdain, who was found hanged in his hotel in June (one text exchange posted by Argento above) It was Dove's texts with Argento that confirmed the actress had sexual relations with Bennett in a California hotel room back in 2014, more than a decade after the actress first worked with the boy at the age of 6 in her film adaptation of JT Leroy's The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Argento, who was one of the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, initially lied about her encounter with Bennett following a New York Times report that revealed the young man had received a $380,000 payment from the actress' partner Anthony Bourdain when he threatened to file a $7.5 million lawsuit. Just hours after she denied ever having sex with Bennett, TMZ published a text exchange between Dove and with Argento, confirming most of the Times report. Argento and her lawyer are now claiming that she was the victim, and Bennett sexually assaulted her that day in the hotel. Dove voiced their opinion on this latest version of events from Argento by writing in one tweet: 'NO Jimmy Bennet didnt rape Asia. We must hold all beings to the truth here. Dont need to kno the whole story but what we do know should b truthful.' Argento then took aim at Dove for making claims about the death of Bourdain. She posted a handful of cryptic text exchanges she had with the model that seem to suggest they both believe the celebrity chef did not take his own life. 'Why did you tell me you knew the truth about my partners death and pretended to be some sort of 007? You wrote me hundreds of lies, for over a month. I have all the text messages. Now its time for YOU to tell the truth, if you are capable. Your ex calls you a pathological liar,' wrote Argento. She followed that up by stating: 'Then tell me why did you invent that articulate, humongous, gross lie about you and your NETWORK knowing the truth about Anthonys death?'. Non-binary: Dove (left in March, right in 2016) started dating McGowan in February after offering to work with her following the actress' very public argument with a transgender woman at a book signing Conspiracy: Months prior, Bourdain had agreed to fund Argento's $380,000 payment to Bennett, who was threatening to sue the actress for $7.5 million (tweets from Wednesday above) Allegations: Dove told Argento he had unreleased information about Bourdain death in texts posted by the actress on Wednesday (above) Dove, who engaged with Argento throughout her attack, replied: 'That wasnt a lie. We did a lot of great work including - which You saw yourself- the toxicology report which French authorities dumbed down to the media. And then later on redacted and said yeah there was alcohol. And Im not 007. Im just part of a common research team.' Argento then posted a text conversation she had with Dove about documents concerning Bourdain's death that she hoped to get to a journalist for an investigative piece about the Emmy winner. In another exchange shared by Argento, Dove writes about a 'network' being involved in Bourdain's death and how 'dangerous' it was to be investigating the matter. They also claim to have see documents and exchanges between unknown parties, prompting Argento to tweet: 'Go tell that to @CNN. What you did (if you did it! I highly doubt it) is criminal.' Dove responded: 'Alright love. But You are just deflecting. Ill own my own path itll clearly be a fun week. But You still must own urs. 100%. You had a sexual dynamic w Jimmy Bennett. Whether u felt used or extorted or that ur friend was rude the engagement still happened. & he didnt rape u.' Argento did not dispute Dove's claims in that tweet, and instead accused the model of deflecting, before adding: 'Dont call me love. All that is left of your answers is treachery and deceit.' She later closed out her attack by writing: 'You cant help yourself but keep lying, can you? You never sent me or showed me any documents. And remember, there was a witness.' Dove went offline at the exact same time, but not before posting a few final remarks. 'Ok, through the gates of Hell I walk willingly with You if only for the truth to see the light of the fire,' said the model to Argento in one post. Dove then said in a final tweet: 'Fair for U to be angry- U are trapped and want to take everything down with U. I am not afraid of what is coming. But the truth still remains You slept w Jimmy Bennett. You lied when You demand others accused of sexual assault to be honest. This hurts victims voices everywhere.' The model is a new acquaintance of Argento, whom she met through McGowan. Dove started dating the actress earlier this year in the wake of McGowan's rage-filled rant at a transgender woman at a New York City book signing for her memoir Brave that many found to be transphobic. In the wake of that incident, Dove offered to help the actress repair her image. Dove said that she released the texts with McGowan's blessing, and also sent her exchanges with the actress to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. A Virginia man convicted of punching the organizer of last summer's white nationalist rally after he attempted to hold a news conference has been fined $1. Jeffrey Winder of Afton was found guilty Tuesday of misdemeanor assault and battery for a second time during an appeal trial. Prosecutors said Winder could be seen on video punching Jason Kessler, who was mobbed after he called a news conference August 13, 2017, the day after the 'Unite the Right' rally drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville, along with counterprotesters. Scroll down for video Winder, pictured left in red with a raised fist, was filmed as he went in to punch Jason Kessler, pictured right with his back to the camera and right arm raised, at Kessler's press conference the day after his fatal Charlottesville 'Unite the Right' rally Prosecutors used footage from the 2017 in front of Charlottesville City Haul and Winder was found guilty of assault. He appeal led to this case, and though he was ultimately found guilty he received an absolute minimum at sentencing Heather Heyer, 32, was killed at the rally, and over 20 others were wounded when 20-year-old white supremacist James Fields allegedly intentionally struck them with his car. On June 27, 2018, he was charged with one count of a hate crime resulting in a death, 28 counts of hate crimes resulting in bodily injury/attempts to kill and one count of racially motivated violent interference. He has pleaded not guilty on all 30 charges. Heather Heyer, a counterprotestor at the 'Unite the Right' rally, was killed when white supremacist James Fields drove into the crowd. The subsequent media attention was the basis for Kessler's follow up press conference Kessler briefly made remarks at the following day's news conference before a crowd began heckling him, prompting him to flee. Jurors could have sentenced Winder to up to 12 months of jail time and $2,500 in fines for his actions following the news conference attack. They decided instead to give him a $1 fine with no jail time, The Daily Progress reported. Some jurors could be seen tearing up as their verdict was read. Winder's supporters were quick to set up a GoFundMe page to raise the $1 he owes the state; as of 5pm EST the fundraiser had raised $185 with all excess money to be donated to the Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund. Pictured at left, Winder, following the conclusion of his appeal and his $1 fine. At right, Kessler speaking to the press. He is still upset as 'people made fun' of him for being subject to the punch, which caused no physical harm In this August 13, 2017 photo, 'Unite the Right' rally organizer Jason Kessler, center rear, is escorted by police after his press conference was disrupted outside City Hall in Charlottesville Kessler said he wasn't physically hurt, but did suffer emotional trauma. 'I was attacked in front of the whole world, and then people made fun of me for it,' he continued. Asked for comment, Winder and the prosecutor's office told TV station WVIR that the jury's sentence speaks for itself. Winder and his attorney have yet to decide if they will appeal, the TV station reported. Maria Gonzalez, 33, claimed that she was robbed by two black men at the Floradora and 8th intersection in Fresno, California at 2.30pm on Saturday A California woman who said she was robbed by two black men actually concocted her story in efforts to avoid paying $9,000 to subcontractors, police said. Maria Gonzalez, 33, claimed that she had stopped at the Floradora and 8th intersection in Fresno at 2:30pm on Saturday, when two masked men put a gun to her head. Gonzalez maintained that she had been held at gunpoint and robbed of money she was planning to pay employees. She also claimed to have been sexually assaulted. But by Monday, Gonzalez allegedly confessed to making up the attack during an intense 2.5hour interrogation with Fresno police. 'The reality is she did not have the $9,000 to pay the subcontractors and that's why she made up the story,' said Chief Jerry Dyer at a press conference, according to ABC News. Dyer explained that Gonzalez had tied her hands behind her back with a telephone cord and had faked injuries. While at the hospital, the woman recounted that the men bound her arms and stuffed a rag in her mouth while she drove. Fresno police found inconsistencies in Gonzalez's story and showed her a video of the scene where the kidnapping was said to have taken place Gonzalez claimed that she lost consciousness and when she came to later, her money was gone and she had a bump the side of her head. The woman also stated that she had 'moisture in her underwear' that she believed was from being sexually assaulted. It was then that the woman confessed and said that she was trying to get out of paying the workers for her family business, M & C Gonzalez Trucking But Fresno police spotted inconsistencies in the woman's story, according to the police chief. Other valuables were found in Gonzalez's purse where the money had supposedly been in. Police also found that the woman's memory was erratic - she could only give flesh out details surrounding how she freed herself from the backseat. Officials then showed Gonzalez a video of the scene where the kidnapping allegedly took place and it was then that the woman admitted that she was trying to get out of paying subcontractors. Gonzalez had claimed that the missing money was going to two employees of her family business, M & C Gonzalez Trucking. Police released the woman on Sunday night but are looking into a possible arrest warrant for the woman. Police released the woman on Sunday night but are looking into a possible arrest warrant for the woman, who lives at the same address that is listed for the company (pictured) 'It is important that when people file a false police report, especially of this magnitude, that we hold them accountable for doing so,' added Dyer. 'Not only did this create an enormous amount of work and pulled our detectives off other cases that they could have been working or should have been working, but it created a lot of fear in our community.' What do we know about the Russian military intelligence unit suspected by Britain of being behind the Salisbury Novichok attack? The GRU - Russia's 'Main Intelligence Directorate' - was founded in 1918 after Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin insisted on its independence from other secret services and the GRU was seen as a rival by other Soviet secret services, such as the KGB. Before the Russian Federation came into existence, the unit was subordinate to the more famous and feared KGB, the notorious internal security service of the Soviet Union. The GRU - Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate - was founded in 1918 after Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen above on the left with then-Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on the roof of the newly built GRU headquarters in 2006 GRU, one of whose divisions has an emblem featuring a bat hovering above a globe, was founded as the Registration Directorate in 1918 after the Bolshevik Revolution The KGB was ultimately succeeded by the FSB - the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin was a member of the KGB for 16 years and later briefly the head of the FSB. According to Yuri Shvets, a former KGB agent, GRU officers were referred to as 'boots' - tough but unsophisticated. 'The GRU took its officers from the trenches,' he said, whereas KGB picked its agents from the USSR's best universities. The GRU - an acronym for Glavnoye razvedyvatelnoye upravleniye - would train agents and then send them to represent the Soviet Union abroad as military attaches in foreign embassies, according to historian John Barron. But once a member of the GRU, it is believed to be exceptionally difficult to leave. And those who do so to joined foreign agencies were punished savagely. Viktor Suvorov, a GRU officer who defected to Britain in 1978, said new recruits were shown a video of a traitor from the agency being burned alive in a furnace as a warning. Before the Russian Federation came into existence, the unit was subordinate to the more well-known and feared KGB, the notorious internal security service of the Soviet Union. The GRU headquarters is seen above in Moscow In recent years the agency has gained notoriety for its connection to some of Russia's most contentious actions abroad. In July this year, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election. The Bellingcat investigative team has linked the downing of MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014 with a GRU officer who it said 'supervised the procurement and transport of weapons'. The agency has also been linked to an attempt to overthrow Montenegro's government on the eve of parliamentary elections in October, 2016. The GRU is now considered Russias largest foreign intelligence service, according to Reuters, dwarfing Moscows better-known Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which is the successor to the KGBs First Chief Directorate. Unlike the KGB, the GRU was not split up when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It has a special status and answers directly to the chief of the general staff, one of the three people who control Russias portable nuclear control system. GRU chiefs are picked by Putin himself. Russian military intelligence has a spy network abroad that is believed by espionage experts to be several times bigger than that of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service. Its experts decipher and analyze espionage information gathered by dozens of Russian military space satellites. It also has several elite special forces units that fought in many post-1945 conflicts, including Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Syrian Civil War. In 1997, it was thought to control 25,000 special forces troops. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sergei Ivanov look at the emblem of the GRU's Spetsnaz - or special forces The GRU has confirmed or tacitly accepted it was behind some major spy operations abroad. It has also been accused of many operations that it denies. Former FSB agent Alexander Litvenenko - who was murdered in London by Russian intelligence after defecting to Britain - was one of many Russians to accuse the GRU of being involved in four apartment bombings in Moscow in 1999. He alleged it was a successful coup designed to get Putin, who was then prime minister, elected president after he launched a popular invasion of Chechnya in revenge for the bombings. It is also believed by Western governments and intelligence agencies that the GRU is behind the hacking groups Fancy Bear and Guccifer 2.0. Fancy Bear is thought to have been responsible for attacks on official organisations within NATO states, including the German parliament. It is also accused of interfering in the French election of 2017 and the International Olympic Committee among other world institutions. The GRU, however, has also suffered several humiliating blows to its reputation after some of its top agents defected to the West. Spetsnaz soldiers from the Russian Interior Ministry patrol the grounds around the airport in Beslan in the Russian republic of North Ossetia in this file photo. GRU also has several elite special forces units that fought in many conflicts including Afghanistan and Chechnya One such defector was Oleg Penkovsky, a friend of the then GRU chief. He informed Washington of a Moscow operation to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. The scandal led to the Cuban missile crisis and the world balanced on the brink of a full-blown nuclear war for several days. Penkovsky was arrested in 1962 and executed in 1963 after being found guilty of high treason and espionage. Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in GRU , was considered by the Kremlin to be one of the most damaging spies of his generation. He was responsible for unmasking dozens of secret agents threatening Western interests by operating undercover in Europe. Col Skripal, 66, allegedly received 78,000 in exchange for taking huge risks to pass classified information to MI6. In 2006, he was sentenced to 13 years in a Russian labour camp after being convicted of passing invaluable Russian secrets to the UK. A senior source in Moscow said at the time: 'This man is a big hero for MI6.' After being convicted of 'high treason in the form of espionage' by Moscow's military court, Col Skripal was stripped of his rank, medals and state awards. He was alleged by Russia's security service, the FSB, to have begun working for the British secret services while serving in the army in the 1990s. He passed information classified as state secrets and was paid for the work by MI6, the FSB claimed. Col Skripal pleaded guilty at the trial and co-operated with investigators, reports said at the time. He admitted his activities and gave a full account of his spying, which led to a reduced sentence. In July 2010, he was pardoned by then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and was one of four spies exchanged for ten Russian agents deported from the US in an historic swap involving red-headed 'femme fatale' Anna Chapman. After the swap at Vienna airport, Col Skripal was one of two spies who came to Britain and he has kept a low profile for the past eight years. The former spy was living at an address in Salisbury, Wiltshire, when the suspected poisoning took place in the city centre. A judge blasted the mum of a reckless teenager who climbed on a house roof following a high-speed police chase after she insisted: 'He's a good kid'. The woman was ordered to appear before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone QC at Liverpool Crown Court to explain the 16-year-old's behaviour before he was sentenced. The judge demanded to know why the teenager had an 'appalling' school attendance and asked her: 'What do you think you might have failed to do as his mum that's landed him in the mess he's in now?' Judge Clement Goldstone QC (pictured) said he faced a 'stark choice' when sentencing the teenager Judge Goldstone said he faced a 'stark choice' over whether to send the boy back to a young offenders' institution or allow him to return home under supervision, the Liverpool Echo reported. The teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - admitted being a passenger in a vehicle taken without the owner's consent. Together with Jamie Carr, 20, he was involved in two high-speed chases with police on May 4 and 8, the first involving an Audi A1 taken from We Buy Any Car's depot in Great Howard Street, Vauxhall on May 4. Eight vehicles were taken but none of the culprits were identified. Carr and the teen were detained in Tynwald Hill Road, Tuebrook after climbing on top of a house. The teenager who cannot be name for legal reasons (pictured left) with the driver of the car involved in two high speed chases, Jamie Carr (right) They spent 13 hours on the roof, refusing to come down until 11am on May 9 and witnesses said bricks and tiles were thrown down into the street below. The woman told Judge Goldstone: 'He normally lives with me. It's just me and him. He's a good kid.' When the judge questioned her view of her son, she insisted: 'He's a good kid to me. He got involved with the wrong crowd.' She said she had 'supported him, loved him' when asked what she had done to give him a stable upbringing. But Judge Goldstone said: 'Do you not understand why you are here? I have to decide whether he has a better chance of growing up as a law abiding young man in a young offenders' institution than he is growing up with you. 'That is the stark choice I have to make and you're standing there saying he is a good kid? 'Have you seen the number of times he's been in trouble? Perhaps you'd like to think again.' Judge Goldstone went on to question the teenager's school record and asked the mum why she was given a four-week electronically monitored curfew for not sending him to school. She said: 'I don't know. It's not my fault. I've tried my best with him.' Jamie Carr (pictured) of no fixed abode but previously from Anfield, admitted three counts of aggravated vehicle taking Judge Goldstone said there had been 'plenty of occasions where his behavioural problems have been nothing to do with other people apart from his relationship with you' - but the mum insisted she had a good relationship with her son. She said spending time in a young offenders' institution since his arrest had changed him. She said: 'I will make him do what he's got to do and I will do what I've got to do to keep him out of trouble. 'His attitude has changed since he's been in detention and he's saying he wants to go to college and change. He liked construction, he was also good at maths.' The teenager's dad was not in court and the hearing was told his parents are not together. Judge Goldstone said he wanted to give the teenager a chance, and sentenced him to a two year youth rehabilitation order and six month 7pm-7am curfew. He must also see Judge Goldstone with his youth offender manager every month - which the judge said would be extended to every two months and then three 'if you are improved in your behaviour and attitude'. Jamie Carr (pictured) sat on a ledge in Caird Street, Everton, Liverpool, holding what appears to be a knife He told the teenager: 'If you get a bit fed up staring at your own four walls you will have a chance to think that you might be staring at the four walls of a prison cell.' Jamie Carr, of no fixed abode but previously from Anfield, admitted three counts of aggravated vehicle taking - involving being carried, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified - plus driving without insurance and criminal damage. Last week he was jailed for 18 months and banned from the road for two years and nine months. Competing by difference Deputy General Director of Duc Giang Garment Company (Dugaco), Pham Thanh Tung, could not conceal his pride when recalling how his company developed and introduced new products to local consumers. In 2016, Dugaco established a fashion centre with a closed process from designing, making samples and manufacturing to distributing in order to make high-quality, competitively priced and original products. In addition, the company has met the increasingly high demand of consumers with nearly 200 fashion outlets throughout the country featuring a wide variety of products. Last April and June, the company unveiled a chain of suit shops with technology transferred from Sumikin that meets Japanese standards. With its quality and reputation, Dugaco has been selected by many organisations such as the State Treasury, the Hanoi Peoples Court, Vingroup, Agribank and Vietinbank to make their office uniforms. Dugacos goal of generating more than VND500 billion (US$21.5 million) in domestic revenues in 2018 is within reach. For Chien Thang Garment Company, after 20 years of making garment products for foreign brands, the company has now introduced its own fashion brand, Padu, with various products for both men and women, adults and children. For instance, its jackets have the same quality but their prices are just half of those exported to Europe. Besides serving domestic consumers and exports, the Padu brand has demonstrated that Vietnamese garment companies could now become original design manufacturers and supply offerings to foreign brands with its own designs and products to increase the added value. Retail network expansion A number of subsidiaries of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) such as Garment Co 10, Viet Tien and Nha Be have also increased investment and design efforts to introduce their own brands to the market. Recently, Vinatex opened a six-storey fashion centre in Hanoi with a total area of more than 2,500 square metres, featuring products from Vietnams famous brands. After two months, the companys revenues reached VND19 billion. The opening of the Vinatex fashion centre reflects the groups determination to occupy the domestic market. According to the Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association (Vitas), spending on garment products currently accounts for 5-6% of Vietnamese consumers total spending, equivalent to US$3.5-4 billion, indicating that the market holds great potential for domestic enterprises. However, it is currently nearly impossible for domestic companies to raise their market share from 10% to 30% because the market is still flooded with smuggled and counterfeit products, many of which are branded as Vietnamese and designer products to fool consumers. A Garment Co 10 representative stated that the company has opened a range of fashion centres with the principles: European fashion, Japanese technology, US convenience and Vietnamese prices. Besides maintaining more than 200 shops and dealers throughout the country, Garment Co 10 is also upgrading and expanding its fashion centres that cover 200-300 square metres with hundreds of new models to meet consumers demands. Other companies such as Viet Tien, Nha Be and Viet Thang also have their own plans to expand their domestic retail network in order to increase their market shares. According to Vinatex leaders, most companies only focus on developing stores in major towns and cities without adequate attention to the rural market. Therefore, the group has instructed its members to research and create product lines to satisfy the tastes of rural consumers. Despite their strength in making export products and being the worlds third largest garment exporter, Vietnamese garment companies have yet to tap into the domestic market as expected. In order to do so, Vietnamese garment makers need to renovate their management methods and equipment while ensuring the quality and affordable prices of their products. They also need to focus on designs, building brands and expanding the retail network in order to increase their competitiveness and capture the domestic market share. Penn State fraternity pledge Timothy Piazza, 19, died in February 2017 after consuming a dangerous amount of alcohol and suffering fatal injuries when he tumbled down flights of stairs The parents of a Penn State University student who died after drinking 18 alcoholic beverages in just under 90 minutes, as part of a hazing ritual, have settled with the national organization of the fraternity he was pledging, their lawyer said. The amount for which Jim and Evelyn Piazza, the parents of the late 19-year-old Timothy Piazza, settled with Beta Theta Pi is undisclosed, family attorney Thomas Kline added. Piazza, an engineering student from Lebanon, New Jersey, died in hospital on February 4 in 2017 after consuming a dangerous amount of alcohol and suffering fatal injuries when he tumbled down flights of stairs. In a statement released by Beta Theta Pi on September 4, S. Wayne Kay, chairman of the board, said: That the Piazza family has had to endure to loss of their beloved son and brother, Tim, remains one of the greatest disappointments and darkest hours in Betas history. It is heartbreaking and numbing to know our former members let Tim and his family down in such a tragic way. There will never be enough words to describe the pain they feel, and Betas everywhere join with me in expressing our shared anger and sorrow that this could have happened in our Fraternity. In a statement, Beta Theta Pi (frat above) said it was 'heartbreaking and numbing to know our former members let Tim and his family down in such a tragic way' The statement went on: 'Including organizational reforms and monetary measures to support the Piazza family and both their and the Fraternitys efforts to combat hazing, settlement terms focus on Betas historical and future commitment to improving the culture of Greek life across North America.' As part of its 'commitment to cultural change', undergraduate and alumni delegates recently upheld the Fraternity Board of Trustees February 2 policy announcement making all Beta Theta Pi properties substance-free by August 15, 2020. Kline said that with Beta Theta Pi agreeing to a 17-point program that makes chapters safer and penalizes groups for hazing, such reforms would 'help establish a baseline for the new norm' of fraternity life. In this March 23, 2018, file photo, Jim Piazza speaks about the importance of passing anti-hazing legislation named after his son, Timothy Piazza, a Penn State University student who died after a night of hazing and drinking at a fraternity, as his wife Evelyn wraps her arm around him outside of the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa. Piazza had taken part in a series of drinking stations on the night of February 2 last year, as well as at a basement event involving rapid consumption of alcohol. The house's elaborate video security system recorded him stumbling to a couch on the first floor before falling down the steps. He was carried back upstairs and spent the night in evident pain most of it on the couch as fraternity brothers took ineffective and even harmful steps to address his condition. After he was found unconscious in the basement the next morning, it took his friends about 40 minutes to summon an ambulance, and he later died at a hospital. Medical experts say he suffered a fractured skull and shattered spleen, and his blood-alcohol level has been estimated to have peaked at three or four times the legal limit for driving. The Piazzas' attorney, Thomas Kline, said the amount for which the settlement was reached would remain undisclosed Police said the teen was served 18 drinks over 82 minutes before he fell down the basement steps and was later rendered unconscious. Prosecutors have alleged that he was forced to drink copious amounts of alcohol as part of a hazing ritual. About 25 fraternity members have been charged with hazing and other offences three of whom have pleaded guilty. The case heated up earlier this year when prosecutors recovered deleted security camera footage of the pledges giving Timothy his drinks. The discovery of the video led to the last five youths being charged. However none of those charged will likely see jail time after the judge's decision to drop the most serious charges. Many initially faced more serious charges of involuntary manslaughter or aggravated assault but a judge has since dismissed them. Dr Siobhan O'Dwyer, an Australian academic currently working in the UK, took to Twitter on Friday to complain after she was called Miss instead of Doctor on a Qantas flight An academic who slammed Qantas after a flight attendant mistakenly called her Miss instead of Doctor claims she is the victim of 'everyday sexism'. Dr Siobhan O'Dwyer, an Australian academic with a PhD in Philosophy, said the incident would never have happened if she was a man. Reflecting on the incident after her posts went viral last week, Dr O'Dwyer said the public response from her string of tweets had been 'pretty hateful'. 'The vitriol in my feed at the moment is staggering,' she wrote to her 3,300 followers. Dr O'Dwyer defended her post, saying it was not about ego, but rather 'highlighting one of a thousand instances of sexism that women encounter every day'. She doubled down on Wednesday, claiming the incident was an example of 'casual sexism' that 'women encounter every day' Dr O'Dwyer's original tweet accused a Qantas flight attendant of deliberately calling her a Miss after assuming the Doctor on her boarding pass was a typo. 'Hey Qantas, my name is Dr O'Dwyer. My ticket says Dr O'Dwyer. Do not look at my ticket, look at me, look back at my ticket, decide it's a typo and call me Miss O'Dwyer. I did not spend 8 years at university to be called Miss,' she wrote. Her post received nearly 8000 likes and sparked debate about whether Dr O'Dwyer - who works as a lecturer on Ageing and Family Care in the UK - or the flight attendant was in the wrong. Following waves of both criticism and support online, Dr O'Dwyer said she wished the tweet didn't go viral after receiving a 'staggering' amount of hate. She refused requests for comment from media on the basis it could 'provide further opportunities for attack'. 'I did not spend 8 years at university to be called Miss,' Dr O'Dwyer (left) reasoned. In July, she shared a boarding pass labelled Mr, claiming she had been mistaken as a man because of her title Social media users were divided over whether Dr O'Dwyer's apparent snub on the flight was a sign of disrespect or a simple mistake. Fellow academic Dr Mel Thomson tweeted her support, writing: 'You have all of the solidarity on this issue.' Fellow academic Dr Mel Thomson tweeted her support, but was slammed for calling flight attendants 'trolley dolly' 'I'm first gen to finish high school (let alone get several degrees) in my family I'll be damned if some trolley dolly gets to decide what honorific I get called, FFS.' Many people took offence with Dr Thomson's use of the term 'trolley dolly', saying it was disrespectful to women and the profession. 'Please don't refer to us as trolley dollies. We may not have completed a PhD however we are required by law 2 maintain quals (sic) that enable us to evacuate an aircraft in 90 secs, keep u alive in-flight, prevent hijacking, put out fires etc,' an airline steward using the Twitter handle Belleo tweeted. 'I have always used the correct honorific. And I have always been especially careful to ensure I used it when I saw it on a woman's boarding pass as I was proud to be able to support the woman and her achievements in a male-centric world,' she continued. 'You've just gone and sh*t on that with your condescending comment about us.' Dr O'Dwyer (pictured) hit back at the 'vitriol' in her Twitter feed after she slammed airline Qantas for misrepresenting her as 'Miss' instead of 'Doctor' British man Tim Almond said he had two friends with doctorates who refused to use their correct title outside of professional conferences. 'You're asking for trouble on an aircraft. A passenger gets stuck and they'll ask you for help,' he tweeted. Qantas said they stood by the professionalism of their cabin crew. 'We are extremely proud of our cabin crew who respectfully serve our customers day in and day out and play a vital safety role,' a Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 'Please don't refer to us as trolley dollies' an airline steward using the Twitter handle Belleo tweeted After her tweet went viral, Dr O'Dwyer took to social media to say she had been 'copping so much flak' for the post. 'This was not about my ego. It was about highlighting one of a thousand instances of sexism that women encounter every day. Its not about the title, its about the fact that this wouldnt have happened if I was a man,' she wrote. Twitter users were divided over Dr O'Dwyer's reasoning, with some accusing her of making a big deal out of nothing and others agreeing it was a case of sexism. 'Your tweet is exactly about ego. How many male doctors write tweets to Qantas complaining they get called Mr & not Dr ? If they did, they would cop exactly same the responses as you,' one man wrote. 'Why dont the trolls understand that its about equality?,' argued another. Dr O'Dwyer took to social media to say she had been 'copping so much flak' for the post A senior police detective who was tasked with investigating the horrific 1976 Kingsmill massacre apologised for failing to bring the victims' families justice, blaming two failures to identify evidence on 'system and human error'. Ten workmen were murdered in a mass shooting in south Armagh, Northern Ireland on January 5 1976 in an atrocity attributed to the Provisional IRA. The victims were lined up on a country road and asked their religion before they were executed while an eleventh man survived despite being shot 18 times. A palm print was recovered from a van which police believe was used by the gunmen in 1976. It was not successfully matched until 2016. This was where ten Protestant workmen were lined up and shot in an attack blamed on the IRA. No one has ever been convicted over the murders The palm print had been taken from the van by police forensic officers, and attempts were made to match it using police database systems in 2010 and 2014, but these were unsuccessful. Giving evidence to an inquest into the atrocity, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison put this down to 'system and human error'. DCI Harrison told an inquest sitting in Belfast it was a 'horrendous situation' for the bereaved families. 'I sit here with remorse today that my investigation has not given the families the justice they deserve,' he said. 'If I could change the situation I would.' Mr Harrison was tasked with leading a fresh investigation into the atrocity in 2016 after the palm print, found in a van police believe was used by the murderers, was successfully matched. The man who was arrested, referred to in court as S54, was asked to account for how his palm print was found in the van. He made no comment during police interviews. The inquest also heard the suspect was described in police intelligence report as 'dangerous'. 'An old school, very dangerous terrorist who would be familiar with police procedures. He should be treated with caution,' the inquest heard. But in February 2017 Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service announced it would not be pursuing a case against the man due to insufficient evidence. Mr Harrison read a section of the report he submitted to the PPS to the inquest. It revealed some difficulty proving whether the van had been used by the gunmen, due to a lack of witnesses and a lack of firearms residue inside the van, which was likely to have transported 11 heavily armed men thought to have fired more than 100 rounds at the scene. Mr Harrison said he believes it is 'more likely than not' the van was the one used by the terrorists, but there are no witness accounts that can place it at the scene. There is also a lack of certainty over how the palm print came to be in the van. The men who died were John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Reginald Chapman, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Samuel Walker and Kenneth Worton Mr Harrison added: 'We were not able to discount that the palm print had been placed there innocently.' The textile workers were shot when their minibus was ambushed outside the village of Kingsmill on their way home from work. The only Catholic on board was ordered to run away. No-one has ever been convicted of the murders, which have been widely blamed on the IRA, even though the organisation never admitted responsibility. Alan Black, who suffered 18 gunshot wounds and was the sole survivor of the atrocity, was in the public gallery with a number of the families of the 10 who were killed. The hearing continues. Talented linguist Emma Galton was killed in a hit-and-run incident as she crossed the road in Hulme, Manchester, on June 28 A grieving father told a hit-and-run motorist he was a coward for speeding away after he drove through a red light and mowed down his 24-year-old daughter. David Galton condemned Laurence Crossan, who ploughed into his eldest child Emma just seconds after she stepped onto the road at a pelican crossing in Hulme, Manchester, in June. Miss Galton, a 'talented' translator, suffered multiple injuries in the collision, and was pronounced dead at hospital shortly after arrival. On Wednesday September 5, Crossan, 28, was jailed for seven years and four months after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing death by dangerous driving and a separate count of dangerous driving immediately after the fatal collision. Before he was sentenced, Miss Galtons father, David, read his victim personal statement from the witness box. Turning to Crossan, who sat slouched in his chair in the dock for most of the hearing, Mr Galton said: 'As a result of your selfish and reckless actions, our family has been changed irrevocably. 'The fact that upon hitting Emma you carried on without slowing down, let alone stopping, would indicate great cowardice and concern only for your own welfare. Her father, David Galton, described how her untimely death had left a 'huge hole' in the lives of her family members and called Crossan 'selfish' and 'reckless' 'We have had to come to terms with each other's grieving and now whenever we cross the road at a crossing we are fearful and expect to be run over. I hope other families do not have to go through what you have made us go through. 'I very much hope that other families do not have to be put through what you have made us go through.' He added: 'Our much-loved Emmas untimely death has left a huge hole in our lives. Initially we felt huge shock and disbelief, and an immediate sense of she has gone, help, what do we now. Laurence Crossan, 28, mounted the pavement and crossed a grassed area and cycle lane shortly before he hit Miss Galton 'The shock and disbelief has been replaced by a slow acceptance of the situation, leaving us with a big hole that will never go away.' At around 9.25pm on June 28, Crossan's silver Ford Mondeo mounted two pavements and crossed a grassed area and cycle lane to emerge from a side street on to the busy Chester Road. In what a judge described as 'simply appalling driving', Manchester Crown Court then heard how the defendant had 'forced' his way into the traffic and caused another vehicle to swerve. CCTV footage of the incident then showed the Mondeo not slowing down or braking before it collided with Miss Galton. It was estimated Crossan was travelling between 34 and 42mph in the 30mph zone. Crossan then accelerated from the scene as he overtook vehicles on the near side, drove through another red light and caused pedestrians to step off the road to safety. The defendant abandoned his vehicle near his girlfriends house in Reddish, Stockport, where his trainers were later found with the Mondeo key inside. Crossan drove off and went through a red light after hitting Miss Galton in the silver Ford Mondeo before he abandoned the car near his girlfriend's house in Reddish, Stockport Glass fragments from the car where the windscreen was shattered on impact was also found on his T-shirt. Crossan handed himself in three days later but gave no comment in police interview. Miss Galton, originally from Bristol, had been working as a Spanish translator in Sale, Manchester, following graduation from Chester University, and was planning to go on and teach English to children in Spain. Chester University is planning to name a bursary award in honour of her support work for students, the court heard. Miss Charlotte Crangle prosecuting said: 'The vehicle drove over a pavement and grassy area on a cycle lane before forcing its way into Chester Road. A Mini Cooper had to swerve to avoid a collision. 'When the Mondeo joined Chester Road, the car accelerated with no braking or slowing down towards the crossing where Emma was. At this time Emma had been in the road for three seconds when the defendants car collided with her. Her body was projected into the air and along the road coming to rest 26.5m from the impact. Chester University have said that they are planning to name a bursary award in honour of Miss Galton's support work for students 'Other drivers and members of the public began to cordon off the area with wheelie bins and rushed to the assistance of Emma. But it was clear she had been badly injured. All efforts made to help her failed.' Patrick Buckley, defending, said the defendant had had a row with his girlfriend prior to the collision and then had 'driven in a way he had never driven before'. The Recorder of Manchester, Judge David Stockdale QC, accepted that Crossan - who has a previous conviction for possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply - had shown genuine remorse, but said he had not given a satisfactory explanation for his 'bizarre' driving. 'You have said that you were fearful of a police car that had passed by but there must be a suspicion reinforced by your criminal record that you were intoxicated by drink or drugs - although I must emphasise that is only a suspicion and there is no evidence,' he said. 'Your driving was simply appalling, It caused the utterly needless death of a talented young woman.' Crossan, of no fixed abode, will also be banned from driving for five years on release from custody and must pass an extended test. The Cincinnati cop who tasered an 11-year-old girl accused of shoplifting reportedly told the girl 'You know, sweetheart, this is why there's no grocery stores in the black community.' Officer Kevin Brown was placed on restricted duties after he tasered a fleeing Donesha Gowdy on August 6. His body camera captured the young girl crying as the taser barbs were removed from her back, before he made the racist comment. Brown was placed on restricted duties following the incident on August 6, and Police Chief Eliot Isaac must now decide on his punishment which could range from counseling to firing him. Officer Kevin Brown who tasered 11-year-old Donesha Gowdy accused of shoplifting reportedly told the girl 'You know, sweetheart, this is why there's no grocery stores in the black community' (pictured, the bodycam video from the officer, after taking Donesha into the back office) Donesha Gowdy, 11, (pictured) was tasered in the back by an off-duty cop who also made a racist comment to her Issac also acknowledged to Cincinnati.com that Brown's use of a taser was 'unnecessary in this circumstance'. A report also found that he had also violated another three police policies; that he did not turn on his body camera until after he deployed his Taser, he did not warn her he was going to use his Taser and that his comment had constituted prejudice. Brown reportedly tried to defend his comment during his police interview. Shockingly, Cincinnati Police Union President Dan Hils also defended the prejudiced comment. 'I think the officer was trying to express to this juvenile suspect that there are consequences, not only to herself, but to others when you don't respect the property rights of another,' Hils said. Hils added that grocery stores struggled in areas where there are high incidences of theft and said he felt that people were rushing to judge Brown. A department hearing is pending for Brown regarding the four violations. His failure to turn on his body camera is considered neglect of duty, while the rest are considered failures of good behavior. Cincinnati police said that an officer used the taser around 9.30pm on Monday at a local Kroger in Spring Grove Village Her mom, Donna Gowdy, acknowledges her daughter should not have been stealing candy, but was horrified an officer would use such extreme force against a fleeing 11-year-old Isaac will also take into account the fact that Brown has a prior record of making discriminatory comments while on duty. Two years ago he was written up for using a homophobic slur while responding to an alleged domestic violence victim. The Cincinnati Police Department's regulations manual a one to five day suspension in this case, while a seven-11 day suspension is recommended for excessive force. But local councilman, Wendell Young, a former police officer, is calling for Brown to be terminated after the incident. 'I just don't know if you have room on the police department for people like this,' he said. 'This guy, from what I am hearing, has serious issues. He apparently polices the way he feels.' 'There comes a time you have to cut your losses. If it's true he tasered the little girl, if it's true that he said what he's reported to say, if it's also true that not terribly long ago he made derogatory comments about the gay community, he's building a case that makes it difficult for us to continue with him as a member of the police department.' Cincinnati police said that the incident occurred around 9.30pm on Monday August 6, at a Kroger in Spring Grove Village. Officials said that anyone over the age of seven can have a taser used on them (stock) The police said that the pre-teen was suspected of shoplifting, placing a lot of food into her backpack, WLWT reports. 'There needs to be a complete investigation,' said Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman at the time, according to Cincinnati.com. 'It's hard to understand why an 11-year-old would be tased. I expect answers in 24 hours.' Taser guidelines state that they can be used on anyone who is over the age of seven, according to Lt. Steve Saunders. But they are to be used 'for self-defense or to temporarily immobilize a subject who is actively resisting arrest.' Brown said he had seen the girl try to leave the store through a locked entrance before heading towards the main exit, when he told her to stop and show her a receipt. He said she ignored him, despite two more demands to stop, and left the store, which is when he fired his Taser from 10 ft away, hitting her just below the waist. She collapsed, suffering an abrasion to her right forearm, and had to have the Taser barbs removed from her back. 'It hit my back real fast and then I stopped, then I fell and I was shaking and I couldn't really breathe,' the youngster told NBC News. Cincinnati's vice mayor Chris Smitherman (left) has since put forward a proposal (right) to raise the minimum age for stun gun use from 7 to 12 years old 'It's just like you're passing out but you're shaking.' Her mom, Donna Gowdy, acknowledges her daughter should not have been stealing candy, but was horrified an officer would use such extreme force against a fleeing 11-year-old. She said that the cop had no idea whether her daughter had a condition, such as asthma, which could caused a serious medical reaction to being tasered. 'I'm upset, I'm really upset about it,' Gowdy told WLWT. 'The officer, he needs to be punished. I need justice from him. He was wrong.' 'I'm not saying what she did was cool, I'm not saying that, but what he did was totally wrong,' she added. As he walked her to the store back office, he made the racist comment about black neighborhoods, and told her that he 'didn't want to do this.' 'Sweetheart, the last thing I want to do is tase you like that. When I say stop, you stop. You know you're caught. Just stop. That hurt my heart to do that to you.' The terrified young girl was crying as she waited for the all male team of EMTs to remove the barbs. The 11-year-old child was charged with theft and obstruction of justice, police stated. The charges have since been dropped. She was taken to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and then given to the care of a guardian. Her backpack was found to contain clothing, food and drinks worth $53.81. Donesha says she was dared by other kids to steal soda, chips and candy from the Kroger in Spring Grove Village. She admits she put the items in her backpack, and didn't respond when the security guard yelled at her to stop, 'because I was scared.' The police department is now doing a review of the use of force policy for taser use which currently allows officers to use it only ages 7 to 70. 'We'll take a close look as it relates to juveniles specifically what's being done out there nationally,' Isaac said, adding that it can be difficult in the moment to determine a suspect's age. Smitherman has called for it to be raised. 'It concerned me,' he said. A husband has been charged with murder after his wife's body was dug up in the backyard of their family home. The 36-year-old man is accused of killing Fahima Yusuf, 32, whose remains were found by police on Wednesday afternoon. Officers made the grim discovery at the home in Carlisle, in Perth's south, just metres from children's toys. The body of 32-year-old Fahima Yusuf (pictured) was discovered buried in the backyard of her home in Perth's south on Wednesday. Her husband has been charged with her murder Police had spent the day digging in the backyard of the Carlisle property while investigating the suspicious disappearance of Ms Yusuf Piles of soil were dug up in the backyard as part of the extensive police investigation Police had spent the day at the Weston Street property while they were investigating the disappearance of Ms Yusuf, which had been treated as suspicious. She had reportedly not been seen since Friday afternoon. Officers had initially gone to the home as part of a welfare check, with homicide detectives and forensics then called in. Piles of soil were dug up in the backyard as part of the extensive police investigation, before Ms Yusuf's body was retrieved. Neighbours told media the house was home to a couple and two young children. The man, who was refused bail, is expected to face the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday. A mother told how a psychic predicted her daughter would die and her body would be left 'in a mess' a year before she was bludgeoned to death by her boyfriend. Sadistic killer Dean Lowe chopped up Kirby Noden's body after beating her with a rock and metal pole, then put her remains in a bin and flushed them down the toilet. Lowe, who was jailed for 28 years for the killing in January, spent four months living in the blood soaked flat in Marazion, west Cornwall before confessing. But months earlier Ms Noden's mother Anita had her palm read while on holiday when she was given the haunting prediction. Anita Noden, holding a photo of her daughter, told how a psychic predicted her brutal killing Ms Noden, of Winsford, Cheshire, said: 'He looked at my palm and asked me who was the girl who had five children. 'I said that was Kirby, she had three children and lost two. 'He said he saw prison bars and somebody behind them for a long time. 'He said 'I'm sorry to tell you this but her body is in a mess.' 'I thought the bars were for Dean, that he would get done for drugs. But I never thought he'd be put behind them for killing my girl.' Lowe, who was jailed for 28 years for the killing in January, spent four months living in the blood soaked flat in Marazion, west Cornwall before confessing. Exeter Crown Court heard how Lowe killed mother of three Kirby with a rock that was left smashed in five pieces and a metal pole with three protruding screws which he 'used to finish her off'. The judge said no-one knew whether he killed her in one continuous attack 'whether it was the work of minutes, or of hours, even days, for long long she was conscious with blows raining down on her'. After he had disposed of her body he waited four months before sending Facebook messages to his family members. He admitted to police when they came to the flat that he 'must have killed her and cut her up' adding: 'He also said he had made a necklace out of Kirby's teeth.' Police built a case against Lowe based on the amount of blood found in the flat and on his lover's jumper But when Lowe have evidence during the three week trial, he claimed she is alive and living in South Africa working as a missionary. He claimed to have had a call from her while on remand in Exeter jail saying she told him: 'You've got life in jail and I've got a new life out here.' Speaking about the day her precious daughter was murdered Ms Noden told the Daily Mirror: 'I'm plagued by thoughts of what happened that night. 'I hope the first blow with the rock killed her.' She also told the publication how she had a string of Facebook messages from Lowe to his cousin revealed what he had done. Police documents show the location of the flat, near St Michael's Mount in southern Cornwall One read: 'Facts are this: there was a body looking like Kirby on my floor was there for days not just an overnight dream was still there day after day. 'I cut it up and put it in the bin and flushed fat and guts down the toilet. The blood is still there now and the pool of matter is still stained on the floor.' Lowe included photos, one of them showing a blood-spattered ceiling. Ms Noden added: 'When police called to his house that night he apparently said 'I thought you'd have come before now with all the meat in the bins.' 'How he didn't block the toilet flushing her down the toilet is beyond me. 'Police came down to me on the Friday night and took DNA from me and Kirby's children. Kirby, pictured, was described by her mother as a 'lovely, happy-go-lucky child. Everyone loved her' 'Kirby's blood was all over the house in Cornwall. 'A police family liaison officer called us that night and told us that the amount of blood they found at Kirby's house was either life-threatening or life-ending. 'From what we can see it's life-ending', he said. 'I passed the phone to Kirby's sister Vicky. I couldn't listen to anymore. My heart just broke. I couldn't stop crying. 'I was suicidal. All I wanted was my girl back. But I had to keep going for Kirby's children and my friends kept me strong. Paying tribute to her daughter, she said: 'Kirby was a lovely, happy-go-lucky child. Everyone loved her. 'She had a great imagination and she was artistic and loving. She always had a big smile.' She also blasted his 28 year sentence saying: 'As far as I'm concerned he should have swung from the end of a rope, but then that would be too easy, not like how he made it for our girl. 'I hate him with a passion. We're all absolutely devastated. She was so loved by her family and her friends.' Neil Hedworth, 48, was headteacher at Woodfield Community School. The school was described as 'deeply saddened' following his death in April and dozens of tributes were sent to his family A headteacher and church organist who wanted to 'bring out the best' in children took his own life, an inquest has ruled. Neil Hedworth, 48 and from Darlington, had been suffering from 'chronic pain' and 'dealing with unhappiness with his relationship' when he overdosed on prescription drugs in April. He had been given the drugs by a doctor to treat an existing illness - something which was causing him 'a lot of pain'. The inquest, held at County Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court in Crook, revealed that Mr Hedworth's family had become concerned about the headteacher's welfare after not hearing from him for two days. At the time Mr Hedworth, who worked at Woodfield Community Primary School in Harrogate, had been struggling with depression. The headteacher, who suffered from a rare movement disorder known as myoclonic dystonia syndrome, was also trying to cope with the recent separation from his wife. A post mortem report found the level of the prescription drug in his system 'could have posed a serious risk of toxicity consistent with a fatal dose', as reported by The Northern Echo. Mr Hedworth was headteacher at Woodfield Community Primary School (pictured) at the time of his death. He was also director of music at the local St Cuthbert's Church The father-of-two's death was met with an outpouring of support from the local community and school. Graham Hyde, chair of governors at Woodfield Community Primary, said how the whole school had been 'deeply saddened' by the death. He said at the time: 'Woodfield is stunned by this news but the tributes and kind messages for Neil is overwhelming.' Annette and Colin, Mr Hedworth's parents, also noted the how comforting the community had been following the tragic death. Colin Hedworth said: 'He had a favourite saying and that was that he tried to be the best that he could be. 'That's what he tried to instil in the children, he cared about their education and always wanted to bring out the best in them.' Concluding the inquest coroner Jeremy Chipperfield, who was sitting at County Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court, said that the 'evidence creates a clear picture'. He said: 'He was undoubtedly dealing with unhappiness with his relationship and chronic pain.' A tree was recently planted in memory of Mr Hedworth at Woodfield Community Primary School. Following his retirement after a long tenure in the U.S. Senate in 2013, Jon Kyl expressly ruled out running for a seat in the venerable legislative body in the future. But following the passing of fellow Arizonan and U.S. Senator John McCain, Kyl will indeed be heading back to the Senate in a way he likely never imagined. The former Senator was tapped by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on September 4 to fill the Senate seat left vacant by McCains passing until January 2019. The appointment comes at a critical time in the Senate as the contentious hearings for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court have recently gotten underway. Former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl accepted his appointment at a September 4 press conference Who is Jon Kyl? Jon Kyl is an attorney and politician designated to serve in the United States Senate starting later in September 2018 following the death of Senator John McCain on August 25, 2018. Kyl had previously served as a U.S. Senator for Arizona from 1995 to 2013. He was born in Oakland, Nebraska on April 25, 1942. The son of former U.S. Representative John Henry Kyl, he attended the University of Arizona and graduated in 1964, later earning a law degree from the college in 1966. After working as a lawyer and lobbyist in Phoenix, Arizona, he was later elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving there starting in 1987 until being elected to the United States Senate in 1994 and joining the chamber officially the following year. In the Senate, he formed a close relationship with fellow Arizona Senator John McCain and ultimately rose to the position of Minority Whip in December 2007, making him one of the most influential Republican Senators in Washington, D.C. On Capitol Hill, he advocated strongly for tougher crime laws, lower taxes and a conservative foreign policy. Kyl retired from the Senate in January 2013, ruling out a run for political office in the future except if offered the role of Vice President. However, following the passing of Senator John McCain in August 2018, he was tapped by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to return to the Senate to fill McCains vacant Senate seat until January 2019. Kyl, seen in his December 2011 file photo, served with McCain in the Senate from 1995 to 2013 Who is Jon Kyls wife? Jon Kyls wife is Caryll Collins. The couple have two children together, John and Kristine. Jon Kyl and Donald Trump Kyl has a complex view of U.S. President Donald Trump, criticizing him in the past but also receiving praise from him as of late. In a February 2018 interview with the Phoenix radio station KJZZ, Kyl expressed criticism at the Presidents boorish style and believed he could be a more effective leader if he acted more diplomatic. I dont like his style. Much of it is boorish. I think hes his own worst enemy, Kyl said. Jon Kyl has advised Brett Kavanaugh, center left, during his U.S. Supreme Court nomination He also took what many interpreted as a veiled swipe at Trump at John McCains memorial service at the Arizona State Capitol, alluding to the Presidents close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. When others were looking into Vladimir Putins eyes, with an eye of understanding him and reaching accommodation with him, John, of course, said: I looked into his eyes and saw KGB, he said, referring to Putins tenure in the now-defunct Soviet Union security agency. However, he later struck a more friendly tone towards Trump, appearing to compare him implicitly to the late John McCain. I think sometimes, his desire to jump into the middle of a fight or maybe even create a fight by the way, that reminds me of somebody but sometimes, that can be detrimental to what hes trying to achieve. Thats what I said, and I stand by that comment, Kyl said when questioned about his previous criticism of the President. Trump, on his part, praised his appointment as McCains successor, hailing him as an extraordinary Senator. Jon Kyl and John McCain Kyl reportedly had a close relationship with John McCain, having served with him in the United States Senate from 1995 until his retirement in 2013. Following McCains death from brain cancer, Kyl was tapped by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on September 4, 2018 to serve in the late Senators vacant U.S. Senate seat until the end of the 115th Congress on January 3, 2019. At a press conference accepting the appointment, Kyl stated that he would not run for the remainder of the term in a special election scheduled for November 2020. Instead, Ducey would appoint someone else to fulfill the final two years of the U.S. Senate term before another election will be held in November 2022, which wouldve been McCains regularly scheduled reelection contest. The seating of Kyl for his second stint in the Senate will likely occur before a vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Notably, the Senator has helped Kavanaugh navigate the contentious nomination process in the Senate so far, giving him a chance to personally vote on his nomination. Kyls appointment also drew a positive reaction from the late McCains wife Cindy McCain and Senator Jeff Flake, Arizonas other U.S. Senator who succeeded Kyl upon his retirement in 2013. Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and Johns. Its a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona. Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 4, 2018 A Washington man was arrested for animal cruelty after a woman claimed that he sexually assaulted a beaver in a park on Monday night. Whitney Nycole explained on Facebook that she had stumbled upon the beaver while driving through Columbia Park, in Kennewick. 'I flipped him over so he would walk but his leg is broken,' Nycole explained on Facebook. 'I got him on to a towel that I had in my car and dragged him on it til I got him closer to the pond and out of the way of traffic.' Whitney Nycole explained on Facebook that she had stumbled upon the beaver while driving through Columbia Park in Kennewick Nycole rushed home to find a box so that she could take the animal to a local veterinarian, Kenniwick Sergeant Aaron Clem explained to the Tri-City Herald. When the woman returned, she found a man lying next to the beaver and believed that he was helping the critter. But soon to her horror, Nycole realized that the man was partially clothed with his pants unzipped. When the woman returned (pictured), she found a man lying next to the beaver and believed that he was helping the critter. She would soon learn that the man had his pants unzipped Richard Delp, 35, was arrested at the scene and charged with animal cruelty. The beaver died by the time police arrived at the scene By the time police arrived on the scene, the beaver was already dead. It is unknown if it was still alive at the time of the abuse. Nycole also confirmed that the beaver had died. Richard Delp, 35, was arrested at the scene and charged with animal cruelty. The man was also in possession of methamphetamine at the scene and was charged with possession. On Facebook, Nycole claimed that the man was homeless. The statement was made by President of the Lao Front for National Development (LFND) Saysomphone Phomvihane while he was received by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi on September 4. Congratulating Vietnam on its socio-economic development achievements, the LFND President expressed his belief that under the leadership of the CPV, the Vietnamese people will continue to reap further achievements during the Doi moi (Renewal) process. He took the occasion to show his gratitude for Vietnams support for Laos, most recently in its relief aid for people affected by a dam collapse in southern Laos. He also informed the host about the outcomes of his talks with head of the CPV Central Committees Commission on Mass Mobilisation Truong Thi Mai and affirmed that the two sides will maintain close collaboration in realising signed cooperation agreements. The Vietnamese Party chief said he is delighted at the wide-ranging development of Vietnam-Laos special relations across all fields, with the important contributions by the LFND. He expressed his sympathy over the terrible human and asset losses caused by the dam collapse in Attapeu province, believing that under the leadership of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party, those affected will soon be able to overcome its consequences, stabilise their lives, and resume production. The leader appreciated the cooperation results between the CPV Central Committees Mass Mobilisation Commission and the LFND, stressing the importance of mass mobilisation work at present. He showed his hope that the two sides will step up the sharing of experience in each partys mass mobilisation work, as well as personnel training and cooperation in educating the people, especially younger generations, on the two countries special relations. Earlier in the day, the Lao guest held talks with head of the CPV Central Committees Mass Mobilisation Commission Truong Thi Mai. They agreed to cooperate in implementing agreements signed by the two Parties leaders as well as the 2016-2020 cooperation agreement between the two agencies. A plane arriving from Africa was evacuated at a major airport in the South of France today following warnings that a child on board was carrying Cholera. The emergency alert took place in Perpignan, and involved an ASL Airlines flight from Oran, the port city in Algeria. 'There was a fear for the health of the child, who was evacuated to the city hospital for examination,' said airport spokesman Denis Leluc. 'There were 147 other passengers, as well as crew, and all of them were warned about the dangers of Cholera. The eight-year-old child is still undergoing tests.' An ASL Airlines flight arriving from Africa was evacuated at a major airport in the South of France (pictured) A spokesman for the prefecture covering Perpignan said the Boeing 737 landed at 13.45 on Wednesday, and that the child was rushed away by waiting emergency services staff. Others were made to wash their hands with disinfectant, and all their details were taken for future monitoring. 'The warning had come from the medical authorities in Algiers,' said the source, referring to the capital of Algeria. Perpignan is on the Mediterranean coast and close to the French border in an area packed with holidaymakers at this time of year, including many from Britain. There was a fatal outbreak of Cholera in Algeria that killed two in early August, but the country's health minister Mokhtar Hasellaoui said it was 'now under control'. The disease is an infection of the small intestine by strains of the Vibrio Cholerae bacterium. It causes up to 130,000 deaths a year - mainly in Africa and South East Asia. The child in question was removed from the flight at Perpignan airport and taken away for treatment [file photo] Unsafe water and food contaminated with human faeces is the main cause of it spreading, along with undercooked seafood. Cholera is relatively easy to treat through rehydration, but it can kill in a few hours if symptoms are ignored. It is comparatively rare in developed countries, including those in the European Union, because of good water sanitation and effective treatments. There were frequent outbreaks in Britain during the Nineteenth Century, when sailors arriving from Africa and India imported the so-called 'Blue Death'. A 64-year-old Maryland woman was mauled to death by the pit bull she had adopted from out of state just weeks earlier. Robin Conway was found in her backyard on Monday night with 'significant injuries', a statement from the Howard County Police said. A family member, who CBS reports is Conway's husband, called emergency services about 7.20pm after finding Robin's body with the dog standing over it. Robin Conway, 64, was mauled to death by a pit bull she'd rescued from interstate two weeks ago Her husband found her body in their back yard, with the dog still standing over her After making the 911 call, he tied the dog to a fence so it was secured, but police say the pit bull had not calmed, and was 'barking and lunging on the leash' when first responders arrived. The dog was subdued by animal control, and later put down. Conway's sister, Susan Eve LeClair, told WBALTV the 64-year-old had prior experience with pit bulls, and loved helping animals. 'This is one animal she thought she could save. An animal that needed to be rescued,' she said. Conway (left) loved animals and was happy to have rescued the dog that took her life, her sister Susan (right) said '[That] animal unfortunately killed her.' Conway was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy will be conducted to determine her official cause of death. Police say her dog will undergo a necropsy to determine if it had rabies or any other medical issue. LeClair told FOX her sister loved to help animals, and was a caring person. 'When we went to make service arrangements, the person said, "wow, she had hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of friends",' she said. 'Robin gave her time and gave herself to the animals. She was wonderful.' The 64-year-old was remembered on social media as a great neighbor with a generous heart, who brought 'love, creativity and compassion to all things'. Republican Senator Marco Rubio was in a heated clash with Inforwars' Alex Jones and threatened to 'take care of you myself' after the conservative commentator crashed his TV interview to question him on social media bias against conservatives. Rubio had stepped outside of Wednesday's Senate Intelligence Committee where executives from Facebook and Twitter were testifying about their companies' responsibility against fake accounts and perceived bias on their platforms. The Republican senator from Florida was talking to a reporter from CNBC when Jones, a radio host who promotes conspiracy theories and has been banned from multiple social media platforms, confronted the lawmaker. Sen. Marco Rubio and Inforwars' Alex Jones had an extraordinary confrontation in a Senate hallway At one point, Jones touched Rubio's shoulder 'Get your hand off me,' Rubio said. 'I'll take care of you myself' Jones interrupted Rubio's interview to ask him about social media bias against conservatives Several social media users posted video of exchange, which happened in the hallway of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Rubio later chastised the media for giving Jones so much attention, saying: 'You give these guys way too much attention. I mean were making crazy people superstars so youre going to get crazier people.' The extraordinary back-and-forth showed Jones getting into Rubio's space, touching him at one point, which led the senator to threaten him back. The two men also exchanged in name calling showdown with Jones calling Rubio a 'snake' and a 'frat boy' while Rubio referred to Jones as a 'clown.' Jones walked up to Rubio mid-interview to ask about social media companies bias against conservatives, an issue he has repeatedly promoted and President Donald Trump has tweeted about. Rubio initially brushed him off, saying: 'My broader concerns is about what foreign governments are trying to do in elections.' Jones pressed his case while Rubio continued to speak to the CNBC reporter. 'He's not answering,' Jones said of the senator. 'He's a weird one,' Rubio muttered. Then he said he didn't know who Jones was. 'Is that a heckler? I don't know who you are man. I don't know your website.' Jones snapped back: 'That's why you didn't get elected. You're snake-like. Marco Rubio is a snake. A little frat boy there.' 'Alright man, who are you? I swear to God, I don't know who you are,' Rubio responded. 'Info wars,' a reporter tells Rubio of Jones and his website. Jones jumped in: 'He knows who Infowars is.' He then pats Rubio on the shoulder. Rubio flinches. 'Get your hand off. Don't touch me again man. I'm asking you not to touch me.' 'I just patted you nicely,' Jones said and then asked if Rubio was going to have him arrested. Rubio said he'd take care of Jones himself. 'I don't know who you are man. You're not going to arrested. You're not going to get arrested. I'll take care of you myself,' he said. Jones responded: 'Oh he'll beat me up.' 'I didn't say that.' Rubio laughs. 'You're not going to silence me,' Jones said 'You are literally like a gangster thug. Rubio just literally threatened to take care of me.' Rubio concluded talking to reporters and said he had to return to the hearing, adding: 'You guys can talk to this clown.' 'Go back to your bathhouse,' Jones yelled after him. Reached a few hours after the confrontation, Rubio told DailyMail.com he didn't recognize Jones. 'I think hes just a scummy guy I dont know anything else about him other than what I read in the press,' Rubio said. 'Ive never been on his web site. I didnt know what he looked like other than I know the name Ive heard people talk about it.' Rubio downplayed the physical aspect of the incident, and said he wasn't threatening to fight Jones. 'He touched me and I just asked him not to do it, thats all. Thats it. I just asked him not to touch me. He didnt do it again.' Then Rubio took a shot at the press, who filmed the bizarre encounter and by covering the spot gave Jones a platform, even as he got banned from social media sites. 'You give these guys way too much attention. I mean were making crazy people superstars so youre going to get crazier people,' Rubio warned. Google, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple banned Jones from their platforms. Earlier in August, Twitter banned Jones and his website Infowars from tweeting for seven days, saying their tweets violated companys rules against abusive behavior. Jones, an avid Trump supporter, appealed directly to the president to put an end to 'censorship' after his content was pulled. Since then, Trump has tweeted multiple times about the issue, including on August 18 when he accused social media of 'totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices' and vowing: 'We won't let that happen.' Trump charged social media companies with 'trying to silence conservatives.' Rubio said he didn't know who Jones was The exchange featured Rubio and Jones calling each other names Donald Trump claims that social media companies are 'trying to silence conservatives,' Jones had been in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, sitting in the front row 'I think that Google, and Facebook and Twitter, I think they treat conservatives and Republicans very unfairly,' he told reporters in August. Jones had been in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, sitting in the front row as Facebook Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey faced questioning from senators concerned about an outside meddling in the upcoming midterm election. Rubio sits on the committee. The Florida Senator has a security detail with him on Capitol Hill after concerns Diosdado Cabello, the influential former military chief in Venezuela, may have put out a hit order on Rubio, the Miami Herald reported. Rubio has frequently attacked Cabello, calling him 'the Pablo Escobar of Venezuela.' Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the affair that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, a documentary is set to reveal new accuser interviews and explosive never-before-seen footage. The three-part, six hour docuseries by A&E and Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions will delve into former White House intern Monica Lewinsky's affair with the then-sitting president that led to congressional action, including brand new interviews with Lewinsky herself, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The documentary will also contain never before seen footage of Bill with Monica, and is still being produced with the working title of The Impeachment of Bill Clinton. A&E's VP and head of programming, Elaine Frontain Bryant, is calling the mini-series 'a real-life political thriller and the most in-depth and intimate account of how one of the biggest scandals in our nation's history unfolded, forever changing the landscape of American politics.' Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky pose for a photo in the Oval Office. Lewinsky will open up about her affair with the president and how her world was turned inside out by the impeachment proceedings Then and now: December 1998 Clinton addresses the nation on bombing in Iraq and 20-years-later in 2018 at the So the World May Hear Awards Gala Lewinsky, whose world was turned inside out by the only second impeachment ever which was executed by special investigator Kenneth Starr, has remained relatively quiet on the topic that changed the entire trajectory of her life. She penned an article for Vanity Fair in light of the #MeToo movement which has reinvigorated interest in her affair as a White House intern with arguably the most powerful man in the world at the time. Other Clinton accusers are also interviewed in the series including Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick. Broaddrick alleged Clinton raped her in 1978. THR reports they have obtained an episode from the series that begins airing November 18, in which Lewinsky opens up candidly about being betrayed by her friend Linda Tripp who secretly recorded their conversations. Lewinsky, now 45, also opened up about being in love with Clinton, and how his personal secretary, Betty Currie, would assist in arranging their meet-ups. Left to right, Clinton accusers Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick also granted interviews to the A&E docuseries Bill, Hillary and Linda Tripp (left with her former friend Monica) did not grant interviews for the series She also talks about the infamous blue Gap dress she wore after a sexual encounter with Clinton and that she wore it out to dinner the same evening, where she says none of her friends commented that she had 'stuff' all over her dress. Series director Blair Foster says by the time the show airs she would have conducted at least 60 interviews, including ones with those close to the Clintons such as lawyers Jane Sherburne and David Kendall. Foster says while it is unlikely they will ultimately get Bill and Hillary to do an interview for the piece, 'They're certainly aware of the project.' She also says Tripp has turned down an interview request multiple times. 'My goal for this series was to do a deep dive into the facts and speak to as many people as possible who were involved,' says Foster. 'The deeper I got the clearer it became that this series is as much about the present day as it is about the 1990s.' The body of a third victim from the horrifying Labor Day Weekend crash on the Colorado River in California has been found. Divers located the body of 24-year-old Kirra Drury around 12.35pm on Tuesday, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office. The body of Brian Grabowski, 50, was discovered three hours earlier. Both had been missing since Saturday night, when two boats collided on the river around 8pm. Authorities recovered the body of Christine Lewis, 51, on Monday morning. Raegan Heitzig, Grabowski's niece, remains missing. The body of Kirra Drury (right) has been found three days after the horrifying crash on the Colorado River. Raegan Heitzig (left) is the final missing victim Drury (center) and Heitzig (left) posted pictures of themselves enjoying the boat before the crash on Labor Day Weekend Sheriff Doug Schuster said the department will continue search efforts until Heitzig is located All four victims of the deadly crash were on a Halley boat holding 10 people, including Drury's boyfriend Lance Nelson. Nelson shared a photo of one of his last moments with Drury and said she was the 'sweetest soul that ever touched my heart'. 'She made me the happiest guy ever and I had so many plans for us,' he wrote in an Instagram tribute. 'I'm so glad they found you and I hope you didn't suffer, you never deserved this and I still don't know why the best people get taken so early. I love you so much.' Also on the boat were Heitzig's sister Jordan and her aunt Tabby, who was married to Grabowski. Both women were critically injured in the crash and taken to a Las Vegas hospital, where they are still recovering. Also on the boat were Heitzig's sister Jordan (front center) and her aunt Tabby (far right), who was married to victim Brian Grabowski Lance Nelson, who was along on the boat, shared a photo of one of his last moments with girlfriend Drury and said she was the 'sweetest soul that ever touched my heart' The family revealed on a GoFundMe campaign that it was Tabby who saved Jordan's life after she was knocked unconscious by the crash. Jordan fractured her spine at the top of her neck and has burns from the crash. The family were told as the search began that the authorities believe Heitzig was unconscious from the impact of the crash and did not suffer. Sheriff Doug Schuster said the department will continue search efforts until Heitzig is located. 'It is our deepest desire to provide a measure of closure for the family and all involved,' he wrote in a statement on Facebook. Divers found Grabowski's body on Tuesday. Tabby (pictured together) is recovering from her injuries at a Las Vegas hospital, as is Heitzig's sister Jordan The body of 51-year-old Christine Lewis was recovered on Monday morning by divers 'We will continue to do everything within our means to do so and pray for a speedy resolution.' Survivor Taylor Corbino discussed on Tuesday how total chaos broke out after the crash. Corbino was enjoying Labor Day Weekend with family friends when their Sleek Craft boat, which held six people, smashed into the Hallet boat. The recent college graduate was sitting at the back of the boat, chatting with friends, when she suddenly heard someone exclaim 'Oh, s**t'. 'And I look up and next I see the boat, the other boat,' she told Good Morning America. 'And next thing you know, I'm in the water.' Pat Kelly, Corbino's father, was in a nearby boat when he heard the horrific crash. 'We were just turning into Pirate's Cove and our buddy went by us and we were waving at him,' Kelly recalled. On Tuesday survivor Taylor Corbino discussed the total chaos that broke out after the crash Corbino was chatting with friends, when she suddenly heard someone exclaim 'Oh, s**t' and they collided with another vessel. Pictured is one of the submerged boats All 16 people were thrown off both boats when the two vessels collided on Saturday. Pictured is one of the recovered boats 'And we see his lights going on, and then a horrific crash. The river's all dark, it was totally dark. Sounded like a freight train hitting the side of a building. It was horrible.' Corbino said she was underwater for so long that she couldn't hold her breath anymore. 'The current was so strong it was moving me around and all I could think about was 'get air'', she recalled. 'I actually breathed in some water and all I told myself was: 'Taylor, swim to the top to get some air in''. 'I swam to the top and my friend that I was actually sitting next to on the boat, I felt him grab me.' Meanwhile, Kelly jumped off his own boat - which was about 50 yards from the accident - as he desperately tried to find his daughter. His friend Dave Dade, who was on the boat with Kelly and Kelly's wife Kathy Boelter, said the river turned into complete chaos. 'While we're going into the crash site, there was debris everywhere. And I was afraid to roll the boat up, cause I didn't wanna chop somebody up [with the propeller].' Lewis was a nurse at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia, California for 22 years. Grabowski, also of Visalia, was a board-certified ocularist who made ocular prosthetics All four victims of the deadly crash were on a Halley boat holding 10 people, including Drury (pictured before the crash) 'I couldn't find Pat. So his wife was hysterical. All she could say was. 'Where's my baby? Where's my baby?'' Kelly said it was 'pandemonium' as people began screaming and crying. 'When it crashed, we were just trying to find [Corbino], find anybody,' he said. 'We didn't even know it was another boat until we heard other people screaming.' 'It was total chaos - and then I heard her. Somebody said, "Taylor's okay". I'm screaming "Where's Taylor? Where's Taylor?''' 'And then we knew she was okay, so we got over to that side, actually seeing her before we calmed down. But everyone seemed to be all right.' Corbino said she feels lucky to be alive. 'I thought I was going to die,' she added. 'I thought I was going to drown.' More than 60 crew members from Arizona and California searched for the victims this week She remains sore from the crash and said the survivors have talked little about the accident. 'I think we're all still in shock,' she said. 'It hasn't hit us yet completely. It's been a very crazy weekend. 'But when I do talk to them about it - we're all very thankful and blessed to be alive. We shouldn't be alive.' Lewis was a nurse at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia, California for 22 years. She is credited with saving hundreds of lives. 'We are shocked and heartbroken to learn about the passing of one our own in this weekend's tragic Colorado River boat crash,' said Kaweah Delta CEO Gary Herbst. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who knew Chrisi Lewis and to the family and friends still searching the river for their loved ones.' Grabowski, also of Visalia, was a board-certified ocularist who made ocular prosthetics with his company Grabowski and Associates. More than 60 crew members from Arizona and California have been searching for the victims through the week. They tracked their route with a computer program that maps the riverbed while two helicopters searched by air. Two helicopters already searched for the victims by air One detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department suffered minor injuries after participating in 10 dives in the last two days. 'This detective has been very tenacious with his involvement,' the department said in a statement. '[He has been] trying to do his best to help the family members get some sort of closure.' All 16 people were thrown off both boats when the two vessels collided on Saturday. Some were swept as far as 3 to 5 miles downstream from the crash site. It is believed that none of the boaters were wearing life vests at the time, according to ABC News. The force of the crash also caused both boats to sink, according to the San Bernardino County Fire District. Nine victims, including two in critical condition, were transported to nearby hospitals by ambulance. The sheriff's office has yet to determine whether speed or alcohol played a factor in the crash. President Donald Trump dismissed intelligence information given to him shortly after the election that showed Russia President Vladimir Putin had interfered in the 2016 contest, it was revealed in Bob Woodward's new book 'Fear.' Trump, then president-elect, told President Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that he didn't trust the information from human sources because they 'sold theirs souls' and 'sold out their country.' 'l don't believe in human sources,' he said, according to Axios. 'These are people who have sold their souls and sold out their country ... I don't trust human intelligence and these spies.' Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has previously confirmed his post-election meeting with Trump and has said he believes it's more credible that the Russians have blackmail information on the president Bob Woodward reports in his new book that Trump dismissed intelligence information that showed Vladimir Putin had interfered in the 2016 contest Clapper had briefed Trump at Trump Tower on the findings of the intelligence community. Clapper told CNN in July that he and other intelligence officers briefed Trump, who was President-elect at the time, and his team on January 6, 2017 that Putin personally ordered cyberattacks to attempt to sway the 2016 election. The president came under fire in July during his meeting with Putin in Helsinki where he indicated in a press conference he believed the Russian president over U.S. intelligence agencies. 'I don't see any reason why it would be,' Trump said, speaking to reporters about Russian election meddling as he stood side-by-side with the man U.S. intelligence says ordered it. 'So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,' Trump said. Putin raised the election interference issue first in their press conference, referred to it as 'so-called interference.' 'The Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal affairs including election process,' Putin said, denying it. Trump later walked that back his words and said he misspoke when he said that he did not have 'any reason' to believe that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Clapper told CNN after the Helsinki press conference that he's becoming convinced the Russians have blackmail information on Trump. 'More and more I come to a conclusion after the Helsinki performance and since, that I really do wonder if the Russians have something on him,' he said. Trump came under fire for his comments about the election at a July press conference with Vladimir Putin Trump had to walk his comments back At the Helsinki press conference Putin denied having compromising information on Trump. And Trump denied the infamous dirty dossier by saying if the dirt were real it would have come out already. 'I have to say if they had it, it would have been out long ago,' the president said, referencing unverified claims in the Steele dossier about his conduct in a Moscow hotel room during the Miss Universe Pageant before he was president. Woodward's book, 'Fear,' which comes out September 11, offers titillating new details of life in the Trump White House. Trump has tweeted furiously against the tome and hinted stronger libel laws may be needed. White House officials have also denied reported accounts of what they have said of the president. Woodward quoted White House Chief of Staff John Kelly slamming Trump after he blew a fuse during a meeting. 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails,' Kelly said, in Woodward's telling. 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' Kelly fired back at the claims, saying in a statement: 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite. ... This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.' In another episode described in 'Fear,' Trump questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea. Trump and White House officials have pushed back hard on Bob Woodward's book Woodward's book 'Fear' comes out September 11 When Trump asked about it, Defense Secretary Mattis schooled him: 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III.' Mattis later told colleagues Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader,' acording to Woodward's sources. On Tuesday he denied the account, saying: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on 'Good Morning America' that the book is based on the claims of anonymous sources and disgruntled former staffers. 'This is just another repeat of pure fiction,' she said. Woodward said he stands by his reporting. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh parried a question on Wednesday about whether Donald Trump has the legal power to issue himself a presidential pardon, but insisted that the occupant of the Oval Office is not exempt from federal laws. During the second day of his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh told Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy that 'the question of self-pardons is something I have never analyzed. It's a question that I have not written about. It's a question, therefore, that's a hypothetical question that I can't begin to answer in this context, as a sitting judge and as a nominee to the Supreme Court.' Trump tweeted in June that he has 'the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?' He said Wednesday at the White House that he is 'happy with the Kavanaugh hearings' but Democrats are 'grasping at straws, and really the other side should embrace him.' 'He's an outstanding intellect, he's an outstanding judge, he was born for the position,' the president told reporters, adding that he had watched some of the hearing coverage. Kavanaugh an hour earlier had flatly refused to engage with Leahy, a liberal independent who caucuses with Democrats, on whether the president could pardon himself, pardon others in exchange for bribes, or pardon people with the understanding that they wouldn't testify against him. Scroll down for videos Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh answered many questions from senators on Wednesday but sidestepped one about whether a sitting president can pardon himself President Donald Trump is embroiled in overlapping legal messes related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, producing constitutionally complicated questions about whether he can pardon himself and avoid being subpoenaed The president wrote three months ago on Twitter that he has 'the absolute right to PARDON myself' 'I'm not going to answer hypothetical questions of that sort,' he said. Meanwhile Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer forced Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to shut down the Senate floor for the day rather than cut the hearings short. A longstanding rule requires the minority party's consent to keep committee hearings open after the Senate has been in session for two hours, or past 2:00 p.m. It's a routine procedure but Schumer stood in the way on Wednesday, complaining that Republicans hadn't produced a complete written record of Kavanaugh's tenure in the George W. Bush White House. 'The Republican majority on the Judiciary Committee is pressing forward on a confirmation hearing on a Supreme Court nominee whose record has largely been shielded from the Senate and the American public,' Schumer said on the Senate floor, adding that he 'will not consent to business as usual.' Facing the possibility of cutting the day's confirmation hearing short and raising the possibility of a bruising four-day process stretching through the end of next week McConnell chose to adjourn the Senate for the day so the so-called 'two-hour rule' wouldn't come into play. Minutes later in the hearing room, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn mocked Schumer's 'hijinks.' Kavanaugh answered questions from senators on Wednesday, insisting that 'Youre not a Republican or a Democrat as a federal judge' President Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House that he liked what he saw so far from Kavanaugh and that Democrat contrarians should give up and support his nomination By then Kavanaugh had survived a second morning of periodic outbursts from protesters, and his first tough questions from Democratic senators about a wide range of issues including gun control, abortion rights and the constitutional limits of presidential power. He repeatedly stressed the importance of judicial independence and insisted that 'no one is above the law,' even while declining to weigh in on whether a sitting president could be subpoenaed. 'I can't give you an answer on that hypothetical question,' he told California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The Supreme Court has never answered that question, and it is among the most important at Kavanaugh's hearing since Trump could face a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Outraged Democrats have complained that Kavanaugh, a 12-year federal appeals court veteran, might become Trump's ace-in-the-hole in the Supreme Court, protecting the man who nominated him for the job. He tried to reassure them Wednesday that he would never respond to political pressure: 'Youre not a Republican or a Democrat as a federal judge.' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (left) tried to force an early end to the Kavanaugh hearing by refusing to allow it to continue past 2:00 p.m. while the Senate was in session; that's his right under Senate rules, but Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded by adjourning the Senate so the hearing could continue Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn (left) blasted Democrats for 'hijinks' that could have stretched the Kavanaugh hearings out for as many as eight days Despite interruptions as more than a dozen protesters were hauled out of the hearing room, day two of Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings proceeded with senators plunging into questions and answers. The hearing has strong political overtones ahead of the November election, but Democrats lack the votes to block Kavanaugh's confirmation. They fear Kavanaugh will push the court to the right on abortion, guns and other issues, and that he will side with Trump in cases stemming from Mueller's investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign. Addressing some of those concerns, Kavanaugh said that 'the first thing that makes a good judge is independence, not being swayed by political or public pressure,' He cited historic court cases including Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated schools and U.S. v. Nixon that compelled the president to turn over the Watergate tapes a ruling that Kavanaugh had previously questioned. 'That takes some backbone,' he said of the justices who decided those cases. Asked about court precedents, the importance of previously settled cases including the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that ensures access to abortion, Kavanaugh said, 'Respect for precedent is important. ... Precedent is rooted right in the Constitution itself.' Kavanaugh noted that Roe was reaffirmed in a 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. He likened it to another controversial, landmark Supreme Court decision, the Miranda ruling about the rights of criminal suspects. Kavanaugh said the court specifically reaffirmed both decisions in later cases that made them 'precedent on precedent.' Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, praised Kavanaugh for hiring female lawyers as his clerks as a judge on the District of Columbia court of appeals, and then posed questions about whether Kavanaugh was aware of sexual harassment allegations against retired circuit court Judge Alex Kozinski in California. Kavanaugh had clerked for Kozinski in the early 1990s and considered the judge a friend and mentor. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley escorted Kavanaugh to the witness table as he arrived for the second day of his confirmation hearing on Wednesday Kavanaugh has referred several times to a well-worn copy of the U.S. Constitution as Democratic senators try to derail his Supreme Court nomination Kavanaugh said he had known nothing about the allegations until they were disclosed last year. 'It was a gut punch for me,' he said, and he was 'shocked, disappointed, angry.' Asked about an email list Kozinski allegedly used to send offensive material, Kavanaugh said: 'I don't remember anything like that.' Trump nominated Kavanaugh, 53, to fill the seat of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. The change could make the court more conservative on a range of issues. Republicans hope to confirm Kavanaugh in time for the first day of the new Supreme Court term, Oct. 1. In stressing his independence, Kavanaugh pushed back against suggestions that after his time on independent counsel Kenneth Starr's team investigating Bill Clinton in the 1990s, he no longer believes a sitting president should be investigated. He said his views did shift after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but his ideas about revisiting the special counsel law were merely suggestions. 'They were some ideas for Congress to consider. They were not my constitutional views,' he told the panel. Pressed by Feinstein on his comment several years ago that U.S. v. Nixon might have been wrongly decided, he said his quote - shown on a poster above the senator - was 'not in context' and 'I have repeatedly called U.S. v. Nixon one of the four greatest moments in court history.' The judge's work in the George W. Bush White House also has figured in the hearing, particularly as Democratic senators have fought for greater access to his emails and other documents during his three years as staff secretary. Republicans have declined to seek those papers, and instead have gathered documents from his work as White House counsel to Bush. Democrats, including several senators poised for 2020 presidential bids, tried to block the proceedings on Tuesday in a dispute over the records. Republicans in turn accused the Democrats of turning the hearing into a circus. Trump jumped into the fray Tuesday, saying on Twitter that Democrats were 'looking to inflict pain and embarrassment' on Kavanaugh. Protesters continued to pop up during the Kavanaugh hearing on Wednesday and U.S. Capitol Police stood ready to remove them from the hearing room A group of women dressed as 'handmaids' from the faminist dystopian TV show 'The Handmaid's Tale' took a break from protesting on Wednesday The president's comment followed the statements of Democratic senators who warned that Trump was, in the words of Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, 'selecting a justice on the Supreme Court who potentially will cast a decisive vote in his own case.' The most likely outcome of this week's hearings is a vote along party lines to send Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate. Majority Republicans can confirm Kavanaugh without any Democratic votes, though they'll have little margin for error. One of several red-state Democrats watched as potentially voting for Kavanaugh, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined the hearing in the audience for a while. He is up for re-election this fall. Republicans will hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate once Jon Kyl, the former Arizona senator, is sworn in to fill the seat held by the late Sen. John McCain. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are the only two Republicans even remotely open to voting against Kavanaugh, though neither has said she would do so. Abortion rights supporters are trying to appeal to those senators, who both favor abortion access. Russian social media users are mocking Britain by comparing mug shots of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to villains in the Hollywood film Red Heat. Earlier today police released mug shots of and CCTV images of the Russian spies wanted for the Novichok chemical attack in Salisbury. Prime Minister Theresa May revealed the two men are thought to be officers in Russia's GRU military intelligence services. But since the release of images of the wanted men, Russian Twitter users have been comparing the mugshots of them to stars in 80s action films. In one tweet a user compares the images to that of Georgian drug kingpins in the film Red Heat. The film star's Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi as detectives hunting down drug lord Viktor Rostavili. A follow up tweet with the same image says 'it's hot, Red Heat.' Another social media user decides to focus on two other well known 80s action stars. In the tweet Alexander Petrov is replaced by the face of ever-present 80s action hero Dolph Lundgren and Ruslan Boshirov and is replaced by the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Russian social media users have also been discussing the names of the assailants- who are wanted by British authorities for the chemical attack in March- because they are very common in the country. The Novichok attack targeted double agent Sergei Skripal- hospitalising both him, his daughter, Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey. They all survived the poison but mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill after becoming exposed to the Novichok. Prosecutors will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men, as no agreement exists between the countries. But a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained in case either of the pair are ever spotted outside of Russia. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are wanted by British authorities after the Novichok chemical attack in March this year Mr Skripal was a colonel in the GRU before he was jailed for selling secrets to the West and brought to Britain in a spy swap. The Prime Minister's announcement therefore suggests the hit may have been organised by his former colleagues. Police said it is likely the suspects, who are aged around 40, were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. They are appealing to anyone around the world who knows their real identities to contact them. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov pictured in Salisbury at a train station a day before the attack was carried out Advertisement A family-of-seven went from living in a luxurious Welsh mansion to being crammed into a caravan after they 'lost millions' in a furious planning dispute. Christine and Geraint Thomas bought a new Range Rover every Christmas when they farmed in the village of Talybont-on-Usk, in the Brecon Beacons. The successful couple decided to take on a new challenge in 2000 by building a caravan park on their land near their 23-bed mansion at Gilestone Farm. After planning permission was granted for 50 caravans and 50 tents, the family set out to build a successful luxury holiday business empire, welcoming tourists to the area and employing local people After opening in 2005, the campsite was praised and even listed in the 'UK top 50' in the national press. However, local people were furious and the Usk Valley Conservation Group called for a judicial review. They argued permission was granted by the Brecon Beacons National Park, a delegated authority, rather than a full planning committee. In 2010, a judge quashed the planning permission they had been granted - blaming 'many errors' of the national park authority - and the Thomases say they lost everything. Geraint and Chris Thomas with Charlie, Frances, Hettie, Henry and Olivia - at their home and business Gilestone Farm, pictured in 2006 - before their world fell apart Christine, 53, said: 'We had borrowed an awful lot of money to built it and invest in it. 'The shower and toilet block was only built in 2009 and that cost 350,000. There was a massive investment. 'My husband's family had farmed in Brecon for 1,000 years. They helped build the cathedral and build the churches. 'They were a good historic family. We have a son and five daughters and we thought our son would be following it on. It's heartbreaking because it was such an injustice. 'What happened at Gilestone was outrageous. 'The farm had to go on the market straight away because all our other sources of income had gone. We put everything into that caravan park. 'What happened to us, happened, and it can't unhappen.' She says she spent the next two years writing 2,000 letters to anyone she thought could help. 'You can live without money but you can't live with injustice. It keeps you awake at night.' Signs at the farm entrance costing 2,500 were trashed, and the judge's decision delay killed a deal with the adventure company, costing around 300,000. The family had already spent 400,000 on the site, including 50,000 on a bio-digester, 30,000 on roads and 120,000 on electricity. Mum-of-five Christine said she even contemplated ending her own life. She admits she had become 'out of touch' living a life of luxury with top-of-the-range cars and her own housekeeper - but now she cleans other people's homes to put food on the table. 'When we farmed in Brecon we had 1,000 cattle and a mansion, we ended up in a caravan,' Chris said. Christine was furious about the 'injustice' and wanted to continue to fight for Gilestone. Geraint and Chris Thomas with Charlie, Frances, Hettie, Henry and Olivia as they battled to built a luxurious holiday camp - but they lost the final battle with a conservation group and it all came tumbling down The Thomas' were advised not to take on the national park, but their legal team instead, for the advice they were given. Christine said: 'We lost millions but it wasn't so much about compensation but justice.' In 2015 the Thomas family returned to court in a bid to get 100,000 compensation against their barrister who they claimed had given them 'negligent' advice - but they lost. 'We came home, licked our wounds and sold 80 acres of land and we decided to start again.' The couple had moved into a static caravan at an Aberaeron caravan park with their three youngest children, Hettie, then aged 16, Henry, then nine, Olivia, then four. The farm they bought with all the money they had left was 'run down' but Christine says it was her way of starting again. Their new caravan park opened at Easter 2017, followed by a shop and bistro. Mrs Thomas said: 'We had planning permission for a farm shop, bistro and small caravan park we had to put all our efforts into that.' The Moody Cow shop on the site opened in March 2018. They are now selling everything from snacks, food items made from beef from their own farm while they employ 35 people. Chris said: 'What happened to us made me very sad and has humbled me. The reason I was in Gilestone isn't who I am now. 'We had a new Range Rover every Christmas, all of it. Although I was born in the Valleys I had probably lost touch with reality. 'Now at our age, I'm 53 and Geraint is 56, we have had to borrow money to do this again but you do it for your family and other peoples families as well. 'Ceredigion is the most beautiful place and a place where a lot of young people move away because there isn't the jobs. 'What we're doing may only be a drop in the ocean but it's something. 'Am I bitter? No I am not. In fact, I can almost say I am quite grateful because I have learned the hard way. I have learned a valuable lesson in life. 'I cannot believe the change in our lives. I thought my life wasn't worth living at one point and that's an awful thing to say but it shocked me I could feel like that. 'I started cleaning houses in Aberaeron. I would do whatever I could just to put food on the table. I used to have a housekeeper and I went to scrubbing houses and I ended up with friends sitting with me because I wanted to end my life.' The first part of the project was to build the caravan park at Bargoed Farm but to make it sustainable outside the main tourist season they have 13 private hot tubs. 'Obviously, when we were farming in Brecon we were by the A40, the main artery road but in Ceredigion, it's very undiscovered. 'We have got to prolong tourism by encouraging a different kind of market and what's going to encourage people to drive this way.' Rebuilding their dreams: The Thomas family sold off their remaining land and ploughed in into a new business - The MOddy Cow Christine and Geraint Thomas bought a new Range Rover every Christmas but wound up losing millions after a furious planning row The Moody Cow farm shop and bistro near Aberaeron in Ceredigion is being run by the Thomas family - years after they 'lost everything' Christine wanted something 'cheeky' which got across their links to cattle when she named the shop- both the animals and Chris' 'pets' the Highland Cows. 'When people ring and say 'Is that the Moody Cow' I say 'Yes I am' because, I can be,' she laughed. They have expansion plans, including weddings and have a space for the community. 'I want people to leave feeling like they've been at their granny's for tea. 'Everything is handmade here. We buy the ingredients but the rest is us.' Despite all that, Gilestone is still part of her thoughts. 'It was the worst time of our lives. 'It's really hard now to sleep when you're living with injustice. I can live with anything but injustice is something that's atrocious, I still feel it's there. 'As a mum of five and a Christian I have never been dishonest so for what happened to us to happen, all these years later I still think about that. 'I hope one day someone will look at all the paperwork and do something about it but at this moment in time we have got our heads down and we're working really hard and hoping we can encourage others.' A dog dyed bright red and sold to a man who bought the animal because he 'liked the colour' has been rescued by an animal shelter. Animal activists were alarmed after finding the dog on the street with a man living in a refugee camp in the town of Schimatari, in Greece. He told them he paid the dog's former owner 150 euros (135) for the animal because he liked the colour - which made the animal look remarkably like the children's book and TV character Clifford the Big Red Dog. Animal activists were alarmed after finding the dog on the street with a man living in a refugee camp in the town of Schimatari, in Greece The dog's former owner bought her from sellers in Omonoia in Athens. But activists were concerned that the red colouring could be harmful to the dog, nicknamed Scarlet. Vets confirmed it was hair dye and that Scarlett didn't appear to be suffering from any skin ailments because of it. The man in Greece said he had paid the dog's former owner 150 euros (135) for the animal because he'd like the colour Activists were concerned that the red colouring could be harmful to the dog, nicknamed Scarlet Vets confirmed it was hair dye and that Scarlett didn't appear to be suffering from any skin ailments because of it She was taken in by the animal shelter, who cleaned her and found her a new home. While her fur is not completely dye-free yet, the colour has faded considerably. Her new owner reported Scarlet is living a happy life and shared pictures showing the pet's real fur colour. Her new owner reported Scarlet is living a happy life and shared pictures showing the pet's real fur colour Themed Towards a Resilient and Innovative Community, the event drew over 350 delegates from both member and observing countries, along with representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat and parliamentarians from Morocco and Norway as guests of the host. Singapores Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean suggested the AIPA focus on solidarity, connectivity, creativity, and climate change adaptation to build a sustainable and innovative ASEAN community. He affirmed that mechanisms led by ASEAN are an important foundation for regional countries especially given the context of an increasingly complicated geopolitical situation, non-traditional and cross-border challenges such as terrorism, violent extremism, and cyber crime; along with protectionism, which are threatening global political order and economy. Meanwhile, the AIPA plays a significant part in promoting solidarity and cooperation in the region, he said, adding that AIPA parliamentarians hold a crucial role in helping other countries understand the importance of creating a more connected ASEAN as well as promoting a free and open trade market. AIPA parliamentarians are also pivotal in promoting the application of new technology in businesses, making use of the Fourth Industrial Revolution wave in building up smart cities networks, he said. In particular, the AIPA should urge leaders to encourage sustainable growth; create ecological systems adaptive to climate change and environmental protection; and mitigate the possible effectives that natural disasters have on peoples lives, he suggested. A panorama of the 39th AIPA General Assembly. (Photo: VNA) Singaporean Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin who is also President of the AIPA-39 General Assembly said that Singapore will spare no effort in making active contributions towards reinforcing mutual understanding and trust among AIPA members, thus creating an important foundation to boost cooperation and build a more sustainable and innovative ASEAN, serving the best interests of its people. Addressing the first plenary session of the AIPA-39, NA Vice Chairman Do Ba Ty said the Vietnamese NA has been actively involved in AIPA activities, contributing to building the ASEAN community towards stability and sustainable development. The AIPA should continue to place a high premium on ASEAN codes of conduct, such as abiding by international law; promoting solidarity and unity as a joint effort to maintain peace and security; paying attention to building trust; preventing all possible conflicts in the region; and actively implementing commitments in ASEAN, he recommended. He added that the AIPA needs to make it easier for cooperation agendas to be implemented in ASEAN across all spheres, particularly high technology and digital fields, as well as efforts to cope with non-traditional security matters as approved by ASEAN leaders last April. He suggested the AIPA promote parliamentarian scrutiny of the implementation of the ASEAN master plan in terms of the pillar of policy, economy, and society-culture. Enhancing coordination and assistance among member nations to develop economy, narrow development gap, improve peoples living standards, cope with climate change, protect the environment, energy security, and water resources was also recommended. The AIPA is comprised of all 10 ASEAN parliaments, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The AIPA was established in 1977 as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organisation (AIPO) with the parliaments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand as its founding members. In 2007, AIPO was officially renamed the AIPA. A Miami man living in constant fear of high-speeding vehicles in his community decided to issue his own public service announcement after a couple of ducks were run over this past weekend. Marco Moreno stepped out of his Hialeah home on Saturday to find four lifeless ducks laying on his lawn. As a way to instill moral conscience into drivers that speed through the block, Moreno decided to hang up one of the dead ducks on a corner stop sign near an intersection. Hialeah law enforcement authorities removed it Monday afternoon. Marco Moreno found four dead ducks laying in front of his Miami home on Saturday morning One of the four ducks allegedly killed by speeding motorists in Hialeah, Florida As a way to instill social conscience to speedy drivers, Marcos Moreno hung one of the dead ducks he found on his property onto a stop sign at a dangerous intersection 'This has turned into a racing track', Moreno told Univision and other networks that on Monday descended on the 1500 block of West 73rd Street. 'On this occasion, on Saturday morning I found four little ducks', added Moreno, who along with other neighbors has grown accustomed to feeding the flock of birds. 'On another occasion in front me, I didn't have a enough time to pick up the license plate. He [motorist] accelerated and killed a cat.' Moreno's greatest fear is that a human life could very well be impacted by the speedy motorists. 'Today it's the animals, that depend on us. But tomorrow it could be us people,' he said. Julia Anderson was personally impacted by the racing vehicles when her cat died after being crushed by a car at the dangerous intersection. Marcos Moreno is emotionally affected by the constant killings of ducks by motorists that ignore the speed limit on the block where he lives at in Hialeah, Florida 'Its not necessary. This is a neighborhood,' she told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG. 'The cat saw me and tried to dash across the road and one of those zoomers came.' Residents near Moreno's home applauded his motives. 'We need something to be placed on the street for cars that aren't obeying the proper velocity in this zone,' Elizabeth Hernandez said. 'This isn't a main avenue. It's not an expressway. It's a residential street.' Heather Lommatzsch (pictured) has filed a lawsuit against Tesla after her Model S crashed into a stationary firetruck in May, leaving her with a broken foot A Utah driver who slammed her Tesla into a stationary firetruck at a red light while using the vehicle's semi-autonomous function is suing the company. Heather Lommatzsch alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that Tesla salespeople told her the Model S's Autopilot mode would ensure the car stopped on its own if something was in its path. In court documents, she says when she saw cars stopped in front of her on May 11, she tried to hit the brakes but they did not work. Lommatzsch had earlier said the car did not provide any audio or visual warnings before colliding with the firetruck which happened on the Utah highway on May 11. The 29-year-old claims Tesla was: 'at a minimum, negligent in developing, designing, manufacturing, producing, testing, promoting, distributing, selling, maintaining, repairing and/or servicing the Tesla Model S'. Lommatzsch, 29, says her car was in its semi autonomous function when it failed to slow for a traffic jam ahead. She claims when she tried to hit the brakes manually, they did not work She also alleges the company, owned by Elon Musk, did not provide 'adequate warning of the dangers of the Tesla Model S'. When Lommatzsch, 29, crashed into the fire truck on the Bangerter Highway in South Jordan, Salt Lake City, she broke her foot and was charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation. In her lawsuit, she alleges she: 'sustained severe and permanent injuries and has incurred reasonable and necessary expenses having a value in excess of $3,000', and has also 'suffered the loss of the pleasures and enjoyment of life and physical impairment'. Tesla's Autopilot has been the subject of scrutiny following previous crashes. Lommatzsch suffered a broken foot and received a traffic violation, and her car was destroyed in the incident In March, a driver was killed when a Model X with Autopilot engaged hit a barrier while traveling at 'freeway speed' in California. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating that case. In May, the NTSB opened a probe into an accident in which a Model S caught fire after crashing into a wall at a high speed in Florida. Two 18-year-olds were trapped and died in the blaze but the agency has said it does not expect Autopilot to be a focus in that investigation. Later in the month, Tesla said Autopilot was not engaged after a Model S veered off a road and plunged into a pond outside San Francisco, killing the driver. A Tesla spokesperson didn't immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment. Djuan Lewis, 22, has been charged with attempted felony murder after admitting that he opened fire on his former boss A Florida man fired from an aluminum products company after only three days on the job has been accused of opening fire on his boss. Sanford police say 22-year-old Djuan Lewis was let go from Benada Aluminum Products on Sunday for throwing tools and products on the ground. Manager Sean Jackson terminated Lewis at about 5am, and two hours later, Jackson was driving his girlfriend home when he noticed a vehicle following him. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the driver of the other vehicle fired five shots at Jackson's car, but the couple were not wounded. Another Benanda employee told police Lewis lingered in a vehicle with a handgun outside the business after he was let go. The shooting happened in Sanford, Florida, Sunday, just two hours after a manager at Benada Aluminum Products (pictured) fired the newly hired Lewis for throwing tools on the floor Deputies found Lewis and arrested him on charges of attempted felony murder and shooting from and into a moving motor vehicle. The 22-year-old allegedly made a confession. Lewis is being held in Seminole County Jail on $46,000 bond. Records indicate that Lewis has a criminal history that includes arrests on drug and theft charges. Sadiq Khan today ordered the removal of 'offensive' posters that condemn the state of Israel as a 'racist endeavour'. The London Mayor hit out at 'vandalism' after the images started appearing on bus stops around the capital. The posters sprung up as Jewish groups warned that anti-Semitism was on the rise amid a major battle inside the Labour. Among the key issues in the dispute between the party's left-wingers led by Jeremy Corbyn and moderates has been whether it is acceptable to brand the state of Israel racist. The internationally-recognised definition of anti-Semitism that was finally adopted by Labour last night after months of wrangling makes clear that it is not acceptable. The posters were spotted by a number of Twitter users, who expressed disgust at the slogans The posters were spotted by a number of Twitter users, who expressed disgust at the slogans. A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: These offensive adverts are not authorised and are acts of vandalism which Transport for London and its advertising partner takes extremely seriously. 'They have instructed their contractors to remove any posters found on their network immediately. The latest episode comes as a new Survation poll published in the Jewish Chronicle reveals that four out of ten Jews would consider leaving the UK if Mr Corbyn becomes PM. The Labour leader last night failed to quell anger over vile abuse wracking Labour despite bowing to demands to adopt the international definition of anti-Semitism. He caused new offence by trying to add a statement detailing protection for people who call Israel racist - a caveat rejected even by loyalists on the party's ruling NEC. Dave Rich, the head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), said anti-Semitic incidents soared from a few dozen a month to over 100 in spring 2016 - Just when the crisis erupted in Jeremy Corbyn's party. Speaking to the women and equalities select committee today, Mr Rich said: 'Over the last two years we have seen a much closer correlation between events in the Labour Party and our anti-Semitic incidents statistics than any other single factor.' Other images on Twitter appeared to celebrate the spread of the posters, which Sadiq Khan has vowed to remove Dave Rich, the head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST) (pictured today in parliament in front of the women and equalities select committee) said incidents soared from a few dozen a month to over 100 in spring 2016 - Just when the crisis erupted in Jeremy Corbyn's party Detailing anti-Semitism incidents reported to the CST, he said: 'We recorded 129 incidents in June and 129 in July, but we had recorded 135 in May the month prior and 100 incidents in April. 'The big uptick in anti-Semitism incidents we recorded came in April and May. Now around that time came the whole issue about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party really hit the front-pages with the suspensions of Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone. Jewish couple are packing their bags for Israel over the anti-Semitism crisis A leading Jewish lawyer and his partner have said they are leaving the UK after being bombarded by anti-Semitic abuse and death threats by Jeremy Corbyn supporters. Mark Lewis, an ex Labour supporter who represented victims in the phone-hacking case, and Mandy Blumenthal said they are planning to move to Israel by the end of the year. They accused Mr Corbyn of moving the 'rock anti-Semites have crawled out from' and said they have received a growing wave of hate and threats since he became Labour leader. Mr Lewis said a man has been sent to prison for threatening to kill him simply because he is Jewish. He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Show: 'The online abuse might continue, the Israelis might not like me because I am too left, might not like me because they think I am too right, whatever their view. 'But they are not going to dislike me because I am Jewish. And there is only so much you can take when you are getting threats to kill you. 'When you are getting threats from people that they want you to be ill etc, it's a drip drip effect.' Ms Blumenthal said: 'People are in the majority of circles that I mix in actually talking about their options of leaving here because of the anti-Semitism.' Advertisement 'So we took that increase to be in response to those incidents that were happening here in the Labour Party. 'It may be the debate around Brexit and increase in hate crime after that debate kept the anti-Semitic incidents sustained at a higher level, and maybe they would have fallen away had it not been for that, but we had already seen an uptick before other hate crime. 'Over the last two years we have seen a much closer correlation between events in the Labour Party and our anti-Semitic incidents statistics than any other single factor.' Mr Rich said that while he is not suggesting everyone committing the hate crimes are in the Labour Party, he warned the scandal is feeding a toxic atmosphere. And he urged Mr Corbyn to listen to the Jewish community and make the reforms needed to root out the abuse. He said this must be seen as more than mere 'technical' changes, but 'a cultural change as well'. At least half a dozen Labour MPs are considering following Frank Field and quitting over the scandal. Meanwhile, a poll today found that 39 per cent of the 710 British Jews who were quizzed for the survey said they would consider emigrating if Mr Corbyn gets the keys to No10. Last month Mark Lewis, an ex Labour supporter and leading Jewish lawyer,, and his partner Mandy Blumenthal revealed they are leaving Britain for Israel because of the scandal. They accused Mr Corbyn of moving the 'rock anti-Semites have crawled out from' and said they have received a growing wave of hate and threats since he became Labour leader. He told MailOnline today: 'Waiting to see if Corbyn will become PM is already too late. The damage has already been done. 'He has moved the rock which was covering many very nasty creatures. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving home this morning) has been dogged by accusations that he has allowed anti-Semitism to go unchallenged in the party since he became leader 'Even after the reluctant acceptance of the IHRA definition of antisemitism (and its caveat that renders it meaningless) Corbyn made sure that his personal proposal was leaked so that his nasty gang knew that he was still with them. 'Of course it is an individual decision but for those who will listen, I say get out while you can.' Novichok suspect Ruslan Boshirov only had one friend on Facebook- a Ukranian woman he met five years ago for half an hour in a cafe in Prague. Yulia Chopivskaya, aged around 30, said she met this Boshirov in 2013 or 2014 and chatted briefly before saying goodbye at the same establishment. He then set up a Facebook account with her as his sole friend. She denies having seen him since but today has been inundated with demands to know if she is close to the spy. Today, images of Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov were released by police grinning on the day of the attack Salisbury attack in March, along with images of the perfume bottle they used. Yulia Chopivskaya, from Ukraine, said she met Ruslan Boshirov for about half an hour in a cafe in Prague five years ago Yulia Chopivskaya (pictured) said she has not seem him since but has been inundated with demands to know if she is close to the spy The Ukranian, who is thought to be 30 years old, said she has deleted him from her friend's list The Facebook page of Ruslan Boshirov with once picture of a street scene in Prague. It says he is single, works in Moscow and works at Headway Yulia added she did not recognise him from the picture released by police in London today Yulia Chopivskaya said when she met him she was unsure if Ruslan Boshirov was his real name or not A European arrest warrant has been issued for Ruslan Boshirov (pictured) and accomplice Alexander Petrov She said: 'This is a nightmare,' 'I haven't stayed in touch with this person and I don't know him. 'I deleted him from my friend's list. She added: 'I don't know if this is a real last name or not. 'In 2013 or 2014 I met a guy who introduced himself as Ruslan, it was in Prague. 'Then he asked how to find me on Facebook and added me there. 'We chatted for half an hour maximum and said goodbye to each other at that very cafe. 'Since then I haven't seen him.' His Facebook only has a street scene from Prague with one solitary like from himself. She did not recognise him from the picture released by police in London, she said. She claimed: 'I don't know the person in the photograph.' Alexander Petrov (pictured left) and Ruslan Boshirov (pictured right) are wanted by British authorities after the Novichok poisoning suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are shown on CCTV on Fisherton Road, Salisbury at 1:05pm on March 4 Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov pictured in Salisbury at a train station. A European arrest warrant has been obtained just in case the duo ever decide to leave Russia A perfume atomiser which is believed to have been used in the Salisbury Novichok attack, today This Boshirov appears to work for a Moscow company monitoring state contracts for purchasing medication, said a prominent Russian political insider. If so, this Boshirov he has remained silent today. Anonymous social media channel Nezygar also surmised that Britain had a high-ranking mole inside the GRU, the military intelligence identified by Theresa May as sending two agents to Salisbury to launch a chemical weapons attack. Citing an intelligence source, Nezygar claimed the most likely explanation of the poisoning in Salisbury was a mafia operation or a British provocation to undermine Russia. 'Theresa' May either publicly disclosed information about British intelligence having a high-rank mole within Russian military intelligence who passed confirming information or it is a simple assumption, manipulation, a game of coincidences,' stated the channel. The visibility of the Russian pair in Britain and the bungled attack 'clearly raises suspicions about their professionalism and qualification', suggesting they are not GRU. 'The look of the 'officers' is more like members of an organised crime community.' Two boys who were stabbed by their mother when they were eight and 20 months old have made a miraculous recovery from their horrific injuries. Guillermo Timoteo, the younger of the two, was stabbed in the head with a pair of scissors, while his older brother Juan Pedro Nino-Brown had a knife shoved from his neck up into his brain in April this year, KTLA reported. Their mother, 33-year-old Carolyn Brown, maimed them and left them for dead, walking to the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office in Tallahassee, where they lived, and telling a county worker: 'I just killed my kids'. When police arrived at Brown's house, even the most hardened of officers were shocked by the scene that greeted them. Both boys were inside, still alive, with the scissors still in Guillermo's head, and the knife still in Juan's neck. Guillermo Timoteo (left) had scissors stabbed into his head by his mother and his older brother Juan Pedro Nino-Brown (right) had a knife shoved into his neck so deeply it hit his brain They were rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where surgeons, nurses and anesthetists raced to work out how they could save the children while they still had time. Carolyn Brown, who stabbed her twin babies and left them for dead Dr Joseph Soto, who was the on-call surgeon for trauma at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital that night, said the boys' injuries were one of the worst things he'd ever seen. 'I've taken care of a lot of patients - kids and adults - who have been through a trauma; stabbings, gunshot wounds to the neck,' he said. 'But never have I seen this type of situation with these two boys two young boys, who were basically defenseless. 'One boy had a pair of scissors through his ear, his left ear. Another boy had a knife through his neck, going up towards his head, in his brain.' Both children underwent complicated and lengthy surgeries, and both survived. Four weeks and one day later, Juan was discharged from hospital, and Guillermo was not far behind. Brown was arrested after police arrived at her home on that afternoon in April and was taken to a mental health center. She was charged with two counts of attempted murder in May, but two months later, she was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Both boys were still alive when first responders found them and were taken into complicated and lengthy surgeries, which miraculously saved their lives (pictured: both boys were left with tubes in their head after the surgeries) Their mother, Carolyn Brown, was taken to a mental health facility, while the boys' grandparents took over as carers while they were hospitalized Dr Soto said the boys, who know live with their aunt and have regular contact with their grandparents, were acting like normal children. He says while Guillermo's hearing will definitely be affected by the attack, their progress was 'remarkable', and should encourage others to have faith in their doctors. 'I hope when people hear about this story, they realize that there can be some pretty bad things that can happen, but you just keep that faith,' he said. 'You keep that hope, and you can still have the happier ending. It doesnt have to be a bad ending.' Despite their miraculous recovery, the boys will have ongoing medical costs, and their grandmother has launched a GoFundMe to help cover these. Zina Bash became a hot topic after she was seen making a white power hand sign during Brett Kavanaughs hearing on Tuesday. Amy Siskind was among the first to point it out, sharing a video on Twitter claiming the symbol should disqualify the Supreme Court nominee. Siskind continued to suggest the gesture was intentionally made. Try it for yourself, she tweeted. If you watch the video youll see she held it in place for a long time. Its not a natural resting position. Zina Bash was accused of being associated with white supremacist groups after being seen making a suggestive hand gesture at Brett Kavanaugh's hearing Zina Bash found herself at the center of controversy after she was seen making the OK symbol with her fingers at Brett Kavanaugh's hearing Her tweet was later deleted as it had become way too much of a distraction. The concern is the white nationalist policies of the Trump regime and Kavanaughs positions. Siskind added: I have no idea if this was a comfortable resting place for her hand or more. Zinas husband, US Attorney John Bash, assured the public that neither he nor his wife were aware of the gestures meaning. He added that they do not associate with hate groups that aim to terrorize and demean other people. Johns wife hasnt yet spoken up for herself. Its been noted several times since the controversy began, however, that Zina was born in Mexico and is the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors. Heres what else you need to know about Zina Bash. Who is Zina Bash? Zina Bash is a former clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh. She now serves as senior counsel on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons executive leadership team. Zina has also held the position of Special Assistant to the President for regulatory reform, legal and immigration policy. According to The Hill, Zina is a Republican from McAllen, Texas. Shes married to US Attorney John Bash. Zina and her husband both attended Harvard together. They married in 2007. The two share one child, a daughter named Maria Izabella. Zinas husband worked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He became US Attorney in April, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The outlet reported that John believed border security was a top priority. He was quoted as saying: We are a nation of immigrants, but I dont understand the folks who say we shouldnt enforce the law against people who are literally picked up illegally crossing the border. The folks that criticize our enforcement efforts have an obligation to say what those enforcement efforts should look like. Zina also believes immigration is a top priority. She helped Donald Trump draft his widely-criticized immigration policy. Zina Bash net worth According to COED, Zina Bashs net worth is between $1.8 million and $6.75 million. Above the Law reported that Zina is an heiress and has [as much as] $18 million in assets, generating passive income of over $1 million last year. More recent findings from the outlet suggest shes worth far less. My earnest take is that we should be above proliferating conspiracy theories like these Zina Bash "hand signals." You don't have to look for hidden signs of white supremacy when it's already out there in the open. Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) September 4, 2018 White power sign On Tuesday, Zina Bash was accused of fashioning her hands into a white power sign during Brett Kavanaughs hearing. Her husband has vehemently denied that she intentionally made the symbol or had any knowledge of its meaning. The symbol is also known as the OK sign. Its made when the thumb and index finger are made into an O shape with the other fingers extended. Its recently been associated with white supremacists. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) the symbol originates from an online hoax. The organization states that the hand gesture started in early 2017 when a 4Chan user posted about an Operation O-KKK. The user alleged that the gesture is a white supremacist sign and provided a graphic describing how WP, for white power, could be created using the OK gesture. The hoax evolved and was embraced by members of the alt-right. John said of the drama: The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. We werent even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing. He went on to say: We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people never have and never would. I hope that people will clearly condemn this idiotic and sickening accusation. Cat-calling and wolf-whistling could soon become a hate crime in Britain after the Law Commission announced it will review acts of misogyny. Labour MP Stella Creasy has been leading a campaign calling for verbal abuse of women to be punishable in the same way as religious hate crimes. This will include so-called cat-calling which means whistling at or yelling at a person in a 'sexually suggestive' manner. The move was announced during a parliamentary debate on upskirting - and whether or not that should be a criminal offence. Speaking in Parliament on changes to the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill on Wednesday Ms Creasy called for a full review - which was later granted. Stella Creasy is calling for the end of misogyny and has secured a legal review through campaigning The Upskirting draft which has Theresa May's backing, will allow judges to jail upskirting offenders for up to two years. Announcing the news on Twitter Ms Creasy said: 'Government agrees to fund a law commission review into all hate crime including misogyny and look at new and existing offences - finally we are sending a message misogyny isnt just a part of life we put up with but something men and women together commit to tackling. Thank you to everyone who helped us make the case to their MP!' The full review will probe whether or not misogyny, which is defined as the 'ingrained prejudice against women' should become a hate crime. Currently, some serious misogynistic acts can be punished under other categories such as intimidation or harassment. Ms Creasy said: 'This isnt about creating new crimes but recognising as we do with racial and religious hatred when someone is being targeted because of who they are and saying its not for them to cope with it, but us all to stop it.' The Walthamstow MP has previously called for an extension of a pilot project by Nottinghamshire Police, which has been recording misogynistic behaviour as either hate crime or hate incidents Posting on Instagram, Ms Creasy said that MPs voting on the Bill had 'a chance to help make sure everyone is free to walk our streets without fear of harassment' Miss Creasy, who was previously threatened with rape and violence on social media, said women are often made to feel as though their actions lead to attacks. She said: 'Crimes like upskirting don't happen in a vacuum. 'They happen in a world where we don't see violence against women as a priority for action; where we tell young women to not walk around late at night as a way of staying safe, rather than those who hassle them that their behaviour is unacceptable.' Ms Creasy has campaigned to end 'cat-calling' in her constituency over women being harassed in the street by men. Conservative MP Christopher Chope single-handedly blocked the Bill when he intervened at an earlier stage in the Commons, prompting widespread criticism Conservative MP Christopher Chope single-handedly blocked the Upskirting Bill when he intervened at an earlier stage in the Commons, prompting widespread criticism. The Tory grandee said he was acting on a long-held principle that has seen him routinely oppose backbench private members' bills - based on the way the bill was presented - and not its content. Miss Creasy's campaign has not been welcomed by all, with some claiming the MP has ignored the way men are treated. Fathers4Justice said: 'We have to STOP fanatical feminists like Stella Creasy DEMONISING men while turning a BLIND-EYE to misandry & the REAL abuse of children and fathers in secret family courts.' However, her supporters have praised her for attempting to end appalling behaviour. Iain Grant told on Twitter how he has been a victim. He said: 'Why do people think this behaviour is okay?? I had long hair as a teenager and I got catcalled by a load of men in a car as I walked home from school - in my school uniform, so I was clearly under 16! It was frightening, embarrassing and horrible!' A Ministry of Justice spokesman said of Ms Creasy's amendment: 'We already have robust legislation that can be used to protect women from a range of crimes. 'We are determined to see the upskirting bill passed as soon as possible, to better protect victims and bring offenders to justice.' Advertisement Scientists are working to identify the remains of victims of General Francisco Franco's regime after two mass graves in Paterna, Spain, were recently exhumed. Mass graves across the country 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. In Paterna, military and civil guard firing squads shot dead at least 2,238 prisoners after Franco seized power in 1939. Their bodies are believed to have been thrown into 70 different mass graves and covered in quicklime to seal off the site. Recently, after careful digging underneath a layer of ordinary, casket-burials at the cemetery in Paterna, piles of skeletons emerged. Now, forensic archaeologists are working to meticulously clean and log the remains found so that they can be identified. Alex Calpe, one of the independent archaeologists working at the site on behalf of the relatives of those killed, has said the experts' work must be 'thorough' because its goal is 'to deliver closure to the victims' families.' Mariano Descals Salvador is among those who has provided his saliva for a DNA test to tries to find the remains of his grandfather Mariano Descals Montes who was shot in 1939 by Franco's forces. The remains of some of the bodies believed to have been shot in 1939 by forces of dictator Francisco Franco are seen during the exhumation of two mass graves in Paterna's cemetery, Spain Forensic anthropologist and member of Scientific Association ArqueoAntro Javier Iglesias takes a saliva sample from Mariano Descals Salvador for a DNA test to tries to find the remains of his grandfather Mariano Descals Montes who was shot in 1939 In Paterna, military and civil guard firing squads shot dead at least 2,238 prisoners after Franco seized power in 1939 Their bodies are believed to have been thrown into 70 different mass graves and covered in quicklime to seal off the site Marisol Schwab examines remains recovered after the exhumation of two mass graves containing the bodies of victims shot in 1939 by forces of dictator Francisco Franco Mass graves across the country 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 Forensic anthropologist Marisol Schwab is among the scientists working to meticulously clean and log the remains found so that they can be identified Forensic anthropologist Nicole Lambacher cleans a skull that was recovered from one of the mass graves that was recently exhumed A member of Scientific Association ArqueoAntro takes part in the exhumation of the one of two mass graves that contain the remains of the bodies of people shot in 1939 Shoes that contain the remains of one of the victims executed by General Francisco Franco forces after the dictator assumed power in 1939 A member of Scientific Association ArqueoAntro takes part in the exhumation of two mass graves in Paterna's cemetery After careful digging underneath a layer of ordinary, casket-burials at the cemetery in Paterna, piles of skeletons emerged A mass grave marked with the number 41 that contains the remains of the bodies of people believed to have been shot in 1939 Forensic anthropologist and member of Scientific Association ArqueoAntro Javier Iglesias takes part in the exhumation Benjamin Ruiz Marti, a member of Association for relatives of victims of the Franco regime, is pictured during the exhumation The owner of a South Dakota pet store where 36 animals were found dead is facing hundreds of charges of animal cruelty and neglect. Animal control officers acting on an anonymous complaint raided the Pitter Patter Pet Store in Rapid City and found both dead and live animals in squalid conditions. They seized 90 living animals, including dogs, cats, hamsters and guinea pigs in the raid on August 16. Authorities haven't said what animals were found dead. Marinda Parks, 38, now faces 203 municipal charges, according to the Rapid City Journal. Scroll down for video The rescued animals (pictured) were taken to the Humane Society of the Black Hills for care Animal welfare officers hope the animals will recover and be adopted into good homes Her attorney, Timothy Rensch, said the only dead creatures were cockroaches, goldfish and snails. Rensch says Parks is being portrayed as a villain, but is actually a kind person who loves animals. The pet store had been closed since July. On Friday, a deputy attorney with the City of Rapid City filed the charges, including 101 counts of municipal cruelty to animals, 101 counts of abuse and neglect of animals, and 1 count of a dirty kennel, against Marinda Parks, 38, in the 7th Judicial Circuit. Parks, who owned Pitter Patter Pet Store in the Rushmore Mall until its closure in July, will make her first appearance in September before Judge Scott Bogue. Kinsely Groote, the city's deputy attorney who is leading the prosecution said she could not release animal control or veterinarians' reports that could confirm the type of deceased animals for fear of tainting a jury pool. Animal control representatives have not made those details public yet. Groote did say under city code, insects are not considered animals. In an interview, Kelsey Harty, one of the responding officers with Animal Services and Enforcement, said investigators found signs during the four-hour raid of animal abuse, including feces-smeared cages, pools of urine, and lack of adequate food and water. Animal welfare officer Kelsey Harty (pictured) said the animals did not have adequate food Authorities seized 90 living animals from the Pitter Patter pet store (pictured) during the raid She said: 'We found several animals. Multiple animals in one cage. 'A little crowded, feces, empty water bowls, food dishes, the smell was a big thing. We did see a couple of deceased animals, it was pretty chaotic that morning.' She also said the structure housing the animals contained 'material laying around that was not safe for the animals'. In a statement, The Humane Society of the Black Hills seized more than 100 animals including dogs and cats from a local pet store on August 16. The animals have been relocated to the Humane Society of the Black Hills where they will be cared for and adopted into good homes circumstances permitting. Parks opened two years ago at Rushmore Mall. Rescue staff care for the rescued animals (pictured) at the Humane Society of the Black Hills She couldn't make money there, so she decided to buy a new storefront on Mt. Rushmore Road, according to Newscenter1. During the moving process, several puppies escaped their enclosures and knocked a plant into the fish pond, killing some of the fish. This prompted an anonymous welfare check tip to Animal Services and Enforcement of Rapid City on August 15. The next morning, authorities seized the animals including cats, dogs, reptiles, birds and others. In his congratulatory message sent to President Tran Dai Quang, Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed his belief that on the basis of the firm strategic partnership, the two countries will together tap into all opportunities to consolidate, deepen and expand win-win collaboration in all fields, both bilaterally and multilaterally. President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam and Premier Pak Pong Ju of the DPRK also cabled greetings to President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, saying they believe that the Vietnamese people will attain greater achievements in building a strong nation and improving their living standards. Meanwhile, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman extended their congratulations to their Vietnamese counterparts. They expressed their wish to enhance cooperation and comprehensive partnership with Vietnam and step up win-win collaboration in all fields of mutual concern. They also hoped that both sides will continue maintaining dialogue and exchanging priority cooperation orientations in the time to come. Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and Chairman of the State Great Hural (Parliarment) Miyegombo Enkhbold also sent their congratulatory messages to President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. On the occasion, Deputy Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh received greetings from the DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Mongolian Foreign Minister Damin Tgogtbaatar. Jeremy Corbyn is facing a standards probe over failing to declare a trip to Tunisia where a wreath was laid for terrorist masterminds. The Labour leader is understood to have been contacted by the parliamentary watchdog after a complaint was made. Party sources told MailOnline he would be 'cooperating'. The trip to attend a conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2014 was funded by the Tunisian government. Scroll down for video Jeremy Corbyn is facing a standards probe over failing to declare a trip to Tunisia where a wreath was laid for terrorist masterminds Mr Corbyn faced a storm over the summer when it emerged that during the three-day visit he attended a ceremony where a wreath was laid at the graves of Palestinians linked to the Munich Olympics terrorist attack. Eyebrows were also raised that the trip was not declared on the Commons register. Mr Corbyn insists this was because the costs were below the threshold for declaration, which was 660 at the time. However, images of the opulent hotel where he stayed sparked doubts about the claim, and complaints were made to the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone. Mr Corbyn faced a storm when it emerged he attended a ceremony where a wreath was laid at the graves of Palestinians linked to the Munich Olympics terrorist attack (pictured above) Previously Ms Stone would have revealed publicly whether she was investigating Mr Corbyn. But MPs controversially voted before the summer recess to keep probes secret unless politicians are found guilty of misconduct. Mr Corbyn stayed at the five-star Le Palace hotel in Gammarth, Tunisia, where the conference in 2014 was held. The five-star Le Palace hotel in Gammarth, Tunisia, where the conference in 2014 was held According to the website for Le Palace - which overlooks the Mediterranean and boasts a pool, bars and restaurants - suites are charged at up to 1,000 a night. The cheapest rooms are currently around 170 a night, and he is thought to have checked in for two nights. Flights and transport costs are also believed to have been picked up by the Tunisian government. A South Beach hotel's assistant manager was injured after a guest angrily pushed her to the ground after she denied her a room change request. Alicia Garcia-Bernaza, whose left arm is still being supported by a protective sling, has been left wondering why officials from the Miami Beach Police Department haven't done enough to secure the arrest of the hotel patron. Garcia-Bernaza was on duty the night of August 9 when two women lodged at the hotel approached the front desk of the Beach Park Hotel seeking a new room before one of them assaulted her. 'I've never been attacked like that, never have been in a situation like that,' she told WSVN. Alicia Garcia-Bernaza got injured at her Miami Beach hotel job when an upset guest pushed her from behind in an assault captured by the hotel's surveillance system One of the two women involved in the assault of a Miami The beachfront hotel supervisor explained to the guests that per the site manager, she had no authority to accommodate their demands. According to Garcia-Bernaza's account of the shocking incident, the women became enraged as the conversation reached its boiling point. 'She was using foul language,' and I said, "I dont do foul language, I have nothing else to say to you," and I turned,' said Garcia-Bernaza. The woman with the black backpack became enraged because Alicia Garcia-Bernaza could not fulfill her request of changing their South Beach hotel room Moments after Alicia Garcia-Bernaza tried to walk away from the problem, the angry woman in the black backpack shoves her hard Alicia Garcia-Bernaza tumbles to the hotel lobby floor after the hotel guest wearing a black backpack pushes her from behind, causing the injuries to the hotel assistant manager Surveillance footage from the hotel clearly shows a woman sporting a black backpack walk up to Garcia-Bernaza, who then turns around and tries walking away before she pushes her from behind with her right hand, sending her flying to the lobby's floor. Garcia-Bernaza was diagnosed with a sore ankle from the nasty fall and has been dealing with constant headaches since. She tried seeking assistance from the town's police department, but they said they wouldn't be able to tend to her case until the following Monday, when the Chicago visitors had already left town. No charges have been filed, as of yet. A copy of the police report acquired by WSVN noted that cops arrived on the scene but Garcia-Bernaza couldn't fully identify the woman that assaulted her. In June, Kim Kardashian successfully pushed for U.S. President Donald Trump to free 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, a woman jailed since 1996 for life on nonviolent drug charges. Now, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star is asking for the release of Chris Young, a man currently serving a life sentence for similar nonviolent drug charges. Heres all you need to know about Chris Young and Kardashians efforts to free him. Young was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 following a third drug conviction in Tennessee Who is Chris Young? Chris Young is a 30-year-old man from Clarksville, Tennessee currently serving a life sentence in prison on nonviolent drug charges. Young reportedly grew up in poverty while his mother struggled for years with drug addiction. His older brother Robert committed suicide in 2007 at age 22. His death reportedly had a profound influence on the then-18-year-old, causing him to make regrettable choices in the years ahead. I felt like the only person that understood all the adversity Id been through was gone. I was lost and I made a lot of bad decisions, he said in an October 2015 interview with Vice. After working in a funeral home, Young reportedly became increasingly involved with drug dealing in the Clarksville, Tennessee area. In December 2010, he was charged with drug offenses by Federal prosecutors for being in possession of marijuana and a half a gram of cocaine. Prosecutors accused Young of being involved in drug trafficking in the Clarksville, Tennessee area and said he was buying crack cocaine from the leader of an illegal drug ring at a local gas station. Young was specifically charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and other drug and firearm-related charges. Initially offered a plea deal that included a 14-year term in prison, he rejected the offer to take his case to trial. 'What I was required to do that day was cruel,' said the judge regarding the day he sentenced Chris Young, the man @KimKardashian is trying to free from prison. https://t.co/Cn4XL3dFem Tennessean (@Tennessean) September 5, 2018 The new charges against Young subsequently triggered Federal three-strikes laws against him if he was found guilty, as he had two previous drug-related convictions which reportedly were for drugs and firearms possession in 2006 and for possession of less than half a gram of cocaine in 2007. He was ultimately convicted in August 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2014. Due to suffering from sickle cell anemia, hes also had to attend a medical facility for treatment in recent years. Despite his imprisonment, Young has reportedly dedicated himself towards furthering his education, reading extensively and even teaching himself how to write code. I look at this like Im in college. I dont get to go to frat parties or talk to women, but this is the time to get my skill set. When Im reading in my cell, its like Im studying in my dorm room, he told Vice. The Federal judge who sentenced Young to life in prison, Kevin Sharp, later spoke out against the mandatory three-strike law and expressed regret for being forced to sentence Young to life in prison. If there was any way I could have not given him life in prison I would have done it. What they did was wrong, they deserved some time in prison, but not life, he said. Speaking of defendants in drug cases, he also added: Most of the defendants are not dangerous. Theyre just kids who lack any opportunities and any supervision, lack education and have ended up doing what appears to be at the time the path of least resistance to make a living. Kardashian has recently lobbied for Young's freedom and prison reform at the White House Sharp, now in private practice, has pledged to work towards getting Youngs sentence commuted, though cautioned it could take years. However, it now looks like hell have an influential ally in his fight. Kim Kardashian, having played a key role in freeing Alice Marie Johnson earlier in 2018, is now looking to get Young freed from prison as well. The reality TV star returned to the White House on September 5 to meet with high-ranking aides to President Trump regarding prison reform and criminal justice issues. Speaking on the Wrongful Conviction podcast with Jason Flom, Kardashian said: I do talk to the White House often on this subject with Jared Kushner and he is really passionate about changing some of these laws and getting some bills passed. Hopefully some things will get passed Im hopeful. An adventurous sealion has made its way back into the ocean after spending four days trapped on land dehydrated and hungry. The sea creature was first spotted around 2am on August 31 running down a road in southeast Alaska, the chief of the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department told Anchorage Daily News. A bemused driver recorded video footage of the marine mammal making his way down a darkened street and rescue staff in the area were quickly notified. Scroll down for video The rogue sea lion on a resident's front deck, after the 1,700lb male waddled away from Sitka Harbor, in Sitka, Alaska and became stranded The Steller (or northern) sea lion is the largest member of the family Otariidae, the 'eared seals,' which includes all sea lions and fur seals Police, firefighters and scientists, above, were all involved in the effort to get it safely back to the ocean after it waddled out of the water and got lost The stranded 1,700lb male Stellar sea lion was first spotted sitting by the side of a road in a a residential area by a bewildered motorist Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Sitka Police Department, and firefighters tried to usher it to sea on Saturday. Dave Miller, chief of the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department told Anchorage Daily News: 'It started taking off went down, oh, about halfway to the water, with us sort of pushing it along with the hose,' Miller said. 'And all of a sudden, it decided "I'm done with this," and it went into the woods.' By Saturday afternoon, the animal had been left alone to rest, Miller said. 'You don't want to put too much stress on it,' he said. On September 2, scientists tweeted: 'NOAA is asking the public to clear the area in Sitka where a male Stellar sea lion is in distress, and is hiding in the woods; the incident is drawing onlookers. 'Please, for your own safety and the well-being of the animal, if you are in the area, leave.' Police, firefighters and scientists were all involved in the effort to get it safely back to the ocean after it waddled out of the water and got lost. Volunteer firefighters sprayed water on the sea lion, to try and coax it back to the ocean - to no avail But this method ended up scaring the sea lion, which then tried to make an escape The sea lion started heading for the woods to escape from the large group trying to help him The Steller (or northern) sea lion is the largest member of the family Otariidae, the 'eared seals,' which includes all sea lions and fur seals. Local law enforcement cautioned drivers in the area and started the delicate process of trying to coax the sea lion back to the ocean using a hose. But their efforts were unsuccessful because the animal had become stressed and dehydrated. On September 3 - four days after the sea lion was first spotted - rescuers made the decision to sedate it and transport it back to Sitka Harbor. The dehydrated creature then took refuge under trees, prompting the above tweet from NOAA Fisheries for members of the public to 'stay clear' of the area The mammoth creature was knocked out by a NOAA vet using a dart and rolled onto the barrel of a digger, before being placed on the back of a pick-up truck. NOAA spokesperson Julie Speegle said the snoozing sea lion was given medication to counteract the sedatives and was carefully monitored in the ocean after its release. Despite its ordeal, the mammal was munching on a fish moments after jumping into the harbor's waves from the University of Southeast Alaska boat ramp. A decision was made to sedate the mammoth sea lion, and roll him onto the front-end loader He was taken directly to the ocean, where scientists kept a close watch on him After a four-day effort, the sea lion was successfully returned to the ocean in Sitka Harbor Speegle said: 'We tried to coax the sea lion in the right direction towards the water with a fire hose. 'It worked for a little while, he was going the right way, but when he got to a road, he just veered into the woods. 'He's an adult male and weighs about 1,700lbs so there was no moving him manually. 'At this point he was tired and dehydrated. 'We decided to let him calm down; he was frightened and confused. He seemed stressed because obviously he was looking for the ocean.' He spent Sunday night under the cover of the woods, 'but he wasn't budging', Speegle said. 'On Monday, our vet came down and at 1pm they managed to sedate him using a dart. 'It was then that they were able to use a front loader and a truck to transport him back to the harbor. 'We watched him for a few hours to make sure everything was okay, but the first thing he did was eat a fish so that was a really good sign,' Speegle added. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries experts watched as he ate his first fish. The video of his release, top, was filmed by Cindy Bonner Duncan Stellar sea lions feed on cod, herring, pollock and salmon, along with octopus and squid. Sitka Volunteer Fire Department, which sprayed water on the creature, posted a video of its return to the ocean on Facebook. Local residents were happy to see the sea lion had been successfully rescued, with one person commenting: 'Lucky! Stay away from the killer whales.' Scientists involved in the rescue said it was unclear why the sea lion had ventured so far from the shore, but NOAA is keeping a close eye on the adventurous animal. Speegle said: 'We collected some scat for analysis to check his overall health and we fitted him with a satellite tag so we can track his location. 'We are involved in a lot of rescues but this situation was out of the ordinary for sure.' A young ballerina has filed a lawsuit against New York City Ballet and its former principal dancer, accusing the venerated institution of creating a 'fraternity-like' atmosphere and allowing male performers to abuse, assault and dehumanize female dancers with impunity. Alexandra Waterbury, a 19-year-old dancer, model and Ivy League college student, filed her bombshell 40-page complaint in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday containing explosive allegations against the New York City Ballet and her former boyfriend, 28-year-old Chase Finlay. The complaint obtained by DailyMail.com alleges Finlay had secretly photographed and videotaped his sexual encounters with Waterbury and shared the images and videos and other dancers, employees, NYC Ballet donors and even a sex trafficker, without her consent. Ballet dancer and model Alexandra Waterbury (pictured left in rehearsal) has filed a lawsuit against her former boyfriend and New York City Ballet principal Chase Finlay, 28 (pictured together right in May), accusing him of sexual misconduct Waterbury's bombshell lawsuit also names New York City Ballet as a defendant, accusing the high-brow institution of being a a breeding ground for sexual exploitation and fostering a 'frat-house' culture The lawsuit quoted an unnamed top donor texting Finlay: 'we should get like half a kilo [of cocaine] and put it over the girls and just violate them.' The donor went on to say: 'I bet we could tie some of them up and abuse them like farm animals,' to which Finlay replied in a text, 'or like the sluts they are,' according to his ex-girlfriends complaint. Waterbury's lawsuit comes less than a week after New York City Ballet announced that Finlay had abruptly resigned, and that two other male principals, Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catazaro, were suspended over allegations of inappropriate communications via text and email. The lawsuit points at the celebrated ballet companys workplace culture, describing it as a breeding ground for sexual exploitation where women are objectified and treated as second-class citizens. She further accuses the company of fostering a highly sexualized environment and sweeping the male principals' unlawful, reckless or degrading behavior towards women 'under the rug'. Waterbury claims that Finlay, her boyfriend of one year, had secretly photographed and videotaped his sexual encounters, and then shared the content with his colleagues Finlay and a ballet donor at one point traded texts joking that ballerinas should be dusted with cocaine 'and abused like farm animals.' He also allegedly shared one of the 19-year-old Waterbury's photos with a pimp The male dancersunderstood that they were above the law and could do whatever they wanted to women, whenever they wanted to do so just make sure it occurs in New York, where it could be controlled by [NYC Ballets] executives and management, the lawsuit alleged. Without naming the person in question, the court filing claims that one male dancer was sent to rehab after a run-in with the law concerning substance abuse and domestic violence involving a ballerina, but he was allowed to return to the dance corps a week later 'without repercussion.' 'This sent the message to Mr Finlay and other New York City Ballet male dancers and others that it was acceptable to...abuse substances and degrade, demean, dehumanize and physically abuse women, including its own employees,' the complaint reads. According to the complaint, at least one high-ranking official within the organization was aware of Finlay's substance abuse and would ask him about his partying because he would show up to work smelling of alcohol, but the institution 'buried its head in the sand' and chose not to address the principals conduct. Waterbury, pictured dancing in 2013, learned in May 2018 that her boyfriend had been recording and disseminating naked images and videos of the tow of them having sex without her consent The lawsuit says Waterbury sustained severe psychological and emotional damage, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation 'Clearly, New York City Ballet had extensive knowledge of this out-of-control, fraternity-house, abusive and sexually charged environment, but it did nothing to stop it, so long as it continued to sell tickets, Waterburys attorney wrote in the filing. The document goes into graphic detail about Chase Finlays text message exchanges with other male principals, in which they allegedly agreed to swap sexually explicit photos and videos of their girlfriends and other ballerinas. 'You have any pictures of girls you've f***ed?' Finlay allegedly said in a text sent to another person with the Ballet, along with a naked photo of Waterbury. 'I'll send you some got ballerina girls I've made scream and squirt.' Waterbury shared this snap taken on her first day of class at Columbia University on her Instagram page Tuesday The male dancers allegedly began exchanging images and photos on a text message chain in September 2017 and continued through May 2018. On one occasion, a Ballet employee allegedly texted Finlay in reference to his girlfriend: 'I want to j*** off to watching u and Alex f*** lol' and 'I cant stop looking at Alex's t**s lol.' Finlay also allegedly discussed recording the 19-year-old Waterbury performing a sex act for profit, because 'that s*** would sell.' It was not until May 15, 2018, that Waterbury, then a student at School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, discovered that Finlay, whom she had been dating for a year, had been allegedly surreptitiously videotaping her and disseminating her naked photos to agents, donors, ballet employees and fellow performers. The lawsuit claims that Waterbury sustained severe psychological and emotional damage, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation as a result of Finlays actions and those of the ballet company. She is suing her ex-boyfriend and his former employer for negligence, intentional affliction of emotional distress, assault, battery and invasion of privacy. Waterburys lawsuit is seeking unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages and attorney's fees. The plaintiff is currently an undergraduate student at the School of General Studies at Columbia University and a dancer at the Columbia Ballet Collaborative. Waterbury also has been modelling with the agency Wilhelmina International from the time she was a teenager. DailyMail.com on Wednesday reached out to New York City Ballet for comment on the lawsuit. Giving statins to the healthy elderly could be a waste of time, a major study claims. The research, involving 47,000 over-75s, found no evidence that they make any difference to low-risk patients. Scientists said their results 'do not support the widespread use of statins' in this group. The news threatens to inflame the row about the pros and cons of the drugs, which reduce levels of so-called 'bad' cholesterol to prevent heart disease. Since 2014, all over-75s in Britain have been eligible to take statins which cost no more than 20 a year even if they are in perfect health. Giving statins to the healthy elderly could be a waste of time, a major study claims This approach known as primary prevention means anyone with a 10 per cent chance of getting heart disease within ten years should have the medication. The just-in-case strategy means all over-75s, most over-60s and some as young as 30 are eligible for the pills. Experts agree that statins are lifesavers for two million people who have heart disease or diabetes particularly those who have already had a heart attack or a stroke. But many doctors question what they call the 'over-medicalisation' of the further ten million healthy people who are eligible for statins based on the likelihood that they might become ill. Of the total of 12million eligible, many are reluctant to take a pill for no obvious reason. As a result, only around six million agree to take the drugs. Professor Colin Baigent (pictured), of the University of Oxford, has criticised the way the study was designed The latest findings, published in the British Medical Journal, suggest most elderly people do not actually benefit from the pills. Spanish scientists, led by the Catalan Institute of Health and the University of Girona, tracked 46,864 people over 75. The participants none of whom had heart disease at the beginning of the study were monitored for six years. For most, the scientists found no evidence that use of statins resulted in a reduction in cardiovascular disease or deaths. The only people who benefited were those with type 2 diabetes aged 75 to 84, for whom the risk of cardiovascular disease went down by 24 per cent and the risk they would die during the study fell by 16 per cent. But even for this group, the protective effect fell after 85 and disappeared by the age of 90. The researchers, led by Dr Rafel Ramos, said statin use for the elderly had increased around the world despite a lack of evidence for any benefit, even though the elderly are more prone to side-effects. The report concluded: 'These results do not support the widespread use of statins in old populations, but do support treatment in those with type 2 diabetes younger than 85.' But Professor Colin Baigent, of the University of Oxford, criticised the way the study was designed, adding: 'The problem with this type of study, which used routine health records, is that it is a very unreliable way to determine the effects of statins on the risk of heart attacks and strokes. 'The only suitable method is a clinical trial where people are allocated to a statin or to no statin entirely at random.' Business rates must be completely overhauled if the High Street is to survive, a lobby group for small firms has warned. Surging rates are adding to the burden on small shops as they are crushed by foreign internet giants such as Amazon sparking a crisis which has already destroyed 50,000 retail jobs this year. Now, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has demanded a reform of the tax to give shopkeepers a better chance of survival. In a series of demands which echo the Mail's Save Our High Streets campaign, the FSB is calling for a freeze on rates from April 2019; a 1,000 discount for local shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs; extra relief for small firms in London, which pay over the odds at present due to sky-high property prices, and a faster appeals process to end the farce which sees small businesses forced to pay too much tax, and then left in limbo for months before their bills are corrected. Business rates must be completely overhauled if the High Street is to survive, a lobby group for small firms has warned. Pictured, Peascod Street in Windsor The group is also demanding a full review of consumers' access to cash amid a wave of bank branch and ATM closures. It would like the Post Office network to be properly protected so shopkeepers and shoppers can use the organisation to deposit cash and cheques in areas where all the banks have shut, without fear it will also be downsized. Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, said: 'It's clear the pressure is mounting. Spiralling business rates and ever-increasing rents are piling on to small retailers, hospitality businesses and others on the High Street. 'The high cost of town centre parking, poor infrastructure, the blight of potholes and the loss of vital banking services are also ramping up the pressure. 'We know that small business owners are resilient and are used to adapting to market forces. But we want to see the Government and local authorities come together to look at real solutions to these issues so that our high streets are not only able to survive, but to thrive.' The plans last night won support from senior politicians. Chancellor Philip Hammond has refused to take action on rates, despite coming under intense pressure to do so Labour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: 'It is important to make sure that not only do high street businesses receive the support they need to see them through these challenging times for retail, but also that local authorities receive funding to compensate them for any reduction in revenue from business rates. 'These issues are extremely urgent and I hope the Chancellor addresses them in his autumn Budget.' Chancellor Philip Hammond has refused to take action on rates, despite coming under intense pressure to do so. The rates are widely believed to need major reform, but they are predicted to bring in 30.8 billion in this financial year and are relied on by councils to pay their bills. A Treasury spokesman said: 'We've introduced more than 10 billion of business rate support to help our high streets, so many bricks-and-mortar businesses now pay no rates at all. 'We've appointed an expert panel of industry leaders, with a survey due to launch later this year, to diagnose the issues currently affecting our high streets, and advise on the best long-term approach to help their revival.' The former Vogue assistant accused of stealing $50,000 from Grace Coddington appeared in court in Manhattan on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to grand larceny. Yvonne Bannigan, 25, appeared for a brief hearing with her attorney at Manhattan's Criminal Court for the first time since denying the charges earlier this summer. She will return to court on November 7 when her lawyers will motion to dismiss the case against her. Wearing a knee-length pussybow dress and black flats, she was emotionless as she made her way in and out of the courtroom. Bannigan is accused of spending more than $50,000 on Coddington's credit card and pocketing $9,000 of profits from consigning the former Vogue creative director's designer goods with The Real Real. Yvonne Bannigan, 25, appeared in court in Manhattan on Wednesday. She is charged with grand larceny for allegedly stealing $50,000 from her boss, Vogue editor-at-large Grace Coddington, over a two-year period while working as her assistant She claims it is a 'misunderstanding'. Bannigan, who is from Dublin, Ireland, worked for Coddington between 2016 and 2018. Coddington is now the magazine's editor-at-large. The dispute arose in April when she allegedly discovered the credit card transactions and confronted Bannigan. She insists that she told her they were legitimate and to go to the police if she had any concerns. Coddington followed suit and reported her allegations to the police. Bannigan was charged in May. Her attorney Michael Cornacchia said Coddington was meticulous about checking her credit cards and would have known if she was being stolen from. On Wednesday, he told DailyMail.com he was hopeful she would be vindicated at trial. Bannigan is shown right with her lawyer Michael Cornacchia. She pleaded not guilty to grand larceny in July. The case will return to court in November when her lawyer will file a motion to dismiss the charges Bannigan's attorney said the allegations are 'misunderstanding' which he hopes will be explained away at trial. Grace Coddington (right) is Vogue's editor-at-large 'Today went well from our view since we can finally learn the specifics of the accusations by Grace Coddington and their bases, the alleged evidence of which, heretofore, has been solely in the possession of the prosecution. 'This being so, this is the beginning of addressing those charges and mounting Yvonne's defense which we believe will ultimately lead to her being found innocent of all accusations,' he said. Earlier, he suggested Coddington would have noticed if her assistants had been doing anything untoward with credit cards because she checked her statements regularly. Bannigan worked for the Vogue icon for two years. They are pictured together in a Twitter photograph from her account 'Never, ever during these two years did Coddington, who checked her credit card statements and kept track of her possessions, complain to Yvonne or anyone else about Yvonne's conduct or any misuse of credit cards or misappropriation of any of her property. 'In fact, Yvonne was the one who suggested that Coddington go to the police to report the questioned charges and Coddington went to the police the next day with Yvonne's encouragement,' he told The Irish Independent newspaper earlier this year. Coddington has not commented on the scandal. Disturbing footage has emerged of an aged care worker hitting a terrified elderly patient with a shoe before dragging him onto a bed and tearing his shirt off. The carer, 35, allegedly entered an 82-year-old patient's room at a nursing home in Seaforth, on Sydney's northern beaches, multiple times between August 26 and 28. CCTV footage from inside the aged care facility shows the patient cowering in fear as the employee repeatedly hit him with the shoe and forced him to undress. Disturbing footage has emerged of an aged care worker hitting an elderly patient with a shoe before dragging him onto a bed and tearing his shirt off The carer, 35, allegedly entered the 82-year-old patient's room at a nursing home in Seaforth, on Sydney's northern beaches, multiple times between August 26 and 28 Police arrested the employee at a home in Wheeler Heights just before 2pm on Wednesday and took him to Manly Police Station. He was charged with two counts of common assault, and use of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence. Superintendent David Darcy from Northern Beaches Police Area Command said elder abuse can take various forms, from physical to psychological, emotional or financial. 'These vulnerable people need the community's help to be their voice,' Superintendent Darcy said. 'To see an elderly man treated in this way is disgraceful.' The man was granted conditional bail and will appear at Manly Local Court on September 11. CCTV footage from inside the aged care facility shows the patient being hit with a shoe before having his shirt ripped off It is now more than a year since our beautiful son Charlie lost his life seven days short of his first birthday. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Sometimes it feels as if Charlies father Chris and I have lived an eternity since then. But, throughout the bewildering aftermath, there has been one constant: our unwavering belief that something had to change to ensure that other parents do not have to go through the same heartrending battle we fought to try to save the life of our son. It would, we agreed, be our way of honouring him and making sure his short life was not in vain. Connie Yates, right, said she and Charlie's father Chris Gard are determined that their infant son's death - just shy of his first birthday - was not in vain Peers in the House of Lords are debating legislation which could introduce 'Charlie's Law' Charlie's Law will give parents a greater say in the treatment of their loved ones Thats why were absolutely delighted that a new law was laid before Parliament last night which is the first step toward Charlies law a law that will eventually will give parents of sick children or any loved ones fighting for someone who cannot speak for themselves a voice. The introduction of better access to mediation and medical ethics committees, combined with the right for parent to seek treatment for their children that wont cause them harm would we believe help eliminate some of the conflict that can all too easily arise between medical professionals and parents in complex cases. It was just such a conflict which Chris and I found ourselves mired within after Charlie was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital two months after his birth in August 2016. There, he was diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. As any parent of a profoundly ill child will testify, a diagnosis like this is its own kind of hell, one characterised by helplessness, anxiety and fear. The family said the disagreement with Great Ormond Street Hospital over Charlie's treatment led to friction. Under the new legislation, mediation will be compulsory in law Yet in our case that hell was exacerbated when we found ourselves in disagreement with doctors at GOSH over the best course of action for our son. After extensive research and after speaking to many experts all over the world, Chris and I were both convinced that experimental but potentially life saving treatment available in the US would give Charlie his best chance of life. His doctors initially agreed. But then changed their minds. We couldnt countenance it. Would any parent, while there was still a fighting chance that their child could live? Anxious to keep the lines of communication open, we requested mediation one of the proposals we now hope will be made compulsory in law. If we could get everyone around the table, we believed, then we could all air our thoughts in a constructive and transparent way. That didnt happen. Instead matters quickly became antagonistic, escalating to a bitter courtroom battle. According to Ms Yates, the lack of communication between her family and the hospital quickly led to a breakdown in relations with the hospital seeking to end Charlie's life by court order Its impossible for anyone who has not been in our situation to really understand how bewildering and overwhelming everything was. Like many people, I had occasionally seen news stories of grim-faced parents going into battle for their sick children and thinking it would never happen to us. But suddenly there we were, not only worried sick about our son but also forced into a position where the hospital took us to court to end our sons life. We did so without legal aid and with very little support, facing an NHS with vastly superior resources. It felt like the odds were stacked against us from the start. Looking back, we lost most of our autonomy the moment we stepped through the hospital doors. If youre caring for a child at home, you as a parent get to make decisions people dont interfere unless you are or are likely to cause your child significant harm. Yet, in our experience, once Charlie was in hospital, much of that choice seemed to dissipate. Medical experts back 'Charlie's Law' The campaign by Connie Yates and Chris Gard is backed by an impressive array of medical and political heavyweights. Significantly, given their high-profile showdown with doctors last year, they have won the backing of a number of leading medical specialists. Today the Mail can unveil the first politicians and doctors who are publicly championing Charlies Law. The group of big-hitters is starkly different to some of the campaigners with varying agendas who attached themselves to the couple last year. They include Baroness Hollins, a former president and chairman of the British Medical Association. A world expert on childrens health, she entered the Lords as a crossbench peer in 2010. She is a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and led a World Health Organisation steering group on the health of children and young people with intellectual disabilities. Another backer is Dominic Wilkinson, one of the countrys leading doctors for newborns. The consultant neonatologist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford took the side of doctors against Charlies parents. But now he is convinced the couple are seeking a proportionate and correct solution. His voice carries significant weight, as he is also associate editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics and managing editor of the Journal of Practical Ethics. A third expert backing the campaign is Julian Savulescu, an Oxford philosopher specialising in medical ethics. He said: Charlies Law is an important step forwards into the 21st century. The dispute at the heart of the case of Charlie Gard was fundamentally ethical, not medical. It was about what constitutes a childs best interests. Advertisement It seemed to us a form of madness that even though we had other doctors who were willing to treat our son and it was widely accepted there were no adverse side effects to what we proposed we Charlies parents, and the ones who loved him more than anyone in the world still werent able to make that decision for him. Even though what we wanted wouldnt cause him harm it could have saved his life. There was also a good deal of misunderstanding in the wider world about what we wanted. The experimental treatment we sought (a word that applies to any treatment in its infancy) was tried and tested. This was no wacky, throw-anything-at-the-problem solution. Even paracetamol was once experimental and I think people forget that. I should emphasise that we only want autonomy where its appropriate. If a parent is refusing life-saving treatment for their child, then the doctors wishes should prevail. Our proposed legislation is about striking a much-needed balance that we passionately feel has been absent to date. Its a balance that prominent figures in the world of politics, ethics and medicine agree is sorely needed too. Among them is Professor Dominic Wilkinson, a consultant neonatologist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford, who, as an outspoken supporter of GOSH in our disagreement over Charlies care, was once on an opposing side of the fence to us. Engaging in open dialogue with people with whom have previously disagreed, like Professor Wilkinson, has not been easy but we have done so as in this we are united by the understanding that things have to change. Indeed, what I have learned in the past few months, is that doctors want to find a solution to these conflicts as much as parents, not least because the march of technology and medical advances means there are likely to be more and more cases like Charlies. Its why Chris and I fervently hope that Lord Mackay of Clashferns amendment to the Governments Mental Capacity Bill, currently being debated in the Lords, will become law later this year, representing the first step toward Charlies Law. It is a hope that keeps us going through some of the darker times we have faced and continue to face while grieving for the son we think about every second of every day. We will never know whether the experimental treatment we so fervently wanted for him would have worked. But we do know that we should have been able to try it and that there is a chance Charlie may still have been with us if we had. Its for that reason that neither of us will rest until we know that the law ensures that other families will be spared our heartache in future and will not have to live with the what ifs like we do. At a meeting with Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Laos Pany Yathotou, the two sides agreed to strengthen the supervision and facilitation of the implementation of Vietnam-Laos investment cooperation projects, as well as support necessary modifications and supplements on legal policies and mechanisms to boost affiliation in trade and investment. The two sides pledged to continue supporting each other at regional and international forums, as well as sub-regional cooperation mechanisms; deepening the cooperation and connectivity of the ASEAN community; and strengthening solidarity and the central role and voice of ASEAN in regional strategic issues, including the East Sea. Both nations will coordinate to carry out a memorandum of understanding on building the headquarters of the Lao National Assembly. While meeting with Vice President of the Senate of Cambodia Tep Ngorn, Ty said he hopes the two countries will actively implement the cooperation agreement signed by their parliaments; increase supervision on the realisation of cooperation deals inked between not only the two governments but the respective ministries, departments, and localities, especially in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area; and share a common voice supporting the respective standpoints at regional and international forums. Vice Chairman Ty suggested that Cambodias National Assembly pay closer attention to working with their Vietnamese counterpart to urge their governments to sign a new supplementary treaty to the Border Demarcation Treaty signed in 1958 and the Supplementary Treaty to the 1985 treaty inked in 2005 to soon legalise 84 percent of work which has been done and complete the land border demarcation between the two countries. He also hoped that Cambodia would soon resolve legal papers for Vietnamese Khmer people to stabilise their lives in the long run, thus making active contributions to the hosts prosperity development, as well as enhance the bilateral friendship. During a meeting with Vice President of the Moroccan House of Representatives Abdelaziz Omarihai, the two sides agreed to promote a close coordination mechanism at multilateral forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF), and other parliamentary organisations. They were unanimous in agreeing to jointly scrutinize the implementation of agreements signed between their governments and ministries to bring practical benefits to both. Vice Chairman Ty conveyed the greetings of National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to the President of the Moroccan House of Representatives and added that the Vietnamese top legislator will visit Morocco in an appropriate time. A new law in memory of tragic baby Charlie Gard was laid before Parliament last night in a bid to spare other families courtroom clashes with doctors. When Charlie died last year, his mother Connie Yates and father Chris Gard vowed their little boy would make a difference to the world. They have won the backing of prominent doctors and peers to change the law to give parents more rights over what happens to sick children. They want parents to be allowed to move their children to a different, reputable hospital if they disagree with doctors. Last night Lord Mackay of Clashfern, who was lord chancellor under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, started the parliamentary process to usher in Charlies Law. Chris Gard and Connie Yates vowed they would fight to save other parents the heartbreak of having to battle with medics over possible treatment for their critically ill children such as the way they were forced to go to the High Court over their son, Charlie, picture right After a year-long battle, peers in the House of Lords are debating a change to legislation which could see the introduction of Charlie's Law - allowing parents a greater say in their child's treatment He tabled an amendment to the Mental Capacity Bill, which is being debated in the Lords. It could become law later this year unless ministers block it. Charlie was born healthy in August 2016 but at two months he became ill with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. When Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital in London said there was no hope, his parents wanted to take him to America for treatment. The hospital opposed this move and, following lengthy court battles, Charlie died on July 28 last year after being taken off life support. Baron Mackay of Clashfern, left, and Baroness Sheila Hollins, right, are both supporters of Charlie's Law in the House of Lords Charlies Law would compel hospitals to offer mediation with parents to resolve disputes before resorting to courts. It would also force the Government to provide access to clinical ethics committees to advise doctors and parents on life and death decisions. And most crucially it would empower parents to seek treatment elsewhere. Lord Mackays amendment deals with the first two ideas, initially for adults only, and it is intended to add the third idea and extend all of it to children later. The peer said: Everyone agrees we need a solution to prolonged and distressing legal conflicts over medical treatment. I am happy to have laid this amendment which seeks to prevent cases reaching court unnecessarily. This is a proportionate and long-overdue measure which I hope will be the first small step toward realising Charlies Law. For more information, click here 'No other family should be put through our heartache': In her own poignant words Charlie Gards mother, CONNIE YATES tells why she will never stop fighting for Charlie's Law It is now more than a year since our beautiful son Charlie lost his life seven days short of his first birthday. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Sometimes it feels as if Charlies father Chris and I have lived an eternity since then. But, throughout the bewildering aftermath, there has been one constant: our unwavering belief that something had to change to ensure that other parents do not have to go through the same heartrending battle we fought to try to save the life of our son. It would, we agreed, be our way of honouring him and making sure his short life was not in vain. Connie Yates, right, said she and Charlie's father Chris Gard are determined that their infant son's death - just shy of his first birthday - was not in vain Peers in the House of Lords are debating legislation which could introduce 'Charlie's Law' Charlie's Law will give parents a greater say in the treatment of their loved ones Thats why were absolutely delighted that a new law was laid before Parliament last night which is the first step toward Charlies law a law that will eventually will give parents of sick children or any loved ones fighting for someone who cannot speak for themselves a voice. The introduction of better access to mediation and medical ethics committees, combined with the right for parent to seek treatment for their children that wont cause them harm would we believe help eliminate some of the conflict that can all too easily arise between medical professionals and parents in complex cases. It was just such a conflict which Chris and I found ourselves mired within after Charlie was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital two months after his birth in August 2016. There, he was diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. As any parent of a profoundly ill child will testify, a diagnosis like this is its own kind of hell, one characterised by helplessness, anxiety and fear. The family said the disagreement with Great Ormond Street Hospital over Charlie's treatment led to friction. Under the new legislation, mediation will be compulsory in law Yet in our case that hell was exacerbated when we found ourselves in disagreement with doctors at GOSH over the best course of action for our son. After extensive research and after speaking to many experts all over the world, Chris and I were both convinced that experimental but potentially life saving treatment available in the US would give Charlie his best chance of life. His doctors initially agreed. But then changed their minds. We couldnt countenance it. Would any parent, while there was still a fighting chance that their child could live? Anxious to keep the lines of communication open, we requested mediation one of the proposals we now hope will be made compulsory in law. If we could get everyone around the table, we believed, then we could all air our thoughts in a constructive and transparent way. That didnt happen. Instead matters quickly became antagonistic, escalating to a bitter courtroom battle. According to Ms Yates, the lack of communication between her family and the hospital quickly led to a breakdown in relations with the hospital seeking to end Charlie's life by court order Its impossible for anyone who has not been in our situation to really understand how bewildering and overwhelming everything was. Like many people, I had occasionally seen news stories of grim-faced parents going into battle for their sick children and thinking it would never happen to us. But suddenly there we were, not only worried sick about our son but also forced into a position where the hospital took us to court to end our sons life. We did so without legal aid and with very little support, facing an NHS with vastly superior resources. It felt like the odds were stacked against us from the start. Looking back, we lost most of our autonomy the moment we stepped through the hospital doors. If youre caring for a child at home, you as a parent get to make decisions people dont interfere unless you are or are likely to cause your child significant harm. Yet, in our experience, once Charlie was in hospital, much of that choice seemed to dissipate. Medical experts back 'Charlie's Law' The campaign by Connie Yates and Chris Gard is backed by an impressive array of medical and political heavyweights. Significantly, given their high-profile showdown with doctors last year, they have won the backing of a number of leading medical specialists. Today the Mail can unveil the first politicians and doctors who are publicly championing Charlies Law. The group of big-hitters is starkly different to some of the campaigners with varying agendas who attached themselves to the couple last year. They include Baroness Hollins, a former president and chairman of the British Medical Association. A world expert on childrens health, she entered the Lords as a crossbench peer in 2010. She is a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and led a World Health Organisation steering group on the health of children and young people with intellectual disabilities. Another backer is Dominic Wilkinson, one of the countrys leading doctors for newborns. The consultant neonatologist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford took the side of doctors against Charlies parents. But now he is convinced the couple are seeking a proportionate and correct solution. His voice carries significant weight, as he is also associate editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics and managing editor of the Journal of Practical Ethics. A third expert backing the campaign is Julian Savulescu, an Oxford philosopher specialising in medical ethics. He said: Charlies Law is an important step forwards into the 21st century. The dispute at the heart of the case of Charlie Gard was fundamentally ethical, not medical. It was about what constitutes a childs best interests. Advertisement It seemed to us a form of madness that even though we had other doctors who were willing to treat our son and it was widely accepted there were no adverse side effects to what we proposed we Charlies parents, and the ones who loved him more than anyone in the world still werent able to make that decision for him. Even though what we wanted wouldnt cause him harm it could have saved his life. There was also a good deal of misunderstanding in the wider world about what we wanted. The experimental treatment we sought (a word that applies to any treatment in its infancy) was tried and tested. This was no wacky, throw-anything-at-the-problem solution. Even paracetamol was once experimental and I think people forget that. I should emphasise that we only want autonomy where its appropriate. If a parent is refusing life-saving treatment for their child, then the doctors wishes should prevail. Our proposed legislation is about striking a much-needed balance that we passionately feel has been absent to date. Its a balance that prominent figures in the world of politics, ethics and medicine agree is sorely needed too. Among them is Professor Dominic Wilkinson, a consultant neonatologist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford, who, as an outspoken supporter of GOSH in our disagreement over Charlies care, was once on an opposing side of the fence to us. Engaging in open dialogue with people with whom have previously disagreed, like Professor Wilkinson, has not been easy but we have done so as in this we are united by the understanding that things have to change. Indeed, what I have learned in the past few months, is that doctors want to find a solution to these conflicts as much as parents, not least because the march of technology and medical advances means there are likely to be more and more cases like Charlies. Its why Chris and I fervently hope that Lord Mackay of Clashferns amendment to the Governments Mental Capacity Bill, currently being debated in the Lords, will become law later this year, representing the first step toward Charlies Law. It is a hope that keeps us going through some of the darker times we have faced and continue to face while grieving for the son we think about every second of every day. We will never know whether the experimental treatment we so fervently wanted for him would have worked. But we do know that we should have been able to try it and that there is a chance Charlie may still have been with us if we had. Its for that reason that neither of us will rest until we know that the law ensures that other families will be spared our heartache in future and will not have to live with the what ifs like we do. The Michigan parents who killed their three-year-old daughter while potty training her and then buried her body will face up to 40 years in prison. Erika Finley, 29, and Khairy Simon, 27, murdered their daughter Kimora, stuffed her body in a backpack, and buried her beside railroad tracks near their home in Flint. Finley was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison for Kimora's 2015 death. She was also sentenced five to 10 years in prison for second-degree child abuse, which will run concurrent to the murder sentence. Simon was sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison. He received a lighter sentence because he tried to help authorities locate Kimora's body. The young girl's remains were never found. Police believe they may have been taken by animals. Erika Finley, 29, (pictured during her sentencing on Wednesday) was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison after she killed her three-year-old daughter while potty training her in 2015 Khairy Simon, 27, (pictured Wednesday) will also face up to 40 years in prison for his daughter's death. He confessed to burying Kimora's near their Flint, Michigan home Simon revealed in June that Finley repeatedly punched Kimora and hit her with an extension cord while they were trying to potty train her. He said he tried to stop Finley, but that she was 'much bigger' than him and 'at the time, she felt like she had to get her point across'. Simon revealed in June that Finley repeatedly punched Kimora (pictured) and hit her with an extension cord while they were trying to potty train her Simon told the judge that Finley put Kimora's body in a garbage bag before stuffing it into a backpack. He then buried his daughter by their home. Authorities have said they believe both Finley and Simon killed Kimora together. Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey L Neithercut did not hold back as he delivered the sentences on Wednesday, calling the parents 'selfish'. 'Ms Finley, you have a stain on your soul,' he said in the courtroom. 'The heinous act that you did causes every mother in this community to wonder why. Every parent in this community is appalled.' Finley previously pleaded no contest to charges including second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse in the presence of another child, tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer, and welfare fraud. Simon previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and removing a dead body without permission of the medical examiner. Simon told the judge that Finley put Kimora's body in a garbage bag before stuffing it into a backpack. He then buried his daughter by their home Finley must also pay $7,386 in restitution after cashing welfare checks for Kimora for more than a year-and-a-half after murdering her daughter. She is pictured here hiding her face before her sentencing on Wednesday Neithercut said both would have received life sentences if the case had gone to trial and a jury found them guilty. Instead both Finley and Simon chose to accept plea agreements this summer. Finley must also pay $7,386 in restitution after cashing welfare checks for Kimora for more than a year-and-a-half after murdering her daughter, according to The Flint Journal. An investigation into the parents began after someone reported to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that they could be abusing their son. When an employee from the department asked where Kimora was, Finley said she was in Detroit with Simon. But Simon provided a conflicting story about Kimora, raising red flags. An investigation into the parents began after someone reported to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that they could be abusing their son Relatives then revealed that they had not seen Kimora in more than a year and Simon's girlfriend of eight months said she had never even met his daughter. Both Finley and Simon read apologies during their sentencing on Wednesday. 'I can't tell how you much I miss Kimora,' Finley wrote. 'I can't tell you how sorry I am.' 'I realize I have to be punished. I know that no matter how much time I do, it's not going to bring my daughter back.' Neithercut was not impressed with Finley's letter and said she 'tried to shift some of the blame' to Simon. Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey L Neithercut (pictured on Wednesday) did not hold back as he delivered the sentences on Wednesday, calling the parents 'selfish' 'You could have stopped what happened,' he said. 'Then I find out you had the audacity to collect welfare for more than a year after this child's death.' 'What a fraud on this town.' Simon asked for forgiveness in his letter, adding: 'I want to apologize to everyone that this situation affected'. Neithercut called Simon's 'participation' in the murder 'selfish and cruel and sad'. Both Finley and Simon will be eligible for parole in 15 years or less. Kimora's two brothers are now living with a foster family that plans to permanently adopt them. A Republican lawmaker threw himself into his prior job as an auctioneer to drown out a protester who accused Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey of trying to help Democrats 'steal' the election. Missouri Rep. Billy Long's high-speed counter-protest came after a woman stood up while holding her cell phone and began yelling during a House committee hearing with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey's second congressional appearance of the day was interrupted by a woman in a blue dress. Republican Rep. Billy Long from Missouri drowned out a protester by doing an auction routine She accused the Twitter CEO of helping Democrats 'steal' the election a possible reference to complaints voiced by President Trump and other conservatives that social media are silencing conservative views in search results. 'Jack Dorsey is trying to influence the election to sway the election so that the democrats can steal the election,' the woman yelled, while appearing to film herself with a cell phone. Conservative activist Laura Loomer said she was the one who got ejected after the protest. That sent Missouri GOP Rep. Billy Long into a routine he honed as a professional auctioneer. Conservative activist Laura Loomer interrupted a congressional hearing Conservative activist Laura Loomer and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars both managed to generate headlines Wednesday 'Whatd she say I cant understand her?' he asked into a microphone. Then he began the high-speed auction. 'How about a 12 and half, 15,' he said. Soon he was on to '50 dollar down.' 'Officer, will you escort this young lady out please,' said panel chair Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon while Long kept filling the air. 'Four and a quarter. Four and a half. We're selling the cell phone there,' quipped Long. Long joked about selling her cell phone during his auction He finally reached 'five and a half' meaning $550, before saying, 'I yield back.' At that point, the crowd of attendees burst into laughter. 'Somehow I think our auctioneer in residence is going to get tweeted about today,' said Walden. Loomer wrote on her Twitter account that Dorsey 'lied under oath when he said he doesnt shadow ban or censor Conservatives.' She added: 'Today I spoke for the SILENT MAJORITY.' Earlier, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey become the latest tech executives to get a grilling from Congress over foreign manipulation Tuesday, where angry Republicans also probe them on President Donald Trump's charges of bias. The pair appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee as Russian election meddling continues to loom over Congress with the mid-terms just two months away and the value of both company stocks took an immediate dive. Twitter's stock plunged 6 per cent during Dorsey's testimony. By early afternoon, it was off 5 per cent. Early in the hearing, panel vice chair Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said regulation is in the cards. 'Congress is going to have to take action here,' said Warner, who was a telecomm investor before he came to Congress. 'The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end,' he said. Sworn in: Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO and second-most senior executive, and Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO and co-founder, take the oath before being questioned by senators on the Intelligence Committee Facebook's stock was down nearly 2 per cent at the start of the hearing. Some lawmakers immediately took shots at another tech giant, Google, who wasn't there. The firm, the subject of recent complaints by Trump about supposed anti-conservative bias in search programs was represented by an empty chair next to its tech competitors. Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio said executives 'don't want to be here to answer these questions,' then posited: 'Maybe because they're arrogant.' Google's parent company Alphabet was also down almost 2 per cent. President Trump warned last week the firms were 'treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.' Twitter shares were down 6 per cent in trading during Dorsey's testimony, CNBC reported. Trump has called Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe a 'witch hunt,' but the intelligence community has concluded that the Kremlin orchestrated efforts to manipulate social media platforms to try to sway the electorate and sow divisions. The firms said shoring up defenses for their platforms was a 'national security priority.' Sandberg compared the effort to stay ahead of would-be manipulators overseas to an arms race. 'We are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting,' she said. Senators wanted Larry Page, the chief executive officer of Google's parent company Alphabet, to testify. The company instead offered Google's senior vice president for global affairs and chief legal officer Kent Walker, who lawmakers said was not senior enough to answer their questions. Senators left an empty chair for Google after the company declined to send an executive the lawmakers deemed senior enough to testify Testifying: Jack Dorsey and Sherly Sandberg are testifying on election interference and their preparations for the mid-terms with less than two months until voting Big event: The Senate committee room was packed for the evidence from the Facebook and Twitter leaders Making his point: Alex Jones of Infowars held an impromptu press conference outside the committee hearing where Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey were being quizzed on Facebook and Twitter's election security Banned: Alex Jones of Infowars, who has been kicked off Twitter, was in the audience for the hearing and had interrupted a live CNBC broadcast just beforehand Walker said he will be submitting written testimony to the committee and will be in Washington to brief lawmakers on Google's efforts to combat possible foreign influence operations. Trump has upped his criticism of social media firms, accusing them of interfering in both the 2016 and 2018 elections. 'I think they already have,' he told the Daily Caller in an interview published Wednesday. He then switched to 2016, where special counsel Robert Mueller has been probing Russian interference to harm Democrat Hillary Clinton and boost Trump. 'I mean the true interference in the last election was that if you look at all, virtually all of those companies are super liberal companies in favor of Hillary Clinton,' Trump said. He continued, without providing any concrete evidence: 'Maybe I did a better job because I'm good with the Twitter and I'm good at social media, but the truth is they were all on Hillary Clinton's side, and if you look at what was going on with Facebook and with Google and all of it, they were very much on her side,' Trump said. The execs are defending their companies against lawmakers who say they aren't doing enough combat continuing foreign efforts to influence American politics. Sandberg, who will testify alongside Dorsey, will acknowledge to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the company was too slow to respond to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election and American society, but insist it is doing better. 'That's on us,' she wrote in prepared testimony released by Facebook. 'This interference was completely unacceptable. It violated the values of our company and of the country we love.' Sandberg says the platform is 'now blocking millions of attempts to register false accounts each and every day' and is 'making progress on fake news.' 'As these past few weeks and months have shown, this work is starting to pay off.' She said the accounts are taken down if they are foreign or domestic. Dorsey, who broke with tradition and did not wear a tie to testify, said Twitter is identify 8 to 10 million suspicious accounts every week. Dorsey, in prepared testimony for a House committee, pushes back on the allegations of bias. 'Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules,' he plans to say. 'We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially. We do not shadowban anyone based on political ideology. In fact, from a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform,' he will tell the Energy and Commerce Committee. 'We've removed hundreds of pages and accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior - meaning they misled others about who they were and what they were doing,' Sandberg said in written testimony released on Tuesday. Warner said questions remain on where the tech companies will go moving forward and that will likely require Congressional action. 'Each of you have come a long way with respect to recognizing the threat,' he said. 'The bad news, I'm afraid, is that there is a lot of work still to do. And I'm skeptical that, ultimately, you'll be able to truly address this challenge on your own. Congress is going to have to take action here.' 'The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end,' he said. 'Where we go from here is an open question.' 'I mean the true interference in the last election was that if you look at all, virtually all of those companies are super liberal companies in favor of Hillary Clinton,' President Trump told the Daily Caller, diminishing conclusions of Russian interference Facebook, Twitter and other technology firms have been on the defensive for many months over political influence activity on their sites as well as concerns over user privacy. Their executives have traveled to Washington several times to testify in Congress, including 10 hours of questioning of Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over two days in April. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been looking into Russian efforts to influence U.S. public opinion throughout Trump's presidency, after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that entities backed by the Kremlin had sought to boost his chances of winning the White House in 2016. Moscow denies involvement, and Trump - backed by some of his fellow Republicans in Congress - has repeatedly dismissed investigations of the issue as a partisan witch hunt or hoax. Some Republicans have also charged social media companies with bias against Trump and other conservatives. Twitter's Dorsey was to follow his Senate testimony on Wednesday morning with an appearance at an afternoon hearing looking at that issue in the House of Representatives. Here to reassure: Jack Dorsey and Sheryl Sandberg are trying to convince senators on the Intelligence Committee that their social networks are ready for the midterms Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg acknowledged the company was too slow to respond to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election Dorsey will tell the House Energy and Commerce Committee that Twitter 'does not use political ideology to make any decisions,' according to written testimony also made public on Tuesday. Trump faulted Twitter on July 26, without citing any evidence, for limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans through a practice known as shadow banning. Last week Trump 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. Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House, but the House's approach to the election issue has been far more partisan than in the Senate. In the Senate, both the Republican Intelligence Committee chairman, Richard Burr, and Democratic vice chairman, Mark Warner, said they called Wednesday's hearing to press the social media companies to do more. Last night Russia accused Britain of tinkering with Gatwick CCTV images of the two alleged Novichok spies. Pictures show Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov separately walking through gates at the airport. But the images are timed at the same moment - 16:22:43. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said: 'Either the date and the exact time were overlaid on the image, or the staff of the Russian GRU learned to walk simultaneously - but their images are captured in two different photographs.' Last night police said the wanted men walk through customs before being faced with a number of automatic gates. They split up to and each go down a different thin corridor at the same time. CCTV of Ruslan Boshirov at Gatwick airport on March 2 2018. The CPS has issued European Arrest Warrants for the extradition of Boshirov and Alexander Petrov Russian National Alexander Petrov at Gatwick airport at on March 2 2018. The CPS has issued European Arrest Warrants for the extradition of Ruslan Boshirov and Petrov in connection with the Novichok poisoning attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March At arrivals at Gatwick Airport you leave the plane before heading to passport control and then move to collect your bags at the carousels. You then go through the section of the airport where you have to declare items. After walking through this and prior coming into the main part of the airport to get your taxi, pick up your car or get a train, you are faced with a number of thin gate corridors. Tourists walking through the green lane at 'Nothing to declare'. After this comes a series of three or four automatic gates Frequent flyers will know you can't go through the gates together and rather than queuing up in single file you split up and go through different segments. This is what Petrov and Boshirov do and why the time is exactly the same. The pictures released by the Metropolitan Police were being mocked on Russian social media. One said: 'Yes, the corridors (at Gatwick Airport) are different. 'These are corridors at border control. 'But what an amazing synchronization of the GRU's staff.' 'Don't worry it happens - people will swallow such 'evidence',' said a social media comment mocking Britain over the pictures. Meanwhile, a. top Moscow politician tonight denied Theresa May's claim that Vladimir Putin's GRU military intelligence agency was behind the novichok poisoning. Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian parliament's international relations committee, described the claim as 'absolute nonsense'. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are wanted by British authorities for the Salisbury nerve agent attack in March this year 'Britain is continuing a large-scale anti-Russian provocation,' he said. 'It is announced that they allegedly are GRU officers. 'This is an absolute nonsense. 'Any family names could have been made up and any photos could have been provided with the same result. CCTV images of Petrov and Boshirov the day before the attack at the train station Novichok poisoning suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are shown on CCTV on Fisherton Road, Salisbury at 1:05pm on 04 March 2018 'Once again there is no real evidence of Russia's involvement, only ungrounded accusations. 'Just like there is no reply to Russia's multiple inquiries about providing information on the course of investigation. 'But that doesn't stop the UK's PM who demands more sanctions against Russia.' London - with support from Washington - is seeking to justify 'launching a huge international scandal out of nowhere'. Julie Bishop spoke at a Women's Weekly event in Sydney on Wednesday night where she slammed the 'appalling behaviour' of her colleagues. She is pictured at the event with partner David Panton Julie Bishop has launched a scathing attack on the 'embarrassing circus' of federal parliament amid claims of bullying and intimidation in the wake of the Liberal Party's bitter leadership coup. Ms Bishop spoke at an Australian Women's Weekly event in Sydney on Wednesday where she slammed the 'appalling behaviour' of her colleagues in Canberra. 'I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in parliament, the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees I would never have accepted,' the former deputy Liberal leader said. Ms Bishop described the 'circus' in the nation's capital and said politicians showed contempt for each other and were 'applauded' for it. Liberal MP Julia Banks and Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi both claim they were subjected to bullying and intimidation from male colleagues during last month's leadership spill. Julie Bishop (pictured with Elyse Knowles last week) slammed the 'embarrassing circus' of federal parliament in the wake of the Liberal Party's bitter leadership coup 'I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in parliament,' Ms Bishop said on Wednesday night The behaviour prompted Ms Banks to quit parliament, and Ms Bishop questioned why her party had trouble attracting and retaining women. 'When a feisty, amazing woman like Julia Banks says this environment is not for me, don't say ''toughen up princess'', say ''enough is enough'',' she said. Ms Bishop's replacement as Liberal deputy leader, Josh Frydenberg, wholeheartedly agrees with her remarks. Mr Frydenberg acknowledged the atmosphere inside Parliament House was often too confrontational, stretching relationships and creating tensions. Liberal MP Julia Banks (right) and Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi (left) both claim they were subjected to bullying and intimidation from male colleagues during the leadership spill Ms Bishop's replacement as Liberal deputy leader, Josh Frydenberg (left with Scott Morrison), wholeheartedly agrees with Ms Bishop's remarks 'It's not good enough, is it,' he told ABC radio on Thursday. 'That is something we all need to be very conscious of and to mitigate against.' Mr Frydenberg said his party needed to get more women into safe seats and around the cabinet table. Aghast silence fell on the Commons as the Prime Minister detailed the movements of two suspected Russian military assassins who loped down to Salisbury in March. Look in your diaries. It was the weekend of the late-winter snows. Beasts from the East. The House stilled as Theresa May made a Statement laying bare the itinerary of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, names our police believe to be aliases. Detectives had traced where those men stayed in East London traces of poison were found in a room at their hotel and which Underground lines they used to reach Waterloo station at approximately 8.05am on Sunday March 4 before catching a train to Salisbury. An early Sunday morning. In Englands cathedral shires, congregations were sinking to their knees for the start of Cranmerian communion. At Waterloo railway terminus two Russian thugs may have fingered a phial of fatal nerve agent, their thoughts black with intent. Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, was a classless piece of work yesterday in his response to Theresa May's statement on the Salisbury attack by Russian assassins in March Theresa May's speech was all the more chilling for her pared-back vocal delivery Mrs Mays speech was all the more chilling for her pared-back vocal delivery. Reconstruction of those movements somehow lent fresh menace to the alleged mission. Not that it succeeded. As Bill Wiggin (Con, N Herefordshire) pointed out, the suspects failed to kill the Skripals, although poor Dawn Sturgess would die. Mrs May read the charge sheet: conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, use and possession of novichok, causing grievous bodily harm. Humdrum GBH brought a touch of bathos to this international crisis. We were right to say in March that the Russian state was responsible, said Mrs May. Now we can go further. The Government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. This earned gasps from the House. Or at least most sides of it. Jeremy Corbyn and his neighbour Emily Thornberry slanted their heads with expressions of sour ennui. Mr Corbyns response to Mrs May was a classless piece of work: grudging, equivocal, snippy, approaching only the minimum of decency. He conceded the attack was an outrage and that there had been a superhuman police effort but he wanted to know what steps Mrs May and Co were taking to secure the Kremlins co-operation in bringing the suspects to trial. Conservative MPs gave him the bird for this. Get real! shouted one. It did sound as if the Labour leader still did not comprehend the Russian states likely complicity in the attack. Mr Corbyn bridled. This is a serious matter, he said, his rising voice petulant. Tory MPs: Yes it is! Miss Thornberry shook her head to show she disapproved of and put herself morally above the Tories molten anger. Later Mr Corbyn suffered a slip of the tongue when he said he wanted to condemn the police. He swiftly corrected this to commend but it was an eye-rolling moment. Boris Johnson (Con, Uxbridge & S Ruislip) was the first backbencher to be given the floor. He deplored Mr Corbyns somewhat weaselly language. Later Corbyn critic Chris Leslie (Lab, Nottingham E) urged Mrs May to ignore the cranks and the ideological extremists who sided with Russia to sow mistrust in our security professionals. Richard Benyon (Con, Newbury) spoke of the Kremlin having fellow travellers and useful idiots in the West. Several Labour MPs had chosen to stay away from the Chamber, perhaps not wishing to have to endure another of Mr Corbyns unpatriotic performances on the Salisbury attack. Towards the end, even his frontbench was pretty empty. Ian Blackford, leader of the SNP, found a more certain tone of gravity than his Labour counterpart. Dominic Grieve (Con, Beaconsfield) described the Russian state as a gangster organisation and hoped we would make it harder for Russians to enter our country. We must unreservedly condemn Russia, said Yvette Cooper (Lab, Normanton) something Mr Corbyn had omitted to do. Chris Bryant had no doubt Vladimir Putin himself personally was at the end of the bloody trail. Extraordinary times. A Mexican man charged with murdering Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts was known for years on the dairy farm where he worked by another name: John Budd. The alias has emerged as Cristhian Bahena Rivera's employer, a cattle operation owned by a prominent Republican family, faces questions over whether its managers were aware of any warning signs that he was in the country illegally. The name under which Rivera was hired and paid for the last four years was confirmed by three people with knowledge of his employment history. One of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Rivera's work identity as John Budd appears in official government records. Cristhian Bahena Rivera's alias John Budd emerged as his the dairy farm where he worked in Brooklyn, Iowa faces questions of whether they knew he was in the country illegally. He is pictured above last month after being charged with Mollie Tibbetts' murder The employer, Yarrabee Farms, declined to confirm or deny Rivera's work identity. Lori Chesser, an immigration employment lawyer advising the farm, said that companies cannot discriminate against workers based on how they look or how their names sound. Farm officials have said Rivera presented an out-of-state photo identification and a Social Security number when he was hired in 2014, and they believed he was the person depicted in those documents until his arrest last month. The farm followed legal requirements to examine the documents and determined 'that they appeared genuine on their face and related to the person presenting them,' Chesser said. 'Questioning a name or other characteristic would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of the law.' During his four years at the farm near Brooklyn, Iowa, Rivera 'was called and responded to the name he used in the hiring process,' Chesser said. He lived in a trailer owned by the farm as a benefit of his employment, as do about half of its 10 workers. The farm did not use the government's voluntary E-Verify system, which allows companies to confirm the identity and eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. Police say Rivera followed and confronted Tibbetts while she was out for a run on July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa and later stabbed her to death Yarrabee Farms declined to confirm or deny Rivera's work identity. The farm manager Dane Lang (above) has apologized for initially saying they used the government's voluntary E-Verify system to confirm his identity Farm manager Dane Lang has apologized for a mistake in falsely claiming to have used E-Verify in an initial statement on Rivera's August 21 arrest, hours after he allegedly led police to Mollie Tibbetts' body in a nearby cornfield. It's unclear whether E-Verify would have detected any red flags with Rivera's claimed identity, but the farm has said it used a different government service to confirm that the name and Social Security number matched. Police say Rivera followed and confronted Tibbetts while she was out for a run on July 18 and later stabbed her to death. He has been jailed on $5 million bond while awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison. The federal government has also filed an immigration detainer, which means he would be subject to deportation proceedings if acquitted. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on whether the agency is investigating Yarrabee Farms, which has said that it received dozens of angry phone calls after Rivera was arrested. Tibbetts' father, Rob Tibbetts, has urged the public not to bring his daughter's death into the divisive racial debate over immigration. 'The person who is accused of taking Mollie's life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people,' he wrote in an opinion piece for the Des Moines Register. Tibbetts' father, Rob Tibbetts, has urged the public not to bring his daughter's death into the divisive racial debate over immigration Employers typically do not face legal consequences for hiring a worker under false documents as long as they were not involved in obtaining them and had no other obvious reason to suspect they are fraudulent, said Bob Teig, a retired federal prosecutor in Iowa. 'Absent unusual circumstances, it would be difficult to show they knew any more than what they were told,' Teig said, adding that it would be 'pretty racist' to assume a John Budd could not be Hispanic. Whether anyone else knew Rivera as John Budd is unclear. The 24-year-old had a Facebook page under his real name, and his account listed many friends from the central Iowa area. He has a girlfriend and a young daughter, his former attorney has said. Rivera had neither an Iowa-issued identification under any name nor any known criminal history or interactions with police. It's unclear who owned the car that he allegedly used to circle Tibbetts. Rivera's former defense lawyer, Allan Richards, has accused the farm and other employers in the area of turning a 'blind eye' to the reality that many of their workers are in the U.S. illegally and employed under false documents. He has said that Rivera came to the U.S. when he was around 17 and has the equivalent of a middle-school education. Erica Johnson, an advocate who directs the American Friends Service Committee's immigration program in Iowa, said the case highlights the 'precarious position' that immigrant workers and their employers face. 'We have an immigration system that doesn't account for the labor needs or economic realities of Iowa businesses and farms,' she said. 'So what do you do? Do you rightly not racially profile people and take the information they give you because you need workers?' A real estate broker from Southern California and his girlfriend got drunk, ordered an Uber, pulled the drivers hair and ears causing her to pull over and flee the car, and then drove away, authorities are alleging. Marin County Sheriffs Office arrested Tyson Rocco Pelanconi, 53, of Burbank and Brenda Carlier, 44, a woman from Van Nuys late Sunday night. They traveled to Northern California and were staying at a hotel in San Francisco, according to the Marin Independent Journal. According to authorities, the two got drunk while traveling in Sausalito, the town which is just over the Golden Gate Bridge. Marin County Sheriffs Office arrested Tyson Rocco Pelanconi (left), 53, of Burbank and Brenda Carlier (right), 44, a woman from Van Nuys late Sunday night Pelanconi (pictured above) is a real estate broker from Burbank, California They then hired an Uber driver who picked them up. During the ride, Carlier is alleged to have attacked the driver. After the driver had her hair and ears pulled, she pulled the car over, grabbed her purse, and fled on foot, authorities say. Pelanconi then got behind the wheel and drove away, it has been alleged. Marin County Sheriffs deputies and San Francisco police tracked down the suspects at the W hotel on Third Street. The Uber driver then identified the couple to police. They have been confined to a jail cell in Marin County and were placed on bail at $150,000 each. More Americans have left Catholicism behind than any other religion in the U.S., according to a new report. About 13 percent of American adults are former Catholics people who were raised in the faith but now say they have no religion, or converted to Protestantism or other beliefs, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. At the other end of the spectrum, 2 percent of U.S. adults report converting to Catholicism. Pope Francis greets the faithful in Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City in September 2018 Overall, there are 6.5 former Catholics for every convert to the religion in the U.S. a far higher ratio of losses than any other religion in the country, researchers found. 'It never connected with me,' said Oakdale, New York resident Aria Dapree, of leaving Catholicism. 'My mother actually taught religion in the house when I was young. It was weird stories. Jonah (and the whale), the Ark, all kinds of weird fantasy stories.' The 62-year-old said 'inclusion' was the biggest reason she left the church, particularly Catholic opposition to homosexuality and the whole spectrum of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 'Love thy neighbour? Well there's all kinds of neighbors,' Dapree said. That attitude and the 'culture wars' over sex before marriage and other choices that conflict with Catholicism is a common reason people fall away from the church, said Dennis M. Doyle, a Catholic theologian and professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton. 'The secular world kind of grinds down the nature of religiousness and then with the culture wars a lot of outward manifestations of religion seem to appear more extreme,' he said. 'These have been very difficult issues for centuries in the Catholic Church,' he added. 'I don't think we (as Catholics) need to flip over and say, "Everything goes and let's reopen the bath houses for everybody," but I don't think it's as easy as "what we always thought is true."' Many practicing American Catholics have beliefs that conflict with the Catholic Church The American Catholic Church has more than 17,000 parishes across the country, with roughly 51 million adults or one-fifth of the U.S. population counting themselves as believers. Catholics are spread across the country, with 27 percent living in the South, 26 percent in the Northeast, 26 percent in the West and 21 percent in the Midwest, according to Pew. Even believers don't think everything is perfect, with 60 percent of Catholics saying they think the church should allow priests to marry and women to become priests. In addition, nearly half of American Catholics believe that the church should recognize and accept gay marriage. For some American Catholics, sex abuse scandals and the cover-ups that ensued may have been enough to drive them away, Doyle said, though it's unclear how many have left the church for that reason. A bigger issue, Doyle said, has been a large cultural shift in which churches are no longer the primary social opportunity and glue for Americans. 'If you go back to the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century, Catholics were immigrants and they were the poor and there were great numbers of them, and they were mostly in the cities and they had this subculture that held them together,' he said. Faithful pray during Sunday Mass at a Polish Catholic Church in Hamtramck, Michigan in 2016 'As Catholics became more educated and affluent overall, and as they become more oriented to the suburbs and less this great sociological mass in the cities, there's been a lot of social changes taking place,' Doyle added. Another contributing factor has been the decreased enrolment in Catholic schools, said Sister Katarina Schuth, a professor emerita of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. 'Those who do attend elementary and secondary are much more likely to stay in the church because they know more about the church,' she said. The 'rise of science' has also increasingly become the place where young Americans go for answers instead of the church, Schuth said. She often speaks publicly about efforts to draw young people back into the church something Schuth insists must be done in a respectful manner. 'Integrity is number one,' Schuth said. 'Just being open and listening to people, young people especially ... You don't have to be talking at them all the time.' President Donald Trump is ordering a real witch hunt - this one in the corridors of the West Wing in the wake of Bob Woodward's new book 'Fear' and a scandalous, anonymous op-ed on his administration appearing in the New York Times. He is asking loyal aides to discover who leaked private White House conversations to The Washington Post reporter, CNN reported, but it it likely that will be expanded to attempt to uncover what 'senior official in the Trump administration' wrote in The Times about the efforts from within to thwart the president's 'worst inclinations.' 'Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them,' the official wrote in The Times. President Trump is demanding to know who in his administration is leaking Journalist Bob Woodward in the lobby of Trump Tower on Jan. 3, 2017 'We believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic,' the official added. Trump wants to know who's talking. 'He wants to know who talked to Woodward,' an administration official told CNN. He is said to suspect former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn as among those who talked to The Washington Post reporter for his tome 'Fear,' which comes out Tuesday. Several names are being thrown around as the possible anonymous writer in the New York Times piece. Online chatter Wednesday quickly focused on Vice President Mike Pence as armchair language analysts focused on one line describing the late Sen. John McCain as 'a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue.' That word lodestar is a favorite of the vice president. But a senior White House official told DailyMail.com that suspicion is not focused on him or anyone in his office following a frank discussion among the VP's senior staff. The official suspects 'lodestar' was purposely included in the op-ed to throw journalists off the scent. When it comes to negative stories involving the West Wing, the president looks at how forcefully aides respond them. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson never denied calling Trump a 'moron' and a former senior White House official told CNN that Trump 'never forgave him for it.' Tillerson was fired in March. The president also has noticed the silence from several other former administration officials when it comes to making denials about Woodward's book, which has reached the number one spot on Amazon.com. Trump has personally slammed both Woodward's book and the 'gutless' writer of The Times' opinion piece. The White House issued a strong response to The Times piece. 'Nearly 62 million people voted for President Donald J. Trump in 2016, earning him 306 Electoral College votes versus 232 for his opponent. None of them voted for a gutless, anonymous source to the failing New York Times. We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed. This is a new low for the so-called 'paper of record,' and it should issue an apology,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. 'This is just another example of the liberal media's concerted effort to discredit the President,' she added. She also called on the writer to resign. 'The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States. He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.' Several observers noted The Times referred to the author as 'he' in a tweet about the piece, prompting many to assume the op-ed was written by a man. But Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the paper, told Business Insider this was a mistake. Woodward's book 'Fear' comes out September 11 Trump and White House officials have pushed back hard on Bob Woodward's book 'Senior opinion editors know the identity of the official, as we pointed out in our editor's note,' Ha said. 'The tweet was drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error.' Trump expressed publicly his pleasure that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis issued forceful denials on quotes attributed to them by Woodward. 'Gen. Mattis has come out very, very strongly...He was insulted by the remarks that were attributed to him,' Trump said. 'John Kelly, same thing. He was insulted by what they said. He couldn't believe what they said.' Woodward quoted Kelly slamming Trump after he blew a fuse during a meeting. 'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails,' Kelly said, in Woodward's telling. 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.' Kelly fired back at the claims, saying in a statement: 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite. ... This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.' In another episode described in 'Fear,' Trump questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea. When Trump asked about it, Mattis schooled him: 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III.' Mattis later told colleagues Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader,' acording to Woodward's sources. On Tuesday he denied the account, saying: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' Sanders said on 'Good Morning America' that Woodward's book is based on the claims of anonymous sources and disgruntled former staffers. 'This is just another repeat of pure fiction,' she said. Woodward said he stands by his reporting. They include Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, Vingroup, T&T, A Chau Automobiles, Vietcombank, VinaCapital, FLC and Kim & Kim International Cafe. Deputy PM Minh spoke highly of their contributions to WEF ASEAN 2018, the most important multilateral external event in the year. He said the event will attract the most numerous leaders in and outside the region, international organisations and representatives from nearly 1,000 leading firms worldwide, higher than the estimated 800 and nearly doubling those in WEF forums over the past years. He stressed that the forum will afford Vietnamese enterprises a chance to connect and share ideas with the worlds leading businesses and investors. Within the framework of WEF ASEAN 2018, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry will hold the Vietnam Business Summit. Themed Vietnam Reliable business partner: Connectivity and Creativity, the event is expected to draw over 1,000 delegates from domestic and foreign enterprises. The event will focus discussion on the role of Vietnam in regional and global value chains, as well as introduce policies and business and investment opportunities in the Southeast Asian country, particularly in the fields of finance and infrastructure. Footage shows the dramatic moment two miners were rescued from a mine lift after a malfunction trapped them 160 metres below ground. The men were working at the Tahmoor coal mine, about 75 kilometres south-west of Sydney, when they became trapped in a lift cart at 5pm on Wednesday afternoon. The two men were finally rescued after an exhaustive six-hour operation. The miners were trapped in a lift cart at around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon Just before midnight, the two men were rescued as a crane hoisted the cart out of the shaft, which a senior officer told Daily Mail Australia was stuck about halfway down. The incident is understood to have occurred when a mechanical fault with the lift trapped the two men. The pair were trapped about 160 metres below the ground, authorities told Daily Mail Australia, and they are reportedly uninjured. Footage shows the dramatic moment two miners were rescued from a mine lift after a malfunction meant they were trapped below ground Two miners have been rescued from a lift shaft in a coal mine in Tahmoor (pictured) A Fire and Rescue NSW spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the men were safe, able to communicate with their rescuers and had plenty of ventilation. Four fire crews were on the scene, including specialist rescue and technical rescue units, and four senior fire officers. The operation was overseen by NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Resources Regulator. Theresa May last night ordered a covert war on Vladimir Putins spy network. As chilling pictures were released of two smiling Russian agents carrying out the Salisbury poison attack, the Prime Minister said the security services would target the GRU, the military intelligence unit the pair work for. Cyber warfare, espionage, financial sanctions and travel bans could be used, sources said. Interpol has been put on red alert to detain the two agents, who use the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Russian agents Alexander Petrov, left, and Ruslan Boshirov, right, were caught on CCTV on Fisherton Road, Salisbury at 1.05pm on March 4, 2018 The Metropolitan Police has released images of the two suspected Russian agents, Alexander Petrov, left, and Ruslan Boshirov, right Mrs May warned they would be brought to Britain for trial if they ever left Russia. She blamed the Kremlin for the novichok attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March. And she hinted the assassination order may have come directly from Mr Putin because only he has the power in Russian law to order killings abroad. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, went further by saying: President Putin bears responsibility for a war-like act. The Russian agents are also blamed for the death of mother of three Dawn Sturgess, 44, in July. She and her partner Charlie Rowley were poisoned when they picked up an abandoned perfume bottle containing the nerve agent novichok. Yesterdays developments follow a huge police inquiry, which tracked the movements of Petrov and Boshirov to Salisbury, where they sprayed novichok on Mr Skripals front door handle. As the Kremlin faced condemnation from across the globe: Britain called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council this afternoon; Mrs May spoke to Donald Trump and Canadas Justin Trudeau to seek support for fresh action; Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Rowley, 45, said he wanted Petrov and Boshirov brought to justice; Moscow media said the pair had travelled extensively across Europe; A senior Russian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down; Former attorney general Dominic Grieve urged restrictions on all Russian travellers; The Kremlin dismissed the British accusations out of hand; Jeremy Corbyn came under fire after failing to condemn Russia in the House of Commons. The pair are accused of the murder of Dawn Sturgess, who picked up the pair's discarded novichok container thinking it contained perfume and tried some on Her partner Charles Rowley, pictured, managed to survive exposure to the deadly toxin Mrs May acknowledged yesterday that it was futile to expect Russia to hand over the two assassins, not least because Russia has a constitutional bar on extradition. She savaged Moscows response to the novichok attacks, saying requests for co-operation had been met with obfuscation and lies. MPs were told new powers were in force to stop at the border anyone suspected of hostile state activity. Russian oligarchs linked to Mr Putin face a clampdown, including searches of private flights and investigations of unexplained wealth by the National Crime Agency. Mrs May said retaliatory action would focus specifically against the GRU, the organisation linked to the downing of the MH17 airliner in Ukraine, attacks in Syria and election-rigging in the United States. She said it was clear the Salisbury attack was not a rogue operation and must have been approved at a senior level of the Russian state. Bob Seely, a Tory MP and Russia expert, said the order could only have come from the Russian head of state. The unprecedented statement from the Prime Minister came after Scotland Yard set out the results of its lengthy inquiry. After months of secrecy, the force revealed that not only had it identified the prime suspects but it had amassed enough evidence for prosecutors to bring charges. The main target of the attack was former KGB agent Sergei Skripal, right, who was visited by his daughter Yulia, left, in March when the initial attack happened Officers accused Petrov and and Boshirov of conspiring to murder Mr Skripal, and the attempted murder of Yulia and Det Sgt Nick Bailey. The respected police officer was contaminated with novichok when he opened the front door of the Skripal home after its owners were found collapsed on a bench. Investigators believe they know the identities of the two military intelligence agents but chose instead to publicise aliases used in their Russian passports. They are asking people worldwide to contact them if they can put a name to the faces. Police obtained domestic and European arrest warrants, and lodged Interpol red notices, effectively confining the pair to their homeland. But the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not apply for their extradition because the Russian State refuses to deport its citizens to face trial overseas. Both men are believed to be agents for the GRU, for whom Mr Skripal was a colonel before being jailed for selling secrets to the West. He was brought to the UK in a spy swap. The novichok was carried in this perfume atomiser In a bid to silence the chorus of online scepticism about the case fuelled by Russian trolls, police gave a step-by-step account of the movements of the two-man hit squad. CCTV stills showed Petrov and Boshirov arriving at Gatwick and travelling through London before visiting Salisbury twice by train. Dressed in padded jackets, hats and carrying a rucksack the men checked the scene of their mission for reconnaissance before returning the second day. A camera caught the pair smiling and laughing within minutes of carrying out their attack. By 10.30pm that night they were boarding an Aeroflot flight to Moscow from Heathrow, just over 50 hours after first touching down. It is understood that the 250-strong team of detectives identified the two men as suspects in May while examining more than 11,000 hours of footage. They were able to painstakingly follow their steps, leading to the City Stay Hotel, in Bow, east London, where they spent both nights. Forensics experts discovered a minute trace of novichok in their room, a sample so small it was washed away by the testing swab. Unveiling the dossier of evidence, assistant commissioner Neil Basu said the pair had travelled extensively in Britain and overseas. Mr Basu, the countrys top counter-terrorism officer, branded it a remarkably sophisticated attack by people knowledgeable in this kind of tradecraft. Mrs May also told MPs that police had ruled out the possibility that Russia was behind 14 other deaths in the UK. Bode Miller's wife said in a heartbreaking Instagram post that her family is usually excited about the first day of school, but this year there is a 'giant hole' after her baby daughter died in an accidental drowning. Morgan Beck took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a photo from last September of her children getting ready to head out for their first day of school. In the picture, Beck and her husband Bode Miller's late daughter Emeline Grier is sitting on the ground in front of her siblings as they smile for the camera. In a second picture, snapped on Tuesday, the couple's three-year-old son Nash is seen crying as the picture was taken. Beck and Miller's other two children, 10-year-old Neesyn and five-year-old Samuel, stand in the background. There's a giant hole: Bode Miller's wife shared heartbreaking photos from last year as her kids got ready for school with Emeline sitting on the ground, and this year without the baby girl 19-month-old Emeline Grier died in June from accidental drowning after slipping into her neighbor's pool Beck said all she could focus on in the second picture is her young son's face and the 'giant hole' where her daughter was sitting last year. 'Yesterday was the first day of school for our kids. Its a day we always look forward to with excitement. But all I can see is Nashs face and the giant hole that was created between last years picture and this years picture. I can imagine thats what my face looked like, too, stepping back into our routine without our daughter. I imagine daily how different my life would be today had I had 30 more seconds,' the professional beach volleyball player wrote. 'This heartache doesnt need to belong to any other parents,' Beck added, encouraging others to help them bring awareness to accidental drowning. Miller, an Olympic skier, and Beck's daughter Emeline died on June 10 after wandering out the backdoor undetected of their neighbor's Orange County, California home and slipping into the backyard. The 19-month-old girl was found floating in the neighbor's pool. In an emotional Instagram post last month, Beck shared a picture of her daughter hooked up to oxygen, writing in the caption that she wishes she had one more day with her baby girl. Morgan Beck has been sharing photos of her baby girl on Instagram and vowing to educate parents on the dangers of accidental drowning Olympian Bode Miller is seen in this Instagram photo celebrating Emeline Grier's first birthday last year Bode Miller and his wife Morgan Beck, who are expecting another baby, have been spreading awareness on accidental drowning I wish I could have one more day to hold you, but until that day comes, continue to work through me and give me the strength to bring awareness, my love,' she wrote. I told you as I held you in this moment that you could still change the world, you could still move mountains. Every step we take forward is because of you and Levi. Your footprint will forever be left on this world. I love you, My baby girl. Ever since the the couple's tragic loss, they have been raising awareness on the dangers of accidental drowning. Beck said during an appearance on the Today show that she had an obligation to educate other parents. She said a child could drown in as little as 30 seconds. 'And the moment those 30 seconds is up, the likelihood of you getting your child back is pretty close to zero,' Beck said, who is pregnant with her third child. 'There is not a day that goes by and I don't pray for an opportunity to go back to that day and make it different. But now we have this opportunity to make other parents' days different,' Beck said, as she wept. The Colorado man who has been accused of murdering his wife and their two young daughters had a penchant for 'rough' and 'animalistic' sex claims an alleged mistress. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, told Radar Online that she was romantically involved with Chris Watts in May and June of this year after the two met on Tinder. She said that she was unaware Watts was married or had children, but got the suspicion that she was not the only person he was intimate with during their sex-fueled relationship. Scroll down for video Family: A woman who alleges she was the mistress of Chris Watts (above with the three women he is accused of murdering) is speaking out in an interview with Radar Online 'He would put his hands on my throat during intercourse. Now that I know who he is, it gives me the chills! I cant even think about it,' said the woman. 'But nothing about him alarmed me until he tried to choke me. That freaked me out. He had a rape fantasy. He was very kinky.' She went on to state: 'When we had sex, it was very animalistic. He just zoned out into a different person. 'He wasnt the kind of guy who would cuddle and watch a movie.' Watts, 33, would visit the woman near her home, which was 30 miles away from the house he shared with wife Shannan and their daughters in Frederick. He is behind bars now after confessing to the murder of Shannan last month, claiming that he killed his wife when he discovered she had strangled their daughters. Despite that claim, Watts has been charged with three counts of murder in the first degree as well as charges for the disposal of those bodies and the loss of the son his pregnant wife was carrying at the time of her death. He has yet to enter a plea in the case and the autopsies on the victims have yet to be released at this time. In addition to his mistress, Watts was also having an affair with a co-worker and allegedly enjoyed the company of both men and women. He is now in near-solitary confinement while awaiting his next court appearance in November, spending 23 hours of the day alone in a room while under suicide watch a source with knowledge of the situation told DailyMail.com. Watts is behind bars now after confessing to the murder of Shannan last month, claiming that he killed his wife when he discovered she had strangled their daughters. He is pictured in court last month 'Before I begin, I would like to note to everyone that I am only making a statement in order to clarify the details in order to prevent further stress or harm from rumours or allegations to/against innocent parties. It is important to not over glorify or sensationalise the actions of any individual who comes forward with evidence in a sexual assault case because it is the basic thing one should do. 'I can confirm that the text messages are indeed between Asia Argento and myself. When I reported them to police I remained silent socially because I didnt wish to be a part of the narrative or distract from the path to justice. While the conflict may feel murky- the situation is cut and dry. An individual admitted to sexual engagement with a minor (according to the age stated by California) which is an illegal act that can qualify as statutory rape. As well as such they admitted to receiving continued nude images without reporting/blocking the account/written rejection/or action. When the individual made it clear that they were not going to be honest about their engagement, I turned in materials that may contribute towards an honest investigation. 'All victims deserve justice. Justice can rarely exist without honesty. In a sexual assault case it is important to support and believe the victim- while also allowing for due process. I believe all beings accused of a crime have the right to prove their innocence. For many victims of sexual assault their justice may never come in the court of law due to lack of evidence or time passage. Its heartbreaking and cruel. However, I still fully believe in the allowance and balance of both ethos. Support and believe- allow due process. That is why when Asia Argento asked for assistance during this case declaring full innocence, I systemically took them through the list of things they would need to clear their name. Proof that they didnt pay off this individual, proof that they didnt approve any payments if they had occurred, proof that they had indeed been harassed and rejected all sexual sexual advances through action or verbally, proof that they hadnt engaged sexually via an alibi, and a few more. 'Occasionally in the past individuals have come to me knowing that they were guilty, they admitted the guilt off the bat, and my space in their life has been guiding them through the rehabilitation process with the community and shifting their negative actions into proactive ones so that they can be productive members of the community again while justice also prevails. The key to agreement to assist is that they have the intention to do whats necessary to rectify a situation. Unfortunately Asia did not have that intention. This is a person who represents a certain ideal and who has called out for all those accused of sexual assault to be honest about their experiences in order to allow justice for the victims. However when the NYT statement came out, in which Asia denied any sexual engagement thats when it became clear that they were not going to follow their own ethics. I had received the original statement from Asia before they put it out into the world, before they had admitted their sexual engagement. In it they were dismissive of the victim, put down the integrity of the reporter Kim Severson utilising the guilt power of the opinion of their deceased former partner Anthony Bourdain, and robbed all parties of their truth. It was painful to read. I had hoped that that narrative would change after our conversation but unfortunately the piece went straight to press. 'Before bringing this information to police I did speak with Rose McGowan as they are the person who introduced me to Asia. I was admittedly a little nervous because I knew that Asia was an important person in Roses life. When confronted with the messages and knowledge that I was going to go to the police, Rose immediately agreed that it was the right action to take. No begging or bargaining. No anger. Just very matter of fact. I know this is a painful loss of community in Roses life and Im proud of her dedication to the truth. Its tempting to many to cover for their loved ones during rough times, but when a victim is involved on the other end we must think of them. True justice has no bias. 'I would also like to address allegations that Jimmy Bennet extorted Asia Argento by saying simply- keep both actions separate. They are two different accusations and all victims of a crime deserve justice. All guilty parties must be honest. I would also like to state that the case between HW and Asia Argento is separate from Jimmy Bennets case and that Asia deserves the same respect in that case that Jimmy should receive in this one. Their choice to lie to the NYT does not mean that they are lying about HW. Their accounts for that case should be held separately and fairly. I believe that most beings have the power to change. Asia has contributed a strong voice to the #MeToo movement and encouraged many in their nation as well as around the globe to come forward with their truths. Perhaps, despite where public opinion may be over time, through honesty, dialogue and rehabilitation this person can become a strong advocate for justice once again. Especially uniquely as a person who is experiencing both sides of the coin. 'We can not let this single case crumble the power and momentum of a movement that has saved so many. Just because a person is a celebrity or more visible does not make them THE VOICE or a MORE IMPORTANT voice than any other being that has been a part of #MeToo. All are equal and their struggles equally valid- we must remember that. Until then, let truth shine its light so we can see the way to a solution. Keep that light on patiently.' Advertisement This is the moment scientists took cell samples from a 40,000-year-old extinct baby horse in a bid to clone the species back to life. The Russian-South Korean team claim the experiment on the male foal is the 'first step' in restoring the long-gone woolly mammoth, their ultimate goal. Laboratory pictures from Yakutsk the world's coldest city show the search for 'living cells' on the light ginger-coloured carcass frozen in permafrost for between 30,000 and 40,000 years. The foal was discovered in the frozen subsoil of a Siberian crater known as the 'Mouth of Hell' and was around 20 days old when it died. Close-up images highlight the extraordinary life-like preservation in the planet's natural freezer. Scroll down for video This is the moment scientists took cell samples from an extinct baby horse up to 40,000 years old in a bid to clone the species back to life. The Russian-South Korean team claim the experiment on the male foal is a 'first step' in restoring the long-gone woolly mammoth, their ultimate goal Tens of thousands of years of dirt was washed off the young foal, revealing a black mane and tail with a dark stripe along the spine. 'Fortunately, the animal's muscle tissues were undamaged and well preserved, so we managed to get samples from this unique find for biotechnology research', said Dr Semyon Grigoriev, leading researcher at Russia's mammoth Museum. Cloning specialist Professor Hwang Woo Suk flew in from Seoul to spearhead the search for living DNA material from the foal. 'If we manage to find a cell, then we will do our best to clone the unique animal,' he said. A mare of a horse species similar to the extinct Lenskaya breed will be used as a surrogate, he told The Siberian Times. Laboratory pictures from Yakutsk the world's coldest city show the search for 'living cells' on the light ginger-coloured carcass frozen in permafrost for between 30,000 and 40,000 years The foal was discovered in the frozen subsoil of a Siberian crater known as the 'Mouth of Hell' and was around 20 days old when it died Close-up images highlight the extraordinary life-like preservation in the planet's natural freezer. Tens of thousands of years of dirt was washed off the young foal, revealing a black mane and tail with a dark stripe along the spine Cloning specialist Professor Hwang Woo Suk flew in from Seoul to spearhead the search for living DNA material from the foal Scientists will use horses (pictured) that are similar to the extinct Lenskaya breed. It could be the first step in working out how to restore the long-gone woolly mammoth Plans for a'world class' research centre in the city of Yakutsk are set to be unveiled later this month when Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a major investment forum Similarly, when the scientists are ready to clone a mammoth an elephant will be used as a surrogate. But the professor said there was far more similarity between the foal and a modern-day horse than between a mammoth and an elephant. 'We have so many live horses. We can get a very good choice of eggs from these female horses', he said. 'And after making the cloned embryo with this baby horse, we can easily transport it to the surrogate mother. 'There are the types of horses that are very close to the ancient one.' In contrast, he said there is a very big distance between the ancient mammoth and the elephant. A mare of a horse species similar to the extinct Lenskaya breed will be used as a surrogate. Similarly, when the scientists are ready to clone a mammoth an elephant will be used as a surrogate 'We have so many live horses (pictured). We can get a very good choice of eggs from these female horses', said Dr Semyon Grigoriev, leading researcher at Russia's mammoth Museum But the professor said there was far more similarity between the foal (pictured) and a modern-day horse than between a mammoth and an elephant In contrast, he said there is a very big distance between the ancient mammoth and the elephant. With the foal, 'if we have one live cell, we can multiply it and get as many embryo as we need Yakutsk, the capital of Russia's diamond-rich Sakha Republic, is a hot spot for frozen animal remains. At the end of last month it was revealed Russia is opening a brand-new 4.5 million ($5.9 million) cloning facility that aims to bring back the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct species 'There was 'a million years of evolution between them', he said. With the foal, 'if we have one live cell, we can multiply it and get as many embryo as we need. 'Actually if we get the living cell from the ancient tissue it will be unique by itself, because no-one managed to do this before. 'And if we manage to clone the horse - it will be the first step to cloning the mammoth. It will help us to work out the technology', he said. His researcher Hae Hyun Kim who pioneered obtaining a living cell from a dead pet dog frozen by its owner has relocated to Yakutsk to try and make the breakthrough. Yakutsk, the capital of Russia's diamond-rich Sakha Republic, is a hot spot for frozen animal remains. At the end of last month it was revealed Russia is opening a brand-new 4.5 million ($5.9 million) cloning facility that aims to bring back the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct species. Plans for the 'world class' research centre in the city of Yakutsk will purportedly be unveiled later this month by Russian PresidentVladimir Putin during a major investment forum. As well as woolly mammoths, Russian geneticists are set to study a number of extinct species, including the woolly rhinoceros, which died out 10,000 years ago. Plans for the 'world class' research centre in the city of Yakutsk will purportedly be unveiled later this month by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a major investment forum. Pictured is the foal As well as woolly mammoths, Russian geneticists are set to study a number of extinct species, including the woolly rhinoceros, which died out 10,000 years ago Scientists have long poised that woolly mammoth DNA preserved for thousands of years in Arctic permafrost could be used to clone one of the animals, and bring them back from extinction. Russia is planning to open a new genetics facility to explore ancient DNA COULD WE RESURRECT MAMMOTHS? Male woolly mammoths were around 12 feet (3.5m) tall, while the females were slightly smaller. They had curved tusks up to 16 feet (5m) long and their underbellies boasted a coat of shaggy hair up to 3 feet (1m) long. Tiny ears and short tails prevented vital body heat being lost. Their trunks had 'two fingers' at the end to help them pluck grass, twigs and other vegetation. They get their name from the Russian 'mammut', or earth mole, as it was believed the animals lived underground and died on contact with light explaining why they were always found dead and half-buried. Their bones were once believed to have belonged to extinct races of giants. Woolly mammoths and modern-day elephants are closely related, sharing 99.4 per cent of their genes. The two species took separate evolutionary paths six million years ago, at about the same time humans and chimpanzees went their own way. Woolly mammoths co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used their bones and tusks for making weapons and art. The most widely used technique, known as CRISPR/Cas9, allows scientists to create a hybrid animal from the preserved fossils of woolly mammoths and merging it with cells from a living elephant. The two species share 99.4 per cent of their DNA 'De-extincting' the mammoth has become a realistic prospect because of revolutionary gene editing techniques that allow the precise selection and insertion of DNA from specimens frozen over millennia in Siberian ice. The most widely used technique, known as CRISPR/Cas9, has transformed genetic engineering since it was first demonstrated in 2012. The system allows the 'cut and paste' manipulation of strands of DNA with a precision not seen before. Using this technique, scientists could cut and paste preserved mammoth DNA into Asian elephants to create and elephant-mammoth hybrid. Mammoths roamed the icy tundra of Europe and North America for 140,000 years, disappearing at the end of the Pleistocene period, 10,000 years ago. They are one of the best understood prehistoric animals known to science because their remains are often not fossilised but frozen and preserved. Advertisement As many as 80 per cent of samples of Pleistocene and Holocene animals with preserved soft tissues discovered in Russia have been unearthed in the Yakutsk region. It is hoped that by extracting DNA from these preserved remains, researchers will gain a better understanding of the biology behind some of the largest creatures to ever roam the Earth. Woolly mammoths co-existed with early humans, who hunted the animal to use its bones and tusks for tools, shelter, as well as food. The animal, which could weigh a maximum of 6000kg (6 metric tons), disappeared from its mainland range at the end of the Pleistocene era, around 10,000 years ago. The new facility, in the city of Yakutsk, will study the preserved DNA of several extinct species, including the woolly rhinoceros (artist's impression), which died out around 10,000 years ago However, isolated populations of the animal are believed to have survived on St. Paul Island, in Alaska until 5,600 years ago and on Wrangel Island, in Russia, until as recently as 4,000 years ago. Woolly mammoths are believed to have been wiped out because of a shrinking habitat caused by climate change, as well as hunting by humans, experts say. Several international projects, including a team at Harvard University, are already racing to use preserved mammoth DNA to resurrect the ancient species. The new Russian centre will 'aim to study extinct animals from living cells and to restore such creatures as the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave lion and breeds of long-gone horses', according to the The Siberian Times. Humanity's next gold rush could take place aboard asteroids sailing around Earth. That's according to a team of British scientists, who have devised a technique to redirect passing space rocks toward our planet to make them easier to mine. Experts believe asteroids, which are rich in precious metals like platinum and gold, could hold wealth equivalent to 75 billion ($100 billion) for every person on Earth. The objects can be positioned in stable trajectories around Earth using rockets to nudge them into our planet's gravitational pull, the new study suggests. Once safely slotted into orbit, small, unmanned spacecraft could mine the rocks for metals, minerals and water, scientists said. The research follows the news this week that the United States Geological Survey was mapping space for future extraterrestrial mining missions. The government agency, which has spent decades mapping oil fields and gold mines across North America, said it was investing heavily in research into the locations and extent of extraterrestrial resources. Scroll down for video Several start-ups have begun to explore the idea of mining near-Earth asteroids for precious resources. One such company - California-based Deep Space Industries - envisions swarms of small mining craft flying out to draw resources from near-Earth asteroids (artist's impression) In the new study, scientists at the University of Glasgow suggest using a method known as 'aerobraking' to capture asteroids. The manoeuvre involves using the atmosphere of a planet as drag to slow objects down. It has helped place interplanetary spacecraft in orbit around Mars and Venus, and to slow down spacecraft returning to Earth. The team said the technique could be used to decelerate near-Earth asteroids pushed toward our planet by a small spacecraft. This spacecraft could remain attached to the asteroid on its journey in case any sudden course-corrections are needed. If done from a safe enough distance, the feat would require little fuel, as just a small push would be enough to change a rock's trajectory. Pictured are the trajectories of all of the near-Earth asteroids mapped by Nasa. Scientists believe asteroids, which are rich in precious metals like platinum and gold, could hold wealth equivalent to 75 billion ($100 billion) for every person on Earth To avoid disaster in the event of an accidental impact, asteroids selected for aerobraking would need to measure under 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter. These space rocks are small enough that they would burn up in the atmosphere the capture procedure failed. The team picked out the asteroid 2005 VL1 as a particularly good potential target for an aerobraking mission. The object is the ideal size and speed for the technique, and its make-up means it would not lose much mass during the aerobraking procedure, they said. WHY DO SCIENTISTS WANT TO MINE ASTEROIDS? Several start-ups have begun to explore the idea of mining near-Earth asteroids for precious resources. The celestial objects are made of carbon, silicon or metal, but it is metallic asteroids that mining companies are most interested in. These rogue blocks of minerals are teeming with precious metals, including pricey platinum, which could be worth quadrillions on Earth. Nickel, iron and gold are also found in abundance within metallic asteroids. Nasa estimates the total value of resources locked in space rocks is 522 quintillion - equivalent to 75 billion ($100 billion) for each person on Earth. A company could send a small space probe to intersect with asteroids as they pass near Earth, and mine them for these resources. Experts have warned that doing so may destroy commodity prices and cause the world's economy to collapse. Advertisement The scientists, led by Minghu Tan, wrote in their paper: 'Aerobraking can in principle enable candidate asteroids to be captured around the Earth with, in some cases, extremely low energy requirements.' The study follows the news that experts at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have begun large-scale mapping of space for resources. This includes understanding the locations and extent of extraterrestrial minerals, metals and water. USGS scientists met in Golden, Colorado at the Colorado School of Mines in June to take part in a Space Resources Roundtable, Space.com reported Tuesday. Explained: The difference between an asteroid, meteorite and other space rocks An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt. A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system. A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up. This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere. If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite. Meteors, meteoroids and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets. For example, if Earth passes through the tail of a comet, much of the debris burns up in the atmosphere, forming a meteor shower. Advertisement 'The space-resources community will benefit greatly from working together with the USGS to assess the location and value of minerals, energy and water on the moon, Mars and asteroids,' said Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines. USGS offers valuable expertise that 'can lead to reliable and much-needed geological maps for more precise landing-site and resource-deposit selection,' he added. Several start-ups have begun to explore the idea of mining near-Earth asteroids for precious resources. The celestial objects are made of carbon, silicon or metal, but it is metallic asteroids that mining companies are most interested in. These rogue blocks of minerals are teeming with precious metals, including pricey platinum, which could be worth quadrillions on Earth. Nickel, iron and gold are also found in abundance within metallic asteroids. Nasa estimates the total value of resources locked in space rocks in the asteroid belt is 522 quintillion - equivalent to 75 billion ($100 billion) for each person on Earth. Spix's macaw, a bright blue species of Brazilian parrot that starred in the children's animation film Rio, has become extinct in the wild. It joins seven other bird species declared extinct by a new analysis of endangered animals - making them the first avians to have died out this decade. Scientists blame deforestation for the losses, which include the poo-uli, the Pernambuco pygmy-owl and the cryptic treehunter. Most birds that die out are small-island species, making them vulnerable to hunting, but five of the eight extinctions have occurred in South America, researchers said. The Spix's macaw is one of eight bird species now deemed extinct following a new statistical analysis. The birds, which include the poo-uli, the Pernambuco pygmy-owl and the cryptic treehunter, are the first to die out this decade Researchers at BirdLife International, a group of conservation NGOs based in Cambridge, UK, carried out a statistical analysis of endangered species. They said the study highlighted an extinction crisis on larger continents caused by damage to the environment by humans. Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International's chief scientist, said: 'People think of extinctions and think of the dodo but our analysis shows that extinctions are continuing and accelerating today. 'Historically 90 per cent of bird extinctions have been small populations on remote islands. 'Our evidence shows there is a growing wave of extinctions washing over the continent driven by habitat loss from unsustainable agriculture, drainage and logging.' The researchers examined 51 species judged 'critically endangered' on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list. The Spix's macaw is a bright blue species of Brazilian parrot that starred in the children's animation film Rio More than 26,000 of the world's species are now threatened, according to the list, leading scientists to warn that humans may be driving the planet's sixth big extinction event. According to the new analysis, eight species of bird can now be added to the growing list of confirmed or 'highly likely' extinctions. Four of the extinctions took place in Brazil, including the Spix's macaw, which was traded in cages for 150 years before a trio of wild birds were found in 1985. Two of these were illegally captured, while attempts to breed the third failed. The last known wild sighting was in 2000, though captive birds are now being used to breed for restoration programmes. Three other species, the poo-uli, the cryptic treehunter and the Alagoas foliage-gleane, may have disappeared forever, according to the analysis. THE IUCN RED LIST Species on the endangered red list are animals of the highest conservation priority that need 'urgent action' to save. An Amber list is reserved for the next most critical group, followed by a green list. Red list criteria: Globally threatened Historical population decline in UK during 18001995 Severe (at least 50 per cent) decline in UK breeding population over last 25 years Severe (at least 50 per cent) contraction of UK breeding range over last 25 years In recent years, in the UK, several more species have been added to the list. These included: Atlantic puffin Nightingale Long-tailed duck Turtle dove Advertisement The Alagoas foliage-gleaner, a small forest bird also native to Brazil, became extinct in 2011 following heavy deforestation. Following its discovery in two patches of forest in north-eastern Brazil in 2002, the cryptic treehunter has not been spotted since 2007. The small forests where it was found have been cut down and replaced with sugar cane plantations. The poo-uli, found only on the island of Maui in Hawaii, has not been seen since 2004, and attempts to breed it in captivity have been unsuccessful. Of the eight species to be reclassified as extinct, four are 'critically endangered (possibly extinct)'. They include the glaucous macaw, once found in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil before its palm grove habitat was destroyed for farming. Another is a small insect-eating owl, the Pernambuco pygmy-owl, which hasn't been spotted in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco since 2002. Much of the bird's habitat has been destroyed by logging. Dr Butchart hopes the shocking results spark better conservation of endangered species in future. 'Because we know birds better than any other taxonomic class we know which other species are most at risk,' he said. 'We hope this study will inspire a redoubling of efforts to prevent other extinctions.' An app that lets people see everything their partner and children do on their phone has leaked millions of sensitive records, a security expert has warned. The mSpy app is used by more than a million paying customers to track their partner or keep an eye on their children. It records phone calls, records a person's location, lets users remotely read texts, view browsing history and even see how much battery the phone has left. However hackers have used spyware to secretly collect vast amounts of information from it, including passwords, call logs and location data, a security expert has warned. Scroll down for video An app that lets people see everything their partner and children do on their phone has leaked millions of sensitive records, a security expert has warned (stock image) The app was first made in 2013 and was created for 'monitoring your children, employees or others on a smartphone or mobile device'. The person doing the spying must own the device being tracked, or the person being tracked must give their permission. Users can also use the app to view videos and photos stored on a device, see the phone owner's list of applications and software updates, open their calendar, notes and tasks, and even get hold of the phone's unique IMEI number. Indian security researcher Nitish Shah directed Washington-based security news site KrebsOnSecurity to an open database on the web. The site allowed people to look up mSpy records without needing any authentication. They could see records for customer transactions and mobile phone data collected by mSpy's software, which is used in more than 100 countries. The database - which contained millions of records - has now been taken offline. Anyone who looked at the database would have been able to read WhatsApp and Facebook messages from devices equipped with mSpy, Mr Shah said. The mSpy app is used by more than a million paying customers to track their partner or keep an eye on their children The app was first made in 2013 and was created for 'monitoring your children, employees or others on a smartphone or mobile device' He tried to alert mSpy, which has offices in the US, Germany and the UK, but he says the firm's support personal did not want to talk to him. The mSpy's chief security officer later told KrebsOnSecurity that the company had been 'working hard to secure our system'. 'All our customers' accounts are securely encrypted and the data is being wiped out once in a short period of time', he said. 'Thanks to you we have prevented this possible breach and from what we could discover the data you are talking about could be some amount of customers' emails and possibly some other data.' People wanting to use the app do need to physically install it onto the phone they wish to track. Subscribers can choose to sync the data automatically, only over Wi-Fi, or manually and if automatic sync is selected the data is updated every 30 minutes. Users can then track this information from anywhere by signing into an online account and viewing it all on a dashboard. The dashboard produces charts that show which apps have been used and how often, while the person's location is plotted on to a map. MailOnline has contacted mSpy for comment. Facebook's data privacy scandal seems to have made an impact on its users. A new Pew Research study surveyed users to measure their activity on the site over the past 12 months. They found that a large portion of the population has taken an extended break from Facebook, while 26 percent have deleted the app entirely. Scroll down for video Facebook's data privacy scandal seems to have made an impact on its users. A new Pew Research study surveyed users to measure their activity on the site over the past 12 months For the study, researchers polled 4,594 US adults between May 29th and June 11th. Of those respondents, 54 percent said they'd changed their privacy settings, while 42 percent had taken a break from the site. Overall, 74 percent of those respondents had taken at least one of those actions over the last 12 months. Interestingly, Pew found that respondents' answers differed greatly depending on their age. They found that younger users were much more likely than older users to have altered their privacy settings or deleted the Facebook app from their phone. A whopping 44 percent of users aged 18 to 29 has deleted the Facebook app from their phone, compared to just 12 percent of users aged 65 and older. For the study, researchers polled 4,594 US adults between May 29th and June 11th. Of those respondents, 54% said they'd changed their privacy settings, while 42% had taken a break Meanwhile, only a third of Facebook users 65 and older have changed their privacy settings vs. 64 percent of younger users. Similar shares of adults and younger users have taken a break from Facebook in the last year. The findings come in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal that rocked Facebook earlier this year. In March, it was discovered that more than 87 million users' data had unknowingly been harvested by Trump-affiliated research Cambridge Analytica. Interestingly, researchers found that younger users were much more likely than older users to have altered their privacy settings or deleted the Facebook app from their phone The findings come in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal that rocked Facebook in March and ultimately led to CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) testifying in front of Congress The event sparked intense scrutiny around how Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants manage and secure users' personal data. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even appeared in front of Congress to discuss the issue. The company also introduced greater privacy controls for users to manage their data, while launching more stringent policies for third-party advertisers on the site that limited what kinds of data they could collect from users. As part of the new privacy controls, Facebook began allowing users to download and review any data the site had collected on them. WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL? Communications firms Cambridge Analytica has offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia. The company boasts it can 'find your voters and move them to action' through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists. 'Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,' with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website. The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends. Cambridge Analytica profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends It was initially estimated that the firm was able to mine the information of 55 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so. But, Facebook has since revealed the number was actually as high as 87 million. This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box. The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump. This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK. Advertisement The Pew survey found that about one-in-ten, or roughly 9 percent, of Facebook users have downloaded the personal data about them on Facebook. 'But despite their relatively small size as a share of the Facebook population, these users are highly privacy-conscious,' Pew explained. 'Roughly half of the users who have downloaded their personal data from Facebook (47%) have deleted the app from their cellphone, while 79% have elected to adjust their privacy settings.' However, the survey didn't find any correlation between users' willingness to take a break from Facebook and their political views. '...Nearly identical shares of Democrats and Republicans (including political independents who lean toward either party) use Facebook,' Pew noted. 'Republicans are no more likely than Democrats to have taken a break from Facebook or deleted the app from their phone in the past year.' The visit is an important milestone, helping to consolidate political trust, strengthen strategic cohesion, and enhancing the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation while affirming the consistent policy of Vietnam in regarding Russia as the top prioritised partner in its foreign policy. The visit is also expected to create a new impetus to foster the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia to develop in a deep, substantive and effective manner. The Vietnamese people are happy to share achievements in all aspects that Russia has accomplished in the past years. Russia's socio-political situation is quite stable, with high consensus among the people. In addition, Russia successfully held a presidential election on March 18 under which veteran and highly-respected leader Vladimir Putin won an overwhelming victory with nearly 77% of the vote and established the government for a new tenure. However, Russia is currently facing many difficulties due to the Western policies of siege and embargo against the country. In this context, thanks to the implementation of radical reform measures, the Russian economy continues to recover and maintain its momentum of growth with a GDP growth rate of 1.5% in 2017 and an estimated nearly 2% in 2018. The Russian Government has set a strategy for socio-economic development until 2025 with the goal of developing Russia to be among the top five economies in the world. Regarding foreign policy, Russia has insisted on multilateral and equal diplomacy while appreciating the central role of the United Nations and supporting the multipolar world in addition to asserting its position as a powerful nation with an important role in addressing complicated regional and world issues. Russia also continues to promote a "Look East" policy and pay attention to developing relations with Vietnam while attaching importance to Vietnam in its cooperation strategy in the Asia-Pacific region and considering Vietnam as its leading partner in Southeast Asia. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to Russia takes place ahead of big events of the two countries, including the 25th anniversary of a treaty on the basic principles for bilateral friendship in 2019 and the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Vietnam and Russia in 2020. We are pleased to see that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia has been constantly consolidated and strengthened. The Vietnamese people always remember and appreciate the enthusiastic support of the people of the former Soviet Union, including the Russian people for the revolutionary cause and the national construction of Vietnam. The traditional and trusted friendship is marked by regular high-level visits and exchanges between the two countries. The relations between Parties, States, Governments, Parliaments, and peoples are strengthened in a deep and substantive manner, contributing to boosting the bilateral relationship. In addition, economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Russia has grown positively, particularly after the free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union took effect in October 2016. Two-way trade revenue reached US$3.55 billion in 2017, an annual increase of more than 30%. Russia ranks 22nd out of 117 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 116 projects and a total registered capital of US$990 million. Vietnam also has 23 investment projects in Russia with a total investment capital of nearly US$3 billion. Cooperation in the field of education and training has also expanded with an increasing number of Vietnamese students provided with scholarships to study in Russia and the number has reached 1,000 students per year. The two countries also see growth in culture, humanities, and tourism cooperation, with the number of Russian tourists to Vietnam increasing by an average of 30% per year to reach 574,000 in 2017. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to Russia aims to continue implementing the independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperative and multilateral foreign policy of Vietnam and affirms Vietnam's active integration into the world to create an international environment conducive to the cause of national construction, protection and development. The General Secretary's visit is a political event of landmark importance in the relations between Vietnam and Russia, contributing to boosting the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in the new situation. The visit will also contribute to the effective implementation of a number of cooperation contents and drive stronger progress in economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Russia. May General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to Russia be a success, creating a new impetus for promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia and creating positive changes in all fields of cooperation, especially economics, trade and investment in order to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the world. Apple is widely expected to launch three new iPhones at its annual September event next week. Now we may know what each of them will be called. The tech giant's 6.5-inch Plus model may be called the 'iPhone XS Max,' while the 6.1-inch budget model may be named the 'iPhone Xr.' A report last week indicated that the 5.9-inch model could be dubbed the 'iPhone XS.' It comes as separate reports have indicated Apple may ditch its idea of introducing an in-display Touch ID. Scroll down for video Apple's 6.5-inch device may be called the 'iPhone XS Max.' A separate report said its 5.8-inch device could be called the 'iPhone XS.' Pictured is a leaked image claiming to be the device Many believe Apple is eyeing the elimination of its usual naming convention, 'Plus,' to describe the biggest device in its iPhone lineup. In in its place, 9to5Mac is reporting that the firm would go with 'Max' to describe the device, which should it feature a 6.5-inch screen, would mark Apple's biggest iPhone yet. Longtime Apple blogger John Gruber noted that Apple might be dropping the word Plus as the firm has used that naming convention in the past to indicate that Plus devices included upgraded features, like better components, cameras and the like. This year, many believe that the only difference between the base 5.8-inch model and the 6.5-inch device will be screen size. Both phones are expected to get a new A12 processor and 4 gigabytes of RAM, representing a significant upgrade from the iPhone X. Apple may also be dropping another rumored feature of the upcoming iPhones. Separate reports have indicated Apple may ditch its idea of introducing an in-display Touch ID. In its place, Apple is said to be forging ahead with adding Face ID to all of its devices The firm has long weighed the idea of adding an in-display touch ID to the iPhone as a way for users to control it in lieu of a physical button. However, the technology proved to be expensive and complicated to integrate. 9to5Mac has reported that Apple will forego that idea altogether in favor of adopting facial recognition technology, or Face ID, across all its devices. The name that seems just as peculiar is the 'iPhone Xr,' VentureBeat noted, given that it doesn't convey any obvious meaning like the 'iPhone X' - it signified the iPhone's 10 year anniversary. Already, Twitter users were calling into question the rumored iPhone names. The reports come after 9to5Mac last week posted what it claimed were authentic images of the 5.8-inch iPhone, said to be dubbed the 'iPhone XS.' They reveal the 'iPhone XS' with a 5.8inch screen, alongside a 'Series 4' version of Apple's Watch. Beneath the iPhone XS appears to be the larger 'iPhone XS Max.' Apple last week sent out invites for the launch of the latest version of the iPhone and Watch. It will take place on September 12th at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's 'spaceship' HQ in Cupertino. The golden 'gather round' invites show the circular HQ. Apple last week sent out invites for the launch of the latest version of the iPhone and Watch. It will take place on Sept. 12th at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's 'spaceship' HQ in Cupertino It is believed that Apple is branding this year's lineup an 'S year' - meaning the new devices will mostly include internal improvements, instead of any major aesthetic overhauls, Bloomberg claimed earlier this week. This tallies with previous reports that suggest Apple will launch three new models that resemble the existing iPhone X all-screen design on September 12th. The three models are tipped to boast 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch and 6.5-inch displays. All three models could have a battery charge that lasts for more than a day thanks to a new Apple-designed processor that is set to increase battery life by as much as 40 per cent. If youre keen to escape the winter chill, what better than a cruise to exotic places? For the past two years Fred. Olsen has won a new generation of travellers with its Warmer Cruising offers discounts of up to 40 per cent on a selection of trips. So why not take advantage of the special offers to experience the ultimate magic this winter: sailing part of the world cruise on Black Watch, which departs Southampton on November 12? Rather than staying on board to enjoy all 107 nights, you can sail on individual legs flying out to join the ship. The offers will be available on the following legs: The stunning walled city of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, one of the stops on the cruise Southampton to the Caribbean departs November 12 and arrives Barbados November 26. Australia & The Contrasts Of Asia departs Heathrow on January 4, 2019, sails from Brisbane on January 7. The Black Watch World Cruise offers you the chance to witness natural and man-made marvels: breathtaking scenery, amazing wildlife, awe-inspiring cultures and fascinating ancient sites on an unforgettable circumnavigation of the globe. Thanks to rigid inflatable boats, the operator can take travellers even closer to life on the waters edge. Journey away from the usual tourist trails in some of the most beautiful locations on Earth. There are stunning ports of call in the Americas, including Caribbean islands, Colombias walled city of Cartagena de Indias a delight to explore with its centuries-old architecture and charming Puntarenas in Costa Rica. Travellers also enjoy a journey along the Panama Canal all before sailing to the land down under via South Pacific Islands. They will see the volcanic landscapes and crystal-clear lagoons of Nuku Hiva and Rangiroa, as well as Tahiti, Bora-Bora and Mystery Island, with Christmas Day at sea in between. Passengers will also see the volcanic landscapes and crystal-clear lagoons of Nuku Hiva, pictured In Australia, an abundance of experiences await. From Cairns, visitors can explore tropical rainforest and wetlands, or tour to the Great Barrier Reef, while a call into Sydney is a highlight of the cruise. An extended stay is timed to celebrate the New Year with the chance to see the famous fireworks light up the midnight sky above the Harbour Bridge. On the Asian leg of the adventure, there is the contrast between Indonesias Komodo Island the untouched natural habitat of the worlds largest lizard and Singapore, a striking modern metropolis of skyscrapers, busy commercial districts and impressive temples. The contrasts continue with calls into Phuket gateway to exotic Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island and three Indian cities. From Kochi take an overland tour to the Taj Mahal; in Goa, explore the historic centres of Old Goa and the Latin Quarter; while an overnight stay in Mumbai affords time to immerse oneself in the citys hustle and bustle. In Arabia, there is the Burj Khalifa the worlds tallest building to admire in Dubai before visiting Oman and Jordan. See the amazing Komodo dragons, pictured, on the Asian leg of the adventure Ride a traditional dhow boat into the Musandam Fjords from Khasab; tour historic Nizwa and the Nakhal Fort from Muscat; and uncover the lost cities of Ubar and Petra from Salalah and Aqaba. Finally, after navigating the Suez Canal, the ship will journey through the Mediterranean, stopping at Kusadasi and Naples gateways to Ephesus and Pompeii Gibraltar and La Coruna, from where there are tours to Santiago de Compostela. As well as an itinerary packed with cities and destinations, there is a huge programme of on-board activities including pottery, learning to play a ukulele, craft, watercolour painting, drama workshops, photography classes, bridge instruction and dance lessons. Advertisement I once capsized a tiny catamaran - something which is apparently pretty much impossible - and on a school trip while canoeing with my teacher on a lake, because I struggled with the steering, we ended up going around in circles for a worrying amount of time. So when I was invited to have a crack at sailing Alex Thomson's 5million round-the-world yacht - the Hugo Boss - I took on the challenge with mild trepidation. Hopefully I wouldn't bring about its demise. On boarding the slick-looking carbon fibre vessel in Portsmouth - which Alex used last year to speed around the world single-handedly in 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes - I quickly learned there was no toilet, the kitchen consisted of a gas burner, and sailing at speed would require all hands on deck. Scroll down for video MailOnline Travel's Sadie Whitelocks, pictured, had a go at sailing Alex Thomson's 5million round-the-world yacht. Above, she is pictured sailing the vessel in the Solent Alex sped around the world single-handedly on the Hugo Boss last year in 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes Luckily it was a windy day and Alex was clearly excited about the blustery conditions. While the 44-year-old sailed the 60ft yacht alone in the 2017 Vendee Globe race, in which he came second, on the day I boarded, we were accompanied by a crew to take the pressure off. Phew! Before we left the marina and things got wobbly, the British yachtsman gave me a tour of his boat. He explained that to minimize its weight, the aerodynamic structure has extremely simple interiors. The deck outside features angled grips on the floor to prevent Alex from slipping and sliding in choppy conditions while the belly of the boat is a cavernous space, playing host to a storage area and makeshift bed. Alex has been sailing since a child. He is planning to attempt the Vendee Globe around-the-world race again in 2020 in a bid to score first place Sadie has a go at 'grinding'. This activity required her to bicycle a wheel around using her arm power to control the sails Alex showed me the kitchen, which consisted of a tiny area with a little gas canister fixed into place. He uses the piece of kit to boil water and rustle up meals from dehydrated and freeze-dried food packs while he's speeding along. A true master of multi-tasking. One of his favourite delicacies while he's racing on the high seas is a beef and cheese casserole, while chunks of Parmesan, slithers of Spanish ham and peanuts are other good sources of energy. When he's in the midst of circumnavigating the globe - a feat he has accomplished three times and is due to undertake again in 2020 - he can eat up to 7,000 calories a day. He joked: 'That's the equivalent of 14 Big Macs but somehow I always come back lighter. I lost 100lbs on my last race.' The bed, meanwhile, is merely a flat surface he flings a mattress on. Alex says that he sleeps as little as possible when he's racing but tries to get enough kip so he can make rational decisions. He tends to nap for between five minutes and one hour, but no longer. To make sure he doesn't oversleep, putting him at danger of veering off course, Alex has an extremely loud industrial-style alarm, which almost deafens me when he switches it on. The yacht's kitchen consists of a tiny area with a little gas canister fixed into place, pictured. Alex uses the piece of kit to boil water and rustle up meals from dehydrated and freeze-dried food packs while he's speeding along Along with steering and grinding, Alex spends much of his day while racing around the world analysing weather data on a small computer screen - to make sure there are no dangers on the horizon The bed is merely a flat surface he flings a mattress on. Alex says that he sleeps as little as possible when he's racing but tries to get enough kip so he can make rational decisions. He tends to nap for between five minutes and one hour, but no longer On the toilet front, Alex uses a bucket that has a wide body and a slender neck, to prevent any spills. The contents are then thrown overboard. After a speedy tour of the sportsman's boat, we got going on the water. Watching the boat come alive was quite a magnificent show, with Alex directing the crew to get the sails lifted. After a gentle start out of the harbour, suddenly we were off. At one point, thanks to the strong wind, we managed to reach a speed of 29 miles an hour - the boat reaches a maximum of 40mph when it's at full pelt. One of the scariest things when you're on the boat, is the way it leans at an extreme angle as it cuts through the waves. But thanks to hydrofoils (wing-like fins on the belly), the vessel never tips up. After getting suitably drenched by water gushing over the deck, I had a go at 'grinding'. This activity required me to bicycle a wheel around using my arm power in a bid to control the sails. Alex says he does this five to six times a day when he's racing. I felt suitably exhausted after one round of grinding and the thought of more filled me with dread. After a bit of an arm workout, I had a go at steering. To minimize weight, the aerodynamic yacht has extremely simple interiors. The deck outside features angled grips on the floor to prevent Alex from slipping and sliding in choppy conditions while the belly of the boat is a cavernous space What is the Vendee Globe race? The Vendee Globe is the hardest and most famous sailing race in the world. Nicknamed the Everest of the Seas, it involves sailing around the world alone, without stopping and without assistance, setting sail from and finishing in Les Sables dOlonne, after rounding the three legendary capes: The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Cape Leeuwin in Southern Australia and the infamous Cape Horn at the tip of South America. The first Vendee Globe race, in 1968, was won by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who crossed the finish line in 312 days. In the last race Alex Thomson crossed the finish line in just 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes and broke the World Record he already held as the fastest Briton to sail single-handedly, non-stop around the world. He says 40 to 60 per cent of competitors who start the race will not finish. The next race will start on Sunday 8, November 2020. Advertisement Alex informed me: 'If you move the tiller (steering stick) to the left, the boat turns right; move the tiller right, and the boat goes left.' I was surprised at how sensitive the steering stick was. As the yacht suddenly veered to the right, visions of my catamaran incident came flooding back. Luckily, I managed to keep things upright this time. Along with steering and grinding, Alex spends much of his day while racing around the world analysing weather data on a small computer screen - to make sure there are no dangers on the horizon. After a session out sailing, I was left with a sense of awe as to how Alex does this all alone. Talking about his profession, the father-of-two concluded: 'The Vendee Globe around the world race is the most difficult sport left in the world today. It's not just physically challenging, but also mentally. 'It's just one boat and one person. It's less about technology and more about adventure. Human management in a very extreme way. I have to be the navigator, the medic, the cook, the cleaner and more while I'm on the go. 'It certainly is a conversation-stopper at dinner parties when I tell people what it is I do.' There's clearly no taking the wind out of Alex's sails and his new boat for the 2020 Vendee Globe is set to be slicker and speedier than ever. MailOnline Travel was invited to sail on the Hugo Boss by Opihr gin to celebrate the launch of its three new ready-to-drink flavours. Alex Thomson is an ambassador for the drinks brand and it was the official sponsor of this year's Lendy Cowes Week sailing regatta. Egypt is the fastest growing tourist destination and France is the most visited country, new UN figures have revealed. Visitor numbers to Egypt jumped 55.1 per cent to 8.6 million in 2017 - a huge turnaround. The number of foreign tourists in Egypt went from 14.7 million in 2010 to 5.2 million in 2016 after the suspension of flights following the downing of a Russian charter jet and the turmoil following the uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Egypt is the fastest growing tourist destination with a 55.1 per cent rise in tourist numbers in 2017. Pictured is the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh France retained its 2016 No1 ranking in the most-visited list with 86.9million visitors, beating Spain into second place (81.8million) and the USA into third (75.9million). The figures were published by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in its annual tourism highlights report. Egypt attracts tourists to the likes of Giza and Luxor, who come to discover the great pyramids and the Sphinx. Meanwhile resorts around the Red Sea pull in visitors looking for beach holidays and offer spectacular diving. The second-fastest growing destination is the African country of Togo, which saw a 46.7 per cent jump in visitors. Here, visitors can enjoy palm-fringed beaches on the Atlantic coast as well as lush forests further north. The second fastest growing destination is the African country of Togo, pictured, which saw a 46.7 per cent jump in visitors The fourth fastest growing destination is Palestine. One popular attraction there is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, pictured A rise of 29.1 per cent in visitors sees Vietnam, known for its beautiful beaches and rivers, named the third-fastest growing destination. While in fourth place is Palestine, which saw a 25.7 per cent rise in tourists in 2017. Tourists travel to Palestine to visit the holy site of Bethlehem, which is home to the Church of the Nativity, as well as the Mar Saba Monastery and the Mosque of Omar. Rounding off the top five fastest-growing tourist destinations is the tiny island of Niue in the South Pacific, which saw tourist numbers rise by 25.7 per cent in 2017. Other places that saw huge rises in tourist numbers included Nepal (24.9 per cent, 6th), Israel (24.6 per cent, 7th), the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean (24.3 per cent, 8th) as well as Turkey and Iceland (both 24.1 per cent, tied in 9th). The most visited country in the world is France - it attracted a total of 86.9million visitors in 2017 In the most-visited countries list China comes fourth with 60.7million visitors in 2017 then Italy, which welcomed 58.3million people. In sixth place is Mexico on 39.3million visitors followed by the UK on 37.7million visitors in 2017. Other countries in the top ten most visited destinations are Turkey (37.6million, 8th), Germany (37.5million, 9th) and Thailand (35.4million, 10th). For great travel deals visit www.mailtravel.co.uk . Tourists in Florence are being warned they could face fines of up to 450 for eating in the street. New laws, which went into force on Tuesday, ban snacking in four streets in the Italian city's historic centre. Local businesses in the affected sites have been asked to put up signs warning visitors about the ban in prominent places. They read: 'Respect residents, traders and workers of this street.' Tourists in Florence, pictured, are being warned they could face fines of up to 450 if they eat in certain streets in the city According to The Local, the restrictions will be in place from 12 to 3pm and between 6 and 10pm. They will remain in place for four months. The affected areas are Via de' Neri, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Piazza del Grano and Via della Ninna. Florence is known for its fine cuisine and reviews on Tripadvisor have rated the city as having the world's best sandwiches. But the Telegraph reports that local businesses were fed up with tourists loitering outside their premises or sitting on kerbs and sating their hunger pangs. Mayor Dario Nardella said: 'Its not a punitive measure but a deterrent. 'If tourists behave in Florence as they would at home then they will always be welcome, especially if they want to try our gastronomic specialities.' However, it is not the first time Mr Nardella has brought in controversial rules affecting tourists. Last year, he announced that the city would be fighting back against a rise in messy tourists who leave iconic churches strewn with rubbish by hosing down the steps at lunch time. New laws, which went into force yesterday, ban snacking in four streets in the Italian city's historic centre close to Florence Cathedral, pictured He said the the measure was aimed at people who 'camp out' at historic sites during the middle of the day, then leave them strewn with greasy packaging and beer bottles. Elsewhere in Italy, in the capital Rome, there has also been a crackdown on unruly tourists and authorities have even considered fencing off the celebrated Spanish Steps to protect them from 'barbarian' hordes of sightseers. Last year, the city considered barring tourists from stopping next to the Trevi Fountain to crack down on illegal swimming there. In Venice, stewards patrol the city looking for signs of uncouth behaviour such as sitting down on church steps and eating. And in Milan earlier this year, visitors were banned from taking pictures with selfie sticks. The ancient city of Palmyra, which was almost destroyed by ISIS jihadis, could re-open to tourists as early as next year. Extensive work has been underway to restore the site, which used to be one of the most visited tourist attractions in the Middle East. Authorities in Syria say they hope that visitors will be able to marvel at the wonders of the ancient monuments from summer 2019. Scroll down for video The ancient city of Palmyra pictured in September 2017 after it was almost destroyed by ISIS jihadis Authorities in Syria say they hope to welcome back tourists to the site next year. Pictured is Palmyra in 2017 Palmyra, in the province of Homs, was an important caravan city of the Roman Empire, linking it to India, China, and Persia and was a Unesco world heritage site. Global concern for Palmyra's magnificent ancient ruins spiked in September 2015, when satellite images confirmed that ISIS - which took control of the city - had demolished the famed Temple of Bel as part of its campaign to destroy pre-Islamic monuments it considers idolatrous. The Syrian government then took back control of the site but it fell to ISIS one again in December 2016. Its members then caused even more destruction. By March 2017, Palmyra was recaptured by Syrian government forces and Russian scientists from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow began trying to reconstruct some of the ancient structures. The ancient Palmyra theater before the devastating civil war began. The site was used by Islamic State members as a backdrop for executions The provincial governor of Homs, Talal Barazi, told Sputnik News: 'The authorities now have a project to repair all the damage caused to Palmyra's Old City. 'There are also good offers from the world powers to restore the artifacts and historical value of Palmyra. I suppose that Palmyra will be completely ready for receiving tourists by summer 2019.' News of the re-opening comes after an antiquities museum in Syria's rebel-held province of Idlib said to house one of the world's oldest dictionaries reopened earlier this month after being shut for five years. The Temple of Baalshamin, which was later destroyed by Islamic State. It was dedicated to the Canaanite sky god Baalshamin after being constructed sometime in the 2nd century BC. In the 5th century AD, it was converted into a Christian church Dozens of visitors trickled into the museum in Idlib city to see what an official said represented just a fraction of the building's collection. Ayman al-Nabu, head of antiquities for the city, which is controlled by an alliance of rebels and jihadists, said the museum had been damaged by air strikes and looting during Syria's conflict - now nearly seven years old. The museum is said to house a collection of clay tablets dating back to 2400-2300 BC, which bear witness to the invention of the first alphabet. Megan Marx has hit back at a magazine report claiming her ex-boyfriend Jake Ellis was 'paranoid' about the fact she is bisexual during their relationship. The Bachelor In Paradise star, 29, told Daily Mail Australia that a Woman's Day article suggesting her sexuality was an issue for Jake, 31, was 'ridiculous and harmful'. 'Jake was never paranoid about [me being bisexual]. That's ridiculous and a pretty harmful accusation,' Megan said on Wednesday. Scroll down for video EXCLUSIVE: 'He was never paranoid about it': Bachelor in Paradise's Megan Marx has denied a report claiming her ex-boyfriend Jake Ellis 'was worried about her being bisexual' 'Yes, Jake and I had some problems which we've been open about on Instagram, but [my sexuality] has never been one of them,' she added. It comes after Woman's Day quoted a supposed 'source' as saying that Jake 'always felt very paranoid about Megan being bisexual and the fact she's such a free spirit.' The 'insider' also claimed that Jake 'couldn't handle' Megan's close friendship with fellow Paradise star Elora Murger, 27. Speaking out: The Bachelor In Paradise star, 29, told Daily Mail Australia that a Woman's Day article suggesting her sexuality was an issue for Jake (pictured) was 'ridiculous and harmful' Megan has previously claimed that she is physically attracted to Elora, who is also openly bisexual. Speaking to TV Week earlier this year, she described her as 'hot' and 'my type of girl', adding: 'Going into [Bachelor in Paradise], I thought, "I'd like her to be there".' In July, Daily Mail Australia revealed that Megan and Jake's relationship was on the rocks and they had been 'having problems for two months'. Questionable report: It comes after Woman's Day quoted a supposed 'source' as saying that Jake 'always felt very paranoid about Megan being bisexual' and 'couldn't handle' her close friendship with fellow Paradise star Elora Murger (right) Their issues apparently reached fever pitch after the pair argued publicly at Splendour In The Grass in Byron Bay. The couple eventually confirmed their split last month following weeks of rumours. Shortly after the announcement, Elora clarified that she was not involved in the break-up and was friends with both Megan and Jake. The Bachelor continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Network Ten They were guests at the 60th birthday party of TV's Dr. Drew Pinsky on Sunday. And Joel McHale explained why the celbrity medic means for much to his family during an interview during the bash at STK Los Angeles, the restaurant inside Westwoods W Hotel, 'This is very personal, but my wife had a miscarriage and we really consulted with him a lot,' Joel, 46, dished to Us Weekly. Healthy boys: Joel McHale and wife Sarah Williams with sons Isaac, 10, and Edward 13, at an LA event in 2016. The actor revealed Dr. Drew Pinsky offered them advice when Sarah miscarried 'It was so strange and wonderful that this very famous TV doctor was like, "Yeah, whats going on?" Were forever in debt to that man.' The Community actor, 46, and Sarah turned to Drew because they were friends and felt comfortable with the internist and addiction medicine specialist - even though he wasnt their physician. 'I was friends with him he wasnt our doctor, doctor, or her doctor, doctor, but I would call him, and hes like, "That doesnt sound right," or "That sounds OK." It was just insanely sweet of him.' Birthday boy: Joel was speaking at the celebrity medic's 60th birthday at STK Los Angeles, the restaurant inside Westwoods W Hotel, that also kicked off Drew's month-long Prostate Cancer Foundation fundraiser on Sunday Joel didnt disclose when the miscarriage took place. He and Sarah share sons Edward, 13, and Isaac, 10. The couple tied the knot in 1996 after meeting when Joel graduated from the University of Washington. Joel called a friend of Sarah's and asked if he could ask her out on a date. Good friends: The Community actor, 46, and Dr. Drew, seen at an event in New York in 2914, have been pals for some time after becoming close following the family's miscarriage Meanwhile, The Happytime Murders star was joined at the party by comedians Adam Carolla, 54, Bob Saget, 62, Nikki Glaser, 34, Tom Arnold, 59, and Craig Shoemaker, 59, as well as Los Angeles Lakers owner/president Jeanie Buss, 56, and Crazy Rich Asians actor Jimmy O. Yang, 31. The event also kicked off Drew's month-long Prostate Cancer Foundation fundraiser. Now a member of the organizations board, Drew was diagnosed with the disease in 2011 and successfully treated. Issa Rae's HBO show Insecure has fans in high places. And as the 33-year-old writer and star told the new issue of Glamour, one of them was none other than former First Lady Michelle Obama. The duo were introduced last year, whereupon Michelle 'had just finished watching the finale, and she was like: "That fakeout - how could you do that?" Issa Rae's HBO show Insecure has fans in high places, and as the 33-year-old writer and star told the new issue of Glamour, one of them was Michelle Obama '"I thought you and Lawrence were going to live happily ever after." I was like: "You really watch it?" She was like: "Yes. Sasha and Malia put me on to it."' Issa said fondly: 'It was like talking to my auntie. It bums me out that I will never have that feeling again of the First Family f***ing with us so hard and getting us.' She said of the current First Family: 'If Melania said that to me, I would be like: "Well, I guess it's canceled. Were not making this show. Its not ours anymore."' Constructive criticism: The duo were introduced last year, whereupon Michelle 'had just finished watching the finale, and she was like: "That fakeout - how could you do that?"' Issa and Michelle met in September 2017 at the Boston Convention And Exhibition Center during the marketing convention INBOUND. Posting a three-photo Instagram album of the pair of them together, Issa captioned: that the first one was: 'A) Me and My President.' The second one was: 'B) Me after my President told me she was mad about the #InsecureHBO finale fake out.' Photo three, per Issa, was: 'C) Me hugging My President with eternal gratefulness.' Such affection: Issa and Michelle met in September 2017 at the Boston Convention And Exhibition Center during the marketing convention INBOUND In Glamour, Issa also discussed bringing Insecure to life, saying: 'You can always tell when [a black show] feels overly explained. If youre targeting a specific audience, theres a shorthand people of color have, where you dont need to explain it.' Explained she: 'If a story line is funny to me, if its real to me, if it moves me, then its my thing. Its my experience, so no one can take that away from me.' The Los Angeles-born imrpesaria let on that the secret to the show's enduring ability to stay true to itself was in her 'surrounding myself with people of color. I could never do this show and have a predominantly white staff.' Side by side: Posting a three-photo Instagram album of the pair of them together, Issa captioned: that the first one was: 'A) Me and My President' Issa shared: 'Sometimes the white writers will be like: "I didnt even know what that line meant until I watched the show," and Im like: "Thats OK. There are some things that are just for us."' She acknowledged her good fortune in that 'Im doing what I love, and that is never lost on me. Even when Im in my most frustrated moments, Im like: "Theres always a silver lining." My general vibe is grateful, happy.' Issa confessed: 'You almost feel guilty, though. Not to discredit depression - you know I applaud people for being able to come out and be like: "I am sad, I am depressed" - but part of me feels guilty for being happy and OK.' It was a historic night on The Great British Bake Off. No, not because Manon said the word f**ked. It didnt take Channel 4 long did it? Two episodes into the second series and we already had swearing in the Showstopper! #PrayForMaryBerry There's a first for everything: Manon made history with the first f**ked in the Great British Bake Off tent on Tuesday It wasnt because there was a cake in a skirt either - a grass skirt, complete with a garland of flowers. What else would it be wearing on a Hawaiian Pina Colada Cake?! Or Jon, the contestant who confessed he wasnt looking forward to Cake Week on the grounds cakes are not really my thing. (On the Great British Bake Off! Whats he doing there?) Like the iconic spectacle that was the top half of the Eiffel Tower falling off, they barely got a mention. Well done: The moment came after Paul Hollywood - obviously as his Holiness blessed THREE Bakers with one of his legendary handshakes (shattering his previous record of two) No, the landmark moment was a contribution by Paul Hollywood - obviously as his Holiness blessed THREE Bakers with one of his legendary Paul Hollywood handshakes (shattering his previous record of two). The handshakes he bestowed on first Rahul and then Ruby were no ordinary handshakes either. Ive never given a handshake for a Showstopper before! Paul announced modestly, after he tasted Rahuls Chocolate Collar Cake, paused for dramatic effect, and sternly requested Rahul, can you come here a minute please? Pressing palms: The handshakes he bestowed on first Rahul and then Ruby were no ordinary handshakes either Rahul was still wondering what he could have done wrong to merit this breach of GBBO protocol when Hollywood put the young chap out of his misery, suddenly laying hands on him the way the judge congratulates the winner at Crufts (the owner not the dog). He did it with a two-handed handshake too - the type particularly false politicians use. That is a fantastic cake! Hollywood eventually declared, when the applause had died down. Congratulations: Rahul was still wondering what he could have done wrong to merit this breach of GBBO protocol when Hollywood put the young chap out of his misery, suddenly laying hands on him the way the judge congratulates the winner at Crufts What a time to be alive! It was one of those Events well always remember where we were like hearing the Brexit result or the Susan Boyle moment (possibly better). A piece of TV History so momentous he repeated two minutes later (on someone else). Rahul certainly deserved it. His chocolate orange layer cake was even better than a spectacular Terrys Chocolate Orange with amazing swirls in the collar and huge shards of chocolate erupting from the top. Impressed: Ive never given a handshake for a Showstopper before! Paul announced modestly, after he tasted Rahuls Chocolate Collar Cake Other unusual, enticing, delights included Antonys Indian Bakewell tart, Rubys Boozy Black Forest gateaux, and Kim-Joys Pandan Chiffon Cake, which Paul was not a fan of. So whats a Pandan leaf? he asked her, picking up the Pandan leaf and smelling it. (Its a leaf Paul.) Thats revolting! he scoffed, Do you know what thats like? Like I just cut my front lawn! What a wit. Well earned: Rahul certainly deserved it. His chocolate orange layer cake was even better than a spectacular Terrys Chocolate Orange Delightful: His creation was decorated with amazing swirls in the collar and huge shards of chocolate erupting from the top I like it! Noel Fielding contradicted Paul later when it came to the tasting. Thats like pond water! What a loon. Some of the ingredients alone sounded mouth-watering without being even baked into cakes: pineapple jam, rhubarb jam, soft Spanish nougat, Yuzu curd. As for Brionys Showstopper, Noel Fielding informed us: she needs to bake three tiers of chocolate fudge and salted caramel cake, then fill them with salted caramel and vodka butter-cream the sentence Ive been waiting my whole life for. (Vodka butter-cream?! Who knew?!) Having made 3-D Biscuit Selfies in last weeks finale, possibly the most interesting creations involved real some might say, historical figures: namely, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet, Fielding, and Sandi Toksvig. Complex: As for Brionys Showstopper, Noel Fielding informed us: she needs to bake three tiers of chocolate fudge and salted caramel cake, then fill them with salted caramel and vodka butter-cream For the Technical Challenge, Prue Leith tasked the competitors with baking une gateaux verte: a pistachio Genovese sponge topped with fondant made of spinach puree. (Coming to a Greggs near you soon.) This is absolutely ridiculous! spluttered Terry, trying to strain a horrible sloppy wodge of the green stuff. This is not going to go well ! predicted Karen - correctly, as it turned out later when she abandoned ship and tipped her mixture into the bin. Laying down the gauntlet: For the Technical Challenge, Prue Leith tasked the competitors with baking une gateaux verte: a pistachio Genovese sponge topped with fondant made of spinach puree Briony on the other hand was enjoying the experience of baking a cake with such an unusual ingredient. It smells like Health, doesnt it?! she enthused. Or cabbage! countered Noel Fielding, suggesting he doesnt eat a lot of spinach. The weirdest Chocolate Collar cake (or any cake) was undoubtedly Manons. When I was an au pair I looked after this little girl who loved dressing up as a princess. This cake is for her. In the room at the top of her almond castle cake she put the tiny almond prince and almond princess. Unconventional: Briony on the other hand was enjoying the experience of baking a cake with such an unusual ingredient Is that me and Sandi?! Noel deduced astutely, possibly by recognising his horrendous new Child-Catcher haircut. Thats fantastic! Sandi agreed. Not necessarily This is you fast asleep! Manon told Noel pointing to his Mini Me (in almond sponge), who was indeed lying prostrate on the bed. And thats Sandi. Shes f**ked off - because youre late! Is anyone else sensing Manon might have Issues, that shes working through? Not by playing with dolls houses as she might have when she was younger by using houses and people made of cake? Another psychological sub-plot to watch out for concerns the internets theory that Paul Hollywood is attracted to one of the Bakers in particular and that this years Ruby Tandoh is, um, Ruby Bhogal. (Admittedly Ruby is a great name.) Curious: Is anyone else sensing Manon might have Issues, that shes working through? Not by playing with dolls houses as she might have when she was younger by using houses and people made of cake? The biggest indicator this week was Hollywoods reaction to Rubys creations being disproportion good or bad: a classic giveaway. Her Boozy Black Forest Traybake in the Signature Challenge was not immaculate but Hollywoods verdict was scathing provocatively so. It looks like a forest floor! he growled. OK, gulped Ruby, clearly taken aback. Its a mess. A bit much when hed just agreed that Brionys traybake looked hideous but reassured her: honestly I dont care how it looks. Its absolutely delicious. I was always expecting Paul to have a gripe, Ruby reflected afterwards. But calling it a forest floor? He is savage! Taking his fancy: Another psychological sub-plot to watch out for concerns the internets theory that Paul Hollywood is attracted to one of the Bakers in particular and that this years Ruby Tandoh is, um, Ruby Bhogal The Jackson Pollack-style collar that adorned Rubys Showstopper was either a fairly feeble homage to the great American painter (as she claimed) or a load of old Pollacks designed to excuse it being conveniently simple. (Too bland and plain, without Pollacks trademark multi-coloured spatter.) The spin Ruby put on this was bordering on genius actually arguing that making a cake on the Bake Off than forging a career/reputation in the artworld. Jackson Pollack would probably just whack it on but hes not being judged! she insisted, explaining why she hadnt really decorated the collar at all. Luckily for Ruby, Paul Hollywood really that interested in Jackson Pollack and her actual sponge was delicious. I could sit here eating this for an hour or so! purred Prue Leith, getting stuck in (a pretty great compliment). Come here Ruby! grinned Hollywood, moving in for a handshake. Im really happy with Pauls handshake, Ruby considered afterwards. Im pleased that ones in the bag and I would never take that back now. Then her face lit up as she said: But I wanted to impress Prue! A truly historic diss of Paul Hollywood and his handshake on The Great British Bake Off. Ambassador Duong, who came to present his credentials, conveyed President Tran Dai Quangs greetings and invitation to visit Vietnam to his host. He added that Morales trip to Vietnam is expected to enhance the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries. The Guatemalan President expressed his thanks and tasked Minister of Foreign Affairs Sandra Erica Jovel, who also attended the meeting, with arranging his visit to Vietnam. Morales said he believes in developing the Vietnam Guatemala relations, particularly in trade and investment. Earlier, on September 3, the Vietnamese diplomat handed over a copy of his credentials to Guatemalan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Virginia Castillo. On the occasion, both sides frankly discussed measures to boost their bilateral cooperation in economics-trade and cultural exchanges. They agreed that the establishment of a political consultation mechanism between the Vietnamese and Guatemalan foreign ministries, as well as the mutual support of the two countries at international organisations and multilateral forums, particularly in Asia-Pacific, are also necessary. They considered these practical activities to mark 25 years of Vietnam Guatemala relations (1993 - 2018). She recently returned to work on her HBO comedy Veep after production was halted while she sought treatment for breast cancer. And now Julia Louis-Dreyfus is sharing her feelings about her health crisis as well as how she's become an advocate for others with the disease. 'I do feel different, but I cant quite articulate how,' the actress, 57, told InStyle in an interview published Tuesday. 'Ive come out the other side of this, and Im still not exactly sure how to define the difference other than to say Im grateful, of course, but its more than that. Its bigger,' she explained. Advocate: Julia Louis-Dreyfus told INStyle she feels 'different' and 'gratfeul' following her breast cancer battle. She's also helped design this t-shirt that will be sold at Saks Fifth Avenue to raise money for a breast cancer charity The former Seinfeld star was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2017, sharing the news the day after she won her sixth Emmy in a row for her work on Veep. She underwent surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy and now says she wants to focus on the future. 'Im not someone who likes looking back. I look forward. Thats how I operate,' Louis-Dreyfus said. 'Im always just moving on, you know?' Health crisis: The former Seinfeld star, 57, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2017, sharing the news the day after she won her sixth Emmy in a row for her work on Veep Remission: She recently returned to work on her HBO comedy after production was halted while she sought treatment. She had surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy As part of her forward-looking focus, she has partnered with Carolina Herrera designer Wes Gordon to design a T-shirt for Saks Fifth Avenue's 20th Key to the Cure program. The limited-edition shirt will sell for $35 at Saks stores during the month of October and the money raised will go to the AiRS (Alliance in Reconstructive Surgery) Foundation, which offers financial support to breast cancer patients who can't afford reconstructive surgery. 'There are plenty of women who decide not to get reconstruction, which is fine,' Louis-Dryfus said. 'But if you want it and cant afford it, thats heartbreaking to me.' 'The gap between the haves and the have-nots in our country its a very wide divide right now. Im lucky enough to be in a union where I get fabulous benefits. Not everyone is so lucky,' she added. They've been inseparable since winning Love Island together in July. And Dani Dyer put on an amorous display with her boyfriend Jack Fincham as the pair headed to Ariana Grande's concert at Koko in London on Tuesday. The reality TV beauty, 22, looked totally smitten with her Kent beau, 26, as they were mobbed by fans outside the venue. Coupled up: Love Island's Dani Dyer, 22, and Jack Fincham, 26, got hounded by fans as they enjoyed Ariana Grande's London gig at Koko on Tuesday Dani looked effortlessly chic in a red leopard print dress and wrapped an edgy black jacket around her shoulders. The daughter of TV hardman Danny Dyer elongated her slender pins in a pair of patent leather heeled boots and toted a sophisticated silver chain handbag. Dani styled her glossy chocolate tresses in a sleek straight 'do which cascaded far past her shoulders and highlighted her natural beauty. Staying close: The reality TV beauty looked totally smitten with her Kent beau, 26, as they were mobbed by fans outside the venue Stylish: Dani looked effortlessly chic in a red leopard print dress and wrapped an edgy black jacket around her shoulders Cosy: The daughter of TV hardman Danny Dyer elongated her slender pins in a pair of patent leather heeled boots and toted a sophisticated silver chain handbag Dapper: Beau Jack looked just as smart in his casual attire, opting for a cream jacket paired with khaki polo and distressed jeans Smiles: Dani styled her glossy chocolate tresses in a sleek straight 'do which cascaded far past her shoulders and highlighted her natural beauty Beau Jack looked just as smart in his casual attire, opting for a cream jacket paired with khaki polo and distressed jeans. The showbiz couple enjoyed Ariana Grande's intimate gig and were quickly met with a slew of fans as they tried to make their way out of the venue. Ariana was peforming in the UK for an intimate gig following the release of her album Sweetner. Having taken time away from the spotlight to deal with the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017, the night was clearly emotional for the pop superstar. On stage: Ariana wowed the crowds with her vocals Hitting the right notes: She sang hits from her new album Sweetner Music to their ears: Having taken time away from the spotlight to deal with the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017, the night was clearly emotional for the pop superstar Ariana told the crowd: 'This is so special. You are all so supportive. It means the world. Im so grateful for this In the middle of the intimate set, the star gushed: 'I missed you guys its so lovely being here again. This is so much fun Before their date night, Dani and Jack reunited in Manchester, with the couple trying to wade through a huge crowd of adoring fans just waiting for a glimpse of the famous pairing. Heading home: The showbiz couple enjoyed Ariana Grande's intimate gig and were quickly met with a slew of fans as they tried to make their way out of the venue Fan favourite: Dani stopped to speak to a fan in a wheelchair as she left the venue Sweet: Their date night comes after Dani discussed her life outside the villa with her 'soulmate' Jack, and insisted she's never had such a strong connection before Their date night comes after Dani discussed her life outside the villa with her 'soulmate' Jack, and insisted she's never had such a strong connection before. Quizzed whether she'd found The One, the bubbly star enthused to MailOnline: 'Yes definitely! I havent loved anyone like this before. And when you know you know. 'He is my best friend and my boyfriend all in one and I am so so glad I met him. 'He brings out the best in me and I cant wait for our future together. I love him more and more every day. I have turned into a proper cringe bag since I have met him!' Loved up: Quizzed whether she'd found The One, the bubbly star enthused to MailOnline: 'Yes definitely! I havent loved anyone like this before. And when you know you know' Coupled up: 'He is my best friend and my boyfriend all in one and I am so so glad I met him' Dani enthused Eyes for each other: The pair wasted no time moving in together after leaving Mallorca, and things have been going from strength-to-strength since deciding to rent a modern Essex pad All eyes on her: Former Love Island star Tina Stinnes cut a racy figure as she left the intimate gig in semi-sheer lacy bodice paired with crisp white slacks The pair wasted no time moving in together after leaving Mallorca, and things have been going from strength-to-strength since deciding to rent a modern Essex pad. Dani enthused: 'Its fun! We really knew thats what we wanted to do, and I honestly think its the best decision we made. 'I thought moving out would be tough, but clearly my mum has taught me a lot about living with a man, hah!' Moving in: Dani enthused: 'Its fun! We really knew thats what we wanted to do, and I honestly think its the best decision we made' Main man: Despite things being easier because they spent 24/7 together on Love Island this summer, Dani did admit that Jack has some annoying habits Despite things being easier because they spent 24/7 together on Love Island this summer, Dani did admit that Jack has some annoying habits. 'He is so messy!', she scoffed. 'He leaves things everywhere and he knows I like a clean tidy house. 'Especially with wrappers I always find them in the most random places. I have told him though when I wash up he can dry up because it is equal! 'But I will definitely be doing the cleaning because he is very half-hearted when it comes to that.' Watch exclusive highlights from Capital Up Close presents Ariana Grande at Capitalfm.com, @CapitalOfficial and on Capital TV from today. Flashing lights: Dani and Jack tried to make their way through the hordes of people but didn't mind taking a few snaps with eager fans Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and ex Perla Ferrara have reached a pact to finalize their divorce, after more than three-and-a-half years after he filed in the split. The 53-year-old musician and Ferrara, 43, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday, TMZ reported, to bring closure to the details in their split. One of the main issues revolved around Ferrara's allegation Slash's girlfriend Meegan Hodges operated an Instagram account which harassed both Ferrara and the two sons she shared with the rocker, London Emilio, 16 and Cash Anthony, 14. It's done: Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, 53, and Perla Ferrara, 43, have reached a pact to finalize their divorce after more than three-and-a-half years after he filed in the split The court granted Ferrara access to official Charter Communications records of Slash's Internet information to suss out whether Hodges could have been linked to the account in question. The Sweet Child O'Mine performer has previously said that his kids were not targeted on the account, and many of the items on it came directly from Perla's account. Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, had been battling with Ferrara over other issues that stalled the finalization of the split. Red carpet: The couple was on better terms at an LA event in May of 2014 In contention: the exact amount of his income, as well as whether or not Ferrara would have a direct line of access to him via phone to discuss the children. The Paradise City artist previously told the court that he and Ferrara had agreed to not speak with one another directly, and had a program that could assist them with it. Slash tied the knot with Ferrara in October of 2001. Hard feelings: Slash's current gal pal Meegan Hodges has been accused of online harassment by Ferrara He said he and Ferrara had separated in June of 2014 in citing irreconcilable differences in his divorce filing in December 2014. The guitarist moved in with Hodges about a month later, and the pair got matching tattoos, according to the outlet. The Patience artist had filed for divorce four years earlier in 2001, but he and Ferrara rectified their issues at that time. TMZ reported later in the day that Slash has been ordered to pay '$6.6 million as well as $100,000 per month in spousal support and $39,000 per month in child support.' 'Slash will keep all his guitars and any musical compositions he owns ... with future proceeds belonging to Slash. 'Perla gets primary physical custody as each kid will get .09% of Slash's income for the next 20 years.' Meghan McCain was absent from her usual seat on The View when season 22 kicked off on Tuesday. It appeared the hostess was taking some time off to mourn her father Sen. John McCain who died after a battle with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive cancer, at the age of 81 on August 25. The panel - Whoopi Goldberg, 62; Joy Behar, 74; Sunny Hostin, 49; and new co-host Abby Huntsman, 32 - took a moment to honor both Meghan, 33, and her father on Tuesday's episode. Sad duty: Meghan McCain was absent from The View on Tuesday after a week of memorials to her late father Sen. John McCain who died, age 81, following a battle with brain cancer on August 25. Here she is seen giving an eulogy at the National Cathedral in Washington DC Abby dished: 'Meghan is like a sister to me and this was the hardest thing she has ever been through.' The 32-year-old, whose father is U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, previously worked for Fox & Friends Weekend. She continued: 'Her dad was her best friend, her dad was everything. I was so proud of her it was like her dad had passed the torch to her. She was now speaking for the family.' Abby also honored the late war hero, saying that his services represented 'a commitment to service that I think we have such an aching for, right now, in this country. 'Her dad was everything': The View's new co-host Abby Huntsman, 32, paid a touching tribute to her 33-year-old friend and her father on the ABC show 'He was willing to give his life for this country,' she said. 'And that is a love for this country that very few people have.' Of Meghans emotional tribute to her father at his funeral, The View's Sunny Hostin, 49, remarked, 'I dont think Ive ever heard a group of people applaud at a eulogy. 'It was just so moving to see our friend and our colleague rise to that occasion,' she said. In her usual spot: The beautiful blonde, second right, with, from left, The View co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines and guest host Mark Hamill in March 'We all know shes devastated by the passing of her father. But my God, she showed everyone how tough she is.' Sunny was likely referring to Meghan's sly dig at President Donald at her father's memorial at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, when she said: 'The America of John McCain has no need to be great again because America was always great.' He was laid to rest at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday ending a week of memorials to him. He and wife Emily Blunt clearly enjoy each other's company, having starred together in horror film blockbuster A Quiet Place. And John Krasinski has revealed that the couple are so inseparable that while shooting his TV series Jack Ryan, the 38-year-old would travel 6000 miles every weekend to be with the actress and their two children. 'Family for me, its a non-negotiable thing,' the actor told People on Sunday. Scroll down to see video Partners: He and wife Emily Blunt clearly enjoy each other's company, having starred together in horror film blockbuster A Quiet Place. Seen here in July 2018 The star of The Office told the publication, 'I was shooting 6,000 miles away from them, and I flew back every single weekend.' Krasinski was shooting the Amazon series in Montreal at the same time Blunt was shooting Mary Poppins in London. So John made the weekly long-distance flight in order to spend time with his The Girl On The Train star bride and their daughters, Hazel, four, and Violet, two. We are family: 'Family for me, its a non-negotiable thing,' the actor told People on Sunday. July 2018 The 13 Hours actor had previously spoken to Men's Health about the process of directing his wife in the hit movie A Quiet Place. John admitted : 'I know Ill never do another movie thats this successful, this original, this underdog-y, and then on top of it have it be with my wife every step of the way. 'I said to Emily, "Theres no greater gift that the universe could have given me than to go through the biggest success of my career and I dont have to explain to you how it felt." We were both in the boat. I said to her, "I dont know if it can ever be like this again. 'Andagain, leave it to Emily, who is better at everything than meshe goes, "It cant." She just so perfectly encapsulated it. "It cant be like this again, and it shouldnt. So take this and put it on a mantel, this really special treasure that we experienced together. And now go out and do something else."' After being stretchered out of Kylie Jenner's 21st birthday party in West Hollywood last month, you'd expect Tammy Hembrow would try to downplay her reputation as a party girl. But the 24-year-old Australian model showed no signs of slowing down on Tuesday after hopping on a coast-to-coast flight from Los Angeles to New York. She shared an Instagram snap of herself in a private jet with her friends Carrington Durham and Delilah Belle, the latter of whom wore a very suggestive slogan top. Scroll down for video 'F**ked Up Friends Club': Tammy Hembrow's pal made a bold fashion statement as they flew to New York by private jet on Tuesday after the Instagram model was hospitalised at Kylie Jenner's birthday party last month In the photo, Tammy flaunted her abs in a crop top while Delilah made a bold fashion statement in a longsleeve T-shirt with the slogan: 'F.U.F.C. F**ked Up Friends Club'. The daring outfit choice is perhaps a little unfortunate considering that Tammy's last visit to America ended in a trip to hospital after she partied too hard. While attending Kylie Jenner's birthday party on Thursday 9 August, the Gold Coast local became unwell at the Delilah nightclub on Santa Monica Boulevard. Here comes trouble! On Tuesday, Tammy jetted to New York Fashion Week via private jet with her glamorous pals following a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles Paramedics were called and she was pictured being carried out of the venue face down on a stretcher shortly before midnight. She was transported to a nearby hospital but seemingly recovered quickly, as she was posting photos to Instagram of herself shopping on Rodeo Drive the next day. Tammy later blamed the incident on tiredness, jet-lag and her recent split with the father of her two children, fashion designer Reece Hawkins. Just stopping by! The mother-of-two spent around 24 hours in the City of Angels before flying across the country to the East Coast. Pictured below her Good American billboard in LA Meanwhile Tammy's cross-country flight comes after she enjoyed an overnight stopover in Los Angeles this week. The mother-of-two spent around 24 hours in the City of Angels before jetting to NYC for Fashion Week. Her activewear brand Saski Collection - named after her daughter Saskia - is being showcased on the runway. Flying in style! Tammy is travelling to NYC for Fashion Week, where her activewear brand Saski Collection is being showcased on the runway. Pictured: Tammy and friends boarding the flight BBC Radio 3 will devote a monthly slot to relaxing sounds such as church bells or boiling kettles to help people escape the frenzy of everyday life. The half-hour slow radio programme will also include the noise of clocks ticking, a steam engine chugging through countryside, and the sound of cattle being blessed by a priest in Ireland. Station boss Alan Davey said he hopes it will attract younger listeners by giving them a chance for quiet mindfulness. BBC Radio 3 boss Alan Davey, right, has announced his station will broadcast 30 minutes of relaxation sounds once a month to give people 'a chance for quiet mindfulness' Among the sounds planned for broadcast are a steam train racing through the countryside He said: For a long time people have been encouraged to consume things in short chunks. I think there is an increasing longing among younger audiences for longer things that take the time they take. He said the station is returning to an old fashioned feel, adding: It is like an analogue experience in a digital world, but conversely done digitally. The programme, which will air on the first Thursday of each month at midnight, will have different themes each episode. One programme will be a sonic journey through industrial and domestic technology. An insider said: Well be aiming to capture sounds and experiences you wouldnt necessarily have a chance to hear. You cant go inside a kettle, for instance. Radio 3 will also run a series of sonic memorials for the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in November. Microphones were sent to battlefields across the world, from the Lochnagar crater in the Somme to modern conflicts such as Helmand in Afghanistan. Mr Davey also announced the stations first voice-activated project a play that will use Amazons Alexa device. For most people, long showers can serve as a great time for relaxation and introspection. But for Keith Urban, 50, time beneath the jets often doubles as an opportunity to create his next big hit. Speaking to HIT 105's Stav, Abby & Matt about his song-writing process on Wednesday, Keith explained: 'Showers are just one of those places where a lot of ideas come to me.' 'You want to grab your recorder and just capture it!' Keith Urban, 50, revealed he likes to write songs in the shower during an interview with HIT 105's Stav, Abby & Matt on Wednesday 'It's not convenient though, you want to grab your recorder and just capture something just not your ideal place to be writing anything down,' he added. Keith also admitted that has developed ideas for songs while driving- another inconvenient time for writing things down. It comes weeks after Keith's wife Nicole Kidman shared a hilarious photo of him playing a banjo next to the toilet. 'Whatever it takes to get the right sound when youre recording': It comes weeks after Keith's wife Nicole Kidman shared a hilarious photo of him playing a banjo next to the toilet 'Whatever it takes to get the right sound when youre recording,' Nicole joked in the caption. 'Nothing like the acoustics in a hotel bathroom,' she added. In the image, Keith clutched his electric banjo behind a makeshift microphone stand and wore a pair of black headphones. Earlier this month, Keith revealed to the Herald Sun that it was his hometown gigs which helped him hone his talents, before striking it big in Nashville. 'All those years of pub gigs in Brisbane paid off' Earlier this month, Keith revealed to the Herald Sun that it was his hometown gigs which helped him hone his talents, before striking it big in Nashville 'All those years of pub gigs in Brisbane paid off because it taught me how to read a crowd,' he told the publication. The stellar showman credited these early performances with perfecting his craft, with skills he still uses now. 'If something is connecting, an upbeat song, I will tell the band 'f*** the ballad, let's keep the party going.' It's the first of many educational milestones for Hilaria and Alec Baldwin's young kids. Hilaria took to Instagram on Tuesday to share as her five-year-old daughter Carmen is headed to her first day of school this week. 'Our tiny date for the night before kindergarten!!!' the Majorca, Spain-born beauty, 34, wrote as a caption to a shot in which she, Carmen and Alec were posed in front of a door. Milestone: Hilaria Baldwin, 34, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a pair of posts as her five-year-old daughter Carmen is headed to her first day of school this week. She, the tot and dad Alec posed prior to the outing In the picture, Hilaria wore a black T-shirt with a plunging neck, tattered denim shorts and light pink heels. The beautiful fitness fanatic had her brown locks parted to one side and wore a pair of black sunglasses as she snapped the shot. Alec wore a black T-shirt with dark navy blue slacks and black dress shoes, with his grey locks parted, while Carmen looked adorable in a long-sleeved light blue shirt with blue pants and black shoes with a strap. The 5ft4 yogi, who's been married to the A-list actor for five years, joked that Carmen 'finally put pants on' after she initially was ready to leave the home without them. The mom-of-four - to daughter Carmen, and sons Rafael Thomas, three, Leonardo Angel Charles, one, and Romeo, three months, earlier took to the social media shot Tuesday with a pic of Carmen, explaining the itinerary for the evening. Chow time: Baldwin shared a few shots from her pre-first day of school meal with the fam Too cute: The mom lovingly stared at her oldest daughter while they stepped out to eat 'Tomorrow Carmen starts kindergarten,' Hilaria wrote, adding an emoji of a teary face. Hilaria said that Carmen had an idea they should talk about it over a dinner. 'How are you feeling about school starting? What are important pieces of advice that you have?' the mom-of-four asked, adding that hashtag, '#wegotthis2018.' She later took to the social media site to share excerpts from their night out before the big day, as Carmen sat on her dad's lap in one shot, and in another looked upset as she waited for her meal to arrive. Hilaria added, 'Realizing that going out to dinner means waiting for your food,' with an emoji of a hysterical laughing face. With Netflix's Murder Mystery in the can and several other upcoming projects ahead, Friends alum Jennifer Aniston is happy to be single and focusing on her film acting career. 'She isn't concerned about dating. She is happy to focus on work,' a source told People on Tuesday. 'She's been having a great summer.' The 49-year-old Golden Globe winner was joined on the Italian set of her latest movie by her hairstylist Chris McMillan, and she also made time to visit her Rock Star producer George Clooney and his family in nearby Lake Como. That's a wrap! With Netflix's Murder Mystery in the can, Friends alum Jennifer Aniston is happy to be single and focusing on her film acting career (pictured August 28) '[Jennifer] loves filming with [her onscreen leading man Adam Sandler]. She has been working long days but loves being in Europe,' the insider added. The 51-year-old Golden Globe nominee 'had a blast' working with his former Just Go With It castmate in the 2019 comedy about a married couple becoming suspects of an elderly billionaire's murder on a super yacht. Luke Evans, Terence Stamp, and Gemma Arterton also star in Murder Mystery, which was helmed by Kyle Newacheck (Game Over, Man! and Workaholics). As for Aniston's estranged second husband Justin Theroux - whom she 'mutually and lovingly' separated from back in December - she 'doesn't even talk about him anymore.' A source told People: 'She isn't concerned about dating. She is happy to focus on work. She's been having a great summer' (pictured with make-up artist Angela Levin on August 15) '#Italy': The 49-year-old Golden Globe winner was joined on the Italian set of her latest movie by her hairstylist Chris McMillan (pictured July 28), and she also made time to visit her Rock Star producer George Clooney and his family in nearby Lake Como The insider added: '[Jennifer] loves filming with [her onscreen leading man Adam Sandler, R]. She has been working long days but loves being in Europe' (pictured August 27) 'Last day shooting!' The 51-year-old Golden Globe nominee 'had a blast' working with his former Just Go With It castmate in the 2019 comedy about a married couple becoming suspects of an elderly billionaire's murder on a super yacht 'Truly memorable summer!' Luke Evans (L), Terence Stamp, and Gemma Arterton also star in Murder Mystery, which was helmed by Kyle Newacheck 'She doesn't keep up with what he does. She is focusing on her own life,' the source noted. On Tuesday, the 47-year-old SAG Award nominee - whom the San Fernando Valley native met on the set of Tropic Thunder in 2007 - Insta-storied a street video indicating that he was flying out of England. Jen - who divorced Brad Pitt in 2005 - discussed single life and hinted that fertility issues might have been an issue with her split from Justin in the September edition of InStyle. 'It's pretty crazy,' Aniston told the mag. 'Mutually and lovingly' separated in December: As for Aniston's estranged second husband Justin Theroux, she 'doesn't even talk about him anymore' (pictured in 2017) The source noted: 'She doesn't keep up with what he does. She is focusing on her own life' (final public appearance on July 25, 2017) Bye bye! On Tuesday, the 47-year-old SAG Award nominee Insta-storied a street video indicating that he was flying out of England 'They don't know what I've been through medically': Jen - who divorced Brad Pitt in 2005 - discussed single life and hinted that fertility issues might have been an issue with her split from Justin in the September edition of InStyle 'The misconceptions are "Jen can't keep a man," and "Jen refuses to have a baby because she's selfish and committed to her career." Or that I'm sad and heartbroken. First, with all due respect, Im not heartbroken. And second, those are reckless assumptions. No one knows what's going on behind closed doors. 'No one considers how sensitive that might be for my partner and me. They don't know what I've been through medically or emotionally. There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they're deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn't to procreate. Maybe I have other things I'm supposed to do.' Aside from Murder Mystery, the Yellow Birds actress has signed on to an Apple morning show series with Reese Witherspoon, a Sophie Goodhart suburban comedy, and Netflix comedy First Ladies with Tig Notaro. Audiences can next catch the Emmy winner as ex-beauty queen Rosie Dickson in Anne Fletcher's musical dramedy Dumplin' - due out later this year - about a teen pageant in Texas. POTUS: Aside from Murder Mystery, Aniston has signed on to an Apple morning show series with Reese Witherspoon, a Sophie Goodhart suburban comedy, and Netflix comedy First Ladies with Tig Notaro (R) At the beginning of the article, the author affirmed that Vietnam is becoming a prominent and influencing factor on both a regional and even global scale. Vietnams role and status are becoming increasingly affirmed in both economic and political terms. The rate of economic growth is stable at 6-7%, which is demonstrated through the successful activities of Vietnam at international organisations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and many other organisations. According to Grigory Trofimchuk, in order to develop the Russia-Vietnam relationship, in the future, new efforts and responsibility will be required, especially in the context that Vietnam, with the common consent of the other Asian countries, has been nominated for a position as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2020-2021. In addition, 2019 will mark the 25th anniversary of a treaty on the basic principles for bilateral friendship (June 16, 1994 - 2019) which will require the two countries to be more responsible for fostering and developing the relationship. In the article, the author emphasised that Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is not only an excellent theorist of the Communist Party of Vietnam, but he has also done a great deal for the country. He was re-elected as the General Secretary at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2016. He is also the one who outlined the path of further development for the country in foreign and socio-economic policies, while taking into account all the changes in the modern world. It is important to acknowledge these achievements of Vietnam, with the important role of the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Vietnam is pursuing a clear foreign policy with a consistent approach to diversifying its international relations. The author noted that Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is a trustworthy comrade of Russia, and when talking about his country he can be called Comrade Vietnam. In recent years, Russia and Vietnam have achieved many new milestones but both countries are also facing new challenges, which will require more efforts to overcome, eliminate all threats and risks at this very moment, as well as successfully take advantage of opportunities. In his conclusion, Grigory Trofimchuk emphasised that the Russian experts hope that after Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs official visit to Russia, Moscow and Hanoi would enter a new period of development at a higher level. They've become a cosy foursome over the past few weeks. And brothers Nick and Joe Jonas and their respective fiancees Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner watched Serena Williams defeat Karolina Pliskova of Czechia in the US Open quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York, on Tuesday. The group were joined by Priyanka's mother, Madhu Chopra, as they put on an energetic display from the stands. Family values: Nick and Joe Jonas and their respective fiancees Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner watched the US Open quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows in New York on Tuesday All together now: The group were joined by Priyanka's mother, Madhu Chopra, (right) as they put on an energetic display from the stands Nick, 25, and Priyanka, 36, looked utterly smitten as they cosied up while watching the match, with the actress wrapping her arms around her husband-to-be as she cheered away. The Quantico star looked stunning in a white Fendi dress that highlighted her cleavage. The form-fitting frock fell to just below her knees and an airy white cloth shirt draped gracefully from her shoulders. Priyanka's long dark tresses tumbled in easy waves onto her chest, and carried an elegant black purse - a TODS Croc Embossed Mini Satchel. Loved-up: Nick, 25, and Priyanka, 36, looked utterly smitten as they cosied up while watching the match, with the actress wrapping her arms around her husband-to-be as she cheered away Double date: The Quantico star looked stunning in a white Fendi dress that highlighted her cleavage as the group headed out for the evening Double time: The form-fitting frock fell to just below her knees and an airy white cloth top draped gracefully from her shoulders Double down: Priyanka's long dark tresses tumbled in easy waves onto her chest, and carried an elegant black purse - a TODS Croc Embossed Mini Satchel The actress star added a couple inches with white stilettos and accessorized with a simple gold necklace, as well as her engagement ring. Nick kept things casual in a grey sweatshirt and black chinos. He wrapped a black crossbody bag around himself and donned slip-o black and white shoes. Slight stubble defined his jawline and his dark locks were neatly trimmed for his family evening out. Doublicious: The Quantico star added a couple inches with white stilettos and accessorized with a simple gold necklace as well as her engagement ring Double jeopardy: Nick kept things casual in a grey sweatshirt and black chinos His older brother Joe, 29, kept to his more rocker-type stylings, donning an open flannel shirt atop a white graphic t-shirt. Blue chinos added a bit of class to the otherwise laid-back ensemble and he finished it off with white sneakers. He let his dark tresses roam freely across his forehead and accessorized with a large silver watch. Double entendre: Nick's older brother Joe, 29, kept to his more rocker-type stylings, donning an open flannel shirt atop a white graphic t-shirt His fiancee, Game Of Thrones star Sophie Turner, 22, looked stunning in an equally casual ensemble that included a white graphic T-shirt and intriguing black pants that featured a cutout of her right hip. Her blonde tresses fell easily behind her shoulders, and she kept them back with a pair of sunglasses. She matched her fiancee with equally clean white sneakers and accessorized with a gorgeous gold watch. Doubletree: Joe's fiancee Sophie Turner, 22, looked stunning in an equally casual ensemble that included a white graphic t-shirt and black pants Daily Double: The Game Of Thrones star's blonde tresses fell easily behind her shoulders, and she kept them back with a pair of sunglasses Joe and Sophie started dating in 2016, and got engaged in October 2017, however, their wedding plans remain unknown. Nick and Priyanka were first spotted together at the Met Gala in May of 2017. It wasn't until May of this year that the couple began dating officially. They reportedly got engaged July 18 and then sealed the deal with a traditional Roka ceremony in Mumbai on August 18 that included members of both families. Double up: Both Nick and Priyanka and Sophie and Joe are engaged to be married The group looked thrilled as they watched Serena's match, proudly cheering her on between sips of various beverages. The sport superstar, 36, won her match in straight sets while donning a one-armed form fitting black dress. Serena will next play Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the US Open semi-final. Invested: Priyanka couldn't hold back her excitement while watching the match Touchy: The happy couple couldn't keep their hands off of each other Keeping up with Jonas's: Nick checked his phone as his lady seemed to by gripped by the match Kyle and Jackie O Show radio presenter Jackie 'O' Henderson has revealed that she once called an emergency mental health hotline. Jackie, 43, and fellow radio host Kyle Sandilands were discussing TV presenter Osher Gunsberg's mental health struggles on Wednesday when she made the revelation. 'I don't know if I called the Lifeline number or a different line once,' Jackie said. 'I called a hotline for help': Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) revealed on Wednesday how she once phoned an emergency mental health service during her 'Gold Coast nightclubbing days' A shocked Kyle asked: 'What did you ring up for?' 'This was during the Gold Coast nightclubbing days ... I was young. So I called. I asked them...' Jackie said trailing off. Kyle, 47, interrupted her by jokingly saying in a high 'girly' voice: '"Becky totally hooked up with the guy I wanted to root and I hate her guts now! I'm gunna kill myself!"' Revelation: 'I don't know if I called the Lifeline number or a different line once,' Jackie said. 'This was during the Gold Coast night clubbing days ... I was young' 'No, no, nothing like that,' replied Jackie. 'But I do remember them saying we can't give you advice, we just have to listen. And I was like, oh, OK. I didn't realise that.' 'But I'm not sure what Lifeline does [in that instance],' she added. 'You just thought it was free advice?' asked Kyle. Help: Shock jock Kyle Sandilands (pictured) urged listeners to phone emergency mental health hotlines such as Lifeline if they are struggling 'I did. I thought, oh, they could help me out with this situation and I thought they would give me advice but they weren't allowed to,' Jackie explained. Shock jock Kyle then urged listeners to phone emergency mental health hotlines, such as Lifeline, if they are struggling. 'If you are having troubles them the best thing to do is to speak to someone,' he said. 'They will help you, I'm sure,' Jackie said about mental health hotline services such as Lifeline 'Absolutely, they will help you, I'm sure,' added Jackie. Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services in Australia, seven days a week. Similarly, MensLine Australia provides 24/7 phone counselling, video counselling and they also have a forum where men can socialise with other men to discuss common issues. Suicide Call Back Service is another free 24-hour counselling service. It provides phone and online counselling to people aged over 15. For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14, MensLine on 1300 789 978, and Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 She was first cast to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show back in 2011. And Shanina Shaik attempted to repeat the feat on Tuesday, when the 27-year-old arrived at the casting callbacks for the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Midtown, New York City. The Australian beauty exuded animal magnetism in a leopard print, wraparound skirt. Shaik it: Shanina Shaik was first cast to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show back in 2011 The 5ft8in stunner paired the statement garment with a simple white T-shirt. Around her slender waist, Shaik slipped a brown leather belt, and on her feet she wore a pair of black heels. The Muslim model wore her dark, wavy tresses untied and cascading over her shoulders. Shanina kept her makeup simple, opting for eyeliner and a dab of nude lip. Hear me roar: The 27-year-old Australian beauty exuded animal magnetism in a leopard print, wraparound skirt Well-heeled: Around her slender waist, Shaik slipped a brown leather belt, and on her feet she wore a pair of black heels Shaik has previously spoken of the racism she experienced in the fashion industry. Shanina, who is of Lithuanian and Pakistani descent, told TooFab on Wednesday that she sometimes struggled to find work as a model because of her skin colour and cultural background. 'I did find at times that I couldn't book jobs because I didn't fit a certain category of like background or like cultural, like skin colour,' the Melbourne native said. She added: 'It doesn't happen so often now, for me. But it did happen and it was really hard for me, it does tear you down.' Good hair day: The Muslim model wore her dark, wavy tresses untied and cascading over her shoulders Shanina also revealed that she has developed a thicker skin to handle rejection, if she isn't the right 'fit' for the job on offer. 'Sometimes with a client, if they wanted apples and you come in and you're a pear, you're not right for that look or that idea that the designer or the client has with an image for the job,' she said. The brunette beauty, who is married to DJ Ruckus, is one of the stars of E!'s upcoming reality series Model Squad, a behind-the-scenes look at a group of young supermodels. Shushanna Mkrtychyan was accused of witchcraft on Tuesday's episode of Bachelor in Paradise. The 30-year-old Russian was in a huff because her feelings for Polish realtor Kamil Nicalek were not reciprocated. Kamil, 30, was already in a relationship with Annaliese Puccini and was getting creeped out by Shu's persistent advances. Spellbinding: Shushanna Mkrtychyan was accused of witchcraft on Tuesday's episode of Bachelor in Paradise 'She keeps on staring at melike an owl,' he shuddered. 'He's still looking back,' remarked Shu, who was convinced there were romantic vibes between her and Kamil. When Kiwi Jordan Mauger got a date card, he offered it to Shu, but she rejected him and told him to take Cassandra Ferguson. Shu then lured Kamil to the hot tub for a chat. Unrequited: The 30-year-old Russian was in a huff because her feelings for Polish realtor Kamil Nicalek were not reciprocated Emotional: Mkrtychyan sobbed after she learned she had been accused of casting spells on Kamil 'He's still looking back': Remarked Shu, who was convinced there were romantic vibes between her and Kamil 'I feel like there's no connection there between you and Ithere is no spark,' he told her bluntly. She didn't believe him, saying: 'I feel like Kamil isn't being honest.' 'I think she's bat crazy right now, I think she's using her Russian witchery on me,' Kamil told Annaliese. Fanning the flames: A picture of Kamil's love interest burned in a fire pit 'I think she's bat crazy right now, I think she's using her Russian witchery on me,' Kamil told Annaliese Magic in the air: 'It's like this evil stare, I don't want her to put a spell on us,' he added Stay away: Annaliese, a a 33-year-old actress, approached Shu and told her that Kamil was strictly 'off limits' 'It's like this evil stare, I don't want her to put a spell on us,' he added. Annaliese, a a 33-year-old actress, approached Shu and told her that Kamil was strictly 'off limits.' 'You need to back off,' she advised angrily. 'He tried to kiss me [after the rose ceremony] and come back,' Shu told her. Defending herself: 'He tried to kiss me [after the rose ceremony] and come back,' Shu told her Witch hunt: 'First I'm European trash and now I'm a witch, seriously?' She sobbed When Annaliese accused her of witchcraft she grew enraged. 'Do I look like a f**** witch?' She balked. 'First I'm European trash and now I'm a witch, seriously?' She sobbed. Enter Diggy Moreland a 32-year-old inventory analyst from Rachel Lindsay's season. He's back! Enter Diggy Moreland a 32-year-old inventory analyst from Rachel Lindsay's season Trying it out: Diggy chatted with Shu, but she fobbed him off Eyes only for him: Diggy took Olivia Goethals for dinner in Puerto Vallarta, where she played with his glasses But Shu fobbed him off too, so he took Olivia Goethals for dinner in Puerto Vallarta. They kissed and slow danced while Olivia's former beau John Graham was left to brood at the camp. While Jordan frolicked in the waves with Cassandra, Shu decided that she should get together with him after all. Pucker up: They kissed and slow danced while Olivia's former beau John Graham was left to brood at the camp Success stories! The show had opened with previous BIP couples Carly Waddell and Evan Bass and Jade Roper Tolbert and Tanner Tolbert She then dragged Jordan away from Cassandra and admitted that she was jealous. It was his turn to reject her, which left her sobbing: 'It's so unfair.' 'I'm a f***ing witch,' she blubbered. The show had opened with previous BIP couples Carly Waddell and Evan Bass and Jade Roper Tolbert and Tanner Tolbert. Oh baby! Kendall and Grocery Joe were tasked with babysitting the couple's daughters Babysitter's club: Kendall and Grocery Joe received the 'date' which involved baby-sitting their kids so the tired parents could have a break They were tasked with choosing the first date. The six BIP couples spoke with them in turn so they could determine who was 'the most deserving.' Kendall and Grocery Joe received the 'date' which involved baby-sitting their kids so the tired parents could have a break. Parent's day! The couples were treated to a pampering session as Kendall and Joe looked after their children Giving it a go: They built a crib, while making double entendres about 'nuts' and 'finding the hole' 'Kids like me': Joe said confidently, as they started to cry hysterically They built a crib, while making double entendres about 'nuts' and 'finding the hole.' Joe was confident that the babies, Bella and Emmy, would love him. 'Kids like me,' he said confidently, as they started to cry hysterically. Turned out that Kendall was a natural at childcare. Aww: The star cradled baby Bella, who was wearing a pink floral headband and onesie to match Maternal side: Turned out that Kendall was a natural at childcare 'This is a new side of Kendall I haven't seen before and I like it,' observed Joe, 31. Their reward was a trip to town. 'I only want to date you,' said Joe, who hails from Chicago. Hard conversations: Cassandra confessed to Eric she felt he wasn't ready for a relationship Missing her: Eric, a 30-year-old personal trainer, broke down in tears, saying he missed Angela Amezcua, and had to leave Eric Bigger and Cassandra were experiencing difficulties. 'I don't think that you're ready for a relationship at all,' she told him sternly. Eric, a 30-year-old personal trainer, broke down in tears, saying he missed Angela Amezcua, and had to leave. Saying goodbye: Eric left Paradise after his difficult conversation with Angela Love is in the air: Chris Randone and Krystal Nielson confessed their love for each other over dinner 'That was my girl,' he said sadly. 'I hope that Eric can find love one day,' said Cassandra generously. Meanwhile Chris 'the goose' Randone said he'd 'hit the Bachelor in Paradise lottery' with Krystal Nielson. Heart of gold: Randone said he'd 'hit the Bachelor in Paradise lottery' with Krystal Matters of the heart: They scored their first one-on-one date, on which Chris dropped the L Bomb Meanwhile: In a game of Truth or Dare Olivia and John recreated Carly and Evan's famous habanero kiss 'There's something really special between us,' she agreed. They scored their first one-on-one date, on which Chris dropped the L Bomb. 'I'm in love with you too,' she responded. In a game of Truth or Dare Olivia and John recreated Carly and Evan's famous habanero kiss. 'I'm going to vomit,' squirmed Olivia. Bachelor in Paradise continues next week on ABC. Jessica Alba made a style statement in a black-patterned Rachel Zoe maxi-dress at the stylist-turned-designer's SS/19 presentation at Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The mother-of-three, 37, looked sensational as she paired her belted Bardot-style frock with a matching chain-strapped bag and peep-toe ankle-strap platforms for the fashion festivities in association with Belvedere Vodka. Joined by an array of celebrities, fashionistas, and style influencers - including Rachel herself - the entrepreneur looked in her element as she mingled at the star-studded bash. Wow: Jessica Alba made a style statement in a black-patterned Rachel Zoe maxi-dress at the stylist-turned-designer's SS/19 presentation at Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles on Tuesday Squad: Joined by celebrities, fashionistas, and style influencers - including Rachel Zoe herself (third from L bottom row) - the entrepreneur looked in her element as she mingled at the bash in association with Belvedere Vodka Given the nature of the event, Jessica showed her support in the gorgeous dress from Rachel's line. The number boasted a cheeky split, allowing the former Dark Angel star to show off her lean legs. Hairstylist Davy Newkirk coiffed the Honest Company boss' signature middle-parted brunette tresses while make-up artist Jamie Greenberg made sure she was ready for her close-up Jessica wasn't just a passive observer as the woman of the hour Rachel used her $2B brand's cosmetics collection (applied by make-up artist Monika Blunder) on all of her runway models. Fashion festivities: The mother-of-three, 37, paired her belted Bardot-style frock with a matching chain-strapped bag and peep-toe ankle-strap platforms The number boasted a cheeky split, allowing the former Dark Angel star to show off her lean legs Glam: Hairstylist Davy Newkirk coiffed the Honest Company boss' signature brunette tresses while make-up artist Jamie Greenberg made sure she was ready for her close-up True friend: Given the nature of the event, Jessica showed her support in the gorgeous dress from Rachel's line Alba and Zoe (born Rosenzweig) have been friends for a long time, and their catwalk collaboration came after an 'easy' phone call. Coincidentally, both mompreneurs sent their children to their first day of school on Tuesday - with Haven and Skyler, 7; in the second grade, Honor, 10; in the fifth grade, and Kai, 4; in pre-school. Last Wednesday, the Mexican-American beauty said her eight-month-old son Hayes with her husband of a decade - Pair of Thieves sock designer Cash Warren - 'weirdly brought us all together.' Part of the show: Jessica wasn't just a passive observer as Rachel used her $2B brand's cosmetics collection (applied by make-up artist Monika Blunder) on all of her runway models Gal pals: Alba and Zoe (born Rosenzweig) have been friends for a long time, and their catwalk collaboration came after an 'easy' phone call Two girls and two boys: Coincidentally, both mompreneurs sent their children to their first day of school on Tuesday - with Honor, 10; in the fifth grade, Haven and Skyler, 7; in the second grade, and Kai, 4; in pre-school 'Everyone sort of melts': Last Wednesday, the Mexican-American beauty said her eight-month-old son Hayes (L) with husband Cash Warren 'weirdly brought us all together' Hitting US theaters December 1! Alba will next play Jade in Martin Owen's action crime-drama Killers Anonymous alongside Sadie Frost (2-L) and Gary Oldman (M, pictured July 11) 'Honor and Haven are at that age, 7 and 10, when they can kind of fight a lot about the things,' Jessica told Extra. 'But instantly when he comes in the room they're like, "Awww Hayes!" You know and everyone sort of melts.' Alba will next play Jade in Martin Owen's action crime-drama Killers Anonymous -hitting US theaters December 1 - alongside Sadie Frost and Gary Oldman. The Pomona-born stunner also shot a mystery role in the second season of comedic police procedural No Activity, which streams this fall on CBS All Access. Happy: Jessica couldn't wipe the smile from her face L-R: Michelle Alves, Rachel Zoe, Soleil Moon Frye and Rebecca Gayheart Say cheese: The girls put on an animated display as they posed for a fun selfie Spectacle: The girls also ensured to snap away once the presentation started Jessica - who boasts 27.9M social media followers - Insta-storied a boomerang of herself twinning with her BFF, Kelly Sawyer Patricof. Alba has made a habit of coordinating with the British Baby2Baby co-founder, having worn couples costumes during at least five separate Halloween celebrations. Also joining the Dark Angel alum at Zoe's event were lovely ladies Lisa Rinna, Sarah Wright Olsen, Molly Sims, Erin Foster, and her older sister Sara. For her special night, Rachel bared her back in a pink metallic maxi-dress of her own design and she accessorized with her favorite chunky gold necklace and platform stilettos. '#Twinning': Jessica - who boasts 27.9M social media followers - Insta-storied a boomerang of herself twinning with her BFF, Kelly Sawyer Patricof Her other half: Alba has made a habit of coordinating with the British Baby2Baby co-founder, having worn couples costumes during at least five separate Halloween celebrations Babes: The twosome saw the funny side of wearing similar outfits as they posed away 'Girl power!' Also joining Jessica at Zoe's event were lovely ladies (from L-R) Lisa Rinna, Sarah Wright Olsen, Molly Sims, Erin Foster, and her older sister Sara Zoe made her fashion show a family event with her dapper gents, including her investment banker husband of 20 years Rodger Berman, whom she met while attending George Washington University. The slim tastemaker even closed her SS/19 show with a hand-in-hand strut down the runway alongside little Kai and Skylar twinning in matching suits, rainbow shirts, and loafers. After all these years, Rachel's signature style of power pantsuits and frilly maxi-dresses still defined the aesthetic for her spring and summer line. Speaking of family, the 55-year-old Real Housewife of Beverly Hills donned a sapphire suit alongside her black-clad 17-year-old daughter Amelia Gray (with husband of 21 years, Harry Hamlin). Skinny Minnie! Rachel bared her back in a pink metallic maxi-dress of her own design and she accessorized with her favorite chunky gold necklace and platform stilettos Family affair! Zoe posed with her dapper gents, including her investment banker husband of 20 years Rodger Berman, whom she met while attending George Washington University Finale! The slim tastemaker even closed her SS/19 show with a hand-in-hand strut down the runway alongside little Kai and Skylar twinning in matching suits, rainbow shirts, and loafers Woman of the hour: Rachel ensured all eyes on herself as she stepped out on the ramp Catwalkers: After all these years, Rachel's signature style of power pantsuits and frilly maxi-dresses still defined the aesthetic for her spring and summer line Both Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stunner Chloe Bennet and Grey Lady actress Rebecca Gayheart opted for similar black halter jumpsuits featuring silver trim. The half-Chinese 26-year-old - who's dating YouTuber Logan Paul - befriended Crazy Ex-Girlfriend triple-threat Rachel Bloom who was wearing the same jumpsuit in black. Also posing for selfies inside the venue were the $100,000 Pyramid contestant Sara Foster in silver and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer in metallic navy. Speaking of family: The 55-year-old RHOBH star donned a sapphire suit alongside her black-clad 17-year-old daughter Amelia Gray (with husband of 21 years, Harry Hamlin) Almost identical: Both Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stunner Chloe Bennet (L) and Grey Lady actress Rebecca Gayheart (R) opted for similar black halter jumpsuits featuring silver trim New BFF? The half-Chinese 26-year-old - who's dating YouTuber Logan Paul - befriended Crazy Ex-Girlfriend triple-threat Rachel Bloom (R) who was wearing the same jumpsuit in black Sparkly duo: Also posing for selfies inside the venue were the $100,000 Pyramid contestant Sara Foster in silver and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer in metallic navy Hello sunshine! Standing out in a yellow floral bell-sleeved dress was Lauren Bushnell Robot Chicken guest star Victoria Justice shook her shimmy in a golden fringed halter mini-dress and black ankle-strap heels. Master the Mess executive producer Molly Sims easily defied her 45 years in a cleavage-flaunting navy velvet wrap dress and black stilettos. And Grey's Anatomy star Jessica Capshaw - whose stepfather is Steven Spielberg - defied her 42 years in a plunging black pantsuit featuring a chevron-patterned collar with silver stilettos. Shake it off! Robot Chicken guest star Victoria Justice shook her shimmy in a golden fringed halter mini-dress and black ankle-strap heels Mother-of-three: Master the Mess executive producer Molly Sims easily defied her 45 years in a cleavage-flaunting navy velvet wrap dress and black stilettos Mother-of-four: And Grey's Anatomy star Jessica Capshaw - whose stepfather is Steven Spielberg - defied her 42 years in a plunging black pantsuit Pregnant pair: Chriselle Lim (L) and Yael Braun (R) showcased their burgeoning bumps in thigh-split maxi maternity dresses Katie Holmes has been busy raising her profile as a fashionista. And on Tuesday she turned out to support a launch event for A. Human, a self-described 'fashion brand from the future.' The actress, 39, stepped out in a purple dress and black sandal heels for the New York City event. Purple reign: Katie Holmes looked stylish in a clingy bright dress at a launch event for a 'futuristic' fashion brand in NYC Her dress had three-quarter sleeves and a small cowl neck and was gathered at the hips at the front. She wore her bobbed brown hair styled back from her face. Her eyes were rimmed with black liner and mascara and she added glossy red lip color and dark red polish on her toe nails. Double trouble: The event was hosted by PR specialist Simon Huck, (left), who cosied up to Katie Holmes for a snap Natural beauty: Katie added inches to her frame with a pair of killer heels A look ahead: The A. Human exhibition is billed as an 'immersive, theatrical experience created by Society of Spectacle', according to the brand's website The A. Human exhibition is billed as an 'immersive, theatrical experience created by Society of Spectacle', according to the brand's website. It's the brainchild of PR specialist Simon Huck. Also on the celebrity guest list were models Toni Garrn and Nina Agdal, former Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford and Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness of Netflix's Queer Eye. Blonde beauty: Model Toni Garrn, 26, put on a leggy show in a long-sleeved black top and black mini skirt paired with emerald green sandal heels with bows at the ankle On trend: Nina Agdal, 26, showed up in a pale pink Zadig & Voltaire mini dress with a round neckline and long sleeves and a tiered skirt and added white heeled ankle boots Model Toni Garrn, 26, put on a leggy show in a long-sleeved black top and black mini skirt paired with emerald green sandal heels with bows at the ankle. She flashed her taut midriff in the ensemble and wore her blonde hair loose and tumbling around her shoulders. Nina Agdal, 26, showed up in a pale pink Zadig & Voltaire mini dress with a round neckline and long sleeves and a tiered skirt. The Danish model added a pair of white heeled boots and wore her hair in a top knot. On the wild side: Former Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford, 49, looked stylish in a sleeveless leopard print tunic and matching trousers Fingers on the fashion pulse: Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness of Netflix's Queer Eye also lent their celebrity to the event Influencers: Olivia Palermo posed for photos with brand creator and PR specialist Simon Huck, left, and Alice + Olivia CEO Stacey Bendet was also on hand Ryan Serhant has an unusual name choice for his first child - Socrates. On Tuesdays season finale of Million Dollar Listing New York the 34-year-old power broker planned his family with his wife Emilia Bechrakis. Ryan had just bought an enormous mansion for them in Brooklyn and Emilia was intent on having lots of babies to fill it. Family planning: On Tuesdays season finale of Million Dollar Listing New York the 34-year-old power broker Ryan Serhant planned his family with his wife Emilia Bechrakis As they sat on the stoop of their $7.6 million home Emilia told him she wanted to start IVF very soon. Im optimistic about it, decided the 33-year-old. Can we call the first one Socrates? Because Socrates Serhant sounds awesome, he asked. Babies that sound and look like old men is the thing now, he reassured her. Big moves: Ryan had just bought an enormous mansion for them in Brooklyn and Emilia was intent on having lots of babies to fill it Name game: Can we call the first one Socrates? Because Socrates Serhant sounds awesome, he asked What would they shorten it to, Sock? She joked. The show had opened with Ryan, who had been trying to shift the swanky eight bedroom townhouse, which he ended up buying himself. I cannot list this a dollar over $9 million, said Ryan, who was given 90 days to close the sale. Nick names:What would they shorten it to, Sock? She joked Buyer's market: The show had opened with Ryan, who had been trying to shift the swanky eight bedroom townhouse, which he ended up buying himself To spice up the open house he organized a scavenger hunt. Theyre only interested in finding all the envelopes and theyre not really paying attention to the house, he frowned. After two weeks of no offers was told he needed to shift the house that day. Scavenger hunt: To spice up the open house he organized a scavenger hunt New author: His wife gave him a copy of his first book as a housewarming present He decided to make an offer to buy it himself for $7.6 million, with planned renovations of at least $1.5 million. Maybe extend some of the space out back, make a gym downstairs, he mused. His wife gave him a copy of his first book as a housewarming present. Its been a crazy year, he reflected. Takes a village: Meanwhile Steve Gold checked out a 4,000 square foot place in Greenwich Village/ East Village Relocation: After ensuring it was listed in the swankier Greenwich Village region he got multiple offers from multiple multi millionaires, some for over his asking price Meanwhile Steve Gold checked out a 4,000 square foot place in Greenwich Village/ East Village. He estimated a sale for $5.55 million, which would earn him a commission of $166,500. After ensuring it was listed in the swankier Greenwich Village region he got multiple offers from multiple multi millionaires, some for over his asking price. He then hosted his family at his mansion in The Hamptons. Family host: He then hosted his family at his mansion in The Hamptons Dating life: Im just happy, he grinned, while they inquired about his dating life Im just happy, he grinned, while they inquired about his dating life. Whats there to talk about? He sighed. Fredrik Eklund was working on a luxury development called River Park in Brooklyn. The 41-year-old real estate tycoon was expected to sell the apartments before the sales galleries were completed, so he arranged a massive concert to promote the building. Hard worker: Fredrik Eklund was working on a luxury development called River Park in Brooklyn Big deal: The 41-year-old real estate tycoon was expected to sell the apartments before the sales galleries were completed, so he arranged a massive concert to promote the building I hope this pays off, he fretted. He met with his brother Sigge, who had just moved to New York from their native Sweden. They discussed Fredriks new 7,500 square foot home - bought to contain him, his husband Derek Kaplan, their twin babies, dogs and two nannies. This is the time to live right!? He exclaimed. Brotherly love: He met with his brother Sigge, who had just moved to New York from their native Sweden Growing family: They discussed Fredriks new 7,500 square foot home - bought to contain him, his husband Derek Kaplan, their twin babies, dogs and two nannies I feel like finally, truly Ive come home, he beamed as he stared at the skyline from his new deck. At the promotional event for River Park Fredrik danced around gleefully. Im VIP right, do I get my own security guards? He joked. Views: I feel like finally, truly Ive come home, he beamed as he stared at the skyline from his new deck Promotions: At the promotional event for River Park Fredrik danced around gleefully They aired a video promoting the building before some live music hit the stage. By the end of the day he had the first batch of deal sheets all cash, no negotiation. That commission check is going to be so big, boasted Fredrik, who had the potential to make $30 million in commission from the entire building. Million Dollar Listing New York will continue next season on Bravo. Fans of everything Kardashian and Jenner were buzzing when word got out that Kourtney and her ex Younes Bendjima were seen together on Monday for the first time since their breakup. Turns out, the reunion came just two days after the 25-year old Algerian native was spotted on a date with a mystery woman at the Malibu Chili Cook-off. The handsome model kept a low profile as he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head strolling next to the brunette. Who is she? Kourtney Kardashian ex beau Younes Bendjima was spotted on a date with a mystery woman at the Malibu Chili Cook off on Saturday Night Both Younes and his lady friend looked a bit startled when the photos were snapped in front of the Tilt-A-Whirl in the amusement park section of the fair. Up until that point, they looked to be enjoying themselves. Both opted for a casual look, with Younes dressed in that green hoodie, baggy denim jeans and white sneakers, while his mystery woman wore black short-shorts with a black jacket and white sneakers. After enjoying some of the festivities together, the pair appeared to meet up with a group of people and walk off. Going undercover: Kourtney's ex tried to cover his face with his hood when he got wind of the photographer Round two? Kourtney appeared to be back on with Younes when the two were spotted side by side in her black Range Rover Monday night as they headed to a sushi restaurant in Malibu The Algerian native was in the driver's seat as Kourtney sat in the passenger's seat Kourtney appeared to be back on with Younes when the two were spotted side by side in her black Range Rover SUV Monday night as they headed to a sushi restaurant in Malibu for some take-out. They then drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, found a parking spot and stayed in the vehicle for several hours as they watched the sun set over the ocean. Later they were seen in Calabasas getting In N Out Burger at the drive-thru. After that they headed to Kourtney's mansion which is inside a nearby gated community. Dinner to go: Younes picked up sushi from a restaurant in Malibu A source later told TMZ that they were not dating again; he simply wanted to talk out the split. But People reported on Tuesday that the former couple may be giving it another go. 'Kourtney and Younes are spending time together again. Things are not yet back to what they were before its not an official relationship,' a source said. 'Kourtney always liked him though and it was hard for her to stay away after he reached out.' The former couple have not been pictured together since their breakup about six weeks ago. They had been dating since October 2016. They share a 38-year age gap as mother and daughter. But on Wednesday, Lisa Wilkinson, 58, and Billi FitzSimons, 20, showed the apple really doesn't far fall from the tree as they attended the Women of the Future Awards in Sydney. Beaming on the red carpet, The Project host showed off her ageless looks and her stunning figure in a striking yellow wrap dress featuring abstract detail. Scroll down for video The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Lisa Wilkinson wears an eye-catching yellow wrap dress as she cuddles up to her statuesque lookalike daughter Billi, 20 She complimented her youthful complexion by wearing a nude make-up palette and had her dark locks out and loose on her shoulders. The media personality added a touch of bling with a pair of gold pumps and matching clutch. Meanwhile the presenter's daughter opted for a smart navy floral ensemble. Bling: The media personality added a touch of bling with a pair of gold pumps and matching clutch Towering over her mum, Billi paired the stylish look with a dark blazer worn over her shoulders. Wearing her sandy locks loose, she revealed a tanned glow with minimal make-up, allowing the striking family likeness to take centre stage. Reinforcing the close resemblance between the two, Lisa shared a stunning throwback photo last week. Looking good! Lisa complimented her youthful complexion by wearing a nude make-up palette and had her dark locks out and loose on her shoulders Looking like the mirror image of Billi, the photograph showed Lisa with long, flowing brunette locks and wearing a pale blue floral top with a halter bikini underneath. She captioned the image: 'This is me aged 17 on a family holiday to the Gold Coast... one of the very few shots I have from that time.' It's not the first time Lisa has shared a throwback snap, with an earlier photo of her aged 15 showed her looking remarkably similar to her daughter, who she shares with husband Peter FitzSimons. Guess who? Reinforcing the close resemblance between Lisa and Billi, The Project host shared a stunning throwback photo last week The journalist joked about her thin eyebrows, in fashion at the time, when posting that photo too. She wrote: 'How good was the fashion uniform of the day: Peasant blouses? And thin eyebrows.' Good genes! Earlier this year, Lisa shared a throwback photo of herself aged 15 (left) looking remarkably similar to her 20- year-old daughter Billi (right) Studio 10's newly-appointed host Kerri-Anne Kennerley and her predecessor Jessica Rowe proved to have more in common than just their workplaces on Wednesday. Jessica, 48, who quit her hosting gig on Studio 10 earlier this year, and veteran TV presenter Kerri-Anne, 64, both turned heads in very colourful ensembles as they stepped out at the Women Of The Future event in Sydney. Self-confessed 'crap housewife' Jessica sported a multi-coloured tulle blouse as she posed by the media wall at the award-winning Quay restaurant at The Rocks. Bold choices! Jessica Rowe (left) and Kerri-Anne Kennerley (right) turned heads with their stylishly bright ensembles at Women Of The Future event in Sydney on Wednesday The bubbly blonde was bold in the cascading tulle handkerchief top which featured a cute polka-dot print. She toned down her bright garb by teaming it with a black leather skirt and a pair of muted maroon ankle boots. The pixie haired beauty opted for a pop of rose-hued lipstick, in turn complimenting the pink notes of her ensemble. Wow factor: Jessica, who shares two daughters Allegra, 11, and Giselle, nine, with news presenter husband Peter Overton, looked every inch the yummy mummy as she flashed her lithe shoulders in the cut-out design Jessica, who shares two daughters Allegra, 11, and Giselle, nine, with news presenter husband Peter Overton, looked every inch the yummy mummy as she flashed her lithe shoulders in the cut-out design. Meanwhile Kerri-Anne didn't disappoint in the colour stakes as she stepped out in a highlighter-yellow quilted dress with gold chain embellishment. The blonde bombshell, who was announced as the new host of Channel Ten's troubled Studio 10 program on Sunday, put on a leggy display in the thigh-skimming number. Similarly, Kerri-Anne pulled back her bright display by slipping her age-defying figure into a black leather jacket and a pair of lace heel boots. Not so mellow yellow! Meanwhile Kerri-Anne (pictured) didn't disappoint in the colour stakes as she stepped out in a highlighter-yellow quilted dress with gold chain embellishment The 64-year-old has a tough job ahead of her on the Channel Ten morning show after the high profile departure of host Ita Buttrose, 76, following the notorious 'Brussels sprouts' incident involving Ita and fellow Studio 10 panelist Denise Drysdale, 69. 'I have been on the record as saying before that I think the show has such a feel-good factor that if it wasn't on Channel Ten it would have rated a whole bunch better,' Kerri-Anne candidly told The Daily Telegraph. Jessica sent shock waves through the Australian TV industry when she abruptly quit her hosting role at Studio 10 in March. The statement was made by Japanese Minister of State for Ocean Policy, Fukui Teru, during an international workshop held in Hanoi on September 5. Japan's marine and oceanographic research experience, as well as its experience in the formulation and implementation of marine policies and strategies, were shared with the Vietnamese side at the event, which was co-chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha, and Japanese Minister of State for Ocean Policy, Fukui Teru. The event gathered representatives from the relevant agencies, experts and scientists in marine economic development and oceanographic research from both sides. At the conference, Minister Ha affirmed that Vietnam and Japan have many common aspects related to the sea that are associated with the survival and development process of both nations for thousands of years. Both countries attach importance to the protection of marine resources and the environment, building an outlook to take advantage of marine resources for socio-economic development, he said. Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha speaks at the seminar. The Vietnamese minister also informed that Vietnam issued its Marine Strategy by 2020 in 2007, targeting to promote the potential of the sea in the 21st century to meet the needs of marine economic development, environmental protection and response to climate change. In the same year, Japan also promulgated Basic Act on Ocean Policy and the First Basic Plan on Ocean Policy. For his part, Minister Fukui Teru said that marine technology is an extremely important foundation for marine resources development, disaster preparedness and solutions to global problems. Japan will share its experiences in the field of marine research, seaport development and consolidating state management agencies over the sea with Vietnam, he stated, adding that Japan's efforts in solving ocean plastic waste will also be discussed at the workshop. Fukui Teru, Japanese Minister of State for Ocean Policy, delivers his speech at the event. Participants also identified opportunities and challenges for marine economic development, conservation and protection of marine resources in the context climate change, sea level rises and ocean waste pollution, and the lessons learned in coastal and marine space management for the socio-economic development. They also proposed mechanisms for exchanges and the sharing of knowledge about the sea, experiences in marine and ocean development and policy making through annual workshops and conferences. Take Me Out premiered to rave reviews on Monday night, as viewers tuned in to see 30 single women and a group of men attempt to find love. And it's no wonder fans can't get enough of the edgy new dating show, given many of the contestants' intriguing pasts. From a scantily-clad pageant queen to a very risque DJ, Daily Mail Australia has unveiled the latest crop of sultry singles set to enjoy the limelight of reality TV. And there's more! Meet Take Me Out's raunchy new stars including a scantily-clad pageant queen, busty bikini models, and a VERY risque DJ (Pictured: Emma Hollingsworth) Emma Hollingsworth will certainly earn her share of attention on the show, thanks to her striking beauty and statuesque frame. And the Brisbane-based Miss World Australia contestant also appears to have an army of online admirers, thanks to her racy bikini selfies. Emma clearly isn't afraid to flaunt her figure on Instagram, and often uploads candid snaps of herself posing in high-cut swimwear around the house. Stripping down: Brisbane-based Miss World Australia contestant Emma appears to have an army of online admirers, thanks to her racy bikini selfies Sizzling: She is seen here posing in the park in a white bikini Racy lady! Emma clearly isn't afraid to flaunt her figure on Instagram, and often uploads candid snaps of herself posing in high-cut swimwear around the house Revealing: One photo of the part-time artist shows her posing in a flimsy green T-shirt and white underwear One photo of the part-time artist shows her posing in a flimsy green T-shirt and white underwear. Joining Emma on Take Me Out is aspiring actress and promotional model Bridie Cahill. The Sydney-based bombshell shares Emma's passion for sharing spicy social media snaps, and can be seen showing off her cleavage and slender legs in an array of photos. Blonde bombshell alert! Joining Emma on Take Me Out is aspiring actress and promotional model Bridie Cahill (pictured) She's not shy! The Sydney-based bombshell shares Emma's passion for sharing spicy social media snaps, and can be seen showing off her cleavage and slender legs in an array of photos She has also appeared in professional modelling shoots for swimwear brands and has even walked the runway for Australian designer Camilla Franks She has also appeared in professional modelling shoots for swimwear brands, and has even walked the runway for Australian designer Camilla Franks. According to her Starnow profile, Bridie has been retained to 'mingle with guests' on 'all occasions cruises' as part of her work with a Sydney modelling agency. Another contestant to star on Take Me Out is Sydney DJ and vocalist Emma Bass. Beauty and a beat! Another contestant to star on Take Me Out is Sydney DJ and vocalist Emma Bass (pictured) Like her counterparts, Emma also enjoys uploading racy photos of herself to social media. Many of the blonde beauty's Instagram snaps show her posing in skimpy mini-dresses, while another sees her posing in a black G-string swimsuit. Aside from her musical pursuits, Emma's Starnow profile refers to her as a freelance model, actor and chef. Busty belle! Like her counterparts, Emma also enjoys enjoys uploading sexy photos of herself to social media That's cheeky! Emma donned a daring G-string swimsuit for this racy snap Aspiring model and actress Leticia Belle Llanos is also part of the new crop of reality stars. The Brisbane beauty's Instagram page is scattered with saucy snaps, including one of her posing in the bathroom in nothing but black lingerie. Another image shows a stiletto-clad Leticia lounging seductively on a double bed. Taking the plunge! Aspiring model and actress Leticia Belle Llanos is also part of the new crop of reality stars Va va voom! The Brisbane beauty's Instagram page is scattered with saucy snaps, including one of her posing in the bathroom in nothing but black lingerie Busting out!: The curvaceous brunette isn't shy to flaunt her figure online They were the villains on the last season of The Block. And on the renovation show on Tuesday, Ronnie and Georgia made a triumphant return to the series. The married couple returned to the show as judges to give their take on a room challenge, but looked barely recognisable. Scroll down for video Do YOU recognise them? The Block villains Ronnie and Georgia make a return to the show as judges... and look remarkably different from their stint on the series last year Ronnie - who was usually clean shaven on the show last year - sported a dark bushy beard. His hair was also styled differently, with the sides of his head being shaved. Meanwhile Georgia's locks were shorter and she had a fringe. They're back! The married couple returned to the show as judges to give their take on a room challenge At one point, Jess gushed over Georgia, saying: 'She's gorgeous.' 'She's got Gucci shoes, they must be doing well for each other,' she added with a laugh. Ronnie and Georgia not only judged the show but also took part in the challenge at Royal McDonald House. They replaced Kerrie and Spence who had to stay at The Block to finish their ceiling. 'Game on, suckers! You're going down, all of you!' Georgia yelled to this year's batch of contestants. The pair named Hans and Courtney winners of the challenge, where they pocketed $5,000. Home And Away actress Olivia Deeble was rushed to hospital with brain swelling after hitting her head this week. The 16-year-old suffered a concussion but is now said to be in a stable condition. In an Instagram post on Wednesday, she told her followers: 'A couple of days ago I hit my head and was concussed with brain swelling. Scroll down for video Home and Away actress Olivia Deeble, 16, is rushed to hospital with brain swelling after hitting her head 'I'm fairly crook at the moment and have been to hospital a couple of times but slowly improving.' A brain concussion is a head injury caused by a blow to the head, according to the Brain Foundation. Olivia, who is known for playing Raffy Morrison, told her legions of followers that she would be staying off social media so she can rest and hopes to get better soon. 'Thanks for the constant support love you all lots x (also thanks mum for taking photos of me passed out...).' On the mend: Olivia, who is known for playing Raffy Morrison, told her legions of followers that she would be staying off social media so she can rest and hopes to get better soon Her Home And Away co-stars offered well-wishes, including Sarah Roberts, who said: 'Get better soon beautiful! xxxx.' Actress Georgie Parker said: 'Please take your time getting back into everything. Love you sweetheart.' Meanwhile Penny McNamee, who plays her older half-sister Tori Morgan, wrote: 'Where is Dr Tori when you need her??? Sending lots of love and love healing vibes beautiful. Xxx.' It is unknown what caused Olivia's accident. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Olivia for comment. Olivia is the granddaughter of The Sullivans' actor Reg Gorman and the daughter of Kate Gorman, who starred in Neighbours in 1980s. Kanye West has taken to Twitter to clear the air with Drake following their year long feud, just two days after wife, Kim Kardashian publicly denied they slept together. The musical artist, 41, who is all about promoting love these days, penned: ' Sending good energy and love to Drake and family and crew. Posting one of Drake's concert pictures, he said: 'I havent seen the show in person but the images look incredible online. I understand where the confusion started.' Humble pie: Kanye West took to Twitter on Wednesday to apologise to nemesis Drake following feud... two days after wife Kim Kardashian denied sleeping with Canadian rapper He continued: 'Let me start by apologizing for stepping on your release date in the first place 'We were building a bond and working on music together including squashing the issues with Cudi at our office. 'When I put the dates up I was a bit ramped up doing 25 tweets a day TMZ happened shortly after I have to hop on the plane now will type more when I land.' Sorry: Posting one of Drake's concert pictures, he said: 'I havent seen the show in person but the images look incredible online. I understand where the confusion started' Long rant: Kanye continued to address the feud in a series of explanatory tweets The tweets appear to refer to a feud that began in June 2017, when Kanye announced he was releasing a seven-song album, as well as a joint record with Kid Cudi, 34,. According to The Ringer, this announcement came two days after Drake, 31, announced the release of his Scorpion album around the same time. Last week, Kanye was asked by radio station, 107.5 WGCI Chicago, if he was the person who told Pusha T, 42, that Drake had fathered a secret son called Adonis with former French porn star, Sophie Brussaux, 28. Pusha T rapped about it on diss track The Story Of Adidon following Drake's denials that the child was his - and Kanye produced the album. Feud: In a recent interview, Kanye accused Drake of sending him a purple demon emoji over a beat and Drake responded by posting one and a cry face emoji on this snap on Instagram On his own song, Scorpion, Drake appears to confirm the news, finally saying: 'The kid is mine.' But Kanye denied ever telling Pusha T about Drake's secret child. He told the radio station: 'Dont pull me into this conversation. Im Ye. I got major things to do other than be telling him some information about Drake I honestly dont care that much, in all honesty.' He also said: 'When we talk about the Drake thing, it hits me in a really sensitive place because you hang around people and they come to your house and be around your family and this and that. Not true: Two days ago, Kim Kardashian, who is married to Kanye, dismissed theories that she and Drake had slept together Not me: Kanye denied he told Pusha T that Drake had fathered a secret son called Adonis with Sophie Brussaux, 28, (pictured) after Pusha T penned it on a diss track that Kanye produced 'And then they get mad about a beat and send you purple demon emojis.' The beat reference is about the Lift Yourself beat which was used with Kanye's controversial Poopity Scoop track. Drake then responded to this interview by captioning a photo of himself on Instagram with purple demon and cry face emojis,' confirming there was a feud. Kanye's reference to TMZ in his latest tweets is a reference to his comment: 'Slavery is a choice,' which he has apologised profusely for, saying he is sorry he caused offence. Silent: Kanye produced Pusha T's (left) album but said he is not responsible for spilling Drake's secrets Last month, Drake dissed his former mentor Kanye West while performing in Yeezy's Chicago hometown. In a fan video, the star drew boos from the Illinois crowd after he changed the lyrics to his 2015 single Know Yourself while onstage the United Center. Instead of 'Had a job sellin' Girbaud jeans / I had a yellow TechnoMarine / Then Kanye dropped, it was polos and backpacks' - the three-time Grammy winner said: 'then Kanye flopped.' In 2015, it was revealed that Kanye and Drake were working on an album together, with the working title Wolves, but it never materialised. Drake told DJ Booth: 'I dont know, I think everybody has their own little things going on, Im not really sure what hes referring to half the time, cos in the same breath, I went from being like working on a project with him, to him sorta publicly sh**ting on me and DJ Khaled for being on the radio too much. But yeah Im not really sure, everybodys got their own thing going on.' Kanye has since said they will work together again. Meanwhile, Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian, 37, was forced to deny rumours that she had slept with Drake. During an interview with Complex's Everyday Struggle, Nick Cannon, 37, claimed that Drake 'smashing' Kim wasn't a 'far off concept.' On Monday, Kim quickly shut down the rumors on Instagram: 'Never happened. End of story.' TMZ has confirmed that the rumors about Kim and Drake are false. They wrote: 'They have some mutual friends and are cordial when they have run into each other at events in the past. But they've never had a personal friendship or relationship,' a source told the media outlet. 'It's all BS...she's never slept with Drake. Didn't happen while she was married and didn't happen before.' They have reportedly been dating since October of last year. And Dakota Johnson, 28, and Chris Martin, 41, have proved just how strong their relationship is by getting matching tattoos. The actress and the Coldplay star have been seen in recent days sporting the exact same infinity symbol inking, intertwined with two X's. Tattoo of them: Dakota Johnson, 28, and Chris Martin, 41, have proved just how strong their relationship is by getting matching tattoos Symbol: The actress and the Coldplay star have been seen in recent weeks sporting the exact same infinity symbol inking, complete with two X's The dainty tattoo was noticed on Dakota's left elbow as she stepped out for the Suspiria photocall at 75th Venice International Film Festival last week, while Chris unveiled the same ink on his right forearm in Los Angeles a day prior. The design was also just about visible on Dakota as she posed up a storm on Suspiria premiere on the red carpet. The infinity symbol is a popular tattoo design given it's meaning of never ending, limitless love. Ink-redible: The dainty tattoo was noticed on Dakota's left elbow as she stepped out for the Suspiria photocall at 75th Venice International Film Festival last week (L), while Chris unveiled the same ink on his right forearm in Los Angeles a day prior (R) Tatt's cool: The design was also just about visible on Dakota as she posed up a storm on Suspiria premiere on the red carpet Sign: The infinity symbol is a popular tattoo design given it's meaning of never ending, limitless love Dakota and Chris were last seen together on double date with Aaron Paul and his wife Lauren Parsekian at a July 29 Radiohead concert in Boston. The Modern Family guest star and the Texan-born beauty reportedly met through mutual friends, and they were first romantically linked together in October. A source had told People at the time that the two stars were alone for their meal and appeared 'cosy' while 'laughing' and being 'affectionate' with each other. The following month in November, Dakota was pictured sitting with the crew as Coldplay performed in Argentina. A source at the time told Us Weekly that Dakota and Chris are 'definitely dating'. They told the publication: 'They've gotten to know each other really well and are very comfortable with one another. Lovebirds: They have reportedly been dating since October of last year with sources at the time complaining they're 'comfortable' (Pictured March 2018) Smitten: The Modern Family guest star and the Texan-born beauty reportedly met through mutual friends 'I adore him!': The Fifty Shades Freed star's mother Melanie Griffith confirmed the relationship to People on May 10 'Chris sends Dakota his music to get her opinion. Its more than just a fling.' The Fifty Shades Freed star's mother Melanie Griffith confirmed the relationship to People on May 10, gushing: 'I adore him! But she is very private about her life and I respect that.' Dakota's famous father Don Johnson, 68, previously told The Sun that Chris was 'a lovely guy' and a 'very talented and gifted musician.' The Golden Globe winner told the British mag in January: 'I've met him and you want your kids happy, no matter what shape it takes. Thats the goal, thats the key.' Dakota's famous father Don Johnson, 68, previously told The Sun that Chris was 'a lovely guy' and a 'very talented and gifted musician' Chris was previously was married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow from 2003 until 2014, when they revealed they were 'consciously uncoupling' and they share two children together; daughter Apple, 13, and son Moses, 11. Gwyneth had filed for divorce in 2015, before it was later finalized in July 2016. The Goop founder has also moved on and is currently engaged to her beau Brad Falchuk - whom she had met on the set of Glee in late 2014. Meanwhile, Dakota is making waves on the personal front and was recently at the Venice Film Festival screening her directorial debut Hello Apartment, She has won a legion of fans strutting her enviable model frame down the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show catwalk. And Devon Windsor, 23, continued to wow the style brigade as she slipped into a head-turning red gown on Tuesday night for the premiere of her new E! series Model Squad in New York City. The American supermodel, who has graced the covers of Vogue, made sure to command attention in NYC neighbourhood Tribeca alongside best friend Olivia Culpo for the launch of their new show. Walk this way: Devon Windsor, 23, continued to wow the style brigade as she slipped into a head-turning red gown on Tuesday night for the premiere of her new E! series Model Squad in New York City Upping the style ante, Devon's striking gown featured a daring thigh-high slit which showcased her lean legs and glittering strappy heels while she arrived to the viewing party. Balancing the racy slit, the fashion star's long-sleeved glamorous look boasted a plunging neckline which was kept in place with a golden clasp. Devon worked her peroxide blonde locks into a sleek, straight style which she complemented with a bold red lip and lashings of mascara. The blonde beauty stars in E!'s latest docuseries Model Squad, which follow the models-of-the-moment who are ruling the fashion industry. Having fun: The American supermodel, who has graced the covers of Vogue, made sure to command attention in NYC neighbourhood Tribeca alongside best friend Olivia Culpo for the launch of their new show Daring: Balancing the racy slit, the fashion star's long-sleeved glamorous look boasted a plunging neckline which was kept in place with a golden clasp As well as Devon, the line-up also features Daniela Braga, Hannah Ferguson, Ping Hue, Nadine Leopold, Caroline Lowe, Ashley Moore and Shanina Shaik. Olivia followed in her friend's glamorous footsteps as she slipped into a daring sheer white lace midi dress, which hugged her framed and accentuated her cleavage. In jovial spirits for the launch, she mimicked Devon's sleek hairstyle but sported a soft berry lip for the bash. Model behaviour: The blonde beauty stars in E!'s latest docuseries Model Squad, which follow the models-of-the-moment who are ruling the fashion industry All eyes: Olivia followed in her friend's glamorous footsteps as she slipped into a daring sheer white lace midi dress, which hugged her framed and accentuated her cleavage (Pictured with Shanina Shaik, Devon and Nadine Leopold) Meanwhile, Devon has been in engagement bliss after her beau Johnny Dex proposed on June 23 after more than two years of dating. While taking a plane ride, the blonde bombshell was able to see 'Marry Me?' spelled out on the sand of a private beach in the Bahamas. By coincidence, she was wearing an all white ensemble for the special occasion which showcased her sensational figure. She said yes: Meanwhile, Devon has been in engagement bliss after her beau Johnny Dex proposed on June 23 after more than two years of dating 'When you think you're flying into a photoshoot and then you look down and see this.,' she wrote on Instagram following the big surprise. 'This was the best day of my life and I cannot wait to marry the best person in the whole universe! I'm the luckiest woman in the world!' The Missouri native's engagement ring features a large oval cut diamond and a handmade platinum setting, which took over a month to craft. Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews announced they have become parents for the first time. The couple - who tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in the Scottish Highlands in June - welcomed a 'beautiful and healthy' baby boy in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Taking to Instagram, the 32-year-old Irish presenter posted: 'This morning at 3:55am, we welcomed our son into a quiet London hospital... He is beautiful and healthy. We feel truly blessed.' Baby joy: Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews have become parents for the first time and announced the birth with this sweet Instagram post on Wednesday morning Vogue shared a heartwarming snap of the tiny tot in a striped baby gro, resting her hand gently on the infant's feet. Meanwhile, former Made In Chelsea star Spencer, 30, chose to announce the news with an arty black and white image of his hand clasping his newborn's, reposting the same message as his wife. Vogue also took to her Instagram stories to write 'I'm so in love'. The pair, who have yet to reveal the baby's name, were inundated with well wishes from their delighted followers and celebrity friends. Thrilled: The couple - who tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in June - welcomed a 'beautiful and healthy' baby boy in the early hours of Wednesday morning Proud dad: Spencer chose to announce the news with an arty black and white image of his hand clasping his newborn's, reposting the same message as his wife Frankie Bridge posted: Congratulations guys @spencermatthews soak up all the newborn you can. Just the best. Hope your all doing well xxxx Denise Van Outen enthused: Massive congrats to you both. Spencer's former MIC co-star Rosie Fortescue wrote: CONGRATULATIONS you guys are going to make the best parents. The likes of Ashley James, Lydia Bright and Zoe Hardman have also send their well-wishes, while Spencer's ex Vicky Pattison also sent her congratulations. Vogue's due date was September 1 and the star had been sharing a number of posts in recent days as she lamented being overdue. Congrats! The pair, who have yet to reveal the baby's name, were inundated with well-wishes from their delighted followers and celebrity friends Vogue had been praising supportive partner Spencer for taking care of her in the days running up to the birth. 'This boy has been amazing overdue means a slightly grumpy wife who tends to fall asleep quite a few times a day! Hes keeping me happy and being a great supportyoure the best @spencermatthews', she shared on social media. Vogue and Spencer fell in love when they competed against each other on the Channel 4 celebrity ski show The Jump in 2017. They got engaged in February 2018, when Spencer got down on one knee after treating Vogue to a backstage tour of the West End's Lion King production. The pair married on his family's stunning 10,000 acre Glen Affric estate in Cannich, Scotland this summer, surrounded by close family and friends. Delighted: The pair, who met on reality show The Jump, couldn't wait to become parents Ahead of their little ones arrival, Vogue told OK! magazine that she believed Spencer would be a 'hands-on dad'. She confessed: 'He's going to be a hands-on dad. He's so excited. He just has a thing with children - they love him and he loves hanging around with them. He's going to be a really great dad.' The model suffered with bad morning sickness in the early stages of her pregnancy and admitted she napped every day. She previously gushed she wanted their little one to arrive as soon as possible, explaining: 'I'm totally ready for it. Physically I'm feeling really good. I've been so lucky with my pregnancy. Family unit: Ahead of their little ones arrival, Vogue said Spencer would be a 'hands-on dad' 'I had quite bad morning sickness and heartburn but, for the most part, I've been okay. I'm still able to work, but I have to nap every day. I'm so excited, I just want the birth to happen.' Spencer recently said the couple are 'blessed' to have their little boy grow up so close in age to their cousin after his brother James, 41, and wife Pippa Middleton, 34, announced they're expecting their first child. Speaking during an appearance on This Morning, the reality star opened up about the prospect of first-time fatherhood and his family's royal connections to Pippa's sister Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. He said: 'I think it will be great for the kids to grow up together. We feel very blessed.' Kourtney Kardashian and her ex-boyfriend Younes Bendjima were spotted having a heart-to-heart in a Malibu parking lot earlier this week. And sources close to the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star believe Younes deliberately called the paparazzi on them in a bid to make the most of his '15 minutes of fame'. Despite sparking speculation they were back together, TMZ claims the chat was just about getting 'closure' for the 39-year-old reality star. Staged? Kourtney Kardashian reportedly believes her ex-boyfriend Younes deliberately called the paparazzi on them before their Malibu parking lot meeting Kourtney was reportedly suspicious when Younes decided to drive to that particular sushi restaurant since the pair had never been there before - only for the paps to turn up soon afterwards. The insider told TMZ the Kardashians have long held suspicions that Younes, 25, used to call up the paparazzi when they were dating. MailOnline has contacted both Kourtney and Younes' representatives for comment. The two were spotted side by side in her black Range Rover SUV on Monday evening as they headed to Bui sushi restaurant in Malibu. The former couple - who had a romantic vacation in Italy earlier this summer - shocked fans when they reportedly split in early August. This marked the first time they have been seen together since they parted ways. Suspicious: Kourtney was reportedly suspicious when Younes decided to drive to that particular sushi restaurant since the pair had never been there befor A source later told TMZ that they were not dating again; he simply wanted to talk out the split. The pair did not dine inside Bui restaurant but rather only picked up take out food, further confirming that they did not want to be noticed. Younes was in the driver's seat while she rode in the passenger's seat. Both appeared to be in somber moods. After he picked up their Japanese food, they drove along the Pacific Coast Highway where they found a parking spot. They stayed in the car for several hours as they watched the sun set over the ocean. On the go: The Algerian model, who lives in France, was driving her Range Rover car Later they were seen in Calabasas getting In N Out Burger at the Drive-Thru. After that they headed to the gated community in Calabasas where Kourtney owns a mega mansion. The two have not been pictured together in over six weeks. Their split was initiated by Kourtney, TMZ claimed. Trouble seemed to brew after their trip to Italy when she posted a photo of her bottom. He posted a comment which read: 'Is that what you need to show to get likes?' He got the dinner: Bendjima picked up sushi from a restaurant in Malibu He later deleted the comments. The racy picture was taken while they were travelling around Europe together with Kourtney's children Mason, eight, Penelope, six, and Reign, three. He was said to be fuming with her for flashing the flesh and parading her body around in front of the world as he believes her saucy pictures should be for his eyes only. So many avocado rolls: The Calvin Klein model carried two bags of healthy food The pair started dating in October 2016 but they didn't make their relationship public until the following May out of respect for Kourtney's ex-boyfriend Scott Disick. (Disick had a history of cheating on Kourtney and was pictured with other women on numerous occasions during their long on-again off-again relationship.) But in early August it seemed clear Kourt and Younes were over. Younes was seen in Mexico with another woman on August 7. He was seen getting handsy with social media 'influencer' Jordan Ozuna. Jordan has a history with the family - she was linked to Tyga following his split from Kylie Jenner last year. High end: The catwalk master did not get any kind of average sushi, but headed into upscale Bui sushi With 200,000 Instagram followers, Jordan, or according to her handle jiordyn, is what is termed a micro-influencer. And she first found herself on the radar of plenty of those followers after being linked to Justin Bieber following his split from Selena Gomez in 2014. Then an unknown Las Vegas cocktail waitress, she was spotted indulging in PDAs with the then 19-year-old around the city. More eats: Several hours after they had sushi on the car while watching the sunset in Malibu, Younes pulled into In N Out in Calabasas Back home: Then the model headed to her gated Calabasas community where she has a home And the exposure drummed up a large number of Instagram followers for Jordan - the dream scenario for a social media obsessed Millennial. When not waitressing - her last gig was at Vegas' Wet Republic - the brunette spends her time posting pictures of herself in various stages of undress, receiving hundreds of 'likes' and admiring comments. Later in the day, Younes took to Instagram to deny he and Jordan were more than just friends, commenting: 'They really want me to be the bad guy... can't have fun with your friends no more' [SIC]. Busted: Younes was caught getting handsy with Tyga's ex Jordan Ozuna in August On/off: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, 39, and the cover boy, 25 - who had a romantic vacation in Italy earlier this summer - shocked fans when they reportedly split the first week of August; seen in the spring Better days: Younes had his hand on Kourtney's thigh in this image taken in Capri However Kourtney's sister Khloe couldn't resist chiming in on his post, quipping 'Alexa play "heard it all before" by Sunshine Anderson'. Kim Kardashian couldn't help but get in on the action as she wrote: 'Nice pics from your "boys trip."' For her part, 24-year-old Ozuna also insisted the two are just friends, telling E! News after the photos surfaced that, 'we aren't romantically involved in any way, shape or form.' She has become embroiled in a storm of controversy after Ryan Thomas playfully punched her in the Celebrity Big Brother house, with the soap star quitting the house - and showbiz - since. And Roxanne Pallett's upcoming Celebrity Island debut 'couldn't have come at a worse time' as she reportedly finds herself coming to blows with Hollywood actor Eric Roberts. According to reports, the former Emmerdale star, 35, annoyed her fellow contestants on the show after they're abandoned on an uninhabited island in the Pacific and have to survive on their own. 'Bad timing': Roxanne Pallett's upcoming Celebrity Island debut 'couldn't have come at a worse time' as she reportedly finds herself coming to blows with Hollywood actor Eric Roberts However, during her time on the series, before she sensationally quits after five days, it has been reported that Roxanne and Eric come to blows after she annoys him. The Dark Knight actor, 62, is believed to have confronted the soap star after she wears a bright pink bikini while everyone else is dressed in camouflage gear. In the scenes, Roxanne reportedly says: 'I've turned into some Amazonian ninja woman, I just don't care how I look any more.' To which Eric replies: 'Are you saying that to us or the camera?' Oh dear: According to reports, the former Emmerdale star, 35, annoyed her fellow contestants on the show after they're abandoned on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Not impressed: The Dark Knight actor, 62, is believed to have confronted the soap star after she wears a bright pink bikini while everyone else is dressed in camouflage gear (Eric Roberts pictured in 2006) Fate? In a coincidental twist, Ryan in fact met his now-girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh on the same show in 2017 'The show couldn't have come at a worse time. Now she'll be seen being a drama queen again,' a source told the Daily Star. In a coincidental twist, Ryan in fact met his now-girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh on the same show in 2017. The reports come after it was revealed that Roxanne has quit her radio show, stepped down from panto and Emmerdale bosses revealed they will 'never' rehire her. With the star losing work at a rapid rate, it's said that is set to lose over 100,000 from lucrative acting roles. A source told The Sun Online: 'Roxanne will turn her back on showbiz. She understands she's upset many people and wants to step out of the spotlight to focus on herself. Goodbye: The actress, 35, walked off the show earlier this year after the smell of the fire triggered traumatic memories of being involved in the blaze when she was aged 16 (above, Celebrity Island host Bear Grylls) 'She's not interested in anything to do with fame now and is convinced time away is the best thing for her.' During Roxanne's debut on Celebrity Island, the soap star leaves the show after five days after the bonfires caused her to have flashbacks of being caught in a house fire. The actress, 35, walked off the island earlier this year after the smell of the fire triggered traumatic memories of being involved in the blaze when she was aged 16. Her spokesman told MailOnline Roxanne, her mother and grandmother were caught in the fire in the middle of the night almost two decades ago. Outrage: This comes after Roxanne walked out of the Big Brother house in the early hours of Saturday morning after claiming Thomas punched her 'like a boxer' Heartbreaking: Broadcast regulator Ofcom received more than 11,000 complaints over her claims as footage appeared to contradict her claims, with Ryan left a 'broken man' They said: 'Roxanne and her family were rescued by emergency services after being trapped in the house for a substantial amount of time. 'Roxanne suffered smoke inhalation and her mum was hospitalised for months as she lost her sight, this later returned after lengthy medical care. 'Her house was completely burnt out and Roxanne and her family lost all of their belongings'. It was also claimed that Love Island's Montana Brown and journalist Paris Lees also walked off, leaving Jo Wood Martin Kemp, James Cracknell and Anthony Ogogo. MailOnline have contacted representatives for Roxanne and Channel 4 for comment. Shocking: A staggering 21 former Emmerdale co-stars slammed the actress while many claimed she was making a 'mockery' of real abuse victims Celebrity Island will air on Channel 4 on Sunday September 9 at 9pm. This comes after Roxanne walked out of the Big Brother house in the early hours of Saturday morning after claiming Thomas punched her 'like a boxer would punch a bag' on Thursday night's episode. Broadcast regulator Ofcom received more than 11,000 complaints over her claims as footage appeared to contradict her claims. A staggering 21 former Emmerdale co-stars slammed the actress while many claimed she was making a 'mockery' of real abuse victims. Interview: Responding to firm questioning by Emma Willis, Roxanne said that she was 'devastated and sorry' and that she was 'scared about her future' Responding to firm questioning by Emma Willis, Roxanne said that she was 'devastated and sorry' and that she was 'scared about her future'. She also told the presenter 'things in the past' have made her 'fragile'. She said: 'I needed to come and tell everyone that I got it wrong, I'm human, I made a massive, massive, horrible mistake.' When asked by Emma whether she felt she could be forgiven for the ordeal, the ex-Emmerdale star said: 'I would hope that I could be [forgiven].' The actress also appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on Monday, where she admitted she 'really got it wrong' and apologised to Ryan. Sorry: The actress also appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on Monday, where she admitted she 'really got it wrong' and apologised to Ryan She ran out of The Bachelor mansion in tears after a heated exchange with 'villain' Romy Poulier pushed her to boiling point. And Tenille Favios, 25, has denied she had too much to drink at the cocktail party, on Wednesday. Speaking about the evening to NW Magazine, she said: 'No, I'd had one drink all night I think I ran off while still carrying my drink.' 'I had one drink all night!' The Bachelor's Tenille Favios says she was practically sober when dramatically fled the cocktail party after a nasty exchange with other contestants 'I was done, I was absolutely done with it,' she added about the incident. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Network Ten for comment. Fans of the dating reality show saw the brunette beauty being called out by Romy for going back on her word for kissing Nick on her first solo date. The blonde's persistence at twisting Tenille's words wore down causing her to run out of the mansion in tears and demanding to have her microphone pack removed. Out of here: Speaking about the evening to NW Magazine, she said: 'No, I'd had one drink all night I think I ran off while still carrying my drink' 'I was done!' Tenille spoke about the explosive moment she stormed out of the mansion after Romy a heated argument with Romy, telling the magazine: 'I was absolutely done with it' As she ran away she was followed by friend and fellow contestant Shannon and a producer who both tried their best to console her. She was eventually persuaded by a production assistant who reminded her that she had already received a rose from Nick from their honey farm date. Tenille also spoke about the antagonistic trio of Romy, Cat and Alisha, who have dubbed themselves the Tripod, and their attitude toward the other contestants inside the mansion. Heated argument: Fans saw the brunette beauty being called out by Romy (left) for going back on her word for kissing Nick on her first solo date. The blonde's persistence at twisting Tenille's (right) words wore down causing her to run out of the mansion in tears Persuaded: She was eventually persuaded by a production assistant who reminded her that she had already received a rose from Nick from their honey farm date 'I knew they were bad in the house, but I didn't know it was that bad. The wording that they used to put people down has really shocked me,' she added. Romy, Cat and Alisha have not boded well with viewers of The Bachelor, many of whom have taking to Twitter share their thoughts on the trio. One tweeted: 'I hate the mean girls. More air time for the nice girls would be so much better! The constant bullying and bitchiness sends a really bad message all around #TheBachelorAU.' School opening ceremonies were conducted in a succinct and student-oriented manner and were attended my many Party and State leaders. President Tran Dai Quangs letters to pupils and students were read at the ceremonies, followed by drum beating accompanied by songs and dances to welcome the new school year. In a number of provinces affected by heavy rains and floods, school staff were working hard to clean up the wreckage and waste in order to hold school opening ceremonies as scheduled. In the 2018-2019 academic year, the education sector will continue to implement nine tasks and five groups of measures to enhance educational quality. For preschool education, the focus will be on building kindergartens near industrial zones and preventing child abuse, while for primary and secondary education, the sector will prepare for a new curriculum and improve the national high-school exam. At tertiary level, the sector will continue to promote the autonomy of universities and colleges, improve the quality of scientific research, support student start-ups and increase the rate of graduates gaining employment appropriate to their skills. He is getting back to full health after spending 11 days in a coma battling a deadly lung infection. And Richard Bacon looked happy and healthy as he squeezed in a work-out session with fellow Brit Mark Wright in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The presenter, 42, was in good spirits as he and Mark, 31, larked about in the gym, with the Extra host giving his showbiz pal a helping lift as he attempted some pull-ups. Scroll down for video Bouncing back: Richard Bacon looked happy and healthy as he squeezed in a work-out session with fellow Brit Mark Wright in Los Angeles on Tuesday, after recovering from a deadly infection Hospitalised: He is getting back to full health after spending 11 days in a coma battling a deadly lung infection In a video shared to his Instagram stories, Mark wrote: 'After nearly dying he now can't do a pull-up #comaRich'. Mark then filmed Richard attempting a solo pull-up with the jovial presenter saying 'I can't do it' before pulling off one manoeuvre. Former Blue Peter host Richard looked casually cool in a white t-shirt and grey shorts for the gym session, while Mark sported a white tee and black shorts. Showing off his prowess in the gym, ex TOWIE star Mark was filmed powering through a series of pull-ups. Pull-up: The presenter, 42, was in good spirits as he and Mark, 31, larked about in the gym, with the Extra host giving his showbiz pal a helping lift as he attempted some pull-ups Got you: In a video shared to his Instagram stories, Mark wrote: 'After nearly dying he now can't do a pull-up #comaRich' The video comes after Richard discussed his mystery illness, revealing the first two nights after he was admitted to hospital were the most dangerous. Speaking to The Times Magazine, he said: 'In 2018, I can go into a hospital, aged 42, be that fit, and have all that modern equipment around me and still nearly die? F*****g hell. I came that close. The first two nights, it was incredibly close.' And the star called waking up from a medically induced coma 'the worst day of my life' and said he was thrashing about 'like a wild animal'. He said: 'I remember thinking: I've not got enough oxygen, the room's too hot and I'm not getting enough attention. I need help. I remember consciously pulling the pipes out of my neck to set the alarms off. And it worked people came running in.' Reflecting on his illness, Richard explained that he's grateful to have survived his ordeal and has vowed to give up alcohol and marijuana, which is legal in LA where he lives and works. Hunky: Showing off his prowess in the gym, ex TOWIE star Mark was filmed powering through a series of pull-ups Looking good: Mark then filmed Richard attempting a solo pull-up with the jovial presenter saying 'I can't do it' before pulling off one manoeuvre He said: 'I'm giving up drinking. I had been drinking four or five glasses of wine every night. In LA, I've been smoking weed. It's all legal over there. I'm going to stop all that.' And he recently explained that he was treating the near-death experience as a wake-up call. In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, Richard said: 'I've decided to really, really embrace health from here on in. 'I've always drunk too much, I've always drunk too quickly, so I'm giving up drinking altogether forever as a result of what happened to me. Adding: 'Because if I don't effect some sort of really, really positive change out of this, then it's a giant waste of everyone's time... So I'm using it to effect positive change. 'It's something I've been thinking about anyway. I want to do something different, I want to look back in 10, 20 years and think "this was the moment I changed my life".' Casual: Former Blue Peter host Richard looked casually cool in a white t-shirt and grey shorts for the gym session Late last month, Richard also took to Instagram to share a snap of him reunited with his son Arthur, six, and daughter Ivy, four, as he stood alongside a Welcome Home banner outside is London home. He was also seen leaving the hospital Lewisham using the help of a walking frame alongside wife of ten years Rebecca, after he posted another snap thanking the medical staff for saving his life. He wrote in the caption: 'Gone within the hour. I don't know whether I see this as the bed I nearly died in or the bed that saved my life. 'Either way. I won't miss it. But I will miss the 50 staff of Lewisham Hospital who definitely saved my life. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.' She's one of the world's top supermodels who continues to strut her stuff both on and off the catwalk. And to no surprise, Karlie Kloss has once again got all heads turning in her latest campaign for Carolina Herrera's fragrance, Good Girl. The 26-year-old beauty was dazzling in red and channeled her best Jessica Rabbit for the sexy advertisement. Striking hot! Karlie Kloss served her best Jessica Rabbit in a sexy red dress for her latest perfume campaign with Carolina Herrera Karlie's ensemble saw her flaunt her ample cleavage in the form-fitting V-neck frock while also drawing attention to her incredibly long and lean legs in the sexy slit. She teamed the breathtaking number with a pair of classic black pumps. The cartoon-esque shoot saw the stunner with her blonde locks swept to one sides and styled into tight curls. Gorgeous: Karlie's ensemble saw her flaunt her ample cleavage in the form-fitting V-neck frock Legs eleven! The dress also drew attention to her incredibly long and lean legs in the sexy slit Karlie's makeup was glamorous with contoured cheekbones and a striking red lip. Set in a lounge, at one point she was seen blowing kisses while sitting cross-legged on top of a piano. Carolina launched her first perfume, 212, in 1997 - and has since become a leading name in the industry. Sending her love: Set in a lounge, at one point she was seen blowing kisses while sitting cross-legged on top of a piano Karlie joined the designer for the Good Girl campaign in 2016, making it one of the most successful scents from her 22 perfume collection. The former Victoria's Secret Angel is currently engaged to Josh Kushner, 33 - the younger brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared, 37. Josh and Karlie began dating in 2012 and it's been reported that the 6'2" catwalk queen converted to Judaism before he popped the question on July 24. The pair are set to get married in 2019 according to Life & Style magazine. 'She wants things to be romantic and easy,' reported their source. 'They want their wedding to be an understated affair. They're planning to get married next Spring or Summer on his family farm in New Jersey.' Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are the gold standard for Hollywood relationships and they're celebrating a remarkable 30 years of marriage together. The Footloose star, 60, took to social media on Tuesday to commemorate the milestone with two totally melt-your-heart-adorable posts about his wife. In a seflie video, Kyra, 53, and her husband sang a love ballad by the Beegees together. Goals: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick celebrated 30 years of marriage together on September 4th with two adorable social media posts Happily married: The Footloose star posted this image on Instagram of his longtime wife with the caption 'I Love this person' The JFK actor also posted a photo of Kyra smiling in front of picturesque desert back drop. He captioned the photo simply: 'I Love this person.' Crooning out To Love Somebody, which has been covered by various artists over the decades, the couple could not have looked more enamored with each other. Seated in front of a rustic looking wall, the Bacons looked relaxed as they belted out their duet. '30 years! I cant believe it,' the actor marveled on social media. '@kyrasedgwick is the woman of my dreams and the music in my life.' Strumming along to the tune, the pair finished the song while looking longingly into each others eyes. They sang the last few words of the lyrics, which were quite appropriately, 'I love you' to one another and ended the performance with a smooch. A lot of love: As the song ended the two sang the last lyrics while staring lovingly at one another 'Music of my life:' Kevin gushed over his wife of 30 years on social media after posting a duet with the pair 90s style: In 1997 Kevin and Kyra hit the red carpet bedecked in a collection of shiny materials. The Footloose star actually rocked a vintage inspired three piece crushed velvet suit The Closer star's blonde hair was in enviable loose ringlets that fell over her glowing makeup free skin as she sang. She wore an embroidered bohemian smock top with red skinny jeans and giggled at the camera when her husband apologized mid song for an unnoticeable flub. 'My bad,' the Apollo 13 star muttered quickly and then went right back to singing. Singing is nothing new for the A Few Good Men actor, he and his brother Michael Bacon created The Bacon Brothers band in 1995. The Philadelphia native wore dark black Wayfarer style sunglasses and a black T-shirt while he belted out the love song for his long time partner. In the beginning: Kevin and Kyra were already married for two years when this photo was taking at a Gala in Los Angeles in 1990 Looks like they made it: This photo from April shows the couple still together on the red carpet after three decades of marriage Kevin and Kyra have acted together on several projects over the years like Murder in the First and The Woodsman. In fact, the pair met on the set of the PBS adaptation of the play Lemon Sky. They wed on September 4, 1988 and have two adult children together, Travis, 29, and Sosie, 26. Sosie is following into the family business and currently stars as Skye Miller in the hit Netflix teenage drama 13 Reasons Why. The family business: Sosie Bacon, 26, is following her parents footsteps into Hollywood. She currently stars in the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why The Bacon's decades long marriage is something of a miracle in Hollywood and their romance hasn't always been easy. Statistically, money problems are one of the most common reasons that couples call it quits and these two have had their share of financial woes. The Upper West Siders famously lost a substantial chunk of their fortune after investing it with infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff, who operated the world's largest Ponzi scheme. The couple is frequently asked by reporters for advice on the secret to sustaining a long term marriage. However, on multiple occasions they've each divulged that their best tip is not to take marriage advice from celebrities. The Bachelor's Tenille Favios fled the cocktail party in tears on Wednesday's episode and threatened to quit the show after relentless taunts from 'mean girl' Romy Poulier. And after the show was broadcast, outraged viewers flocked to Twitter accusing the producers of being 'complicit in bullying' by not intervening. Some fans even claimed they had made formal complaints against Network Ten for airing the troubling scenes. 'The producers are complicit in bullying!' Bachelor viewers have apparently made complaints against Channel Ten after the network aired troubling scenes of Tenille Favios (pictured) fleeing the cocktail party in tears on Wednesday 'I have copped nothing but s**t from those girls,' Tenille, 25, said tearfully as she unzipped her dress and ripped off her microphone during the dramatic exit. Her departure soon became a trending topic on Twitter, with many fans directing their anger towards Network Ten and the show's producers Warner Bros. Australia. 'I'm actually so disgusted at @TheBachelorAU this evening. The manipulative and emotional bullying from contestants and producers alike should call for a serious investigation as to how it is allowed and is so heavily used this season,' one viewer tweeted. 'Disgusting': Tenille's departure soon became a trending topic on Twitter, with many fans directing their anger towards Network Ten and the show's producers Warner Bros. Australia Backlash: Meanwhile, a handful of viewers claimed they had filed formal complaints to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Pictured (left to right): Romy Poulier, Cat Henesy and Alisha Aitken-Radburn, who fans have accused of 'bullying' behaviour 'What happened with Tenille tonight crossed every line out there,' read a similar tweet, as other viewers agreed that bullying is never justified. Many fans claimed they found the episode particularly hard to watch as it triggered memories of bullying from their younger years. So far this season, 'villains' Romy Poulier, Alisha Aitken-Radburn and Cat Henesy have been described on social media as 'school bullies' and 'mean girls'. 'Mean girls': Many fans claimed they found the episode particularly hard to watch as it triggered memories of bullying from their younger years Furious: High-profile feminist Clementine Ford wrote on Twitter that Romy, Cat and Alisha's behaviour towards Tenille was 'gross', 'vicious' and 'disgusting' 'Anyone else concerned?' Several viewers claimed that Channel Ten and Warner Bros. were 'sending the wrong message' by airing the confronting bullying scenes 'Gross of @ChannelTen to be keeping them in,' wrote one social media user, referring to Romy, Cat and Alisha. 'I genuinely have had enough of Romy. She is abhorrent and her behaviour is absolutely disgraceful. Get her off this show,' another tweeted. Some viewers suggested the producers should be held responsible for Romy's behaviour on the show. 'Anyone else concerned that this absolute bully is not being reprimanded at all?' a viewer asked. 'If Romy is a paid actor, then the producers are paying her to bully and should be held accountable. If she's there and being a c**t by her own volition, then she needs to be held accountable.' 'She needs to be held accountable': Many fans called for 'bully' Romy (pictured) to be immediately dismissed from the show 'The producers should be held accountable': One viewer referenced rumours that Romy is a 'paid actress' planted by the producers to stir up drama in the mansion Meanwhile, a handful of viewers claimed they had filed formal complaints to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). 'We need to all make a broadcasting complaint about the promotion of bullying,' one Facebook user wrote on Wednesday. Another replied: 'I'd [be] pretty f**king keen to do this because the way they're portraying this season is disgusting.' 'Wow. Just went onto the site. The DO NOT make it easy [to complain],' commented another viewer. Daily Mail Australia has contacted ACMA and Network Ten for comment. She's set to the tie-the-knot to the love of her life in just a few weeks after meeting on the 2016 series of the hit ITV2 dating show. And Olivia Buckland has exclusively revealed to MailOnline that she has invited Love Island host, Caroline Flack, and narrator, Iain Stirling, to her upcoming wedding to Alex Bowen. The Instagram sensation was at the star-studded launch of her new Prep + Glow sheet mask in collaboration with Skin Republic at the Sanderson hotel in London on Tuesday night. Not long to go!: Olivia Buckland has exclusively revealed to MailOnline that she has invited Love Island host, Caroline Flack, and narrator, Iain Stirling, to her upcoming wedding Talking about her wedding invite list, she excitedly and exclusively told MailOnline that the Love Island team will play a big part in the day, she said: 'Iain is coming to the day, and Caroline is invited to the evening - hopefully they come! 'I know Iain is definitely coming to the day. So that will be good fun, he's a laugh.' Talking about her upcoming big day, Olivia revealed that she had planned for her and Alex's adorable French bulldog, Reggie, to be a ring bearer, but had changed their minds as he's 'very slobbery'. She joked: 'We were going to try and have him as ring bearer, but he's very slobbery, and I don't know if it's going to work too well. Star-studded: Talking about her wedding invite list, she excitedly and exclusively told MailOnline: 'Iain is coming to the day, and Caroline is invited to the evening - hopefully they come!' (Iain Stirling and Caroline Flack pictured in 2017) Gorgeous: The Essex beauty, 24, was at the star-studded launch of her new Prep + Glow sheet mask in collaboration with Skin Republic at the Sanderson hotel, London, on Tuesday Supportive beau: Alex was there to support his wife-to-be at her exciting star-studded Skin Republic event on Tuesday night 'We did have a go, we tried to train him, he was actually really good, but it's a bit of a risk on the day, I don't want to chase my dog at the time I'm meant to be getting married! We might try, but it's still an unknown.' And after the chaos of organising a huge wedding, Olivia revealed she's got a relaxing honeymoon in store. She said: 'For honeymoon, we're going to Sri Lanka and Maldives. I can't wait. Sri Lanka is more for Alex, as he can't sit still, Maldives is for me, so I cna just chill and not do anything.' Leading lady: Olivia looked sensational for her big night in a blue tasselled tuxedo dress and nude heels Marital bliss: After the chaos of organising a huge wedding, Olivia revealed she's got a relaxing honeymoon in store with husband-to-be Alex Bowen (pictured at her Skin Republic event) Olivia's got a sweet surprise waiting for her when she arrives back, as she and Alex are picking up their newest French bulldog puppy, Winnie, who is a half-sister to Reggie. She said: 'We're picking her up when we come back from the honeymoon, I think I'm going to have mega honeymoon blues and post wedding, so it's something for me to do when I go back.' Yet despite expanding their family to four, Olivia has no plans for babies with Alex just yet as she's too busy. She said: 'Eventually, we do want kids, so it will happen eventually... just not yet. I'm loving what I'm doing and I'm hoping for a second series TLC Second Chance Dresses. Cute: Talking about her upcoming big day, Olivia revealed that she had planned for her and Alex's adorable French bulldog, Reggie, to be a ring bearer, but had changed their minds 'I want to travel and do so many things, so I wouldn't feel right bringing a child into that. I want to be done with going out and get my career solid first.' Olivia's close friend, Love Island star Gabby Allen, is currently on Celebrity Big Brother where she has had to witness Roxanne Pallett and Ryan Thomas' 'punch' row. She said: 'I think she's doing so well, I'm so proud of her, I think she's been herself and that's what I was most wanting for her. Love's young dream: She's set to the tie-the-knot to the love of her life in just a few weeks after meeting on the 2016 series of the hit ITV2 dating show (pictured on Love Island in 2016) 'To come out as herself, be honest and be opinionated, and she is - she's being herself, that's all I could have asked for.' Talking about the Roxanne uproar, after the soap star walked out of the Big Brother house in the early hours of Saturday morning after claiming Thomas punched her 'like a boxer would punch a bag', she said: 'I mean, that is the only word you can use, shocking. 'But I am genuinely baffled. I love Ryan, he's a lovely guy, I've met him a couple of times, I love Scott, so my support is fully with Ryan. 'Luckily we know Ryan is an amazing guy and Roxanne she just needs help.' American actress Chloe Grace Moretz recently hit out at rival gay flick, Boy Erased, for being directed by 'a straight white man'. But on Thursday, the star of gay conversion therapy movie The Miseducation of Cameron Post backtracked on her comments that 'queer movies should be told through a queer lens'. Speaking to the Herald Sun, the passionate 21-year-old insisted that the two productions were equally important and should 'stand together'. 'The more queer movies we can get on screen, the better': The Miseducation of Cameron Post's star Chloe Grace Moretz backtracks on her critique of rival gay conversion therapy flick Boy Erased in an interview with the Herald Sun on Thursday 'Its important to say that I think these movies should stand together, and the more queer movies we can get on screen, the better for everyone,' she said. 'All I can say is, from my perspective, I wouldnt have done my movie without Desiree. She was instrumental to my decision to be a part of it,' Chloe said of working with bisexual female filmmaker Desiree Akhavan. Chloe plays the film's titular role of Cameron Post, a teen whose guardians place her into gay conversion therapy in the 90s. 'These movies should stand together': The passionate 21-year-old, who had slammed the rival film for being shot through 'a straight male gaze', insisted that the two productions were equally important for the queer community While on the promotional circuit, Chloe told the LA Times: 'Theres another conversion therapy movie thats coming out and you see how that was picked up by a major distributor, they are putting all the money behind it, and you start to compare it.' 'This movie was directed by a bisexual woman of diversity, it has a very diverse cast and we didnt cast all celebrities. 'You look at the other movie - that movie has distribution already, its going to come out, its going to be big - its written and directed by a white man, its shot through a straight male gaze. You just look at the discrepancy and thats shocking,' she said, comparing it to Boy Erased. 'That movie has distribution already, its going to come out, its going to be big': Conversion-themed film Boy Erased stars Australian actors Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, and is directed by Joel Edgerton Conversion-themed film Boy Erased stars Australian actors Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, and is directed by Joel Edgerton. The film, based on Garrard Conley's memoir, follows the son of a Baptist preacher who is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program. The Miseducation of Cameron Post is in selected Australian cinemas now, while Boy Erased is due for release in November She coupled up with Love Island lothario, Adam Collard, despite everyone's warnings that he's a womaniser. And Zara McDermott proved she'd made the right decision as she documented her loved-up holiday with the personal trainer in Dubai with her Instagram followers. The reality star flaunted her ultra-tanned and toned physique in a skimpy blue physique as she cosied up to the 22-year-old bad boy. Cute couple: Love Island's Zara McDermott posed sultrily in skimpy bikini during her loved-up holiday with Adam Collard during their Dubai getaway Sharing a snap of the couple together on her Instagram on Wednesday, she declared her love for Adam. 'Honestly having the best holiday ever. All thanks to this one. Cant put into words how much I love you,' Zara wrote. She added lovingly: 'Cant wait to keep making these amazing crazy memories with you xxxxxxxx.' The brunette bombshell also shared a snap of her sizzling bikini body in a sultry snap, which she captioned: 'Sun so bright and Im a little bit sunburnt.' Sweet: The brunette beauty dazzled in a skintight white dress as she cosied up to her Lothario boyfriend Adam Looking good: She later dazzled in a showstopping yellow gown when the couple went on a lavish night out Adam was a late entrant into the Love Island villa, where he became something of a villain due to his womanising ways, after racking up an incredible list of conquests including Rosie Williams, Darylle Sargeant, Kendall Rae-Knight and Zara. After being kicked off the show, he pursued his romance with Zara and the duo have been displaying their loved-up status on social media ever since. Adam has been capitalising big time on his instant stardom with reports he will rake in 305,000 for a series of public appearances, reports The Sun. Feeling fruity? The reality star flaunted her incredible frame in a lemon-print swimsuit Say it in stripes: Zara later donned a stripy wrap dress while staying at the Atlantis hotel The star who was voted out of the villa alongside Alex Miller, Darylle and Ellie Jones, announced a 61 date PA tour to his 724,000 Instagram followers. His mammoth tour began with the PA at the BH Hotel Majorca before he flies home to the UK to spend the night at Edwards in Peterborough. He will take in cities including Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, before wrapping up his tour at Glasgows Savoy on November 17. It was claimed the star will make an average of 5,000 per appearance, making him one of the show's first contestants to amass a fortune. Announcing the news, he wrote: 'Heres a list of all of my appearances in the upcoming months. Come say Hi'. Lena Dunham is an open book when it comes to her personal life and she took to Twitter on Tuesday to crowd source advice on an issue that has been plaguing her. The 32-year-old turned to the social media platform's hive mind to ask if her recent obsession with babies has something to do with her hysterectomy. Dunham started a new estrogen protocol last week as a result of the procedure and revealed that she has been 'having actual childbirth dreams' ever since. Help, please: Lena Dunham took to Twitter on Tuesday and Wednesday to admit that she's been struggling to deal with not being able to have children following her hysterectomy last year; seen in July Hive mind: The Girls vet looked for help on social media from other users who've experience the same thing What can we expect? The star tweeted that she will pen a self-help book for women undergoing hysterectomies but she wasn't clear on how serious she is about the potential project On Tuesday she queried: 'I started estrogen a week ago tomorrow and am suddenly obsessed with babies and having actual childbirth dreams. Is this biological? Can anyone with post-hysterectomy experience give me their thoughts?' Nearly a year ago the Emmy nominee underwent a radical hysterectomy after suffering severely from endometriosis. Twitter users were quick to respond back to Lena with their own personal stories and offer some solace. One user shared her own story: 'It's not uncommon. After mine at age 19 I had two years of baby thoughts and dreams. It was also about two years before I could hold a baby without crying. It gets better. Give it time. It will get better.' Lena responded directly to the tweet: 'thank you, needed that.' And, the New York native revealed on Wednesday that she is 'planning to share a what to expect when youre not expecting civilians guide to losing your uterus soon.' Though, she didn't indicate whether or not she was serious about the project. The starlet vented online in another tweet about her frustration over not being able to have a biological child. 'Sometimes in the middle of a joyful day the fact that Ill never be able to bear children hits me hard,' she admitted. 'I logically understand why this isnt a necessity- politically, emotionally etc. But you can understand and still not *know* It was a dream of mine.' Hand in hand: Lena's emotional struggle with not bearing children comes during her burgeoning new romance with a mystery man spotted with the star here in July with her late Yorkie Getting real: In August the HBO star celebrated the nine month anniversary of her hysterectomy with a series of nude photos Oh baby: Last month Lena posted a list of potential baby names - including 'Oz, Na, Sara Lee, Zavie, Rah, and Shogo' - that she and ex boyfriend Jack Antonoff compiled in 2015 The Tiny Furniture writer's emotional struggle with child bearing comes while her burgeoning romance with a possible new beau heats up. She has been spotted stepping out with a mystery man recently and was even caught stealing a quick kiss while on a date with her rumored boyfriend last month. In August the HBO star celebrated the nine month anniversary of her hysterectomy with a series of nude photos. She picked the date specifically because it's the same amount of time that an expectant mother would be pregnant. 'Ive never celebrated the 9 month anniversary of anything and I realized last night why that number feels so funny- I wont ever do it the way I planned to,' she wrote at the time on Instagram. 'My body is mostly healed and every day I find a new bruise on my heart, but today I offer myself gratitude: from the most pained place, I somehow knew to choose myself. The purest glint of who we are and know we can be is always available to us, calm and true at our center.' That same week she dug up a sad relic from her five-year relationship with ex-boyfriend Antonoff. She posted a list of potential baby names - including 'Oz, Na, Sara Lee, Zavie, Rah, and Shogo' - she and the 34-year-old Bleachers frontman compiled in 2015. 'I could definitely keep this private,' the Oberlin College grad tweeted. 'But then the world wouldn't know that you suggested Carrot over and over... Love u!' Smize: The 32-year-old donned a high cut strapless swimsuit that secured around the waist with a built in belt Pose! Emily Ratajkowsi acts as photographer for her swimwear line Inamorata while shooting model Lena Dunham in this Polaroid that was shared on social media Tuesday The Lenny Letter co-creator bared all in a different way just yesterday on social media when she was featured in a saucy leopard print bathing suit during a photo shoot. Lena posed in a high cut, revealing one-piece designed by Emily Ratajkowski for the 27-year-old's swimwear line. EmRata switched roles for the shoot and instead of model, acted as photographer, snapping sultry pictures of her pal for the label. He was still alive and kicking at the end of season five of House Of Cards. But that's all about to change for Kevin Spacey's character, ex- President Francis Underwood. A 24-second teaser for the Netflix political drama released on Wednesday shows his wife, Claire, played by Robin Wright, 52, looking steely as she stands over his grave next to his father's resting place. R.I.P. Frank Underwood: A 24-second teaser for the final season op the Netflix political drama released Wednesday shows the grave for the disgraced Kevin Spacey's character Now Potus, she says coldly: 'I'll tell you this though, Francis, when they bury me it won't be in my back yard. And when they pay their respects they'll have to wait in line.' Claire then turns on her heel and leaves, leaving a wilting bunch of white tulips on his headstone. The teaser was released on Tuesday, but fans have known for months that Spacey, 59, wouldn't be back for the final season. He was axed from the show in November after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct including several from crew members. Hail the new President: Robin Wright, 52, looks steely as Frank's wife Claire as she stands over his grave, saying, 'When they bury me it won't be in my back yard. And when they pay their respects they'll have to wait in line' Showrunners filled the gap by making Claire President but viewers have yet to find out how the scheming politician dies Meanwhile, it emerged on Wednesday that Spacey will not be prosecuted over one accusation of sexual assault that allegedly took place in West Hollywood in 1992. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said the alleged incident was outside California's statute of limitations. Another case concerning an alleged incident in 2016 remains under review. A number of allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against the Oscar-winner since last November, when he was accused by actor Anthony Rapp of making a sexual advance in 1986. Kevin claimed to have no memory of the events but publicly apologized. He has since issued an 'absolute' denial of the other allegations that later emerged. Police in London are also probing six criminal cases against the star who was artistic director of the city's Old Vic Theatre from 2004 to 2015. She's not shy when it comes to documenting of her life on social media. But Chrissy Teigen was close to sharing a little too much with fans on Wednesday. Taking to her Instagram Stories, the 32-year-old revealed she was in an Ambien haze while lying in bed. Her ample cleavage almost spilled out of her top as she filmed herself early in the morning after taking the sleeping aid. Close one: Chrissy Teigen almost spilled out of her top while filming an Instagram story in a sleepy Ambien haze on Wednesday 'Started getting ready...but I'm really sleepy so I'm goin' to sleep,' she said in a hazy tone. It's not the first time Chrissy has been close to a wardrobe malfunction. Taking to the social media on Sunday, she flashed her underboob while clad in a bra and Spanx whilst shooting a secret Christmas project in Los Angeles. 'This is pure moisture,' the Lip Sync Battle star told her 20 million fans. Not shy: Taking to the social media on Sunday, she flashed her underboob while clad in a bra and Spanx whilst shooting a secret Christmas project in Los Angeles Burning up: 'We're pretending it's Christmas and it's so hot out. This is swear, look at my bra' 'We're pretending it's Christmas and it's so hot out. This is swear, look at my bra.' While it's not known what she was shooting, it may very well be for her husband John Legend's upcoming Christmas album. The loved up couple are set to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary in the next couple of weeks are tying-the-knot on 14 September 2013. Chrissy and John are the dotting parents to Luna Simone, two, and Miles Theodore, four months. The award was presented at the World Travel Awards (WTA) Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2018 in Hong Kong (China) on September 3. The award is a very important accolade, affirming the brand and raising the level of Vietnams tourism. In addition, Vietnams Vietravel company was recognised by voters as Asias Leading Tour Operator for the sixth consecutive year. Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards, known as the Oscars of the travel industry by the Wall Street Journal, have been annually held to honour the best service providers in the fields of travel and tourism. Each year, the WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective successes within each key geographical region. WTA gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media. Advertisement She's been owning every red carpet at Venice Film Festival, stepping out in a variety of glamorous ensembles. And Tilda Swinton continued her stylish streak as she lead the glamour at the L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad screening at Sala Giardino at the 75th annual International festival. Turning heads in a glamorous floor-length black gown, the 57-year-old actress was a vision of beauty for the event as she joined the likes of Chloe Sevigny on the red carpet. Glamorous: She's been owning every red carpet at Venice Film Festival. And Tilda Swinton continued her stylish streak as she lead the glamour at the L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad screening at Sala Giardino at the 75th annual International festival Tilda's dazzling dress was adorned with rows of stunning crystals that lined the seams of her gown, as well as framing the high neckline and running along the bodice. The eye-catching gown featured a tunic style skirt that layered over a matching slip, offering a look at her enviably long legs, which were boosted by a pair of gem-adorned stiletto heel ankle boots. Tilda's bleach blonde crop was styled in a side parting for the event, whilst a smattering of neutral make-up highlighted her flawless features and allowed her gorgeous porcelain complexion to shine. A real gem! Tilda's dazzling dress was adorned with rows of stunning crystals that lined the seams of her gown, as well as framing the high neckline and running along the bodice L'Annee derniere a Marienbad - released in the US and UK as Last Year at Marienbad - is a 1961 French-Italian film that was chosen as one of the iconic movies to be screened at this year's festival in the Venice Classics section. Tilda recently attended the premiere for her film, Susperia, in which she stars alongside Dakota Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia Goth and Lutz Ebersdorf. According to the studio, the film is about 'a darkness [that] swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.' Pretty in pink: Chloe Sevigny also looked sensational at the screening as she stepped out in a baby pink mini dress with a sheer overlay and a feather adorned hem and shoulder detailing Working it! Chloe pulled a variety of poses on the red carpet as she strutted her stuff in her glamorous gown How To Be Single star Dakota plays an 'ambitious young dancer' studying under a character played by a haunting Tilda. The doctor in the film is allegedly played by real life doctor Lutz Ebersdorf but rumors surfaced that it might actually just be Tilda Swinton in elaborate makeup. Susperia is competing to impress this year's Film Festival jury panel, the president of which is director, Guillermo Del Toro. The jury consists of Christoph Waltz, Taika Waititi, Malgorzata Szumowska, Trine Dyrholm, Nicole Garcia, Sylvia Chang and Paolo Genovese. Blooming lovely! Italian actress Alessandra Mastronardi was a vision of beauty in a full floral print skirt that she teamed with a billowing blouse and black leather heeled boots Naomi Watts was also appointed a juror on the panel, which consists of five women and four men in an effort to readdress the imbalance that has occurred in previous years. Naomi said she hopes the experience will be 'life altering', gushing: 'To sit in a disciplined way and spend the next 10 days watching two to three films a day is extraordinary and I have just never had that opportunity. 'And to be amongst this group of people on this panel and with Guillermo leading it, I think it's going to be a really unique and really new experience.' On September 8, the final day of the festival, Del Toro's jury will be tasked with handing out the Golden Lion for Best Film, the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Award for Best Screenplay, the Special Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress. Chic and cheerful: Actress Raffey Cassidy, 16, looked stylish in a ruffled white blouse worn beneath a black cardigan and teamed with a leather peplum skirt and towering heels Meanwhile, Claire Foy and Ryan Gosling opened 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. 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. It proved a triumphant evening for the film as it reportedly received a three-minute standing ovation upon conclusion, and many critics have offered the film glowing reviews. It was re-teaming of sorts for director Damien and star Ryan, who also worked on the music La La Land, which was mistakenly named as the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2017. Delilah Hamlin was spotted soaking up the summer sun over the weekend to celebrate the 38th birthday of Rod Stewart's son, Sean. The 20-year-old - who is the daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin - flaunted her enviable bikini body as she strolled on the shore. The cover girl was also seen enjoying a beverage in a wine glass and smoking a cigarette. Stunner: Lisa Rinna's daughter Delilah Hamlin, 20, was seen flaunting her bikini body while enjoying a drink and smoke on Malibu Beach over the weekend Delilah stunned in a black bikini top that showcased her ample cleavage and lean and toned physique. The social media favorite paired the swimwear with some long jean shorts that were held up with a black Gucci belt. The beauty accessorized with multiple yellow gold chains and kept her brunette locks down and out of her face. Fun in the sun: The 20-year-old flaunted her enviable bikini body while celebrating the 38th birthday of Rodd Stewart's son, Sean, and was photographed enjoying a beverage in a wine glass and smoking a cigarette Beauty: Delilah stunned in a black bikini top that showcased her ample cleavage and lean and toned physique Delilah appeared to be wearing a minimal amount of makeup for the beach day celebration and was joined by her pug, Love. The stunner currently resides on the East Coast in New York City, where she attends college. She seems to be in LA for the summer. Speaking to WWD earlier in the year, she revealed why she chose to major in criminal psychology. Vacation: Home for the summer, the stunner currently resides on the East Coast in New York City, where she attends college College student: Delilah recently revealed she studies Criminal Psychology after being inspired by Kim Possible and Criminal Minds 'When I was this is kind of weird but when I was younger I would watch Kim Possible and I would be like, "Oh, my God. I want to be a secret spy",' she confessed. 'And then I started watching Criminal Minds and I really fell in love. It was so interesting. I took a course on criminal psychology in high school and it was the most interesting thing ever so I want to study that.' Just like Gigi and Bella Hadid, who also starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with their mom Yolanda, Delilah is too signed with IMG models. Star on the rise: Just like Gigi and Bella Hadid, who also starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with their mom Yolanda, Delilah is too signed with IMG models Delilah (middle) is the eldest daughter of Lisa Rinna (R: sister Amelia Hamlin, 17, who's also a model) Speaking to Teen Vogue, she revealed she only started modelling three years ago. 'My mom didn't let me model until I was 17,' she confessed to the publication. 'She knew the culture and the industry because she's been in it for so long, and she didn't really want me to get in it too early.' 'She wanted me to mature more and understand things more, and not be so naive going into it. It is a difficult culture with body type and body image, and she wanted me to wait until I was older,' she continued. She's one of the jury members at the 75th annual Venice Film Festival this year. And Naomi Watts looked chic as she stepped out in the Italian city, opting to wear a stylish yet simple ensemble for her outing on Wednesday. The Australian actress, 49, looked the picture of elegance in a white 3/4 length T-shirt which she tucked into khaki green trousers. Looking good: Naomi Watts looked chic in a white shirt and khaki trousers as she headed out in the Italian city before the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday Her ensemble was cinched at the waist with an oversized belt that matched her trousers, while she stepped out in a pair of Everlane's Day Glove flats. Leaving her cropped blonde locks into a tousled hairstyle, she protected herself from the sun with a white trilby hat and stylish shades. Naomi completed her look with a white handbag, and held a dark blue blazer in her arms in case the weather took a turn for the worse. Stunning: The Australian actress, 49, looked the picture of elegance in her ensemble, which she accessorized with a white hat and a pair of Everlane's Day Glove flats Friendly: The Impossible actress was joined by Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro on her outing, who was appointed as jury president earlier this year The Impossible actress was joined by Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro on her outing, who was appointed as jury president earlier this year. Her fellow jury member Christoph Waltz also spent the day walking through the streets of Venice, and he looked dapper in a white shirt and grey suit jacket. The German actor, 61, added a casual flair to his look with a pair of denim jeans and blue slip on shoes. Finishing touches: Leaving her cropped blonde locks into a tousled hairstyle, she protected herself from the sun with a white trilby hat and stylish shades Handsome: Her fellow jury member Christoph Waltz also spent the day walking through the streets of Venice, and he looked dapper in a white shirt and grey suit jacket Dapper: The German actor, 61, added a casual flair to his look with a pair of denim jeans and blue slip on shoes Among the industry professionals, other people on the panel include Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, actresses Sylvia Chang, Nicole Garcia, and Trine Dyrholm, and filmmakers Paolo Genovese and Malgorzata Szumowska. The Venice Film Festival has come under fire for selecting only one female director in the 2018 competition. Speaking during the first day of the festival, president Guillermo spoke about the lack of gender diversity represented in the selection. He said: 'I think that the goal has to be clear, and has to remain 50/50 by 2020. Its a real problem we have in the culture in general.' Low-key: Christoph kept a low profile in a pair of black shades Joined by: Among the other industry professionals, other people on the panel include Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, actresses Sylvia Chang, Nicole Garcia, and Trine Dyrholm Drama: The Venice Film Festival has come under fire for selecting only one female director in the 2018 competition However, The Shape Of Water filmmaker also insisted the issue couldnt be solved simply by meeting a quota. 'Its not a matter of establishing a quota. Its extremely important to call it out, and to question it and to name it, and to make it known,' he continued. 'I think that is necessary, because for many decades, if not centuries, it has not been called. 'Its not a controversy, its a real problem, and it needs to be solved, in every one of our pertinent departments, with strength and resolve.' Looking to change: Speaking during the first day of the festival, president Guillermo spoke about the lack of gender diversity represented in the selection She passionately hit out at people who have 'slut-shamed' her during an interview earlier in the day. And Megan Barton-Hanson appeared to have moved on from the drama as she looked in excellent spirits whilst joining boyfriend Wes Nelson at the world premiere of The House With The Clock In Its Walls at London's Westfield White City on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Love Island star posed up a storm at the event as she ensured that the hateful comments she had referred to earlier were pushed to the back of her mind. Cute couple: Megan Barton-Hanson joined boyfriend Wes Nelson at the world premiere of The House With The Clock In Its Walls at London's Westfield White City on Wednesday Oozing glamour for the outing, Megan donned a Victoriana style lace gown with a high neckline and collared sleeves. Clinging to her hourglass curves, the garment featured a thigh-skimming hemline that offered a look at her tanned and toned pins, whilst a pair of gold barely-there heels aided in boosting her petite frame. Megan finished off the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a chic up-do, whilst bearing a slick of glossy red lipstick. Lovely in lace: Oozing glamour for the outing, Megan donned a Victoriana style lace gown with a high neckline and collared sleeves Leggy lady! Clinging to her hourglass curves, the garment featured a thigh-skimming hemline that offered a look at her tanned and toned pins and donned a pair of gold barely-there heels Blonde bombshell: Megan finished off the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a chic up-do, whilst bearing a slick of glossy red lipstick Suited and booted: Wes Nelson also looked dapper for the event in a navy pinstriped suit Not-so mellow yellow: Megan and Wes' Love Island co-star Samira Mighty was also at the premiere and donned an eye-catching gold bustier with a shaggy cardigan Also attending the The House with a Clock in Its Walls premiere were the lead stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett - who looked radiant in an emerald green dress. The fantasy film, directed by Eli Roth, and based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs, will be released in UK and US cinemas on September 21. The House with a Clock in Its Walls tells the story of a young orphan who aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world. Two's company: Also attending the The House with a Clock in Its Walls premiere were the lead stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett - who looked radiant in an emerald green dress Gorgeous in green: Cate looked phenomenal in an emerald green midi dress with a ruffled neckline, whilst a brown Gucci belt cinched in at her tiny waist Earlier that day, Megan appeared on Good Morning Britain while wearing a slogan T-shirt which condemns 'slut-shaming.' Talking to Love Island's harshest critic, Piers Morgan, 53, alongside Wes, 20, Megan's yellow top said: 'Stop valuing women based on their sexual history. She said of women being open with their sexuality: 'I think it's really unfair and an old fashioned way to look at it. It's frowned upon its 2018, it shouldn't be a put a down.' 'I slept with guys on TV and people think I should be ashamed of it. I'm not. If a guy done it... Adam [Collard] did it.' Carrying on the night: After attending the premiere, Megan and Wes decided to continue the party at Bunga Bunga Covent Garden in central London Plenty to smile about: The former glamour model looked happy and relaxed as she headed inside the Italian party venue Megan previously spoke about her decision to become a stripper, saying: 'I did it for a year - I got in, I got out, I earned my money, I didnt hurt anyone, I dont see why its so negative. 'Men enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, couples came in everyone is happy! Now happy with Wes, the couple admitted they feel like they are stronger than ever, with Megan saying she wouldn't have chosen him a few years ago. Cute couple: The Love Island pair looked happier than ever two months after leaving the villa Loved-up: Megan and West strolled hand in hand through the streets of the capital as they made the most of their night out on the tiles A pizza the action! The couple were seen smoking outside Bunga Bunga with two female friends as they took a cigarette break She said: 'It's all worked out for the better. If I'd have seen his selfies, seen that he was. so, I would have run a mile if I had seen his profile, [online]. 'Most definitely, I don't think either of us thought we would find love. [Love Island] is the most idyllic place to find love, it's not traditional. 'There's all the camera, producers, but there's no social media, so its probably the most organic.' Homeward bound: The genetically-blessed twosome looked in good spirits as they called it a night and headed back to Megan's flat in Southend, Essex She's the Hollywood acting heavyweight with two Oscar gongs to her name. And Cate Blanchett proved her style credentials on Wednesday night as she attended the world premiere of The House With The Clock In Its Walls at Westfield White City in London. The 49-year-old Australian actress turned heads in a green Victoriana-inspired ruffle dress with a chic Gucci belt at the star-studded event. Chic: Cate Blanchett exuded elegance in a chic emerald gown as she posed up a storm at The House With The Clock In Its Walls premiere in London on Wednesday The Notes On A Scandal actress certainly took centre-stage in her dress, which featured a demure ankle-length hemline and a chic pleated skirt. Injecting a dose of sparkle into the look, she boosted her height with a pair of sparkly ankle-strap platforms. Styling her golden tresses in Old Hollywood style retro waves, she framed her features in a slick of nude lipstick. Cate was joined by Love Island star, Megan Barton-Hanson, who joined her reality star boyfriend Wes Nelson. Looking good: The Notes On A Scandal actress certainly took centre-stage in her dress, which featured a demure ankle-length hemline and a chic pleated skirt Killer footwear: Injecting a dose of sparkle into the look, she boosted her height with a pair of sparkly ankle-strap platforms Two's company: She later mingled with a beaming Jack Black Pucker up: Jack and Cate leaned towards each other as they pretended to pucker up Cosy: Cate shared a hug with director Eli Roth as they attended the premiere The 24-year-old Love Island star posed up a storm at the event as she ensured that the hateful comments she had referred to earlier were pushed to the back of her mind. Oozing glamour for the outing, Megan donned a Victoriana style lace gown with a high neckline and collared sleeves. Clinging to her hourglass curves, the garment featured a thigh-skimming hemline that offered a look at her tanned and toned pins, whilst a pair of gold barely-there heels aided in boosting her petite frame. Leading stars: The film's main stars couldn't resist posing for a sweet picture together Talented cast: Cate, Owen Vaccaro and Jack Black joined director Eli Roth for a star-studded photo also Question time: Host Becca Dudley took centre stage with Cate for a talk before the film premiere Megan finished off the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a chic up-do, whilst bearing a slick of glossy red lipstick. Also attending the The House with a Clock in Its Walls premiere were the lead stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett - who looked radiant in an emerald green dress. The fantasy film, directed by Eli Roth, and based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs, will be released in UK and US cinemas on September 21. The House with a Clock in Its Walls tells the story of a young orphan who aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world. Cute couple: Also on the green carpet was Megan Barton-Hanson with his boyfriend Wes Nelson Lovely in lace: Oozing glamour for the outing, Megan donned a Victoriana style lace gown with a high neckline and collared sleeves Earlier that day, Megan appeared on Good Morning Britain while wearing a slogan T-shirt which condemns 'slut-shaming.' Talking to Love Island's harshest critic, Piers Morgan, 53, alongside Wes, 20, Megan's yellow top said: 'Stop valuing women based on their sexual history. She said of women being open with their sexuality: 'I think it's really unfair and an old fashioned way to look at it. It's frowned upon its 2018, it shouldn't be a put a down.' Leggy lady! Clinging to her hourglass curves, the garment featured a thigh-skimming hemline that offered a look at her tanned and toned pins and donned a pair of gold barely-there heels Blonde bombshell: Megan finished off the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a chic up-do, whilst bearing a slick of glossy red lipstick Suited and booted: Wes Nelson also looked dapper for the event in a navy pinstriped suit 'I slept with guys on TV and people think I should be ashamed of it. I'm not. If a guy done it... Adam [Collard] did it.' Megan previously spoke about her decision to become a stripper, saying: 'I did it for a year - I got in, I got out, I earned my money, I didnt hurt anyone, I dont see why its so negative. 'Men enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, couples came in everyone is happy! Now happy with Wes, the couple admitted they feel like they are stronger than ever, with Megan saying she wouldn't have chosen him a few years ago. Not-so mellow yellow: Megan and Wes' Love Island co-star Samira Mighty was also at the premiere and donned an eye-catching gold bustier with a shaggy cardigan Suited and booted: Jack Black donned a fitted grey suit as he struck a variety of poses She said: 'It's all worked out for the better. If I'd have seen his selfies, seen that he was. so, I would have run a mile if I had seen his profile, [online]. 'Most definitely, I don't think either of us thought we would find love. [Love Island] is the most idyllic place to find love, it's not traditional. 'There's all the camera, producers, but there's no social media, so its probably the most organic.' Sharp: Star of the film Owen Vaccaro donned a black suit and bow tie Nick Nolte stepped out in a partially unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt when in Malibu on Wednesday afternoon. It's not the first time the 77-year-old Rich Man, Poor Man actor has been seen in the floral top that has Orchids Of Hawaii written all over it. In 2002, the Prince Of Tides star had on the same shirt when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Woodland Hills, California. Beach side style: Nick Nolte stepped out in a partially unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt when in Malibu on Wednesday afternoon Deja vu: In 2002, the Prince Of Tides star had on the shirt when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Woodland Hills, California Nolte wore the shirt buttoned all the way up when he wastaken in by the California Highway Patrol. The Deep star was arrested September 11 after an officer saw his Mercedes-Benz driving 'erratically.' The actor was cited and released on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. On Tuesday, he looked very casual as he wore the shirt - now a bit faded after years of use - partially on. It still does the job! On Tuesday, he looked very casual as he wore the shirt - now a bit faded after years of use - partially on. He added light blue slacks that looked to be hospital pants He added light blue slacks that looked to be hospital pants and wore his grey locks in the usual messy but hipster manner. He also had on a wristband that looked standard issue from a hospital as well as tape around his right elbow. Nolte and his daughter Sophie, 10, had stopped by Pavilions for some grocery shopping in Malibu. He carried one boiled egg in a plastic container out of the store with a credit card in his other hand. Even if Nick has been looking a little scruffy in recent years, that has not prevented him from landing plenty of acting roles. Family man: Nolte enjoyed a casual outing with his wife Clytie and daughter Sophie, 10, in Malibuin late August The vet recently wrapped production on his latest movie Angel Has Fallen opposite Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler. The veteran star was last seen in Malibu in late August. He was with his daughter as well as his wife of two years Clytie Lane, who he has been with for over a decade. The star of the 48 Hrs. and Down and Out in Beverly Hills was married three times previously and has a son Brawley, 32, from his third marriage. In January, he published his memoir Rebel: My Life Outside The Lines in which he spoke about his childhood in the rural Midwest, his journey to fame in Hollywood, his relationships and struggles with addiction and his passion for his art. She knows how to work the red carpet with her effortless sartorial elegance. And Kate Beckinsale put on another sensational display as she made a show-stopping arrival to the 21st annual GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2018 in association with luxury lifestyle group HUGO BOSS at the Tate Modern in London on Wednesday. The English actress, 45, left nothing to the imagination as she showcased her toned figure in a plunging and cut-out red and black patterned dress, which had a kimono-style shawl on the left side going into a long dramatic train. Wow: Kate Beckinsale put on another sensational display as she made a show-stopping arrival to the 21st annual GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2018 in association with luxury lifestyle group HUGO BOSS at the Tate Modern in London on Wednesday Kate accessorised her look with a set of black peep-toe heels and a simple pair of silver dangly earrings. The Pearl Harbor star showed off her facial features as she styled her brunette locks into a glossy and sleek curly ponytail. She added a slick of make-up which included a brown smokey eye, bronzer and baby pink lip gloss. Show-stopping: The English actress, 45, left nothing to the imagination as she showcased her toned figure in a plunging and cut-out red and black patterned dress, which had a kimono-style shawl on the left side going into a long dramatic train Work it: Kate accessorised her look with a set of black peep-toe heels and a simple pair of silver dangly earrings Strike a pose: The Pearl Harbor star showed off her facial features as she styled her brunette locks into a glossy and sleek curly ponytail Glamorous: She added a slick of make-up which included a brown smokey eye, bronzer and baby pink lip gloss Kate knew how to work her best angles as she put her best foot forward and posed up a storm at the star-studded red carpet. The actress has had quite the busy schedule and on Sunday the actress made a glamorous arrival to accept 'The Talent Award' during the 44th Deauville US Film Festival in France. In July, Kate celebrated her 45th birthday with a spot of goat yoga with her daughter Lily and ex-boyfriend Michael Sheen. Star-studded: Kate knew how to work her best angles as she put her best foot forward and posed up a storm at the star-studded red carpet Busy bee: The actress has had quite the busy schedule and on Sunday the actress made a glamorous arrival to accept 'The Talent Award' during the 44th Deauville US Film Festival in France Sweet: In July, Kate celebrated her 45th birthday with a spot of goat yoga with her daughter Lily and ex-boyfriend Michael Sheen Hot stuff: Kate has been single since she ended her 12-year marriage to Len Wiseman two years ago in 2016 Talented star: The British-born star made her film debut in the 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing, while still attending Oxford Sheen and Beckinsale were together from 1995 to 2003 but were never married. Kate has been single since she ended her 12-year marriage to Len Wiseman two years ago in 2016. The British-born star made her film debut in the 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing, while still attending Oxford. She went on to appear in a number of British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000). She began to make her mark in American films in the late 1990's with such movies as The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), but is best known for her work in action films that include the Underworld series (2003-2016), Van Helsing (2004) and Contraband (2012). GQ MEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2018: THE WINNERS Editors Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Philanthropy His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Solo Artist of the Year Dua Lipa Breakthrough Designer of the Year Charles Jeffrey International Man of the Year Chadwick Boseman Solo Artist of the Year: Dua Lipa Politician of the Year David Lammy Sportsman of the Year Harry Kane Brand of the Year Philipp Plein Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actor Tom Bateman Maddox Gallery Artist of the Year Jonathan Yeo Vero Breakthrough Solo Artist: Jorja Smith Editors Special Sacha Baron Cohen Writer of the Year Michael Wolff Design Legend of the Year Ralph Lauren Vero Breakthrough Solo Artist Jorja Smith Live Act of the Year Olly Alexander (Years & Years) Lifetime Achievement Johnny Marr International Man of the Year: Chadwick Boseman Inspiration Award Rose McGowan Fashion Icon of the Year Naomi Campbell Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man John Legend Actor of the Year Daniel Kaluuya Politician of the Year: David Lammy Television Actor of the Year Elisabeth Moss Songwriter of the Year Paul Weller Designer of the Year Donatella Versace Haig Club Icon Jeff Goldblum Advertisement Impressive: She went on to appear in a number of British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000) Leggy: Kate put on a leggy display as she made her way across the red carpet She is one of the best known supermodels of all-time. But Cindy Crawford still managed to find a way to stand out on her latest outing. The 52-year-old stunner donned an eye-catching hot pink suit while heading to lunch in New York City on Wednesday. Alluring: Cindy Crawford donned an eye-catching hot pink suit while heading to lunch in New York City on Wednesday No doubt she turned heads as she headed out for a midday meal at the We Are Young Kitchen And Cocktails in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Despite being mostly covered up, Cindy managed to ooze of sex appeal as she sported a lacy black top and matching stilettos. She accessorized with a pair of black designer shades, gold hoop earrings, and a black Gucci bag. Wow factor: Despite being mostly covered up, the 52-year-old supermodel managed to ooze of sex appeal as she sported a lacy black top and matching stilettos Showing off: She accessorized with a pair of black designer shades, gold hoop earrings, and a black Gucci bag Her brunette tresses were worn down as she accentuated her evergreen looks with complementary make-up including pink lip. This comes just a night after she was spotted on a date night with husband Rande Gerber, 56, in the Big Apple. For one of her outfits, the mother-of-two showed off her lithe physique in a slinky, lemon-yellow dress. Both sides now: The previous night Crawford ditched the workout gear for not one but two ensembles as she stepped out for date night with husband Rande Gerber, 56 Illinois native Crawford had earlier slipped into black capri pants with beaded sandals. On top she wore a black silk tank top and shielded her eyes with dark, cats eye shades. Later, as the couple left their hotel room, she had switched to a light dress befitting the balmy east coast weather. Keep it casual: Illinois native Crawford had earlier slipped into black capri pants with beaded sandals Hello sunshine: For one of her outfits, the mother-of-two showed off her lithe physique in a slinky, lemon-yellow dress Hot: Later, as the couple left their hotel room, she had switched to a light dress befitting the balmy east coast weather Former model Gerbe meanwhile kept it casual in jeans, a T-shirt and suede sneakers. Later, the Casamigos Tequila founder swapped the casual top for a short-sleeved button up shirt. The couple appear to be in the Big Apple ahead of Fashion Week, which begins on Thursday. She gave birth to her second son last Monday. And Claire Danes is certainly keeping busy post-birth, with the actress seen walking her dog while carrying her new son in a Baby Bjorn on Wednesday. The 39-year-old wore a pair of billowy pants for the stroll around Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood. Mom life: Claire Danes is certainly keeping busy post-birth, with the actress seen walking her dog while carrying her new son in a Baby Bjorn on Wednesday The Homeland star beat the East Coast heat in a dark tank top for the walk, while on her feet she wore a pair of sandals. Claire wore her straight blonde tresses untied and with a center part. Her newborn bub was hidden from view inside the carrier which also covered the infant's head. The breakout star of My So-Called Life wore only a light sheen of makeup for the outing, allowing her naturally beautiful features to shine through. Keep it casual: The 39-year-old wore a pair of billowy pants for the stroll around Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood Well-heeled: The Homeland star beat the East Coast heat in a dark tank top for the walk, while on her feet she wore a pair of sandals Speaking of her pregnancy cravings back in June, the actress revealed: 'Not really. Just all of the food. I welcome all of the food,' she told People. 'I get to retire for a little while and just be pregnant...which feels like a huge luxury. When I was pregnant with my first son, I worked until I was in my eighth month, so this feels like a huge gift, to have a chance to kick my feet up a little bit.' Claire has won three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. Good hair day: Claire wore her straight blonde tresses untied and with a center part The starlet has been married to actor Hugh Dancy since 2009 and the couple already share a son, Cyrus, five. Recently, Hugh hit the red carpet for the first time since welcoming his second child. The 43-year-old attended a photo call for his play Apologia on Wednesday, in New York City. The play stars Stockard Channing as a 1960s activist-turned-art-historian who publishes a memoir which threatens to split her family apart. Her man: The starlet has been married to actor Hugh Dancy since 2009 and the couple already share a son, Cyrus, five. Hugh seen here this week Out and about: Claire took her baby for a walk in a stroller later on Strictly Come Dancing isnt all glitz and glamour. Competing on the show requires hard work and often draws competitors away from their families, creating rifts between loved ones. This phenomenon is known as the Strictly curse and has led to divorces, breakups, called off engagements and more. And it seems this season is no different, after comedian Seann Walsh and his pro dancing partner Katya Jones were spotted kissing passionately in public over the weekend. Strictly Come Dancing has been known to have a negative effect on couples, giving way to what's known as the Strictly curse Since we're barely into this season of Strictly Come Dancing, it seems the curse is a real thing and not just reality TV folklore. With Katya and Seann claiming the kiss was a 'one-off drunken mistake', it remains to be seen if their romantic partners Neil Jones and Rebecca Humphries will stand by them. Heres what you need to know about the Strictly curse. What is the Strictly Come Dancing curse? The Strictly Come Dancing Curse is seen when one or more members of a couple compete on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing. The couple is typically torn apart by time-related issues or one partner's attraction to another person on the show, which often leads to infidelity. Couples who have been affected by the Strictly curse Katya Jones and Seann Walsh Katya and Seann are the most recent dance partners to be struck with the curse, after they were seen passionately kissing in public on Wednesday, October 3. Katya, who is married to Neil Jones, was the first to issue an apology, saying it was a 'one-off mistake after some drinks'. Comedian Seann Walsh, who is dating Rebecca Humphries, also called it a 'drunken mistake'. It remains to be seen if this results in them splitting from their partners. Katya and Seann are the most recent dance partners to be struck with the curse, after they were seen passionately kissing in public on October 3 Karen and Kevin Clifton Karen and Kevin Clifton were the couple to feel the effects of the Strictly curse last season of the show. In 2017, a source told The Sun: Kevin has spoken to some of those close to him and admitted things arent going well between them at the minute. Kevin himself said: Strictlys a hard few weeks for everyone. Karen and I have found this years particularly hard as weve been in different places since the start her in Manchester and London and me in Glasgow. Rumors continued to swirl into 2018. At first, Karen maintained that she and Kevin were happy together. In March, however, everything changed. The couple announced that they were taking a break. Kevin told This Morning: 'There was a big elephant in the room and normally you would deal with that privately and we're positive people in general so we thought we would just get on top of it and ride it.' Karen was still wearing her wedding ring at the time. She explained it was because they were 'not divorced yet'. Speaking with MailOnline, Karen said: Its important to be open to all possibilities. I havent given up on it. I saw my parents break up and I didnt like it. I think the best thing for now is to behave like adults and take a break. She added: You never know whatll happen; maybe even in a couple of yearsits just that right now this is what we need. Louise and Jamie Redknapp After placing second in the 2016 iteration of Strictly Come Dancing, reports surfaced claiming that Louise Redknapps nearly two-decade old marriage was in a state of disaster. The Sun revealed in December 2017 that she and husband Jamie filed for divorce. The time apart was said to be too much for their relationship. A source said: They have come to a mutual agreement that divorce is the only option. Louise has filed the paperwork and theres no going back. They were granted a quick divorce in December 2017. Court documents obtained by Celebs Now stated that 'unreasonable behavior' was the reason for their split. Joanne Clifton and Joe Edward-Bader The Strictly Curse doesnt just affect married contestants. In February 2017, The Sun reported that Joanne Clifton and Joe Edward-Bader broke up weeks after she won Strictly Come Dancing. Theyre said to have been planning a life together, but their relationship couldnt withstand the pressure that came with the show. Around the time theyre said to have broken up, Joanne shared a photo of a man aiming a gun at Cupid. She captioned the image #GoAway. She did not comment on the reason for their split. Daisy Lowe and Bradley Frankie Wade Daisy Lowe and boyfriend Bradley Frankie Wade succumbed to the Strictly curse in 2016. Sources close to the couple said they simply couldnt find time to spend together. Daisy said of the split: 'At the beginning, which is supposed to be the most joyful honeymoon period, I had nothing to give him, we could have coped with the pressure if we had been together for ages and had known all of the ins and outs of each other.' Georgia May Foote and Sean Ward Georgia May Foote broke up with Coronation Street co-star Sean Ward after she began appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2015. She and partner Giovanni Pernice took runner up in the competition and were later seen kissing openly while on holiday together in Paris, The Sun reported. They denied that they were a couple until they split in 2016. Scheduling conflicts were to blame for their separation. Rachel Riley and Jamie Gilbert Rachel Riley divorced husband Jamie Gilbert after 15 months together to be with Strictly Come Dancing partner Pasha Kovalev. While she claims he was not the reason for her split from Jamie, they did confirm they were a couple in 2014. They are still together to this day. Matt Di Angelo and Flavia Cacace Flavia Cacace dumped professional dancer Vincent Simone to be with EastEnders actor Matt Di Angelo in 2007 when they were partnered together on the show. Unfortunately their relationship didnt last either. Flavia and Matt broke up in 2010. Flavia started dating Jimi Mistry amid news of her split from Matt. They married in December 2013 and are still together. Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff found love on the set of Strictly Come Dancing after he left wife Abby Blayney. The pair had been together 11 years. Kristina and Ben started dating and welcomed their first child, a daughter, in June 2016. Joe Calzaghe and Kristina Rihanoff Before she and Ben Cohen got together, Kristina Rihanoff was in a relationship with Strictly Come Dancing Partner Joe Calzaghe. She and the boxer began dating in 2009 and split in 2013. Kristina said it wasnt the time apart that destroyed their relationship, but rather that her beau found it difficult when I danced with other men. She later admitted she 'neglected' Joe, which 'put a lot of strain' on the relationship. Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole Strictly Come Dancing couple Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole were one of the earlier couples to suffer the effects of the Strictly curse. They split in 2004. Natasha and Brendan made headlines after having an affair, leaving partners Mike Barnard and Camilla Dallerup for one another. When their relationship ended, Brendan went on to marry Zoe Hobbs. They have two children together. What time is Strictly Come Dancing on? Strictly Come Dancing airs at 7:35pm BST on Saturdays on BBC One. When is the Strictly Come Dancing final? Strictly Come Dancing will likely have its final episode on December 15, 2018, in accordance with the time frame of previous seasons. * Myanmar has called on countries in the Mekong basin region to cooperate in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) under a regional health security project, Myanmar News Agency reported Tuesday (September 4). * China lifted 740 million people in rural areas out of poverty from 1978 to 2017, roughly 19 million each year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on September 3. *Japan issued evacuation advisories for almost 300,000 people and cancelled hundreds of flights in the face of strong winds and heavy rain as typhoon Jebi roared north and was set to make landfall later on September 4. * The Libyan government announced late on September 3 that more than 1,800 families had been displaced by clashes in the south of the capital Tripoli. * Mongolia has exported most of its crude oil production this year to China, adding US$55 million to the state exchequer, the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry said on September 3. * Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on September 3 ruled that the Workers' Party (PT) must suspend campaign programming that presents ex-President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as the party's presidential candidate. * Egypt on September 3 highlighted the importance of restoring stability in Libya by enabling state institutions, especially the military and security entities. * A Croatian navy missile boat left a port in Split on the Adriatic Sea on September 3 to join NATO's Operation Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean, state news agency HINA reported. * China has 32 civil airports with annual passenger throughput reaching the 10-million level, the China Civil Airports Association said in Beijing on September 3. * Cyprus and India signed agreements aimed at further enhancing their "special ties", the presidents of the two countries said after talks in Nicosia on September 3. * Iraq's newly elected parliament held its first session within its fourth legislative term on September 3. * Argentine President Mauricio Macri on September 3 announced new taxes on exports in the world's third-biggest soy producer and steep cuts to spending in an "emergency" bid to balance next year's budget, as his center-right government aims to persuade the IMF to speed up a US$50 billion loan program. She has ruled the catwalk ever since she began modelling aged 15. And Naomi Campbell made sure she remained in the spotlight as she arrived fashionably late to the 21st annual GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2018 in association with luxury lifestyle group HUGO BOSS at the Tate Modern, London , on Wednesday. The supermodel, 48, nearly spilled out of her evening gown as she made a bold fashion statement in a funky patterned corset dress by Versace. Fashionably late: Naomi Campbell made sure she remained in the spotlight as she arrived fashionably late to the 21st annual GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2018, London, on Wednesday She styled the item of clothing with a pair of black thigh-high heel boots, which had the same matching material as a cuff. Naomi accessorised her entire look with a collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and a black silk choker. The model rocked curled raven tresses with a stylish fringe as she arrived fashionably late to the star-studded red carpet. Fashion statement: The supermodel, 48, nearly spilled out of her evening gown as she made a bold fashion statement in a funky patterned corset dress by Versace Work it: She styled the item of clothing with a pair of black thigh-high heel boots, which had the same matching material as a cuff Naomi visited Cannes recently for a panel discussion with broadcaster Tania Bryer following a whistle-stop trip to Milan, Italy, where she walked in the Dolce & Gabbana men's spring-summer 2019 fashion show. The model's return to the catwalk comes after she hinted at retirement in an interview while promoting her Fashion For Relief show in Cannes in May. She said: 'I dont know if I can walk much longer, its been 32 years.' Stylish: Naomi accessorised her entire look with a collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and a black silk choker Gorgeous: The model rocked curled raven tresses with a stylish fringe as she arrived fashionably late to the star-studded red carpet The fashion darling went on to discuss passing on the baton to her younger counterparts. She explained: 'It's an honour to walk. I'd love for it to be carried on by the younger generation and for me to sit in the audience and watch.' Naomi was discovered at the tender age of 15 and went on to become one of the 'original' 80s supermodels alongside catwalk queens Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and later, fellow Brit Kate Moss. GQ MEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2018: THE WINNERS Editors Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Philanthropy His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Solo Artist of the Year Dua Lipa Breakthrough Designer of the Year Charles Jeffrey International Man of the Year Chadwick Boseman Solo Artist of the Year: Dua Lipa Politician of the Year David Lammy Sportsman of the Year Harry Kane Brand of the Year Philipp Plein Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actor Tom Bateman Maddox Gallery Artist of the Year Jonathan Yeo Vero Breakthrough Solo Artist: Jorja Smith Editors Special Sacha Baron Cohen Writer of the Year Michael Wolff Design Legend of the Year Ralph Lauren Vero Breakthrough Solo Artist Jorja Smith Live Act of the Year Olly Alexander (Years & Years) Lifetime Achievement Johnny Marr International Man of the Year: Chadwick Boseman Inspiration Award Rose McGowan Fashion Icon of the Year Naomi Campbell Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man John Legend Actor of the Year Daniel Kaluuya Politician of the Year: David Lammy Television Actor of the Year Elisabeth Moss Songwriter of the Year Paul Weller Designer of the Year Donatella Versace Haig Club Icon Jeff Goldblum Advertisement She was just in Spain a day before promoting her new film The Predator. But Olivia Munn was on-the-go once again Wednesday, looking stylish as she sauntered through the Toronto Airport with luggage in tow. The Newsroom actress, 38, displayed her toned center in a casual chic combo of black denim shorts from Madewell, and a matching black crop top. Simply stylish: Olivia Munn donned a casual black look which showcased her abs Wednesday as she touched down in Toronto Her shorts rose high to her hips, accentuating her feminine curves. Black out sunglasses with flashy gold arms matched a delicate chain necklace. She continued the look with leather sandals with a subtle chunk heel. Keeping understated for the flight, Olivia radiated a fresh-faced glow and tied her hair up into a messy top-knot. Looking great: Black denim shorts from Madewell and a matching crop top combined to show off her toned center and long legs Hola! Olivia's kicked off her press tour for the movie The Predator in Madrid Tuesday Olivia's kicked off her press tour for the movie The Predator in Madrid Tuesday. Appearing at a photocall, the actress flaunted her toned abs in a lilac bralet which she paired with a kooky floral two-piece suit. The X-Men star slipped her trim legs into a pair of flared navy trousers, which were adorned with a floral print design that matched her chic blazer. Show off: Appearing at a photocall, the actress flaunted her toned abs in a lilac bralet which she paired with a kooky floral two-piece suit Olivia kept her accessories simple as she wore a gold necklace with a pair of matching hooped earrings. She also shared a selfie with castmate Boyd Holbrook to celebrate the promo tour. The film, which is the fourth installment in the beloved sci-fi monster series, comes out Friday September 14. She looked the epitome of elegance when she walked the red carpet with husband Sacha Baron Cohen earlier that evening. But Isla Fisher's glamorous get-up seemingly got too much for her as the beauty was pictured leaving the GQ Men of the Year Awards after-party completely bare foot on Wednesday night. The Australian actress, 42, made a shoeless departure from London's Tate Modern, with her long-time husband propping her up as they called it a night and flagged a car home. Good night? Isla Fisher's glamorous get-up seemingly got too much for her as the beauty was pictured leaving the GQ Men of the Year Awards after-party completely bare foot on Wednesday night The couple - who have been married for eight years and share three children - appeared to see the funny side as they smiled and laughed through their animated exit. The Now You See Me actress exuded Old Hollywood glamour in a strapless tulle gown as she cosied up to her actor husband at the star-studded bash earlier that evening. Isla certainly took centre-stage in her Alberta Ferretti Limited Edition gown, which featured a romantic pleated skirt and cinched-in waist. The Australian actress, 42, made a shoeless departure from London's Tate Modern as her long-time husband propped her up after they called it a night and flagged a car home Mind your step! Isla braved the London streets as she ditched her glamorous stilettos and left bare foot Styling her auburn-hued tresses in tumbling waves, the Confessions Of A Shopaholic actress accessorised with dazzling drop earrings. She let her statement garment do all the talking and injected a dose of colour with a bold slick of scarlet lipstick. Sacha, meanwhile, cut a dapper figure in a velvet navy suit teamed with patent brogues. The British comedian was on top form on the night, making a joke about Prince Charles leaving him a 'big inheritance' in the toilet as an heir to the throne. Giggling: The couple - who have been married for eight years and share three children - appeared to see the funny side as they smiled and laughed through their animated exit Happy: Isla and Sacha met in 2002 at a party in Sydney and got engaged two years later, before marrying in 2010 in Paris Cute couple: Isla certainly took centre-stage in her Alberta Ferretti Limited Edition gown, which featured a romantic pleated skirt and cinched-in waist Looking good: The red-head certainly took centre-stage in her gown, which featured a romantic pleated skirt and cinched-in waist Chic: Styling her auburn-hued tresses in tumbling waves, the Confessions Of A Shopaholic actress accessorised with dazzling drop earrings Stealing the limelight: She let her statement garment do all the talking and injected a dose of colour with a bold slick of scarlet lipstick She has been married to the British comedian, 46, for eight years. The couple met in 2002 at a party in Sydney and got engaged two years later, before marrying in 2010 in Paris. They share daughters, Olive, 10, and Elula, seven, and three-year-old son, Montgomery. Suited and booted: Sacha, meanwhile, cut a dapper figure in a velvet navy suit teamed with patent brogues Sweet: She has been married to the British comedian, 46, for eight years Three's company: The couple were joined by fellow Australian, Kylie Minogue at their table Isla has two projects on the go. In comedy The Beach Bum she co-stars with Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dog; in drama The Starling sho co-stars with Keanu Reeves. Both have yet to set release dates Meanwhile, her husband's controversial new show Who Is America debuts on Showtime on Sunday. Sacha has reportedly been filming the spoof interview series for a year. But he's kept it under wraps as he disguises himself as various characters to prank celebs and former politicians including Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. In demand: Isla has two projects on the go. In comedy The Beach Bum she co-stars with Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dog; in drama The Starling sho co-stars with Keanu Reeves Family affair: They share daughters, Olive, 10, and Elula, seven, and three-year-old son, Montgomery Aussies together: Isla beamed as she stopped for a snap with Kylie, 50, who dazzled in a plunging gold gown Emily Ratajkowski is back in front of the camera after switching positions recently and playing photographer for her swimwear line. The sultry stunner was spotted walking around NYC on Wednesday showing a little skin as she left a casual lunch. In a simple black and white look, the 27-year-old was effortlessly chic as she flirted with the camera. Style star: Emily Ratajkowski was seen walking around NYC on Wednesday showing a some skin in a little black dress as she left a casual lunch Tongue wagging: The 27-year-old beauty flirted with the camera and seductively licked her lips while dining al fresco in Manhattan Tech check: EmRata checked her phone - with sketches of boobs covering he case - at the table Seen hailing a cab after lunch, EmRata's enviable figure was hugged by a little black mini dress with long sleeves. The Gone Girl star pushed the cotton sleeves up to her elbows as she checked her phone. The curve hugging frock had white buttons that came down just below her iconic chest. She left the buttons mostly open and pulled one side off her right shoulder, exposing more glowing skin. The swimsuit designer seductively licked the side of her glossy lips in a photo she posted on Instagram. With a sexy shoulder and a hint of cleavage popping out of one side her dress, Emily playfully captioned the headshots 'back to school.' Brunette tresses that looked freshly blown out with caramel highlights framed her face which had on minimal makeup. Hot bod: The newlywed showed off her svelte figure in a casual tight mini dress and sneakers Into the gloss: During her lunch the model took a quick second to reapply shimmering gold gloss to her lips with the aid of her cell phone camera Good hair day: Her brunette tresses looked freshly blown out with caramel highlights School daze: With a sexy shoulder and a hint of cleavage popping out of one side her dress, Emily playfully captioned this headshot 'back to school' on Instagram During her lunch the model took a quick second to reapply shimmering gold gloss to her lips with the aid of her cell phone camera. The star accessorized her look with a red crocodile Stalvey bag, small hoop earrings and cat eye Oliver Peoples sunglasses. On her feet she opted for a sporty pair of brand new bright white leather Nike's. The newlywed just came off of an end of summer beach vacation with her husband Sebastian Bear-McClard and her Instagram star pal, The Fat Jewish. Yesterday she was back in a bikini but this time for the purpose of work as she advertised that her swimwear line had their coveted leopard print back in stock. The line, Inamorata, posted a series of sultry swimsuit shots of the different looks on Instagram. Hear her roar: Emily Ratajkowski used her enviable physique to promote her swimwear brand Inamorata Swim in a flirty video on Instagram on Tuesday Pose! Emily Ratajkowsi acts as photographer for her swimwear line Inamorata while shooting model Lena Dunham in this Polaroid that was shared on social media Tuesday Girl problems: Lena Dunham took to Twitter to admit that she's been struggling to deal with not being able to have children following her hysterectomy last year; seen in July Emily served as photographer for all the models and was grateful to have the chance to work with such amazing women. The starlet gushed on social media about acting as photographer: '@inamorataswim is my baby. Art directing and photographing such an incredible group of women was an honor and just SO MUCH FUN.' One famous face in the bunch was Lena Dunham who modeled a sexy one-piece. Earlier today Lena took to Twitter to lament about not being able to get pregnant. The Girls star shared that since getting put on estrogen following her hysterectomy, she's gotten baby fever. 'Sometimes in the middle of a joyful day the fact that Ill never be able to bear children hits me hard,' she admitted on Twitter Wednesday. 'I logically understand why this isnt a necessity- politically, emotionally etc. But you can understand and still not *know* It was a dream of mine.' At the match: Emily and Sebastian took in some tennis later in the day The Block's Shelley Craft has been a fixture of Australian television for over two decades. And as a woman of 42 years, Shelley Craft is well aware that her days in the spotlight may be numbered thanks to showbiz's obsession with youth. 'I'm not going to hang on beyond my use-by date,' the bubbly presenter told TV Week Close Up magazine this Thursday. 'I'm not going to hang on beyond my use-by date': Shelley Craft, 42, says she isn't scared of being fired from The Block for not looking youthful enough (Pictured: Shelley Craft) 'If there aren't opportunities in TV for me, then I'll find them in another industry,' she insisted. Shelley, who has co-hosted the series since 2011, also rubbished 'bulls**t' reports that she wanted to quit The Block to spend more time with her daughters Millie, eight, and Eadie, six. 'If the girls turned around and said it was too much, or they weren't coping, or if things get a little trickier as teenagers, then that's a time to reassess,' she explained. 'If there aren't opportunities in TV for me, then I'll find them in another industry': Shelley has co-hosted the series since 2011 (Pictured: Shelley Craft) Last year, New Idea reported that lovable Shelley would be replaced by WAG Rebecca Judd, 35. 'It breaks her heart. She loves her job more than anything, but so much time away [from her family] takes its toll,'' a source allegedly told the publication The publication reported that Shelley travels to Melbourne from Brisbane to film the show while Rebecca conveniently resides in the state. Shelley, who has co-hosted the series since 2011, also rubbished 'bulls**t' reports that she wanted to quit The Block to spend more time with her daughters (Pictured: Shelley Craft with her daughters Millie and Eadie and husband Christian Sergiacomi) 'Bec has a huge fan base and is already a big power player in the world of interior design,' the source added. The wife of AFL star Chris Judd had appeared on the show last August to judge a challenge and left the contestants starstruck. It wasn't long before Rebecca shut down the rumours, however, telling Daily Mail Australia that the speculation was 'news' to her. 'I love being a judge on The Block and we watch it every night,' said Rebecca. 'And I read that [she was replacing Shelley Craft] and I was like, 'Well that's the first I've heard of it!' Rumours: Last year, New Idea reported that lovable Shelley would be replaced by WAG Rebecca Judd, 35 (Pictured: Rebecca Judd) The collapse of Emma Watkins and Lachlan Gillespie's marriage made headlines across the country when The Wiggles stars announced their split last month. But Emma has admitted that it's not her former beau who has been the most difficult to deal with in the wake of the break-up. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, the 28-year-old took aim at the former couple's 'friends' for going public with details of their separation. 'Dealing with all that has been the hardest part the betrayal': The Wiggles' Emma Watkins (left) SLAMS friends for selling details of her split with Lachlan Gillespie (right) and admits the deceit has made her more 'guarded' '(Lachlan) has been great, but he had spoken in confidence to friends and they had gone to the media,' she told the publication. The Yellow Wiggle explained that the betrayal has had a profound effect on her. 'I think dealing with all that has been the hardest part the betrayal. I feel so much more guarded now,' she said. 'He had spoken in confidence to friends and they had gone to the media': Emma said Lachlan had been 'great' in the aftermath of their split, but it has been difficult to learn people close to the couple went to the media Emma also revealed that she initiated the couple's separation after two years of marriage as they were both unhappy. She said they parted ways during a challenging year, which saw her battle health woes, including undergoing surgery for endometriosis and a leukaemia scare. 'It has been a weird time for us. I think we just realised that we were meant to be best friends,' she said. 'I think we just realised that we were meant to be best friends': Emma claimed she simply fell out of love with Lachlan It's over! Emma and Lachlan announced their shock split on August 3 but have since remained on amicable terms Emma and Lachlan, 32, announced their shock split on August 3. However, the couple actually split earlier this year - with Purple Wiggle Lachlan moving out of his Sydney marital home in February during a trial separation. Last month, an insider claimed Lachlan is struggling with their split. 'Things hadn't been right between Em and Lachy for a while but he really thought they could work through it,' an unnamed source told Who magazine, adding: 'Lachy is devastated.' It's no secret that reality TV stars like to cash in on their 15 minutes of fame by advertising brands on Instagram. But just how much do Australian D-listers get paid for promoting teeth whiteners, protein shakes and holidays to Bali? On Thursday, Jarrod Woodgate revealed his ex-girlfriend Keira Maguire gets paid a jaw-dropping amount for selling products to her 177,000 followers. REVEALED: The jaw-dropping figure reality TV stars get paid for a single sponsored Instagram post. Pictured: Keira Maguire spruiking SmilePro Worldwide teeth whitening products Responding to Keira's claim that she 'has more money than him' despite not having a full-time job, Jarrod told Who magazine: 'She earns over $1,500 for every Instagram post.' The 32-year-old vineyard manager added: 'It's no wonder she earns more than me, I'm on a really low family salary.' Other reality stars with similar Instagram followings include The Bachelor's Megan Marx (184,000), Love Island winner Grant Crapp (156,000) and Married At First Sight's Cheryl Maitland (134,000). Spilling the beans! On Thursday, Jarrod Woodgate revealed his ex-girlfriend Keira Maguire gets paid 'over $1,500 for every Instagram post'. Pictured on Bachelor In Paradise The perks of fame! The Bachelor 2016's Megan Marx (pictured) is well known for promoting products on Instagram. She has also admitted that her overseas trips are sponsored by brands It is unclear if Megan, Grant or Cheryl earn the same amount as Keira per post, but it is understood advertisers pay 'influencers' a fee proportional to their followings. Married At First Sight star Sarah Roza has an even greater fanbase than some of her contemporaries with 346,000 followers, so could possibly demand a higher fee. Sometimes brands do not pay stars for spruiking their products but instead offer 'freebies' such as complimentary products or all-expenses-paid holidays. Lucrative: The Bachelor's Elora Murger is pictured in a recent sponsored post for a facial mask Another day, another dollar! MAFS star Sarah Roza has an even greater fanbase than some of her contemporaries with 346,000 followers, so could possibly demand a higher fee Earlier this year, Woman's Day reported that Megan, 29, was overheard bragging about going on free trips thanks to her popularity on social media. 'I got a free holiday to the Maldives because of how many people follow me on Instagram,' she apparently told fellow guests at an event in March. She told Daily Mail Australia at the time: 'Over the last 18 months I've been working with resorts, hotels and tourism boards - some are modelling jobs and others are free flights, accommodation and food in exchange for posts.' Even the boys are doing it! Love Island winner Grant Crapp is pictured in a sponsored post for Optimum Nutrition whey protein Taking tips from Megan? Jake Ellis (pictured), who was dating Megan Marx until recently, is also known to advertise products on Instagram following his appearance on The Bachelorette When an 'influencer' posts an advert to Instagram, it is customary to include the hashtags 'ad' or 'spon' to clarify that it is a paid-for upload. If they fail to do so, the individual could find themselves possibly breaching advertising regulations. Many reality TV stars neglect to do this, however, potentially leading fans to the conclusion that the post is a genuine endorsement. Oddball: Even Married At First Sight's Troy Delmege isn't below advertising hair removal products on Instagram Roxy Jacenko was grilled over her infamous affair with Nabil Gazal during an awkward exchange on Hard Chat with Tom Gleeson. The 38-year-old appeared on the ABC show on Wednesday night and nothing was off limits thanks to the comedian's brutal questions. When asked about reuniting with Nabil while husband Oliver Curtis was in jail for conspiracy to commit insider trading in April 2017, the Sweaty Betty businesswoman provided a very quit-witted response. 'That was definitely outside of trading': Roxy Jacenko grilled over affair with Nabil Gazal during awkward exchange on Hard Chat with Tom Gleeson Approaching the sensitive subject, Tom asked: 'Now, your husband went to jail for insider trading, do you have any stock-market tips?' Roxy then replied: 'No [I] dont buy shares.' Tom then referenced Daily Mail Australia's exclusive pictures when Roxy was captured kissing ex Nabi at his apartment eight weeks before Oliver was due for release from prison last year. Biting back: When asked about kissing ex Nabil at his apartment while husband Oliver Curtis was in jail in April 2017, the entrepreneur provided the very quit-witted response Brutal questions: The 38-year-old appeared on the ABC show on Wednesday night and nothing was off limits as Tom pushed her for answers 'When he was in jail, you were photographed kissing your ex, was that outside of trading?' Tom then asked. Quickly responding, Roxy said: 'Yeah, that was definitely outside of trading.' Roxy previously addressed her affair with Nabil during an appearance on Channel Seven's The Morning Show in May. As she reflected on the difficult period on her life, she admitted: 'I'm not proud of some of the things I did. I was in a situation, where it was tough. 'I was running three businesses, my husband was in jail, I had cancer, [I was raising] two kids. It was tough. 'I'm not proud of some of the things I did': Roxy previously opened up about the incident with ex Nabil during an interview with Seven's The Morning Show Difficult period: At the time, Oliver was approaching the end of a 12-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit insider trading Roxy concluded: 'But I still look at my life every day and go, "Wow, what amazing opportunities I've got."' At the time, Oliver was approaching the end of a 12-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit insider trading. In February, Oliver broke his silence on Roxy's affair, slamming her ex-boyfriend Nabil for 'moving in' on his wife while he was locked up in Cooma Correctional Centre. Loved up: Following Oliver's release from prison in June 2017, the couple put the incident behind them and now live together with their two children, Pixie and Hunter Appearing on KIIS FM's The Kyle & Jackie O Show, Oliver ripped apart Nabil in a scathing interview, saying: 'It is absolutely disgusting. What sort of human being moves in on a man's wife while [he's] in jail?' 'I mean, come on. That is low,' he added bitterly, before wife Roxy tried to move the conversation along by saying: 'It was a mistake! I'm not proud of the mistake.' Following Oliver's release from prison in June 2017, the couple put the incident behind them and now live together with their two children, Pixie and Hunter. Amazon Studios and director Luca Guadagnino are pulling out all the stops to heighten interest in the upcoming horror remake Suspiria. After photos surfaced in February purporting to show actress Tilda Swinton in prosthetics and makeup as an elderly man on the film's Berlin set, there's been an all out effort to convince people otherwise. Deepening the mystery, a new poster for Suspiria released Wednesday shows the elderly man wearing glasses and smoking a pipe with the legend at the top announcing: 'Lutz Ebersdorf is Dr. Klemperer.' Mystery: A poster for Suspiria released Wednesday claims to show an elderly German actor named Lutz Ebersdorf in character as Dr. Klemperer. But many believe it's actually Tilda Swinton in disguise The previously unknown actor does indeed have a listing on the IMDb website but his only credit is Suspiria. According to the bio posted on the site, Ebersdorf 'was born on February 15th, 1936 in Munich, Germany.' 'In 1938, when Ebersdorf was just two, his family fled Nazi Germany: first for Geneva in Switzerland, and then to London. Spending most of his youth in Camberwell, London, Lutz returned to Munich in 1954, where he studied Philosophy, taking a particular interest in Gestalt psychology and Psychodrama,' the bio adds. The 82-year-old is credited with forming an experimental theatre group Piefke Versus - although a Google search fails to find any reference to the group. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Kelinian psychoanalysis, specializing in mother-daughter relationships, the bio purports. Who is it? Photos surfaced in February purporting to show the British actress, 57, in prosthetics and makeup on the film's Berlin set. Since then there's been an all out effort to convince people otherwise. Backgound: The previously unknown actor does indeed have a listing on the IMDb website but his only credit is Suspiria. His bio says he was born in Munich and studied psychoanalysis It's clearly a lot of effort to try and create interest in the movie but most people aren't buying it. For a start, there's the on set photos from February. Then the body movements and mannerisms of the character in the film's trailer are similar to Swinton's, who is also in the film playing the character of Madame Blanc, the vice-principal of the mysterious dance academy where the action is set. Close-ups of the actress and the elderly male character also show that they have identical ears. Guadagnino, however, isn't backing down. The Italian director told Yahoo Movies UK in February after the on set photos were published: 'Thats a complete fake news.' He insisted: 'They made a picture of my actor Lutz Ebersdorf and they claimed it was Tilda in makeup. I dont know why and I dont know who.' And at a press conference for the movie at the Venice Film Festival, Swinton read a letter purporting to be from Ebersdorf which said: 'I am a private individual who prefers to remain private,' and apologizing to the media for not attending the event. Can't fake that: Those convinced Ebersdorf is in fact Swinton in disguise point out that the two have identical ears - poster, left, and Swinton at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday, right Playing along: At a press conference for the movie at the Venice Film Festival, Swinton read a letter purporting to be from Ebersdorf which said: 'I am a private individual who prefers to remain private,' and apologizing to the media for not attending the event Suspiria is a remake of a 1977 Italian supernatuiral horror movie. The plot centers on an American dancer played by Dakota Johnson who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin where Swinton's character Madame Blanc is the artistic director. But the school hides a dark and gruesome secret at its heart that threatens to engulf everyone who enters its doors. The film had its world premiere on September 1 at the Venice Film Festival and opens in theatres in North America on November 2. A 30-year-old man has been charged with a string of offences after he allegedly attacked another driver in a road rage attack south of Perth. Police say the accused assaulted a man aged in his 30s in Mandurah on Tuesday, causing the victim to fall to the ground and hit his head. He was treated at the scene before paramedics brought him to Peel Health Campus. His alleged attacker, who fled the scene, will face Perth Magistrates Court later on Wednesday charged with five offences including giving false personal details to police and possessing a prohibited drug. * The White House said on September 4 that it would "respond swiftly and appropriately" if Syria uses chemical weapons in Idlib province. * UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on September 4 appealed to prevent a bloody conflict in the northern Syrian area of Idlib, saying that next days would be "critical". * The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, on September 7, said US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. * The Republic of Korea (RoK)s President Moon Jae-in's special delegation left Wednesday morning for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to discuss a detailed schedule and agenda for the upcoming summit between Moon and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un. * The White House-prepared peace plan to settle Israeli-Palestinian conflicts was ready, US Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters at the United Nations Headquarters on September 4. * An Israeli missile attack targeted a Syrian site in the central province of Hama on September 4, the state TV reported. The report added that the Syrian air defenses have intercepted several Israeli rockets. * Britain is determined to continue its contact with European Union (EU) member states in an effort to reach a Brexit deal as talks intensify, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday. * Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and visiting Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Kiev on September 4 discussed the crisis in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and bilateral cooperation, Poroshenko's press service said. * US President Donald Trump on September 4 issued "strong" support for Argentina to tackle the country's current fiscal difficulties. * At least eight people died on September 4 after two vehicles collided on a highway in northwestern Argentina, said local press. * Iranian foreign minister and visiting Mongolian deputy foreign minister on September 4 called for expansion of ties in diverse areas, Tasnim news agency reported. * Russian and Mongolian senior officials have discussed ways to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, the Russian government said on September 4. * Britain has received a wide range of positive and constructive feedback about its proposals for a post-Brexit trade deal from a number of European Union (EU) countries, the House of Commons was told Tuesday. * The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on September 4 announced that the fighting parties in the capital Tripoli have signed a UN-sponsored agreement to end the fierce fighting in the city. * Israeli warplanes infiltrated the Syrian airspace on a low altitude on September 4, targeting Syrian military sites in the central province of Hama and northwestern province of Tartus, the Syrian army said. * Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) maker Trina Solar launched an "all in one" solar energy system in Malaysia on September 4 which the company said could help the country increase the use of renewable energy. * Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar Tuesday (September 4) said that his movement will not see a war with Israel, and is interested in reinforcing an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement reached with Israel in 2014. * At least 18 people were killed and 36 others injured in rain-related incidents in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said Wednesday. * Arif Alvi, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was elected as the new president of the South Asian country on September 4, according to a statement from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The union representing paramedics has admitted it was "wholly incorrect" to suggest the family of a Sydney man was responsible for his death by obstructing ambulance officers called to treat the 25-year-old. Australian Paramedics Association NSW secretary Steve Pearce on Sunday claimed relatives of Hamze Ibrahim were responsible for his death by hindering officers called to a Riverwood unit that morning. "We had the outrageous situation where a violent mob demanded paramedics hand over a defibrillator and drugs saying they would treat the patient ... the stupidity of these people have taken the life of their family member," Mr Pearce said in a statement. Mr Ibrahim's family hit back on Monday stating their pain and suffering had been made worse by the association's "self-serving, reckless and unfounded comments". The union on Wednesday admitted it was in the wrong. "APA NSW acknowledges any statement ... to the effect that Mr Ibrahim's family members either contributed or were in any way responsible for his death is wholly incorrect and should not have been published," the organisation said in a statement. "APA NSW further acknowledges at no time did Mr Ibrahim's family members obstruct or threaten paramedics whilst they were administering medical assistance." Cooper Cronk isn't shying away from the heavy treatment he's expecting to receive at the hands of Cronulla enforcer Wade Graham during Saturday's NRL qualifying final. The Roosters halfback said he was under no illusions he was set to be targeted and welcomed the challenge of foiling the Sharks' unsettling tactics. Graham has made a habit of getting at Cronk during their careers and the former Queensland and Australian playmaker said he was expecting Cronulla's co-captain to try it again at Allianz Stadium. Anthony Mundine could be slugged more than $1 million if he fails to make weight for his mooted showdown with Jeff Horn. The fight, Horn's first since losing his world title to Terence Crawford, is all but locked in for November 30 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and is expected to be officially confirmed in the coming days. A verbal agreement has finally been reached between the two camps over the weight limit after weeks of negotiations, with heavy financial penalties to be imposed on Mundine if he tips the scales over the agreed threshold. A man has been charged after allegedly firing a gunshot into a wall and assaulting a man in Melbourne's southeast. Police say the gunman fired a shot into a wall at a business on Paul Court before assaulting a man just before 12.30am on Wednesday. A Dandenong man, 35, has been charged with two counts of reckless conduct endangering life, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, assault with a weapon, possess a firearm and other assault related offences. He was remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday. The number of assaults in Victoria isn't reflected in national statistics as police may not report them straight away, according to a new report. An Auditor-General's report on Wednesday said the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not include reporting on assaults in Victoria in its national figures because the force "does not comply with prima facie reporting". This is because officers sometimes investigate before deciding whether to record the incident as a crime. "This makes Victorian data inconsistent with that of most other Australian jurisdictions," the report says. Victoria Police has accepted the report's nine recommendations, including training for members to report incidents "prima facie", if they appear to be a crime on first look, rather than wait until further investigation. AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has revealed he checked a visa application for an Argentine polo player who was a "friend of a friend" when Prime Minister Scott Morrison was immigration minister. Mr McLachlan is giving evidence to a Senate committee over lobbying Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to save a French au pair who worked for his cousin from deportation in 2015. On Wednesday, Mr McLachlan told the inquiry he asked the AFL's head of government relations Jude Donnelly - a former Liberal staffer - to check on a business visa application for the polo player in 2014. Ms Donnelly said she asked a former colleague in then prime minister Tony Abbott's office about the status of the application and was told it had already been approved and was being processed. "I was contacted by someone who was waiting on a business visa, a friend of a friend, who was wanting to come into the country who had language issues," Mr McLachlan told the inquiry. In a separate case, Frenchwoman Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide airport in October 2015 after admitting she intended to work in breach of her tourist visa for grazier Callum MacLachlan, the AFL boss' second cousin. Callum MacLachlan contacted his relative, who directed Ms Donnelly to forward an email from him to the minister's chief-of-staff. Mr Dutton then overturned departmental advice, allowing Ms Deuwel to stay in the country on a tourist visa. People with footage of a large factory fire in Melbourne's inner-west have been urged to contact police, amid an arson investigation. The Tottenham factory was filled with aerosol cans and 44-gallon drums of oil, grease and acetone residues, which went up in flames last week and spewed toxic smoke over the city and polluted waterways. Arson and explosives detectives are urging anyone with footage of the fire or factory in the lead-up to the blaze, or who saw suspicious activity in the area around the time, to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. The Northern Territory government "cannot be in every kitchen, living room or bedroom", says Chief Minister Michael Gunner in response to another sexual assault on a toddler in Tennant Creek. The child was allegedly assaulted by a 50-year-old man on Friday afternoon who is in custody. It follows the rape of a two-year-old girl in the troubled NT town in February in which a 25-year-old man was charged and is due in court later this month. The NT government has been forced to defend its response to the child protection crisis this week, which prompted former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to recently visit Tennant Creek and new PM Scott Morrison to brand the latest assault "sickening". There was significant family dysfunction across the NT, Mr Gunner said. "It requires all of us, it requires the government, it requires non-government sector, it requires families community leaders. "The government can't be in every kitchen, living room or bedroom, we can't but we can always do our best. "It's always going to be very difficult at this acute end to make change ... the best way is investing in our children." The latest child victim has been returned to her family but there had been 60 children taken into care and removed from their families in Tennant Creek since February, Mr Gunner said. He said it was frustrating to hear of children having to got through tragedies or awful events when the government had spent a lot of money and time in Tennant Creek. There had been a significant reduction in assaults and domestic violence orders follow the introduction of liquor restrictions in the town, he said. An elderly woman who had just moved to north Queensland was allegedly murdered by a tradie after she questioned the quality of his work on her newly-purchased Townsville home, police say. The body of Pamela Frances Corless, 73, was found in the yard of her Cranbrook home on Monday morning. Police allege she was killed on Sunday afternoon after a dispute with the man who'd been undertaking renovations at the home turned physical. Mark Daniel Ferguson, 21, appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with one count each of murder, burglary and wilful damage. Ferguson has been remanded in custody and his matter adjourned until March 6, 2019. Acting Detective Inspector Phil Watts alleged the pair had been arguing over the renovations when the attack occurred. "There was work being done at the deceased's home and we will allege there was a dispute over the work and the payment of work," Det Insp Watts said. It's unclear how Ms Corless died but Det Insp Watts confirmed she had head injuries. Ms Corless had only just moved to Townsville from Victoria to be closer to her family, he said. "You can imagine if your grandmother or mother move states to be close to you and then in a very short period of time this happens; they're shattered," Det Insp Watts said of the victim's family. Ferguson had also only recently moved to Townsville from Ipswich, west of Brisbane, Det Insp Watts confirmed. Ms Corless's house is expected to remain a crime scene for the next few days as police gather evidence. Eight people will battle it out next week for the right to be the Liberal party candidate at the upcoming Wentworth by-election. Businessman Andrew Bragg - who's got the backing of former prime minister and outgoing MP Malcolm Turnbull - remains the favourite to win the preselection contest on September 13. AAP understands he'll have the support of the big branches in the eastern suburbs electorate, which are controlled by moderates. It's likely his biggest threat will come in the form of Mary-Lou Jarvis, party sources have told AAP. The Woollahra councillor - who's president of the NSW Liberal Women's Council - joined the contest late in the piece but has overtaken Peter King and David Sharma as the person tipped to most trouble Mr Bragg. Mr King is a former member for Wentworth - having lost preselection to Mr Turnbull in 2004 - while Mr Sharma is Australia's former ambassador to Israel. The other candidates vying for preselection are local surgeon Michael Feneley, digital communications specialist Carrington Brigham, Sydney East Business Chamber chair Katherine O'Regan and another Woollahra councillor in Richard Shields. About 210 selectors from Wentworth branches will be involved in the Liberal preselection. Any candidate who receives less than five per cent of the vote next Thursday evening will be eliminated from any further rounds. The first person to receive more than 50 per cent of the vote is preselected. Tim Murray is Labor's candidate for the Wentworth by-election - expected to be held sometime in October - while City of Sydney councillor Kerryn Phelps is considering whether to stand as an independent. Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs the first phase of the roundtable meeting of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- A declaration and an action plan were adopted Tuesday at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The Beijing Declaration -- Toward an Even Stronger China-Africa Community with a Shared Future and the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-2021) were adopted at the two-phase roundtable meeting, chaired respectively by Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, the co-chair of the forum. Xi said the summit over the past two days repeated the call for China-Africa win-win cooperation and common development. Xi said the leaders have unanimously decided to build a China-Africa community with a shared future that assumes joint responsibility, pursues win-win cooperation, delivers happiness for all, enjoys cultural prosperity, ensures common security, and promotes harmony between man and nature. Xi said they have unanimously adopted the summit's outcome documents, setting the direction for the development of China-Africa relations. Xi said they have agreed to develop FOCAC into a brand of China-Africa solidarity and cooperation, and a banner that guides international cooperation with Africa under the principle of consultation, cooperation and benefit for all. Xi said they have decided to firmly uphold an open world economy and the multilateral trading system, while opposing protectionism and unilateralism. The vigorous development of China-Africa cooperation has not only promoted the progress of Africa, but also inspired international partners to pay closer attention to Africa and increase their input into and cooperation with the continent, Xi said. African leaders spoke highly of the summit and agreed that it was a historic meeting strengthening Africa-China solidarity and cooperation. They expressed support and appreciation for the Belt and Road Initiative, believing that the joint building of the Belt and Road by Africa and China will speed up African regional integration. If Paul Gallen raises the NRL premiership trophy again this year, he may have to thank his nemesis Queensland. Cronulla playmaker Matt Moylan says playing for the Maroons this year gave Valentine Holmes the confidence to propel the Sharks to a top four spot - and maybe another title. Cronulla - the 2016 premiers - are the form team ahead of the finals after winning four straight before Saturday's qualifying playoff against minor premiers the Sydney Roosters. Moylan said they had Holmes to thank for that - and Queensland to thank for the Sharks fullback's blistering form. "His form from around Origin time has been unreal and something that has got us in the position we are in now," Moylan said. "Hopefully it keeps up and he can keep scoring tries." It wouldn't sit well with Sharks skipper Gallen, who is public enemy No.1 in Queensland thanks to his time as NSW captain. But Moylan said there was no doubt Holmes' Maroons stint was the catalyst to a scoring spree of 21 tries from 23 NRL games this year. Holmes was a shining light in Queensland's 2-1 series loss. The Maroons winger crossed four times in the series including a double in their game three win to take his overall Origin try tally to a staggering eight from six games. "Obviously he would have come back with a lot of confidence playing there (Origin)," Moylan said. "The way he has played and performed (since) is exactly what we need from him." Clearly Holmes' confidence is rubbing off with Cronulla daring to dream of going all the way for the second time in three seasons. "Anyone can beat anyone on the day. It's about who puts in a more complete performance," Moylan said. "We have strung a few wins together but we haven't played our best footy yet. "We're not putting a full 80 minute performance together." Moylan was simply looking forward to playing finals again after missing Penrith's 2017 campaign to address personal issues. "Obviously it is a big turnaround (in 12 months). I have enjoyed my time here and hopefully we can give it a crack," he said. And it seems no one is more excited for the finals than mid-season Canterbury transfer Aaron Woods. "It's Woodsy's first time in the finals for a few years. To say he is very keen, that would be an understatement," Moylan laughed. Two men are trapped in an elevator halfway down a mine shaft south of Sydney. The pair were left stranded about 160 metres down the shaft on Wednesday evening after the lift broke down at the Tahmoor Coal Mine near Wollongong. The men are in good spirits and rescue crews are communicating with them using radios, a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman told AAP. Four FRNSW crews from Picton, Mittagong and Liverpool, including specialist rescue squads and three senior officers, are on scene working to free the men. The Northern Territory holds enough natural gas to supply Australia for 200 years-plus and is comparable to the shale resources that have revolutionised the US energy sector, Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan says. Such abundant gas should enable Australia to reduce its current high energy prices, which were the fault of southern states preventing development, Senator Canavan told an NT Resources Week conference in Darwin. The NT government lifted a ban on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing to access onshore gas this year, which is banned in Victoria and much of NSW. Geoscience Australia estimates the NT has about 257,000 petajoules of shale gas to meet Australia's demands for 200 years, Senator Canavan said. Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he had been told by energy companies that figure could be double with the Beetaloo Sub-basin. "There is more than enough gas in the Beetaloo to both export to demand overseas, to help out our fellow Australians and to support a gas manufacturing, value-adding industry here in Darwin," he told reporters. Senator Canavan described Beetaloo, located southeast of Katherine, as "a world class shale resource rich in liquids that is comparable to US shale resources which have been so critical in turning around the US energy market and manufacturing sector". "The refinement of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has turned the US from the world's largest net energy importer just over a decade ago to becoming a net energy exporter in recent years," he said. "This has enormous implications for global trade and politics." Darwin wants to establish itself as a hub for gas exports, related services and "value-adding" manufacturing - possibly with investment from China - by offering cheap energy that would create jobs. It would also send gas to Australia's east coast from current Darwin offshore gas projects through Jemena's planned 600km-plus pipeline. Senator Canavan also criticised the NT government's plan to introduce a new "hybrid" royalty scheme that the industry says will increase what they pay and discourage investment. Mining investment rose 5.1 per cent in Australia's latest quarterly figures with production at record levels in the NT, so now was not the time to hike taxes, he said. The Northern Territory's massive gas reserves have been compared to the US shale gas resources that transformed America from an energy importer to exporter. The NT holds enough natural gas to supply Australia for 200 years-plus, Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan says. Such abundant gas should enable Australia to reduce its current high energy prices, which were the fault of southern states preventing development, Senator Canavan told an NT Resources Week conference in Darwin on Wednesday. The NT government lifted a ban on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing to access onshore gas this year, which is banned in Victoria and much of NSW. Geoscience Australia estimates the NT has about 257,000 petajoules of shale gas to meet Australia's demands for 200 years, Senator Canavan said. Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he had been told by energy companies that figure could be double with the Beetaloo Sub-basin. "There is more than enough gas in the Beetaloo to both export to demand overseas, to help out our fellow Australians and to support a gas manufacturing, value-adding industry here in Darwin," he told reporters. Senator Canavan described Beetaloo, located southeast of Katherine, as "a world class shale resource rich in liquids that is comparable to US shale resources which have been so critical in turning around the US energy market and manufacturing sector". "The most amazing transition occurring in global markets is a geopolitical one," he said. "This has enormous implications for global trade and politics." Darwin wants to establish itself as a hub for gas exports, related services and "value-adding" manufacturing - possibly with investment from China - by offering cheap energy that would create jobs. Senator Canavan criticised the NT government's plan to introduce a new "hybrid" royalty scheme that the industry says will increase what they pay and discourage investment. AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has confirmed he involved himself in the visa cases of an Argentine polo player and a French nanny. At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Mr McLachlan revealed he was asked by a friend to check the status of the polo player's visa application in 2014. Mr McLachlan made enquiries for the "friend of a friend" who had limited English and was trying to enter the country on a business visa in 2014 when current Prime Minister Scott Morrison was in charge of immigration. "An Argentine polo player that I knew, his friend was coming out to play," Mr McLachlan told the hearing. "He was someone I knew was coming to play polo. I hadn't met him and he was introduced to me." The AFL's head of government relations Jude Donnelly, a former Liberal staffer, contacted an old work colleague in then-prime minister Tony Abbott's office. Mr McLachlan said he understood the visa had already been approved. He also rejected suggestions his lobbying of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton saved a French au pair from deportation. When Alexandra Deuwel was detained in October 2015, the AFL boss said his second cousin Callum MacLachlan was "agitated" because it was a Sunday and he couldn't get in touch with Mr Dutton's office. The AFL boss told his relative to put the reasons he opposed her deportation in an email which was forwarded to Mr Dutton's chief-of-staff by Ms Donnelly. Ms Deuwel was allowed to stay in the country after Mr Dutton intervened. Liberal senator Eric Abetz, who sat on the committee, said the evidence showed Mr Dutton had acted lawfully and on departmental advice. "Given the kinds of amateur hour performances we saw from Labor today, I hope for their own sake they will stop embarrassing themselves and discontinue this inquiry," Senator Abetz said. The inquiry also confirmed federal police have been asked to investigate the leaking of emails showing the AFL boss lobbied Mr Dutton. Senator Abetz said Labor senators should co-operate with the investigation. Department officials said Mr Dutton had used his discretion 4129 times, with 25 cases of the minister granting a tourist visa. An employee has been accused of assaulting a resident at an aged care facility on Sydney's northern beaches. A 35-year-old man was arrested in Wheeler Heights about 2pm on Wednesday after allegedly assaulting an 82-year-old man at an aged care facility on Sydney Road, Seaforth. The man was charged with two counts of common assault (DV) and use of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence and was granted conditional bail to appear at Manly Local Court on September 11. Some Year 12 chemistry students at Perth Modern School have allegedly used social media to collude on an assessment task, forcing all students to resit a one-hour exam. The school, Perth's only selective school for high-achievers, sent parents a letter last week saying there was "identified collusion", The West Australian reports on Thursday. "Staff interviewed a large number of students and it became apparent that a group had colluded and shared information from two validations using social media," the letter, signed by Lois Joll, said. All tourists visiting Australia should be compelled to take out health insurance, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says. Mr Hazzard wants his state and federal counterparts to support a proposal requiring tourists on temporary visas to get private insurance, extending conditions that already apply to foreign students and some working visa holders, The Daily Telegraph has reported. "Every time an uninsured visitor does not pay for their treatment in one of our public hospitals, taxpayers foot the bill," the minister said on Thursday. Julie Bishop has weighed into the debate about bullying in federal parliament, saying she's witnessed behaviour in Canberra that wouldn't be "tolerated in any other workplace across Australia". Speaking at a Women's Weekly event in Sydney, Ms Bishop described the "embarrassing circus" in the nation's capital, saying politicians showed contempt for each other and were "applauded". "Politics is robust, the very nature of it, it's not for the faint-hearted," the former Liberal deputy said on Wednesday. "I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in parliament, the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees I would never have accepted." Liberal MP Julia Banks and Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi both say they were subjected to bullying and intimidation from male colleagues during last month's leadership spill. The behaviour prompted Ms Banks to quit parliament, and Ms Bishop questioned why her party had trouble attracting and attaining women. "When a feisty, amazing woman like Julia Banks says this environment is not for me, don't say 'toughen up princess', say 'enough is enough'." Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia is in lock-step with the United Kingdom in holding Russia to account for a nerve agent attack on British soil. A UK police investigation has found two Russian military intelligence officers were responsible for the Salisbury attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripel in March, and the Kremlin authorised the attack. "Australia shares the UK's anger and outrage at this dangerous and deliberate act by Russia, which also puts at risk the British public, police and other first responders," Mr Morrison said in a statement on Thursday. BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and African countries agreed to work together toward an even stronger community with a shared future, according to a declaration adopted Tuesday at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Sharing weal and woe, the Chinese and African peoples have forged a deep friendship rooted in similar historical experiences, development tasks, and political aspirations, the declaration says. "We agree to strengthen collective dialogue, enhance traditional friendship, deepen practical cooperation, and work together toward an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future," it says. Calling Africa an important participant in the Belt and Road Initiative, the declaration says China-Africa cooperation under the initiative will generate more resources and means, expand the market and space for African development, and broaden its development prospects. African countries support China in hosting the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2019, the declaration says. It notes that China and African countries applaud the role FOCAC has played over the past 18 years to promote China-Africa relations. In the declaration, China pledges to continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with African countries in keeping with the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the principle of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests, as proposed by President Xi Jinping. China welcomes a representational office of the African Union (AU) in Beijing, the document says. African members of FOCAC reaffirm their commitment to the one-China principle, and their support for China's reunification and China's efforts in resolving territorial and maritime disputes peacefully through friendly consultation and negotiation. On anti-corruption cooperation, China and African countries welcome the launching of the African Anti-Corruption Year, pledging to take it as an opportunity to jointly fight corruption and promote integrity. China will continue to, in keeping with the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, help enhance Africa's production capacity in the secondary and tertiary industries, and promote the transformation and upgrading of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation focusing on improving Africa's internally driven growth that reduces reliance on export of raw materials, according to the declaration. "China will, as always, offer assistance and support to Africa's development with no political strings attached," the document says. It notes that China and African countries firmly uphold multilateralism and oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism. China supports early progress in developing African Continental Free Trade Area and the Single African Air Transport Market, says the declaration. It urges developed countries to honor their official development assistance commitments to developing countries, especially those in Africa, on time and in full. In the declaration, China vows to firmly support African countries and regional organizations such as the AU in their efforts to independently resolve African problems in the African way, and to continue to play a constructive role, in light of the need of Africa, in providing good offices and mediation of African hotspot issues. On tackling climate change and protecting the environment, the declaration calls on developed countries to honor their commitments at an early date and to support African countries with funding, technology transfer and capacity building. China will work with Africa to fight illegal trade in wildlife, says the document. It says China and African countries welcome Senegal as the next co-chair of FOCAC, noting that the Eighth FOCAC Ministerial Conference will be held in Senegal in 2021. Energy Minister Angus Taylor has derided a canned $1.6 billion plan to help cut power bills for Australians as a bandaid fix. The one-off bonus payment for people struggling to pay their electricity bills was reportedly rejected by cabinet ministers in the dying days of the Turnbull government. "Welfare payments, whatever their merits, are a bandaid on a much more fundamental problem," Mr Taylor told ABC radio on Thursday. And yet, one of the final acts of the Turnbull government was to abandon plans to axe a fortnightly energy supplement paid to welfare recipients, which was originally offered as compensation for the carbon tax. Australia's signing of a declaration calling climate change the "single greatest threat" to the Pacific region must be followed up with real action on emissions, environmental groups say. Leaders capped off the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum on Wednesday by signing a "Boe Declaration", expanding on security themes to include the environment, cybercrime and transnational crime. As was widely expected, the forum communique said climate change presented "the single greatest threat to the livelihood, security and well-being of Pacific people" and underscored the need for "immediate urgent action". Leaders also called on large emitters to fully implement national emissions mitigation targets and for the United States to return to the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change. The focus on climate change recognises concerns that have been the key priority for Pacific leaders at the annual meeting. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the Boe Declaration the most significant statement on the region's security in a generation. "[It] acknowledges additional collective actions are required to address new and non-traditional challenges," she said. "Modern-day regional security challenges include climate change, cybercrime and transnational crime." The Australian Conservation Foundation said the signing of the declaration was an important recognition of the issue by the new Morrison government but needed to be followed up with policy. "This international commitment by our nation must be matched by domestic action," ACF chief Kelly O'Shanassy said. "Australia's climate pollution is rising, and we have observed another collapse of domestic policy to cut emissions from electricity generation." Ahead of the forum, Australian ministers tried to ease concerns among Pacific leaders about its seriousness on climate change, saying the government was still committed to its reduction targets despite the recent collapse of its planned emissions legislation. "There's no doubt the Pacific islands would have a dim view of Australia reducing its commitment to climate change measures - reducing our emissions footprint," Defence Minister Christopher Pyne told Sky News. "But we have no plans to do so." As part of the broader security declaration on Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also announced the establishment of a Pacific centre to assist authorities in collating information to combat illegal fishing, people smuggling and narcotics trafficking. Federal Labor has joined calls for Australian filmmaker and convicted spy James Ricketson to be granted clemency by Cambodia. The 69-year-old was last week found guilty by a Cambodian court of espionage and sentenced to six years in prison. "The government has indicated its willingness to support any plea for clemency," opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said on Thursday. "Labor supports this and ongoing Australian government engagement with Cambodian counterparts to raise concerns over the case and secure his release." Ricketson has confirmed he will not seek an appeal against his conviction, enabling him to seek a royal pardon. More than 200-kilometre-an-hour winds caused havoc in the seas around Japan, sending this ship crashing into a breakwater Japan scrambled Wednesday to evacuate passengers trapped at a major airport when a tanker slammed into its only access bridge during the most powerful typhoon to hit the country for 25 years. Typhoon Jebi left a trail of destruction Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring hundreds more as it battered western Japan with ferocious winds and lashing rain. As Japan was still picking up the pieces, the northern island of Hokkaido was jolted by a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake early Thursday, although there was no tsunami warning. Authorities said an 82-year-old man was showing no signs of life after falling down the stairs in his home during the quake, Kyodo news agency reported. A total of seven houses had collapsed on the island, firefighters said according to the agency, with rescue attempts underway to free anyone trapped in the rubble. Japan is regularly lashed by powerful storms, but Jebi was the strongest typhoon to hit the country in a quarter of a century The typhoon packed winds up to 216 kilometres (135 miles) per hour, which ripped off roofs, overturned trucks and swept a 2,500-ton tanker into the bridge to Kansai International Airport, the region's main international gateway and a national transport hub. The damage to the bridge left the artificial island housing the airport temporarily cut off, stranding 3,000 travellers overnight as high waves flooded the runways and some buildings, knocking out the power. On Wednesday boats began ferrying people out of the airport, and buses began to run on one side of the damaged bridge after safety inspections. "We're very sorry" that the passengers had to stay overnight in the airport, an airport official told a press conference. "We'll transport all the travellers who wish to get out of the airport by the end of today, but we'll continue the bus and ferry service tomorrow," he said. But the official added it was unclear when the airport, which operates over 400 flights a day, could be reopened, while Kyodo News said it could take up to a week. "There were about 3,000 people stranded at the airport, but we think about 2,000 to 2,500 of them already got out. We think there are not many people left," a transport ministry official told AFP. Evacuation advisories had been issued for over 1.2 million people, but it was not clear how many had heeded the warnings Airport spokeswoman Yurino Sanada told AFP: "We don't know how many hours we need to bring everyone out but we're doing our best to finish it by the end of today." Rescued passengers spoke of their discomfort in sweltering post-typhoon temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. "We had a blackout so there was no air conditioning. It was hot," a woman told public broadcaster NHK after being ferried to Kobe. "I'd never expected this amount of damage from a typhoon." - 'Industrial heartland' - Typhoon Jebi made landfall at midday on Tuesday and moved quickly over the mainland, smashing through the major manufacturing area around Osaka -- Japan's second city -- wrecking infrastructure and destroying homes. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said 11 people had been killed and 470 injured. According to Kansai Electric, more than 400,000 households were still without power. In the tourist magnet of Kyoto -- home to ancient temples and shrines -- it brought down part of the ceiling of the main railway station. In nearby Osaka, the high winds peeled scaffolding from a multi-storey building. Typhoon Jebi sent a tanker crashing into the only access road to Kansai International Airport Businesses, factories and schools in the affected area shut down while the storm barrelled across the country, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights, ferry services and some bullet trains. Pictures showed containers piled up like dominos and vehicles thrown together by the wind, with others overturned. More than 1.2 million people had been advised to leave their homes as Jebi approached the Kansai area -- Japan's industrial heartland -- although it was unclear how many had heeded the warning. Around 16,000 people spent the night in shelters, local media said. Economists said it was too early to gauge the storm's impact on local industry, with much depending on how long the airport remained closed. Around 10 percent of Japan's exports leave from Kansai airport, said Yusuke Ichikawa, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute. "Logistics could be affected as it may take time for Kansai airport to restart operations," he told AFP. But with other airports and ports nearby, companies might be able to reroute shipments to minimise disruption, he added. - 'Utmost efforts' - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tweeting on his official account, said the government was battling to get the airport back online. "We continue to make utmost efforts to respond to disaster damage and restore infrastructure," he said. Japan is regularly hit by powerful typhoons in the summer and autumn, many of which cause flooding and landslides in rural areas. And Jebi was far from the deadliest Japan has seen in recent years. In 2011 Typhoon Talas killed 82 people in the area, while in 2013 a storm that struck south of Tokyo left 40 people dead. Earlier this year, torrential rains lashed the west of the country, sparking flooding that killed more than 200 people. A new book by White House chronicler Bob Woodward describes US President Donald Trump's staff as constantly trying to control their unpredictable boss President Donald Trump's White House is mired in a perpetual "nervous breakdown" with staff battling to rein in the worst impulses of an angry, paranoid leader, according to an explosive new book by veteran reporter Bob Woodward. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, the respected White House chronicler describes a coalition of like-minded aides plotting to prevent the US president from destroying the world trade system, undermining national security and sparking wars. While Woodward's is not the first unflattering investigation into Trump's White House, it carries particular weight coming from the man who together with Carl Bernstein authored the Watergate expose that brought down Richard Nixon. Trump's White House is described as having undergone "no less than an administrative coup d'etat," according to The Washington Post where Woodward is an associate editor and which received an advance copy of the 448-page book entitled "Fear: Trump in the White House," set for release on September 11. The White House hit back at "fabricated stories" as the long-awaited book piled fresh pressure on a president besieged by multiple investigations and a looming election that could damage his Republican Party. Trump claimed that the quotes in Woodward's book were "made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes." "Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?" he added, after tweeting earlier statements by Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and spokeswoman Sarah Sanders refuting the quoted statements as false. Mattis and former economic advisor Gary Cohn are cited among the aides actively circumventing Trump's orders and even stealing documents off his desk. Woodward recounts that Mattis -- having had to explain to the president that the US must keep forces in South Korea "to prevent World War III" -- told colleagues Trump had the understanding of "a fifth- or sixth-grader," a 10- or 11-year-old child. After the April 2017 chemical attack blamed on Bashar al-Assad, Woodward claims Trump called the Pentagon chief to press for the Syrian leader's assassination. "Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them," Trump reportedly told him. Mattis agreed to take action -- but after hanging up ordered "more measured" steps against Syria, a punitive air strike. - 'We're in Crazytown' - Mattis was among several high-profile figures quoted by Woodward who issued swift denials. "The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence," Mattis said in a statement, charging that the journalist's "anonymous sources do not lend credibility." Woodward paints a dire picture of Trump's White House While he does not name his sources, Woodward says he spoke with many people currently or formerly working for Trump as he researched the book, discussing not just the president's personality but also major policy debates regarding North Korea and Afghanistan. Woodward describes Trump regularly insulting key members of his own team, branding Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner," and saying former chief of staff Reince Priebus is "like a little rat." Trump is quoted as telling his hand-picked 80-year-old secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, "I don't trust you... You're past your prime." The aides and cabinet members respond, privately, with equal disdain. According to Woodward, Kelly told colleagues Trump is "unhinged" and "an idiot." "It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown," Kelly is quoted as saying. Former Trump lawyer John Dowd called Trump "a fucking liar," the book says. Both Kelly and Dowd denied the quotes attributed to them -- although Woodward is not the first to cite them making brutal comments about the president. - 'Edge of a cliff' - Since the Watergate expose appeared in The Washington Post in the early 1970s, Woodward has published powerful, insightful and often embarrassing books on eight US leaders, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, based on extensive access to many White House insiders. Woodward is one of the most respected living US journalists, and an authority on modern US presidents who drew praise from Trump himself in 2013 for his work on Obama. "Fear" is flecked with accounts of White House officials working to prevent Trump's anger and paranoia from being translated into policy. Cohn went so far as to steal an order from Trump's desk that, if the president had signed it, would have cancelled the US-South Korea trade agreement and thus deeply damaged security ties, according to Woodward. Former Trump staff secretary Rob Porter is also said to have conspired with Cohn to remove an letter that Trump ordered Porter to draft that would have withdrawn the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement. "A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas," Woodward quotes Porter as saying. "It felt like we were walking along the edge of the cliff perpetually." Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is due to return to Washington for talks with US officials Efforts to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement as a three-country pact are due to resume Wednesday when Canada and the US sit down at the negotiating table in a politically charged atmosphere. But the talks will be dogged by President Donald Trump's repeated threats to leave Canada on the sidelines and proceed with Mexico, which reached a deal with Washington last week and could sign NAFTA 2.0 as soon as November 30. Amid rising optimism last week that an agreement would soon be finalized on a rewrite of the 25-year-old trade deal, inflammatory comments from Trump angered officials in Ottawa and the discussions ended Friday with no agreement. And Trump continued his tough talk throughout the weekend. "There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don't make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out," he tweeted. "Congress should not interfere with these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off." The White House notified Congress on Friday of its "intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico -- and Canada, if it is willing -- 90 days from now." The White House has until September 30 days before it must present the full text of the new agreement to Congress, which will give Ottawa and Washington time to iron out remaining differences. - Trilateral or no bilateral? - But legislators and trade law experts have warned that Trump does not have the authority to supplant the three-nation NAFTA with a bilateral pact with Canada. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is due to return to Washington for talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday morning. Both officials said there had been progress in the negotiations last week, which frequently went late into the night. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed Tuesday that no NAFTA is better than a bad deal for Canada, and he will insist on retaining the dispute mechanism in Chapter 19 that provides binational panels to resolve disagreements. "We will hold firm on that," Trudeau said in Vancouver. "We will not sign a deal that is bad for Canadians, and quite frankly, not having a Chapter 19 to ensure that the rules are followed would be bad for Canadians." Canada has used the mechanism to fight off US antidumping duties. After the US and Mexico reached an agreement on new rules for auto trade, and tougher protections for workers and intellectual property, talks with Canada were hung up on the mechanisms used to resolve disputes among partners, and on Ottawa's strictly controlled dairy sector. Mexican officials stressed in a joint statement that they are "continuing to promote an agreement to which Canada is a party." But they also have said that either way they are protected with a bilateral deal with the United States, while Mexican businesses also have said they would support a two-nation deal. A Canada-less deal "is not the ideal scenario, but it's better than ending up without any agreement at all, it's better than living in uncertainty," said Gustavo de Hoyos, the president of the Mexican Employers' Association (COPARMEX). But the US business sector strongly prefers NAFTA remain a trilateral agreement. "Anything other than a trilateral agreement won't win Congressional approval and would lose business support," warned Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce. And in a rare show of common cause, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka also supports a trilateral NAFTA. He said it was "pretty hard to see" how efforts to revamp the pact would work "without having Canada in the deal." Minutes later, Trump lashed out at the labor leader on Twitter for "poorly" representing his union and making comments that were "against the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself." Du Qiwen of China stormed out of the Pacific Islands Forum amid accusations of bullying Nauru's president has labelled China's top diplomat at the Pacific Islands Forum "insolent" and accused him of trying to use Beijing's might to bully the tiny island nation. President Baron Waqa's outburst followed a tense exchange at the summit he is hosting on Tuesday when China's Du Qiwen attempted to address a meeting about climate change but Waqa refused to let him speak. Du and the Chinese delegation then stormed out, with Du reportedly striding around the room to emphasise his displeasure before leaving. Waqa, whose country backs Taiwan over arch-rival China in the battle for diplomatic recognition, had already angered Beijing before the summit began in a row over visas. Nauru refused to stamp entry visas into Chinese diplomatic passports, instead saying it would only process their personal passports. While seemingly a minor detail, it provoked threats of a boycott from other PIF members, many of whom receive development aid and concessional loans from Beijing. Nauru's President Baron Waqa accused the Chinese delegate of 'insolence' at the Pacific forum Waqa, whose country has a population of just 11,000 and covers an area of 21 square kilometres (eight square miles), was unfazed about finding himself at loggerheads with the world powerhouse. He accused Du of trying to throw his weight around and not respecting the fact that national leaders at the meeting outranked him and deserved to be heard first. "He insisted and was very insolent, and created a big fuss, and held up the meeting of leaders for a good number of minutes, when he was only an official," Waqa told a press conference late Tuesday. "Maybe because he was from a big country he wanted to bully us." The exchange highlighted sensitivities over Beijing's rising influence in the Pacific, where China provided an estimated US$1.78 billion in aid to island nations between 2006-16. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Nauru disregarded the normal conduct of international conferences and "obstructed" Chinese representatives from speaking. "Nauru, as the host country of the forum, violated international conventions and forum regulations and staged a bad farce," Hua told a regular press briefing in Beijing. - Climate change threat - The "soft power" wielded by Beijing has alarmed Australia and New Zealand, with both countries boosting their own aid programmes in a bid to maintain influence in a region they regard as their backyard. China does not belong to the PIF but is one of 18 countries that attends as a "dialogue partner" for discussions with member nations. PIF members on Wednesday signed a security agreement promoting cooperation on issues such as trans-national crime, illegal fishing and cyber-crime. The agreement, called the Boe Declaration, also recognised the need for joint action on "non-traditional" threats, primarily climate change. "We reaffirm that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the people of the Pacific," it states. Meanwhile, a New Zealand journalist who was taken into police custody for interviewing an asylum-seeker has disputed the official account of her treatment. Nauru officials insisted TVNZ reporter Barbara Dreaver was not detained and "voluntarily accompanied" police, but Dreaver said this was not the case. The Civic Center in Aiwo on the island of Nauru is serving as the venue of the Pacific Islands Forum "They ordered me to turn off the camera, confiscated my phone for 3-4 hours, told me I had breached visa conditions... and ordered me into the police vehicle. "They were professional throughout the entire process but it was not voluntary." The plight of about 900 refugees held on the island under Australia's hardline immigration policies has threatened to overshadow the summit, despite attempts by Nauru authorities to control visiting journalists. Dreaver's PIF accreditation was initially revoked but she said Wednesday it had been given back to her. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands after a joint press conference as part of a tripartite summit on Syria, in Ankara, on April 4, 2018 The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey meet Friday in Tehran for a summit expected to shape the future of Idlib province, home to Syria's last major rebel bastion. The summit comes as Syrian forces look poised to launch a major assault that is raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in the seven-year-old conflict. Damascus and its main backer Moscow have vowed to root out the jihadist groups that dominate Idlib province but the outcome of Friday's meeting could determine the scope and the timing of an offensive. "We know that the Syrian armed forces are getting ready to solve this problem," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Seized from government forces in 2015, Idlib and adjacent areas form the last major chunk of Syrian territory still in rebel hands. Turkey has limited sway over the jihadist groups that control an estimated 60 percent of Idlib but it backs rebel groups there and has 12 military "observation points" across the province. Russia, Turkey and Iran are the guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations that has eclipsed the older Geneva process and de facto helps Syrian President Bashar al-Assad re-assert his authority on the country. In parallel to the Syrian government's military buildup, the recent weeks have seen intense diplomatic activity. Al-Watan, a Syrian daily close to the government, wrote on Monday that the result of the talks will be presented in Tehran for the three powers "to endorse it and decide on the 'zero hour' for the Syrian army's military operation, which is expected to immediately follow the summit." Idlib is a cul-de-sac for many rebels and civilians transferred there after previous regime assaults. - Inevitable assault? - The United Nations and aid groups have warned that a full assault could spark one of the worst disasters of a conflict that has already killed 350,000 people and displaced 11 million in seven years. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the armed groups in Idlib attacking Syrian government positions and Russia's air base in nearby Hmeimim should be eliminated. At stake in Tehran is the scope of the offensive and Lavrov said Tuesday that efforts were being made to separate "regular armed oppositionists from terrorists". The main target of an offensive would be the jihadist fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance dominated by the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Russia wants Turkey to use its influence on the ground in Idlib to rein in the rebels and the jihadists. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared to suggest Monday there will still room for negotiation ahead of the summit and a promised offensive. "We are continuing contacts before the summit and preparing it to make sure it yields a good outcome," he said. The International Crisis Group insisted a devastating offensive in Idlib could and should still be averted, calling this week on all brokers to go back to negotiations. It said Russia needed to be convinced that backing an all-out Syria offensive risked undermining its own long-term objectives, which include the "re-legitimation" of Assad and his regime. The think tank said the three Astana guarantors should thrash out a plan that would satisfy some of Moscow's key demands. ICG cited "intensified Turkish efforts to rid the area of jihadists, an end to drone attacks on Russia's (Hmeimim) air base and regime control over Idlib's key highways." Ayanna Pressley, 44, won the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives in Massachusetts's seventh district, one of the most left-leaning in America and which includes Harvard University An African American woman on Tuesday pulled off an upset victory in a Democratic primary contest against a 10-term entrenched male incumbent in Boston, the latest sign that insurgent US candidates from the left are gaining ground. Ayanna Pressley, 44, won the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives in Massachusetts's seventh district, one of the most left-leaning in America and which includes Harvard University. "It seems like change is on the way," she told her cheering supporters. "Ours was truly a people-power, grass-roots campaign." Pressley has long been identified as a rising star in the Democratic Party. In 2009, she was the first woman of color ever elected to the Boston City Council. She also worked for former senator John Kerry. Michael Capuano, who has represented the district for 20 years, conceded defeat in a primary that few predicted he would lose, armed with an impressive party machinery and top-flight support. "This is life and this is OK. America's going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and I will tell you that Massachusetts will be well served," the 66-year-old said. Winning Tuesday's primary in the safe Democratic seat puts Pressley on course to become the first African American in Massachusetts to be elected to the US House of Representatives. Teeming opposition on the left to US President Donald Trump has fueled primary wins for insurgent, women and minority candidates in Democratic primaries ahead of November's crucial mid-term elections. Some similarities have been drawn between Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the political novice who defeated Democratic Party grandee Joe Crowley in a New York primary in June. But as Capuano and Pressley are both progressives, she campaigned for change and argued that her life experience -- she is a survivor of sexual assault -- would make her the better representative. Leaders and delegates attend the opening ceremony of the High-level Dialogue Between Chinese and African Leaders and Business Representatives as well as the Sixth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- African leaders said here Monday that their continent stands ready to further cement its partnership with China and promote win-win cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. They made the remarks at the High-Level Dialogue Between Chinese and African Leaders and Business Representatives and Sixth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, held on the sidelines of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The Beijing summit "reflects the unique as well as the strategic nature of our partnership," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who co-chairs the two-day FOCAC summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said at the dialogue. The Africa-China partnership "facilitates the realization of Africa's developmental aspirations reflected in Agenda 2063 through pragmatic collaboration in the quest of win-win cooperation," he added. "I am convinced that the FOCAC has taken the comprehensive strategic partnership journey further and to higher levels," Ramaphosa said. Speaking on behalf of leaders of North African countries, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said "China and Africa enjoy sound cooperation in trade." He noted that China has put forward the important Belt and Road Initiative, while the African Continental Free Trade Area is gradually taking shape and African countries are making progress in seeking development paths that suit their national conditions. Such moves will help upgrade China's trade and investment cooperation with North African as well as other African countries, he added. North African countries expect to deepen understanding and cooperation with other countries and promote peace, stability and sustainable development in the world, he said. "Therefore, the countries need to work together to secure our achievements through win-win cooperation," the Mauritanian president said. Also at the dialogue, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh said the Africa-China partnership is based on win-win cooperation and mutual benefit. On behalf of East Africa, Guelleh said the region is delighted that it will continue to benefit from the many advantages of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. "China's investment and involvement in East Africa date back to more than 40 years ago, which demonstrate not only the depth of our friendship, but more importantly, how China, even when it was trying to develop itself and lift its people out of poverty, always extended the hand of friendship to Africa and believed in our success," he said. China and East Africa have grown together, he said, adding that the region is pleased to see that win-win cooperation and friendship have only deepened and helped better the lives of the Chinese and African people. In his keynote speech at the meeting, Xi said China stands ready to strengthen comprehensive cooperation with African countries to build a path of high-quality development that is suited to respective national conditions, inclusive and beneficial to all. Realizing common prosperity for the people of all nations, including the people of Africa, is an important part of building a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said in his speech themed "walk together towards prosperity." FOCAC was formally founded in 2000. Since then China and African countries have held the 2006 Beijing summit and the 2015 Johannesburg summit, which have promoted cooperation between the two sides and produced fruitful results. A South Korean delegation will meet with officials in the North to discuss denuclearisation and a third inter-Korean summit A high-level South Korean delegation met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Wednesday, as Seoul plans a new summit with the North Korean leader to break a deadlock in denuclearisation talks. The South's President Moon Jae-in's special envoy Chung Eui-yong, who is leading the five-member delegation, earlier said he would discuss ways to "completely denuclearise" the Korean peninsula and establish "lasting peace". His delegation "met with Chairman Kim Jong Un and delivered a personal letter (from Moon) and exchanged opinions", a presidential office spokesman in Seoul said. The delegation flew back to Seoul after attending a dinner banquet but Chung and other officials declined to speak to the media. Details about their trip will be given during a press briefing on Thursday, Moon's office said. US President Donald Trump and Kim reached a vague agreement at a landmark summit in June to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little movement since. Talks reached an impasse last month when Trump abruptly cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, citing a lack of progress. The stated aim of the South Korean delegation's day-long visit to Pyongyang is to finalise details of a third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, due later this month. But observers said that Moon's personal letter to Kim will likely be a proposal aimed at breaking the denuclearisation impasse. The envoy was likely to suggest "that Kim gives a firm commitment to presenting a list of nuclear weapons and fissile materials demanded by the US in return for a declaration of the end of the Korean War," Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP. Despite the deadlock with the North, Trump expressed his hopes for the success of the next inter-Korean summit in a phone conversation with Moon on Tuesday. Pyongyang has slammed Washington's "gangster-like" demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament, and accused it of failing to reciprocate the North's "goodwill measures", including the handover of the remains of US troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War. When Kim and Moon met in April for their first summit, they agreed to push for a declaration from Washington of an end to the Korean War, to replace the 1953 armistice. But US officials say the North must be rid of its nuclear weapons before that can happen. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported last month that there is no indication North Korea has stopped its nuclear activities. A trader walks past a screen at the exchange market department of the National Commercial Bank in the Saudi capital Riyadh With the stock market listing of its national oil company stalled, Saudi Arabia is scrambling to boost the coffers of the sovereign wealth fund spearheading a risky plan to diversify its economy. The Public Investment Fund had sought to raise billions of dollars through the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco -- dubbed as potentially the world's biggest stock sale -- to finance the kingdom's transformation from a petro-state to a tech-focused economy. But with the flotation indefinitely postponed, the PIF is taking radical steps to boost its treasure chest with much-needed cash to finance a slew of non-oil investments -- from risky hi-tech startups to a new mega city. "Much of the ambitious economic and social plan to diversify the Saudi economy, jump-start its private sector and create jobs for young people relies on the PIF as an orchestrator of economic growth," said Karen Young of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "In fact, the PIF is so central to the government's growth strategy that finding resources to feed the PIF has become a national economic priority," she wrote in a report for the institute. Pivoting the desert kingdom's economy away from oil, akin to what observers describe as turning around a large, lumbering ship, is a key priority for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. When the Aramco IPO was proposed in 2016, Saudi officials had expected it would raise up to $100 billion to fund his reform agenda, based on a $2 trillion valuation of the state-owned giant that many experts said was unrealistic. With IPO efforts floundering, the once-torpid PIF, which aims to raise its assets from roughly $230 billion to more than $2 trillion by 2030, is aggressively pushing a host of big-ticket investments -- from Uber to the planned $500 billion NEOM mega city on the Red Sea coast. The fund has also invested in British tycoon Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic and pledged tens of billions of dollars to funds run by SoftBank and Blackstone. - 'Spend to grow' - Some analysts have voiced concern over the PIF's "spend to grow" strategy as it pursues what are seen as flashy deals rather than long-term investments that deliver secure returns and generate jobs as unemployment soars. "The PIF's pattern of investment very much resembles that of a venture capital fund and that is concerning for a fund that will, by necessity, have to generate steady returns in the long run," Ellen Wald, author of the book "Saudi Inc", told AFP. Since 2016, the PIF has made external investment commitments worth 360 billion riyals ($95 billion), according to the International Monetary Fund, including stakes in high-risk tech firms such as electric car company Tesla. "Investments in technology companies will not transform Saudi Arabia's economy nor will they diversify the economy's sources of revenue away from oil," said Wald. The PIF did not respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, the postponement of the Aramco IPO is seen as a reflection of the kingdom's stronger fiscal position following a recent rise in oil prices but also dimming optimism over reforms. "The postponement of the IPO implies that the economic diversification envisaged by the government will either need to be scaled back or financed by higher direct or indirect public-sector debt issuance," ratings agency Moody's said on Monday. Moody's noted that significant reliance on debt would increase liability risks and exert negative pressure on Saudi Arabia's credit profile. - Raising cash - The PIF last month raised an $11-billion loan from international banks, its first commercial advance, in order to finance the kingdom's transformation plans, the Riyadh-based Al Rajhi Capital said this week. "If the PIF is to fulfil its ambitious plans in the coming years, it will need additional financing," the IMF said in a recent report. It added that for some investments, the government may need to draw from its reserves at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, which stand at just over $500 billion. To raise money, the PIF is mulling the sale of a "strategic stake" in Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC to Aramco, a potential deal that Young described as "accounting gymnastics". SABIC, the world's fourth largest petrochemicals company with a market value of over $100 billion, is 70 percent-owned by the PIF. Further complicating PIF's ambitions is nervousness from foreign investors after a diplomatic row over Canada's criticism of the jailing of Saudi rights activists and the arrest of high-profile businessmen at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton last year. The moves, experts say, have heightened concerns over Prince Mohammed's increasingly assertive policy and the impact it would have on foreign direct investment, which a UN body said plunged last year to a 14-year low. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was seen for a time as a rising star in Silicon Valley The once high flying blood-testing start-up Theranos, accused with cheating investors, will dissolve, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. It will seek to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash in coming months, the Journal said, citing a shareholder email. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes settled a shareholder lawsuit in July that was designed to recover whatever can be salvaged from the firm, the Journal said. In June, the US Justice Department said a federal grand jury in California indicted Holmes, 34, and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, 53, who had been president and chief operating officer. The indictment states that Holmes and Balwani falsely claimed that they had developed revolutionary technology that could quickly provide a range of clinical tests from a small drop of blood. Theranos was founded in 2003 by Holmes when she was only 19. She became a media darling, attracting millions of dollars in investment based on claims of innovative technology. But Theranos came under scrutiny after the Journal published articles questioning its claims. In March, US securities regulators accused the youthful entrepreneur of an "elaborate, years-long fraud." Holmes was seen for a time as a rising star in Silicon Valley, appearing at events like the Women In Technology and Politics dinner hosted by Glamour and Facebook, the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit and events hosted by the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch. She and Balwani pitched a tale in investor presentations, product demonstrations and media articles about the startup's key product -- a portable blood analyzer -- which they claimed could revolutionize the industry by inexpensively conducting comprehensive tests from drops of blood from fingers. Protestors took to the streets in August to call for improvements to road safety in Bangladesh, after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus Motorcyclists without helmets have been barred from buying fuel in Dhaka, in an attempt to quell tensions after major protests for better road safety in the Bangladeshi capital last month. Tuseday's announcement by Dhaka police came after tens of thousands of teenage protesters and students gridlocked Dhaka for nine days in late July and early August, in a major challenge to the authority of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. "The (owners of) petrol pumps have already been told not to sell fuel to any motor bikers without helmets," said Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia. He said bikers carrying more than one other person -- a common sight -- would also face punishment, and the one pillion passenger which is permitted must also wear a helmet. Like elsewhere in Asia, the highly congested, polluted and chaotic city of almost 20 million people has seen an explosion in two-wheeled traffic in recent years. Although Bangladeshi roads are among the deadliest in the region -- around 12,000 people perish in accidents every year, according to a private monitoring group, or more than 30 per day -- many bikers wear no helmet. The protests, which saw vehicles vandalised and thugs loyal to the government attack demonstrators, photographers and even the US ambassador's car, began after a speeding bus killed two teenagers. The young demonstrators, setting up roadblocks to check vehicle documents, demanded that the streets be made safer and called for a crackdown on the corruption that has bedevilled investment in infrastructure. In the wake of the protests, Hasina's cabinet approved a new transport law stipulating harsher punishments for offenders. Dhaka police say they are already cracking down on dangerous motorists and taking unsafe vehicles off the road. Traffic police have filed more than 5,500 cases against drivers including 2,657 bikers, Dhaka police said. In all police have filed some 626,000 cases against motor vehicle owners in the past 18 months over violation of transport laws across the country. "The problems on the road is not new. It has been going for ages," Mia said. Sales of motorcycles soared by some 50 percent to 360,000 last year as Bangladesh's economy recorded over seven percent growth over the last three years. The government has slashed customs duties on bike imports to try to ease congestion created by cars and buses. Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, on Tuesday resumed air strikes on Idlib after a 22-day pause Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that dropping bombs and missiles on Syria's last rebel-held province of Idlib could cause a "massacre," in remarks published Wednesday. "God forbid, a serious massacre could take place if there is a rain of missiles there," Erdogan told journalists on his plane after an official visit to the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, Hurriyet daily reported. His comments come as Syrian troops mass near the northwestern region of Idlib for a major assault that is raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in the seven-year-old conflict. Damascus and its main backer Moscow have vowed to root out the jihadist groups that dominate Idlib province. Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, on Tuesday resumed air strikes on Idlib after a 22-day pause. Turkey, which backs some of the rebels, has held several rounds of talks with Russia aimed at averting an assault on Idlib, as well as with Washington. "Our cooperation with Russia now is very important. The United States sends the ball into the corner of Russia and Russia into the corner of the US," he said. Erdogan talked of a "very merciless process" unfolding in Idlib, warning of the risk that heavy fighting would trigger an influx of refugees. "3.5 million people live there. God forbid, it is again Turkey where those people will flee in case of a disaster," Erdogan said. Idlib is one of the so-called "de-escalation" zones set up as a result of talks by Russia, Turkey and Iran last year as Damascus regained control of more of the country. Erdogan as well as the presidents of Iran and Russia will meet on Friday in Tehran for a summit expected to focus on Idlib. "God willing we will succeed in averting the extreme actions of the regime there by getting a positive result from the Tehran summit," he said. The UN Security Council is also due to meet Friday to address the situation in Idlib amid growing fears of an attack and the possible use of chemical weapons. Washington warned Tuesday that if Damascus were to use chemical weapons, it would respond. A Palestinian holds a national flag he runs from tear gas fired by Israeli forces during a protest against Washington's ending of all funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel on September 4, 2018 The Israeli army announced the closure on Wednesday of the sole people crossing with the Gaza Strip following a violent demonstration the previous day, just 10 days after reopening it. "Yesterday, a violent riot was instigated in the area of the Erez crossing, with the participation of hundreds of Palestinian rioters," the army said in a statement. "Subsequently, it was decided to close the Erez crossing until the damage caused by the rioters will be repaired." No timeframe was given for the reopening. The Palestinians were protesting against a US announcement on Friday that it would cease all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) which helps some three million needy refugees across the Middle East. Washington, which until last year was by far the biggest contributor to the UNRWA, had already plunged the nearly 70-year-old agency into financial crisis in January with its announcement of a $300 million funding freeze. In Gaza, most children attend UNRWA-run schools whose funding beyond the end of this month is now in doubt, along with that of the agency's network of clinics and food distribution centres. The army said Tuesday's protesters had damaged the infrastructure of the crossing with rocks thrown from the Gaza side. It said it would remain open for "individually approved humanitarian cases". Palestinian schoolgirls pose near a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) tractor in Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, on September 1, 2018 following Washington's announcement it was ending all funding An AFP correspondent said several thousand Gazans passed the Palestinian Authority checkpoint at Erez during Tuesday's protest and headed to the Israeli side, where they caused damage to lights and the road surface. The Israeli army eventually forced them back, using tear gas and live ammunition. Five Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds, the Gaza health ministry said. "Palestinians destroyed the only crossing thru which they enter Israel for medical care & work. They also destroyed 3 TIMES the Kerem Shalom crossing thru which goods&aid enter Gaza daily," Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter. "Now it's closed for repairs. Surely, there will be Palestinian complaints that it's closed." Israel reopened Erez on August 27 after an 11-day closure following previous clashes, as part of its policy of easing its decade-long air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip when calm is maintained. The sole goods crossing between Israel and Gaza, Kerem Shalom, remains open. There have been months of tension along the border and several military flare-ups, but recent weeks have seen relative calm. Egyptian and United Nations officials have been mediating indirect negotiations on a long-term truce between Israel and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, who have fought three wars since 2008. A ceremony was held in June to mark the adoption of the new constitution approved in a referendum UN investigators on Wednesday warned that crimes against humanity and other serious rights violations were continuing unabated in Burundi, blaming in part President Pierre Nkurunziza's repeated calls to hatred and violence. In its first report last year, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said it had "reasonable grounds to believe" that government was committing crimes against humanity. On Wednesday, it said such crimes were still ongoing, citing summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence. "Serious human rights violations, including some which constitute crimes against humanity, have continued to be committed in Burundi, in 2017 and 2018," the commission said as it released a fresh report on the situation in the tiny east African nation. "Some practices, such as the disposal of bodies or operating at night, tend to make these violations less visible. Nevertheless, they are still real," head of the commission Doudou Diene said in a statement. Burundi plunged into crisis in 2015 after Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office that his opponents said was unconstitutional. Turmoil since then has killed at least 1,200 people, and has forced 400,000 to flee their homes and triggered an investigation by the International Criminal Court. - 'Impunity' - "Human rights violations documented by the Commission of Inquiry were aided by recurring calls for hatred and violence, including by the President of the Republic," the commission said Wednesday, saying such calls "took place in a general context of impunity." Nkurunziza announced in June that he would not stand for another term in office in 2020 The UN investigators said they had "established a list of alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity." They said they would make the list "available to any organ or jurisdiction tasked with carrying out independent and credible investigations on human rights violations and abuses committed in Burundi and which will guarantee the safety of the witnesses." Diene stressed that the Burundian judicial system itself "has neither the will nor the capacity to establish who is responsible and to prosecute perpetrators of violations." "The judiciary has become an instrument of repression used by the executive against any form of protest or opposition." The commission did not name the suspected perpetrators, but has said members of the country's National Intelligence Service, the police, military officials and members of the ruling party's youth league, the Imbonerakure were behind many of the worst violations. It lamented the increasing strength of the Imbonerakure and decried the constantly shrinking of democratic space in the country. "The control exercised over Burundians by the ruling power and the Imbonerakure increased significantly and is felt in all aspects of daily life," commission member Francoise Hampson said in the statement. At the beginning of June this year, the 54-year-old Nkurunziza announced that he would not stand for another term in office in 2020. That announcement came just after the adoption of a new constitution under which the head of state could remain in office until 2034. Diene warned Wednesday that "the Constitutional Referendum organised in May 2018 and the campaign for the upcoming elections in 2020 have resulted in persecution, threats and intimidation towards persons suspected of opposing the government or not sharing the ruling party's line, whether proven or not." The investigators, who are set to present their report to the UN Human Rights Council later this month, urged the council to extend their mandate. "It is all the more crucial to continue this work as Burundi is preparing for new elections in 2020, which have already resulted in human rights violations and abuse." Iraqis protest against the government and lack of basic services, on September 3, 2018 in the southern city of Basra The United Nations envoy to Iraq called Wednesday for "calm" in Basra, after six died in the bloodiest day of protests over poor public services in the southern city. In a statement, Jan Kubis, the UN's special representative in Iraq, called on "the authorities to avoid using disproportionate, lethal force against the demonstrators". He also urged authorities to "investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the outbreak of violence". The authorities said in a press conference on Wednesday that security personnel were wounded in Tuesday's clashes. "Thirty members of the security forces were wounded by grenades and incendiary objects being thrown," said General Jamil al-Shammari, who is in charge of security operations in Basra. Basra was nearly deserted on Wednesday morning. Many shops were closed, while burned tyres lay strewn across the city's streets, an AFP correspondent said. The city -- along with the province of the same name -- has been hit by protests since early July against poor public services. Residents are angry over pollution of the local water supply, which has put 20,000 people in hospital. Kubis in his statement called on the government "to do its utmost to respond to the people's rightful demands of clean water and electricity supplies as a matter of urgency". The authorities said they would take measures to put an end to the health crisis that has ravaged the oil-rich province. The local governorate's headquarters, the main rallying point for protestors, bore the traces of damage from molotov cocktails and fireworks thrown late into the night. "Six demonstrators were killed and more than 20 wounded" in front of the government building on Tuesday evening, said Mehdi al-Tamimi, head of the government's human rights council in Basra province. Medical sources confirmed the death toll to AFP. Tamimi accused the security forces of "opening fire directly on the protestors". In his weekly press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he had ordered "no real bullets ... to be fired, in the direction of protesters or in the air". Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr said in a tweet that "vandals infiltrated" the protestors. Sadr's political bloc won the largest number of seats in national elections held in May, and he is trying to form a new government with Abadi. Protestors also blocked roads and burned tyres elsewhere in Basra province on Tuesday night, a correspondent said. Abadi announced in the night that he had met lawmakers from Basra, who are in Baghdad for the parliament's first session since the elections. He again indicated that water pollution would be addressed, without specifying any measures. In July, the government announced a multi-billion dollar (euro) emergency plan for southern Iraq, to revive infrastructure and services. But protestors are wary of promises made by the outgoing government, as negotiations drag on over the formation of the next administration. A joint Malaysia-Singapore statement said the project would be suspended until the end of May 2020 Singapore and financially-strapped Malaysia agreed Wednesday to defer plans to build a high-speed railway between the two countries by two years, ending months of uncertainty over the project. The fate of the bullet train line has been in doubt since May when newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced plans to review major infrastructure projects approved by his scandal-tainted predecessor in a bid to cut the country's debt. Malaysian Economic Minister Azmin Ali and visiting Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan exchanged legal documents on the amended deal at a ceremony in the administrative capital Putrajaya. A joint Malaysia-Singapore statement issued after the ceremony said the project would be suspended until the end of May 2020, with plans to commence the service on January 1, 2031. During the suspension period, both countries will "continue to discuss the best way forward" for the project with the aim to reduce costs, the statement added. An ongoing international tender for the project will be called off, it said. Azmin said Kuala Lumpur will pay Singapore about $10.8 million for the deferment of the project. And if Malaysia decides not to proceed with the project by the end of the suspension period, it will further bear the agreed costs incurred by Singapore, the statement said. Singapore Transport Minister Khaw described the new deal as a "fair arrangement" and said: "By the end of May 2020, we hope to see the resumption of the high-speed rail construction." The 350-kilometre (217-mile) rail network is expected to cut travel time between Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes from the four or more hours by car today. Mahathir's initial push to scrap the project alarmed Singapore, with observers wondering if the election of the 93-year-old -- whose relationship with the city-state was famously fractious during his first stint as premier -- might cause ties to deteriorate. Malaysia earlier suspended three major China-backed projects worth billions of dollars, including a pipeline programme and a rail link which would have run from the Thai border to Kuala Lumpur, to cut the country's massive debt exceeding 1.0 trillion ringgit ($251 billion). File picture taken in 2001 of Jalaluddin Haqqani Decades after forging reputations as anti-Soviet fighters during the Cold War, many of Afghanistan's former mujahideen commanders still wield influence in the war-torn country, despite claims of gross human rights violations on their march to power. Among them was former CIA asset turned brutal militant leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, who founded the eponymous Haqqani network that is now a top US target. His death was announced Tuesday by the Taliban. Jalaluddin was among several mujahideen commanders who rose to prominence during the Soviet occupation of 1979-89. The survivors still have significant clout in Afghanistan's ethnic and tribal-driven politics. Their bravery and battlefield skills won them fame and assistance from the United States and Pakistan. Some, such as the resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated in 2001, attained folk hero status. But after the Russians left, Afghanistan slipped into civil war as the mujahideen commanders sought to topple the pro-communist government and then turned on each other. Figures little known in the West but etched into the memory of ordinary Afghans are accused of killing thousands of people during the bloody chaos of the early 1990s that fuelled the flow of millions of Afghans across the border into Pakistan. After the Taliban was overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001, several controversial figures from the previous two decades were brought into mainstream politics in hopes of ensuring a smooth transition to democracy. The power and wealth garnered over decades of constant conflict helped the battle-hardened commanders in their new political careers -- but also made them difficult to control. Some kept private militias even as they ascended the political ranks, enabling them to enrich themselves and operate with impunity. Here are four key figures: - Hekmatyar - Hekmatyar: accused of killing thousands The former prime minister is one of the most notorious warlords in Afghanistan's history. A prominent anti-Soviet commander in the 1980s, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is accused of killing thousands in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war. Following the 2001 US-led invasion and the fall of the Taliban government, the US State Department designated him a terrorist, accusing him of taking part in and supporting attacks by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He returned to Kabul and mainstream political life in May 2017 following a peace deal between his dormant Hezb-i-Islami militant group and President Ashraf Ghani. The deal sparked revulsion from human rights groups and Kabul residents. - Sayyaf - The former anti-Soviet resistance leader and ally of Osama Bin Laden was a strident opponent of the Taliban and after 2001 went on to become a high-profile politician. Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf contested the 2014 presidential election before endorsing front-runner Abdullah Abdullah, who lost to Ashraf Ghani in a controversial vote. Sayyaf, a religious scholar who remains influential despite retiring from politics, is said to have been the "mentor" of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the main plotter of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Sayyaf also ran militant training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout the 1980s and 1990s, which Mohammed attended. - Mohaqiq - Mohammad Mohaqiq fought the Soviet occupation before becoming embroiled in Afghanistan's brutal civil war in the 1990s. Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah (C) and vice-presidential candidates Mohammad Mohaqiq (2nd R) and Mohammad Khan (2L) wave to supporters during a campaign rally in 2014 The most senior politician from the minority Hazara ethnic group, Mohaqiq contested the 2004 presidential election before becoming the second deputy to Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in 2014. Mohaqiq has been an outspoken critic of President Ashraf Ghani's government, accusing it, among other things, of trying to sideline mujahideen leaders. - Dostum - Abdul Rashid Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek leader, is notorious for extreme barbarities and for repeatedly switching loyalties over 40 years of conflict. Dostum (C) arrives at Kabul airport in July While he fought on the side of the Soviets against the US-backed mujahideen in the 1980s, he played a key role in helping US Special Forces topple the Taliban in 2001. Despite a catalogue of war crimes attached to his name and accusations of organising the rape and torture of a political rival, Dostum became Afghanistan's first vice president in 2014. He received a hero's welcome when he returned to Kabul in July after more than a year in exile. China's top legislator Li Zhanshu will head a delegation to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday as a special representative of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president. Li Zhanshu,chairman of the NPC standing committee. [File photo:npc.gov.cn] The announcement was made by a spokesperson of the CPC Central Committee's International Department in Beijing Tuesday. Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will also attend activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK, said the spokesperson in a press release. Li was invited by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government, said the spokesperson. The co-sponsors of the Astana peace process aimed at ending the Syrian conflict, (LtoR) Iran's Hassan Rouhani, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, seen here in Ankara on April 4, 2018. are to meet again in Tehran on September 7 The Astana peace process, aimed at ending the Syrian conflict, was launched in January 2017 by Russia and Iran, allies of the Damascus regime, and rebel-backer Turkey. The three presidents are due to meet in Iran on Friday, ahead of an expected government offensive on rebel-held Idlib province that could be the last major battle of the seven-year-old civil war. The Astana process, launched after Russia's intervention definitively tipped the military balance in the regime's favour, led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones". The cessation of hostilities in those areas was short-lived, however, and the forces backing President Bashar al-Assad have already retaken three of them. Idlib is the last one. The Astana process gradually eclipsed an earlier UN-sponsored negotiations framework known as the Geneva process, which had put more emphasis on political transition but failed to curb violence that has already killed more than 350,000 people. - Russia takes charge - In late 2016, Russia, Iran and Turkey take over the Syrian peace process, sidelining the United States. They impose a ceasefire between the army and rebels. In January 2017, they launch talks in Astana, bringing rebel and regime representatives to the capital of Kazakhstan, a Russian ally in central Asia. At the January 23-24 talks, the three sponsors agree to bolster the fragile truce. However, the final declaration is not signed by the rebels, led by Mohammad Alloush, or the regime, led by Bashar Jaafari, and negotiators do not hold face-to-face talks. In February, Astana talks between regime and rebel delegations end without a major breakthrough. Several more rounds of talks are held but fail to yield significant results. - 'De-escalation zones' - In May 2017, Russia, Iran and Turkey adopt in Astana a Russian plan for four "de-escalation zones" across Syria to shore up local ceasefires. According to the text, "security zones" will be created around them, with checkpoints and monitoring centres to be jointly staffed by troops from the guarantor countries. Government troops and rebel fighters must stop using all kinds of weaponry, including aircraft. - Only Idlib remains - However, since the start of this year, government forces backed by Russia and allied militia have reconquered three of the zones, largely through heavy bombardments that ended with rebel surrenders. Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold outside the capital, was retaken in April after a two-month offensive. The regime then retook parts of the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra. Of the four de-escalation zones, only the northwestern province of Idlib remains. The last rebel stronghold, it has been the destination for thousands of rebel fighters and civilians evacuated from other areas. - Many summits, little progress - The summit in Tehran on Friday between Iran's Hassan Rouhani, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be the third between the sponsors of the Astana peace process. Putin hosted his counterparts in November 2017 and at a peace congress in January 2018 in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, which resulted only in good intentions. In April 2018, Putin, Rouhani and Erdogan met in Ankara, where they agreed to pool forces to achieve a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria. Angry users have attacked Didi and called for a boycott Chinese authorities launched a security audit of ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing on Wednesday following a public outcry over the rape and murder of a passenger last month, the transport ministry said. Officials from 10 different government departments, including the public security ministry and the market regulator, will be stationed at Didi for a fortnight, the transport ministry said in a statement. The company has been slammed by passengers and the transport ministry after a 20-year-old passenger was raped and murdered by her driver in the eastern city of Wenzhou last month, the second such killing this year. "This inspection will examine all web-based ride hailing websites and ride-sharing platforms, its hidden dangers and its impact on the safety of passengers," the ministry said, adding that its recent problems are being taken "very seriously by the central leadership". Other major market players including the Tencent-backed Meituan-Dianping online services platform will also come under scrutiny. Angry users last month attacked Didi and called for a boycott after it emerged that the company failed to act on a complaint about the same driver just a day before the recent murder. The incident, which came barely three months after the previous killing, was a top news item for days in China, with many calling for tougher regulation in the industry. Didi said Tuesday that it will roll out a series of new safety measures and suspend most late-night ride services for a week beginning Saturday. New measures include a "safety knowledge test" which drivers must pass every day before driving, upgrades to a police call button and experiments with sound recording of the entire ride. Didi will also expand its in-house customer service team to 8,000 members by the end of the year. The Hitch service, which links up commuters travelling in the same direction, has been suspended after both murders targeted customers using the service. Didi Chuxing -- which muscled Uber out of China in 2016 after a bruising battle -- says it has 30 million drivers and more than 550 million users across its various services. A Yemeni girl holds a portrait of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital Sanaa on August 24, 2017 Yemen's government will demand the release of the body of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, killed by rebels last year, at upcoming peace talks in Geneva, a minister said Wednesday. Saleh, for decades the most powerful politician in troubled Yemen, had sided with the Huthi rebels for three years before shifting alliances in the country's armed conflict. He was killed by the rebels in December. President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi will demand the rebels release Saleh's body via a government delegation at the UN-sponsored talks in Geneva, which open Thursday, according to Yemen's information minister. "This is an important message that all within [Saleh's] General People's Congress should take into consideration to turn the page of the past and move forward towards the future to restore the state," tweeted Moammer al-Eryan. Saleh founded the General People's Congress in the 1980s and while his death has significantly weakened the group, it is still a useful ally for Yemeni parties seeking broader national appeal. Eryan said the government will also demand the release of Saleh's sons, believed to be detained by the rebels. Mass protests forced Saleh to leave power in 2012, but he remained a key player in the chaos that followed. For decades sworn enemies, the Huthis and Saleh formed an uneasy alliance in 2014 to jointly drive the Hadi government from Yemen's capital Sanaa. In 2017, Saleh made overtures to Saudi Arabia and its allies in a pro-government regional alliance, sparking violent clashes between his supporters and the rebels which culminated in his death. The Huthis now control Sanaa unchallenged. According to one of his relatives, Saleh was buried in his village outside of Sanaa in a funeral attended by 20 people under the strict watch of the Huthis. Supported by the Saudi-led coalition, the Hadi government has battled the Iran-backed Huthis for more than three years in what is widely seen as a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran. Both the government and rebels have said they do not expect any breakthrough at the Geneva talks this month, the first since UN-backed negotiations broke down in 2016. Yemen's foreign minister has ruled out face-to-face meetings between the delegations. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict, 2,200 of them children. Steve Bannon describes Donald Trump as superstitious and naive America is heading for a revolution which will "cut like a scythe through grass", Donald Trump's former chief advisor Steve Bannon predicts in a revealing new film. The man credited with putting Trump in the White House warns in a documentary which premiered at the Venice film festival Wednesday that "if you don't allow for some way to spread the wealth, there will be a revolution in this country." "We are going to have another financial crisis -- anyone who is smart sees it's coming," Bannon told Errol Morris in a series of long interviews for "American Dharma". The film was shown in Venice as critics reeled from "22 July", a harrowing reconstruction of the 2011 attacks in Norway carried out by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik in which 77 people were slaughtered. "I believe you need radical restructuring," Bannon declared. "It can't be a pillow fight. You need killers to get change. "That is why Trump is president," he told Morris, who won an Oscar for his confessional film "The Fog of War" about the architect of the Vietnam war, Robert McNamara. "It was clear as daylight that someone like Trump was coming," Bannon added. The political strategist claimed a "superstitious" Trump was heading for a crushing defeat in the 2016 election when he took the reins of the campaign. - Black arts and "jujutsu" - He admitted he relied on some PR "jujutsu" to rescue Trump after the leak of his "grab them by the pussy" remarks to Billy Bush threatened to sink the campaign. This included bringing women who had accused Bill Clinton of rape and sexual impropriety to a crucial television debate. But Bannon refused to say whether he had a hand in the WikiLeaks dump of Hillary Clinton's emails minutes after the so-called "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump's remarks was released. Director Errol Morris says Steve Bannon embraced being compared to Satan The former head of right-wing news website Breitbart, in Venice for the film premiere, said he didn't know Trump before the campaign, but saw his potential. Bannon said he had simplified the campaign to a series of populist slogans: "Build the wall" (with Mexico), destroy the Islamic State, confront China and "get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan". He had urged the president to "drop the hammer" as soon as he got into office with a flurry of executive orders including the hugely divisive "Muslim ban". "If you hit the media with five things at a time, three will go through. They can only handle so much," Bannon said. - Told Trump not to sack Comey - He revealed that Trump could be naive -- "he thought the New York Times would wish him well when he won" -- and said the president fired FBI chief James Comey against his advice. "Sacking Comey was a mistake. The institution of the FBI is going to bleed you out after that." Trump was not corrupt, Bannon insisted. The multiple financial scandals he has been embroiled in "is just the real estate business". But the former Goldman Sachs financier said he won the election for the billionaire property tycoon by portraying Clinton as "the head of a corrupt, creaking elite and Trump the agent of change like Obama." After Trump's election, Bannon said, he was "just another advisor in the White House (but one) with a big bark." - Modern 'serfs' - Bannon admitted he is a product of the same "scientific-engineering-management-financial elite" he blames for bleeding the American "common man" of hope and jobs. But he was now "on a mission to turn the Republican Party into a workers' party. You may have better food and clothing than an 18th-century Russian serf, but you are the same. They have you hung up on credit card debt... and their algorithms control your life." Bannon said he was helping what he called the "patriotic right" in Europe, while insisting that "Neo-Nazis are an invention of the oppositional... left-wing media." He is not bitter about being sacked by Trump in August 2017 in the fall-out from protests over a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the political operator insisted. "I didnt take it personally," he said. "It was the order of things" -- part of his belief in dharma, the Hindu concept of duty and destiny that order the Universe. Morris faced hostile questioning for some journalists accusing him of "falling into Bannon's trap... and giving him a platform". But the director pointed out that in the documentary, Bannon accepts being compared to Lucifer in Milton's poem "Paradise Lost". "I have never interviewed anyone who willingly embraced the idea that they might be Satan, but he loved the idea, and finished the quotation, 'Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.'" Morris told AFP that Bannon had seen and "liked the film. It is possibly not my best review." A Syrian boy holds an oxygen mask over the face of an infant at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta town of Douma outside Damascus on January 22, 2018 after a reported gas attack Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, belligerents -- in particular the regime of President Bashar al-Assad -- have been accused on numerous occasions of using chemical weapons. As the United States warns of retaliation should toxic weapons be used in a looming offensive on the last rebel-held province of Idlib, here is a look back over previous incidents. - Sarin gas - In August 2013, regime forces carry out attacks in Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiyet al-Sham, rebel-held areas outside Damascus. The opposition accuses the regime of using toxic gas in the attacks which kill around 1,400 people, including more than 400 children. The government -- which acknowledged in 2012 that it had chemical weapons -- denies the allegations. Doctors Without Borders says 355 of the dead had "neurotoxic" symptoms. Despite insisting the use of chemical weapons was a red line, then US president Barack Obama held back on retaliatory strikes instead striking a deal with Russia on the dismantlement of Syria's chemical arsenal under UN supervision. In mid-September, a UN report says there is clear evidence sarin gas was used. - Chlorine, mustard gas - A joint commission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) finds in August 2016 that regime helicopters dropped chlorine-packed barrel bombs on two villages in Idlib province in 2014 and 2015. In January 2016, the OPCW reported that the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal had been completed but that did not include chlorine which has legitimate civilian uses too. The commission accuses the Islamic State jihadist group of using mustard gas in August 2015 in the rebel stronghold of Marea in Aleppo province. In October, it says the Syrian army carried out a chlorine attack at Qmenas in Idlib in March 2015. - Idlib claims, retaliatory strikes - Warplanes strike the rebel-held Idlib town of Khan Sheikhun in April 2017, with medical sources reporting afterwards that they had treated patients suffering from symptoms consistent with a chemical attack. The UN puts the death toll at 83. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counts 87. In retaliation, US President Donald Trump unleashes Tomahawk missiles against the regime's Shayrat airbase. UN and OPCW investigators confirm that sarin gas was used and say the Damascus regime is responsible. It denies involvement. - Damascus accused again - In January, the Observatory says the regime is suspected of having used chemical weapons in two incidents in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus that month, with people reporting breathing difficulties. On February 4, it says 11 people were treated for "suffocation" after regime air strikes on the Idlib province town of Saraqeb. The OPCW confirms in May, after a fact-finding mission, that chlorine was released during the attack. On February 25, a child dies and at least 13 people suffer breathing difficulties after another suspected chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta. A medic describes a "chlorine odour". On March 7, the Observatory says at least 60 people suffered breathing difficulties in two areas of Eastern Ghouta after regime air strikes. - New claims in Douma - On April 7, the White Helmets, who act as first responders in rebel-held areas of Syria, allege that regime forces used chlorine gas in Douma. They report more than 40 deaths and 500 cases of people with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent. The Observatory does not confirm a chemical attack but reports 70 people suffering breathing difficulties, with 11 dying. In response, Britain, France and the United States unleash a barrage of guided missiles on three suspected regime chemical weapons facilities. In July, the OPCW says it found no evidence of the use of nerve gas but chlorine may have been used. A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Khmeimim military base in Latakia province, in the northwest of Syria on May 4, 2016 The Russian military on Wednesday confirmed air strikes were carried out on Syria's last major rebel stronghold Idlib with warplanes targeting the "terrorist" Al-Nusra Front on Tuesday. "Four planes of the Russian group at the Khmeimim airbase inflicted strikes by high-precision weapons on objects of the Al-Nusra Front terrorist group in the Idlib province," the Russian military's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. He said the strikes were conducted on September 4 "during the dark time of day," without specifying if it was early morning or night time. "The strike was conducted on terrorist stockpiles located outside residential areas, where unmanned aerial vehicles were stored, Konashenkov said. A warehouse which stored portable air-defence systems and drone launch zones for attacks on Russia's Khmeimim airbase and towns in provinces Aleppo and Hama were also targeted, he added. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that at least nine civilians, including five children from the same family, were killed in the Russian raids, while 10 more people were wounded. Mattis: 'zero evidence' of planned chemical attacks by Syrian rebels The Pentagon has seen "zero" evidence to suggest that opposition groups in Syria's Idlib province could use chemical weapons, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday, despite Russian claims to the contrary. Speaking to reporters as he headed for talks in New Delhi on Thursday, Mattis rebuffed suggestions that the US may facilitate a chemical attack, then blame Russia and the Syrian regime and use this as a pretext for air strikes. The US military has already twice conducted strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime following two alleged chemical weapons attacks, most recently in mid-April with French and British help. "We have zero intelligence that shows the opposition has any chemical capability," Mattis said. "We have made very clear that by putting out innuendo that somehow any chemical weapon use coming up in the future could be ascribed to the opposition, well ... we cannot see anything that indicates the opposition has that capability." Among the Russian reports, the Sputnik state news outlet said the Russian defence ministry claimed militants from the Tahrir al-Sham group were getting reading to stage a "provocation" and had kidnapped 44 children for use in a "false-flag" attack. Mattis would not say if the Pentagon was seeing any signs the Syrian regime might be preparing to use chemical weapons in Idlib. "I would prefer not to answer that right now," he said. "We are very alert." On Monday President Donald Trump warned Assad against "recklessly" attacking Idlib. Seized from government forces in 2015, Idlib and adjacent areas form the last major chunk of territory still in rebel hands. The Syrian military has been deploying reinforcements to the zone for more than a month. Russia, which on Tuesday conducted air strikes in the region, has stepped up its war rhetoric ahead of an anticipated government offensive. Mattis on Thursday is meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Delhi for talks with their Indian counterparts on a range of defence and trade issues. Syrian rebel fighters from the recently-formed "National Liberation Front" rest in the northern countryside of Idlib province on September 5, 2018 International calls mounted Wednesday to avoid a "massacre" by regime forces in Syria's last rebel-held province of Idlib, two days before a summit between key powers backing the government and opposition. The United Nations says nearly three million people live in Idlib and global concern has risen in recent days over a threatened regime assault to oust rebels and jihadists from the northwestern province and surrounding areas. US President Donald Trump warned "the world is watching" as Syrian troops mass on the edges of the province that borders Turkey, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster. "That cannot be a slaughter. If it's a slaughter, the world is going to be very, very angry. And the United States is going to be very angry, too," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met the emir of Kuwait. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Damascus against launching a battle to retake Idlib, the last major chunk of Syria still in opposition hands. "God forbid, a serious massacre could take place if there is a rain of missiles there," said Erdogan, whose country has supported Syrian rebels. He spoke two days before he is set to meet the presidents of regime backers Iran and Russia in Tehran to discuss the future of the province. Idlib: risk of a humanitarian crisis On Tuesday, the UN peace envoy for Syria urged Erdogan and Russia's President Vladimir Putin to speak on the phone before Friday's summit. Staffan de Mistura called for efforts "to avoid that the last probably major battle of the Syrian territorial conflict... ends in a bloodbath". - 'Human tragedy' - More than half of Idlib is controlled by jihadists from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), while much of the rest is held by rebels backed by Turkey. The regime holds a small southeastern sliver. The United Nations and aid groups have warned a military campaign could spark one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in a war that has already killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions. Syrians at a camp for displaced people in Idlib province on September 5, 2018 Many of those living in Idlib are rebels and civilians who were bussed out of their hometowns in other parts of the country that have come back under regime control. Turkey, Russia and Iran last year designated Idlib a so-called "de-escalation zone", but that deal did not cover former Al-Qaeda affiliate HTS. On Tuesday, Russian warplanes resumed air strikes on Idlib after a 22-day pause. Air raids across the province killed at least 13 civilians, including six children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said. Moscow said four of its jets "inflicted strikes by high-precision weapons" on targets belonging to HTS. On Wednesday, regime artillery and rocket fire targeted several areas in the province including the HTS-held town of Jisr al-Shughur, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. President Bashar al-Assad's regime has retaken large swathes of the country from rebels and jihadists since Russia intervened militarily on its side in 2015. - 'Terrorist remnants' - Moscow has accused armed groups in Idlib of sending weaponised drones to attack the Hmeimim airbase that it uses in the adjacent province of Latakia. On Wednesday, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Idlib was the "subject of increased concern and worry" and the focus of a flurry of diplomacy. Just a day earlier, Peskov had slammed Idlib as a "pocket of terrorism". Friday's summit in Tehran between Erdogan, Putin and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is expected to determine the scope and timing of any assault on Idlib. Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov described the meeting as "very important". "National Liberation Front" rebel fighters in the northern countryside of Idlib province on September 5, 2018 "The leaders will in particular focus on the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, where terrorist remnants are concentrated", he said, in particular referring to HTS. A UN Security Council meeting is also set to be held the same day to discuss Idlib, US ambassador Haley has said. She warned against the use of any chemical weapons in Idlib, after the White House pledged to "respond swiftly and appropriately" to any such attack. US defence chief Jim Mattis later dismissed reports fighters inside Idlib may hold such weapons. "We have zero intelligence that shows the opposition has any chemical capability," he told reporters on Wednesday. Samah Hadid of Amnesty International tweeted that "the lives of millions of people in Idlib, Syria are now in the hands of Russia, Turkey and Iran" which have the power to protect them. Since 2011, Assad's regime has repeatedly been accused of using chemical weapons, including this year in its battle to retake the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. Rescue workers accused regime forces of killing more than 40 people with "poisonous chlorine gas" in the town of Douma in April. The United States, France and Britain carried out punitive strikes in response. Zalmay Khalilzad has decades of foreign policy experience, especially in Afghanistan where he will now attempt to broker peace Zalmay Khalilzad, the veteran US diplomat tasked with leading efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, is a blunt negotiator with a history of hawkish foreign policy views. Known by many in Washington as "King Zal", the 67-year-old Khalilzad has decades of experience in the region. Now he has what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Tuesday as a "singular" mission to get the Taliban and the Afghan government to reconcile. This mission marks Khalilzad's return to focus on the country of his birth and childhood, and the place where he served as US ambassador from 2003-2005 under President George W. Bush, helping to guide regime change in the messy aftermath of the fall of the Taliban. He was instrumental in setting up the government structure in Afghanistan and guiding President Hamid Karzai through the first elections in 2005. Fluent in Pashto and Dari, Khalilzad's experience as a foreign policy operative in the country dates back to the 1980s, when he served as an adviser to the Reagan administration. He spent most of the 1990s in the private sector, but returned to public service when Bush appointed him to the National Security Council with an Afghanistan brief. After the Kabul posting the Bush administration appointed Khalilzad -- who is also an accomplished arabophone -- as ambassador to Baghdad in 2005, despite Karzai reportedly pleading with the US president not to transfer him. Unlike his smooth stint in Afghanistan, where he cut deals with tribal chiefs and warlords, Khalilzad's Iraq mission was rocky. He knew the Iraqi political terrain well, having served as Bush's envoy to the "free Iraqis" before the 2003 US invasion, and helped draw up the country's new constitution after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. But he failed to accomplish a task similar to the one he now faces in Afghanistan: getting Iraq's warring factions to reconcile, and defusing the terrorist core of Sunni Muslim resistance. Khalilzad was allied with Bush administration hawks like Vice President Dick Cheney and John Bolton, whom he replaced as Washington's UN envoy in 2007. He held the position until 2009. He later criticised President Barack Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan, especially the decision to draw down US troops. - Key player - Khalilzad has also been a fierce critic of Pakistan and like many American officials has accused it of playing a "double game" by supporting militant groups in Afghanistan despite being a US ally. That has won him few friends over the years in Islamabad, which has denied the allegations, and whose support Pompeo said Tuesday was needed for the reconciliation effort in Afghanistan. Khalilzad was the introductory speaker for then-candidate Donald Trump's first major foreign policy speech in April 2016. He later told India's The Hindu newspaper that Trump's "America First" policy was not about isolationism, but "the universality of American values". Now Khalilzad is a key player in the Republican president's efforts to extricate the US from the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan. Born in 1951 in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Khalilzad attended the American University of Beirut before earning a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1979. He taught at Columbia University from 1979 to 1986, and has over the years also held key positions at prominent US think tanks, including the RAND Corporation. Before his stints as ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the UN, he also served in various capacities in the State Department, the Pentagon and the National Security Council. Khalilzad also once worked with US oil giant Unocal and runs a business advisory firm called Gryphon Partners. In 2014, Austrian authorities briefly froze bank accounts belonging to his wife during an investigation into money he transferred from the US. Khalilzad denied any wrongdoing. Demonstrators protest outside court in Chicago as the murder trial begins for police officer Jason Van Dyke over the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald The trial of a white Chicago cop over the fatal shooting of a black teenager began Wednesday as protesters accused authorities of a "cover up" in a case that has set America's third-largest city on edge. Police officer Jason Van Dyke faces murder charges for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in an October 2014 confrontation. The incident, captured on police dash-cam video, has upended the city's politics with fears of violence if the officer is acquitted. Outside the courthouse, dozens of protesters decried police shootings and demanded accountability, chanting: "Sixteen shots and a cover up." "We're here to find out what they're going to do. We are tired of them making excuses for people who are killing human beings," Mary Johnson, 85, told AFP. "The message today is that we have to quit covering up what officers are doing wrong," added Charles Edward Perry, a 52-year-old father of six. The police video shows Van Dyke firing bullets into the knife-wielding teen, who appeared to have been walking away from officers. The officer continues to fire after the teen collapses to the ground. None of the other officers at the scene fired their weapons. "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 told the Chicago Tribune in an interview last week. McDonald's family, in rare public comments, has urged people to remain peaceful ahead of the trial. A contingent of around 20 relatives gathered in court for the first day of proceedings, along with many of Van Dyke's supporters. "Laquan McDonald was the victim and we are here because he cannot speak," family spokesman Marvin Hunter told reporters. "Jason Van Dyke did not give him his day in court. He acted as judge, jury and executioner." Judge Vincent Gaughan instructed an initial pool of 200 potential jurors, who packed the courtroom and were given questionnaires to fill out. They are due to return next week as the pool is narrowed to a jury of 12. The judge read all 23 charges against Van Dyke. He faces six first-degree murder counts, one of official misconduct and 16 charges of aggravated battery with a firearm -- one for each bullet that struck McDonald. - 'We want a conviction' - Demonstrators protest outside court in Chicago on September 5, 2018 as the murder trial begins for police officer Jason Van Dyke over the fatal shooting of black teen Laquan McDonald The police video of the shooting, which was recorded from a distance and has no audio, was initially withheld from the public for a year, until a judge compelled its release. Van Dyke was charged on the day the footage was made public. The resulting political fallout claimed the jobs of the city's police chief and lead prosecutor. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, once a star of the Democratic party, announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election, after years of unrelenting calls to resign amid accusations of an attempted cover-up. Ja'Mal Green, a member of the "Black Lives Matter" activist movement and a mayoral candidate, told AFP Emanuel's decision would not calm infuriated locals. "We're in a situation where we want a conviction," he said, predicting that if Van Dyke were acquitted, "you'll see thousands of people take to the streets." Several other police officers connected to the case face criminal charges or have been recommended for firing -- all accused of making false statements or impeding the investigation into the shooting. - Shooting 'not surprising' - Demonstrators prepare to enter court in Chicago on September 5, 2018 as the murder trial begins for Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke over the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald "It's not surprising to (black youth) that an officer would shoot and kill a young black man," said Chaclyn Hunt, who runs a community organization supporting black youngsters in Chicago. "They spend time in neighborhoods where police operate with complete impunity." The trial will test the justice system's ability to wrest a conviction in a high-profile police shooting case. A series of such incidents around the country, publicized by smartphone and police video, have given rise to "Black Lives Matter." But prosecutions, let alone guilty verdicts, have proven rare. Last week a Texas jury sentenced a white police officer to 15 years in prison for the shooting death of a black teen. Roy Oliver fired five bullets into a car full of teens last year, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Tuesday attended a China-Africa meeting on HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Beijing. Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, attends China-Africa meeting on AIDS control in Beijing on September 4 2018. [Photo:Xinhua] Peng, together with 37 spouses of African heads of state and government, launched an initiative at the meeting for joint efforts by China and Africa to combat HIV/AIDS. Making concerted efforts against HIV/AIDS has become a global consensus, and cooperation between China and Africa in this regard has been effective, said Peng, who also reviewed her work as the World Health Organization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. She said the on-going Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has provided new opportunities for deepening China-Africa cooperation on HIV/AIDS control. China, African countries and relevant international organizations will begin implementing in 2019 a three-year project on HIV/AIDS prevention among adolescents and health promotion at community level, Peng said. At the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Michel Sidibe, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, made positive comments on China-Africa cooperation on combating HIV/AIDS and highly commended Peng's outstanding contributions to raising awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and caring for AIDS patients. China has been actively supporting African countries in combating HIV/AIDS, sending medical teams to more than 40 African countries and providing them with free medicine, medical equipment and supplies. Iranian rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh with her husband Reza Khandan in Tehran on September 18, 2013 The husband of the imprisoned award-winning Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has been arrested, their lawyer told AFP on Wednesday. "Reza Khandan was arrested on Tuesday morning at his home in Tehran by agents of Iran's intelligence ministry", their lawyer Mohammad Moghimi said. He was transferred to Evin prison in northern Tehran where a judge charged him with conspiring against national security, propaganda against the system and campaigning against Iran's Islamic dress code. The last charge was based on the fact that badges were found in the family's home, saying "No to compulsory hijab", the lawyer said. Khandan's wife is one of Iran's most famed rights activists and won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights award in 2012. Earlier this year, Sotoudeh took on the cases of several women arrested for standing in public areas without their headscarves, which have been mandatory in Iran since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979. She was arrested in June and told she had already been found guilty "in absentia" on spying charges by Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Her legal team said she is now serving a six-year jail term, one year longer than previously reported. She began a hunger strike on August 25 in protest at the pressure brought on her family. Khandan's bail was set at 7 billion rials (roughly $50,000 at current rates), which Moghimi called "legally unacceptable". Khandan and Sotoudeh's 18-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were home at the time of the arrest and are now being cared for by their aunt, he added. Moghimi said that Khandan's charge of propaganda against the state was due to his interviews with international media on his wife's imprisonment and ongoing cases. Human Rights Watch said Iran had "ramped up their crackdown against human rights defenders". "Iranian authorities continue to dig a hole for their domestic and international credibility as they lock up scores of lawyers and activists for the 'crime' of defending citizens' fundamental rights," said the NGO's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. One of Sotoudeh's lawyers, Payam Derafshan, was himself arrested last week along with colleague Farokh Forouzan, according to a Facebook post by another human rights lawyer. An Indian supporter of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community takes part in a pride parade in Bhopal in July: the supreme court is about to pass judgement on laws outlawing homosexuality India's Supreme Court is likely on Thursday to deliver an eagerly awaited judgement on colonial-era legislation criminalising homosexuality, lawyers said. Section 377 of the Indian penal code, a relic from 1860s British legislation, bans gay acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" punishable by jail terms of up to life. The top court began hearing petitions against the ban in July, beginning an emotional debate in the world's largest democracy over the right to freedom and privacy. Tripti Tandon, a lawyer for one of the petitioners in the case, confirmed to AFP the judgement was listed for Thursday. Her client Aris Jafer was arrested and sent to prison for 50 days in 2001. "We have high hopes from the Supreme Court," said Rituparna Borah, a co-director of Nazaria, which describes itself as a queer feminist advocacy group. India has quietly made some strides in sexual rights "This law should not have been there in the first place. This should have gone long back. We are asking for our basic human rights, nothing more," she told AFP. Utsav Maheshwari, a 20-year-old gay college student, said he was "super excited" and hoping the "court will legitimise the community by acknowledging their existence". The Delhi High Court effectively decriminalised gay sex in 2009, but the Supreme Court reinstated legal sanctions in 2014 after a successful appeal by religious groups. Gay sex has long been taboo in conservative India -- particularly in rural areas where nearly 70 percent of people live -- and homophobia is widespread. Some still regard homosexuality as a mental illness. According to official data, 2,187 cases under Section 377 were registered in 2016 under the category of "unnatural offences". Seven people were convicted and 16 acquitted. Section 377 "is a law that propagates homophobia", said Keshav Suri, one of the petitioners, who has used his family's luxury hotel chain to promote gay rights by improving conditions for staff. "In rural areas it is a harassment tool, used by cops, used by authorities for extortion for glorifying rape and molestation," said Suri. A transgender man was killed in Hyderabad in June by a mob who accused him of being a child kidnapper. - Suicide note - A lesbian couple committed suicide in Gujarat the same month, leaving a note stating: "We are leaving this world to live with each other. The world did not allow us to stay together." About a third of lesbian women have reported physical abuse including rape by their own relatives, according to a recent survey. Choreographer Mandeep Raikhy has used his dance troupe to highlight the experiences of gays "Because of this law, there are a lot of people in the LGBT community outside of India who are afraid to travel to India because of this sense of paranoia that they might get arrested," said Suri. Many Indian professionals have moved to Canada and Europe where gays are more accepted, he added. Section 377 has been at the centre of court battles in India since 2001. In 2009, the Delhi high court ruled that it breached the constitution, bringing long-sought relief to the LGBT community until the Supreme Court quashed the decision in 2014. Indian choreographer Navtej Johar launched a new petition in 2016 which was joined by Suri and others. Religious groups of all kinds fiercely oppose ending Section 377. Government lawyers have however said they will leave it up to the "wisdom" of the court to decide on Thursday. And India has quietly made some strides in sexual rights. A transgender judge, Joyita Mondal Mahi, presides over courts in West Bengal state, Indian passports now state whether a holder is "male", "female" or "other" and the city of Raigarh, with 139,000 people, has a transgender mayor. "Gay sex is criminalised here, but at another level, there is an intrinsic acceptance of difference," said New Delhi choreographer Mandeep Raikhy who has used his dance troupe to highlight the experiences of gays even at the risk of making audiences feel "uncomfortable". Former students from the elite Indian Institute of Technology have also joined the battle against Section 377 while other professionals such as doctors have felt more emboldened to come out. Suri said the Indian economy could make "billions" from pink tourism and investment if it lifted the ban on gay sex. But he and others see marriage between two men or two women as the ultimate prize and ending Section 377 as only part of the struggle. Deficits with China and the European Union -- two of President Donald Trump's favorite trade villains -- hit all-time highs, contrary to the stated goals of his trade confrontations The US trade deficit surged in July on record imports that created burgeoning gaps with trading partners in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's aggressive policies, according to government data released Wednesday. With US goods facing retaliatory tariffs in many countries, exports dropped sharply that month, the Commerce Department reported, pushing the trade deficit with China to an all-time high. In addition to subtracting from growth, the high deficit could rekindle Trump's ever-present ire about how the United States is treated by its trading partners, and prompt him to unleash steep tariffs on a massive amount of Chinese goods this week. "This report brings a record trade gap with China ... which is unlikely to soften the US stance on tariffs," RDQ Economics said in a research note. The US trade gap with the European Union also hit a record, coming just days before US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is due to meet his EU counterpart Cecilia Malstrom in Brussels on Monday to try to defuse the dispute between the two major economies that have exchanged tariffs on billions of dollars in goods. The deficit with Canada also widened, according to the report released shortly before Washington and Ottawa were due to resume talks aimed at salvaging the North American Free Trade Agreement as a three-nation pact with Mexico. The difference between total US imports and exports of goods and services jumped more than $4 billion, an increase of 9.5 percent, to $50.1 billion -- just a few hundred million shy of the consensus forecast among economists. It was the second consecutive month that saw the deficit widen, following the surge of exports in May amid a flurry of buying to outrun tariffs imposed in US markets abroad. The figures do not bode well for growth in the second quarter, although other economic indicators point to healthy demand and expanding GDP. It was also a month of multiple records in the trade data: imports of goods and services were the highest ever, as were service exports. - Record gaps - The widening deficits are contrary to the stated goals of Trump's multifront trade confrontations. The US president has imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum from key trading partners, as well as punitive duties on $50 billion in annual imports from China, with the possibility that another $200 billion will be targeted as soon as this week. And other factors are working against his goal of reducing the US trade deficit, which he has said he views as stealing from the American economy. With the Federal Reserve gradually raising interest rate, the US dollar has strengthened, making US goods more expensive; and the massive corporate tax cuts from last year tend to boost investment which means higher spending on equipment. RDQ Economics said "the US cannot enjoy an investment spending boom without installing a significant amount of capital equipment and ... this means a surge in capital goods imports." US imports in July rose 0.9 percent to $261.2 billion, the highest ever, including record purchases of both goods and services. Exports fell one percent to $211.1 billion, including record shipments of industrial supplies and petroleum, while sales of soybeans -- subject to Chinese retaliatory tariffs -- dropped by $700 million. Imports of petroleum hit the highest level in four years at $23.6 billion, on the highest price in four years of an average $64.63 a barrel. Exports and imports of autos both rose, but the volatile aircraft category dropped $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, the trade gap with China jumped to a record $36.8 billion, not seasonally adjusted; the deficit with the EU hit a record $17.6 billion; and the deficit with Canada jumped by $1 billion to $3.1 billion. In contrast, the deficit with Mexico narrowed to $5.5 billion, a nearly $2 billion decline -- although the total is up for the first seven months of the year. Markus Jooste said he was "not aware of any accounting irregularities" at Steinhoff The former chief executive of South African retail giant Steinhoff told lawmakers Wednesday he had no knowledge of accounting irregularities that caused the company to lose 95 percent of its market value. Markus Jooste, who had not been seen in public since resigning in December as the scandal broke, appeared in front of a parliamentary committee after fighting a legal battle to try to avoid questioning. "When I left Steinhoff... I was not aware of any accounting irregularities at the company," he told lawmakers in Cape Town. Steinhoff's businesses include British high street discounter Poundland, France's Ligue 1 sponsor Conforama and Pep Africa, which runs the continent's largest clothing factory. "I was not aware of anyone that acted deliberately or knowingly in violation of Steinhoff's code of conduct," Jooste added. Amid widespread public and political anger at the company's near-bankruptcy, Jooste added that the impact of Steinhoff's massive losses on pensioners and investors "saddens" him -- but declined to apologise. Dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, a calm Jooste told the parliamentary committee that his strategic business relationship with the German Seiffert Group from 2007 was a "big mistake". He had felt the company's decision to draft in accountants Deloitte to probe financial issues would "take too long to complete" which led to uncertainty and hampered the firm's ability to file accounts. That ultimately led to the share price plunge. - 'Biggest corporate scandal' - Jooste said his clash with auditors led to his departure from the company in December 2007. Frustrated lawmakers repeatedly pressed Jooste about his personal role in the scandal, saying they did not "buy" his story. Chairman of the parliamentary finance committee Yunus Carrim said Jooste was effectively incriminating himself by not clarifying what part he played in "the biggest corporate scandal" to hit South Africa. But Jooste robustly defended his actions and said that he had no information about the company after he left in December, when his 29 years at the company abruptly ended. He had helped build Steinhoff into one of South Africa's most successful firms, attracting investors impressed by its sprawling, consumer-focused empire with outposts in 30 countries. But at the end of last year Steinhoff revealed it was facing criminal and tax investigations, with a reported six-billion-euro ($7-billion) hole in its accounts. Jooste reassured MPs that although he suffered a $190 million loss, he had never syphoned money out of the country. "Losing money played no role in my decision to leave," he said. Committee member Themba Godi said the three Steinhoff executives so far grilled by parliament had given three different accounts of the collapse. He said that Steinhoff's former chairman Christo Wiese had described the collapse as a shock "like thunder out of the blue", while former finance chief Ben La Grange said Jooste "did not fully share information with him." "Now Mr Jooste today says the collapse of the share price was purely as a result of uncertainty," said Godi. South African police are investigating Jooste over alleged fraud while accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers are still unpicking Steinhoff's accounts. CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington Twitter does not operate on the basis of "political ideology," chief executive Jack Dorsey said Wednesday, rejecting claims of bias against conservatives. "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules," Dorsey said in prepared remarks to a congressional hearing with US technology giants. "We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially." Dorsey's comments come days after President Donald Trump accused technology firms of "censorship" and suppressing conservative voices. The statement from Dorsey released by a House panel covered questions about foreign influence operations on social media as well as accusations of political bias. He said Twitter is committed to rooting out abusive activity and "hostile foreign influence." "The purpose of Twitter is to serve the public conversation, and we do not make value judgments on personal beliefs," Dorsey said in his remarks. Senator Mark Warner told the hearing that social media firms "were caught flat-footed by the brazen attacks on our election" and questioned whether Silicon Valley is capable of confronting the problem of foreign influence. "I'm skeptical that, ultimately, you'll be able to truly address this challenge on your own," he told the hearing with Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. "Congress is going to have to take action here." Google rejected requests to send its CEO Sundar Pichai or parent firm Alphabet chief Larry Page, but offered a writted statement from its chief legal officer Kent Walker. Huthi supporters demonstrate in the Yemeni rebels' stronghold Saada on September 5, 2018 against an August air strike by the Saudi-led coalition which left 51 people dead Yemen's Huthi rebels said Wednesday they were stranded in the capital Sanaa on the eve of United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Geneva with their government rivals. The Huthis said the UN had been unable to "secure authorisation" from a Saudi-led coalition backing the government for a plane to transport the rebel delegation and wounded insurgents out of the country, according to the Huthis' Al-Masirah TV. While the Huthis control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, the coalition controls the country's airspace. The Huthis, who are linked to Saudi Arabia's arch-nemesis Iran, have hinted that their delegation demanded the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman for medical treatment as a condition for their attendance at the talks. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeted on Tuesday that the UN had "made promises on facilitating the transport of the wounded... abroad" and accused the world body of stalling. In 2014, the Huthis seized Sanaa, driving the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi into exile and marking a major turning point in Yemen's long-running conflict. The following year, Saudi Arabia and its allies formed a powerful regional military coalition to back the Hadi government in its fight against the Huthis. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the war, pushing the impoverished country to the brink of famine. The last round of peace talks between the Huthis and government collapsed in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing agreement. The Huthi delegation to Kuwait was grounded in Oman for three months on its way back to Yemen, blocked from travel by the Saudi-led coalition. Nigeria's All Progressives Congress (APC) of the eventual election winner Muhammadu Buhari asked for 27.5 million naira just to stand in the party's presidential primary in 2015 Nigeria's two main political parties are asking election hopefuls to pay huge fees for the chance to stand at next year's general election, in a move criticised as favouring the rich and well-connected. At the last nationwide vote in 2015, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of then-president Goodluck Jonathan charged 22 million naira per nomination form. The All Progressives Congress (APC) of the eventual winner Muhammadu Buhari asked for 27.5 million naira just to stand in the party's presidential primary. Now, as both parties prepare for polling in February next year, the APC wants an eye-watering 45 million naira ($125,500, 108,000 euros) per presidential primary candidate, according to newspaper adverts on Wednesday. Individuals wanting to be selected to run for a governorship post have to pay 22.5 million naira, up from 10 million naira last time round. The PDP has reduced the cost of its presidential candidate forms to 12 million naira and the selection for a tilt at a governorship from 11 million naira to six million naira. But both are still significant sums in a country of more than 180 million where some 87 million live in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock. The APC has offered a half-price discount for women and the disabled, while the PDP has made forms free for female candidates, in a move designed to widen representation. - Political patronage - Nigeria is not alone in imposing high election fees. Lawmakers in neighbouring Benin this week voted to increase the deposit for presidential candidates to 250 million CFA francs ($441,000, 380,000 euros). The country of 11 million people has more than 200 political parties and the increase has been seen as a way of reducing the numbers. In Nigeria, the Not Too Young to Run group, which successfully campaigned for a reduction in the lower age limit for elected representatives, said the fees were still "exorbitant" and would disqualify potential candidates. It claimed the main parties had reneged on a promise to cap the cost of nomination forms for all elected posts. Kassim Afegbua, former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida's spokesman, wrote in the New Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday that the process should be more affordable. Debo Adeniran, of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership lobby group, said the high costs was an example of how the two main parties had "monetised the political environment". The system favoured the wealthy and fostered cronyism and corruption, as sponsors who often pay for a candidate's forms expect pay-back once they are in power, he added. Buhari was elected partly on a platform to tackle endemic corruption in government. - 'Serious business' - Clement Nwankwo, head of the Situation Room of Nigeria civil society groups that promote good governance, said the system was intended to exclude all but the wealthiest and those who had previously benefited from patronage. But APC spokesman Yekini Nabena told AFP the amounts were a reflection of the cost of campaigning and a way of ensuring the party was not in thrall to a handful of wealthy donors. "We want the party itself to take care of the elections so that nobody will say because he gave money to the party he wants to dictate to the party what to do," he told AFP. He added: "Politics is a very serious business. We shouldn't be petty about it. Even though you are financially handicapped, if you are the man of the people, your supporters can contribute money for you." Party primaries are expected in the coming weeks, with Buhari, who in 2015 was said to have taken out a bank loan to cover his nomination costs, set to secure the APC ticket unopposed. All eyes will instead be on the PDP, with an increasingly crowded field of hopefuls including former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and Senate leader Bukola Saraki. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg testified at a Senate hearing on foreign influence campaigns on social media President Donald Trump's administration warned Wednesday of a possible legal crackdown on big technology companies over competition or political bias, in a bombshell announcement that came as social media executives were defending their policies before lawmakers. The Justice Department statement appeared to escalate a war between the administration and Silicon Valley after a series of attacks by Trump claiming tech firms were biased against conservatives. According to the statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will convene a meeting of state attorneys general later this month "to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms." The suggestions of legal or regulatory action caught many tech industry observers by surprise and came as lawmakers were holding hearings on foreign influence campaigns on social media and "transparency." Daniel Castro, of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said the intent of the statement was not clear, but that it was worrisome. "Social media platforms have the right to determine what types of legal speech they will permit on their platforms," Castro told AFP. "The federal government should not use the threat of law enforcement to limit companies from exercising this right. In particular, law enforcement should not threaten social media companies with unfounded investigations." - Regulation or censorship? - Facebook number two executive Sheryl Sandberg repeated that the social network was too slow to respond to foreign influence campaigns Legal analysts have noted the government would have little recourse against any political bias even if proven because of constitutional free speech guarantees. While antitrust concerns against Google and Facebook are to be expected, Eric Goldman of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University said it would be troublesome to use antitrust law as a guise for regulating speech. "This (statement) makes me think antitrust is not the real goal, that the real goal is censorship," Goldman said. "This could be broad action by the government to try to subvert the First Amendment." Matt Schruers of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a trade group that includes Google and Facebook, said tech firms "compete aggressively with one another as well as those outside of the technology sector" and that "consumers have many choices for information services and news sources online." - Collegial atmosphere - CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey told lawmakers the platform was ill-equipped for "weaponized" social media influence campaigns The administration statement came at the conclusion of a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing at which Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg testified. The hearing offered a largely collegial atmosphere in which the executives and senators spoke of the need for further efforts to thwart foreign influence campaigns on social media. Dorsey said the messaging service was set up to function as a "public square" but had failed to deal with "abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots." "We aren't proud of how that free and open exchange has been weaponized and used to distract and divide people, and our nation," he told senators. Sandberg repeated Facebook's acknowledgements about failing to crack down on influence campaigns stemming from Russia that interfered with the 2016 US presidential election. "We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act," Sandberg told the panel. "That's on us. This interference was completely unacceptable. It violated the values of our company and of the country we love." Lawmakers welcomed the comments but expressed concern about whether enough was being done. "If the answer is regulation, let's have an honest dialogue about what that looks like," said Senator Richard Burr, the committee chairman. Senator Mark Warner told the hearing that social media firms "were caught flat-footed by the brazen attacks on our election" and added: "I'm skeptical that, ultimately, you'll be able to truly address this challenge on your own." The Senate was followed by a House panel session on "transparency and accountability," where Dorsey rejected claims of political bias. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions is to meet with state regulators to discuss complaints against big tech firms of competition and political bias "Twitter cannot rightly serve as a public square if it's constructed around the personal opinions of its makers," he told the panel. "We believe a key driver of a thriving public square is the fundamental human right of freedom of opinion and expression." In the House, Dorsey faced harsher comments from some lawmakers including Republican Billy Long of Missouri, who complained that his "personalized" feed was dominated by news from sources he disagreed with. "They're all pretty much Trump-bashing," Long said of the recommended articles. But Democrat Paul Tonko of New York expressed dismay "that our Republican colleaues have called this hearing to rile up their base and give credence to unsupported conspiracies." Trump stepped up his criticism of social media in an interview with the right-wing Daily Caller, saying the companies "were all on Hillary Clinton's side, and if you look at what was going on with Facebook and with Google and all of it." Outside the Senate hearing, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones criticized tech firms for curbing his social media efforts. Jones, whose Infowars site has been praised by Trump, denounced what he called "a plan to deplatform conservatives, just like communist China," adding, "this is dangerous, authoritarianism." The Saharan route is notorious for its dangers, which include breakdowns, lack of water and callous traffickers who abandon migrants in the desert More than 400 people from across West Africa have been rescued from the desert in northern Niger in two days, the International Organization for Migration said, in the latest recovery of migrants from the frontier region near Algeria. Search and rescue teams found the migrants in two groups at the desert border town of Assamaka, IOM said, without specifying whether they had been pushed back across the border from Algeria -- following previous claims by rights groups that migrants were dumped in the remote region. Niger is a transit country for thousands of migrants heading to Libya and Algeria, key hubs for migrants trying to reach Europe. The Saharan route is notorious for its dangers, which include breakdowns, lack of water and callous traffickers who abandon migrants in the desert. Some 347 people from 13 countries, including Mali, Guinea and Senegal, were found in Assamaka on Monday after arriving on foot overnight, IOM said. It added that most of them had been taken to a transit camp where they could receive food, water and medical assistance. A further 92 were rescued on Tuesday. The IOM has reported a sharp rise in the number of migrants left to walk across the border between Algeria and Niger through the desert this year. In July, the UN body said it had rescued nearly 400 people "abandoned on the border with Niger and Algeria". But Algeria lashed out at IOM, with Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui denouncing "a campaign of non-constructive and unfounded criticism" against his government. The European Union has been grappling with massive migration from Africa and the Middle East since 2015. Niger has become one of the main crossing routes for poor migrants, with 90 percent of West African migrants passing through the country, according to the EU. In 2015, Niger introduced a law making people-smuggling punishable by a jail term of up to 30 years. The army also stepped up patrols in the desert. In July, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said the flow of migrants through Niger fell by 95 percent between 2016 and 2017. A hole in the ceiling of a house hit by a rocket in Ayn Zarah on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli, on September 4, 2018 A ceasefire in Libya brokered by the UN will fail to reduce tensions between myriad armed groups without a sustainable political agreement on security reform, experts said Wednesday. The truce -- signed on Tuesday -- appears to be tentatively holding, despite a few exchanges of fire overnight in the south of capital. Fighting in and around Tripoli since August 27 has killed at least 63 people and wounded 159, most of them civilians, according to the Libyan health ministry. Even if the fragile ceasefire continues to largely endure over the coming days, it is nothing more than a band-aid, analysts told AFP. "The ceasefire agreement cannot hold for long," said Libyan security specialist Omran Khalil. The international community's biggest concern, he said, was to "preserve what remains" of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), as they fear their efforts could be "in vain". The UN itself acknowledges the limits of the truce it has brokered. Tuesday's meeting did "not aim to fix all the Libyan capital's security problems", the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Twitter. "It seeks to agree on a broader framework on the way to start addressing these issues." - 'Status quo unsustainable' - Despite being mandated by a December 2015 political accord to overhaul and unify security forces, the GNA has failed to do so. Rather than removing the militias from major cities and integrating them into regular security forces, the government continues to rely on these unreformed armed groups to keep the capital secure. This has enabled the militias to accumulate enormous power and economic sway. The 2015 deal "complicated the security situation and encouraged militias to battle for influence," said Khaled el-Montassar, professor of international relations at the University of Tripoli. Another analyst said tensions boiled over because Tripoli-based militias had been allowed to accumulate disproportionate influence, compared with other armed groups outside the capital. "The current fighting has upended what was an unsustainable status quo in Tripoli," said Wolfram Lacher, a Researcher for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. The militias' uneven access to resources "prompted armed groups from outside Tripoli, who saw themselves excluded from access to wealth and power, to mobilise", he said. The recent fighting has pitted armed groups from Tarhuna and Misrata against Tripoli militias supposed to be under the GNA's control. But "as catastrophic as the current fighting is, it has opened a window of opportunity for negotiating more sustainable security arrangements in Tripoli," added Lacher. "This window of opportunity is closing fast. The ceasefire is very fragile, and there is a real risk of further escalation. "A new negotiating framework is needed -- one that closely combines talks over political power sharing and security arrangements." - 'Unkept promises' - Some doubt whether the UN has the authority to broker a long-term deal. "It seems clear that the international community, after failing all its obligations towards Libya, today seems impotent and overwhelmed by events," said Karim Bitar at the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Affairs. Most analysts approached by AFP agreed a radical change of approach is required. "What is needed now is a new security plan for the capital and some kind of political shake-up," said Claudia Gazzini of the International Crisis Group. Meanwhile, Tahar El-Sonni, an adviser to GNA leader Fayez al-Sarraj, accused the international community of breaking its "promises" to hold to account those undermining Libya's political process. Welcoming the ceasefire, the United States, Britain, France and Italy reaffirmed their support for the GNA, in a joint declaration late on Tuesday. But this does little to mask divisions among Western powers over the political situation in the country. Also on Tuesday, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini criticised France's role in the oil-rich North African country. France, which is pushing for elections in Libya before the end of the year, defended its role. The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Africa will align the Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of African nations to bring more opportunities for the growth and prosperity of the continent, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday. Xi made the remark while presiding over the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held at the Great Hall of the People. The roundtable meeting of the two-day summit, attended by leaders from 53 African nations, was co-chaired by Xi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. During the meeting, the countries adopted a declaration on building a China-Africa community with a shared future and an action plan for the next three years. Leaders exchanged views on such issues as promoting China-Africa relations, deepening cooperation in all areas, building a China-Africa community with a shared future and jointly building the Belt and Road as well as global and regional issues of concern to all sides. Xi pointed out that over the past two days, the summit has focused on the theme of win-win cooperation and joining hands to build the shared community, reaching consensus on cooperation, aligning development strategies and advocating for China-Africa common development. Nations at the summit agreed to build the community featuring joint responsibility, win-win cooperation, shared happiness, cultural prosperity, common security, and harmony between man and nature, Xi said. The outcome documents adopted at the summit have set the direction for developing China-Africa ties, Xi said. The countries agreed to build FOCAC into a brand for China-Africa cooperation and a flagship example of international cooperation with Africa under the principle of achieving shared growth through discussions and collaboration, Xi said. China and African countries at the summit resolved to enhance coordination and communication, firmly safeguard the open global economy and multilateral trading system, oppose trade protectionism and unilateralism, and jointly safeguard the core interests of developing nations, he added. Noting that there is great potential for China-Africa cooperation, Xi said that China would like to make joint efforts with African countries to deepen political mutual trust, promote common development and allow the cooperation outcomes to benefit more of the people of China and Africa. Xi pointed out that thriving China-Africa cooperation has not only promoted the progress of Africa and boosted the confidence of the continents people, but also prompted international partners to attach greater importance to Africa and increase investment on the continent. Leaders from African countries spoke highly of the FOCAC Beijing Summit, saying it sends a strong signal of friendly Africa-China coordination. They said that the summit is pragmatic, efficient and fruitful, and opens a new chapter for Africa-China cooperation. The African leaders said that China has always listened to opinions from the continent and understands and supports it. China never interferes in the internal affairs of African nations and offers a hand in their development, they said. They expressed gratitude for Chinas upholding of justice in global affairs and its safeguarding of the interests of developing nations. Russian warplanes battered Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib province on September 4, 2018 The United States on Wednesday urged Syria and its backers to halt plans for an all-out military attack against rebel-held Idlib as the UN Security Council prepared to address the crisis. "With millions of civilians at risk, an offensive against Idlib would be a reckless escalation," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement. "The regime and its backers must stop their military campaign in all its forms to allow the UN-led political process to have a chance to succeed." The council will discuss the crisis in Idlib on Friday after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the province of 3 million people if an all-out military assault is launched. On Tuesday, Russian warplanes resumed air strikes on Idlib after a 22-day pause, pressing ahead with a campaign it has described as aimed at rooting out Al-Qaeda-linked groups. At a news conference on Tuesday, Haley suggested that Russia and Syria could move ahead with a counter-terrorism operation but must spare civilians. "This is a tragic situation, and if they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that," Haley said. "But they cannot do it with chemical weapons. They can't do it assaulting their people." Ten countries, all non-permanent council members, separately expressed "deep concern" in the event of a full-scale military operation in Idlib and urged the Syrian government "to prioritize the protection of civilians." UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is to hold talks next week in Geneva with Russia and Iran, Syria's main backers, and Turkey, which supports some opposition groups. More than 350,000 people have died in Syria's seven-year war, but UN officials fear the assault on Idlib could trigger one of the worst bloodbaths of the conflict. The "consultations" between the government of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, pictured September 2017, and the powerful Huthi rebels will be the groups' first public meetings since 2016 The UN envoy for Yemen said Wednesday that "consultations" in Geneva between the warring parties offered a "flickering signal of hope" after years of conflict. The talks will be the first public meetings between the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Yemen's powerful Huthi rebels since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing deal. But both the government and the rebels have said they expect no breakthrough at the "consultations", which are due to open Thursday but appear likely to be delayed. "The people of Yemen... are desperately in need of a signal of hope. We would like to think that the work we will do together in these next days will begin to send a flickering signal of hope to them," UN envoy Martin Griffiths said. While representatives of the Yemeni government arrived in Geneva Wednesday, the rebels remained stranded in Sanaa, amid claims the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi was preventing them from leaving for the talks. When asked about the Huthi charges, Griffiths said: "We are working on that. "I think it will sort itself out," he said. "If you look back at previous negotiations on Yemen, there has always been a delay. "I don't take it very seriously. We will make it happen." The UN meanwhile announced that there would be no meetings at its European headquarters in Geneva on Thursday as previously planned. But Griffiths said his "informal consultations" with the government side would begin immediately. "The government of Yemen... is here already. I am looking forward to meeting their leader right after this, Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani," he said at a press conference. That meeting is expected to take place in a Geneva hotel, as are any other meetings that might happen on Thursday. "So we are not going to waste time, and we are looking forward to getting our friends from Sanaa here and participating fully in the consultations." Griffiths emphasised that the Geneva talks were "not formal negotiations," but said they aimed to pave the way towards bringing the parties back to the negotiating table. The talks also seek to put in place a range of so-called confidence-building measures, which could prisoner swaps and the vaccination of children, he said. "There is a chance for some tangible progress," he said, adding that he hoped to get the two sides to sit at the same table during the consultations, which are expected to last a couple of days. CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing just before a Justice Department announcement of a probe of social media firms The US Justice Department said Wednesday it would probe social media giants over concerns over competition and "stifling the free exchange of ideas." The announcement comes days after President Donald Trump accused big technology firms of censoring and suppressing conservative voices, allegations strongly denied by the companies. A Justice Department statement said Attorney General Jeff Sessions "has convened a meeting with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms." The brief statement, which came at the conclusion of a Senate hearing including top executives of Facebook and Twitter, offered no clues on whether officials were considering an antitrust investigation or some form of regulatory action. Tech industry analysts say there is little evidence internet firms are filtering content for political reasons, but that the companies would have constitutional protections against any government effort to regulate their algorithms. On Tuesday, Federal Communications chairman Ajit Pai said Silicon Valley firms to provide more transparency about how they operate, raising the possibility of tougher regulations for technology firms. "We need to seriously think about whether the time has come for these companies to abide by new transparency obligations," Pai said in a blog post. Pai offered no specific proposals, but appeared to echo concerns raised by Trump, who claimed tech firms may be biased against conservatives. "Consumers interact with these digital platforms on a daily basis. We get our news from them. We interact with our family and friends on them," Pai wrote. Trump last week issued a warning to Google, Facebook and Twitter to "be careful" but stopped short of calling for regulation. Twitter chief Jack Dorsey rejected any suggestion of political bias in comments prepared for a House of Representatives hearing Wednesday. "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules," Dorsey said in his written testimony. "We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially." Google and Facebook have made similar points. Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said the intent of the statement was not clear but that the statement was worrisome. "Social media platforms have the right to determine what types of legal speech they will permit on their platforms," Castro told AFP. "The federal government should not use the threat of law enforcement to limit companies from exercising this right. In particular, law enforcement should not threaten social media companies with unfounded investigations for booting white nationalists like Richard Spencer off their platforms." The Group to Support Islam and Muslims' leader, Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, has already been named a "global terrorist" by the United States The United States on Wednesday added the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a fusion of three Malian jihadist groups allied to Al-Qaeda, to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations." The move is aimed at denying GSIM the "resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks," the State Department said in a statement. It said any property owned by GSIM in the United States would be blocked and that US citizens are prohibited from dealing with the group. The State Department said GSIM has described itself as Al-Qaeda's official branch in Mali. It added the group has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks since it was formed in March 2017, including those on March 2 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. "Al-Qaeda and its affiliates like (GSIM) remain deadly threats to the United States and our allies," said ambassador Nathan Sales, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism. "These designations are part of our continuing efforts to squeeze Al-Qaeda's finances, denying it the resources it needs to carry out attacks." The group's leader, Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, has already been named a "global terrorist" by the United States. Sri Lankan opposition activists hold torches during a demonstration led by ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse in Colombo Tens of thousands of supporters of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse staged a huge night rally in Colombo late Wednesday as the ex-leader demanded snap elections. Rajapakse, who ruled his country with an iron first for a decade, lost the presidency in January 2015 and the subsequent parliamentary elections in August 2015. However, his new Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party won local council elections in February as he attempts to engineer a dramatic comeback ahead of presidential elections slated for 2019. Police said they deployed over 5,000 officers in Colombo as activists began pouring into the city from early afternoon and took over a key intersection. "Our estimate is 75,000 to 80,000 people participated and it is the biggest night-time protest in Colombo," a senior police official told AFP. Rajapakse addressed supporters holding candles and kerosene oil torches "We are against the sale of national assets," Rajapakse said. "We are pressing the government to hold early elections." The SLPP is also bitterly opposed to the government leasing to China a loss-making $1.4 billion port built by Rajapakse with loans from Beijing. The government leased the facility to China under a $1.1 billion deal saying it was unable to repay the huge loans taken out by Rajapakse. Sri Lanka's ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse is attempting a comeback after losing the presidency in January 2015 and the subsequent parliamentary elections in August 2015 Another troubled Rajapakse-era project, an international airport built inside a wildlife sanctuary, is up for sale, but there have been no buyers so far. Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the protest was also aimed at putting pressure on investigators and the judiciary ahead of a special court hearing into Rajapakse-era corruption. "This is an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. All those who are leading the protests are currently on bail in connection with massive corruption charges," Samaraweera told reporters. A new court set up to investigate major corruption began its work two weeks ago by hearing the case against Rajapakse's top aide Gamini Senarath and three others accused of siphoning off 500 million rupees ($3 million). Two of Rajapakse's three sons have also been charged with money laundering and other relatives face corruption allegations. The ex-president denies any wrongdoing and has accused the government of a witch-hunt. Huthi supporters demonstrate in the Yemeni rebels' stronghold Saada on September 5, 2018 against an August air strike by the Saudi-led coalition which left 51 people dead Planned talks in Geneva this week between Yemen's warring parties offer a "flickering signal of hope" after years of conflict, the UN mediator said Wednesday, despite signs of delay and low expectations. The talks will be the first public meetings between the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Yemen's powerful Huthi rebels since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing deal. "The people of Yemen... are desperately in need of a signal of hope," UN envoy Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva. "We would like to think that the work we will do together in these next days will begin to send a flickering signal of hope to them." But both the government and the rebels have said they expect no breakthrough at the "consultations", which had been scheduled to open Thursday but appear likely to be delayed. - Rebels stranded in Sanaa - While representatives of the Yemeni government arrived in Geneva Wednesday, the rebels remained stranded in Sanaa, amid claims the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi was preventing them from leaving for the talks. The Huthis said the UN had been unable to "secure authorisation" from a Saudi-led coalition backing the government for a plane to transport the rebel delegation, along with wounded insurgents, out of the country, according to the Huthis' Al-Masirah TV. While the Huthis control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, the coalition controls the country's airspace. When asked about the Huthi charges, Griffiths said: "We are working on that." The UN meanwhile announced that there would be no meetings at its European headquarters in Geneva on Thursday as previously planned. But Griffiths said his "informal consultations" with the government side would begin immediately. "I am looking forward to meeting their leader right after this, Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani," he said at a press conference. That meeting is expected to take place in a Geneva hotel, as are any other meetings that might happen on Thursday, while more formal consultations could kick off at the UN on Friday. "We are not going to waste time," Griffiths said. He emphasised that the Geneva talks were "not formal negotiations," but said they aimed to pave the way towards bringing the parties back to the negotiating table. A Yemeni child stands in the wreckage of a bus that was hit in an August strike by the Saudi-led coalition The talks also seek to put in place a range of so-called confidence-building measures, which could include prisoner swaps and the vaccination of children, he said. "There is a chance for some tangible progress," he said, adding that he hoped to get the two sides to sit at the same table during the consultations, which are expected to last a couple of days. Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani however told AFP this week that the chance of face-to-face sitdowns between the two delegations was slim to none. - 'Broken promises' - The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged both sides in Geneva to "take a first step towards ending a conflict that has brought severe pain and humanitarian suffering to the Yemeni people". A Yemeni pro-government fighter near Hodeida fires a heavy machine gun in an image grab taken from AFPTV on June 15, 2018 The Huthis have hinted that their delegation demanded the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman for medical treatment as a condition for attending the talks, and accused the UN of stalling. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeted on Tuesday that the UN had "made promises on facilitating the transport of the wounded... abroad" -- pledges the world body had thus far failed to keep. Yemen's government meanwhile said Wednesday it planned to demand the release of the body of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, killed by rebels last year, during the talks. Saleh, for decades the most powerful politician in troubled Yemen, had sided with the Huthi rebels for three years before shifting alliances in the country's armed conflict. He was killed by the rebels in December. But Griffiths rejected that either side had presented any conditions for taking part in the talks. UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths addresses a press conference at Sanaa airport during a visit to Huthi insurgents on July 04, 2018 "There is a real chance for hope," he insisted. "We will make it happen." All previous attempts to resolve the Yemen war have failed. Griffiths is the UN's third Yemen envoy since 2014, when the Huthis overran the capital Sanaa and drove Hadi's government into exile. The following year, Saudi Arabia and its allies formed a powerful regional military coalition to back Hadi's government in its fight against the Huthis. The conflict has since left nearly 10,000 people dead and pushed the Arab world's most impoverished country to the brink of famine. Soldiers loyal to Yemen's government guard the docks in the port of Aden on August 9, 2018 The general overseeing US military operations in the Middle East visited war-torn Yemen's chief of staff in the de facto capital Aden on Wednesday, state media said, a day ahead of peace talks in Geneva. US Central Command head General Joseph Votel met Major General Taher al-Aqili to discuss developing Yemen's coast guard, navy and special forces to "tackle the threat of terrorist militias and fight smuggling," the Saba news agency said. The two also discussed the government's "efforts to restore the state and put an end to the coup by the Iran-backed Huthi militia", it said, referring to rebels who ousted the government from the capital Sanaa and large parts of Yemen in 2014. The US provides weapons, aerial refuelling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen. Votel's visit followed meetings in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the main players in a military coalition set up in 2015 to back Yemen's government in its fight against the Huthis. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said last week that US support for the coalition was not "unconditional" as he defended America's ongoing role in the war. His comments came as UN investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe warring parties in Yemen had committed violations of humanitarian law that could amount to "war crimes". Washington has also carried out a long-running drone war against Yemen's Al-Qaeda branch, which took advantage of the chaos created by the war to strengthen its own operations, particularly in the country's south. The Pentagon sees Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch. It has intensified its strikes against AQAP since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. The United Nations is set to host rebel and government delegations for indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday in a bid to revive formal negotiations. But the rebels said Wednesday that they were stranded in Sanaa because the coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace, had not given their UN plane permission to fly. The US embassy in Ukraine says it is "concerned" by the Ukrainian court's decision to grant access to investigative reporter Natalia Sedletska's phone data, saying it could have a "chilling effect" on press freedom in the country The US embassy in Ukraine on Wednesday condemned a court decision to grant the country's prosecutor general access to the phone data of one of the country's top investigative journalists. "We are concerned that yesterday's court decision regarding investigative reporter Natalia Sedletska could have a chilling effect on press freedom and anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine," the embassy said on its official Twitter account. "Ukrainian authorities should support independent journalism," it added. Tuesday's court decision was linked to Sedletska's role as a witness in a case against Ukraine's anti-corruption head Artem Sytnyk, who is accused of leaking state secrets to journalists last year. Sedletska also fronts and edits a programme called "Schemes" -- a joint project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Ukraine's first public TV channel -- that has investigated officials including the president and the prosecutor general. A court decision from August 27 granted investigators from the prosecutor's office access to metadata from her phone dating back almost a year and a half, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said in a statement. This includes lists of her phone calls and SMS messages, as well as her location over that time. Ukraine was ranked 101st out of 180 countries in the annual media freedom ranking composed by Reporters Without Borders in 2018. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has asked the foreign ministry to close the Israeli embassy in Paraguay," an official statement said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay, his office said, after the South American country announced Wednesday it was moving its mission back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. "The prime minister has asked the foreign ministry to close the Israeli embassy in Paraguay," the statement said, adding that Paraguay's decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries. Paraguay's announcement that it was moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv came little more than three months after it had transferred it to Jerusalem following a similar move by Washington. US President Donald Trump's deeply controversial move to recognise the disputed city as capital of Israel sparked outrage among Palestinians who see Jerusalem's east as the capital of their future state. In May, then-president of Paraguay Horacio Cartes met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem after his country and Guatamala opened their embassies there. His successor President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in August, decided to move it back "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East." Iraqi security forces are deployed in a street in the southern city of Basra on September 5, 2018 One person was killed and 25 injured, some seriously, on Wednesday as Iraqi security forces opened fire on protesters as clashes broke out in the southern city of Basra, a day after six people were killed in demonstrations over poor public services. An AFP journalist reported gunshots and tear gas were fired by security personnel directly at demonstrators, who had gathered in their thousands outside the regional government headquarters. The measures failed to disperse protesters, who responded by hurling Molotov cocktails and letting off fireworks at the security forces. Security forces later stopped firing in the direction of protesters and instead fired shots in the air and used tear gas. "One demonstrator was killed and 25 others wounded, including some seriously," said Mehdi al-Tamimi, head of the government's human rights council in Basra province. Medical sources confirmed to AFP the death of a young man. Reinforcements had been sent to Basra and concrete blocks erected to protect the government building, which for demonstrators has become a symbol of state corruption and neglect. Basra and the surrounding province have been the focus of angry anti-government demonstrations that have rocked Iraq since early July. Iraqi security forces are deployed in the southern city of Basra on September 5, 2018, after six died in the bloodiest day of protests over poor public services in the southern city Residents are particularly angry over pollution of the local water supply, which has put 20,000 people in hospital. On Tuesday six demonstrators were killed and more than 20 wounded during the bloodiest day of clashes with security officials, a local official and medics said. The authorities said that 30 security personnel were also wounded in the violence "by grenades and incendiary objects". Commander Jamil al-Shammari said an overnight curfew was being imposed and more security personnel deployed in the city. The United Nations envoy to Iraq had called for "calm" in Basra ahead of Wednesday's clashes and urged the authorities "to avoid using disproportionate, lethal force against the demonstrators". The UN's Jan Kubis also asked the government to "investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the outbreak of violence" and "do its utmost to respond to the people's rightful demands of clean water and electricity supplies". - 'No real bullets' - In his weekly press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he had ordered "no real bullets... to be fired, in the direction of protesters or in the air". Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr said in a tweet ahead of the latest clashes that "vandals infiltrated" the protests. Iraqis help a wounded protester in Basra on September 4, 2018 Iraq is currently in a state of political limbo. Sadr's political bloc won the largest number of seats in national elections held in May, and he is trying to form a new government with Abadi. The authorities have pledged to take measures to put an end to the health crisis that has ravaged the oil-rich province of Basra. Abadi announced overnight that he had met lawmakers from Basra, who are in Baghdad for the first parliamentary session since the elections. He again indicated that water pollution would be addressed, without specifying any measures. In July, the government announced a multi-billion dollar (euro) emergency plan for southern Iraq, to revive infrastructure and services. But protesters are wary of promises made by the outgoing government, as negotiations drag on over the formation of the next administration. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who attended the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Xi said the China-Kenya comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership has enjoyed rapid development and is leading China-Africa cooperation in various fields. China is willing to strengthen inter-party cooperation and governance experience sharing with Kenya, expand cooperation in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure construction, medical care and health as well as industrial capacity, and enhance people-to-people and sub-national exchanges, helping Kenya achieve its Big Four Agenda, said Xi. China welcomes Kenya to participate in Belt and Road cooperation, congratulates its accession into the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and will support Kenya in building an economic belt and industrial parks along the railway lines, Xi said. Kenyatta said the summit made plans for the direction of the forum in the coming years and will promote the common prosperity of Africa and China. Kenya is willing to deepen its comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership with China, actively participate in Belt and Road construction and promote connectivity, said Kenyatta. After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents. The UN's International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals has, since 2010, handled outstanding and ongoing cases from the former International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (pictured 2014) that tried suspects in the 1994 genocide Five people have been arrested in Rwanda for allegedly seeking to bribe and intimidate witnesses in order to overturn a genocide conviction at the UN tribunal in neighbouring Tanzania, the court said Wednesday. Contempt of court warrants for Maximilien Turinabo, Anselme Nzabonimpa, Jean de Dieu Ndagijimana, Marie Rose Fatuma and Dick Prudence Munyeshuli were issued under seal on August 24, and the five were arrested in Rwanda on Monday. The UN's International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals has, since 2010, handled outstanding and ongoing cases from the former International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that tried suspects in the 1994 genocide that killed around 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis. The court said in a statement that the five had "offered bribes and exerted pressure to influence the evidence of protected witnesses" in the case of Augustin Ngirabatware, a former Rwanda government minister whose appeal against a 30-year sentence is due to be heard later this month. "The alleged aim of these efforts was to secure the reversal of Augustin Ngirabatware's conviction... for direct and public incitement to commit genocide, instigating genocide and aiding and abetting genocide," the statement read. "I wish to express our gratitude to the Rwandan authorities for promptly executing the... arrest warrants and apprehending the five accused," said chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz. "My office underscores our determination to stand against all efforts to interfere with witnesses and the proper administration of justice," he added. The five accused are due to be transferred to the court's branch in Arusha, Tanzania. President Mario Abdo Benitez is reversing predecessor Horacio Cartes's decision to move Paraguay's embassy in Israel Paraguay said Wednesday it was moving its embassy in Israel back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the closure his country's mission in the South American country in retaliation. Paraguay's new President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in mid-August, took the decision "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East," his government said. The original decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv was taken by Abdo Benitez's predecessor Horacio Cartes shortly after President Donald Trump had announced the United States would relocate its own embassy to Jerusalem. Cartes even joined Netanyahu in the new embassy's opening ceremony in Jerusalem in May. Abdo Benitez was already president elect at that point and had questioned the decision, complaining that he had not been consulted. Announcing the move, his government said it considered the return to Tel Aviv "appropriate" but Netanyahu's office replied that the decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries. "The prime minister has asked the foreign ministry to close the Israeli embassy in Paraguay," it said in a statement. Trump broke with decades of US policy by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day. His move was followed by Guatemala while the Czech Republic decided to reopen its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to also move its embassy from Tel Aviv. US President Donald Trump said that killing his Syrian counterpart was "never even contemplated" US President Donald Trump denied Wednesday having discussed wanting to kill Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, a key claim in a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. "That was never even contemplated," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with the emir of Kuwait. Trump's comments came as he warned Damascus that "the world is watching" Syrian troops massing on the edges of the rebel-held province of Idlib, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster. "I just tell you that they will hopefully be very, very judicious and careful," Trump said of the Syrian regime. "Because the world is watching. That cannot be a slaughter. If it's a slaughter, the world is going to be very, very angry. And the United States is going to be very angry, too." In his new book "Fear: Trump in the White House," Woodward recounts that the president told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that he wanted to have Assad killed after he carried out a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017. "Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them," Woodward quotes Trump as saying. He writes that Mattis told the president he would "get right on it" but then came back later with plans for a more limited air strike. Trump and White House aides have assailed the book as a full of "made up" stories, and in a tweet on Wednesday morning the president wondered why Congress doesn't change the laws on libel. "The book means nothing. It's a work of fiction," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, noting that Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly had both issued statements rejecting the book's account. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, pictured August 2018, said that White House aides Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt had proposed the idea of a confederation with Jordan, an idea that Jordan has rejected Jordan's King Abdullah II firmly rejects the idea of a confederation with the Palestinians in the place of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, the royal court said Wednesday. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told activists Sunday that White House aides Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt had proposed the idea of a confederation with Jordan, one of the activists said. Hagit Ofran of Israel's Peace Now NGO reported Abbas as saying he had told the US officials, who are working on a peace plan, that he would only be interested if Israel was also part of such a confederation. Abbas's office confirmed the meeting with Israeli peace activists had taken place, but did not confirm his comments on the confederation. Neighbouring Jordan, along with most of the international community, has long supported a two-state solution to the long-running conflict. "Every year we hear about a confederation. My question is: a confederation with whom? This is a red line for Jordan," King Abdullah said, according to a palace statement. "Jordan's position is firm and steadfast: there is no alternative to the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital," he said. "Any proposal outside this framework has no value." Palestinians see the idea of a confederation as destroying their long-held dream of a state. But some on the Israeli right see the establishment of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation as a way to avoid the creation of an independent Palestinian state. They argue that it would also absolve Israel of any responsibility towards the 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, currently under Israeli military occupation. The Palestinian Authority severed contact with Washington after President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December. In response, Trump said in January he would cut aid to the Palestinians in order to push them back to the negotiating table. The US said Friday it would cease all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) which helps some three million needy refugees across the Middle East. Palestinian leaders see these moves as part of an effort to "liquidate" their cause. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (pictured September 3, 2018) says that Ankara wants to "prevent attacks on Idlib," as Syrian regime troops have for weeks been massing on the edges of the province which borders Turkey Turkey on Wednesday insisted the government is trying to prevent an assault on Syria's rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, as expectations rise of a regime offensive. Syrian regime troops have for weeks been massing on the edges of the province which borders Turkey, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster on a scale not yet seen in Syria's seven-year conflict. Ankara wants to "prevent attacks on Idlib" Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference with German counterpart Heiko Maas. Idlib is one of the so-called "de-escalation" zones set up as a result of talks by Russia, Turkey and Iran last year as Damascus regained control of more of the country. "From the day that it was clear there could be an attack on Idlib, we have been working hard to prevent the regime violating the ceasefire and to stop the attacks on Idlib," Cavusoglu told reporters during the conference in Ankara. Maas said Germany shared Turkey's concern of a "looming humanitarian catastrophe" in Idlib. "We will continue our efforts to prevent it. Turkey is possibly better prepared than others to weigh in on these developments," the German minister said. Maas was in Ankara on Wednesday as the two countries seek to improve relations which have soured since the 2016 failed coup in Turkey, which resulted in a government crackdown on the opposition. Maas met with Cavusoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara. Germany's links with Turkey are of greater significance in Europe since three million ethnic Turks live in the continent's top economy, the largest diaspora abroad and a legacy of Germany's "guest worker" programme of the 1960s and 70s. Ankara has recently turned to Europe following a bitter row with Washington over the detention of an American pastor, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving her support to the Turkish economy after the Turkish lira's dramatic fall last month. Germany-Turkey relations improved recently especially after Turkey last month lifted an overseas travel ban on German journalist and translator Mesale Tolu on trial on terror-related charges. Although there have been releases of jailed Germans including well-known journalist Deniz Yucel, seven German citizens remain in jail for political reasons. During his two-day visit, Maas and Cavusoglu on Thursday will attend the opening ceremony of the German lycee in Istanbul on the school's 150th anniversary. Erdogan is expected to visit Berlin on September 28 and 29. A Washington judge declared a mistrial in the case of former Blackwater security guard Nick Slatten (C) over the killing of at least 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007 The second murder trial of a former Blackwater security guard over the 2007 killing of a civilian in Baghdad was ruled a mistrial Wednesday, a year after his first conviction was thrown out. Washington federal judge Royce Lamberth declared a mistrial in the case of Nicholas Slatten, 34, after a jury reported last week they were at an impasse and could not reach a unanimous verdict. Slatten was one of four armed guards for the former US security contractor Blackwater Worldwide who were found guilty in 2014 of murder for the notorious killings in Baghdad's Nisour Square. While escorting a diplomatic convoy on September 16, 2007, they opened fire with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, allegedly without provocation, in the bustling square, leaving at least 14 civilians dead and at least 17 wounded. The Iraqi government says the toll was higher. The shooting deepened the resentment of Americans in Iraq four years after US forces toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and raised questions about the expanded use of armed contract guards by the US government. Slatten was originally sentenced in 2015 to life in prison as the alleged first person to have opened fire. The three others were given 30 year prison sentences, although Lamberth at the time of sentencing said that: "It's clear these fine young men just panicked." An appeals court, accepting later evidence that another guard was the first to fire, overturned Slatten's guilty verdict and ordered a new trial for him alone. He faced one charge of first degree murder of a single Iraqi, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed al Rubia'y. A spokesman for the court said federal prosecutors were reviewing the case. They can choose to ask for a new trial, or decide not to pursue it further. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud apparently told a crowd in London, similar to the one pictured in March 2018, to stop chanting slogans against the Saudi royal family over the kingdom's involvement in the Yemeni conflict Saudi King Salman's brother has played down controversial remarks he made to anti-Saudi protesters in London that sparked furious speculation about possible discord within the royal family. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud apparently told a crowd in London to stop chanting slogans against the Saudi royal family over the kingdom's involvement in the three-year conflict in Yemen. "What does the family have to do with it? Certain individuals are responsible... the king and the crown prince," he said, according to a widely-circulated online video of the incident in London. The comment was seen by many on social media as rare criticism from a royal family member of the kingdom's leadership as well as its role in the Yemen conflict, dubbed by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. But in a statement, the prince dismissed that interpretation as "inaccurate". "I have made it clear that the king and the crown prince are responsible for the state and its decisions," the prince said in the statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency late Tuesday. "This is true for the security and stability of the country and the people. Therefore, it is not possible to interpret what I said in any other way." In a bid to suggest unity within the royal family, multiple pro-Saudi social media accounts posted images of Prince Ahmed kissing the hand of King Salman. The internal affairs of the royal family are shrouded in secrecy and a public airing of disagreements is extremely rare. But Saudi expert James Dorsey said the London incident suggests "a long suspected greater degree of domestic questioning of Saudi Arabia's 3.5-year-old ill-fated war in Yemen than has been publicly evident until now". The remarks come as powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tightens his grip on power by cracking down on dissent with the imprisonment of prominent clerics, women and human rights activists. The crown prince, architect of the kingdom's 2015 intervention in Yemen, has also drawn criticism over the conflict that left nearly 10,000 people dead and pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine. President Mario Abdo Benitez is reversing predecessor Horacio Cartes's decision to move Paraguay's embassy in Israel Paraguay said on Wednesday it was moving its embassy in Israel back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the closure of Jewish state's mission in the South American country in retaliation. Palestinian authorities reacted by deciding to "immediately" open an embassy in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, according to the official news agency Wafa. Paraguay's new President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in mid-August, decided to move back the embassy "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East," his government said. "Israel views with utmost gravity the extraordinary decision by Paraguay, which will cloud bilateral relations," Netanyahu's office retorted on Twitter. The original decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv was taken by Abdo Benitez's predecessor Horacio Cartes shortly after President Donald Trump had announced the United States would relocate its own embassy to Jerusalem. Cartes even joined Netanyahu in the new embassy's opening ceremony in Jerusalem in May. Abdo Benitez was already president elect at that point and had questioned the decision, complaining that he had not been consulted. Announcing the move, his government said it considered the return to Tel Aviv "appropriate," but Netanyahu's office replied that the decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries. Paraguay, though, pointed to a long history of positive relations with Israel. "I don't think this should annoy our Israeli brothers and friends," said Paraguay's Foreign Minister Luis Castiglioni. "There are more than 85 countries that have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv and we're historic allies of Israel. "Don't forget that Paraguay's vote was the decisive vote in the creation of Israel." In line with most of Latin America, Paraguay was one of the 33 countries that voted in favor -- compared to just 13 against and 10 abstentions -- of the 1947 United Nations two-state partition plan for what was until then British Mandate Palestine. Castiglioni said Paraguay had always been "predictable in its international relations" but that Cartes's move was "a distortion of this tradition and culture of respect for international law" and UN decrees. Trump broke with decades of US policy by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day. His move was followed by Guatemala while the Czech Republic decided to reopen its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to also move its embassy from Tel Aviv. US President Donald Trump said "it's possible" that he would meet with his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly President Donald Trump left the door open Wednesday to meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly -- even as the United States ramps up the pressure on a regime it accuses of destabilizing the Middle East. "It's possible, anything is possible," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the possibility of a face-to-face with Rouhani during the gathering later this month. "We'll see what happens with Iran. Whether they want to talk or not, that's up to them, not up to me," said the US leader, who decided in May to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran. "Iran is a much different place than when I took over the presidency," Trump added, describing the country as "in turmoil." "When I took office it was just a question of how long until they took over the entire Middle East. Now they are just worrying about their own survival as a country." Trump is due to lead September 26 meeting of heads of state of the UN Security Council, with the goal of ramping up pressure on Tehran over its alleged violations of council resolutions. Measures against Ebola contagion include burning mattresses of the victims An army of health workers fighting the Ebola epidemic in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo are confronting denial and false beliefs regarding the highly contagious hemorrhagic virus. "Ebola is a war," said Ndjoloko Tambwe Bathe, who heads a programme to combat Ebola, which has claimed 85 lives including three new deaths in Beni, according to the health ministry. "The idea is that people should... understand that if there is a suspect case they should notify the authorities, and they should accept that the victims are taken to hospital," he said. "Some families have long hidden sick people, prevented health workers from taking patients to the Ebola Treatment Centre and refused to be vaccinated," the ministry said in a statement, adding that several attacks on medical personnel had been reported. At a recent gathering in Beni, several people voiced their doubts over Ebola, one of the world's most feared viruses that in extreme cases causes fatal bleeding from internal organs, the mouth, eyes or ears. "Couldn't vomiting or a fever come from some other virus than Ebola?" one speaker asked. "Are the tests reliable in confirming Ebola? Why is it that the Ebola we have here does not come with bleeding?" "The people are in doubt," 21-year-old Edouard Karafuli told AFP, summarising the speeches made in Swahili. He said the speakers are saying that "a sick person is sent to hospital and we don't know where he goes next. It could be that he has some of his body parts that are cut off and then they bring back the cadaver." Burying the victims presents an acute risk of contagion, as traditional funeral rites involve cleansing the dead with numerous family members present. The Red Cross's "dignified and safe burials" are not widely appreciated. Karafuli said "they promise to bury our corpses according to our customs, but that's not the case. When Red Cross people turn up, we throw stones at them because they don't want to show proof about this illness." - Survivor speaks out - Burying the victims presents an acute risk of contagion, as traditional funeral rites involve cleansing the dead with numerous family members present In the face of rumours, false beliefs and cultural or religious misunderstanding, health workers have called on Ebola survivors to tell their stories. "Those of us who were cured have a lot of messages for the community," said Jotham Kyungolo, 40, who was contaminated while helping Ebola victims in nearby Mangina. "Some said, and they still think it, that at the Ebola Treatment Centre people don't eat and many die of hunger, which isn't true," he said. "We have to show how the treatment is carried out there so people are willing to go to the centre as soon as they feel sick," said Kyungolo, who speaks about Ebola on behalf of Oxfam and the UN Children's Fund. Like others that he calls "Ebola beaters", Kyungolo was driven home after his release from hospital aboard a truck with a loud hailer proclaiming his cure and broadcasting celebratory songs. Ebola has claimed 85 lives including three new deaths in the epidemic's epicentre Beni, according to the health ministry "There are rumours; we have to remove these rumours from people's heads. You will help us," Germain Kahoko shouted over the loud hailer. "Recent trends suggest that control measures work," the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday. The UN agency said "significant risks" remained however, including "the reticence of some communities to adopt prevention behaviours." But it added, on a positive note: "People's general acceptance of anti-Ebola measures is strong." BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- China will host an international forum on non-governmental cooperation on ecological improvement along the Belt and Road. The forum, scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 in Wuwei City of northwest China's Gansu Province, will launch a restoration project of the Populus euphratica trees along the Belt and Road to promote non-governmental cooperation on ecological improvement, Chen Peng, vice president of China Green Foundation, said at a press briefing Tuesday. There is also plan to launch a fund for international cooperation in ecological improvement. Chen said the road to ecological improvement along the Belt and Road would be long and uphill as desertification and land degradation are serious in many Belt and Road countries. During the forum, China will share its experiences in ecological improvement and promote non-governmental cooperation to tackle ecological problems along the Belt and Road, said Chen. A total of 180 representatives from over 20 countries along the Belt and Road and international organizations will attend the forum. Japan has confirmed for the first time that a worker has died after being exposed to radiation at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. The announcement today is the first time Japanese authorities confirmed a worker at the plant died as a result of being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation from the disaster seven years ago. The man aged in his 50s developed lung cancer after he was involved in the emergency clean-up work at the plant following the devastating tsunami between March and December 2011. Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry of Japan ruled that compensation should be paid to the family of the man who died. The wave from the 2011 tsunami crashed over a street in Miyako City. The devastating wave knocked out generators in the Fukushima nuclear power plant The disaster killed around 18,000 and left a further 300,000 people evacuated from the Fukushima area on the east coast with a clean-up expected to take decades and cost more than 18 billion A man aged in his 50s developed lung cancer after he was involved in emergency work at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant between March and December 2011, following the devastating tsunami Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant went into meltdown after a devastating 9.0 earthquake knocked out power to the station and the tsunami swamped diesel generators placed low in reactor buildings, leading to a series of explosions Compensation in four previous cases where workers contracted cancer following the disaster were paid out by the Japanese government, according to the country's Jiji news agency. But this is the first time the government has acknowledged a death related to radiation exposure at the plant, the Mainichi daily reported. Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant went into meltdown after a devastating 9.0 earthquake knocked out power to the station and the tsunami swamped diesel generators placed low in reactor buildings, leading to a series of explosions. A massive undersea earthquake triggered the March 2011 tsunami, killing around 18,000 people and swamping the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending its reactors into meltdown and leading to the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. A hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power station - number three reactor which was caused by a huge tsunami wave hitting the area The unnamed man was in charge of measuring radiation at the Fukushima plant and he is said to have worn a full-face mask and protective suit, but developed lung cancer in February 2016 The dead man worked mainly at the Fukushima Number 1 nuclear plant and other atomic power stations nationwide between 1980 and 2015. Following the disaster, the unnamed man was in charge of measuring radiation at the plant, and he is said to have worn a full-face mask and protective suit, but developed lung cancer in February 2016. He has not been publicly identified and his family have asked that the exact date of his death remains private. It was reported at the time that three of the plant's six nuclear reactors went into meltdown and released radioactive materials. The soil and water in the region still contains high levels of radiation which makes the clean-up effort difficult. A total of 300,000 people evacuated the Fukushima area on the east coast with a clean-up expected to take decades and cost more than 18 billion. An investigation panel concluded the disaster had major elements of being 'man-made', and there was a culture of complacency about nuclear safety and poor crisis management. The soil and water in the region still contains high levels of radiation which makes the clean-up effort, which could take decades, difficult An investigation panel concluded the disaster had major elements of being 'man-made', and there was a culture of complacency about nuclear safety and poor crisis management Tokyo Electric is facing a string of legal cases seeking compensation over the disaster. Authorities have been working to rebuild the region, about 150 miles (240 kilometres) north of the capital Tokyo, although areas near the crippled plant remain uninhabitable because of radiation dangers. In an echo of the 2011 disaster at least two people were killed and 32 missing after a 6.7 magnitude quake struck the northern island of Hokkaido just after 3am today. The quake caused landslides and left millions of homes without electricity, with local media reporting at least 120 people had been injured. The island's only nuclear plant, the Tomari Nuclear Power Station, needed backup generators to keep the electricity supply in order to keep fuel rods cool, despite the plant being out of action since the Fukushima disaster. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, seen here with President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will hold talks in Delhi Thursday US President Donald Trump's top two envoys were expected Thursday to press India not to buy Russian military equipment or Iranian oil, while seeking to bolster ties as China grows more assertive in the region. The "2+2" meeting in New Delhi of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with counterparts Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman is the first of its kind. It follows Washington's designation in 2016 of India as a "major defence partner" as the US seeks to turn India into a regional bulwark against China. The talks were first meant to be held in April and then in June but both were postponed, triggering speculation of a rift. Pompeo said on Tuesday, en route for India's arch rival Pakistan, that India was a "true strategic partner" and "very important to our success in our Indo-Pacific strategy". "As the world's largest democracy, we see India taking on a greater regional and global responsibility, a stabilising force," Mattis said. The talks were expected to touch on expanding the scope of joint military exercises. India and the US are also close to signing an agreement that would ensure communications between their two militaries are compatible and secure. But Washington also wants India to distance itself from Russia, notably by stepping back from decades of purchases of Russian military equipment. India, the world's top defence importer, wants to purchase new systems from Moscow, 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. - Russia deal almost done - The Press Trust of India recently quoted an unnamed official as saying the deal was almost done, and that Delhi would be asking for a special sanctions waiver from Trump. However last week, Randall Schriver, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, warned there are no guarantees. "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 told a Washington think tank. India already has bought US Apache attack helicopters and other gear, and is negotiating to buy armed drones. In May, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and said other countries, including India, must stop buying oil from Tehran before November 4 or face US sanctions. India however is highly reliant on Iranian crude imports. Pompeo said on Tuesday that the issues of Russian arms sales and Iranian oil "will certainly come up, but I don't think they will be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here." "There are half-a-dozen things on the agenda that we are really intent on making progress on... They are really about things that are big and strategic and will go on for 20, 40, 50 years." The ultra-conservative former judge from Alabama is seeking $95 million in damages from satirist Sacha Baron Cohen and from the Showtime and CBS networks Former Republican Senate candidate and accused child molester Roy Moore is suing British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for defamation after being pranked on his new show "Who Is America?" The ultra-conservative former judge from Alabama is seeking $95 million in damages from the satirist and from the Showtime and CBS networks, which broadcast an episode featuring him on July 29, according to a copy of the complaint which was filed in a federal court in Washington. Moore said he was duped into coming to the capital in February under false pretenses, to appear on what he thought was an Israeli television station that wanted to give him an award for his pro-Israel stances. He was interviewed by a person he believed to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, Colonel Erran Morad, but who was in reality Cohen. "Defendant Cohen's character falsely and fraudulently introduced a false and fraudulent 'device' supposedly invented by the Israeli Army to detect pedophiles," the complaint said. "During the segment, Defendant Cohen's 'device' -- as part of the false and fraudulent routine -- purports to detect Judge Moore as a sex offender, thus defaming him." During Moore's Senate run last year, several women came forward to accuse Moore of having sexually assaulted or harassed them when he was a state attorney in his thirties and they were in their teens. Despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Moore lost his race to a relatively unknown Democrat, Doug Jones. Moore said he, his wife and their entire family had suffered "severe emotional distress and pain" as a result of the defamatory statements, "especially given his status as a prominent conservative and God fearing person of faith." Federal and state lawmakers have proposed or adopted a series of measures designed to address the problem of missing and murdered Native American women and related issues, such as human trafficking, domestic violence and rape. Among them: FROM CAPITOL HILL - Savanna's Act : The legislation, introduced last fall by North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, seeks to expand tribal access to some federal crime databases and establish protocols for handling cases of missing and murdered Native Americans. It also would require annual reports to Congress on the number of missing and murdered Native American women. The Democratic senator says if authorities have accurate statistics, they might be able to detect patterns that help solve more cases. Last year, Heitkamp also launched the #NotInvisible social media campaign to draw attention to this problem. Kimberly Loring, left, touches her forehead to her little sister, Jonnilyn, 17, as she says goodbye before heading out on a search for their missing sister Ashley with their cousin, Lissa Loring, left, outside their home on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Mont., Wednesday, July 11, 2018. "I'm the older sister. I need to do this," says 24-year-old Kimberly. "I don't want to search until I'm 80. But if I have to, I will." (AP Photo/David Goldman) - End Trafficking of Native Americans Act: The bill , introduced in July by three senators - Heitkamp, Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, and Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat - would expand efforts to combat human trafficking among Native Americans and Alaska Natives. It would establish an advisory committee to make recommendations to the Justice and Interior departments and a coordinator within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to organize prevention efforts across federal agencies. - SURVIVE Act (Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment): This measure would create a tribal grant program within the Justice Department. It would allot 5 percent from a federal crime victims' fund for grants that could be used to help tribes assist survivors of violent crimes and set up programs and services, including rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. The bill was reintroduced last year by Sen. John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, and has several bipartisan co-sponsors. -The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. The Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating the day in memory of Hanna Harris, who was murdered in July 2013 on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. The first day of awareness was May 5, 2017, which would have been Harris' 25th birthday. A woman and her common-law husband pleaded guilty in Harris' death, and both were sentenced to prison. STATE INITIATIVES - WASHINGTON: In June, a law was enacted that requires the Washington State Patrol to conduct a study to examine how to improve the collection and sharing of information about missing Native American women. The study also will develop an estimate of how many Native women are missing in the state. "We don't even know the exact scope of our problem," says State Patrol spokeswoman Monica Alexander. "We have been told there are hundreds ... and nobody is doing anything about it." Patrol officials will travel the state to assess the problem and meet with Native Americans. Washington is home to 29 tribes. The patrol will present a report to the Legislature next June. - MONTANA: The Legislature's State-Tribal Relations Committee heard testimony this spring that could lead to five bills addressing missing persons. These measures were inspired, in part, by discussions about missing and murdered Native American women. One proposal is called Hanna's Act, in remembrance of Hanna Harris. It would authorize the state's Justice Department to assist with the investigation of all missing person cases and employ a specialist who would act as a liaison between families and law enforcement agencies. A second proposal would require law enforcement to accept, without delay, reports of missing persons. Harris' family complained authorities were slow to search for Hanna after they reported her missing. The committee meets Sept. 7 to decide whether to move the proposed legislation forward. - MINNESOTA: A bill to establish a governor's task force to address missing and murdered Native women in the state failed to pass the Legislature this year. But the chief sponsor, state Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein , says she is working with activists to gather data and plans to tweak the measure with additional information and reintroduce it in January. WASHINGTON (AP) - Facebook and Twitter executives plan to defend their companies in two congressional hearings Wednesday, arguing they are aggressively trying to root out foreign actors who want to do the United States harm just weeks before the midterm elections. Twitter's CEO will also face angry Republicans who claim the companies have shown evidence of bias against conservatives. In prepared testimony released ahead of a House hearing Wednesday afternoon, Jack Dorsey says his company does not use political ideology to make decisions. Congress has sharply criticized the social media companies over the last year as it has become clear that they were at the forefront of Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and beyond. That scrutiny has led to additional criticism over the companies' respect for user privacy and whether conservatives are being censored - frustrations that are particularly heightened ahead of the midterms. FILE- This Nov. 19, 2015, file photo shows Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey being interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Dorsey says the company isn't biased against Republicans or Democrats and is working on ways to ensure that debate is healthier on its platform. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) "The companies have made progress, the government has made progress, but the bad guys have made progress as well," said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, which will hear from both companies in the morning on the subject of foreign interference. Warner has proposed a series of ways the companies could be regulated for the first time. The afternoon hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee will feature only Dorsey in a hearing focused on bias and the platform's algorithms. Some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have pushed the idea ahead of the elections that Twitter is "shadow banning" some in the GOP because of the ways search results have appeared. Twitter denies that is happening. Missing from the conversation will be Google, which refused to make its top executive available for the Senate intelligence hearing. The panel invited Larry Page, the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, but the company said it would send a lower-ranking executive instead. The committee rejected that offer, and is expected to have an empty chair at the hearing for Page. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Tuesday that Googledoesn't "understand the problem" if it doesn't want to work with the government to find solutions. The back-and-forth with Google is the latest in a year's worth of attempts by Congress to force the companies to focus more sharply on the Russian interference issue. While Burr says he believes Facebook and Twitter do understand the problem, it took both companies several months last year to acknowledge they had been manipulated. It also underscores how difficult the problem may be to solve. While the companies have made many changes around their policies and have caught and banned hordes of malicious accounts over the past year, their business models - free services that rely on attracting as many users as possible for as long as possible and finding out as much about them as possible - remain the same. Some critics have charged that unless they change this, they will continue to contend with bad actors taking advantage of their systems. In prepared remarks for Wednesday's hearing, Facebook's No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, details many ways the company is addressing the problem but reiterates that the company was slow to spot it. Thirteen Russians were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year on charges of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election by creating fake accounts that pushed divisive issues on social media. In her testimony, Sandberg details ongoing efforts to take down material linked to the Russian agency, including the removal this year of 270 Facebook pages. Still, Sandberg says the company's overall understanding of the Russian activity in 2016 is limited "because we do not have access to the information or investigative tools" that the U.S. government has. "This is an arms race, and that means we need to be ever more vigilant," Sandberg says. Dorsey says Twitter has continued to identify accounts that may be linked to the same Russian internet agency in Mueller's indictment. He says Twitter has so far suspended 3,843 accounts the company believes are linked to the agency, and has seen recent activity. On bias, the Twitter CEO is aggressive in defending his company, saying in the prepared House testimony that he wants to be clear about one thing: "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules." To address the concerns, Dorsey offers an explanation of how Twitter uses "behavioral signals," such as the way accounts interact and behave on the service. Those signals can help weed out spam and abuse. He says such behavioral analysis "does not consider in any way" political views or ideology. Dorsey says the San Francisco-based company is also "committed to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress." Only Dorsey was invited to the House hearing after specific Republican concerns about bias on Twitter. While all three tech companies have been accused of political bias against conservatives, the more public-facing nature of Twitter has made it an especially easy target. Despite the companies' denials, conservatives have continued to push the issue ahead of the 2018 elections. "Sadly, conservatives are too often finding their voices silenced," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement when the hearing was announced. "We all agree that transparency is the only way to fully restore Americans' trust in these important public platforms." OLATHE, Kan. (AP) - A man testified Tuesday that he spent about eight hours cutting up his wife's body after she died at a Missouri hotel because he was afraid authorities would take away his children. Justin Rey, 36, said protecting his family was the reason he didn't call for medical help after his wife delivered a baby at the hotel in October and afterward when she killed herself, The Kansas City Star reported . Investigators later found Rey with his newborn and 2-year-old daughter, along with bags of body parts, at a storage shed in Lenexa, Kansas. Rey is not charged in his wife's death, but faces child endangerment charges in Kansas and Missouri and is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri. He took the unusual step of testifying at his preliminary hearing in Kansas, with defense attorney Zane Todd saying Rey wanted to correct some witness testimony. After Tuesday's hearing, a not guilty plea was entered for Rey to Johnson County, Kansas, charges of two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child's misconduct. "It's something I had to do," Rey testified. "My family is very dear to me. It's something I had to do to protect my family." One officer who met Rey at the storage unit said the 2-year-old appeared unhealthy and "almost looked like she had cancer." The baby had a serious eye infection, according to several witnesses. The children were put in protective custody. Rey has said in the past that his wife died in childbirth, but Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy testified that Rey told her his wife had killed herself. After having his children pose for photographs with her body, Rey said he "skinned her like a fish," Murphy testified. Murphy said Rey flushed body parts that would not fit in containers down the toilet. Deputy Johnson County Coroner Charles Glenn testified that "a number" of stab were wounds found on some parts of Jessica Rey's body but that it wasn't possible to tell whether the injuries were inflicted before or after she died. Rey told the court that he and the children had not been living at the storage locker, as witnesses said, but had been there for only about 11 hours while preparing to travel to Arizona, where he said he intended to give his wife a proper burial. He also said his children were well cared for. "I didn't endanger my children," he testified. "My children were perfectly healthy." Rey also denied flushing anything but a placenta down the toilet. His trial on the Kansas charges was scheduled for Nov. 5. Rey also was charged in November in California in the death of Sean Ty Ferel, a Palm Springs resident who disappeared after vacationing with Rey in 2016. Ferel's body hasn't been found, but his blood was detected in the trunk of his vehicle after Rey was involved in an accident with it months after Ferel disappeared. ___ Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com PHOENIX (AP) - Two advocacy groups alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday that police in Phoenix violated the free-speech rights of protesters outside a rally by President Donald Trump by firing tear gas as they were about to confront Trump supporters. The excessive force lawsuit against the Phoenix Police Department says police didn't try to remove a few problematic anti-Trump protesters and instead acted violently toward a large number of peaceful demonstrators. It also says officers deliberately targeted anti-Trump protesters and showed a preference toward Trump supporters. FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2017 file photo shows smoke billowing after police used tear gas on protesters outside a rally held by President Donald Trump in downtown Phoenix. Two advocacy groups filed an excessive-force lawsuit on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, against the Phoenix Police Department over the conduct of officers during a protest outside the rally. The suit alleges officers deliberately targeted anti-Trump protesters and showed a preference toward Trump supporters. The police department declined to comment on the lawsuit. (AP Photo/Matt York, File) The police agency "silenced anti-Trump protesters at the precise moment that they sought to have their opinions heard by the intended audience - President Trump and his supporters as they left the Convention Center," the lawsuit says. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mercedes Fortune declined to comment on the lawsuit. The protest was held a year ago at a rally where Trump hinted he would pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Trump ally. Arpaio had been convicted of criminal contempt of court for intentionally ignoring a judge's order to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. Days later, the president pardoned Arpaio. The disturbance on the downtown streets didn't start until after Trump's speech inside the Convention Center had ended. It turned unruly as officers fired pepper spray and tear gas at crowds after the police agency said someone apparently lobbed rocks and bottles at officers. It was Trump's first political rally after he made statements equally blaming white supremacists and counter-protesters for violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia. The two advocacy groups, Puente and Poder In Action, alleged in their lawsuit that police didn't formally announce to the protesters that they should disperse from the area until about a half-hour after officers began to use pepper spray, tear gas and other measures. Puente advocates on behalf of immigrants, while Poder in Action has organized protests to raise awareness on issues affecting black, Latino and immigrant communities. Four anti-Trump protesters also joined in on the lawsuit. Those who filed the lawsuit are seeking unspecified damages and a court order restraining Phoenix officers from disrupting people's free-speech rights in the future. The lawsuit notes that some anti-Trump protesters kicked tear gas containers away from their fellow demonstrators, but the overwhelming majority of the demonstrators acted peacefully. ___ Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://bit.ly/2GGWEPO. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on an American soldier killed in Afghanistan (all times local): 8:30 p.m. The Pentagon has identified the soldier killed in Afghanistan Monday in what U.S. officials said was an attack by a member of the Afghan national police. He was identified as Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard, age 42, from Thornton, West Virginia. The Pentagon says Bolyard died of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Logar Province in eastern Afghanistan. The incident is under investigation. Bolyard was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, based at Fort Benning, Georgia. __ 2 p.m. An attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan that killed one American was carried out by a member of the Afghan national police now in Afghan government custody, a U.S. official said Tuesday. It was the second so-called insider attack there this summer. Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the American, whose name has not yet been made public, was killed in eastern Afghanistan by an Afghan policeman. Another U.S. service member was wounded; O'Donnell said that person's wounds are not life threatening. NAURU (AP) - Leaders in the Pacific met this week to forge new agreements on climate change and other pressing regional issues, but it was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her absent baby who stole the limelight. While some people in New Zealand grumbled that Ardern had cost taxpayers thousands of dollars by scheduling an extra flight to the Pacific Islands Forum to minimize time away from her baby, Nauru's President Baron Waqa penned Ardern and 11-week-old Neve a tribute. During a break in an all-day's leaders retreat on Wednesday, Waqa grabbed a guitar and along with a group of elders sang the song he titled "Aotearoa our friend, Jacinda our new star in the sky." The first word is the indigenous Maori name for New Zealand. The lyrics included the line: "A little baby star is born." Nauru President Baron Waqa, left, talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern before the Pacific leaders gather for a photo opportunity during the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) Ardern disputed whether her trip had cost taxpayers anything, saying the military had told her they had a fixed budget which they could use on extra trips like hers or training exercises. "So I have been advised it cost the taxpayer no additional funding," she said. Ardern added she would have been the first New Zealand leader in almost 50 years to miss the forum, aside from those who had been campaigning during an election cycle. "I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't," she said, adding "At the end of the day, I am Prime Minister. I have a job to do." Barry Soper, who writes a column for the New Zealand Herald newspaper, questioned whether the trip was necessary: "If Ardern decided not to go because of baby Neve, surely the family-focused Pacific leaders, more than any others, would have understood." Ardern, 38, in June became just the second elected world leader in modern times to give birth while holding office, after Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto gave birth to daughter Bakhtawar in 1990. The leaders at the forum were signing a new security agreement called the Boe Declaration that identifies climate change as a major threat to security in the Pacific, since low-lying islands might cease to exist if sea levels keep rising. The declaration also addresses crimes such as drug smuggling and illegal fishing that cross borders, as well as cybercrime and health concerns such as communicable diseases and pandemics. The agreement was the centerpiece of the three-day meeting. Earlier Wednesday, Pacific fishing and community groups signed an agreement with the European Union to improve sustainable fishing and ocean governance in the region. Under the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership, the EU will provide 35 million euros ($41 million) and Sweden will provide 10 million euros ($12 million) over five years. The program will provide direct assistance to regional organizations. Tensions over China and refugees ran high at the forum after Nauru on Tuesday accused a Chinese official of bullying and temporarily detained a New Zealand journalist who had been interviewing a refugee. Nauru is home to more than 600 refugees who had tried to reach Australia by boat. The island's economy relies on the money Australia spends on keeping the refugees there. Australia designed the policy of keeping boat refugees and asylum seekers far from its shores to deter more of them from trying to make the voyage, but many critics say the policy violates human rights. Members of Pacific fishing and community groups sign documents during the Pacific Islands Forum in in Nauru, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The groups signed an agreement with the European Union to improve sustainable fishing and ocean governance in the region. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, center, and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, right, speak to the media during the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The Pacific leaders meeting are expected Wednesday to sign a security agreement that addresses climate change and crimes such as drug smuggling and illegal fishing that cross borders. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) Members of Pacific fishing and community groups join hands after signing an agreement during the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The groups signed an agreement with the European Union to improve sustainable fishing and ocean governance in the region. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi, right, chats with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern before Pacific leaders gather for a photo opportunity during the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) Television New Zealand journalist Barbara Dreaver speaks to the media after she was released by Nauru Police in Nauru, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Nauru police detained the journalist for about three hours and revoked her forum accreditation after she interviewed a refugee outside a local restaurant. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP) BOSTON (AP) - Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a moderate seeking a second term in solidly Democratic Massachusetts, fended off a primary challenge Tuesday from conservative minister Scott Lively, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who questioned Baker's commitment to the Republican platform. Baker, who has distanced himself from Trump, will face the winner of the Democratic primary, Jay Gonzalez, in November. He defeated Robert Massie on Tuesday. Polling has shown Baker to be highly popular with voters, including many Democrats, throughout his first term - support he credits in part to his willingness to work with Democratic legislative leaders at the Statehouse. FILE - In this Thursday, July 27, 2017 file photo, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker addresses a gathering at the Statehouse in Boston. Baker defeated Scott Lively in the Sept. 4, 2018, Republican primary and will face Democrat Jay Gonzalez in the November general election. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) Baker has said he did not cast a vote in the 2016 presidential election because he didn't believe Trump had the "temperament" to be president, nor was he a "fan" of Hillary Clinton. He has been a frequent critic of White House policy. Lively, who has called Trump "God's man in the White House," frequently called Baker a RINO - a Republican in name only - but had little money or staff to mount a serious challenge to the well-financed incumbent. Addressing supporters Tuesday night, Baker rattled off a list of what he said were the accomplishments of his administration over the past four years. He said Massachusetts added 180,000 new jobs, eliminated a state budget deficit, increased state funding for public education, and made progress in tackling the opioid addiction crisis, all without raising taxes. "We believe that people in public life can, and should, debate the issues respectfully, and seek common ground whenever possible," Baker said. Gonzalez's background is similar to that of Baker. Before entering politics, each served as state Secretary of Administration and Finance - Gonzalez under former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, and Baker under former Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci. And Gonzalez, like Baker, headed a health insurance company after leaving state government. Gonzalez said Baker needs to do more than just be liked. "I get it, it's a relief to have a governor who seems nice and isn't a crazy right-wing extremist," Gonzalez told supporters. "With Donald Trump setting the bar so low, nice and not crazy seems pretty good. But it's not good enough." The ongoing trouble with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority - better known as the "T'' - was the top issue among voters he met during the campaign. It came under scrutiny during the crippling winter of 2015. He has pledged if elected to fire Keolis, the private firm that currently operates the T's commuter rail network, and end efforts to privatize other aspects of the transit system. Baker says transit service has improved significantly during his term but acknowledges that more needs to be done. Gonzalez's bid for the nomination received a major boost in June when he was endorsed by delegates to the Democratic state convention. Massie, a longtime political and environmental activist, won the endorsement of the Bernie Sanders-inspired Our Revolution group, but struggled to raise cash and was twice forced to take out personal loans to keep his campaign afloat. Baker enters the general election campaign with a sizable financial edge, having raised more than $8 million for his re-election effort and reporting a campaign balance of $6.6 million through mid-August. Gonzalez reported a balance of $367,000. Gonzalez will run in the fall with Quentin Palfrey, a onetime aide to former President Barack Obama who defeated Jimmy Tingle, a comedian, in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Republican Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito ran unopposed. Jay Gonzalez celebrates victory over Bob Massie in the Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Jay Gonzalez celebrates victory over Bob Massie in the Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) The author Following the recent general election, Pakistans nascent democratic system has entered into a new era, as its third democratically elected government takes charge. The country's new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has succeeded in breaking the country's political status quo, forming his government after struggling to do so for 22 years. He marked the beginning of a new political era in Pakistan's history by implementing his first 100-days agenda. In his first address of the nation, a day after assuming office, Khan vowed to transform Pakistan into a true Islamic welfare state with the focus on overcoming foreign debt, austerity, institutional reform, eradication of corruption and retrieving money stashed abroad. Prime Minister Khan has formed an Economic Advisory Council containing leading business and economic experts, to better manage the country's economy. He has promised to create 10 million jobs by boosting the economy and will construct five million new homes for the people. Although the country's general and economic situation vastly improved during the previous governments tenure, the current government still faces a myriad of challenges including an ailing economy, terrorism and extremism, poverty, unemployment and water shortages. The new Prime Minister is also likely to face tough opposition in the coming months, with major political parties set to protest against the alleged rigging in general elections. These opposition parties have jointly demanded to form a parliamentary commission to audit elections. As for the bilateral relations between Pakistan and China, Khan has reiterated his wishes to further strengthen ties. After the party's victory in the 2018 General Election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Twitter account sent out its first message in Chinese to emphasize the close relationship between Pakistan and China. In the tweet, the PTI chief said that he would work to strengthen and improve Pakistans relationship with China. In his victory speech after the 2018 General Election, Khan noted that his government would explore investment opportunities under the umbrella of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is considered a vital plank of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and would also learn from them in regards to poverty alleviation and corruption control. In its manifesto, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, declared that its government will make Pakistan business-friendly and turn the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor into a game-changer by enhancing bilateral relations. The government is ready to take CPEC to the next level with the establishment of nine Special Economic Zones. Minister for Planning, Development & Reform, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, has instructed the authorities to fast-track the processes to ensure early implementation of this important sector of CPEC. Pakistans new government is not oblivious to its responsibilities regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and progress on CPEC projects will continue without any hindrance. The Chinese government also expects the government of Pakistan to continue with their smooth and timely implementation of CPEC projects. It is expected that in the coming weeks high level exchanges involving top level government officials from both sides will be held, to further improve relations between the two governments. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship BRI project, is the largest Chinese investment in Pakistan to date. Often termed as a game changer, the mega-project involves a huge financial inflow into Pakistan to improve infrastructure, energy and trade development as well as create job opportunities. CPEC has already started to benefit Pakistans ailing economy. Due to the completion of energy projects, the countrys severe energy crisis is about to end. Massive infrastructure projects are improving connectivity and new jobs are being created, thus improving the economy. After the establishment of industrial zones, it is believed that the process of industrialization in Pakistan will begin, further strengthening the economy of Pakistan. Successful implementation of CPEC projects will further increase the country's GDP, which is currently 5.8 percent, and bring social and economic development to the country. The implementation of CPEC projects is sure to create win-win outcomes, bringing massive benefits for both countries and the region in the future. The author is a researcher and journalist working for Independent News Pakistan. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, in an effort to answer lingering questions about trips he took that are being investigated by the state's ethics commission, released receipts on Monday that he says show he paid for his travel. Gillum, who last week won the Democratic primary for Florida governor, met Tuesday with investigators from Florida's ethics commission to discuss the trips to Costa Rica and New York City. The commission inquiry is separate from an ongoing FBI investigation into city government, but there are links between the two. In a statement, Gillum maintained he was being open and repeated his promise to cooperate with the FBI. He knocked his Republican opponent Ron DeSantis for being a critic of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia's interference in U.S. elections and whether President Donald Trump or his close allies colluded with Russia. FILE - This July 18, 2018, file photo shows Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum speaking during a Democratic gubernatorial debate held at Florida Gulf Coast University's Cohen Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Gillum, in an effort to answer lingering questions about trips he took that are being investigated by the state's ethics commission, released receipts on Monday, Sept. 3, 2018, that he says show he paid for his travel. Gillum, who last week won the Democratic primary for Florida governor, met Tuesday with investigators from Florida's ethics commission to discuss the trips to Costa Rica and New York City. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File "The FBI has a job to do - and whether it's Washington, D.C., or Florida, Congressman DeSantis and President Trump should allow the agency to do its work," said Gillum. "Here in Florida, we've done everything we can to aid the agency, while Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have done the exact opposite - demonizing the FBI and making the case that collusion is not a crime." But the disclosures released by the Gillum campaign do not include all expenses related to the two trips that Gillum took in 2016 before the FBI probe became public. A Tallahassee businessman filed an ethics complaint once the trips were revealed. Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for DeSantis, said that "these receipts do nothing to shed light on his luxury trips to Costa Rica and New York City with lobbyists and undercover FBI agents. In fact, they simply raise more questions about Gillum's ongoing involvement. The people of Florida deserve answers, and Andrew Gillum keeps refusing to provide them." Gillum has said he has talked to the FBI and that he is not the target of an investigation. The first open knowledge of the probe came in June 2017 when a federal grand jury subpoenaed five years of records from Tallahassee and a local redevelopment agency that involved high-profile projects and developers, including an ally of Gillum. The FBI earlier this year asked for more records, dealing primarily with an upscale restaurant that is located in a city-owned building. The Edison received $2 million in financial assistance from the city and the local community redevelopment agency. One of the owners of the restaurant was lobbyist Adam Corey, who once served as Gillum's campaign treasurer and has known him since college. Gillum vacationed at a luxury resort in Costa Rica in May 2016 with Corey, as well as another investor in the Edison. During that trip, Corey set up a meeting between Gillum and FBI undercover agents. Gillum said he paid for the cost of the resort in cash and produced bank records to show he withdrew $400 to pay for his share of the $1,400-a-night villa that was shared by several couples. He also produced credit card expenses showing other trip expenses. During the New York trip, Gillum met with Corey and undercover agents and attended a showing of the Broadway show "Hamilton." Gillum produced a hotel bill for two nights, but said he spent a third night in a hotel room rented by his brother. He said his brother, Marcus Gillum, gave him the Broadway ticket and that he learned later his brother swapped a concert ticket with Corey to get the "Hamilton" ticket. Geoff Burgan, a spokesman for Gillum, said he did not know the value of the two swapped tickets. He also said that the New York airfare was paid by People for the American Way, who was Gillum's employer at the time. The campaign did not produce a receipt for the air travel. Christopher Kise, an attorney for Corey, disputed the account given by Gillum. He said that Corey won the Costa Rica lodging through a charity auction and "to date Mr. Corey has not received any cash from the mayor." He added that Corey did not purchase the Hamilton ticket or swap it for a concert ticket. "The idea that Marcus Gillum would have exchanged something for the Hamilton ticket is nonsense," Kise said. Gillum's campaign on Tuesday contended that the investigation is focused on "another elected official." In February, a federal search warrant was accidentally made public on a court website and detailed that the FBI launched its corruption investigation in 2015 and that agents posed as out-of-town real-estate developers and medical marijuana entrepreneurs in order to gain access to various city officials. The warrant stated that agents were focusing on City Commissioner Scott Maddox, a former head of the Florida Democratic Party, and his former chief of staff and whether Maddox was paid to help out businesses seeking help from the city. He has denied any wrongdoing. BOSTON (AP) - Ayanna Pressley is all but assured of becoming the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, the latest example of the Democratic Party's embrace of diversity and progressive politics as the recipe for success in the Trump era. The 44-year-old's upset victory against longtime Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano in Tuesday's primary sets the stage for Pressley to represent an area once served by Tip O'Neill and John F. Kennedy. Her win comes at the tail end of a primary season in which black politicians have made a series of advances. In nearby Connecticut, Jahana Hayes is on track to become that state's first black woman to win a congressional seat if she prevails in November. And black politicians in three states - Florida, Georgia and Maryland - have won the Democratic nomination for governor, a historic turn for a country that has elected just two black governors in U.S. history. Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley celebrates victory over U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., in the 7th Congressional House Democratic primary, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Greeting voters at a Boston polling station, Pressley spoke of "the ground shifting beneath our feet and the wind at our backs." "This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy," she told reporters. "This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life." For Pressley, as with many other ascendant candidates of color, unabashedly progressive credentials smoothed her path to victory in the primary. No Republicans were running, so only a write-in campaign in November could possibly stand between her and Washington. She was endorsed by fellow congressional upstart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who knocked off veteran Rep. Joe Crowley of New York in June. Pressley backs Medicare-for-all, the single-payer healthcare proposal, which helped her garner backing from Our Revolution, the offshoot of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. Pressley called for defunding the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, which helped her draw support from Massachusetts' popular attorney general, Maura Healey, who's gained a national following for repeatedly suing President Donald Trump in an attempt to block his policies on immigration, gun control and other issues. "We have to be disruptive in our democracy and our policymaking and how we run and win elections," she said in an interview this summer with The Associated Press, adding that Ocasio-Cortez's victory challenged "narratives about who has a right to run and when, and who can win" in American politics. "My mother did not raise me to ask for permission to lead," she added. Pressley tapped into growing cries within the Democratic Party for newer, more diverse leadership. She and Ocasio-Cortez both defeated older, white congressmen who were reliable liberal votes, but who didn't look like many voters in their districts. "With so much at stake in the era of Trump, tonight's results make clear what Ayanna Pressley knew when she boldly launched her campaign against a ten-term incumbent: Change in the country and Congress can't wait," said Jim Dean, chair of the liberal group Democracy for America. The district she's competing in includes a wide swath of Boston and about half of Cambridge as well as portions of neighboring Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, Somerville and Milton. It includes both Cambridge's Kendall Square - development there is booming - and the neighborhood of Roxbury, the center of Boston's traditionally black community. Pressley has bristled at the notion that race was a defining issue in her campaign. "I have been really furious about the constant charges being lobbed against me about identity politics that, by the way, are only lobbed against women and candidates of color," she said in one debate. "I happen to be black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both, but that is not the totality of my identity." Massachusetts' last Democratic primary upset came in 2014, when Seth Moulton defeated Rep. John Tierney in the state's 6th Congressional District. ___ Associated Press writers William J. Kole in Boston and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report. MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - The Latest on Tropical Depression Gordon (all times local): 12:30 p.m. Tropical Depression Gordon is piling up huge rainfall totals in parts of the South, including more than 10 inches (25 centimeters) in the Florida Panhandle. Trucks with the Alabama Department of Transportation work to block off a flooded part of US Highway 98 while fighting rain from Tropical Storm Gordon on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Spanish Fort, Ala. Tropical Storm Gordon never became a hurricane but it was deadly all the same, as it made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) The Southeast Regional Climate Center reports that about 10.5 inches (26.6 centimeters) fell at Florida's Pensacola International Airport. The National Weather Service says that number will rise as rain continues to fall. The Weather Service says the heaviest rain fell to the east of Gordon's center, which came ashore in the Pascagoula, Mississippi, area. That means the most impressive rainfall totals so far have been in southern Alabama and in the Florida Panhandle. In Baldwin County, Alabama, rainfall estimates by mid-day Wednesday ranged from about 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) to 7.1 inches (18 centimeters) in one spot. ___ 11:45 a.m. A dozen Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos have been given permission to re-open a day after the threat of severe tropical weather forced them to close. Wednesday's announcement from gambling regulators was the latest sign of things getting back to normal on Mississippi's coast. Tropical Storm Gordon came ashore just west of the Alabama line, then weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday as it moves north. The remnants are expected to pose a heavy rain and flood threat as it moves toward Arkansas and the Great Lakes region. The storm has been blamed for the death of a baby who was killed when a tree limb fell on a mobile home in the Florida panhandle. ___ 11:05 a.m. Neighbors of a Florida child killed in a mobile home as Tropical Storm Gordon moved ashore say the victim was about 10 months old. The child died in a Florida panhandle mobile home that was struck by a falling tree limb late Tuesday. Neighbor Michael Barradas told The Pensacola News-Journal he heard a loud crack and ran out of his nearby mobile home to ask if everything was all right. The child's mother replied: "No, my baby's in there." Barradas said he ran back inside his home to get a flashlight, but by the time he got to the neighbor's home the baby had stopped crying. Escambia County emergency workers used chain saws to get to the baby. The child's name had not been released as of Wednesday morning. ___ 10:40 a.m. Utility firms say more than 24,000 customers in Alabama and Mississippi remain without power following the landfall of Tropical Storm Gordon. Alabama Power says 13,700 customers in the greater Mobile area remained without power late Wednesday morning. More than 48,000 customers lost power at some point during the storm. In Mississippi, emergency officials say about 11,000 are without power statewide. Gordon came ashore Tuesday night just west of the Alabama-Mississippi state line. It weakened into a tropical depression but heavy rain and flooding remains a possibility in the western Florida Panhandle, southwest Alabama and central Mississippi. Arkansas, Missouri, southern Iowa and Illinois also are expected to get heavy rains as Gordon moves inland. Gordon was blamed for the death of a child in a Florida mobile home. ___ 10:15 a.m. Flooding remains the major concern as Tropical Depression Gordon could dump a foot or more of rain before the remnants of the storm are finished pushing through Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The National Weather Service in Mobile said Wednesday morning that Pensacola got 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rainfall. Flash flood warnings were issued for several counties in south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. ___ 9 a.m. Jason Beaman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says there was an unconfirmed report of a tornado overnight near Pace, Florida, as Tropical Storm Gordon hit the area. Beaman said they did yet know of any damage associated with it and were trying to get more details on it. Gordon weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday morning and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland. ___ 8:05 a.m. Officials in Florida's Escambia County haven't yet released the identity of a child killed when a large oak tree limb fell onto a mobile home near Pensacola as Tropical Storm Gordon skirted the Florida Panhandle. In an email sent Wednesday morning, officials said the county received 10 calls overnight for downed trees in roadways, along with multiple reports of regarding arcing power lines. The county's emergency operations center noted peak wind gusts of 61 mph (98 kph). Officials are warning beachgoers of dangerous rip currents in the Gulf of Mexico. Beaches in the area are flying red flags, which means it is illegal to enter the Gulf. Crews are also assessing roadways and bridges following a night of wind and rain. Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland. ___ 7:25 a.m. Utility firms say thousands of customers remain without power as bands of rain from Gordon continued to soak some areas. Alabama Power said that by 7 a.m. CDT, about 21,000 customers were without power, mostly in the Mobile metro area. The majority of the outages across the region were in Alabama. Alabama Power said in an update on the power outages that its crews were working in areas where it was safe for them to do so. Mississippi Power said on its website that only about 275 customers remained without power at 7:15 a.m. CDT. At the height of the storm, more than 27,000 customers across the region were without electricity, mostly in coastal Alabama, southeast Mississippi and the western tip of the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola. Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland. ___ 7:25 a.m. The mayor of Dauphin Island - a barrier island off the Alabama coast - says about half of the community remained without power as dawn broke Wednesday. Mayor Jeff Collier says the causeway that connects the island to the mainland remained open all night as Tropical Storm Gordon swirled overhead, despite some driftwood and other debris the ocean hurled onto the roadway. In a telephone interview from his house, which had no power around dawn Wednesday, the mayor said town officials were preparing to visit the island's west end. That's where most of the power outages were. He said he's heard no reports of any significant emergencies or any widespread damage on the island. Collier said "it sounds like, for the most part, we did OK." Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland. ___ 7:10 a.m. Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression over central Mississippi after hitting the Gulf Coast as a tropical storm. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm's maximum sustained winds decreased Wednesday morning to near 35 mph (55 kph) with additional weakening expected as it moves inland. Gordon never became a hurricane before making landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border late Tuesday. But it was still deadly, killing a child when a tree was blown onto a mobile home in Florida. Forecasters say the threat of heavy rains and flooding continues along with the possibility of a tornado. ___ 6 a.m. Rain is still falling in Mobile, Alabama, in the wake of Tropical Storm Gordon and the power is out in places, but the lights are on at a Waffle House restaurant where factory worker Jerome Richardson was happy to get breakfast. He said his lights went out at about 9 p.m. as Gordon moved in from the coast, and he was still without electricity as he left for work. He says he hopes he doesn't have to throw out everything in his refrigerator when he comes home from his 12-hour shift. Driftwood and other debris on the causeway made for a hazardous trip to nearby Dauphin Island, where a storm surge submerged streets with seawater overnight. ___ 4:45 a.m. Forecasters say remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon could cause flash flooding across parts of seven states - as far north as southern Iowa - in coming days. In its latest update before dawn Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center says the storm is expected to leave total rain amounts of 4-8 inches (10-20 centimeters) in the Florida panhandle and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. The Hurricane Center says that isolated amounts of 12 inches (30 centimeters) will be possible in parts of the region through early Saturday. Though Gordon is expected to weaken to a tropical depression sometime Wednesday morning, forecasters say tornadoes will still be possible Wednesday and Wednesday night in Mississippi and western Alabama. ___ 3:45 a.m. Tropical Storm Gordon spawned multiple possible tornadoes as it came ashore late Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings in south Alabama and the Florida panhandle after radar indicated possible twisters associated with the storm. There were not any immediate damage reports. While not hurricane strength, the tropical system downed trees, flooded roadways and brought heavy rainfall as it moved inland Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service in Mobile cautioned that the Styx River near Elsanor, Alabama, could reach moderate, and possibly major, flood stage later Wednesday. ___ 2:45 a.m. A child has died in Florida in what could be Gordon's first storm-related death. The Escambia County Sheriff's office posted on its Facebook page late Tuesday that deputies responded to a call that a tree had fallen on a mobile home in Pensacola. Upon their arrival they found a child deceased. The post says no one else in the home was injured. The name and age of the child were not released. Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. Gordon formed Monday morning near the Florida Keys. ___ 10:00 p.m. The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Gordon has made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. The Miami-based forecasting center said Tuesday that Gordon struck about 10 p.m. Gordon formed Monday morning near the Florida Keys. Gordon's maximum sustained winds were 70 mph (110 kilometers). It never achieved hurricane status. The storm is forecast to quickly weaken as it moves inland across Mississippi, Louisiana and into Arkansas through Thursday. The last hurricane to strike the U.S. was Nate, which came ashore in Biloxi, Mississippi, last October. Forecasters say 4 to 8 inches (10-20 centimeters) of rain could fall along the storm's track. Flash flood watches have been issued. ___ 7 p.m. The National Hurricane Center says Gordon has begun hurling tropical storm-force winds onshore along the Alabama and western Florida Panhandle coastline. The Miami-based forecasting center said the core of Tropical Storm Gordon was still about 75 miles (125 kilometers) southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi as of 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday. That's also about 70 miles (115 kilometers) south of Mobile, Alabama. Forecasters say the storm could become a hurricane before expected landfall sometime Tuesday night along the north-central Gulf Coast. Hurricane Nate was the last hurricane to strike the U.S., making landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, last October. Forecasters say Gordon, after some strengthening late Tuesday, now packs top sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph). It's moving to the northwest toward the coast at 14 mph (22 kph). ___ An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that a tornado had been confirmed in Florida. A flooded parking lot sits near a shutdown portion of US Highway 98 from Tropical Storm Gordon on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Spanish Fort, Ala. Tropical Storm Gordon never became a hurricane but it was deadly all the same, as it made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) Crew members with the Alabama Department of Transportation work to block off a flooded part of US Highway 98 while fighting rain from Tropical Storm Gordon on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Spanish Fort, Ala. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) Summer Ranaldson walks to her car in the rain as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Mobile, Ala. Tropical-force winds from fast-moving Gordon smashed into the coastline of Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle on Tuesday evening, the frontal edge of a system just offshore that forecasters warned could become a hurricane by the time it makes landfall. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) Summer Ranaldson walks to her car in the rain as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018 in Mobile, Ala. Tropical-force winds from fast-moving Gordon smashed into the coastline of Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle on Tuesday evening, the frontal edge of a system just offshore that forecasters warned could become a hurricane by the time it makes landfall. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) Manuel Arias walks with a guard dog, Toto, past boats that were dry-docked inland in preparation for Tropical Storm Gordon, expected to make landfall as a hurricane later in the evening, in Pass Christian, Miss., Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Lauren Dueitt, left, and John Payne, 6, right, play in the high tide waters caused by Tropical Storm Gordon on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Dauphin Island, Ala. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) John Cunningham, left, and Hunter Shows, right, watch the waves crash from Tropical Storm Gordon on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Dauphin Island, Ala. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) Laura Cunningham, 10,left, Hunter Shows, center, and Brandon Perry, 10, right, watch the waves crash from Tropical Storm Gordon on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018 in Dauphin Island, Ala. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minneapolis police report says the arrest of Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong, founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, was over a felony rape accusation. The report doesn't provide details of the alleged incident. No charges have been filed against the billionaire, also known as Richard Liu. Jail records show he was arrested Friday in Minneapolis. He was released Saturday. JD.com official Zhang Shuhan said Monday that Liu was back in China. In a statement Sunday, JD.com said Liu was falsely accused while in the U.S. on a business trip, and that police investigators found no misconduct. A spokeswoman for the University of Minnesota said Liu, who is enrolled as a student with the Carlson School of Management's doctor of business administration China program, was in Minneapolis to attend a residency from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Brazil's National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism's oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. Questions about the fate of the scrolls had swirled since Sunday night's blaze at the museum, which used to be the home of Brazil's royal family. Amid an ongoing investigation and unable to access much of the now destroyed museum, officials have been reluctant to give any account of how specific artifacts fared in the fire or disclose information on other material that may have been in other locations. "The Torah is being kept in a safe place," according to a museum statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, adding it had been removed nearly two years ago. The statement did not say where it had been transferred. Vultures fly over Brazil's National Museum days after a fire tore through the structure in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Brazil's National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism's oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) A spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in the capital Brasilia said it didn't have more information on the Torah, Judaism's holy book. Brazilian scholars have said the scrolls originated in Yemen and possibly date back to the 13th century. The museum's website says the nine scrolls, written in Hebrew, were acquired in the early 19th century by the country's last monarch, Dom Pedro II. The website, which had apparently not been updated, also said the scrolls were not part of an exhibit, but rather kept in a safe in the director's office. Avraham Beuthner, from the Jewish organization Beit Lubavitch in Rio de Janeiro, told the AP that university officials told him the Torah was being housed at a university library near the museum. The museum is part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Beuthner said he had been fielding calls from Jews in Israel and several Latin American countries since the fire inquiring about the scrolls. "Thank God it's safe," he said, adding that university officials had promised to soon allow Jewish community leaders to see where the Torah is being held. The good news came as museum officials said they feared as much as 90 percent of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might have been lost in the fire. Aerial photos of the main building showed only heaps of rubble and ashes in the parts of the building where the roof collapsed. Firefighters on Tuesday "found fragments of bones in a room where the museum kept many items, including skulls," said Cristiana Serejo, the museum's deputy director. "We still have to collect them and take them to the lab to know exactly what they are." In its collection of about 20 million items, one of the most prized possessions is a skull called Luzia, which is among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas. Serejo told reporters Wednesday that several countries, including France and Germany, had offered help with recovery efforts and some rebuilding. She said that researchers could get into the museum as soon as next week, but it will depend on how fast federal police could finish their investigation. "We are in line to get in there," she said. With the cause of the fire still under investigation, the disaster has led to a series of recriminations amid accusations that successive governments haven't sufficiently funded the museum, and it has raised concerns that other institutions might be at risk. Officials have said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repair. On Wednesday, state firefighting officials said in a statement the museum didn't have certification that it was up to code - another indication of negligence. "It's the responsibility of building administrators to comply with the laws," the statement read. A UNESCO group of specialists in recovery and reconstruction are expected to arrive in Brazil next week, according Maria Edileuza Fontele Reis, the organization's Brazilian ambassador in Paris. The group "has experience working with pieces of national heritage in areas of war, such as in Iraq, and areas impacted by fire," Fontele Reis told the AP in a phone interview. ____ Associated Press journalist Diarlei Rodrigues contributed to this report. ___ This story corrects in the penultimate paragraph that Fontele Reis is UNESCO's Brazilian ambassador in Paris. The sky can be seen through the windows of Brazil's National Museum after a fire tore through it in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Brazil's National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism's oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Federal police investigate the cause of the fire that tore through Brazil's National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Officials have said as much as 90 percent of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might have been lost in a fire that broke out Sunday. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Federal police investigate the cause of the fire that tore throught Brazil's National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Officials have said as much as 90 percent of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might have been lost in a fire that broke out Sunday. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows wooden armor originating from Vancouver, British Columbia, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a mummified head produced by the Jivaro of the Ecuadorian Amazon, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The famous heads shrunk by the so-called "people of the waterfall" were prepared in complex rituals and had a deep spiritual significance. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows an a speciman of the Macrodontia cervicornis beetle, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The long-horned beetle, an endangered species, can exceed 6 inches in length. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a miniature Inca tunic worn by a silver or gold idol that served as an offering in sacrificial events, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. This type of garment was used exclusively in festivities known as capacochas, in which children were sacrificed. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a green stone frog pendant originating from Obidos, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. These common frogs have long been considered powerful amulets against all kinds of evil. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a Munduruku hooded feather cloak at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The Munduruku live in the Amazon River basin. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP)(Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a representation of the Egyptian dwarf god Bes, circa 350 A.C., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Bes the patron of childbirth was present in Egyptian homes, both rich and poor. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a statue representing a woman, circa 1000 to 1400 A.D., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a Peruvian Moche bird-shaped vase , at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a Peruvian Moche ceramic instrument, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows bronze mirror handles dating back to the 6th century A.C., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The mirror on the right represents Kouros, a greek sculpture that represents youth. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a tripod glass vase originating from Pompeii, circa 1 A.D., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a Para ceramic piece of a sitting man circa 1,000 a 1,400 A.D., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a nocturnal bird known as the giant potoo, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. These birds choose a trunk that resembles their body and spend the whole day absolutely still so that they go unnoticed by the daytime predators. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a priestess/princess Takushit statue dating to 730 B.C., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows an ancient Egyptian gold leaf funeral mask dating to 304 B.C., at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows an Egyptian mummified cat, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, Sept. 2, 2018, and officials have said much of Latin America's largest collection of treasures might be lost. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a rare zoomorphic sculpture, probably in phyllite or shale, produced by Amazonian ceramic artisans, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The two circular and parallel holes in the center of the piece are recurrent in the stone idols found in Trombetas River region. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) This undated handout photo provided by Brazil's National Museum shows a 19th century rare Swahili comb, at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Believed to be made with ebony, dark wood type. Used among the Swahili-speaking people of the eastern coast of Africa. (Museu Nacional Brasil via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump unloaded Wednesday against an explosive new book from journalist Bob Woodward, labeling the tell-all memoir "a work of fiction" as West Wing staff scrambled to rebut its vivid depictions of White House dysfunction. "The book means nothing," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He said the early release of information from the book this week was designed to interfere with confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, "which I don't think it's done." Venting for a second day, Trump tweeted that "Fear: Trump in the White House" was the "exact opposite of the fact." He also revisited a call to change libel laws, though he has no authority to do so. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) The book features current and former aides calling the president an "idiot" and a "liar" and depicting him as prone to rash policy decisions that aides worked furiously to derail or stall. Within the West Wing, aides increasingly numb to drama still were shaken by the in-depth reporting, which included interviews with numerous aides and copies of internal memos. The White House press office appeared caught off guard when The Washington Post published a story about the book on Tuesday, a week before its Sept. 11 release date. The office was unable to quickly procure an advance copy of the book. Key allies have pushed back against the book, which quotes Trump aides disparaging the president's judgment and claiming they plucked papers off his desk to prevent him from withdrawing from a pair of trade agreements. Those issuing denials, at least in part, included Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and chief of staff John Kelly. Underscoring the aggressive response, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted Wednesday that Woodward "got played," adding that "most of these stories are made up from low confidence under performing people that have fallen flat on their faces because they didn't have the talent or intelligence to be successful." In a statement to the Post, Woodward said, "I stand by my reporting." He did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders evaded questions Wednesday on Fox News about whether it was a mistake for the communications department not to have Trump sit for an interview with Woodward. Trump and Woodward spoke after the book was sent to the publisher. In a transcript and audio of the call released by the Post, Woodward tells Trump he made repeated efforts to get an interview, while a clearly irritated Trump says he would have participated if he had known. Allies said some of the ire in Trump's orbit was focused on former staffers such as ex-staff secretary Rob Porter and onetime economic adviser Gary Cohn, who are sympathetically portrayed. "I don't think Woodward made anything up. It's who he talked to," said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, adding that Cohn and Porter "look like unsung heroes." Trump and aides pushed back on a series of incendiary scenes in the book, including Kelly calling the White House "crazytown," Mattis telling associates Trump had the understanding of "a fifth- or sixth-grader" and Cohn plucking key documents off Trump's desk so he could not sign them. Trump took to Twitter to deny the book's claim that he had called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and "a dumb Southerner." Trump insisted he "never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff," adding that "being a southerner is a GREAT thing." Sessions has been a target of the president's wrath since recusing himself from the Russia investigation. While Trump mentioned libel laws, Sanders said on Fox News that she hadn't spoken with Trump about filing a libel lawsuit. Brian Hauss, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that a threat against libel laws was not "credible." "There is no federal libel law for President Trump to bully Congress to change, and the president does not have the authority to change state libel laws," Hauss said. The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury," which led to a rift between Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist. Bannon spoke with Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Wolff's book attracted attention with its lively anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies. Woodward's work also comes weeks after former White House aide and "Apprentice" contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman published an expose on her time in the West Wing, including audio recordings of her firing by Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Kelly's decision. Woodward has been among the best-selling political writers for more than 40 years, going back to his Watergate classic "All the President's Men," co-written by fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. "Fear" renews a Woodward tradition of releasing a news-making account of a sitting president in the fall of an election season, with previous works including "The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House" and "Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account of the Decision to Invade Iraq," about President George W. Bush. On Amazon, Woodward's new book was ranked as the top-selling book on Wednesday. ___ Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Ken Thomas and Eric Tucker in Washington and Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report. FILE - This June 11, 2012 file photo shows former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward speaking during an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Watergate in Washington. Details are starting to come out from journalist Bob Woodward's forthcoming book on President Donald Trump's first 18 months in office. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file) President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, left, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during an expanded bilateral meeting with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats looking to win the battle of public opinion over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are essentially accusing Republicans of concealing evidence to ensure his confirmation before the midterm election. The strategy was front-and-center as Kavanaugh's hearing got underway Tuesday, with Democrats immediately calling on the committee to adjourn. They characterized the hearing as a "charade and mockery of our norms." Meanwhile, Republicans pointed to the huge number of documents released, the most ever for a Supreme Court nominee, to make the case that the review of Kavanaugh is "the most thorough and transparent confirmation process in history." Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., right, and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee appeal to Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to delay the confirmation hearing of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A look at what the two sides are fighting about: ___ WHAT RECORDS ARE SENATORS REVIEWING? The Senate Judiciary Committee has been able to review the more than 300 legal opinions Kavanaugh has authored and the hundreds more he has joined as a circuit court judge. Republicans argue that those opinions are the most relevant records for determining a nominee's judicial philosophy and fitness to serve on the nation's highest court. But Kavanaugh's paper trail goes beyond that, as he also worked in the George W. Bush White House and for independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the investigation of President Bill Clinton. The Judiciary Committee has reviewed tens of thousands of documents from Kavanaugh's work for Starr, including a memo he wrote urging lawyers on Starr's team to ask aggressive and graphic questions of Clinton concerning his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Another 267,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents from his time working in the Bush White House have been made public, with another 215,000 provided for viewing only by committee members. ___ WHAT RECORDS HAVE NOT BEEN PROVIDED TO THE COMMITTEE? Kavanaugh worked some five years in the Bush White House, first as legal counsel and then as staff secretary. It's those records that are at the center of the dispute. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa declined to request Kavanaugh's staff secretary records, which cover a 35-month period of Kavanaugh's work that he has described as "among the most interesting and most formative" in his career. The Trump administration is also withholding more than 100,000 pages of Brett Kavanaugh's records from his tenure as legal counsel on the basis that disclosing the records would disrupt the functions or decision-making processes of the executive branch. Democrats denounced that decision Tuesday, saying there is no basis for those documents to be held back. ___ WHY ARE REPUBLICANS MOVING AHEAD? Grassley describes the documents sought by Democrats as "the least useful in understanding his legal views and the most sensitive" when it comes to the inner workings of the executive branch. Grassley says reviewing Kavanaugh's staff secretary documents would "teach us nothing about his legal views." For that, senators should rely on Kavanaugh's legal opinions, speeches and articles, Grassley says. ___ WHAT DO DEMOCRATS SAY ABOUT THE PROCESS? Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said about 4 percent of Kavanaugh's White House records have been posted for the public to view and about 7 percent have been made available to the committee. That compares to 99 percent of Justice Elena Kagan's records from her years at the White House being made available. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said there is a "35-month black hole" in Kavanuagh's career from which senators have been denied any and all documents. Democrats have attacked the records production on two fronts. They're raising the question of whether Republicans are trying to hide something in Kavanaugh's record. They're also asserting that the Senate is "phoning in" its responsibility to carefully vet judicial nominees, calling the process a "sham." ___ ARE MORE RECORDS COMING IN? Yes. The committee received 42,000 pages of documents Monday night. Democrats asserted that the lack of time to review those documents made the notion of properly vetting them "laughable." The National Archives is also preparing to release more than 1 million documents from Kavanaugh's time in the White House counsel's office. But Archives says the review of those records will not be finished until the end of October. Republicans hope to confirm Kavanaugh by Oct. 1, the first day of the Supreme Court's new term. CHICAGO (AP) - Several dozen would-be jurors reported to a courthouse Wednesday and were told by a judge they might be asked to decide whether a Chicago police officer committed murder when he shot and killed black teenager Laquan McDonald. Nearly four years after Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the 17-year-old and nearly three years after the city was forced to release police video of the shooting, the first phase of Van Dyke's trial started with the distribution of questionnaires to prospective jurors to fill out before attorneys question them in their effort to select a jury. That questioning is expected to begin next week. The potential jurors were not told officially before they arrived at the courthouse what trial they might be selected for. But they had to walk past a crowd of protesters and a small army of law enforcement officers outside the courthouse on the city's South Side before the judge told them what case they'd been called for. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks into the courthouse, Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of Dyke who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty; his attorneys have contended that he was in fear for his life. McDonald was shot 16 times. Video shows Van Dyke opened fire as McDonald walked away from police with a knife in his hand. Van Dyke's attorneys have also filed a motion asking that the trial be moved out of Chicago, arguing that extensive publicity has made it impossible for the officer to get a fair trial in the city where the video sparked massive protests. Judge Vincent Gaughan has said he will decide on the change of venue motion after he hears from potential jurors during jury selection. Van Dyke's attorneys have also put off announcing whether they want a jury or the judge alone to decide the case. The attorneys do not have to decide whether they want a jury trial or what is called a bench trial until the 12th juror is sworn in. FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2014 file image taken from dash-cam video provided by the Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald, right, walks down the street moments before being fatally shot by Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white Chicago police officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Chicago Police Department via AP, File) The Rev. Marvin Hunter, Laquan McDonald's great-uncle, walks with family into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Laquan McDonald's mother, Tina Hunter, walks with family into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 in Chicago. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old McDonald in 2014. The trial begins Wednesday with jury selection. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) FILE - In this May 4, 2018 file photo, Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke attends a hearing for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white Chicago police officer who killed the black teenager McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool) CHICAGO (AP) - Rahm Emanuel, whose tumultuous tenure as Chicago mayor included an infamous police shooting and a surge in violent crime, said in a surprise announcement that he would abandon his plan to seek a third term next year but gave no reason for the sudden change of heart. Emanuel also led the effort to conduct the largest mass closing of neighborhood schools in American history and is credited with helping to stabilize the city's finances through politically unpopular increases in taxes and fees. The 58-year-old former White House chief of staff known for his pugnacious political style said only that he and his wife "look forward to writing that next chapter in our journey together." With wife Amy Rule by his side, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, he will not seek a third term in office at a press conference on the 5th floor at City Hall in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP) "This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime," the mayor said, reading prepared remarks at a news conference Tuesday where he was joined at the podium by his wife. He held her hand throughout the announcement. Before becoming mayor in 2011, Emanuel was a Democratic congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama. In winning the city's top office, he succeeded Richard M. Daley, who was mayor for more than 20 years, and won a second term in 2015. Emanuel had been running and raising money for months in preparation for the February election. The Chicago Tribune said he had already amassed more than $10 million to campaign for another four-year term. His announcement came the day before the start of jury selection for one of the biggest police-shooting trials in Chicago history, a case that seemed sure to renew questions about the city's long effort to prevent the release of video showing white officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014. Many people asked whether Emanuel's office delayed releasing the video to lessen the political damage. "Imagine this trial is starting and what happened is going to get rehashed over and over and over again while you are in campaign mode," said Delmarie Cobb, a media and political consultant and a vocal critic of the mayor. David Axelrod, a friend of Emanuel's who worked with him in Obama's White House, disagreed. He said Emanuel told him of his decision not to run over the weekend. "I think he was aware of the timing of the trial, and he was also aware of what he did and didn't do. And I think he was comfortable about that," Axelrod said. "His concerns ... were about his own level of energy and freshness." A verdict in the officer's favor or a hung jury could prompt another crisis in the city, angering many Chicagoans, inviting large protests and creating a volatile political atmosphere. No matter how the trial ends, Emanuel's legacy as mayor will likely be tied to the case. The release of the video led to a Department of Justice investigation of Chicago police, culminating in a damning report last year that found widespread civil rights violations. After the report, he vowed to carry out sweeping police reforms , which has already included fitting all patrol officers with body cameras and non-lethal stun guns. Chicago's violent crime drew national attention throughout Emanuel's second term, with the number of shootings and homicides climbing to levels not seen in nearly two decades and exceeding the bloodshed of any other U.S. city. The number of slayings in each of the last two years was more than twice the total of Los Angeles and New York combined. The mayor clashed several times with President Donald Trump over the gun violence. Soon after becoming president, Trump tweeted that, "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on ... I will send in the Feds!" Emanuel said he welcomed federal help but cautioned against the strictly "tough and rough" approach Trump seemed to advocate. There are now no front-runners in the mayoral race, and Emanuel's departure will almost certainly encourage others to enter it. The twelve candidates declared to date include a former Chicago police superintendent, Garry McCarthy; a former Chicago public schools CEO, Paul Vallas; and Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown. They were all considered longshots. Emanuel has been a profile writer's dream, from his time as a ballet dancer, to the loss of part of a finger while operating a meat-slicing machine at a deli where he once worked. Obama enjoyed linking the incident with Emanuel's fondness for profanity by joking that the loss of his middle finger "rendered him mute for a while." Emanuel once sent a pollster a dead fish, which helped earn him the nickname "Rahmbo." His battle with the teachers union led to a strike in 2012 - the first in a quarter century. To shore up the city's bleak financial situation, he was willing to do something no American mayor had ever done before: close 50 schools at once. The mayor several times referred to his family Tuesday, noting that his three kids are now in college. But he stopped short of saying family considerations drove his decision. "Politicians always say they're leaving office to spend more time with their family," he said. "My kids were smart enough to see that coming and scattered to the two coasts. So as of the other day, we are now empty nesters." Emanuel grew up in the ritzy Chicago suburb of Wilmette, the son of an Israeli physician who moved to the United States. His start in politics came after college, when he worked for Sen. Paul Simon's 1984 Senate campaign and Daley's run for mayor in 1989. Then he went to work for a little-known Arkansas governor who wanted to be president. His fundraising skills helped keep Bill Clinton's campaign afloat during some rocky times, particularly the scandal over whether he had slept with Gennifer Flowers. Clinton made him his political director in the new administration, but internal tensions led to his comeuppance a year later, when he was demoted to a policy adviser. Midway through Clinton's second term, Emanuel left for Chicago to work in investment banking. The firm he joined was soon sold, and Emanuel made millions, giving him the financial security to get back into politics. ___ Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, he will not seek a third term in office at a press conference on the 5th floor at City Hall in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP) FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Emanuel announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in 2019. AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File) FILE - In this April 7, 2015, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel celebrates at Plumbers Local 130 Union Hall in Chicago after winning in a runoff election for a second term in office. Emanuel, a Democratic congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama before becoming mayor in 2011, announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he won't seek a third term in 2019. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File) FILE - In this May 16, 2011, file photo, Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, left, and his wife, Amy Rule, look out into the crowd during his inaugural ceremony in Chicago. Emanuel, a Democratic congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama before becoming mayor in 2011, announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he won't seek a third term in 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2010, file photo Rahm Emanuel announces his candidacy for mayor of Chicago at the John C. Coonley School in Chicago. Emanuel, a Democratic congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama before becoming mayor in 2011, announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he won't seek a third term in 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File) Nearly a year after Russian government hackers meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, researchers at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro zeroed in on a new sign of trouble: a group of suspect websites. The sites mimicked a portal for U.S. senators and their staffs. Emails to Senate users urged them to reset their passwords - an apparent attempt to steal them. The attempt to infiltrate the Senate network and others reported recently point to Russia's continued efforts to interfere in U.S. politics, which Moscow official denies. There is no clear evidence, experts said, of Kremlin efforts specifically designed to disrupt elections in November. This combination of 2017-2018 photos shows from left, a Facebook posting from a group named "Being Patriotic" attributed to Russian agents by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri whose campaign was targeted by Russian hackers and voting machines in Chicago after hackers found a way into the voter registration database at the Illinois State Board of Elections in mid-2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, Jeff Roberson, Kiichiro Sato) Still, "we fully realize that we are just one click away of the keyboard from a similar situation repeating itself," Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said in July. Michael McFaul, architect of the Obama administration's Russia policy, has said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin perceives little benefit in major disruption now, preferring to keep his powder dry for the 2020 presidential contest. Experts said it is too late to safeguard U.S. voting systems and campaigns this election cycle. Trump's recent decision eliminating the White House cybersecurity coordinator's post confirmed his lack of interest in countering Russian meddling, critics say. Congress has not delivered any legislation to combat election interference or disinformation. But there is time to take stock of interference that has come to light - and to assess the risks of what we don't know. ____ In mid-2016, hackers got into Illinois' voter registration database. Special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of a dozen Russian intelligence agents this July said the hackers had stolen information on 500,000 voters. It is the most notable case of foreign tampering with U.S. election systems made public. There has been no evidence of efforts to change voter information or tamper with voting machines, but experts caution hackers might have planted unseen malware in systems that could be triggered later. "My unofficial opinion is that we're kind of fooling ourselves if we don't think that they tried to at least make a pass at all 50 states," said Christopher Krebs, the undersecretary for critical infrastructure at the Department of Homeland Security. Before the 2016 general election, Russian agents sent spear-phishing emails to 122 state and local elections officials who were customers of election software vendor VR Systems. At least 21 state systems were probed by the same Russian unit, officials said. But federal officials have moved slowly to share intelligence. As of mid-August, 92 state election officials had been given clearances. Much of the machinery used to collect and tabulate votes is antiquated, built by a handful of unregulated and secretive vendors, the outdated software highly vulnerable to attacks, researchers say. "If someone was able to compromise even a handful of voting machines I think that would be sufficient to cause people to not trust the system," said Sherri Ramsay, a former National Security Agency senior executive. ___ Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, seeking re-election in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump, provided little detail in July when an attempt by Russian hackers to infiltrate her campaign came to light. "While this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this," McCaskill said. The failed hack, which included an attempt to steal the password of at least one McCaskill staffer through a fake Senate login website identified by Microsoft, is the most notable instance of attempted campaign meddling by Russia made public this year. Microsoft executives said recently that the company had detected attempts by Russia's GRU military intelligence agency to hack two senators. Since mid-2017, the group behind that attempt has aggressively targeted political groups, universities, enforcement agencies and others, according to TrendMicro. "Russian hackers appear to be broadening their target set, but I think tying it to the midterm elections is pure speculation at this point," said Michael Connell, an analyst at the federally funded Center for Naval Analyses in Arlington, Virginia. Eric Rosenbach, assistant secretary of defense for global security during the Obama administration and now at Harvard, said Russian intrusion that has come to light may be only a tip to larger, hidden schemes. "There probably have already been compromises of important campaigns in places where it could sway the outcome or undermine trust in the election," Rosenbach said. "We might not see that until the very last moment." ___ By the time a group called "ReSisters" began organizing a rally against white nationalism, it had spent a year sharing left-wing posts. But in late July, Facebook shut down ReSisters' account and 31 others that researchers said echoed Russian troll operations before the 2016 election. Since 2016, we've learned much more about social media infiltration. House Democrats' May release of thousands of ads placed on Facebook by Russian agents revealed a deliberate campaign to inflame racial divisions in the U.S. Tech companies say they are working hard to combat such behavior. But companies must be forced to act faster against such campaigns and be more accountable, said Dipayan Ghosh, who has worked at the White House and Facebook on tech policy and is now at Harvard. It is difficult to assess the threat of Russian disinformation efforts. In 2016, the greatest damage was done by hacking and leaking emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign and Democrats' national organization, widely reported by the news media. But comparatively few saw individual pieces of misinformation on social media, making it unlikely they swayed many votes, said Brendan Nyhan, a University of Michigan political scientist. Still, it is clear the Russian efforts have stirred others, like Iran, to try similar strategies, with long-term goals of influencing U.S. politics. "We can't just think in the context of the next election," said Lee Foster, manager of information operations analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye. "It's not like this goes away after the midterms." ___ Associated Press writers Barbara Ortutay in New York and Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this story. GUANGZHOU, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- A batch of wood has just been transported from Gabon in Central Africa to Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. After being painted and assembled, the wood will be sent to European and American countries. This has been a project of Yihua Group in recent years. In 2012, Yihua Group set up wood processing and production bases in Gabon, participating in the country's green industry and using environmentally friendly methods to exploit 350,000 hectares of forest, creating jobs for over 1,000 locals. In recent years, more and more private firms in Guangdong have invested in Africa. According to the provincial commerce department, 244 companies from Guangdong have set up branches in Africa by the end of 2017, among which 241 are private firms. "Private firms, full of economic vitality, have been actively investing in Africa in recent years and are optimistic about Sino-Africa cooperation," said Liu Jisen, executive vice president of the Institute for African Studies at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. China and African countries have complementary advantages in labor, natural resources, industrial structure, finance and technology, said Xu Chuwu from the African General Chamber of Commerce (Greater China). According to customs data,Guangzhou's import-export volume to Africa reached 87.35 billion yuan (12.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, seven times that of 2006. Mechanical and electrical products were major export products and diamond and resources were major imported products. Guangdong Shineng Electric Equipment Group Ltd has invested in power plants and power equipment factories in Uganda in the past eight years, with its products accounting for 80 percent of the local retail market. The company is also expanding its business in countries including Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda and Nigeria. An industrial park was also opened in Uganda in August. Besides a steel plant and a tin smelter, a brick factory and a slag grinding plant, which both use steel slag as materials, and a sewage treatment plant were also built. "We not only lift the products' added value but also make efforts to protect the environment in the park," said Lyv Weidong, chairman of Guangzhou Dong Song Energy Group Co. Ltd. With Sino-Africa relations deepening, cooperation has also gradually expanded from trade, construction and infrastructure to medical services, environmental protection, tourism, education, culture and technology. Artepharm CO. LTD., China, co-founded by Guangdong New South Group Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, carried out projects in the Union of Comoros with an aim to cure malaria. By 2014, malaria cases decreased by 98 percent compared with those before 2006, and no malaria-related deaths were reported, said Chen Yuejin, vice president of New South. In addition, the company is planning to build 10 new medical centers in Africa. To better match the needs of both private firms and African counterparts, commerce chambers and industry associations have been established. The Africa Investment and Trade Alliance, initiated by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Committee, has recruited over 100 members, said Lin Tao, the committee's president. The committee also built a commerce chamber in Kenya this year. "We are building a platform for the two sides to communicate and share information, integrate financial resources, improve investment mechanisms and help firms build wholesale centers, sales bases and industrial parks in Africa," Lin said. A Roman Catholic bishop who apologized to his flock last month for the "misguided and inappropriate decisions of church leaders" is reckoning with his own role - revealed in federal court a decade ago - in the system that protected pedophile priests. Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera handled three sexual misconduct cases during his three-year tenure as diocesan vicar for clergy. He testified about one of them in a 2007 civil trial over clergy abuse. Under questioning from a plaintiff's lawyer, Bambera acknowledged the diocese ignored its own policy by failing to report "Father Ned" - a pseudonym used in court - to civil authorities. He testified that Father Ned was removed from ministry only temporarily before getting another parish assignment. Once there, Bambera told the jury, Father Ned was caught "grooming" a boy for sexual assault. In this Aug. 21, 2018 photo, Joseph Bambera, Roman Catholic bishop of Scranton, Pa., discusses the clergy abuse crisis in an interview with The Times-Tribune in Scranton. Bambera is reckoning with his own role, revealed in federal court a decade ago, in the system that protected pedophile priests. (Butch Comegys/The Times-Tribune via AP) The Associated Press has learned that Father Ned's real name is the Rev. Robert Gibson, who died in 2012. Gibson is one of about 300 predator priests named in a landmark Pennsylvania grand jury report that said more than 1,000 children in six Catholic dioceses have been abused since the 1940s. Bambera's participation in the Gibson case highlights the fact that some of today's bishops, while they were rising through the ranks, helped their superiors shield priests accused of abuse from law enforcement and allowed them to continue in ministry - or at least had knowledge of the cover-up by senior church officials and didn't blow the whistle. "He knew. He was part of the system," said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania legal expert on child sexual abuse and the founder of CHILD USA, an advocacy group. Bambera, who has emphasized his zero-tolerance policies toward clergy abuse since becoming Scranton's bishop in 2010, said Bishop James Timlin had already decided to reassign Gibson to another parish by the time Bambera became vicar in 1995. He said he worked to make sure Gibson and other priests accused of abuse were eventually barred from ministry. "Could I have done things better? Do I wish that there were things that were different in those days? Yeah, I do, I do," Bambera told the AP. "I wish that law enforcement was engaged on a much much more regular basis than it had been." But he said there was only so much he could do: "I worked for Bishop Timlin and the decisions were his to make, they weren't mine." On Friday, Bambera barred Timlin from representing the diocese in public, citing his failure to protect children from abusive priests. Bambera said in a statement announcing Timlin's punishment that the grand jury report had also "caused me to reflect on my own role in handling allegations of abuse in the church" and "to consider my role and past actions in protecting children." Bambera isn't the only current Pennsylvania bishop whose handling of old abuse cases has come under scrutiny. Like Bambera, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik and Allentown Bishop Alfred Schlert were, at one time, high-ranking church officials tasked with investigating reports of sexual misconduct. The grand jury said Zubik, on behalf of Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl, wrote a 1991 letter giving permission to a known child molester to transfer to a parish in the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas. Wuerl, now a cardinal and the archbishop of Washington, D.C., has himself come under fierce criticism over his tenure in Pittsburgh. In Allentown, the grand jury said Schlert was involved in the diocese's 2002 effort to discredit a victim of priestly abuse. The bishop has flatly denied it. In the Scranton case, the grand jury said the diocese was first contacted about Gibson - Father Ned - by an attorney for a man who claimed the priest had sexually abused him 20 years earlier. Gibson admitted to it, resigned as pastor and was sent to Saint John Vianney Center outside Philadelphia for treatment. Before major church reforms in 2002, bishops often sent abusive priests to treatment and allowed them to return to ministry. Thus, eight months after his resignation and one month after Bambera became vicar for clergy, Gibson left treatment and went to live in a parish rectory outside Wilkes-Barre. Gibson was reinstated "to a limited ministry as a parish priest" based on the recommendation of mental health professionals at St. John Vianney Center, diocesan spokesman Bill Genello said via email. Bambera, as a top adviser to Timlin, participated in closed-door discussions about Gibson, according to his 2007 testimony. But he told jurors the final decision on what to do with the priest rested with Timlin. The grand jury extensively documented Timlin's role in concealing clergy sex abuse, but mentioned Bambera only a few times. "To be fair to Bambera, he was not the ultimate decision maker here," said Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer and former dean of Duquesne University School of Law. Hamilton said Bambera's subordinate role is no excuse. She has called on Pennsylvania prosecutors to file child endangerment charges against bishops who concealed abuse as well as subordinates who took part. Hamilton noted the case of Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn, the first Catholic Church official convicted over his handling of sexual-abuse complaints. Lynn - who, as vicar for clergy, held the same position Bambera did in Scranton - served 33 months of a three-to-six-year prison term before a state appeals court granted him a new trial, which is pending. "They all did the same thing," Hamilton said. "And what they did was put children in the pathway of pedophiles." Bambera told the AP that while he didn't do the job perfectly, he did what he could to remove abusive priests, and "I clearly did raise my voice and my concern on many occasions about behavior and decisions that I didn't agree with." BEIJING (AP) - China is trying to defuse a spiraling tariff war with Washington over technology policy by highlighting gains in other trade-related areas. The Cabinet press office invited The Associated Press to interview the head of the country's patent and copyright office, as part of government efforts to persuade Washington and other trading partners to tone down objections to Chinese industry policy. The official, Shen Changyu, pointed to improvements in fighting violations, previously a target of complaints by the United States, Europe and other traders. In this April 26, 2018, file photo, a staff member uses his smartphone in front of a billboard for Chinese cellphone maker Honor at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing. The head of China's patent and copyright agency is defending what he says are gains in fighting violations - once a chronic complaint by China's trading partners - in a new effort to defuse a tariff war with Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) "China's work on intellectual property protection is solid and very productive," said Shen, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office. "This point should be evaluated objectively and fairly by the international community." The interview coincided with a series of events organized by Chinese officials, including briefings for foreign reporters by economists and other researchers, seeking to change minds abroad. They have emphasized China's importance as a market, its plans to end ownership limits in its auto industry and other regulatory changes. But none of those moves directly addresses the policies that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to impose penalty tariffs on Chinese goods. Washington says Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. American officials say Chinese plans for state-led development of global champions in robotics and other fields violate Beijing's free-trade commitments and might erode American industrial leadership. The Cabinet press office said Shen couldn't address those complaints because his office has no role in technology policy. The Trump administration has imposed 25 percent duties on $50 billion of Chinese imports and is poised to add similar penalties on another $200 billion list of goods as early as this week. Beijing says it will retaliate. Washington and Beijing went to the brink of a trade war in the 1990s over complaints China allowed rampant unlicensed copying of medicine, movies, software, designing clothing and other goods. Business groups say enforcement has improved since then, largely because Chinese companies started creating their own technology in smartphones, solar power and other fields that required protection. Shen cited promises this year by President Xi Jinping and China's No. 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang, to strength enforcement and "make infringers pay a heavy price." "It is an independent choice for us to build an innovative country and promote economic and social development," said Shen. The conflict has largely moved on from over rampant Chinese copying of Hollywood movies, music, software and medicines to one focused on the bedrock of Beijing's state-led development strategy. Chinese officials have rejected U.S. pressure to scale back industry plans Beijing sees as the path to prosperity and global influence. "Ratcheting up U.S. pressure will not work on China," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, last week. "For people who still think China will give in to intimidation, threats and groundless criticism, I think it's the time for them to wake up." Chinese leaders also have stressed protection for patents and copyrights in meetings with foreign businesspeople, though their reaction suggested the topic is no longer the irritant it once was. Li, the premier, asked representatives of some of Europe's biggest companies at a July meeting to give examples of intellectual property theft or measures they wanted changed. None did during the portion of the meeting reporters were allowed to watch. Instead, a German auto executive expressed concern about Chinese industrial standards - part of technology policy. Shen expressed frustration at the U.S. government's "Section 301" investigation that concluded Beijing improperly obtains foreign technology. "In the 301 survey, intellectual property was a justification or an excuse," said Shen. "We hope the U.S. government will provide specific infringement cases or clues. We will deal with them seriously and will not tolerate them." China faces similar, though more muted, criticism from Europe and other trading partners. The 28-nation European Union challenged China's rules on technology licensing in a June complaint to the World Trade Organization. The EU said Beijing unfairly favors domestic companies in violation of its commitments to treat all competitors equally. At a government-organized event last week, researchers from official think tanks stressed the potential gains from collaboration between the two biggest global economies and what might be lost if they fight. "The United States and China are interdependent. Not just trade in goods but in many other areas too," said Wu Baiyi, director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "These are the only two countries with more than $10 trillion of economic scale," said Wu. "If there is a serious (economic) war between these two countries, then the whole world economic system may collapse. This will be a disaster for the whole world." SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A rape case against an Idaho prison inmate working at a Utah wildfire base camp raises safety questions for vulnerable crews who spend long days on the front lines, the head of a firefighting nonprofit said Wednesday. "It's going to put a chill through fire camps across the country," said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. The case is an extreme example of a culture of harassment that women have endured working wildfires in the past, he said. Inmate Ruben Hernandez is charged with sexually assaulting a base-camp worker after she rejected his advances on Aug. 29. He invoked his right to a speedy trial during his first court appearance on Wednesday, a signal he disputes the rape charge, said prosecutor Kevin Daniels. This photo taken Aug. 6, 2018, shows a helicopters returning from performing an air operation on the Coal Hollow Fire near U.S. Highway 6. An Idaho prisoner sent to help fight a wildfire in Utah raped a woman who also was working to support firefighters, prosecutors said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. The woman had rejected several advances from Ruben Hernandez, 27, in the days before the Aug. 29 assault at the base camp, Sanpete County attorney Kevin Daniels said. Hernandez has been charged with felony rape. (Evan Cobb/The Daily Herald via AP) His defense attorney didn't immediately return a message seeking comment. Hernandez met the woman while working on a janitorial inmate crew making $1.25 an hour at the remote camp south of Salt Lake City, according to court records. It was his first time working at a wildfire and he had spent nine days working before his arrest, said Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray. Court records show Hernandez, 27, of Blackfoot, Idaho, has a history of misdemeanor arrests dating back more than a decade, including theft and alcohol violations. He was serving time on a felony drug charge when he joined the wildfire program. He had been sentenced to probation but was sent to prison for a three-to-seven-year term after he violated it. He qualified for the wildfire program because he had no history of assault, was less than a year from being paroled and didn't have serious behavior problems behind bars, prison officials said. He also was required to show he could carry a heavy pack and pass basic CPR training to participate. Most Western states have similar programs for minimum-security inmates, some dating back decades. Experts say cases like the one against Hernandez appear to be rare, though there have been some cases where inmates have tried to walk off the job. Working on a wildfire crew is typically a sought-after position by inmates because it allows them to get into the outdoors, and they don't often cause problems, said Jack Tidrow, president of the Professional Firefighters of Utah union. "You just hardly even hear of problems with those crews," he said. The Idaho Department of Correction returned its inmate crews to prison after the charge was filed last week. Prison authorities are cooperating with the Utah investigation and reviewing the way they choose, train and deploy inmates in the program. The 10-person crew from Idaho was supervised by two correctional officers. Inmates wear correction department T-shirts and work in groups of two. They are allowed to move around inside the camps and interact with other workers as their do their jobs. That relative autonomy inside the camp is "shocking" for Ingalsbee, who said that firefighters are often exhausted at the end of long days at the front lines when they return to base camp to eat and sleep. Camps can be like small cities, with hundreds of people and plenty of places for things to slip between the cracks, he said. Crews' "guards are lowered, and the last thing they need to be dealing with feeling fearful," he said. "You don't want to end that possibility with inmates, but there has to be close security and screening of candidates like that." ___ Associated Press reporter Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this story. This photo provided by the Sanpete County Jail in Manti, Utah, shows Ruben Hernandez. Prosecutors say Hernandez, an Idaho prison inmate sent to help fight a wildfire, raped a woman who was also working to support firefighters in Utah. Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, the woman had rejected several advances from Hernandez before the Aug. 29 assault. Hernandez was charged with felony rape. (Sanpete County Jail via AP) This photo taken Aug. 6, 2018, shows a helicopter dumping water on a section of the Coal Hollow Fire near U.S. Highway 6. An Idaho prisoner sent to help fight a wildfire in Utah raped a woman who also was working to support firefighters, prosecutors said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. The woman had rejected several advances from Ruben Hernandez, 27, in the days before the Aug. 29 assault at the base camp, Sanpete County attorney Kevin Daniels said. Hernandez has been charged with felony rape. (Evan Cobb/The Daily Herald via AP) A new virtual reality walking tour lets you explore ancient Jerusalem as it would have appeared during the time of Jesus. The high-tech expedition offers 360-degree simulations that reveal what Jerusalem's citadel, palaces, streets and ancient Jewish temples looked like 2,000 years ago. The city enjoyed its heyday under King Herod during the first century BC, building many of the ancient monuments it is famous for today. The Tower of David Museum, which is housed in the Old City's ancient stronghold, is launching the attraction this month ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Scroll down for video Pictured is a temple presented as it would have looked 2,000 years ago. A new virtual reality walking tour lets you explore ancient Jerusalem The virtual reality guide, 'Step into History,' offers visitors a chance to 'walk in the streets of Jerusalem and enjoy the present and take a look back to the past,' said Tower of David Museum director Eilat Lieber. Working with archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Lithodomos VR created the tour to show what life was like under the famed King Herod. Herod, a Roman vassal who ruled Judaea from 37-4 B.C., invested heavily in large construction projects across his realm. He oversaw a major expansion of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the fortress and palace where the Tower of David stands today. His monuments, including the mountaintop fortress at Masada and the port city of Caesarea, are among the most visited sites in Israel. 'Especially with Jerusalem, I think the biggest challenge was getting it right,' said Simon Young, founder of Lithodomos VR, an Australian startup. The high-tech expedition offers 360-degree simulations that reveal what Jerusalem's citadel, palaces, streets and ancient Jewish temples looked like 2,000 years ago Pictured is an ancient temple seen through the tour's virtual reality guide. The city enjoyed its heyday under King Herod during the first century BC, building many of the ancient monuments it is famous for today WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AR AND VR? Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of an environment or situation It immerses the user by making them feel like they are in the simulated reality through images and sounds For example, in VR, you could feel like you're climbing a mountain while you're at home In contrast, augmented reality layers computer-generated images on top of an existing reality AR is developed into apps to bring digital components into the real world For example, in the Pokemon Go app, the characters seem to appear in real world scenarios Advertisement 'There's a lot of different opinions about how Jerusalem looked in the ancient world ... of course, we want to do justice to Jerusalem and to make it as accurate as possible.' Lithodomos VR's team of archaeologists and artists has produced similar projects in London, Rome, Athens and other cities. Accompanied by a guide, visitors will be able explore nine different vantage points in the city. The tour starts at the citadel - an Ottoman-era fortress built atop remnants of several earlier bastions - before meandering through the Old City's Jewish Quarter down toward the remains of the Second Jewish Temple. In order to keep from crashing into modern Jerusalem, visitors carry the goggles between sites, then put them on once they are stationary. At each point, a narrator explains the historical significance of the structures they can see in the goggles. The VR tour around the Old City takes approximately two hours, the museum said. Young says the Lithodomos VR team would be interested in adding additional historical layers to the virtual reality guide that would allow people to explore Jerusalem during other periods, such as the Crusades. Judy Magnusson, an Australian tourist who previewed the tour on Monday ahead of its launch, said the virtual reality-enhanced experience 'brings history to life' and makes the stories about the city 'more real.' This image shows the virtual reality goggles used as part of the tour. The Tower of David Museum, which is housed in the Old City's ancient stronghold, is launching the attraction this month ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot In order to keep from crashing into modern Jerusalem, visitors carry the goggles between sites, then put them on once they are stationary MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Philippine senator who is President Rodrigo Duterte's fiercest critic in Congress remained holed up in the Senate on Wednesday to avoid what he considers an illegal arrest after Duterte voided his amnesty for his role in failed coup plots as a former rebel military officer. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV told reporters after staying overnight in the Senate that his lawyers would file a petition to the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of Duterte's proclamation voiding his amnesty. Amid the standoff, a small group of soldiers and policemen, including SWAT commandos, was seen outside the Senate. Duterte also ordered the Department of Justice and the military to pursue criminal and administrative complaints against Trillanes. Supporters shout slogans to express support for Philippine opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, center, as he continues to be holed up in the Philippine Senate Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines. Sen. Trillanes, who is the president's fiercest critic in Congress has remained holed up in the Senate to avoid what he considers an illegal arrest after the president voided his amnesty as a rebel military officer. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Trillanes told the police and military not to follow Duterte's "illegal order" for him to be arrested without a court warrant, saying his rebellion and coup cases were dismissed in 2011 after he accepted an amnesty offered by Duterte's predecessor. Addressing military and police officers who may be pressured to enforce Duterte's order out of fear, Trillanes said "Duterte will not be there for long, please do not do anything illegal or unconstitutional." Trillanes, a 47-year-old former navy officer, was detained for several years before his election to the Senate for involvement in three military uprisings from 2003 to 2007 to protest government corruption. Duterte's order, which was made public Tuesday while he was on a trip to Israel, has sparked a legal debate. Some legal experts have questioned whether Duterte can invalidate a rebel amnesty declared by a previous president and approved by legislators. Despite questions on Duterte's move, the Defense Department said it had deployed officers to the Senate to take custody of Trillanes, who would be made to face a military court inquiry over alleged misconduct for his role in past uprisings. "With our MPs (military police) and legal officer in the Senate, we are awaiting to acquire his custody for the purpose of returning him to military control and for him to face a court martial," Defense Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told reporters. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, asked a court to issue an arrest warrant for Trillanes and restrain him from leaving the country. The court did not immediately issue a warrant and gave Trillanes five days to respond to the government move and set a hearing for next week. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Duterte voided the amnesty because Trillanes had failed to comply with all of its requirements, including a clear admission of his involvement in past coup attempts. Trillanes cannot invoke his congressional immunity from arrest because the crimes he allegedly committed, including rebellion, were serious and punishable by life imprisonment, Guevarra said. During a televised Senate session, however, Trillanes showed video footage and news reports denying Duterte's basis for voiding his amnesty. The news reports showed an image of his amnesty application, which officials said they could not find, and carried remarks by Trillanes acknowledging his participation in the uprisings. "I have no case, but they want to arrest me," Trillanes said. "The police and military are here. There is no basis, so that is now our situation." "We used to have democracy, there was due process. Now, there is none," he said. Known for his temper and expletives-laden outbursts against critics, the 73-year-old Duterte has openly expressed anger against Trillanes, who has accused him of large-scale corruption and involvement in illegal drugs. The volatile leader has repeatedly denied the allegations. Aside from Trillanes, another opposition senator, Leila de Lima, has been detained after being accused by Duterte of involvement in illegal drugs, a crime she has vehemently denied. A former human rights commission chief, de Lima investigated Duterte's alleged role in extrajudicial killings in a yearslong anti-drug crackdown when he served as mayor of southern Davao city for years. Another Duterte critic, Maria Lourdes Sereno, was ousted by fellow justices from the Supreme Court in May after the government solicitor-general alleged that her appointment by Duterte's predecessor was legally flawed and petitioned for her removal. Philippine opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV holds copies of the decision of the trial court granting him amnesty during a news conference at the Philippine Senate Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines. Sen. Trillanes, who is the president's fiercest critic in Congress has remained holed up in the Senate to avoid what he considers an illegal arrest after the president voided his amnesty as a rebel military officer. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV waves to supporters as he continues to be holed up in the Philippine Senate Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines. Sen. Trillanes, who is the president's fiercest critic in Congress has remained holed up in the Senate to avoid what he considers an illegal arrest after the president voided his amnesty as a rebel military officer. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) REDMOND, Ore. (AP) - One of the largest U.S. congressional districts voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016, yet an Oregon Democrat campaigning against a Republican incumbent doesn't see it as hostile territory. Buoyed by electoral wins by a couple of Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner is undaunted, traveling a district that's as big as North Dakota in her Jeep and tiny trailer that she sometimes sleeps in. McLeod-Skinner is enduring all this because she doesn't think the incumbent is focused on the district's issues. She's driven 35,000 miles (56,300 kilometers) in 14 months of campaigning. In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018, photo, Oregon Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner stands next to her teardrop trailer in Redmond, Ore., before setting off again on the campaign trail in eastern Oregon, a conservative district that voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016. McLeod-Skinner is fighting what many consider to be an uphill battle to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Walden in the November election, but is undaunted and buoyed by victories of a couple other Democrats in Trump territory. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) When a parade in the small town of Joseph (population 1,000) was set to start in July, she walked up to an antique convertible carrying Rep. Greg Walden, who's running for his 11th term, and challenged him to a series of debates. "I look forward to debating you. We'll figure out a schedule that works," Walden replied. Five weeks later, a debate has not been scheduled. Nationally, Democrats are hoping a "blue wave" in November will give them a majority in Congress. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is financing selected candidates through its Red to Blue program , hoping to flip seats in Republican-controlled districts. McLeod-Skinner's campaign isn't one of them. If the Red to Blue's 73 candidates are long shots, ones like McLeod-Skinner - running in very conservative districts - are real Hail Marys. Walden, who typically wins around 70 percent of the vote, had a war chest currently totaling around $3.2 million in late June - 31 times bigger than McLeod-Skinner's. "The biggest issue is the disparity in fundraising," said Jeff Dense, professor of political science at Eastern Oregon University. Without money, she can't afford a media campaign, Dense said, noting that eastern Oregon is peppered with Walden campaign signs. "I just drove by one in east nowhere," he said in a telephone interview. In an interview at a coffee shop in Redmond - the town near where McLeod-Skinner and her wife live - the candidate said she felt compelled to run because "our current representative is not focused on the district, not addressing the issues that folks in my district care about: health care, education, economic development." She downplayed the funding factor. "It's not about a TV spot or sending out fliers," McLeod-Skinner said, wearing faded jeans, red work shirt and scuffed cowboy boots. "It's about showing up. It's about listening to folks with respect and hearing the issues that people are concerned about." She accuses Walden of not speaking out for his constituents, including failing to oppose President Trump's trade war that risks increasing tariffs on Oregon wheat. Walden last year also advocated the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. "His attack on health care would hurt one in five people in our district," McLeod-Skinner said. McLeod-Skinner, who has degrees in engineering, regional planning and in law, distances herself from city Democrats, often derided here as liberal elites from Portland, uninformed about challenges in this sparsely populated, agricultural-ranching region. She calls herself a rural Democrat, with loyalty to constituents outweighing party loyalty. She's not big on gun control, for example. "Some Democrats felt I was not far enough to the left in the primary," said the former Santa Clara, California, city councilor. Her stance resonated. She beat six other candidates in the Democratic primary for Oregon's 2nd District, taking 43 percent of the vote. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in their own party's primaries. In the Republican one, Walden got more votes than all seven Democrats combined. Walden did not respond to requests for an interview. His spokesman, Justin Discigil, said in an email that Walden has raised concerns directly with the administration about the impact of tariffs on Oregon agriculture. Discigil also defended Walden on health care, saying he extended the Children's Health Insurance Program and responded to the opioid crisis. McLeod-Skinner's role models are Cheri Bustos, a Democrat who beat a Republican by 20 points in an Illinois district that narrowly chose Trump in 2016; and Connor Lamb, a Pennsylvania Democrat who won a House seat in Trump territory in a special election in March. "I think we have an opportunity to absolutely shock people," McLeod-Skinner said. "Eastern Oregon's not blue and I'm not looking to turn eastern Oregon blue. I'm looking to represent the folks in my district who are not represented." She's crisscrossed the high desert, forests and mountains of the 70,000-square-mile (180,000- square-kilometer) district - the second-biggest in America among states with multiple districts. She's heard voters' concerns about lack of economic development, health care and educational opportunities. She supports exchanging public service for college or trade school educations. On the campaign trail, she sometimes takes her teardrop trailer, outfitted with a mattress, onto the wide, empty spaces of Bureau of Land Management land for some solitude and sleep. She often takes her dog. After the hour-long interview, she began a long drive to her next campaign stop. McLeod-Skinner is the strongest Democratic candidate Walden has faced, said James Foster, professor emeritus of political science at Oregon State University-Cascades. He predicts McLeod-Skinner will take about half the vote in November, and could win. "She has a real knack of connecting with people," Foster said. Even so, it's hard to achieve name recognition in a district so vast. Alan Kartchner, who lives in the eastern Oregon town of Burns and usually votes Republican, told a reporter he didn't know Walden's challenger's name or her platform. "We spend way too much time on national level politics, all of this hyperbole," Kartchner said. "I think we'd all be better off paying attention to what's going on in the state and county. I'm interested in hearing what she has to say." ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky FILE - In this March 5, 2011, file photo, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaks to Republicans at the annual Dorchester Conference in Seaside, Ore. Buoyed by surprise electoral wins by a couple of Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, Oregon Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who is challenging Walden for his seat, is undaunted, traveling the vast district covering eastern and central Oregon in her Jeep, pulling a tiny trailer that she sometimes sleeps in. (AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper, File) In this Aug. 6, 2018, photo, Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner poses in Redmond, Ore. McLeod-Skinner is campaigning to take Oregon's 2nd Congressional District House seat from Republican incumbent Rep. Greg Walden in the November election. McLeod-Skinner, who calls herself a rural Democrat who would pay more attention to constituents' concerns than the party's, has been crisscrossing the vast, conservative district as she campaigns. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2017, file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan, right, is joined by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., while speaking during a visit to Intel in Hillsboro, Ore. Buoyed by surprise electoral wins by a couple of Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, Oregon Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who is challenging Walden for his seat, is undaunted, traveling the vast district covering eastern and central Oregon in her Jeep, pulling a tiny trailer that she sometimes sleeps in. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File) FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2007, file photo, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, left, with Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaks to reporters in Portland, Ore. Buoyed by surprise electoral wins by a couple of Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, Oregon U.S. congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who is challenging Walden for his seat, is undaunted, traveling the vast district covering eastern and central Oregon in her Jeep, pulling a tiny trailer that she sometimes sleeps in. (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens, File) ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad to protest the killing of a Pakistani villager in "unprovoked firing" by Indian troops in the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Abdul Rauf was fatally shot by Indian security forces Tuesday in the Kotkoterra Sector while grazing animals, according to a Pakistani military statement. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian diplomat and condemned what it said was an unprovoked cease-fire violation by Indian forces. "The cease-fire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Indian military said no such incident took place Tuesday in the disputed region. Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, however, said soldiers killed an "intruder" on the Indian side after he sneaked in from Pakistan on Wednesday in the Rajouri sector. He did not give any other details. The developments come as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived on a short visit to Islamabad before going to India. Pakistan and India often exchange fire in Kashmir along the Line of Control that serves as a frontier in the disputed region, divided between the two nuclear-armed south Asian neighbors. The two sides signed a cease-fire agreement in 2003 but both often violate it and accuse each other of 'unprovoked firing'. The two nations claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it since they gained independence from British rule. ___ Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - The mayor of Bucharest launched an attack on the powerful leader of Romania's ruling party, saying he should resign for the good of "the party and country." Mayor Gabriela Firea accused Social Democratic Party chairman Liviu Dragnea of running the party in an underhand way, and of indirectly blocking city hall projects. Firea is also a member of the party In public, "everything is 'milk and honey' but underground in the meetings he has with a few aides, decisions are totally different," she said late Tuesday in an interview with public television TVR. FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017 file photo, the Mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea, attends the unveiling of a monument that celebrates circus arts, in Bucharest, Romania. Mayor Firea claims party colleagues are trying to indirectly blame her for the police response to an anti-corruption protest on Aug. 10, that left 450 people injured when police tried to break up the protest, and leading to public complaints of mistreatment by police. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File) "I think (him) stepping down would benefit the party and the country." According to polls, Firea is the party's most popular figure. Dragnea, who keeps a tight rein on the party, can't be prime minister due to a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging. Criticism has mounted against Dragnea since an anti-corruption protest last month that drew tens of thousands degenerated into violence that left some 450 people needing medical treatment. On Wednesday, the opposition Liberal Party filed a motion in Parliament calling for Interior Minister Carmen Dan to be removed. The Liberals said protesters "were hit and attacked with tear gas," and said Dan, a Dragnea aide, was responsible for the violence. "We won't ever tolerate innocent Romanians being hit over the head with rubber truncheons. This isn't the country we chose to build after the 1989 revolution," a Liberal Party statement said. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen, who was found guilty of the torture, sexual assault, murder and dismemberment of a Swedish reporter, challenged his life sentence before an appeals court Wednesday. The three-day session at the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen before three judges and three jurors will not deal with the Apr. 25 guilty ruling. In Denmark, a life sentence is on average 16 years, but can be extended if necessary. Madsen, 47, wants a time-limited sentence, not an open-ended prison term. FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017 file photo, police technicians board Peter Madsen's submarine UC3 Nautilus on a pier in Copenhagen harbour, Denmark. Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen, who was found guilty of the torture, sexual assault, murder and dismemberment of a Swedish reporter, appeared before an appeals court Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, to fight against his life sentence. (Jacob Ehrbahn/Ritzau Foto, File via AP) Madsen looked down at the desk in front of him as his defense lawyer Betina Hald Engmark read long excerpts of his previous statement as she attempted to cast him in a more favorable light. In April, Madsen was convicted of murdering the 30-year-old journalist in his homemade submarine last August before dismembering her body. He has confessed to dumping her body parts at sea, but insists Wall died accidentally. Wearing a dark blazer, a black T-shirt and jeans, Madsen listened quietly as prosecutor Kristian Kirk read out the April verdict to present the case. The prosecutor also read out texts found in Madsen's possession about young women being impaled and killed. Wall's parents, who both attended court Wednesday, also listened quietly. He looked away when Kirk played a police video of the inside of his UC3 Nautilus submarine, which he had claimed was the largest privately built submarine in the world. "My client is not satisfied with the (life) sentence. that's why we are here, not to find out whether he is guilty or not," said Hald Engmark. The Copenhagen City Court had ruled unanimously that Madsen lured Wall onto his home-made submarine with the promise of an interview. The court ruled the murder was sexually motivated and premeditated, with the prosecution using Madsen's shifting explanations against him and quoting a court-ordered psychiatric report that described him as "emotionally impaired with severe lack of empathy, anger and guilt" and having "psychopathic tendencies." Hald Engmark argued that the prosecution case was based "on undocumented claims." She said Madsen did something "horrible" by cutting Wall's body into pieces, but he should only be sentenced for that, noting that the cause of death has never been established. Under Danish law, indecent handling of a corpse carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. A freelance journalist, Wall wrote for The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications. She had reported from post-earthquake Haiti, among other places, and had studied at Paris' Sorbonne University, the London School of Economics and Columbia University in New York. She set out on the submarine on a sunny August evening last year to interview Madsen, the co-founder of a company that develops and builds manned spacecraft. Her remains were found in plastic bags on the sea bed weeks later. Madsen initially said he had dropped Wall off on a Copenhagen island several hours into their submarine trip. Then he claimed Wall had died as a result of a buildup in pressure inside the submarine, and changed that to say that Wall had died accidentally inside the vessel when a hatch fell and hit her on the head. There was no indication of a skull injury when her head was finally located. A decision is expected Sept. 14. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Contestants from Florida and Wisconsin scored the first preliminary wins in the post-swimsuit era of the Miss America pageant Wednesday night, and proclaimed a new day had arrived for a piece of Americana that's trying to reboot itself in a rapidly changing world. The competition swapped swimsuits with interview questions that were as daunting for some as walking across the stage in a bikini and heels. Miss Florida Taylor Tyson won the talent competition for a piano rendition of "Mephisto's Waltz" by Lizst. Miss Florida, Taylor Tyson, left, and Miss Wisconsin, Tianna Vanderhei, talk to the media after the first night of preliminary competition at the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, N.J., Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Tyson won the talent competition and Vanderhei won the onstage interview competition. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry) Miss Wisconsin Tianna Vanderhei won the onstage interview competition for her comments on how higher education should be more affordable and more widely accessible. Both said they were excited to be the first winners in the revamped Miss America competition, which has generated controversy for its decision to eliminate swimsuits - a staple of the pageant since it began 98 years ago in Atlantic City. "Swimsuit is behind us," Vanderhei said after Wednesday night's competition ended. "It's sad that it's gone, but I understand the reasons it's gone." "People are going to get to see what Miss America is all about with these changes," Tyson added. The preliminaries began amid a revolt by state pageant officials unhappy with the way the decision to drop swimsuits was made, and who are demanding that top leadership, including chairwoman Gretchen Carlson, step down. The current Miss America, Cara Mund, has accused Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper of bullying and silencing her - allegations the two officials deny. Mund did not reference the controversy in her opening remarks, which followed a prolonged standing ovation. But she did pay tribute to local and state officials without mentioning national ones. "This only exists because of our volunteers," she said. "We wouldn't have any organization if it weren't for them." A spokesman for opponents of the current leadership said 46 state organizations have signed letters calling for Carlson and Hopper to resign; only Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada and Vermont have not signed. The first of three nights of preliminary competition began with a big change: In past years, one talent and one swimsuit winner were named in each of the three preliminary nights. This year, instead of a swimsuit winner, the winner of an onstage interview will be named. Some of the questions were softballs: Where is the most interesting place you've ever visited, and how did you grow emotionally from it? Others put some contestants squarely on the spot on red-hot social issues. Miss Texas, Madison Fuller, was asked if NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem are showing freedom of speech or disrespect. "Where NFL players who kneel are standing up for what they believe in, there is an arena to promote change, not during the anthem," she said. Miss Mississippi Asya Branch was asked whether health care is an entitlement. "Health care is not an entitlement, but we do all need it," she said. "We should work within our country to make it more affordable and available. No one deserves not to have health care." The format is similar to what will happen during Sunday night's nationally televised broadcast on ABC. Scholarships totaling nearly $506,000 will be awarded, including $50,000 for the new Miss America; $25,000 for the first runner-up; $20,000 for the second runner-up; $15,000 for the third runner-up, and $10,000 for the fourth runner up. Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC Allison Farris, Miss District of Columbia, introduces herself at the beginning of the first night of preliminary competition in the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, N.J., Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry) Katelyn Lewis, Miss Missouri, introduces herself at the start of the first night of preliminary competition in the Miss America competition on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry) Laura Lynn Haller, Miss Montana, introduces herself at the start of the first night of preliminary competition in the Miss America competition, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry) China and Africa have consolidated public support to further enhance bilateral practical cooperation thanks to their efforts in intensifying cultural and people-to-people exchanges in recent three years. By the end of this August, a satellite television project aided by China has benefited nearly 2,000 villages in 9 African countries including Senegal, Guinea, Rwanda and Uganda. The project has installed two digital TV projection devices for public service areas and offered free digital TV set-top boxes for 20 households in each village. Dubbed Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages, the project covers a total of 10,112 villages in 25 African countries, said Guo Ziqi, Vice-Chairman of Chinas StarTimes Group which implements the project. The project was now advancing smoothly, and would be completed by the end of this year, Guo added. It is a great project. Thanks for choosing our village, villager Abu Bakar from Senegal told Peoples Daily, adding that he had never watched Chinese TV dramas before, and it is the Chinese project that made him learn about China and life of Chinese people. A Rwandan young man Shamir, who interpreted for Rwandan President Paul Kagame during Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to his country this July, has become a hot figure in his country thanks to the increasingly strengthened China-Africa cultural cooperation. Shamir had a close bond with China in the past 10 years. As a Chinese Government Scholarship recipient, he studied at Chinas Tianjin University and North China Electric Power University, and took part in a China-Africa cooperation project at Poly Solar Technologies (Beijing) Co., Ltd. His experiences of living and studying in China are unforgettable for him. Shamir still remembers the celebration of the Chinese New Year with his colleagues family members in 2016 in Hebei province. He was impressed by the warmth of the Chinese family and lovingly called the colleagues mother his Chinese mom. Today, he still keeps in contact with her through WeChat, a Chinese social application. Shamir told Peoples Daily that he would contribute to Rwandas development with what he learnt in China. Over the past three years, Chinese government has provided over 30,000 government scholarships for African students, and Chinese universities and colleges also created favorable conditions for them to study in China. The students are contributing to a cemented China-Africa friendship as civilian ambassadors. In addition, a wide range of tourism facilitation measures on visas and transport have been introduced with the joint efforts by China and Africa. Many Chinese people travel to Africa to escape the heat this summer, according to a man surnamed Xiao engaged in African tourism business in Wuhan, Hubei province in the center of China. He disclosed that out-of-season travelling to African countries in the Southern Hemisphere had become a traveling choice for Chinese people. The number of Chinese tourists to Africa has seen a 50 percent growth since China Southern Airlines and Air China opened direct flights between Guangzhou and Nairobi, Beijing and Addis Ababa, and Beijing and Johannesburg in the second half of 2015. Tourists from the Chinese mainland to Africa only accounted for 3 percent of its total outbound tourists in 2008, but the rate rose to 10 percent in 2016, with the number of visitors climbing to 11.3 million, according to statistics by the World Tourism Organization. The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held on Sept. 3 and 4 will chart a new path to elevate China-Africa friendly cooperation to a new level. It will introduce various people-centered cooperative measures to deepen mutual understanding and affection between the two peoples, and enable the China-Africa friendship to be passed on from generation to generation. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's official IRNA news agency reports that an elevator at a construction site plummeted multiple floors, killing six construction workers in the capital Tehran. Jalal Maleki, spokesman for the Tehran Fire Department, tells IRNA the incident took place Tuesday night in the Chitgar district. Unofficial reports said the elevator plunged more than 20 stories. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that three Iranians and three Afghan workers were killed. The cause of the incident is under investigation. Safety measures are often poorly enforced in Iran. ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. "You know I'm a born optimist," said Khan, a former star cricket player who was sworn in last month. "A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks he's going to win." Pompeo spent just four hours in Pakistan, his first visit to the country. At the airport before leaving for neighboring India, he said he was "hopeful" that a foundation had been laid to move forward. In this photo released by Press Information Department, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hand with Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, prior to their meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pompeo arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low. (Press Information Department via AP) "We've still got a long way to go, lots more discussion to be had," he said. "It's time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitment... We've had lots of times where we've talked and made agreements, but we haven't been able to actually execute those." Pompeo held meetings with Khan, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the powerful Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. "We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum, economic, business, commercial," Pompeo said. He said they also discussed "the work that we all know that we need to do to try to develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan that benefits certainly Afghanistan, but also the United States and Pakistan." "I'm hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward," he said on the tarmac before leaving. The United States last weekend canceled a $300 million Coalition Support Fund payment to Pakistan after long complaining that it was not doing enough to combat the Taliban and other militants who attack Afghan and U.S. forces across the porous border. Pakistan has rejected those allegations, saying it has played a key role in the U.S.-led campaign against extremists that began after the 9/11 attacks. "In all of his meetings, Secretary Pompeo emphasized the important role Pakistan could play in bringing about a negotiated peace in Afghanistan, and conveyed the need for Pakistan to take sustained and decisive measures against terrorists and militants threatening regional peace and stability," the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement issued after Pompeo's departure. On the plane to Pakistan, Pompeo announced his appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran diplomat who is unpopular in Pakistan, as the new U.S. special adviser on Afghan reconciliation, which could further complicate relations with Islamabad. Khalilzad "has been very critical of Pakistan in the past and his appointment will not help move things forward," said Zahid Hussain, a defense analyst and the author of two books on militancy in the region. Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan and served as U.S. special envoy to the country following the collapse of the Taliban from 2001-2003 and then as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003-2005. He has been critical of Pakistan, often blaming Afghanistan's deteriorating security and country-wide chaos on Pakistan's military and powerful ISI intelligence agency, accusing them of harboring and aiding Taliban insurgents. Khalilzad has been criticized for his role in cobbling together an Afghan government of warlords following the Taliban's collapse. Afghanistan's corruption-plagued government and, by some accounts, poorly trained security forces, have frustrated Afghans and contributed to the country's deteriorating security situation. Neither the U.S. nor Pakistan can afford a complete rupture in relations, but Hussain said Islamabad is frustrated that the relationship has been reduced to a single issue: Afghanistan. "The United States seems only to see Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan," he said. "The main thing is we would like to be allies with the U.S. but with dignity." As an opposition leader, Khan often chastised Pakistan's reliance on U.S. financial assistance. He and his supporters once briefly stopped trucks supplying fuel and other goods to U.S. and NATO troops from crossing into Afghanistan to protest U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions along the border. In a speech following the July 25 elections that propelled him to power, Khan said Pakistan would not participate in the U.S. war on terror, instead advocating a peaceful end to the protracted war in Afghanistan. Qureshi, Pakistan's foreign minister, told a news conference held after Pompeo's departure that the United States indicated there was an opportunity for direct talks with the Taliban, a demand the insurgent movement has consistently made. Khan has flatly rejected a U.S. strategy that advocates a heavy military hand to force Afghanistan's Taliban to the negotiating table. Pompeo arrived shortly before 8 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) in the Indian capital of New Delhi. ___ Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this report. In this photo released by Press Information Department, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, third right, talks with Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, third left, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pompeo arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low. (Press Information Department via AP) FILE - In this July 23, 2018, file photo, Pakistani politician Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, addresses his supporters during an election campaign in Lahore, Pakistan. Khan met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi briefs media about the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at foreign ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi briefs media about the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at foreign ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi gestures during a briefing about the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at foreign ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was "optimistic" he could reset the relationship with Washington after the U.S. suspended aid over the country's alleged failure to combat militants. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) A convoy with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pompeo arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) Pakistan army soldiers sit guard outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives for talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Pompeo arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) ISTANBUL (AP) - Germany's foreign minister says Berlin wants to continue "to work hard" to improve relations with Turkey. Heiko Maas spoke Wednesday before departing for a two-day visit to Turkey where he is scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials. The visit comes as Turkey aims to repair ties with European allies. Last year, Erdogan accused Germany of "Nazi practices" after Turkish ministers were barred from holding election rallies in the country. Relations also soured over the detention in Turkey of German citizens for what Berlin considers to be political reasons. Maas said: "It's in Germany's strategic interest to have constructive relations with Turkey." The minister is scheduled to attend a ceremony in Istanbul marking the start of a German high school's new academic year. LONDON (AP) - The economies of Italy and Spain faltered over the summer months and are now growing at their slowest rates in years, according to a closely watched survey of the 19-country eurozone. Though the single currency bloc continues to expand at a healthy tick, financial information firm IHS Markit cautioned Wednesday about developments in the eurozone's number 3 and 4 economies. It main index of business activity across the eurozone's manufacturing and services - called the composite purchasing managers' index - rose to 54.5 points in August from 54.3 the previous month. Anything above 50 indicates expansion and August's level points to quarterly economic growth of around 0.4 percent, in line with the second-quarter outcome. Much of the growth, however, was due to Germany, the region's biggest economy, and to a lesser extent France. Chris Williamson, the firm's chief business economist, cautioned about developments in Italy and Spain, with the former "on course for its weakest expansion for nearly two years." For Spain, he said, growth could be even the "worst for almost five years." Spain has been growing strongly for years, so a slowdown had been anticipated. In the second quarter of the year, it grew at a still-healthy annual rate of 2.7 percent. Italy, on the other hand, has not seen growth as strong as Spain's for years and in the second quarter of 2018 expanded at an annual rate of just 1.1 percent. Tepid growth has been one of the main reasons why Italians voted in such large numbers for more populist parties in this year's election. The worry in financial markets is that Italy's new coalition government could ramp up its anti-euro rhetoric if growth stumbles further, especially after the European Central Bank end its bond-buying stimulus program this year, as it has signaled it will do. Daniel Harenberg, a senior economist at Oxford Economics, said Wednesday's survey highlights again that the business cycles in the eurozone are "not perfectly in sync," with Italy potentially more affected by a slowdown in export orders in Germany. "This bears the potential to heighten political tensions between the Italian government and European institutions once the ECB stops its quantitative easing towards the end of the year," he said. BRUSSELS (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday threw her weight behind the candidacy of one of her allies in the European Parliament to become the next head of the EU's executive. Manfred Weber, the head of the European People's Party, had earlier announced his intention to lead the grouping of center-right parties in next year's elections for the Parliament of the 28-nation bloc. "I want to be EPP candidate in the 2019 European elections and become the next president of the European Commission," Weber said on Twitter. FILE - In this March 14, 2017 fiel photo the Chairman of the European People's Party group of the European Parliament Manfred Weber listens during a press briefing in European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. Weber said he wants to run as head candidate in the 2019 EU elections. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, file) Weber, a member of the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union that's allied with Merkel's party, said: "Europe needs a new start and more democracy." The EU's powerful executive Commission is currently led by Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, who is also with the EPP. His five-year term ends next year. Several EU countries have recently expressed concerns that too many Germans hold high EU posts. Merkel told reporters in Berlin that there are still several months left before the EPP chooses who will lead the grouping into next May's European elections. Should the EPP emerge as the strongest force in those elections, the 46-year-old engineer would be in a strong position to succeed Juncker. "There are many steps that need to be taken before then, but the very first one has occurred now with the announcement of his candidacy," said Merkel, adding: "I support the candidacy of Manfred Weber." SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The Latest on diplomatic efforts involving North Korea (all times local): 6:35 p.m. A South Korean presidential delegation has met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and has conveyed a personal letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from left, presides over a meeting with his security ministers, including National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong, second from right, and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon, third from right, one day before Chung and Suh make a one-day trip to North Korea at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. A South Korean presidential delegation on Wednesday, Sept. 5, plans to leave for North Korea for talks to arrange a summit planned later this month and rescue a faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. (Hwang Gwang-mo/Yonhap via AP) Moon's office says the envoys will return to South Korea later Wednesday after attending a dinner reception. The office says it cannot provide further details. It plans to hold a briefing on the visit on Thursday. The five-member delegation led by Moon's national security adviser arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday to arrange a third summit between Moon and Kim planned for later this month and help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, walks to board an aircraft as he and others in a delegation leave for Pyongyang, North Korea, at a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The high-level South Korean delegation left for North Korea to discuss arrangements for an inter-Korean summit there this month, as relations grow cooler between Washington and Pyongyang. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP) MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Philippine town mayor who was linked by the president to illegal drugs was fatally shot in his office Wednesday in the latest brazen attack on local officials. Four gunmen barged into the Ronda municipality's town hall in Cebu province early Wednesday and repeatedly shot Mayor Mariano Blanco, who was sleeping in his office, police said. The men fled in a van. A police report said the gunmen ordered two watchmen to lie on the ground at gunpoint, rushed to the town hall, and then "a burst of gunfire was heard from the mayor's office." The watchmen later found Blanco dead and notified the police. President Rodrigo Duterte had included Blanco in a list of officials allegedly linked to illegal drugs. The mayor had denied any wrongdoing and had been alternately sleeping in his office and his nearby house after reportedly receiving death threats, officials said. Last year, Blanco was stripped of control over the local police due to his alleged links to illegal drugs. Blanco's nephew, Ronda Vice Mayor and lawyer Jonah John Ungab, was shot and killed in his car by motorcycle-riding men in February after attending a court hearing for a client, a suspected drug lord, in central Cebu city. Investigators were trying to determine whether Blanco's killing was related to a local political rivalry, a personal feud or his alleged links to the drug trade, police said, without elaborating. Attacks on local officials by motorcycle- and car-riding assassins have continued despite concerns raised by a national association of town and provincial officials which has sought additional security. In July, Mayor Antonio Halili was fatally shot in the heart while singing the national anthem at a flag-raising ceremony in Tanauan city, south of Manila, in an assault by gunman positioned on a nearby hill. The shooting was captured on cellphone videos which were posted online, prompting police to order tighter security. The next day, the mayor of northern General Tinio town was killed in an SUV by motorcycle-riding assassins. The killers of both mayors, among several who have been slain under Duterte, remain at large. The killings have taken place alongside a national anti-drug crackdown ordered by Duterte that has left more than 4,500 mostly poor drug suspects dead in the last two years. Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings but has openly threatened drug suspects, including officials and policemen involved in the drug trade, with death. LONDON (AP) - The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain (all times local): 5:15 p.m. Britain has called a United Nations Security Council meeting for Thursday to discuss the Novichok poisoning case. This still taken from CCTV and issued by the Metropolitan Police in London on Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, shows Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov at Salisbury train station on March 3, 2018. British prosecutors have charged two Russian men, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. They are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok. (Metropolitan Police via AP) Officials plan to update members on the progress of the investigation at the meeting. Russia will be present at the meeting because of its status as a Security Council member. British officials said Wednesday they have charged two alleged Russian military intelligence officers with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury - though authorities held out little hope of being able to bring them to justice. Prosecutors said the men are being charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok, prosecutors said. Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers that British intelligence has concluded that the two men are officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence service. ___ 2:05 p.m. A senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin says he doesn't know the people whom Britain named as suspects in the poisoning of a former Russia spy. British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter work for Russia's military intelligence. Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow that the names of the two Russian men suspected in the poisoning "do not mean anything to me." Ushakov pointed to the fact that British authorities mentioned that they think the men's names are aliases and wondered "why this has been done and what kind of a message" Britain is trying to send to the Russian government. ___ 1 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says the two prime suspects in the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are agents of Russia's military intelligence agency. May says U.K. intelligence services have concluded that the men, Alexander Petrov and Rusdan Boshirov, work for the GRU agency. British prosecutors have charged the two men with the attack on the Skripals, but acknowledge that Russia will not extradite them. They say the names are probably aliases. Police say they came to Britain two days before the March 4 attack on the Skripals in the city of Salisbury, and that traces of the Novichok nerve agent were found in their London hotel room. Russia denies involvement, but May said Moscow was spreading "obfuscation and lies" ___ 12 noon Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Moscow has no knowledge of the suspects named in the poisoning of a former Russian agent in Britain. British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. Police say the men flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on Russian passports but that it believes that the names were aliases. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says the names of the men and their photos "say nothing to us." Zakharova called on Britain to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies on the investigation. She has criticized London for turning down Moscow's request to see the case files. ___ 11:40 a.m. The Kremlin is denying that it played a role in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in a British city, saying that Britain is not sharing any intelligence with it. British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. The prosecutors said that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens. Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4. Speaking ahead of the announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday denied any Russian role in the poisoning, saying that Russia has no new information about it because Britain has refused to share case files. ___ 11:30 a.m. Police say they believe the nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was smuggled to Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle and applied to the front door of Skripal's house. More than three months later, the bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley. He was hospitalized and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the contents. Police are still trying to determine where the bottle was between the Skripal poisoning in March and its discovery by Rowley on June 27. As a result, he said, police are not yet ready to bring charges in the second poisoning. Assistant police commissioner Neil Basu would not say whether police believe the suspects worked for Russian security services but, he said, "This was a sophisticated attack across borders." ___ 11 a.m. British prosecutors have charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. The Crown Prosecution Service says Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok. Prosecutor Sue Hemming said Wednesday that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens. Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4. This combination photo made available by the Metropolitan Police on Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, shows Alexander Petrov, left, and Ruslan Boshirov. British prosecutors have charged two Russian men, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. They are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok. (Metropolitan Police via AP) LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Police in Portugal say they have seized 840 kilograms (1,850 pounds) of cocaine from a yacht in the Atlantic, bringing seizures of the drug at sea over the past three months to more than 10 metric tons (11 U.S. tons). A police statement Wednesday said the two men and two women on board are suspected of smuggling the cocaine from the Caribbean to Europe. They were not identified. Police helped by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force monitored the yacht and carried out a search when it stopped in Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores islands. The seizure resulted from cooperation with the Lisbon, Portugal-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre - Narcotics, an intelligence agency involving seven European Union member countries. Operations through that agency have brought a recent spike in Atlantic seizures. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Two Americans injured in an Amsterdam knife attack that prosecutors say had a "terrorist motive" thanked Dutch police and medical staff Wednesday for their assistance. Police and prosecutors say the two 38-year-old American men were stabbed last Friday at Amsterdam's busy central railway station by an Afghan who is seeking asylum in Germany. The alleged attacker was shot and wounded by police officers immediately after the attack and remains in custody. In a written statement distributed by the U.S. embassy, the Americans, whose identities have not been released, paid tribute to the police, saying they "cannot thank them enough for what they did to save their lives." Dutch police officers point their guns at a wounded 19-year-old man who was shot by police after stabbing two people in the central railway station in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Friday Aug. 31, 2018. Police investigators in Amsterdam included an extremist attack as a possible motive for the stabbings of two people at a busy railway station Friday as authorities in the Dutch capital reported that the suspect shot by police is an Afghan citizen. (AP Photo) The victims also thanked an information kiosk attendant at the station for rushing to their aid, and nurses, a surgeon and American consular staff for their support since the attack. "The victims and their families said they appreciate everyone's support, thoughts, and prayers. The families are focusing on both physical and emotional recovery. They hope to return to living meaningful and productive lives in the United States," the statement said. "They want to thank everyone from the bottom of their hearts." The 19-year-old suspect is accused of stabbing the Americans in an unprovoked attack after he arrived at Amsterdam's Central Station on an international train. Prosecutors say he did not know the victims were U.S. citizens. Prosecutors say the suspect believes that Islam is "insulted" in the Netherlands, and that drove him to travel to the Netherlands to carry out an attack. "It is apparent from his statements that he believes that in the Netherlands, the Prophet Muhammad, the Quran, Islam and Allah are repeatedly insulted," prosecutors said in a statement Monday, noting that the young Afghan man specifically mentioned Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who is well known for his fierce anti-Islam rhetoric. The prosecutors added that there was so far no indication the suspect, identified as Jawed S. under Dutch privacy rules, was working with anyone else. The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) finally arrives on Monday. Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce new measures of China-Africa practical cooperation at the meeting, also Chinas largest home-field diplomatic event attended by the most number of foreign leaders so far this year. China is the largest developing country in the world, while Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing nations. China was the first country to provide emergent aid for Ebola-hit countries after the outbreak of the virus in March 2014, and constructed Kenyas first railway after its national independence, and the first highway in Uganda. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for nine years in a row. The handshake between China and Africa, which carries the dreams and welfare of 2.6 billion Chinese and Africans, has drawn attention from the whole world. Namibian President Hage Geingob hailed China as a sincere partner and friend of Africa, saying that China has never colonized or plundered Africa and it has always treated other countries equally. China supported the courses of justice of African countries in history, and continued to help their development now, the president added. Even the western media who are always harsh on China admit that Chinese image in Africa is better than many Westerners. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said that the package of plans China could offer in economic cooperation with Africa is better. As a matter of fact, economy is not the only sector that benefits from China-Africa cooperation. British scholars have found that Chinese-built standard gauge railway connecting Mombasa and Nairobi has not only created 46,000 jobs for Kenya, but also trained its first batch of female drivers. Many female farmers or housewives in Ethiopia now have a better career future after employed by Chinese projects. These facts constitute an epitome of the dramatic changes brought by China-Africa cooperation. Both China and Africa are now standing at the key stage of development, and will continue to be so in the future. Africa is accelerating its modernization drive in a hope to realize economic independence and sustainable growth, while China is committed to comprehensively deepening reforms and speeding up economic restructuring. Both sides, whose development strategies are highly complementary to each other, will be presented with unprecedented opportunities brought by co-construction of the Belt and Road. At the same time, China and Africa need to do more amid the changing international situation, so as to ensure a justified, fair and representative global governance system that is more abreast with todays world political environment. It is believed that the Beijing summit will once again underline the strong vitality of China-Africa solidarity and cooperation, boost the sound development momentum of developing countries, pool global righteous forces upholding peaceful development, and propel the building of a community with shared future for mankind by taking the chance of constructing an even closer community with a shared future for China and Africa. MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Scott Walker's first attack ad of the Wisconsin gubernatorial race released Wednesday refers to a sex act while accusing Democratic candidate Tony Evers of not doing enough to revoke the license of a teacher who viewed pornographic images on a school computer. Walker and his Republican allies have said for more than a year that Evers, the state superintendent, didn't do all he could to remove Middleton middle school teacher Andrew Harris from the classroom. It's been a central issue of the tight governor race. Evers argues Walker is just trying to distract from his failure to address problems facing the state in the past eight years. Evers has consistently said he didn't then have the legal authority to revoke the teacher's license. He later worked with the Legislature to pass a bill, which Walker signed, expanding the circumstances that warrant revocation. FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2018, file photo, Tony Evers speaks after winning Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary election during an event in Madison, Wis. Evers faces incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the November election. Walker's first attack ad of the gubernatorial race released Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, refers to a sex act while accusing Evers, the state superintendent, of not revoking the license of a teacher who viewed pornographic images on a school computer. (Amber Arnold/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday that Evers hadn't been a leader on the proposal, noting that it had no Democratic co-sponsors and Evers did not personally testify for it, although a representative of the education department did. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed it unanimously. Evers' campaign manager, Maggie Gau, accused Walker of making "disgusting, dishonest and increasingly desperate attacks" that reveal his desperation as polls show the race is about even. "The people of Wisconsin know Tony has spent his lifetime doing what is best for our kids," Gau said, adding that Evers "worked with both parties to toughen the law." School boards in Wisconsin have the authority to fire teachers. The decision to revoke a teacher's license rests with the state education department that Evers runs. The Legislature changed the law in 2011 to allow for license revocation in cases where teachers view pornography in the classroom, even if students were not exposed to it. The law in place at the time of the Harris case required students to be endangered by the teacher's "immoral conduct" in order to revoke the teaching license. Evers has cited that as the reason why he couldn't revoke Harris's license - because no students viewed the material in question. The Walker ad quotes from a Middleton-Cross Plains School District report from 2010 that found Harris had suggested to one student that she "brush up on her sex skills because that's all she'll be good at later in life." Wording from the report referring to oral sex is shown on the screen. The ad also shows stock footage of young women talking, but not their faces, while the narrator says the teacher "commented on the chest sizes of middle school girls." The school investigation into Harris began in 2009 when the district received a complaint from a female teacher about emails containing nudity, crude jokes and other inappropriate material that Harris was viewing and sending to other school employees. Harris was fired in 2010, but an arbitrator determined he should have been suspended so that his punishment would be on par with those given to other teachers who looked at explicit materials or emails while at work. A circuit court judge and state appeals court upheld the arbitrator's ruling and Harris returned to work in 2014 - which the ad notes with a closing line: "The teacher is still in the classroom with young girls." ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's government looks as if it's under siege from an international community concerned about the condition of its nascent democracy, with widespread calls for a genocide tribunal to hold its military to account for the brutal treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority. But experts say not to expect any change of course from the country's leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, even after a fresh round of withering criticism from abroad following Monday's show-trial conviction of two Reuters reporters who helped expose extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya men and boys. Suu Kyi's motivations are opaque. Even as a revered pro-democracy activist, the Nobel Peace laureate had a reputation for being autocratic, but now her core ideology has come into question. FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2015, file photo, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during an election campaign rally of her National League for Democracy party for upcoming general election in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar's government looks as if it's under siege from an international community concerned about the condition of its nascent democracy, with widespread calls for a genocide tribunal to hold its military to account for brutal treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File) There is at least a loose consensus that she faces real restrictions on her actions due to the power retained by the military that is enshrined in the constitution it imposed in 2007. "Aung San Suu Kyi has tried to balance her delicate and antagonistic relationship with the military and her conception of society's needs, perhaps fearing too strident a stance could prompt an overt return to military rule, which is possible under the constitution in certain circumstances," David Steinberg, professor emeritus at Georgetown University, wrote in July in the online magazine The Diplomat. Other observers are less generous, saying Suu Kyi's seeming impassivity toward the plight of the Rohingya - and hostility toward those wishing to address the issue - undercut the narrative pitting her against the military. "People tended to think that Aung San Suu Kyi and the military were at odds, and each feared that the other would dislodge them from power," said Khin Zaw Win, a rare outspoken critic of the government who directs the Tampadipa Institute, a Yangon-based capacity-building institution. He said the conviction of the two Reuters journalists, who were sentenced to seven years in prison, is a reminder that "shows that what they fear in tandem is the world out there finding the truth and seeking to unseat them." The old saying, "They have to hang together, or they hang separately," describes their situation, he said. Political realities inside and outside Myanmar suggest there is neither the will nor a way to ensure justice for the Rohingya, 700,000 of whom fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the army. Myanmar denies any large-scale human rights violations and says its actions were a response to surprise attacks by militants in August last year that killed a dozen members of the security forces. Critics charge it was ethnic cleansing. Those inclined to bring Myanmar to account have few weapons to do so. Despite the recommendation last month of a special U.N. fact-finding commission that top Myanmar commanders be charged with genocide, no trial is likely to be held in the foreseeable future. It's far from clear that any country would officially push prosecution, and certain that several would seek to frustrate it. Major powers that have never entertained much interest in human rights - China and Russia - also have strategic reasons to cozy up to Myanmar, a well-situated outpost on the Indian Ocean. "A tribunal at the International Criminal Court, for example, on genocide charges will be difficult to pull off," Murray Hiebert, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said in an email interview. "Not only isn't Myanmar a member of the ICC, but a case must be brought by a member of the U.N. Security Council. China and Russia have made clear that they would block a case against Myanmar." The desire to contain China's growing influence in Southeast Asia is a major issue. "The U.S. and most Western democracies want to avoid pushing Myanmar further in the arms of Beijing," Hiebert said. Competition with China for geopolitical influence, as well as friendship from regional countries anxious not to rock the boat or jeopardize investments, also limits the threat of unfriendly action. "I think Myanmar can still count on most Southeast Asian countries as partners, and also India and probably Japan - Japan has been wary of taking a tough stance on the issues related to the Rohingya, for fear of losing strategic influence in Myanmar," said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for the New York-headquartered Council on Foreign Relations. Sanctions - the second-line approach to pressuring Myanmar - face the same constraints as pushing for a genocide tribunal, though nations inclined to do so can act unilaterally. Hiebert noted that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - a stalwart supporter of Suu Kyi in her Nobel Prize-winning days as a freedom fighter against military rule - remains sympathetic to her and is a roadblock to tougher action by Washington. "I think Myanmar and most of the population will hunker down in the face of more sanctions as they have stood up to most protests over the treatment of the Rohingya over the past year," Hiebert said. "They tell foreign visitors that they have resisted and survived sanctions before. The difference this time, of course, is that most of the population seems to support the military's moves against the Rohingya, while in the past many people seemed to support the sanctions to put pressure on the military to move toward greater democracy." FILE - In this May 6, 2016, file photo, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's foreign minister and de facto leader, left walks with senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's commander-in-chief, right, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Myanmar's government looks as if it's under siege from an international community concerned about the condition of its nascent democracy, with widespread calls for a genocide tribunal to hold its military to account for the brutal treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File) LUKOVA, Czech Republic (AP) - A 14th-century church in the Czech Republic that was once in ruins is getting a new life from tourists who want to see the eerie visitors from beyond the grave. In 2012, art student Jakub Hadrava used St. George's Church in the village of Lukova as his canvas for his senior arts thesis. He filled the Catholic church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work "My Mind." Word got out about the "ghost church" of the Czech Republic and in 2013 a videographer published a stylized YouTube video featuring creepy music and movie effects. It was a hit and has almost 200,000 views. In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) Curiosity about the installation has been building, and there is now a website and mentions on travel websites. The church is open to the public on Saturday afternoons, when around 150 people come to the "ghosts." Petr Koukl, caretaker of the ghost church, says that most people have a positive reaction to the church's ghoulish guests. But "it's also true . we had two or three visitors that refused to enter," he said. "They peeked through the door, but didn't enter because they didn't feel well about it." The church fell into disrepair after World War II when the ethnic German parishioners were expelled by the Czechs. The church kept deteriorating through the late 1960s and was abandoned after pieces of the ceiling began to fall during a funeral. The church, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Prague, got a new roof in 2017 mainly from 600,000 koruna ($23,300) in donations that the spooky specters have brought in by visitors eager to take selfies and shoot video with them. A Mass is held annually in April at the ghost church to celebrate St. George's Day. Pictures online show the pews are packed on that day with both the living and the "dead." In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) This picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 shows an exterior view of the church of Saint George, in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, French tourists visit the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, plaster statues are displayed at the church of Saint George in the village of Lukava, Czech Republic. In the year of 2012 the art student Jakub Hadrava filled the church's pews with ghostly figures, made from plaster casts of live models draped in white cloth. The effect is chilling. He called the work 'My Mind'. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. trade deficit widened for the second straight month in July, reaching the highest level since February, as imports hit an all-time high. The deficit in goods with China and the European Union set records. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the deficit in goods and services - the difference between what America sells and what it buys from other countries - rose to $50.1 billion in July from $45.7 billion in June. Exports slipped 1 percent to $211.1 billion. Imports increased 0.9 percent to a record $261.2 billion on increased purchases of trucks and computers. The deficit rose despite efforts by President Donald Trump to bring it down by renegotiating trade agreements and imposing taxes on imports. FILE- In this Aug. 22, 2018, file photo cargo is unload from trucks at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif. On Wednesday, Aug. 5, the Commerce Department reports on the U.S. trade gap for July (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) The United States has already slapped tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing's aggressive efforts to challenge American technological dominance. It is taxing imported steel and aluminum and may target auto imports next, causing a rift with the EU. Trump also has threatened to exclude Canada from a revamped North American trade agreement. So far, the president's aggressive policies have had little impact on the trade numbers. The goods deficit with China rose 10 percent in July to a record $36.8 billion. The gap with the EU shot up 50 percent to a record $17.6 billion and with Canada nearly 58 percent to $3.1 billion. The July deficit with Mexico, though, plunged 25 percent to $5.5 billion. So far this year, the trade deficit is up 7 percent from January-July 2017. Trump views trade deficits as a sign of economic weakness, caused by bad trade deals and abusive behavior by America's trading partners. Mainstream economists blame persistent U.S. trade deficits on an economic reality that can't be changed much by trade policy: Americans spend more than they produce, and imports fill the gap. The strong U.S. economy is also encouraging Americans to buy more foreign products. "The core story here is that strong domestic demand is sucking in imports ... the trade deficit likely will be flat-to-higher over the next couple of months," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Economics, wrote in a research report. In July, the United States ran a deficit of $73.1 billion in goods such as cars and machinery, but recorded a surplus of more than $23 billon in services such as education and banking. BOSTON (AP) - Only a few dozen votes separated the top two finishers in a 10-way Democratic primary for an open U.S. House seat in Massachusetts, making a recount appear increasingly likely. Unofficial returns from 100 percent of the precincts in the congressional district showed Lori Trahan leading Dan Koh by just 52 votes, out of approximately 85,000 votes cast on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Secretary of State ordered all ballots impounded and locked away to sealed to protect against any tampering in anticipation of a recount in the too-close-to-call election. Congressional candidate Dan Koh speaks to supporters at the Oak and Iron Brewery Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Andover, Mass. Ten Democrats, including Koh, were competing in the 3rd district primary to fill the seat left open by Democratic Rep. Niki Tsongas, who is retiring. (Peter Jasinski/The Lowell Sun via AP) Democratic U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, the widow of former U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas, is retiring at the end of this term following more than a decade in the House. Her departure set off a scramble among Democrats in the district which stretches from the cities of Lowell and Lawrence in the Merrimack Valley to historic Concord and other towns west of Boston. Trahan, who served as chief of staff to former Democratic U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, claimed victory before supporters early Wednesday. "I am deeply grateful to all who were part of making this incredible night possible. Thank you to everyone who believed in this campaign and everything it stands for," she said on Twitter. But Koh, the former chief of staff to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, quickly made it clear he had no intention of conceding, noting that possibly hundreds of provisional ballot had yet to be counted. "It's clear that the final outcome of the election will not be known for a few days," the campaign said in a statement. The campaign also said it was reviewing procedures for a recount, should it be necessary. State law allows candidates to request a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent. Both Trahan and Koh had 21.6 percent of the totals votes cast. Should either or both candidates petition for a recount, they must gather certified signatures of at least 500 registered Democrats within the district by 5 p.m. on Friday. The eventual nominee will face in the general election Republican Rick Green, who said in a statement Wednesday he hoped for a quick resolution of the Democratic contest. "If it devolves into a power struggle between two political dynasties, the victim will inevitably be the will of the people," said Green, who was unopposed in Tuesday's GOP primary. Mike Mullen, an independent, will also be on the fall ballot. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched in Sri Lanka's capital on Wednesday to demand the government step down, accusing it of corruption and selling national assets to foreign nations. The activists loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa walked along several main roads in Colombo, shouting slogans and holding placards, before gathering near the president's office and launching a sit-in protest on a main road. It was the first major opposition protest since Rajapaksa's party won control of a majority of local councils in elections last February. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, center, rides on an open car during an anti government protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Thousands of Rajapaksa supporters attended a protest organized by a group of opposition law makers condemning the government. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Opposition lawmaker Prasanna Ranathunga said the government made many promises when it took power three years ago. "It has failed to fulfil the promises given to the people, and instead it has heaped the burden on the people due to its inefficiency and malpractices," he said. The government was elected on a platform of good governance but its image was marred in 2015 by a central bank scandal that led to the resignation of a key minister. Ranathunga said the government does not understand the displeasure and disappointment of the people. "Therefore, people should express their anger in a way that is heard by the government. People have gathered today to do that," he said. Rajapaksa loyalists criticize the government for selling national assets to foreign countries, including the leasing of a sea port to China for 99 years. Government spokesmen did not answer phone calls seeking a comment. Rajapaksa ruled Sri Lanka for nine years beginning in 2005 and was widely expected to win an unprecedented third term in elections in 2015. He had built up immense power and was popular among the country's majority ethnic Sinhalese after overseeing the military's brutal defeat of ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 25-year civil war. Some supporters even hailed him as a king and a savior. But he was increasingly criticized for failing to allow an investigation of alleged war crimes by the military, while also facing mounting allegations of corruption and nepotism. He lost the 2015 election to his own health minister, Maithripala Sirisena, who launched a last-minute campaign. Rajapaksa's followers accuse Sirisena's government of betraying the country and the military by promising an independent investigation of alleged atrocities by both the military and the rebels, as demanded by the United Nations. Those who oppose such an investigation say the U.N. is meddling in Sri Lanka's sovereign affairs. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on executives from social media companies and their appearances before Congress (all times local): 3:30 p.m. Lawmakers are sparring over whether a now-reversed change to auto-suggestions on Twitter unfairly hurt Democrats or Republicans more. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey isn't saying which, but says he'll follow up. The storm over "shadow banning " of Republicans on Twitter broke out in July after Vice News reported that some politicians didn't show up in a drop-down menu of automatically suggested searches, even when typing in the politicians' names. Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle says at a House hearing that those claims have no merit. Dorsey had explained the hidden drop-down searches affected 600,000 accounts based on the activity of those accounts followers. Twitter fixed the issue in late July. Under further questioning by Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton, Dorsey said he agreed the impact along partisan lines "was not impartial." ___ 3:20 p.m. A House hearing about social media censorship was briefly interrupted as a protester stood up and yelled at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. A Republican congressman drowned her out using his auctioneering skills. A woman stood up and started loudly yelling at Dorsey, complaining about bias and publicly pleading President Donald Trump to help. As staff appeared to look for security to drag her out, Missouri Rep. Billy Long started speaking in the rapid pace of an auctioneer, pretending to auction something off. Long, who owned an auctioneering company, finished to applause from his colleagues just as security reached the woman and took her out of the room. The GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee is examining whether Twitter has censored conservatives. ___ 2:50 p.m. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says Twitter "can't place the burden" on victims when it comes to reporting abuse on the service. He says Twitter is committed to developing automated tools that would go all the way to deleting content even without an actual person making a complaint - which is the only way it takes down content now. Facebook already removes some objectionable content before people report it. But Twitter is behind in this regard. Using artificial intelligence in this way is still difficult and in the early stages. It works well for some things - for example images of child porn or beheadings. But when it comes to understanding the subtleties of language and when it's hate speech or abuse, machines still have a lot to learn. Dorsey is appearing before a House committee. ___ 2:40 p.m. A congressional hearing on Twitter's "transparency and accountability" is kicking off with partisan rancor. The House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing was prompted by claims of censorship and suppression from conservatives. The chairman, GOP Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, is citing recent complaints that Twitter had limited the visibility of prominent Republicans when searched on Twitter. But the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, says the hearing appears to be "just one more mechanism" for Republicans to "raise money and generate outrage." Pallone says claims of conservative suppression are "conspiracy theories" and he criticizing President Donald Trump for using Twitter to "bully and belittle people." Pallone also is chiding Twitter for not doing enough to prevent the spread of propaganda and false information and for "chasing the latest headline" when it comes to enforcing rules. ___ 1:10 p.m. The Justice Department says it's convening a meeting later this month to discuss concerns that social media companies may be hurting competition and "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms." The statement comes as Facebook and Twitter executives appeared at congressional hearings Wednesday. Both companies pledged to better protect their social media platforms in the 2018 elections and beyond. Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley says Attorney General Jeff Session will meet with a number of state attorneys general later this month to discuss the department's concerns. Some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have pushed the idea that Twitter is "shadow banning" some in the GOP because of the ways search results have appeared. Twitter denies that's happening. ___ 11:10 a.m. Google has skipped a Senate intelligence hearing on social media companies, and a lawmaker says it's "maybe because they're arrogant." Sen. Marco Rubio is also citing questions raised in a new report by a watchdog group that had success buying ads while posing as Russia's Internet Research Agency. That's the propaganda machine accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. The watchdog group used the Russia's agency tax ID, bought ads in rubles and pointed to IRA-affiliated websites, and the report said Google approved the ads as soon as within 24 hours. Rubio says he's sure that Google executives "don't want to be here to answer these questions." Google offered to send its chief legal officer, but the committee issued specific invitations to Larry Page, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, and to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. ___ 10:45 a.m. Facebook and Twitter executives say they agree with Congress that strengthening privacy protections for their users is a "national security priority." Critics have charged that the companies' business models, which are built on offering a free service and making money from advertising targeted using personal data, can conflict with efforts to oppose those who would abuse their systems. The Senate intelligence committee is holding a hearing on social media and elections. Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden says personal data is now the "weapon of choice" of political influence campaigns. ___ 10:40 a.m. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has told Congress that Twitter has created better tools and stronger policies for combating election interference. He says Twitter has learned from the 2016 elections and from other elections around the world. But he also tells the Senate intelligence committee that "we all have to think a lot bigger, and decades past today." The committee is holding a hearing on social media and elections. ___ 10:35 a.m. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has made a surprise appearance outside the Senate intelligence committee's hearing with Facebook and Twitter executives, and he tells reporters that he's there to "face my accusers." The Infowars host was temporarily suspended from Twitter and Facebook last month. He says the "real election meddling" is the silencing of conservatives on social media. The companies deny that's happening. ___ 10:05 a.m. Facebook's No. 2 executive has told a Senate committee that Facebook has made progress in addressing the issue of meddling by foreign interests in U.S. elections. But Sheryl Sandberg also says security efforts to combat such threats are never finished. She tells the Senate intelligence committee that Facebook is "more determined" than adversaries seeking to interfere in American democracy. Sandberg says Facebook is working with outside experts, law enforcement and government, and she acknowledges that Facebook doesn't always have the expertise to determine the source of such threats. Sandberg says "we are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting." She calls the fight an "arms race," as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has in the past. ___ 9:58 a.m. The Senate intelligence committee is holding a hearing on what it calls social media "influence operations" as the November elections near. And while executives from Facebook and Twitter are testifying, there's an empty chair in place for Google's parent Alphabet, which has refused to send its top executive. And committee leaders aren't happy about that. The committee chairman - Sen. Richard Burr - is praising the companies for what they've done so far. But the North Carolina Republican says threats from countries beyond Russia aren't going away. He notes that an outside security company had a large role in identifying the most recent threat the companies have disclosed. This was an attempt by Iran to meddle with politics using social media. ___ 12:15 a.m. Representatives from two leading social media companies are defending their efforts to crack down on foreign attempts at online meddling during this U.S. election year. Twitter's CEO and Facebook's No. 2 executive are appearing before the Senate's intelligence committee to discuss foreign interference. Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg says in prepared remarks that Facebook is addressing the problem but remains slow in spotting it. Sandberg says Facebook's overall understanding of Russian activity in 2016 is limited because it doesn't have access to the U.S. government's information or investigative tools. In a separate hearing before a House committee, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is expected to hear from Republicans who claim Twitter shows evidence of bias against conservatives. Dorsey says in his prepared remarks that Twitter doesn't use political ideology to make decisions. An empty chair reserved for Google's parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive, is seen as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg accompanied by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. Google CEO did not show for the hearing. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., left, and Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., center, greet Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey before he testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) The 2019 model year vehicles are hitting dealerships right now. Trucks are a big deal, and new and improved full-size pickups from General Motors and Ram will offer buyers a bumper crop of choices. But the 2019 model year will also debut new and innovative sedans, hybrids and electric vehicles. Although there isn't enough room here for a comprehensive list, these 10 vehicles highlight the best of what you can expect at dealerships now or in the near future. 2019 BMW 8 SERIES The BMW 8 Series coupe returns after a 20-plus-year hiatus. The new version will come in just one trim level to start, the M850i xDrive. It features a 523-horsepower turbocharged V8 and all-wheel drive. Generous use of aluminum, magnesium and carbon fiber stiffens the body and reduces weight, helping the new 8 Series dash from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds - a triumphant return to form. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $112,895. This undated photo provided by Volvo Cars of North America shows the 2019 Volvo XC40, a more affordable, scaled-down version of the Swedish carmaker's popular midsize and full-size SUVs. (Courtesy of Volvo Cars of North America via AP) 2019 CHEVROLET SILVERADO A redesign from the ground up makes the new Silverado longer and lighter. A variety of four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines highlight the truck's versatility, helping the Silverado achieve up to 19 mpg combined and a maximum towing capacity of up to 12,200 pounds. The Silverado's corporate sibling, the new GMC Sierra, has a more upscale interior and exclusive features. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $36,095 for the crew-cab version. 2019 FORD RANGER The Ranger returns after eight years away, but it seems like longer. The Ranger was a dated truck when it left the scene in 2011. This fourth-generation pickup offers a compelling alternative to its midsize rivals with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and crew- and extended-cab models to suit a range of buyers. Optional off-road and work-truck packages should enhance its appeal. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $31,775 for the crew-cab version. 2019 GENESIS G70 Shoppers in the luxury sport sedan segment have a new offering to consider in the G70. A choice of turbocharged four-cylinder or V6 engines and lively handling makes the G70 a car capable of swaying Audi and BMW loyalists. The G70 is also loaded with standard active safety features and the latest connected tech, making it a legitimate contender. Expected MSRP: $36,000. 2019 HONDA INSIGHT This is the third time around for the Insight, which was the first hybrid sold in the U.S. For 2019, it's a small sedan with a roomy cabin, refined interior quality and quiet ride. Even with fairly quick acceleration, the new Insight delivers 52 mpg in combined driving. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $23,725. 2019 JAGUAR I-PACE An all-electric crossover isn't what most people might associate with Jaguar, but the I-Pace may well turn the British automaker into a Tesla rival. With 240 miles of range, head-turning style and nearly 400 horsepower, the I-Pace is poised to redirect attention from Tesla's offerings. It's roomy enough for four adults and offers SUV-like cargo capacity. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $70,495. 2019 LEXUS UX The newest Lexus is a subcompact SUV called the UX. It brings Lexus' sharp design styling and a tech-rich interior to the class. The UX will offer a four-cylinder engine, and while Lexus hasn't revealed all the details yet, we expect optional all-wheel drive and a generous set of tech and driver safety features. An optional performance package and hybrid model should broaden the UX's appeal. Expected MSRP: around $31,000. 2019 RAM 1500 Fully redesigned, the Ram 1500 builds on its strengths and shores up its weaknesses. Key to its success is its unique rear suspension design, which gives the Ram the smoothest ride in its class. For 2019, the Ram sheds weight while increasing towing and payload capacity and gains hybrid-like electric assist for its V6 and V8 engines. It even offers an optional, massive 12-inch touchscreen display. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $36,140 for the crew-cab version. 2019 SUBARU ASCENT Subaru returns to the three-row SUV class with the new Ascent. With seating for up to eight, a massive cargo space and a new four-cylinder engine that returns 23 mpg combined, the Ascent offers an excellent choice for families. Standard all-wheel drive and nearly 9 inches of ground clearance mean the Ascent can roam off the highway as well as it can mean urban streets. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $32,970. 2019 VOLVO XC40 For 2019, Volvo shrinks the best elements of its larger SUVs into the more affordable XC40. It offers comfortable seats, ample interior space, and clever cargo space and small-item storage. The XC40's four-cylinder engine comes in two power levels: 187 horsepower, or 248 horsepower when equipped with all-wheel drive. And like all Volvos, this new SUV comes with sophisticated driver safety systems. Starting MSRP (including destination fee): $34,195. EDMUNDS SAYS: Several new and redesigned cars, trucks and SUVs are coming for the 2019 model year, and many will arrive at dealers by the end of the year. If you've been waiting for a good reason to buy a new car, the broad range of choices among the class of 2019 should offer ample motivation. ____ This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Dan Frio is a staff writer at Edmunds. Twitter: @danfrio; Instagram: danfrio Related links: - 2019 BMW M850i xDrive review: https://edmu.in/2NvcJZg - 2019 Chevrolet Silverado First Drive video: https://bit.ly/2MW8Cs2 - 2019 Ford Ranger Review: https://edmu.in/2wma8Kq - 2019 Genesis G70 Review: https://edmu.in/2wlV8wj -2019 Honda Insight First Drive video: https://bit.ly/2PjYuqL - 2019 Jaguar I-Pace Review: https://edmu.in/2MBzePF - 2019 Ram 1500 Review: https://edmu.in/2wmx2kZ - 2019 Subaru Ascent Review: https://edmu.in/2LB9HAK - 2019 Volvo XC40 Review: https://edmu.in/2NsqGa2 This undated photo provided by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. shows the 2019 Lexus UX, a new luxury subcompact crossover that is less expensive than the company's popular RX and NX models. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP) This undated photo provided by Jaguar Land Rover North America shows the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, a fully electric small SUV that makes a compelling alternative to Tesla's electric lineup. (Courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover North America via AP) This undated photo provided by American Honda Motor Co. shows the 2019 Honda Insight, which returns to the U.S. after a five-year absence and now more closely resembles Honda's Civic and Accord models. (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. via AP) This photo provided by Genesis Motor America shows the 2019 Genesis G70, the newest entry into the competitive field of sport luxury compacts dominated by Audi, BMW and Lexus. (James Lipman/Genesis Motor America via AP) This undated photo provided by Ford Motor Co. shows the 2019 Ford Ranger, which returns to the midsize truck segment after a long absence. (Courtesy of Ford Motor Co. via AP) This undated photo provided by General Motors shows the 2019 Silverado, which features a large cargo bed in the full-size truck class. (Courtesy of General Motors via AP) This undated photo provided by BMW shows the 2019 BMW M850i xDrive, which returns after 20 years to replace the 6 Series coupe. (Daniel Kuras/BMW of North America via AP) This undated photo provided by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America shows the Ram 1500, which was redesigned for 2019 with upgraded technology, and increased towing and hauling ability. (Courtesy of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - A spreadsheet detailing sensitive personal information about 2,000 students in the D.C. Public Schools was publicly available online for months. Washington city councilmember David Grosso tells news outlets that school officials shouldn't have given his office the spreadsheet posted on his website. The file saved in February contained names, dates of birth, housing status, school, grade level and whether the student was eligible for special education. School officials gave it in response to questions from Grosso's education committee. Grosso says he removed it and alerted the school system after a student spotted it early last month. DCPS Deputy Chancellor Amy Maisterra says steps are being taken so it doesn't happen again. Releasing such information violates federal law, but authorities are reluctant to impose the penalty of removing federal funding. Botswanas President Mokgweetsi Masisi is leading a delegation to China to attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and pay a state visit to the country at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is Masisi's first visit to China since he assumed office this April, and also the first trip to China by a Botswanas President in 12 years. The Botswana society is looking forward to this trip of their president, since it is of milestone significance to China-Botswana ties. Botswana, an inland country in southern Africa, covers an area of 580,000 square kilometers. The country boasts rich mineral resources and excellent natural environment. Ranking the second in the world in production and sales of diamonds, the country is dubbed as the nation of diamond. Thanks to the favorable natural environment and the variety of wildlife, Botswana is a country with developed husbandry industries. Since its independence in 1966, Botswana has maintained long-term and stable political, economic and social development. With a per capita GDP of around $7,600, Botswana is regarded as a well-off African country. China and Botswana are sincere friends who share weal and woe with each other. In the early days after Botswanas independence, China supported Botswanas fight against harassment from neighboring racist regimes and its efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and security. In return, Botswana, before establishing diplomatic relations with China in 1975, backed on restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations despite of the pressure from the West. Botswana has always followed the one-China policy. China and Botswana have conducted highly effective cooperation in regional and international affairs. China has offered assistance to Botswanas economic and social development within its available resources, including the construction of railways, highways, and schools. In addition, China's medical-aid teams to Botswana have helped more than 2 million local patients. China-Botswana friendship has been deeply rooted in the hearts of both peoples. More and more Botswana citizens are learning Chinese language, and Confucius institutes in the country are seeing increasing popularity. Besides, China has gradually become a prioritized destination of overseas study for the young generation in Botswana. Today, Chinese tourists are often greeted by smiley locals in Chinese, no matter in the northern Botswanas town of Kasane, or on the streets of the countrys capital city Gaborone. My Botswana friends told me that Chinese people are their good brothers and good partners. During President Masisis state visit to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged in-depth opinions with him on further pushing forward bilateral relations. The two heads of state also witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents. I have every reason to believe that China-Botswana relations will usher in a new era under the joint efforts of both countries, and they are bound to make a new chapter together on their track of common development. (Zhao Yanbo is Chinese Ambassador to Botswana) HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - A federal judge has set a January 2020 trial for an Indiana woman accused of providing material support to the Islamic State group. Samantha Elhassani was charged last month with conspiracy to provide material support to IS, and aiding and abetting individuals in providing material support to the group. The Post-Tribune reports the 32-year-old former Elkhart, Indiana, woman pleaded not guilty during a hearing Tuesday in Hammond. The judge set her trial for Jan. 6, 2020. Elhassani told the BBC and PBS in April that during a 2015 vacation in Turkey, her Moroccan husband tricked her into traveling with their children to Syria, where he became an IS militant and died fighting for the group. She and the children ended up in a Kurdish detention camp. ___ Information from: Post-Tribune, http://posttrib.chicagotribune.com/ DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The U.S. Navy says a recent arms seizure from small ships near war-torn Yemen netted over 2,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet gave the updated total in a statement Wednesday. It boarded the skiff and the dhow, a traditional ship in the Persian Gulf, during a routine check in the Gulf of Aden on Aug. 28. The Navy added: "The origin and intended destination of the skiff have not yet been determined." In this photo made available Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, a team from the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham inspects a dhow while conducting maritime security operations. A U.S. military video released early Friday, Aug. 31, purported to show small ships in the Gulf of Aden smuggling weapons amid the ongoing war in Yemen, with officials saying they seized over 1,000 arms from the vessels. (U.S. Navy via AP) In early 2016, U.S.-allied warships in the region stopped three dhows carrying thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles as well as sniper rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank missiles and other weapons believed bound for Yemen from Iran. In this photo made available Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, a team from the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham inspects a dhow while conducting maritime security operations. A U.S. military video released early Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, purported to show small ships in the Gulf of Aden smuggling weapons amid the ongoing war in Yemen, with officials saying they seized over 1,000 arms from the vessels. (U.S. Navy via AP) JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's prime minister says the country is working in "all arenas, near and far" against Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is working "resolutely" to combat precision weapons that could be used against it and to prevent Iran to establish a military presence in neighboring Syria. He spoke Wednesday at a meeting of his Cabinet. The remarks come a day after an Israeli military official said Israel has struck over 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives to the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP) Israel is widely believed to have been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria who are fighting alongside the government. It rarely confirms the attacks. Israel views Iran's presence in Syria as a growing threat. WASHINGTON (AP) - Facebook and Twitter executives assured Congress on Wednesday that they are aggressively working to root out foreign attempts to sow discord in America, and they pledged to better protect their social networks against manipulation during the 2018 midterm elections and beyond. Facebook's No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, and Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, testified before the Senate intelligence committee in the morning, but there was an empty chair for Google parent company Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive. In the afternoon, Dorsey went before a House panel alone to address Republican concerns that Twitter is censoring conservatives. Dorsey denied that is happening. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, left, accompanied by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are sworn in before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) The hearings come at a critical time, just two months before the midterm elections and as President Donald Trump has charged that Twitter is biased against Republican views. Senators had sharp words for Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., suggested the company was a no-show because it was "arrogant." Sandberg's appearance came several months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified at highly publicized Capitol Hill hearings. Like Zuckerberg, she acknowledged Facebook's lag in recognizing Russian efforts to manipulate Facebook during and after the 2016 presidential election. Sandberg detailed Facebook's efforts to fight the problem with new technology and manpower. "We are even more determined than our adversaries, and we will continue to fight back," she said. Dorsey was candid with both committees about what his company needs to improve, while defending Twitter against allegations of bias. Holding his phone throughout the hearings, Dorsey tweeted some of his opening statement to the Senate: "We aren't proud of how that free and open exchange has been weaponized and used to distract and divide people, and our nation. We found ourselves unprepared and ill-equipped for the immensity of the problems we've acknowledged." He added: "Abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots and human coordination, misinformation campaigns, and divisive filter bubbles - that's not a healthy public square. Worse, a relatively small number of bad-faith actors were able to game Twitter to have an outsized impact." As the executives spoke, the Justice Department announced it would look at whether their companies are hurting competition and "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms." Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley said Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with a number of state attorneys general later this month to discuss the department's concerns. Sandberg, 49, has extensive Washington experience, typically acts as her company's public face and clearly felt comfortable answering senators' questions. The bearded and tieless Dorsey, 41, is far less of a public figure and was quiet and respectful in his answers, even acknowledging at one point that he is "typically pretty shy." Both contrasted with Zuckerberg's sometimes awkward defiance during his Washington appearance in April. Thirteen Russians were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller this year on charges of taking part in a plot to disrupt the 2016 election by creating fake social media accounts that pushed divisive issues. Both Facebook and Twitter are using artificial intelligence and other increasingly sophisticated technology to combat manipulation. Facebook is going after "inauthenticity," or fake accounts. Twitter is focusing on analyzing behavior patterns to find suspicious activity because Twitter technically allows "fake" accounts. The companies have made many policy changes and have caught and banned malicious accounts over the past year. Still, their business models - free services that rely on attracting as many users as possible for as long as possible and finding out as much about them as possible - remain the same, and that has posed challenges in rooting out those bent on mischief. GOP Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the Intelligence committee chairman, commended the companies for their efforts but said Congress is concerned that not enough has been done. "Clearly, this problem is not going away," Burr said. "I'm not even sure it's trending in the right direction." Dorsey said Twitter has continued to identify accounts that may be linked to the same Russian internet agency cited in Mueller's indictment. He said Twitter has suspended 3,843 accounts it believes are connected to that agency. Facebook has also taken down pages this year that it believes were tied to the agency. At the House hearing, Energy and Commerce chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., cited recent complaints that Twitter limited the visibility of prominent Republicans on its platform - a charge echoed by Trump himself. "It takes years to build trust, but it only takes 280 characters to lose it," Walden said. Dorsey has strongly denied that political ideology has played a part in any Twitter algorithms that determine what users see. The assertion that conservatives are being censored has also been pushed by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and the No. 3 House Republican, Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Committee Democrats charged that Republicans were manufacturing the issue ahead of the November elections. "This hearing appears to be one more mechanism to raise money and generate outrage," said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the committee's top Democrat. Other Democrats called it a "charade" and "a load of crap." Twitter came under fire from some on the far right after suspending conspiracy theorist Alex Jones last month, as did Facebook. Jones made an angry appearance Wednesday outside both hearing rooms, telling reporters he was there to "face my accusers." Jones railed against the government, media and social media companies for more than 40 minutes in the hallway as the Senate hearing began. Later, he heckled a reporter outside the House hearing room. Jones' appearance punctuated an otherwise orderly day of hearings. The only other disruption was a protester in the House hearing who yelled at Dorsey about bias - and was drowned out by a Republican lawmaker who used his auctioneering skills. Missouri Rep. Billy Long, who owned an auctioneering company, loudly pretended to auction something off to the laughter of his colleagues as security dragged the woman out of the room. Twitter's stock fell more than 6 percent to $32.73 on Wednesday. Some analysts attributed the fall to comments from Dorsey that the company has more work to do in fixing the problems it faces - which, of course, means spending more money. Facebook shares dropped 2.3 percent to $167.18 on what was an overall down day for the stock market. ___ Ortutay reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ryan Nakashima contributed to this report from Fremont, California. An empty chair reserved for Google's parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive, is seen as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg accompanied by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. Google CEO did not show for the hearing. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., left, and Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., center, greet Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey before he testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota judge has denied a request to seal a court filing in the case of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an Australian woman. Attorneys for Mohamed Noor had filed a motion in August asking the court to suppress Noor's psychological records. Hennepin County Judge Kathryn Quaintance wrote Tuesday that Noor's attorneys had argued in private that sealing their motion and accompanying exhibits was necessary to protect medically privileged information. According to Minnesota Public Radio News , Quaintance wrote that "embarrassing and private records are routinely admitted to court proceedings open to the public." Noor is charged with murder and manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who was shot after she called 911 to report a possible assault. Noor's next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 27. WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Paul Ryan is rejecting President Donald Trump's suggestion that the Justice Department shouldn't prosecute two GOP congressmen because it will hurt the party's election prospects in November. Ryan tells reporters Wednesday, "Justice is blind. Justice should be blind." The Wisconsin Republican says political party should have no impact on how the department works. Ryan became the latest Republicans to criticize Trump since the president tweeted Monday that the Justice Department should take his political views into account when pursuing investigations. Trump criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for prosecuting the two GOP lawmakers just before midterm elections, saying, "Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff." Ryan adds that "the process is working its way as it should." NEW YORK (AP) - Offers of training and stock in their new employer weren't enough to keep four out of his five staffers when Dennis Chow sold his information technology firm in 2016. Chow and the buyers learned one of the hard lessons of a business sale - despite their best efforts, some employees will leave. People departed from both companies when SCIS Security acquired Chow's Houston-based Xtec Systems, most of them workers who didn't like their new assignments. "We lost maybe 25 percent of the overall workforce," Chow says. In this Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, photo, Jackie Johnson, left, and John Ahlberg work at Waident Technology Solutions in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Ahlberg, whose technology support and management company has made four acquisitions in recent years, has been able to retain about a third of the staffers who joined his firm, Chicago-based Waident. "With each person, we sit down and talk to them, and ask, 'What are you doing now, and what skills do you have?'" Ahlberg says. "But most of the conversation revolves around, 'What are your hopes and dreams. What do you want to be doing?'" (AP Photo/Annie Rice) _____ For more small business news, insights and inspiration, sign up for our free weekly newsletter here: http://discover.ap.org/ssb _____ As the number of small business sales keeps rising, staff retention is a priority - especially since low unemployment makes it easy for many workers to find new jobs. Transactions tallied by online marketplace BizBuySell.com show more than 2,700 small businesses changed hands during the second quarter, the most since the count began in 2007. The trend is being driven in large part by retiring baby boomer owners. One big problem can be a culture clash - staffers whose company is sold may be uncomfortable with their new bosses and how the business is now being run. A new owner may be more rigid about schedules or more of a micromanager. Staffers who worked with just a handful of people before might find themselves with dozens of co-workers, and miss the old camaraderie. Bosses should focus on the quality of employees' work life, says Mike Astringer, owner of Human Capital Consultants, a human resources provider. Money, whether it's in the form or a raise or a bonus, may not work in the long run. "The new acquirer and the seller need to really collaborate in the transition to make sure the culture not going to change, that the reason people work there is going to continue," he says. Critical to keeping staffers is not springing the ownership change on them at the last minute. That will only anger them and add to their anxiety and temptation to flee, Astringer says. A new boss should acknowledge and validate staffers' feelings, and not try pep talks to ease anxiety, says John Proctor, CEO of Ottawa, Ontario-based Martello Technologies. The information and communications technology company has made two acquisitions in recent years, giving Proctor experience with persuading reluctant staffers to stay. "People aren't praying at the altar of Martello. It doesn't work like that," he says. Proctor's approach is to meet with staffers individually or in small groups, spell out his ideas for the company's direction and ask employees about the roles they see themselves playing. He recommends listening rather than dictating. "You're giving them a sense of ownership instead of, 'You're going to be doing this, and you're going to be doing that,'" he says. Still, Proctor warns owners to expect some friction. "You also need to be realistic that there will be issues and disputes and you must deal with those with an open and frank dialogue with all involved," he says. It can be more difficult to retain staffers in some industries than others. David Crais, chief executive of CMG Carelytics a health technology development company that has done several acquisitions, has found software engineers reluctant to be part of a company that's growing by buying others. "Many times, they're driven by wanting to be part of a building process," says Crais, The more an owner can align a staffer's needs with the company's culture, the greater the chances of retaining employees, Crais says. He considers an acquisition a success if 70 percent to 75 percent of the staff is still there 18 months later. John Ahlberg, whose technology support and management company has made several acquisitions in recent years, has been able to retain about a third of the staffers who joined his firm, Chicago-based Waident Technology Solutions. Those who left tended to be uncomfortable with the culture at their new company; for example, they were used to working on their own and had a hard time adapting to team work. "With each person, we sit down and talk to them, and ask, 'What are you doing now, and what skills do you have?'" Ahlberg says. "But most of the conversation revolves around, 'What are your hopes and dreams. What do you want to be doing?'" Those conversations must be ongoing, Ahlberg says: "We sit with everyone regularly to make sure they are heard, we discuss the company expectations and define what is expected of them. We try to leave nothing vague." Sometimes there isn't much an owner can do. Steve Sargent hoped for an easy transition when he bought an automotive repair shop in Cary, North Carolina, in March and turned it into a Mr. Transmission/Milex franchise. He told the three staffers they could keep their jobs, but changes he made, including new technology to handle transactions and accounting, were troubling for the shop manager. Sargent provided training and tried to talk to the man, but couldn't get him to open up about his frustration. "He always said he wasn't going to leave," Sargent says. But nearly three months after Sargent arrived, "he called me and said, I can't do this anymore," Sargent recalls. Sargent advises other owners to keep communicating, but be ready for people to quit. "Not everyone will make it through the transition, so be proactive about looking for replacements before a person leaves," he says. ___ Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com/search/joyce%20rosenberg In this Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, photo, John Ahlberg poses for a portrait in his office in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Ahlberg, whose technology support and management company has made four acquisitions in recent years, has been able to retain about a third of the staffers who joined his firm, Chicago-based Waident. "With each person, we sit down and talk to them, and ask, 'What are you doing now, and what skills do you have?'" Ahlberg says. "But most of the conversation revolves around, 'What are your hopes and dreams. What do you want to be doing?'" (AP Photo/Annie Rice) In this Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, photo, John Ahlberg works at his desk in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Ahlberg, whose technology support and management company has made four acquisitions in recent years, has been able to retain about a third of the staffers who joined his firm, Chicago-based Waident. "With each person, we sit down and talk to them, and ask, 'What are you doing now, and what skills do you have?'" Ahlberg says. "But most of the conversation revolves around, 'What are your hopes and dreams. What do you want to be doing?'" (AP Photo/Annie Rice) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local): 10:15 p.m. The Democrats' final questioner of the night engaged in a cryptic exchange with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about whether he has talked with anyone at a law firm about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh gestures over a small U.S. Constitution and his notes while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, on the second day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) The questions Wednesday from Sen. Kamala Harris of California centered on the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, who has represented President Donald Trump. Kavanaugh said he couldn't think of any such conversations, but he'd need to see a list of lawyers who work at the firm. Harris challenged Kavanaugh's answer. She said she thinks Kavanaugh was "thinking of someone and you don't want to tell us." She did not say why she was asking the question, but said she would follow up on it. Judiciary Committee Republicans complained that the question was unfair. __ 10 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is making no promises about putting Supreme Court arguments on TV. Republican Sen. John Kennedy asked Wednesday about having cameras in the Supreme Court. Nominees frequently get asked that question by lawmakers, who point to their own practice. Transcripts of high court arguments are currently released the same day but audio follows days later. Kavanaugh says other nominees have supported cameras at confirmation hearings only to quickly change their mind as justices. He says that "gives me some humility about making confident assertions" on the topic. The court Kavanaugh currently sits on provides real-time audio of arguments. Kavanaugh isn't suggesting he supports the same for Supreme Court arguments, but is suggesting he could be open to allowing it when the Supreme Court announces its decisions. __ 9 p.m. A Senate Democrat says his effort to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about race has been hampered by Republicans' decision to keep emails from the public. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey questioned Kavanaugh about an email from when he served as a lawyer for President George W. Bush. Booker says the email shows Kavanaugh was at least open to racial profiling by police. But Booker says he can't share the email with the nominee because it is among those that have been labeled "committee confidential" - available to senators, but not the public. That prompted a complaint from Republicans. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah tells Booker he can't "cross-examine somebody about a document you cannot see." Booker says the email's subject is racial profiling and he wants it released publicly. __ 7:10 p.m. Judge Brett Kavanaugh says victims of sexual harassment need better information about how to come forward. Kavanaugh said in response to pointed questions by Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii that women "need to know who they can call, when they can call." He also repeated that he was unaware of the sexual harassment claims that caused Alex Kozinski to retire last year as an appeals court judge. Kavanaugh was a law clerk for Kozinski in the early 1990s and remained friendly with him. Kavanaugh also said he was unaware of the domestic violence allegations against Rob Porter, who was President Donald Trump's staff secretary. Journalist Bob Woodward's new book about Trump says Kavanaugh recommended Porter for the job. Kavanaugh was staff secretary in the George W. Bush White House __ 7 p.m. Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona tried not once, but twice, to engage Brett Kavanaugh in questions arising from one of President Donald Trump's tweets, but the Supreme Court nominee declined to respond. Flake said he was concerned about the executive branch and asked whether a president should be able to use his authority to carry out directives for political gain. He specifically referred to Trump's tweet against Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, where he complained that criminal charges against two Republican congressmen could hurt the party in the midterm election. Kavanaugh said maintaining judicial independence "requires me to avoid commenting on current events." Flake then took Trump out of the question. Kavanaugh still declined to engage in a hypothetical he said closely resembled the earlier one. __ 6:10 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is declining to say whether he would recuse himself from cases involving the civil or criminal liability of President Donald Trump. Kavanaugh told Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that he wouldn't comment on how he would handle any particular case, adding that even "the decision to participate in a case is itself a decision" he would not prejudge. "This is part of what I see as independence of the judiciary," Kavanaugh says, noting that the senator may disagree. "I do disagree," Blumenthal said, "and I am troubled." Blumenthal began his questioning by saying he wanted to address the "unchartered territory" of a high court nominee from a president who is an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal criminal case that could come to the court. __ 5:30 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is pushing back against a senator's suggestion that he's opposed to investigating or prosecuting a sitting president, despite having said in 2016 that he'd "put a nail" in a ruling that upheld an independent counsel law. Kavanaugh says his objection to the Morrison v. Olson ruling only extends to the independent counsel law, which Congress did away with in 1999, not the current special counsel law. That's the law that's underpinning special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Pressed by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware for his views on the breadth of executive power, Kavanaugh says he wanted to "avoid melding a lot of different things." Kavanaugh insists if such questions come before him on the court he'll have an "an open mind." __ 5:15 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he stopped voting shortly after becoming a federal appeals court judge in 2006. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz asked Kavanaugh on Wednesday whether he considers himself a "Republican judge." Kavanaugh responded he believes he voted in one election as a judge and wasn't sure what his voter registration says. Kavanaugh says he read about Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II, who didn't vote as a federal judge. He says he thought Harlan's practice was a "good model for a federal judge" to follow. He says, "It seemed to me that voting is a very personal expression of your policy beliefs in many ways and your personal beliefs." Kavanaugh previously noted his decision to stop voting in a 2016 law review article. __ 3:50 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he has not taken a position on the constitutionality of investigating a sitting president. Yet his past writings cast doubt on the idea. Asked by Sen. Amy Klobuchar Wednesday whether he believes such investigations are only acceptable in impeachment proceedings, Kavanaugh replied: "I did not take a position on the constitutionality. Period." In a footnote to a 2009 law review article, Kavanaugh wrote that "a serious constitutional question exists regarding whether a President can be criminally indicted and tried while in office." A decade earlier, Kavanaugh wrote that the Constitution seems to dictate that "congressional investigation must take place in lieu of criminal investigation when the President is the subject of investigation, and that criminal prosecution can occur only after the President has left office." __ 2:25 p.m. President Donald Trump says he's been watching the Senate confirmation hearings of his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He says the judge has "an outstanding intellect." Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he welcomes the emir of Kuwait to the White House, Trump says he's "happy" with the way the proceedings are going. Trump says he "saw some incredible answers to very complex questions," when he tuned in to the proceedings. Trump called Kavanaugh "an outstanding judge" who was "born for the position." Kavanaugh was questioned before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Trump says Democrats are "grasping at straws" in their questioning of Kavanaugh. __ 2:05 p.m. Senate Republicans have been forced to adjourn the Senate to continue the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer objected to a request from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow Kavanaugh's hearing to continue past 2 p.m. Wednesday. Under Senate rules, the minority leader must agree before a hearing can extend two hours past the opening of the Senate. The chamber opened at noon on Wednesday. Schumer objected, protesting that Republicans are holding back records from Kavanaugh's time in government. Rather than allowing Kavanaugh's hearing to end at 2 p.m., McConnell adjourned the Senate. The confirmation hearing is expected to last into the late evening. Earlier in the day, liberal groups blasted Schumer's handling of the Supreme Court fight, declaring, "you are failing us." ___ 12:25 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is denying that he misled senators in testimony when he was nominated to be an appellate judge in 2006. He says the testimony was "100 percent accurate." The response does not appear to have satisfied Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Leahy is suggesting that confidential documents not available to the public may contradict Kavanaugh's assertions that he knew nothing about a Bush administration warrantless surveillance program or efforts by a Republican Judiciary Committee aide to steal material from Democrats in advance of judicial nomination hearings. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said he would consider making the documents public in time for Leahy's next round of questions Thursday. Kavanaugh's response came after an unusual moment where Democrats played a video clip of Kavanaugh's 2006 testimony. ___ 12:15 p.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is declining to answer questions about the extent of the president's pardon power. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont asked Kavanaugh: "President Trump claims he has an absolute right to pardon himself. Does he?" Kavanaugh responded that the question was a hypothetical one he "can't begin to answer in this context as a sitting judge and as a nominee to the Supreme Court." Leahy followed by asking whether the president has the ability to pardon someone in exchange for a promise not to testify against him. Kavanaugh declined to answer. Leahy concluded by saying: "I hope for the sake of the country that remains a hypothetical question." President Donald Trump has declined to rule out pardons for people convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. ___ 11:35 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he knew nothing about the sexual misconduct allegations against a judge who was a friend and mentor. Kavanaugh said Wednesday that when the allegations against former federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski became public, they were a "gut punch" for him and for the federal judiciary. Asked whether he knew about the allegations before they became public, Kavanaugh responded: "nothing." He said he was "shocked and disappointed." Asked whether he was on an email list that Kozinski used to send offensive material, Kavanaugh responded: "I don't remember anything like that." Kozinski retired in December after several female former law clerks and colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh clerked for Kozinski, and Kozinski introduced him during his 2006 confirmation hearing to be a judge. ___ 11:20 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is refusing to say whether a president can be forced to testify in a criminal case, calling it a hypothetical. The topic is front-and-center at Kavanaugh's hearing because the man who nominated him, President Donald Trump, could face a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, asked Kavanaugh whether he thinks a sitting president can "be required to respond to a subpoena." Kavanaugh responded: "I can't give you an answer on that hypothetical question." The Supreme Court has never ruled on a presidential subpoena. President Bill Clinton was subpoenaed by independent counsel Kenneth Starr in 1998. Clinton eventually agreed to testify voluntarily and the subpoena was withdrawn. Kavanaugh worked for Starr. ___ 11 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says a 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion is an "important precedent" that has "been reaffirmed many times." Kavanaugh was asked about the Roe v. Wade ruling by Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California. He said the decision has "been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years." And he noted that a 1992 decision of the court called Planned Parenthood v. Casey didn't just reaffirm Roe v. Wade in passing. He said that decision becomes "precedent on precedent." Kavanaugh compared the Roe decision to another case, Miranda v. Arizona, which requires law enforcement to tell suspects their rights. Kavanaugh noted that former Chief Justice William Rehnquist had been a critic of the Miranda decision but later upheld it as precedent. ___ 10:30 a.m. Republicans are invoking Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to make the case that Brett Kavanaugh should decline to say how he might vote on any particular case. Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley referred to the so-called "Ginsburg standard" Wednesday during the second day of Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. Ginsburg said during her 1993 confirmation hearing that it would be wrong for her to "preview in this legislative chamber how I would cast my vote on questions the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide." As Kavanaugh put it, quoting Ginsburg, that means "no hints, no forecasts, no previews." Despite her statement, Ginsburg was questioned extensively about abortion during her hearing. She told lawmakers, "It is essential to woman's equality with man that she be the decision maker." ___ 10:20 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is pointing to a decision where he ruled for an associate of Osama bin Laden as evidence of his independence as judge. Asked by Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley to discuss what judicial independence means to him, Kavanaugh pointed to his opinion in a case involving Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was bin Laden's former chauffeur. Hamdan challenged his detention at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kavanaugh told senators that "you'll never have a nominee who's ruled for a more unpopular defendant." Kavanaugh says judges don't make decisions based on who people are, but "whether they have the law on their side." Hamdan was released from Guantanamo before the appeals court ruling that vacated his conviction. ___ 9:55 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he believes the first thing that makes a good judge is "independence." Kavanaugh is answering questions Wednesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's his first day answering questions from lawmakers. Committee chairman Chuck Grassley began the day by asking Kavanaugh to explain what he thinks makes a good judge. Kavanaugh responded that he thinks "the first quality of a good judge in our constitutional system is independence." He said being a good judge also requires paying attention to the words of the Constitution and the words of laws, "not doing what I want to do." The judge said he wants parties to leave oral arguments in his cases believing he had an "open mind, he gave me a fair shake." 9:50 a.m. Demonstrators are again disrupting the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley attempted to gavel in the second day of hearings on Wednesday when shouting protesters began disrupting the hearings. Grassley said 70 people were arrested during the first day of hearings the day before. Kavanaugh will be answering questions from senators all day. Democratic senators are expected to press for his views on issues like abortion, guns and executive power. President Donald Trump nominated the 53-year-old appellate judge in July to fill the seat of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. ___ 9:20 a.m. Liberal and progressive groups are pressuring Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to unify Democrats against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. A letter sent to Schumer on the second day of hearings for President Donald Trump's court pick says bluntly: "You are failing us." Democrats face a difficult climb trying to block Kavanaugh's confirmation. If nearly all Republicans back Kavanaugh, as is expected, several Democrats facing tough re-election races may vote to confirm him. But the groups say Democrats in states like West Virginia, North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Alabama have nothing to fear from voting against Kavanaugh. They say voters in those states "care deeply" about the issues before the court and "will reward a principled vote." The Senate's questioning of Kavanaugh is set to begin Wednesday morning. ___ 4:20 a.m. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh touted the importance of an independent judiciary as his confirmation hearings began with strident Democratic criticism that he would be President Donald Trump's man on the high court. On Wednesday, Kavanaugh can expect to spend most of the day in the hot seat, sparring with Democratic senators over abortion, guns, executive power and other high-profile issues. A long day of questioning awaits the 53-year-old appellate judge, whom Trump nominated in July to fill the seat of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. The change could make the court more conservative on a range of issues. Barring a surprise, Republicans appear on track to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, perhaps in time for the first day of the new term on Oct. 1. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, holds up a pocket copy of the Constitution as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, for the second day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Donald Trump listens to a question during a meeting with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) DOVER, Del. (AP) - As outbreaks of antiestablishment activism roil the Democratic Party nationwide, a veteran Delaware political leader who's never been beaten faces a primary election challenge from an insurgent who's never run for office. Kerri Evelyn Harris, whose resume includes loading giant Air Force cargo planes, frying chicken at a convenience store chain and working as an auto body mechanic, is seeking in Thursday's Democratic primary to unseat three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, one of the most successful politicians in Delaware history. "We absolutely are fighting for the soul of the Democrat Party," said Harris. FILE - In this May 15, 2018, file photo, Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., asks a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she testifies to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerri Evelyn Harris, whose resume includes loading giant Air Force cargo planes, frying chicken at a convenience store chain and working as an auto body mechanic, is seeking in the Thursday, Sept. 6, Democratic primary to unseat three-term incumbent Carper, one of the most successful politicians in Delaware history. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Carper, undefeated since 1976 when he was first elected state treasurer, is taking it in stride. "It's not like I've never been primaried before," said Carper, who served five terms in the U.S. House and two as governor before being elected to the Senate in 2000. Carper has a huge fundraising advantage, having raised more than $1.3 million this year as of mid-August, compared to a little more than $120,000 by Harris. He has far outspent her. Harris is among a wave of young activist Democrats, emboldened by the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. They have sent shock waves through the party establishment around the U.S., starting in June with a New York primary victory by 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, 39, riding an insurgent wave, scored a stunning victory last week in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary. And on Tuesday, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley beat longtime Rep. Mike Capuano in a closely watched Democratic primary. Now, it's the 38-year-old Harris' turn in the spotlight, a place she never expected to be. Born in New York to a biracial couple, Harris attended high school in California before joining the Air Force. She worked as a loadmaster at Dover Air Force Base until 2008, when she was medically retired after suffering an adverse reaction to the anthrax vaccine. She then worked a variety of jobs and served on the state Human Relations Commission before becoming a political organizer. Last year, after trying unsuccessfully to find someone to challenge Carper, she took on the job herself. "This is a fight to prove that we are a party of the people," said Harris. She has painted Carper, 71, as an out-of-touch career politician doing the bidding of corporations and their political action committees. Carper, meanwhile, sees himself as a centrist able to work in a bipartisan way. "Across the country, we have a number of folks that are on the progressive wing of the party, really the far-left flank of our party. Some of them have little tolerance for centrists," added Carper, who touts his ability to work with both Democrats and Republicans. But Harris says Carper hasn't done enough for everyday people, and that too many within the Democratic Party's core constituency have become marginalized. "He has definitely become a corporatist," she said, noting that Carper voted for the Keystone XL pipeline. "His entire career, if you look at it, has been centered around making sure corporations thrive, and almost a Republican idea of there will be a trickle-down effect. We know that trickle down doesn't work." Harris' campaign shares elements with those of other new activists, including government-paid health care for all, a $15 hourly minimum wage and abolishing the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Harris also favors eliminating all student debt. "I see myself a part of the movement for the people," she said. "It's moved beyond Bernie. There's people in all parties who are ready for this." Harris is backed by a political action committee called Justice Democrats, started by organizers of Sanders' presidential campaign. Twenty-five of its endorsed candidates are on the November general election ballot in states across the country. Ocasio-Cortez has visited Delaware to support Harris. While Harris rejects the notion that she's a socialist, it remains to be seen how well her message will play among the more than 327,000 registered Democrats eligible to vote in Thursday's closed primary. "Delaware's not New York City," Carper said. "And in most of these races around the country where you've got the progressive, far-left candidates running against more moderate Democrats, for the most part the more moderate Democrats are winning those races." He retains the support of the Democratic establishment. Among those endorsing him are former vice president and U.S. Senate colleague Joe Biden, the Delaware Democratic Party, the AFL-CIO, the state teachers' union and Delaware's largest daily newspaper. Carper also has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights advocacy organization, even though Harris could make history as the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Delaware. "We all want the same thing," Carper said. "We have maybe different ideas on how to get there." The winner of Thursday's Democratic primary in Delaware will face the winner the GOP primary between former PayPal executive Gene Truono and Sussex County councilman Rob Arlett, who was state campaign chairman for Donald Trump in 2016. China and Ghana announced to co-produce the first feature film titled Ebola in Beijing just ahead of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The film commemorating Chinese medical aid to West Africa against the Ebola epidemic after the outburst of the virus in 2014 is the first co-production between China and Africa. Africa and China have gained fruitful results in recent years cooperation on public health and people-to-people exchanges, said Ghanas Ambassador to China Edward Boateng, adding that the film Ebola is of special significance as the first co-produced film between Ghana and China. In early 2014, the deadly Ebola disease broke out in such West African countries as Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, causing more than 20,000 infections with a death rate of over 60 percent. Many airlines suspended or cancelled their flights in and out of Sierra Leone and Liberia then. It was the Chinese medical workers who headed into the danger at the most critical moment and started the largest medical foreign aid campaign in the history of the Peoples Republic of China. Chinese government sent more than 1,200 medical personnel to West Africa to fight against Ebola and prevent infection. In addition, China also provided four rounds of aids worth over $120 million to 13 countries including the epidemic-hit areas and surrounding countries. The highly infectious virus and the heat in West Africa were both severe challenges for Chinese medical workers, which even caused fever for some of them. It took at least 40 minutes and 41 procedures to put on and off the personal protective equipment, said Song Caiping on the medical team of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Liberia. Their masks were often soaked by the vapor created by their breaths due to the high temperature and heavy protection suit. Fortunately, the hard work of Chinese medical staff paid off. In Liberia, multiple Ebola patients finally walked out of wards, including a little child Robert. He danced happily for the medical staff the moment he knew he was cured. China has always taken the lead in the global anti-Ebola campaign, as AllAfrica.com pointed out in a report. Chinese medical personnel showed their love and caring facing the relentless disease, and fought side by side with African countries after the epidemic broke out. It indicated the essence of China-Africa friendship, and also the sense of responsibilities of China. Filmmakers from both countries interviewed tens of Chinese medical workers who were participated in the anti-Ebola campaign and Ebola patients who survived the deadly disease, said Shen Jian, a producer from the Chinese side, adding that they were all touched by the stories. The film is scheduled to be shown in 2020 in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the FOCAC, Shen disclosed. WASHINGTON (AP) - Trump administration officials and Canadian negotiators worked into Wednesday night, trying to strike a deal that would keep Canada in a North American trade bloc with the United States and Mexico. "Teams are remaining here this evening, working late into the night," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters as she entered a meeting with U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer. "They will report back to us in the morning." Last week, the U.S. and Mexico reached a preliminary agreement to replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. But those talks excluded Canada, the third NAFTA country. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives at the United States Trade Representative building in Washington, for a new round of trade talks on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Luis Alonso Lugo) Freeland flew to Washington last week for four days of negotiations to try to keep Canada within the regional trade bloc. The U.S. and Canada are sparring over issues including U.S. access to Canada's protected dairy market and American plans to protect some drug companies from generic competition. Freeland expressed optimism late Wednesday. "We are making good progress," she said. "We continue to get a deeper and deeper understanding of the concerns on both sides." NEW CHURCH, Va. (AP) - A Virginia woman has received jail time for using her 5-year-old child as an accomplice in a break-in. Gabrielle Lynn Kromer was convicted of burglary, grand larceny and child endangerment in March. According to court testimony, she took her two children to Simply Storage, where she found an unlocked window at the building's rear. She hoisted the 5-year-old through the window, telling the child to open the front door for her. She then took cash and checks worth $780, and smashed a glass door to cover her tracks. A friend who worked at Simply Storage told the owner what happened. The Daily Times of Salisbury reports the 27-year-old was sentenced to 45 days in jail Aug. 30, and must pay restitution. She can serve jail time on weekends. PRAGUE (AP) - Officials in the Czech Republic say a helicopter has crashed in a western city, killing all four people onboard. Regional rescue service spokesman Martin Brejcha says that the crash has occurred in Plzen, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Prague. The victims haven't been identified. Local firefighting spokesman Petr Poncar says the helicopter crashed on the roof of an empty factory hall in the industrial zone of Plzen on Wednesday afternoon. He says that the crash didn't spark a fire and no one else has been injured. The CTK news agency reported that the aircraft was a small Robinson helicopter. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Martin Brejcha is a spokesman for the regional rescue service, not a firefighting spokesman. DALLAS (AP) - The Latest on a truck crashing into a Dallas TV station (all times local): 12:50 p.m. Jail records show the 34-year-old man police say rammed a pickup truck into the downtown building of Dallas' Fox television affiliate has a criminal history dating back more than 15 years. This image taken from video by KDFW Fox 4 shows a pickup truck after a man crashed the vehicle into the side of the Fox affiliate television station building in downtown Dallas on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The man was arrested after pacing and scattering papers outside. Despite the crash, nobody was hurt. (KDFW Fox 4 via AP) Dallas police say in a news release that Michael Chadwick Fry was taken into custody Wednesday morning after he intentionally crashed into the building and scattered papers outside with information on a police shooting. Police say it doesn't appear the man was targeting the media. Online Denton County records show that Fry has been booked into jail more than two dozen times since 2003 on a variety of crimes, including public intoxication and arson. He was charged with criminal mischief in Wednesday's crash. Police said no "suspicious devices" were found in a bag the man removed from his vehicle following the crash. ___ 11 a.m. Authorities say they don't believe that a man who rammed his pickup truck into the downtown building of Dallas' Fox television affiliate was targeting the media. Police Senior Cpl. Debra Webb says the man who was detained after the Wednesday morning incident was taken to a hospital for examination. Witnesses say that after ramming into the building, the rambling man got out of his truck and scattered hand-written papers. Police say the papers had information on a police-involved shooting. KDFW reporter Brandon Todd says people backed away when the man took an orange duffel bag out of his truck, fearing it could contain a bomb. Webb says no "suspicious devices" were found in the bag. No one was hurt. ___ 8 a.m. Police have detained a "ranting" man accused of crashing a pickup truck into a Fox affiliate television station building in downtown Dallas during a live newscast. KDFW posted details on Facebook Wednesday morning showing photos of the front of the vehicle rammed into windows near an entrance. The man paced and scattered papers outside. He was not able to enter the building and was soon arrested. Anchors who continued on the air through the 7 a.m. newscast, despite the crash, say nobody was hurt. A KDFW statement says "a man crashed a truck into the side of our building this morning" and "jumped out and started ranting." Police haven't returned messages about the suspect or a possible motive. This photo from video by KDFW Fox 4 shows a man being detained at right after crashing his pickup truck into the side of the Fox affiliate television station building in downtown Dallas on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Despite the crash, nobody was hurt. (KDFW Fox 4 via AP) GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - The Constitutional Court agreed Wednesday to consider four appeals seeking to reverse the government of President Jimmy Morales' decision to bar from Guatemala the head of a U.N.-backed commission investigating corruption in the country. The court gave the president and other government bodies 48 hours to report on the reasons for the decision regarding Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG for its initials in Spanish. The Guatemalan government has called him "a person who attacks order and public security in the country." The United Nations defended CICIG and the commissioner as playing "a pivotal role in the fight against impunity in Guatemala." FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2017 file photo, Ivan Velasquez, commissioner of the United Nations International Commission Against Impunity, CICIG, pauses during an interview, in Guatemala City. Velasquez was barred from re-entering the country Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, days after President Jimmy Morales decided not to renew the body's mandate. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File) Morales' government announced Tuesday that Velasquez, a Colombian national, would not be allowed to return to the Central American country and that he had asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to name a replacement. But the United Nations opted to keep him in charge. Commission spokesman Matias Ponce said Velasquez was working remotely from Washington, where he was holding meetings. "The U.N. Secretariat has serious concerns about this decision, which it is currently reviewing and which does not appear to be consistent with the Agreement on the establishment of CICIG," the United Nations said in a statement, urging Guatemala to "continue to search for a solution through dialogue." Working with Guatemalan prosecutors, Velasquez's commission has pressed a number of corruption probes that have ensnared dozens of politicians, public servants and businesspeople. One case dealing with over $1 million in purported illicit campaign financing allegedly received by Morales remains pending. The president denies wrongdoing. Last Friday, Morales announced that he would not renew CICIG for another two-year mandate in the country, giving the commission until the end of its current term in September 2019 to transfer all its functions to Guatemalan institutions. CHICAGO (AP) - For almost three years, Chicago has been grappling with the impact of a few seconds of grainy video that show a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, emptying his service weapon into Laquan McDonald, causing the black teenager to spin and fall to the ground. Since a judge in November 2015 ordered the release of the dashboard camera footage of the fatal shooting, jobs have been lost, trust shattered, charges filed, investigations launched and scathing reports written. Their names still appear regularly in the news, but only once in a while are McDonald and Van Dyke the lead story or a front page headline. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks into the courthouse, Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of Dyke who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) That is now changing: Van Dyke is about to stand trial on a murder charge, accused of firing 16 bullets into McDonald. THE TEEN By all accounts, Laquan McDonald's short life was a difficult one. He was placed in foster care at the age of 3, then shuttled between relatives. On the night of his death in October 2014, the 17-year-old was a ward of the state. The teenager had told authorities he smoked marijuana every day and was arrested at least once for marijuana possession. School officials and the McDonald family's lawyer said there had been signs he was trying to get his life back in order, but the night he was shot, McDonald had PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, in his system and had been breaking into cars and slashing tires. THE OFFICER Van Dyke joined the Chicago Police Department in the summer of 2001 and on the night he killed McDonald, the married father of two children was still a patrol officer. But his career had not been uneventful. According to a University of Chicago database that includes police reports from 2002 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2015, at least 20 citizen complaints were filed against him, eight of which alleged excessive force. According to a media report at the time, a jury awarded $350,000 to a man who filed an excessive force lawsuit against Van Dyke. The officer was never disciplined. THE SHOOTING It was a 911 call on the night of Oct. 20, 2014, reporting a person trying to break into vehicles on the Southwest Side that put McDonald on a collision course with Chicago police. Officials say McDonald ignored officers' orders to drop the knife they could see in his hand. The first two officers on the scene were not armed with a Taser, so, according to the city's attorney, they requested that an officer with a Taser come to the scene. While waiting, they pulled their squad car in front of McDonald to keep him from leaving. He punctured the tires with his knife. Soon Van Dyke and another officer arrived and drew their service weapons. Van Dyke opened fire within seconds. THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT After the shooting, the scene was a flurry of activity as more officers arrived. Also on the scene was Pat Camden, the acting spokesman for the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. Camden told reporters that Van Dyke fired his weapon after McDonald lunged at him with a knife. The police department said in a statement that McDonald "refused to comply with orders and drop the knife and continued to approach the offices" when he was shot. Van Dyke said he fired because the teen attacked him with a knife. Other officers at the scene supported that version of events in their own reports. THE UNRAVELING For months, questions about the shooting dogged the department. The autopsy found McDonald had PCP in his system, fitting the narrative that he had been acting erratically. The report also revealed that the teen had been shot 16 times. After attorneys for the McDonald family watched the squad car video, they announced that McDonald had been walking away from Van Dyke when the officer opened fire from about 15 feet (4.5 meters) away and continued to fire when the teen fell to the ground. Activists, journalists and attorneys pushed for the video's release and in November 2015 - more than a year after the shooting - a judge ordered the city to make it public. The video confirmed the lawyers' assessment of the scene. THE FALLOUT On the day the video was released, prosecutors announced that they had charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder in an apparent attempt to maintain calm on the streets of Chicago. It didn't work. The video sparked massive protests, including angry confrontations between demonstrators and police. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez was voted out of office the following spring, scorned for waiting for the video's release before charging Van Dyke. Weeks later, three more officers were indicted for obstruction of justice and other charges related to the alleged cover-up of the shooting. A year after that, a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report called out the police department for deep-rooted civil rights violations, racial bias and the use of excessive force. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose lawyers had fought to keep the video under wraps, meanwhile scrambled to contain the growing crisis. He ignored calls for his resignation and promised "complete and total" police reform . A $5 million settlement with the McDonald family was announced just days after Emanuel won re-election in April 2015. He fired his hand-picked police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, who is now running for mayor . On Tuesday, the day before jury selection in Van Dyke's murder trial was set to begin, Emanuel announced he would not seek a third term. He provided no reason and his office said the pending trial did not figure in his decision. ___ For The Latest on jury selection in the Van Dyke trial: https://bit.ly/2NlMlE6 Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks into the courthouse, Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of Dyke who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks into the courthouse, Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of Dyke who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2014 file image taken from dash-cam video provided by the Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald, right, walks down the street moments before being fatally shot by Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white Chicago police officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Chicago Police Department via AP, File) Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks into the courthouse, Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of Dyke who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters gather outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Protesters head into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse as jury selection starts for the trial against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago. Prospective jurors in the murder trial of the white officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald are to be given questionnaires as the first phase of jury selection starts Wednesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Laquan McDonald's mother, Tina Hunter, walks with family into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 in Chicago. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old McDonald in 2014. The trial begins Wednesday with jury selection. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Two Michigan parents accused of beating their 3-year-old daughter to death while trying to potty train her have been sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. The Flint Journal reports 29-year-old Erika Finley was sentenced to 15-40 years Wednesday and 27-year-old Khairy Simon was sentenced to 12-40 years in Kimora Simon's death. Finley earlier pleaded no contest to charges including second-degree murder while Simon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Both have offered apologies. Erika Finley, 29, looks at Genesee County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Michael Beer as he calls the case sad while speaking to Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey L. Neithercut during her sentencing on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 at Genesee Circuit Court in Flint, Mich. Finley will spend the next 15-40 years in prison for the 2015 murder of her 3-year-old daughter, Kimora Lee Simon, allegedly while trying to potty train her. Finley previously pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse, first-degree child abuse in the presence of another child, tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer and welfare fraud. ( Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP) Simon told a judge in June that Finley hit the girl repeatedly with her fist and an extension cord because they were trying to potty train her. He said he tried to stop Finley. Authorities say Kimora was killed in 2015 , but Finley continued to collect the child's welfare benefits. Kimora's body hasn't been found. ___ Information from: The Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/flint Khairy J. Simon, 27, right, was sentenced to 12 to 40 years for his role in the 2015 murder of his daughter, Kimora Lee Simon, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 at Genesee Circuit Court in Flint, Mich. Simon and the girl's mother Erika Finley, 29, were both sentenced for their roles in the death of their 3-year-old daughter. ( Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP) NEW YORK (AP) - The Toronto International Film Festival is an overwhelming omnibus of moviegoing that every year, through an onslaught of Oscar contenders and cinematic feasts, reflects the world around us. But more than usual, this year's festival radiates with urgent topicality, both on screen and off. Take Steve McQueen's "Widows," which will make its world premiere at Toronto. McQueen's follow-up to his Oscar-winning "12 Years a Slave" has the trappings of a genre movie: It's about a group of recently widowed women who seek to pull off a heist their husbands had planned before dying in a police raid. But it electrically, expansively surveys fault lines of racial and gender biases across the vicious landscape of Chicago politics. For McQueen, it's a movie about today. "To me, this film was important because it's about questions which are raised now. These are scenes that are going on now. Yes, it's within the genre of a heist film, but within that, I wanted to raise very important political questions, and that's what it was all about. Elections, voting. No one is to be trusted," McQueen says. "But at the same time, how do we as individuals navigate our way through this cesspool of politics and corruption? How can we be valiant? Small victories sometimes lead to bigger victories, but all we have right now is small victories." This image released by Twentieth Century Fox shows Viola Davis, left, and Cynthia Erivo in a scene from "Widows." The film, directed by Steve McQueen, is about a group of recently widowed women who seek to pull off a heist their husbands had planned before dying in a police raid. (Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox via AP) The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival begins Thursday with the premiere of David Mackenzie's Robert the Bruce epic "Outlaw King," one of eight Netflix original films at the festival. In the 343 films to unspool over the next 10 days, there will be films that investigate democracy in the face of white supremacist terrorism (Paul Greengrass' "22 July"), that pry into the intimate tragedies of police brutality (Barry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk," George Tillman Jr.'s "The Hate U Give") and that directly confront the Trump era (Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 11/9," Errol Morris' Steve Bannon documentary "American Dharma"). "If you look at the slate, I would say that cinema is alive and well and more engaged than ever with the world around it," says Cameron Bailey, the co-head of TIFF. "You're finding filmmakers who are really digging into contemporary life, the politics, the social conflicts that are happening all around us." That engagement includes the festival, itself. Toronto will host a women's rally in the ongoing push to improve gender equality in the movie industry. It's also diversifying the TIFF press corps, inviting and paying the way for approximately 180 journalists from underrepresented groups: women, minority and LGBTQ critics. Toronto, where for years Harvey Weinstein was a red-carpet regular and where Louis C.K. last year debuted his now much derided (and since buried) "I Love You, Daddy," is also making its code of conduct more visible. Films directed by women make up 36 percent of this year's lineup, TIFF's highest percentage. "The film business changes when we make changes. I think a lot of us have the ability and the power to make change and we just have to use it," says Bailey. "We're looking harder. We're making more of an effort to find great films by women. But they're out there." Among the many findings are new films from Claire Denis ("High Life," with Robert Pattinson), Marielle Heller ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?" with Melissa McCarthy) and Rashida Jones ("Quincy"). Some of the most high-profile premieres are headlined by actresses, including Viola Davis ("Widows"), Nicole Kidman ("Destroyer"), Julia Roberts ("Homecoming") and Natalie Portman ("Vox Lux"). "It does feel like there's a lot of female-driven content up there. And that's great. I'm happy to stop and celebrate for a moment. But as my dad says in the movie, we have so much work to do," says Jones, whose documentary is about her music legend father Quincy Jones. "So let's celebrate for a second and then let's get back to work and make sure that we don't get too pleased with ourselves about having fixed everything. Because there's a lot to undo." Much of the attention at TIFF will surround the films that drew raves last week at the Venice Film Festival, like Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma," Damien Chazelle's "First Man" and Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born." How potential Academy Awards contenders reverberate among the larger audiences and massive media contingent of Toronto's launching pad usually says a lot about their Oscar chances. Added to the mix will be Felix Van Groeningen's father-son addiction drama "Beautiful Boy," with Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet, and Moore's anticipated Trump documentary. Moore believes his film, which examines the roads leading to what he considers a frightfully perilous moment for America, will connect with audiences unlike any of his previous documentaries. "The fact that it's ready before the midterms is our good luck, I guess. But I've never believed you should put a film out until it's ready," says Moore. "I think this movie, I've seen it sear into people's brains, into their hearts. I believe with this film people are not even going to go to bed that night." As the swift sale and release last year of eventual Oscar-winner "I, Tonya" showed, the films on the market in Toronto can quickly enter the awards fray, too. Some of this year's top titles include "The Wedding Guest," with Dev Patel; "American Woman," with Sienna Miller; "Skin," with Jamie Bell as a neo-Nazi; and Sam Taylor-Johnson's adaption of James Frey's controversial memoir "A Million Little Pieces." For Taylor-Johnson, the director of "Shades of Grey," Toronto comes at an exciting moment. "To feel that now there's an opportunity where everything is laid bare and the rules are changing - is exciting," says Taylor-Johnson. "Everything that has happened is leading us to a good place. I just hope the progress continues and keeps taking strides. Not small steps, but strides." ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by Netflix shows a scene from Paul Greengrass' docudrama on the 2011 Norway terrorist attack "22 July," premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Erik Aavatsmark/Netflix via AP) This image released by Annapurna Pictures shows Stephan James, left, and KiKi Layne in a scene from "If Beale Street Could Talk," premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Tatum Mangus/Annapurna Pictures via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones became a sideshow outside two congressional hearings Wednesday, insulting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as a "little punk" and heckling a reporter, all while posting the spectacle on Facebook and Twitter. The "Infowars" host stormed around Capitol Hill for hours, streaming appearances of himself on Twitter and Facebook outside the hearings where social media executives were testifying. Jones' bread and butter is shouting over-the-top grievances and conspiracy theories in videos that he shares on social media, radio and his own websites. Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist, walks the corridors of Capitol Hill after listening to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on 'Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Jones, who is angry at the tech companies because they both suspended him temporarily last month, said he was there to "face my accusers." At one point he badgered Rubio as the Republican answered reporters' questions in a hallway. Jones called the onetime presidential hopeful a "frat boy" and "little punk" and sounded incredulous as Rubio wondered who he was. Rubio grew angry when Jones patted him on the shoulder, and told Jones not to touch him again. "You're not gonna get arrested," Rubio said. "I'll take care of it myself." The first hearing, in the Senate, was about the social media companies' efforts to prevent foreign intervention after Russian meddling in the 2016 election. A second House hearing focused on Republican assertions that Twitter is censoring conservatives - a charge Jones has championed and the company has denied. Before that hearing, Jones spotted a reporter waiting in the hall outside the meeting room, and Jones proceeded to berate the journalist, who has covered Jones' website and his suspensions from social media. Jones said the "real election meddling" is the silencing of conservatives on social media, "just like Communist China." There is no reliable evidence to support Jones' charge. ___ Ortutay reported from New York. NORWALK, Conn. (AP) - Police say a Connecticut high school cafeteria worker was found with a rifle in his car and allegedly made a threatening comment to a co-worker. Authorities increased their presence at the school. Sixty-nine-year-old Leslie Delaney was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and second-degree threatening. Police say Delaney told a co-worker at Norwalk High School on Aug. 30 that if the co-worker saw him in Army fatigues on school grounds, they should leave. Police were alerted Tuesday. Delaney was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation. Officers later checked his car and found an unloaded rifle in his trunk. Delaney told police he was just joking. Police say there is no immediate threat, but have increased their presence at the school as a precaution. IMF African Department Director Abebe Selassie. (Courtesy of Abebe Selassie) New York (Peoples Daily) As the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is underway in Beijing, Director of the International Monetary Funds (IMF) African Department, Abebe Selassie said, China will be an important partner for Africa in achieving its goal of socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years, in a written interview with Peoples Daily. Selassie also emphasized how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides strong opportunities for African economies to spur investment and trade. Sub-Sahara Africa has made strides in improving economic and social conditions over the last two decades. As Selassie pointed out, per capita income has risen on average 50 percent in the region, and doubled in Mozambique, Angola, and Rwanda. The growth pickup has been largely driven by improved policies and a more supportive external environment, including stronger global growth and higher commodity prices, he said. China is already a major trading partner and an important source of investment and financing, and both the FOCAC and BRI provide opportunities for African economies to spur continued investment and trade. China will be an important partner for Africa in achieving its goal of socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years as laid forth in the 2063 Agenda for Africa, he said. BRI will create opportunities to build a much-need infrastructure while contributing to regional connectivity, and overall trade and growth. In response to concerns over Debt Trap in African countries, Selassie said, The key is to implement the projects well, and by ensuring high project quality, debt sustainability, governance standards, open procurement, and encouraging private sector participation. This would help minimize risks while maximizing benefits. Selassie feels the 21st century will be the African century and will give rise to important economic and political developments that will impact the global economy. One of the most striking points is that sub-Saharan Africa has a young population, the youngest in the world, which is both a challenge and an opportunity as the world economy would benefit by integrating Africas labor force into global supply chains, he said. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - India's president is hailing his country's strategic partnership with the European Union to work together on issues like terrorism and climate change. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind said after talks with Bulgaria counterpart Rumen Radev on Wednesday that both countries agree "that terrorism poses a great threat to humanity and a strong response is required to deal with this menace." India and Bulgaria are looking to deepen economic ties and to intensify cooperation on climate change, sustainable development and tourism. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, left, and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind attend the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Sofia, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova) Kovind invited Bulgaria to become a key partner of India in the defense and IT sectors. The Indian head of state thanked Bulgaria for supporting his country's bid to become a U.N. Security Council permanent member. Kovind is on a European tour, which includes visits to Cyprus and Czech Republic. IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The Mexican man charged with abducting and killing an Iowa college student was known for years on the dairy farm where he worked by another name: John Budd. The alias has emerged as Cristhian Bahena Rivera's employer, a cattle operation owned by a prominent Republican family, faces questions over whether its managers were aware of any warning signs that he was in the country illegally. The name under which Rivera was hired and paid for the last four years was confirmed by three people with knowledge of his employment history. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information during an ongoing criminal investigation. One of the people said Rivera's work identity as John Budd appears in official government records. FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2018, file photo, Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 from Brooklyn, Iowa. The Mexican national was known by another name on the dairy farm where he worked for the last four years: John Budd. It was confirmed by three people with knowledge of his employment history, who spoke on condition of anonymity. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) The employer, Yarrabee Farms, declined to confirm or deny Rivera's work identity. Lori Chesser, an immigration employment lawyer advising the farm, said that companies cannot discriminate against workers based on how they look or how their names sound. Farm officials have said Rivera presented an out-of-state photo identification and a Social Security number when he was hired in 2014, and they believed he was the person depicted in those documents until his arrest last month. The farm followed legal requirements to examine the documents and determined "that they appeared genuine on their face and related to the person presenting them," Chesser said. "Questioning a name or other characteristic would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of the law." During his four years at the farm near the small town of Brooklyn, Iowa, Rivera "was called and responded to the name he used in the hiring process," Chesser said. He lived in a trailer owned by the farm as a benefit of his employment, as do about half of its 10 workers. The farm did not use the government's voluntary E-Verify system, which allows companies to confirm the identity and eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. Farm manager Dane Lang has apologized for a mistake in falsely claiming to have used E-Verify in an initial statement on Rivera's Aug. 21 arrest, hours after he allegedly led police to Mollie Tibbetts' body in a nearby cornfield. It's unclear whether E-Verify would have detected any red flags with Rivera's claimed identity, but the farm has said it used a different government service to confirm that the name and Social Security number matched. Police say Rivera followed and confronted Tibbetts while she was out for a run on July 18 and later stabbed her to death. He has been jailed on $5 million bond while awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison. The federal government has also filed an immigration detainer, which means he would be subject to deportation proceedings if acquitted. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on whether the agency is investigating Yarrabee Farms, which has said that it received dozens of angry phone calls after Rivera was arrested. Tibbetts' father, Rob Tibbetts, has urged the public not to bring his daughter's death into the divisive racial debate over immigration. "The person who is accused of taking Mollie's life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people," he wrote in an opinion piece for the Des Moines Register. Employers typically do not face legal consequences for hiring a worker under false documents as long as they were not involved in obtaining them and had no other obvious reason to suspect they are fraudulent, said Bob Teig, a retired federal prosecutor in Iowa. "Absent unusual circumstances, it would be difficult to show they knew any more than what they were told," Teig said, adding that it would be "pretty racist" to assume a John Budd could not be Hispanic. Whether anyone else knew Rivera as John Budd is unclear. The 24-year-old had a Facebook page under his real name, and his account listed many friends from the central Iowa area. He has a girlfriend and a young daughter, his former attorney has said. Rivera had neither an Iowa-issued identification under any name nor any known criminal history or interactions with police. It's unclear who owned the car that he allegedly used to circle Tibbetts. Rivera's former defense lawyer, Allan Richards, has accused the farm and other employers in the area of turning a "blind eye" to the reality that many of their workers are in the U.S. illegally and employed under false documents. He has said that Rivera came to the U.S. when he was around 17 and has the equivalent of a middle-school education. Erica Johnson, an advocate who directs the American Friends Service Committee's immigration program in Iowa, said the case highlights the "precarious position" that immigrant workers and their employers face. "We have an immigration system that doesn't account for the labor needs or economic realities of Iowa businesses and farms," she said. "So what do you do? Do you rightly not racially profile people and take the information they give you because you need workers?" WASHINGTON (AP) - It's not clear whether President Donald Trump has much to fear from "Fear" itself. But the book of that name has set off a yes-no war between author Bob Woodward and the president, using all the assets they can muster. For Trump, that means denials from the pulpit of the presidency and from allies who had been quoted questioning his intelligence and stability. For Woodward, it means putting nearly a half-century of credibility covering eight presidents behind a vivid account he says is supported by scores of hours of recordings. Some choice excerpts and responses: A copy of Bob Woodward's "Fear" is photographed Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. It's not clear whether President Donald Trump has much to fear from "Fear" itself. But the book of that name has set off a yes-no war between author Bob Woodward and the president, using all the assets they can muster. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) ___ THE BOOK: Woodward's prologue is a snapshot from September 2017, in which economic adviser Gary Cohn quietly removed from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office a draft letter from Trump to the president of South Korea terminating a pair of trade agreements. Cohn, Woodward writes, was afraid Trump would sign the document and, in effect, void a critical piece of U.S. national security policy. "I stole it off his desk," Cohn is quoted as saying. THE RESPONSE: "That's false," Trump told The Daily Caller. "There was nobody taking anything from me." Cohn, who stepped down in March 2018, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ___ THE BOOK: On April 4, 2017, an upset Trump phoned Defense Secretary Jim Mattis after photos showed a sarin gas attack on Syrian rebels. Women and children were among dozens killed and photographed. The attack was blamed on Syrian President Bashar Assad. "Let's f---ing kill him!" Trump said. Woodward quotes Mattis as telling the president he would get right on that. The Pentagon chief hung up and told a senior aide, "We're not going to do any of that." The book also quotes Mattis, after a contentious National Security Council meeting on Jan. 19 this year, as saying Trump acted like, and had the understanding of, "a fifth or sixth-grader." THE RESPONSE: Mattis issued a statement, tweeted twice by Trump, saying: "The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence." Mattis called the book "the product of someone's rich imagination." Asked whether he wanted Assad to be killed, Trump told reporters: "That was never even contemplated. Nor would it be contemplated." U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters Tuesday that she was in all the meetings on the Syrian attack and never heard Trump mention assassinating Assad. ___ THE BOOK: White House chief of staff John Kelly is quoted in the book as saying of Trump: "He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in crazytown." THE RESPONSE: In a statement, Kelly is quoted as saying, "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite." He added, "He and I both know this story is total BS." Trump added: "Thank you General Kelly, book is total fiction!" ___ THE BOOK: Trump has made no secret of his fury with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over Sessions' recusal from the investigation into Russian election interference. In the book, Trump says of the former Alabama senator: "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner." THE RESPONSE: Trump, who held one of his first big campaign rallies in Sessions' home state, tweeted: "The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded' and 'a dumb southerner.' I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing." ___ THE BOOK: Rudy Giuliani tried to defend the then-presidential candidate in 2016 shortly before Election Day after a recording leaked of Trump boasting of groping women. The "Access Hollywood" tape was "reprehensible," Giuliani said on five network shows, and besides, Trump had apologized. On CNN, Giuliani agreed that Trump's words were offensive. "Rudy, you're a baby!" Trump told him. "I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?" He went on to say, "You're weak, Rudy." THE RESPONSE: Giuliani tweeted that Woodward's "incident about me (is) entirely false." He added that the author "never called me." Trump told reporters that Giuliani was "very insulted by the book and what was stated in the book." ___ THE BOOK: Trump's then-lawyer, John Dowd, and the president held what Woodward described as a "practice session" to show Trump what it would be like to testify about Russia's election interference. When Dowd asked about the firing of FBI Director James Comey, the president unleashed a 30-minute torrent of rage. Dowd suggested Trump not testify. Trump agreed. Dowd re-enacted the exchange during a meeting with special prosecutor Robert Mueller. "I don't want him looking like an idiot," Dowd said. "And I'm not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with that idiot for?" THE RESPONSE: Dowd said in a statement he was not going to address the book's every statement. But he said "no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment'" took place. ___ Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman TORONTO (AP) - She is many things that would seem to irritate President Donald Trump: a liberal Canadian former journalist. That makes Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland an unusual choice to lead Canada's negotiations over a new free trade deal with a surprisingly hostile U.S. administration. Recruited into politics by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Freeland has already clashed with Russia and Saudi Arabia. Those who know her say she's unlikely to back down in a confrontation with Trump. FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2018, file photo, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks during a news conference at the Canadian Embassy after talks at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, in Washington. As a liberal former journalist, Freeland is many things that would seem to irritate President Donald Trump. That makes her an unusual choice to lead her country's negotiations over a new free trade deal with an administration that is surprisingly hostile to Canada. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) "She is everything the Trump administration loathes," said Sarah Goldfeder, a former official with the U.S. Embassy in Canada. Freeland, a globalist negotiating with a U.S. administration that believes in economic nationalism and populism, hopes to salvage a free trade deal with Canada's largest trading partner as talks resumed Wednesday in Washington. The 50-year-old Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar speaks five languages and has influential friends around the world. "I have enormous sympathy for her because she is negotiating with an unpredictable, irrational partner," said CNN host Fareed Zakaria, a friend of Freeland's for 25 years. Freeland cut short a trip to Europe last week after Trump reached a deal with Mexico that excluded Canada. Talks with Canada resumed but Trump said he wasn't willing to make any concessions. The Trump administration left Canada out of the talks for five weeks not long after the president vowed to make Canada pay after Trudeau said at the G-7 in Quebec he wouldn't let Canada get pushed around in trade talks. Freeland then poked the U.S. when she received Foreign Policy magazine's diplomat of the year award in Washington. "You may feel today that your size allows you to go mano-a-mano with your traditional adversaries and be guaranteed to win," Freeland said in the June speech. "But if history tells us one thing, it is that no one nation's pre-eminence is eternal." Despite being the chief negotiator with the Trump administration, Freeland has criticized it when few other leaders of Western democracies have. "She's an extremely strong-willed and capable young woman, and I think Trump generally has a problem with that," said Ian Bremmer, a longtime friend and foreign affairs columnist and president of the Eurasia Group. "She's not going to bat her eyelashes at Trump to get something done. That's not Chrystia. She doesn't play games." After Freeland and her department tweeted criticism of Saudi Arabia last month for the arrest of social activists in the kingdom, Canada suffered consequences. The Saudis suspended diplomatic relations and canceled new trade with Canada and sold off Canadian assets. Peter MacKay, a former Canadian foreign minister, said public shaming like that doesn't work and said some Americans viewed her June speech in Washington as something less than diplomatic. "It was around that time, within days, that the U.S. threw Canada out of the room," MacKay said. "There is sometimes concern that she is taking the lead from her prime minister by playing a little bit to a domestic audience." Trudeau personally recruited Freeland to join his Liberal Party while it was the third party in Parliament in 2013. Freeland had a senior position at the Reuters news agency but was ready to move on after setbacks in her journalism career, said Martin Wolf, an influential Financial Times columnist and longtime friend. Freeland previously had risen rapidly at the Financial Times where she became Moscow bureau chief in her mid-20s during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Freeland also served as deputy editor of the Globe and Mail in Toronto and the Financial Times. She had designs on becoming editor of the Financial Times but left after a clash with the top editor. She was familiar to many TV viewers in the U.S. because of her regular appearances on talk shows like Zakaria's. "She was a godsend for us, frankly, because she is so bright and so talented and articulate," Zakaria said. "She is as about as impressive a person as I have met." Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage, also wrote a well-received book on Russia and left journalism for politics in 2013 when she won a district in Toronto. She has been a frequent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who banned her from traveling to the country in 2014 in retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow. She remains chummy with journalists, even bringing them frozen treats in 90-degree heat last week while they waited outside the U.S. Trade Representative office in Washington. Bremmer, who met Freeland in Kiev in 1992, good-naturedly chided her for a strange foible: a habit of writing notes on her hands even when she has notepads. "I have seen in her environments with foreign ministers and heads of state with stuff on her hands," he said with a laugh. Throughout her career, Freeland has cultivated an impressive group of friends. Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, is a godfather to one of her three children. Friends include Larry Summers, the former U.S. treasury secretary, and billionaires George Soros and Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group chief executive who once led one of Trump's disbanded business councils. "I always found her to be extremely smart and easy to talk with," Schwarzman said. "She accessible and direct and quick. You don't get to be a Rhodes scholar by accident." Summers is a mentor from Harvard. "Her clarity of thought, straightforwardness and deep sense of principle make her an ideal leader of the international community as it responds to highly problematic American policy," Summers said in an email. Bremmer said Freeland has serious globalist credentials, "but right now, momentum is not with that group globally." When Trudeau became prime minister in 2015, he named Freeland to his Cabinet. She served as international trade minister and worked on ensuring that a free trade deal with the European Union didn't unravel. At one point, she left stalled talks near tears after saying it had been impossible to overcome differences. An agreement was reached not long after that, and Freeland received credit. Now she's facing her toughest challenge with the North American Free Trade Agreement, since the U.S. represents 75 percent of Canada's exports. "Canada is stuck with the United States. That's Canada's trade," Bremmer said. "Canadians are going to have to swallow a fair amount of pride. They are going have to pretend they like this guy a lot more than they obviously do or they risk getting much more economically punished. That's just the reality." FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2018, file photo, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives for trade talks at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, in Washington. As a liberal former journalist, Freeland is many things that would seem to irritate President Donald Trump. That makes her an unusual choice to lead her country's negotiations over a new free trade deal with an administration that is surprisingly hostile to Canada. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the emergency response around a plane carrying sick passengers (all times local): 6:41 p.m. The 10 passengers and crewmembers who were hospitalized in New York City after arriving sick on a flight from Dubai appear to have the flu. In this frame from video emergency response crews gather outside a plane at JFK Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. (WABC 7 via AP) New York City health officials say they obtained respiratory samples from the patients and their symptoms look like influenza. They say they won't know for sure until they get final results. All of the patients were listed in stable condition. The Emirates flight was quarantined after landing a Kennedy Airport Wednesday morning. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 100 of the 520 people aboard the plane had complained of illness, including cough and fever. ____ 3:30 p.m. An airliner from Dubai with 10 passengers and crew members who were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms was carrying 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice. A manager for the rapper confirmed on Wednesday that he was on the Emirates flight that landed at New York's Kennedy Airport. Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, used Facebook to post a video of the emergency response to an initial report that dozens of people could be sick. On Twitter, he described looking out the window to see several ambulances, firetrucks and police vehicles converge on the plane. He also said he was thankful he was on the top deck to the twin-deck jumbo jet. He said the sick people were on what he called the "bottom floor." ___ 2 p.m. Fire officials say 10 of the people who arrived sick to New York City on a flight from Dubai have been taken to a hospital. Emirates airline says they included seven crew members and three passengers. The plane was quarantined Wednesday at Kennedy Airport. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 100 of the 520 people aboard the plane had complained of illness, including cough and fever. Medical workers in masks and gloves took passengers' temperatures on the tarmac while evaluating them. News helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. ___ Noon A plane was quarantined at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of numerous ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. There were conflicting reports about how many people were sick aboard the Emirates flight, which landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. The airline says about 10 passengers were ill and got medical attention "as a precaution." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 100 of the 520 people aboard the plane were being evaluated after complaining of illness, including cough and fever. Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. Passengers were exiting the plane with their luggage and getting on to buses. A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a "medical situation." ___ 11:10 a.m. A plane has been quarantined at New York's Kennedy Airport when about 10 passengers became ill aboard a flight from Dubai. The Emirates flight landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. The airline says the passengers were getting medical attention "as a precaution." Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. Passengers were exiting the plane with their luggage and getting on to buses. Representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene. A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a "medical situation." ___ This story has been corrected to delete a reference to an erroneous tweet from the mayor's spokesman saying the flight stopped in Mecca. ___ 10:40 a.m. A plane has been quarantined at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. The Emirates flight landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. The airline says about 10 passengers were sick and were getting medical attention "as a precaution." Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, vehicles and airport personnel. Representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted that the flight stopped in Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak, and "early indications point to that as a possibility." A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a "medical situation." ___ 10:30 a.m. The New York City mayor's office says a plane has been quarantined at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of numerous ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. The Emirates flight landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, emergency vehicles and airport personnel. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, says representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene. Phillips tweeted that the flight stopped in Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak, and "early indications point to that as a possibility." Airline representatives did not immediate respond to an email. A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a "medical situation." ___ 10:20 a.m. The New York City mayor's office says a plane has been quarantined amid reports of numerous ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai that arrived at New York's Kennedy Airport. The Emirates flight landed at about 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by emergency vehicles and ground control personnel. A spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene. Airline representatives did not immediate respond to an email requesting information. A New York Police Department counterterrorism division tweeted that it was monitoring what appeared to be a "medical situation." In this frame from video, a person walks off an Emirates plane at JFK International Airport to a waiting bus on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in New York, as emergency response crews gather outside the plane amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. (WABC 7 via AP) Emergency response crews gather outside a plane at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Emergency response crews gather outside a plane at JFK Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Emergency response crews gather outside a plane at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Larry Coben via AP) A passenger gets her temperature taken as she leaves an Emirates airplane at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Larry Coben via AP) Passengers leave an Emirates airplane at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Larry Coben via AP) Raghida Dergham, center, a senior diplomatic reporter at the United Nations updates reporters about her flight aboard an Emirates airline after an emergency was declared when the plane landed at JFK Airport with ill passengers on a flight from Dubai, Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Sranivasa Rao, center, from Floral Park, Queens, N.Y., updates reporters about his flight aboard an Emirates airline after an emergency was declared when the plane landed at JFK Airport with ill passengers on a flight from Dubai, Wednesday Sept. 5, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) WASHINGTON (AP) - It's sort of a coordinated dance, but the performers are an organized group of protesters and a dozen or so uniformed Capitol Police officers. And the stage is this week's Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. One by one, the protesters, many wearing T-shirts that say "I am what's at stake," interrupt the proceedings by shouting slogans like "You're making a mockery of democracy!" or "Senators: Do your jobs and stop this hearing!" The police then warn that he or she will be arrested for any further disruptions. Minutes later, the person shouts again and is hustled out a side door. Then another person repeats the process. A protester disrupts the proceedings as President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Eventually, the back two rows of the hearing room, which are reserved for the public, are empty, and another 20 or so visitors are escorted in from a line outside. They wait for their turn to shout and be arrested. Overall, 70 people were arrested Tuesday and charged with disorderly conduct on the first day of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. The second day of hearings on Wednesday was marked by the same sort of shout-and-arrest pattern. The Capitol Police can't close the room to the public and can't keep out people who look like they might disrupt the hearing. So there's no choice but to let everybody in and wait for them to misbehave before removing them. The protesters are part of a nationwide campaign to disrupt the confirmation process. A broad coalition of activist groups, including abortion rights groups, gun control organizations and labor unions, has converged on Washington. The demonstrators fear that Kavanaugh's confirmation would shift the Supreme Court's balance for years on issues like abortion rights, LGBT freedoms and gun control. "My goal is for this nomination to not go through," said Alison Dreith, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, who was one of the people arrested Tuesday. "The stakes have never been higher." It may be a quixotic goal. Republicans have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh and are expected to do so. The protesters are adding their voices to the outnumbered committee Democrats, who tried to delay the hearings, arguing that important documents about Kavanaugh have been withheld. Dreith acknowledged that the numbers are on Kavanaugh's side but said she and other protesters are hoping to bolster Democrats on the committee and possibly sway one or two Republicans. They are also conducting phone call campaigns in each senator's home state. At the very least, the protests managed to annoy one prominent Republican on the committee. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, after being interrupted by a woman in the crowd, snapped, "I think we should have this loudmouth removed. We shouldn't have to put up with this kind of stuff." President Donald Trump even weighed in on the interruptions. In an Oval Office interview Tuesday with The Daily Caller, Trump called the protests "embarrassing for the country" and wondered why the disruptions were allowed to continue. "In the old days, we used to throw them out. Today, I guess they just keep screaming," Trump said. Dreith said she and the other arrestees were hustled down to the building's basement while wearing plastic zip-tie handcuffs and kept in a garage-like holding area. After about five hours, they were charged and released after waiving their right to a trial and paying a $35 fee. A second group chose a different form of protest Tuesday. Nine women were arrested in the nearby Dirksen Senate Office Building for staging a protest dressed as characters from "The Handmaid's Tale," which depicts a dystopian future where women are controlled by the government and forcibly used for breeding purposes. All protests are against the law in the Capitol and its related buildings, and the demonstrators were charged under a D.C. statute for "crowding, obstructing, or incommoding." Lacy MacAuley, a longtime Washington-based activist and one of the people arrested, said she joined the costumed protest "to remind everyone that it can happen here. It's not just fiction. Our rights could slip through our fingers unless we act now to defend them." A protester is removed from the hearing room as another, right, joins in protest of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, for the second day of the confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Demonstrators protesting against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, wear costumes from the show "The Handmaid's Tale," during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) A protester is removed from the hearing room as President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, for the second day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) A protester attempts to disrupt President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, for the second day of his confirmation to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) A protester disrupts the proceedings as President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A protester disrupts the proceedings as President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A protester disrupts the proceedings as President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A protester against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is removed from his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) A U.S. Capitol Police Officer stands near as protesters of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh wear costumes from the show "The Handmaid's Tale," during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, listens as a protester yells during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington, to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Latest on a prison inmate charged with raping a woman at a Utah wildfire (all times local): 1 p.m. An Idaho prison inmate charged with raping a woman while working at a wildfire base camp in Utah has invoked his right to a speedy trial. This photo provided by the Sanpete County Jail in Manti, Utah, shows Ruben Hernandez. Prosecutors say Hernandez, an Idaho prison inmate sent to help fight a wildfire, raped a woman who was also working to support firefighters in Utah. Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, the woman had rejected several advances from Hernandez before the Aug. 29 assault. Hernandez was charged with felony rape. (Sanpete County Jail via AP) Prosecutor Kevin Daniels said 27-year-old Ruben Hernandez made his first court appearance in Utah's Sanpete County in a short hearing on Wednesday. Daniels says he did not formally enter a plea, but the request to move quickly typically indicates a defendant disputes a charge. He is due in court for an evidence hearing next week. A defense attorney newly appointed to the case did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Hernandez was part of a program common in Western states where minimum-security prison inmates are released to help fight wildfires. He is accused of assaulting a base-camp worker Aug. 29 after she rejected his advances. __ 8 a.m. Idaho is scrutinizing its program allowing prison inmates to help battle wildfires after one was charged with raping a woman working at a remote base camp in Utah. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray says they've returned five crews to prison as they review which inmates are allowed to serve, the training they receive and how they are deployed. Meanwhile, inmate Ruben Hernandez is set make his first court appearance Wednesday on a felony rape charge alleging he assaulted the woman after she rejected his advances. He was part of a 10-person crew who cooked and did janitorial work. They were supervised by two Idaho correctional officers. Most states in the U.S. West have similar programs allowing low-level offenders to be temporarily released to aid in firefighting efforts. This photo taken Aug. 6, 2018, shows a helicopters returning from performing an air operation on the Coal Hollow Fire near U.S. Highway 6. An Idaho prisoner sent to help fight a wildfire in Utah raped a woman who also was working to support firefighters, prosecutors said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. The woman had rejected several advances from Ruben Hernandez, 27, in the days before the Aug. 29 assault at the base camp, Sanpete County attorney Kevin Daniels said. Hernandez has been charged with felony rape. (Evan Cobb/The Daily Herald via AP) This photo taken Aug. 6, 2018, shows a helicopter dumping water on a section of the Coal Hollow Fire near U.S. Highway 6. An Idaho prisoner sent to help fight a wildfire in Utah raped a woman who also was working to support firefighters, prosecutors said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. The woman had rejected several advances from Ruben Hernandez, 27, in the days before the Aug. 29 assault at the base camp, Sanpete County attorney Kevin Daniels said. Hernandez has been charged with felony rape. (Evan Cobb/The Daily Herald via AP) LONDON (AP) - A tentative deal was reached Wednesday to resolve a conflict over scallop fishing rights off France's coast, British and French officials said. Officials and industry representatives said after talks in London that "an agreement on the principles of a deal has been reached" with details to be ironed out in Paris on Friday. A joint statement said that a previous agreement involved British boats 15 meters (yards) and over will be renewed. In addition, the agreement calls for smaller vessels to be included in the deal "subject to a reasonable compensation package" still to be finalized. French fisherman Dimitri Rogoff points as he speaks to the media before leaders meet in London, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The meeting focuses on the so called "Scallop war". About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters off the coast of northern France last week, amid tensions over access to scallop fisheries. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) "In the meantime, there is a voluntary agreement for all U.K. vessels to respect the French closure period" in the disputed area, officials said. The talks follow an incident last week in which French and British fishermen angrily bumped boats over access to fisheries off the French coast near Normandy. About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters during the incident. British Fisheries Minister George Eustice said the goal of Wednesday's talks was to reach a new agreement that would prevent more confrontations. An agreement reached in 2013 had broken down, leading to the clashes. French fisherman Dimitri Rogoff arrives as leaders meet in London, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The meeting focuses on the so called "Scallop war". About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters off the coast of northern France last week, amid tensions over access to scallop fisheries. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) French fisherman Dimitri Rogoff speaks to the media as leaders meet in London, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. The meeting focuses on the so called "Scallop war". About 35 French boats confronted five British ones, sometimes banging hulls, in international waters off the coast of northern France last week, amid tensions over access to scallop fisheries. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona carries a reputation as one of the country's political flashpoints, with heated debates over immigration, rambunctious populists and a divided GOP. But the man who had the attention of the nation's political establishment this week is a buttoned-down former ice cream company executive running for a second term as governor. Doug Ducey, the onetime CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, on Tuesday named former Sen. Jon Kyl to temporarily return to the Senate to fill the vacancy created by John McCain's death. FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2018 file photo, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife Angela Ducey, follow the casket of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., into a memorial service at the Capitol in Phoenix. Arizona has developed a reputation over the past decade for being one of the country's greatest political flashpoints, with divisive debates over immigration, rambunctious populists and a divided GOP. Ducey has navigated the state's political waters with a buttoned-down approach. The onetime chief executive officer of ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, named former Sen. Jon Kyl to fill the seat vacated by the late John McCain. (AP Photo/Matt York, File) The move is a big win for conservatives in the Senate, where the Republicans have only a two-vote majority as a confirmation vote of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh looms. But it was also a relatively safe pick that won't stir up much controversy within party ranks, a maneuver that experts say is in line with the way Ducey has governed. "It's not the time for newcomers and now is not the time for on-the-job training," Ducey said. "Arizona needs someone who can hit the ground running on day one and that's Jon Kyl." Mario Diaz, a Democratic strategist who worked for former Gov. Janet Napolitano and supports Ducey, said picking Kyl fits Ducey's pattern. "He's brought stability to the state," Diaz said. "Prior to his administration, it was just a very disorienting, confusing time for Arizona in many ways." Ducey's Republican predecessor, Jan Brewer, feuded with President Barack Obama over immigration and clashed with hyper-conservative state lawmakers, as did Democrat Napolitano. By contrast, Ducey has cut through the middle of the state's often-warring GOP. He's embraced President Donald Trump on traditional Republican goals like lowering taxes or putting conservative justices like Kavanaugh on the bench, while keeping an arm's length from more divisive issues like football players protesting police brutality and racial inequality. Democrats have criticized Ducey's approach, saying it serves corporate and political interests. Challenger David Garcia blasted Ducey's pick of Kyl for paving the way for Kavanaugh's confirmation. State Democratic Party chairwoman Felecia Rotellini said Ducey's ability to dodge fights with the Republican base is self-serving. "He really hasn't acted as a leader in this state, but as a classic politician who is using his governor's position as a platform for himself, to be in the pocket of outside interests who want to undermine public education, who want to cut affordable health care," she said. After McCain's death, Ducey's office helped coordinate memorial services in Phoenix. Ducey suspended his campaign for a week and did not hold a celebration the night he clinched a primary victory. He spoke at one of McCain's memorials in Arizona and flew to Washington for the funeral. But he withheld announcing a successor until after McCain's burial. By law, his only requirement was to pick a Republican. Some operatives wonder if Ducey would someday run for the Senate. But he tamped down that speculation on Tuesday, saying he has "an executive personality" and that Kyl himself advised him to never enter Congress. Like many in Arizona, Ducey comes from somewhere else. He moved from Ohio in 1982 to attend Arizona State University, where he met his wife Angela. He worked at Hensley & Co. - the same Anheuser-Busch distributor owned by Cindy McCain's family - and at Procter & Gamble before joining Cold Stone Creamery. His first foray into politics was in 2010, when he was elected state treasurer. He served one term before being elected governor in 2014. Ducey still appears more at home in a board room than in a room full of politicians. This approach has endeared him to the business community. Glenn Hamer, the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says Ducey is a prime reason for businesses relocating to Arizona and why the economy is "firing on all cylinders." But laying out a welcome mat comes with risks. Ducey in 2015 signed an executive order to allow self-driving vehicle testing in the state. This spring, an Uber vehicle in autonomous mode struck and killed a pedestrian, prompting him to suspend testing. Arizona also was a testing ground for ill-fated startup Theranos. Ducey signed a law that allowed patients to get blood tests without a doctor's orders, paving the way for Theranos to set up shop inside Walgreens stores. But this year, prosecutors charged former executives with fraud, citing misleading statements about the accuracy of its technology. Ducey also is contending with widespread concerns about Arizona's public education system. A six-day teacher walkout this spring saw tens of thousands of educators gather on the front lawn of the Capitol. While his proposal to give teachers a 20-percent raise over the next three years was passed, the raises fell short of demands for $1 billion in new classroom funding. Now, many of those teachers are backing Garcia, an education professor who has criticized Ducey as being beholden to special interests. Tom Volgy, a political science professor at the University of Arizona, thinks the current political climate makes him vulnerable in November. "If things were normal in American politics, his style would be very helpful for him in Arizona, because he'd attract a lot of independents," Volgy said. "But right now there is a lot of anger and crying out for leadership and I think it's possible his style gets drowned out in this." ___ Associated Press reporter Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report. FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2015, file photo, Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey addresses the crowd after being sworn in during inauguration ceremonies at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. Arizona has developed a reputation over the past decade for being one of the country's greatest political flashpoints, with divisive debates over immigration, rambunctious populists and a divided GOP. Ducey has navigated the state's political waters with a buttoned-down approach. The onetime chief executive officer of ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, named former Sen. Jon Kyl to fill the seat vacated by the late John McCain.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) file pic With more and more Chinese cities jump onto the smart city wagon with digitalization and Internet-plus strategies to facilitate urbanization and improve residents livelihood, the risks of cyber attacks are rising despite that, major risks remain at a low level, experts noted. Addressing the 2018 Internet Security Conference (ISC) which kicked off on Tuesday in Beijing, Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), pointed out that China also is pressing for strengthened protection of basic cyber infrastructure, especially of telecommunication, the Internet, and the Industrial Internet to guarantee key data resources as well as personal information security. Such demands are in line with Chinas smart city construction layout that is mapping out across the nation, which also goes hand in hand with cyber attack risks, noted Wu Yunkun, president of 360 Enterprise Security Group, in an interview on the sideline of the ISC. Wu told Peoples Daily that major risks lie within four aspects: compromised personal information security, vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and potential life losses and economic losses when things go south. Attacks on IoT would only have a major impact on society, according to Wu. With regard to the manufacturing industry, attacks could paralyze whole assembly lines or bring down a whole city by taking down the power grid, and attacks on self driving vehicles could be fatal. Luckily, Chinas power grid is not an easy target and will not be brought down as some fear, as all the power stations and substations are not connected to the public Internet. Instead, they use a separate network and all the power equipment is independently designed and manufactured, thus making it more reliable. On personal information security, Chinas Huazhu Hotels Group lost some 500 million pieces of client information, marking the latest case of massive leakage. Qi Xiangdong, chairman of 360 Enterprise Security Group, told reporters that he was stunned but not surprised by the latest incident. It was bound to happen, but not because of how Huazhu managed its data. In fact, most companies are at about the same level [in cyber security], so it is likely that many more have suffered from information leakage, he said. New technology that sees rapid growth tends to see more weak links and is more vulnerable to attacks, but the benefits outweigh the risks. We simply need to focus more on security along the way, Qi said. President Xi Jinping has also repeatedly emphasized cyber security and pressed for enhanced defense of basic information infrastructure by taking more preventive steps beforehand. By taking preventive steps beforehand, as President Xi put it, we can better guard our countless devices. It is more than computers now. It can be a smartphone or a charging pile or a street light, Wu observed. Wu suggests that China first protect the millions of connected devices across the nation, then work to improve their software and hardware, most of which are too poorly equipped to take preventive measures such as patching. Thanks to the nations gradually improving awareness, China has already witnessed a rise in cyber security, as the ratio of security to a companys budget has climbed to 5-10% nationwide in recent years, which is about the same level as that in the US, where the ratio was 1-3% in the past, according to Wu. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The latest push to scrap the Affordable Care Act once and for all pressed ahead Wednesday as Republican-controlled states asked a federal judge to finish what Congress started last year and bring the law that insures 20 million Americans to a halt. A small group of protesters, some holding signs reading "Save the ACA," shouted across the street from a Fort Worth, Texas, courthouse where former President Barack Obama's health care law is again under attack. At issue are core principles of the law, including protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and limits on how much older customers can be charged. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor made no immediate ruling following a four-hour hearing. Twenty GOP-led states brought the lawsuit, arguing that the entire health care law was rendered unconstitutional after Congress repealed the "individual mandate" that required most Americans to buy insurance or risk a tax penalty. Supporters of the Affordable Care Act protest during a rally at Burnett Park in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General Justin Nelson hosted the Fort Worth Rally for Preexisting Coverage Protection. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP) "Texans and other Americans should be free again to make their own health care choices," said Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading the court challenge. The case is the most high-profile legal challenge to "Obamacare" under President Donald Trump, whose administration is not defending the law in court. But the Justice Department doesn't want an immediate injunction suspending enforcement of the law, even as Republicans press for one. Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate told the judge that any immediate injunction could create "a potential for chaos," The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The arguments in Texas unfolded as senators in Washington pressed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation could swing the next major challenge to the health care law. Kavanaugh issued a 2011 opinion that some conservatives viewed as favorable to the individual mandate, but Democrats worry he will provide a key vote on the court against the law. The Trump administration sitting out the case has left defense of the law up to Democratic state attorneys general. On Capitol Hill, Democrats sought to tie the Texas case into the fight over whether Kavanaugh should serve on the Supreme Court. "The Republican-backed lawsuit that seeks to take away protections from people with pre-existing conditions makes the stakes as high as could be," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference. The law has proved largely durable so far - both in previous challenges that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and in a failed GOP effort to repeal it during Trump's first year in office. But the collation of GOP-controlled states saw a new opening when Congress removed the individual mandate as part of a tax overhaul last year. Paxton has said that without the tax penalty, there is no "remaining legitimate basis for the law." William Sage, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Texas at Austin, called it a "swing for the fences lawsuit" that appeared thinner than previous challenges. Nathan Cortez, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said it's not clear whether this challenge is different from other attempts to strike down the law that have failed. "All it takes is for a district court judge and then an appellate panel to find some validity in the argument for it to get up to the Supreme Court," he added. ___ Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the University of Texas at Austin professor's first name is William instead of Williams. Robert Henneke, General Counsel, Director, Center for the American Future talks to the media the Affordable Care Act at Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. hearing before U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP) Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General Justin Nelson, center, and others address supporters of the Affordable Care Act protest during a rally at Burnett Park in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General Justin Nelson hosted the Fort Worth Rally for Preexisting Coverage Protection. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP) Cary Clark, dressed as the Grim Reaper, protest during a rally at Burnett Park in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General Justin Nelson hosted the Fort Worth Rally for Preexisting Coverage Protection. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - Judge Brett Kavanaugh is treading carefully during his confirmation hearing as senators bombard him with questions about abortion, presidential power and the independence of the judiciary. Some highlights from the Supreme Court nominee' confirmation hearing Wednesday: ___ Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh leaves the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room during a break on the second day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ROE v. WADE Democrats and liberal interest groups have treated Kavanaugh's nomination as a moment of extreme danger for abortion rights. Abortion opponents hope he'll be a vote to uphold additional restrictions on the procedure and even possibly overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion. Kavanaugh didn't show his hand either way on Wednesday. He did call Roe v. Wade an "important precedent" that has "been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years." And he noted that a 1992 decision of the court - Planned Parenthood v. Casey - didn't just reaffirm Roe v. Wade in passing. He said that decision becomes "precedent on precedent." Supreme Court justices are generally reluctant to overturn precedent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Last term, the court squarely overturned three precedents. One of those cases was from 1967 and had been reaffirmed in 1992. Also in responding to questions about the Roe v. Wade decision Kavanaugh said that he understands "how passionate and how deeply people feel about this issue" of abortion. He also said he understands the "real world effects of that decision." ___ PRESIDENTIAL POWER Kavanaugh declined to answer a series of questions about the powers of the president, questions important to Democrats particularly because of ongoing investigations surrounding President Donald Trump. Nominees generally decline to answer questions they deem could potentially come before the court. They say they decide issues only after hearing both sides of a case. Among the questions Kavanaugh said were too hypothetical to answer: Does the president have an absolute right to pardon himself? Can the president pardon someone in exchange for a promise not to testify against him? Can the president be required to respond to a subpoena? That last question is among the most important at Kavanaugh's hearing since Trump could face a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump has declined to rule out pardons for people convicted as part of that investigation. ___ ALEX KOZINSKI Repercussions of the "Me Too" era made an appearance at Kavanaugh's hearing. The judge was asked what he knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a judge who was a friend and mentor, former federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski. Kozinski retired in December after several female former law clerks and colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh said that when the allegations became public, they were a "gut punch" for him and for the federal judiciary. Asked whether he knew anything about the allegations before they became public, Kavanaugh responded: "nothing." He said he was "shocked and disappointed." Asked whether he was on an email list that Kozinski used to send offensive material, Kavanaugh responded: "I don't remember anything like that." Kavanaugh clerked for Kozinski, and Kozinski introduced him during his 2006 confirmation hearing to be a judge. The two also worked together to screen applicants who wanted to clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom Kavanaugh clerked for and whom he would replace. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, from left, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., pause during questioning of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about his time in the White House, during the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - One of Republican Kris Kobach's main opponents said Wednesday that he is not qualified to serve as Kansas governor because of his tough stance against illegal immigration and because he promises to pursue state policies meant to discourage it. Independent candidate Greg Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, said Kobach's stance on immigration shows that the Republican does not understand agriculture or how it depends heavily on immigrant labor. Orman made his comment during perhaps the sharpest exchange for the major candidates' first forum of the fall campaign at a hotel in a Kansas City suburb. Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, has made illegal immigration a key issue in his campaign after more than a decade of advocating action by states and local communities. He was an early backer of President Donald Trump, advising both his 2016 campaign and the White House on immigration and homeland security issues. FILE - This combination of file photos shows candidates for Kansas governor, from left to right, Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly and independent candidate Greg Orman, who are scheduled to debate Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Overland Park, Kan. (Thad Allton /The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP, File) "I almost think the idea, Kris, that you think that we need to rid of all immigrants in Kansas - all illegal immigrants in Kansas - just disqualifies you to be governor," Orman said. "It's clearly a red meat issue for your base, but ultimately, it just demonstrates you don't understand how the ag economy works." Both Orman and Kelly are vying for votes from GOP moderates who dislike Kobach's conservative politics, including his longstanding embrace of tough immigration policies. They have emphasized other issues, such as support for public schools for Kelly and promoting economic growth for Orman. Both Orman and Kelly said illegal immigration is a federal issue requiring comprehensive reforms to immigration laws from Washington - echoing statements made in the past from major Kansas business and agriculture groups. Kobach defeated Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary last month, and Orman picked up the endorsement of Colyer's ex-campaign chairman, a former Kansas Farm Bureau president. Orman said aggressive attempts to deport illegal immigrants would hurt rural Kansas, particularly dairy and meatpacking businesses. But Kobach brushed off the criticism and said states should discourage illegal immigrants from settling within their borders. He has promised that if he is elected governor, he will issue an executive order requiring state agencies and their contractors to use the e-Verify system to check workers' legal status, something he's done with his own office. He also has promised to pursue legislation that would cut off state funding to cities and counties that restrict law enforcement cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Kobach said Orman is suggesting that someone isn't qualified for governor for wanting to "have the illegal population leave the state and open up jobs for Kansans" is "180-degrees wrong." "I'd be the first governor who's actually tried to do something about the problem," Kobach said. "We have to look out for the American worker." Kobach also has promised to seek the repeal of a 2004 law that helps young people living in Kansas illegally to go to state colleges by allowing them to pay the lower tuition rates reserved for legal state residents. Kobach contends the law subsidizes the educations of illegal immigrants, to the detriment of taxpayers. Like other supporters, Kelly said the law makes higher education affordable to young people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents after they've made Kansans their home for years. "I have voted for that, and I'll vote for it again, if I need to," Kelly said. "Those kids would be dropping out of college because they couldn't afford it." ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna . WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump will mark the solemn 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by participating in a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the White House said. First lady Melania Trump will accompany the president to the remembrance in Shanksville. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field in what was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. President Donald Trump smiles during a meeting with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) The 40 passengers and crew aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after leaving Newark, New Jersey, en route to San Francisco, are credited with thwarting a strike on the U.S. Capitol. Trump observed the somber anniversary for the first time as president last year. He and the first lady, surrounded by aides and administration officials, led a moment of silence on the White House lawn at the exact time that hijackers, executing a plot orchestrated by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, had rammed the first of two airplanes into the Twin Towers. Trump also participated in last year's 9/11 observance at the Pentagon. A native New Yorker, Trump has a mixed history with 9/11. He frequently uses the terrorist strikes to praise the city's response but has also made unsubstantiated claims about what he did and saw that day. Trump often lauds the bravery of New York police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders who rushed to the crumbling Twin Towers as an example of the city's resilience. But he has accused fellow Republican George W. Bush, who was president on 9/11, of failing to keep Americans safe. Trump has also made dubious claims about Sept. 11. He has said when talking about Muslims that "thousands of people were cheering" in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan, as the towers collapsed. There is no evidence in news archives of mass celebrations there by Muslims. Trump has also said he lost "hundreds of friends" in the attack and said he helped clear rubble afterward. Trump has not provided names of friends who perished in the attack, but has mentioned knowing a Catholic priest who died while serving as a chaplain to the city's fire department. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap The younger brother of a 15-year-old boy who starved to death while their family prayed and fasted for weeks wrote a letter that investigators found inside the locked southern Wisconsin apartment pleading with lawyers to save him. The emaciated 11-year-old boy was clutching a Bible and an envelope containing pamphlets about death on Monday when officers found him, his mother and the body of Ayanfe Omosebi, his elder brother, in the family's Reedsburg apartment. The apartment had no power and was padlocked from the inside, authorities say. Investigators also found the younger boy's handwritten letter, which was addressed to 'Lawyers of Sauk County.' 'The hunger is too much,' the boy wrote. 'Please help me now so I may eat. I can't continue in such a life with no food. If I don't get food now I'll probably die of hunger.' The parents, Kehinde and Titilayo Omosebi, were charged Tuesday with child neglect causing death and child neglect causing great bodily harm. Kehinde Omosebi, left, and his wife, Titilayo Omosebi, were arrested Sunday, September 2, 2018, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin and charged Tuesday with child neglect causing death as well as child neglect causing great bodily harm after their teen son died and another child was hospitalized following what the father described as a weeks long religious fast The charge involving death carries a maximum prison term of 25 years. According to the criminal complaint, Kehinde Omosebi walked to the Reedsburg police station Monday to report that his 15-year-old son had died in their apartment during the fast. Officers found the apartment's doors padlocked from the inside and the power turned off. The family had no food in the home and the only furniture was a bed and four metal folding chairs arranged in a square. In one of the chairs was the 15-year-old boy's body. Officers wrote that the boy was so emaciated they could see his backbone and ribs under his skin. According to the police, the father said the boy died on Friday and that the family prayed for two days, in accordance with their religious beliefs, before he walked to the police station to report it. Police Chief Timothy Becker said Kehinde Omosebi told investigators that he is a minister with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries, but they don't believe him because they haven't been able to find any record of such a ministry. He said the couple is originally from Nigeria. Kehinde Omosebi told police the last time the family had eaten was July 17, according to the complaint. He said the family had fasted before but never for so long. Titilayo Omosebi said the family previously had lived in Missouri and Iowa, and they had planned to fast until they earned God's blessing to leave Reedsburg. Kehinde Omosebi said God had told him to move to Atlanta, police contend. Leonie Dolch, a public defender who represented Kehinde Omosebi during his initial court appearance Monday, told the court that Omosebi had worked at a local iron foundry, Grede Foundries, but had been unemployed since February. The company didn't immediately reply to a voicemail left Wednesday. Reedsburg, a city of about 9,000 people, is about 50 miles northwest of Madison. A 15-year-old student has been shot and killed outside a Rhode Island high school on just the second day of the academic year. Providence Police Chief Col Hugh Clements said the teen died after he was shot outside the Providence Career and Technical Academy Wednesday afternoon following a fight with another teen. Clements did not identify the victim but an automated phone message to district parents said he attended nearby Central High School. Maj David Lapatin also said police have in custody a 'person of interest' who was found shot about a mile away from the school. A male student was shot and killed Wednesday after a fight broke out after school The unidentified 15-year-old was a student at Central High School in Providence That boy, who Lapatin also didn't name, was taken to the hospital with a gunshot to his thigh that isn't considered life-threatening. He is now in police custody. The fight broke out shortly before 2pm Wednesday as the victim's high school was released early. As the fight escalated the suspect pulled out a pistol and fired. The surrounding schools were placed on lock down as police arrived at the scene. 'There are no words that adequately describe how terrible this is - how tragic this is,' Providence School Superintendent Christopher Maher told NBC 10 News. After the shooting, governor Gina Raimondo came to the crime scene. 'As a mother, this is every parent's worst nightmare,' Governor Raimondo said. 'It's scary. So I wanted to be here to say to the folks here on the scene, we're with you.' After getting into an altercation at 2pm, the male suspect pulled out a pistol (pictured) A 'person of interest' was found shot in the thigh a mile away from the school 'We'll do anything we can to support you. We'll make sure there's extra mental-health counselors tomorrow. We've taken action. Enough is enough with gun violence. We've got to do more. We have to continue to do more to keep our kids safe,' the governor added. Ken Wagner, the state education commissioner, said in a statement: 'It's devastating to hear of a young life cut short, and I speak for the entire department when I say that our thoughts are with the district, the students, and most of all, with the family of the victim. 'Our focus will continue to be on the well-being of our students, and giving them - and our educators - the support they need.' The Providence Journal reports the shooting is the city's eighth homicide this year. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah driver who slammed her Tesla into a stopped firetruck at a red light earlier this year while using the vehicle's semi-autonomous function has sued the company, saying salespeople told her the car would stop on its own in Autopilot mode if something was in its path. Heather Lommatzsch claimed in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that Tesla salespeople told her in 2016 when she purchased the Model S that she could just touch the steering wheel occasionally while using the Autopilot mode. Lommatzsch, 29, said she tried to brake when she saw the stopped cars, but that the car's brakes did not work. The accident happened May 11 in the Salt Lake City suburb of South Jordan. Lommatzsch broke her foot and was charged with a misdemeanor traffic citation for failure to keep a proper lookout. The firetruck's driver suffered injuries but was not hospitalized. FILE - In this May 11, 2018, file photo, released by the South Jordan Police Department shows a traffic collision involving a Tesla Model S sedan with a fire department mechanic truck stopped at a red light in South Jordan, Utah. Heather Lommatzsch, the Utah driver who slammed her Tesla into the stopped firetruck at a red light while using the vehicle's semi-autonomous function, is suing the company. (South Jordan Police Department via AP, File) Tesla spokesman Dave Arnold said in a statement about the lawsuit that the company "has always been clear that Autopilot doesn't make the car impervious to all accidents." "When using Autopilot, drivers are continuously reminded of their responsibility to keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of the vehicle at all times," Arnold said. Arnold stressed that Lommatzsch was cited and that the final police report said she told police she was looking at her phone before the crash. Car data showed Lommatzsch did not touch the steering wheel for 80 seconds before the crash, the report said. Data taken from her car showed it picked up speed for 3.5 seconds before crashing into the firetruck, the report said. The driver then manually hit the brakes a fraction of a second before the impact. Police suggested that the car was following another vehicle and dropped its speed to 55 mph (89 kph) to match the leading vehicle. They say the leading vehicle then likely changed lanes and the Tesla automatically sped up to its preset speed of 60 mph (97 kph) without noticing the stopped cars ahead. Lommatzsch claimed she has suffered serious physical injuries that have deprived her of being able to enjoy life and led to substantial medical bills. She is seeking at least $300,000 in damages. The Utah crash is one of several Tesla accidents that have brought scrutiny to its Autopilot, the company's semi-autonomous system designed to keep a vehicle centered in its lane at a set distance from cars in front of it. The system also can also guide the cars to change lanes automatically. All Teslas are equipped with automatic emergency braking, which Tesla says will detect objects and brake to help avoid or lessen impact of crashes. Tesla warns drivers to pay attention and not to rely on the system entirely. The National Transportation Safety Board recently issued initial findings about two separate crashes involving Tesla vehicles in which three people died. The agency found that a Tesla Model S electric car that crashed and burned last month in Florida, killing two teenagers, was traveling 116 mph (187 kph) three seconds before impact and only slowed to 86 mpg (138 kph) as the air bags were inflated. The agency said that a Tesla Model X SUV using Autopilot accelerated just before crashing into a California freeway barrier in March, killing its driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still investigating the Utah crash and cannot yet make public details, said spokeswoman Kathryn Henry. A study released in August by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that cars and trucks with electronic driver-assist systems may not see stopped vehicles and could even steer a driver into a crash if the driver is not paying attention. The paper, titled "Reality Check," issued the warning after testing five of the systems from Tesla, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo on a track and public roads. The upshot is while they could save your life, the systems can fail under many circumstances. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic makeover is in full swing. With just a few primaries remaining before the decisive midterm elections in November, voters have dramatically reshaped the Democratic Party to become younger, more diverse and unquestionably liberal. The latest turn came Tuesday in Massachusetts, where Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, 44, trounced 10-term congressman Mike Capuano, 66, in a Democratic primary. It reprised a June primary upset in which self-proclaimed democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, toppled New York congressman Joe Crowley, one of the House Democrats' top leaders. They join minority candidates like Democratic gubernatorial nominees Stacey Abrams of Georgia and Andrew Gillum of Florida and a host of younger white candidates - including dozens of women and a gaggle of veterans - who are offering voters an antidote to President Donald Trump. Ayanna Pressley, who won the 7th Congressional District Democratic primary Tuesday, speaks at a Massachusetts Democratic Party unity event, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Boston. At left is Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and at right is Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes) "We are at a crossroads," Pressley declared during a party unity rally Wednesday. "This can be our darkest hour or it can be our finest." Outsider candidates are taking on establishment-aligned Democratic incumbents in the final primaries of the season over the coming week in states such as Delaware and Rhode Island. Victories by candidates such as Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez have generated substantial grassroots energy. But they've also raised questions about whether the party will be able to compete in broad swaths of the country, a potential vulnerability Republicans are eager to exploit. There's also debate over what a younger, more diverse class of lawmakers might mean for the fate of congressional leaders such as House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and potential 2020 presidential candidates who are older and white, including former Vice President Joe Biden. "2020 is going to be about who voters want best to stand up to Trump and to take on Trump," said Ben Tulchin, who worked as a pollster for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in 2016. "You're going to have to have an authentically progressive message and to be able to communicate that." For now, Democratic leaders are embracing the enthusiasm of their base - even as it's unclear where it will lead. "The energy and momentum and the strength is clearly on our side," said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "There's nothing more unifying than winning back the House of Representatives and restoring checks and balances." Democrats' leftward lurch looks different contest to contest. Capuano and Crowley are reliable liberals, but Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez often go further, with full-throated calls for single-payer government health insurance and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Coming from heavily Democratic districts, Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez won't determine whether Democrats pick up the 23 new seats necessary for a House majority. But they will affect the makeup of the Democratic caucus and what its priorities might be on issues from health care and immigration to potential impeachment proceedings against Trump once a special counsel investigation presents its findings. Elsewhere, Democratic nominees represent a clear shift from the status quo even if they aren't as left-leaning as Ocasio-Cortez. Congressional nominees like Iowa's Abby Finkenauer or Arkansas' Clarke Tucker were the more moderate choices in their respective primaries, but are now trying to topple Republican incumbents with calls for a public option health insurance plan to compete alongside for-profit insurers. Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who'd be the nation's first black woman elected governor, stops short of single-payer health care and abolishing ICE but promises to expand Medicaid insurance and keep Georgia's state resources from aiding mass deportation efforts. And dozens of Democratic candidates for federal and state offices - regardless of their positions on ICE, health care or impeachment - have sworn off corporate campaign cash. The embrace of those positions among primary voters has activists on the left looking forward to upcoming primaries in Delaware, where Kerri Evelyn Harris, a black gay woman, is challenging moderate incumbent Democrat Tom Carper on Thursday. In New York, actress Cynthia Nixon will try on Sept. 13 to oust Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It's unclear whether any of these outsider candidates will enjoy the same success as Pressley or Ocasio-Cortez. The overall trend has been a wakeup call on Capitol Hill and thrilled leaders of the anti-Trump resistance and the grassroots left. Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of Collective PAC, which supports African-American candidates, praised Pressley as an example of a new assertiveness that goes beyond policy. "I think that for so long, a lot of us who are Democrats have felt like, 'Dude, where's the fight back? ... Where's the toughness?'" she said. "You're seeing candidates who are brash and aggressive and are like, 'No, we're not going to wait.'" Crowley, who'd been viewed as a possible future House speaker before his defeat, said Wednesday he was "sad" for Capuano, but celebrated "the engagement and the activity that it's causing and the fervor that is forming (among) young people, women." Certainly, there is some political risk in Democrats' approach, particularly if November draws a typical midterm electorate that is older, whiter and more conservative than presidential-year electorates. "We all know the fight for the majority runs through the suburbs. It doesn't run through the inner city," said Republican Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, who leads the GOP's House campaign committee. "It's the suburbs that matter, and their extreme agenda doesn't sell." House Democrats implicitly acknowledge the potential divide, with the DCCC this week launching a series of ads and attacks on health care. Noticeably, they focused mostly on Republican votes that would strip existing protections for policy holders with existing health problems - the ads avoid any mention of single-payer proposals or even a public option. Likewise, Pelosi has begun unveiling her strategy for a Democratic majority. And while it's focused generally on helping working- and middle-class households, it's decidedly not the wish list of the grassroots left. Those tensions could come to a head if Pelosi struggles to be elected speaker. Even if she wins, it could be difficult for her to preside over a more liberal caucus. James, of the Collective PAC, said that's exactly the idea. "The status quo to me doesn't mean getting rid of people who have been in office a long time," she said. "It means you can't have the same mentality, you can't have the same goals. You can't have the same playbook. You've got to switch it up." ___ Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Kevin Freking in Washington and Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed to this report MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The younger brother of a 15-year-old boy who starved to death while their family prayed and fasted for weeks wrote a letter that investigators found inside the locked southern Wisconsin apartment pleading with lawyers to save him. The emaciated 11-year-old boy was clutching a Bible and an envelope containing pamphlets about death on Monday when officers found him, his mother and his brother's body in the family's Reedsburg apartment, which had no power and was padlocked from the inside, authorities say. Investigators also found the younger boy's handwritten letter, which was addressed to "Lawyers of Sauk County." "The hunger is too much," the boy wrote. "Please help me now so I may eat. I can't continue in such a life with no food. If I don't get food now I'll probably die of hunger." The exterior of a duplex in Reedsburg, Wis. where a 15-year-old boy who starved to death while he and his family prayed and fasted for weeks, is pictured in a Monday, Nov. 3, 2018 photo. The boys parents, Kehinde Omosebi, 49, and Titilayo Omosebi, 47, were charged in Sauk County Court with child neglect causing death as well as child neglect causing great bodily harm after their teenage son died and another child was hospitalized following what the father described as a weeks long religious fast. (Rob Schultz/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) The parents, Kehinde and Titilayo Omosebi, were charged Tuesday with child neglect causing death and child neglect causing great bodily harm. The charge involving death carries a maximum prison term of 25 years. According to the criminal complaint, Kehinde Omosebi walked to the Reedsburg police station Monday to report that his 15-year-old son had died in their apartment during the fast. Officers found the apartment's doors padlocked from the inside and the power turned off. The family had no food in the home and the only furniture was a bed and four metal folding chairs arranged in a square. In one of the chairs was the 15-year-old boy's body. Officers wrote that the boy was so emaciated they could see his backbone and ribs under his skin. According to the police, the father said the boy died on Friday and that the family prayed for two days, in accordance with their religious beliefs, before he walked to the police station to report it. Police Chief Timothy Becker said Kehinde Omosebi told investigators that he is a minister with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries, but they don't believe him because they haven't been able to find any record of such a ministry. He said the couple is originally from Nigeria. Kehinde Omosebi told police the last time the family had eaten was July 17, according to the complaint. He said the family had fasted before but never for so long. Titilayo Omosebi said the family previously had lived in Missouri and Iowa, and they had planned to fast until they earned God's blessing to leave Reedsburg. Kehinde Omosebi said God had told him to move to Atlanta, police contend. Leonie Dolch, a public defender who represented Kehinde Omosebi during his initial court appearance Monday, told the court that Omosebi had worked at a local iron foundry, Grede Foundries, but had been unemployed since February. The company didn't immediately reply to a voicemail left Wednesday. Reedsburg, a city of about 9,000 people, is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Madison. ___ Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter: https://twitter.com/trichmond1 ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Several hundred supporters of Greece's extreme right Golden Dawn party have staged a protest near central Athens against plans to build a state-funded mosque in the Greek capital. Authorities used riot police buses to block roads near the construction site during Wednesday's rally which ended with no reported arrests. After years of delays, the government has agreed to build the mosque in an old industrial area of Athens to serve its large Muslim migrant community as well as tourists. Muslims currently use prayer houses set up unofficially. Supporters of Greece's extreme right Golden Dawn party wave flags during a rally against the construction of a mosque, in Athens, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos spoke at the rally and described members of Greece's left-wing government as being "traitors." Once openly neo-Nazi, the party currently has 15 members in Greece's 300-seat parliament, after seeing a surge in support during years of financial crisis. Supporters of Greece's extreme right Golden Dawn party wave Greek flags during a rally against the construction of a mosque, in Athens, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Golden Dawn party leader Nikos Mihaloliakos speaks during a rally against the construction of a mosque in Athens , on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Bilateral relations between Nigeria and China have reached a new level, and I expect more opportunities in the Beijing Summit of FOCAC. said Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, during a written interview before kicking off his visit to China for the FOCAC Beijing Summit. Nigeria and China established diplomatic relations on February 10, 1971. Since then, the relationship has been growing. Now, it is at a very satisfactory win-win level, Buhari said, There always exists mutual respect between our two countries, and things have been taken several notches higher since 2015. Buhari came into office in May, 2015, and he was determined to fulfill the election promises of securing the country, fighting against corruption, and reviving the economy, so that jobs could be provided for teeming Nigeria youths. He found that China was a willing ally in Nigerians developmental efforts, so the government embraced the opportunities that the foreign relationship offered to reverse Nigerian infrastructural deficits. Buhari pointed out that Nigeria had deficiencies in roads, rail, power, agriculture, healthcare, and China advanced well in all those areas. So in the best interest of Nigeria and her people, we took the helping hand offered by China through assistance for development, and they are progressing well now. Many projects are on stream, in different sectors like road, rail, power, health, agriculture, while some others are in the pipeline. In fact, our immense gratitude goes to China for all the support given us. Buhari said. As Buhari mentioned, China helped them with as much as 85 per cent payment, and soft loans that span 20 years. He stressed, No other country has done that for us. The healthy and growing diplomatic relations with China has been most beneficial to Nigeria. Speaking of expectations at the FOCAC Beijing summit, Buhari noted this would be his second time of attending the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the first in South Africa in 2015. He met with President Xi Jinping at the forum, and they held bilateral meetings, leading to his visit to China in 2016. It opened doors of diverse opportunities to the two countries, Mr. president said. He expected more from FOCAC 2018. He looked forward to a consolidation of win-win relationship, and consummation of the agreements they had entered into, as well as signing of new ones. He stated, On our part, we will always strive to keep our side of the bargain in the counterpart funding, and we are grateful to China for always being true to its promises. FOCAC is a veritable opportunity for Nigeria, and African countries in general, to attract development, and improve the quality of lives of their people. Buhari also showed a high willing to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. He stressed, About 90 countries have signed agreements with China on that initiative, and Nigeria as a part of the global community cannot be left out. We will actively join the Belt and Road Initiative. This year, 2018, marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. Buhari deemed the strides taken between 1978 and now had really been gigantic, and China took hundreds of people out of mass poverty, achieved feats in technological development, built a resilient economy, and transformed itself into a land that Chinese people were proud of. Buhari said, It is very impressive, and I fully appreciate the leadership that has made this happen within four decades. Buhari thought it showed that, for a country to attain her place in development, it needed focused and committed leadership. China has shown the world how to do it, and Nigeria, indeed, Africa, should learn from it. It can also be done in Nigeria, and all over Africa. We all have learnt from the opening-up policy of China, and the good that has come from it. he stressed. I am satisfied with the mutually beneficial cooperation between Nigeria and China. Buhari said. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The days of young Mormons anxiously waiting for letters to arrive in the mailbox telling them where they will serve their missions are over, the latest tradition fading away under the march of technology. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Wednesday in a news release that it will send the letters known as "mission calls" online instead of by traditional mail. The change will save money spent on postage and allow missionaries to find out quicker, the church said. The news triggered melancholy among Mormons who have fond memories of the dramatic opening of the envelopes and reading the letter as friends and family watched. Mormon homes commonly have pictures of the moment, and YouTube is full of videos. Joyce Avaemai called it a sad change. She said she cherishes the letter she received in 2014 in her native country of Tahiti informing she would serve her mission in Montreal, Canada. She keeps the letter in her journal. "Every word in the letter was for me. It was inspiring," said Avaemai, a 26-year-old social worker who lives in Montreal. "You receive emails every day. But the meaning of that paper was an amazing feeling." Missions are considered rites of passage for many Mormons, broadening their perspective on the world, strengthening their faith and helping prepare some for future leadership roles within the church. Men serve two years, while women go for 18 months. The church said Mormons will receive a text or email letting them the letter is available to read. They suggested the letter-opening tradition could continue if the prospective missionary gathers his or her family and reads it from a tablet, phone or computer. The change will start in Utah and Idaho and be instituted around the world by end of the year for places with reliable internet access, the church said. "Technology is there, and it's so easy to do," said Brent H. Nielson, the church's missionary department executive director in the news release. "We just put it online, and they can read it in a matter of minutes." It marks the latest change to the missionary experience in recent years. In 2012, the church lowered the minimum age for missionaries from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men. In 2014, the church began giving missionaries tablets and broadened proselytizing to social media. Last year, the faith doubled the number of missions where technology is allowed and swapped out tablets for smartphones. Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman said the move to online letters is an illustration of a broader change afoot in the faith as it adapts to being a more global church and tries to make things more uniform for members everywhere. The mission letter-opening tradition is reflective of the white, middle-class, Western American Mormonism that dominated the faith for most of the 20th Century, said Bowman, a Mormon scholar and associate professor of history at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Today, though, more than half of the faith's 16 million members live outside the United States. "A kid in Nigeria and a kid in Nevada will have the same experience now," Bowman said. "It is a nod to the increasing globalization of the church and the increasing diversity of the church in such a way that is trying to downplay these older traditions when the church was a much more homogeneous than it is now." Rob Heyward, a 48-year-old Mormon father of five, said he doesn't agree with an online notification system that feels more impersonal and corporate. He said the family gathered and live-streamed as his oldest son opened his letter a few years ago. Heyward keeps his mission letter from 20 years ago in a scrapbook. "It captured a moment in time where I started a very important two years of my life," said Heyward, of Fort Meade, Maryland. "If I received a digital copy, it wouldn't feel the same." NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - The Council of Europe's anti-corruption group is calling for more transparency on how judges in Cyprus are appointed. A compliance report by the GRECO group gave a mixed assessment Wednesday, saying Cypriot authorities fully implemented only two out of 16 of its recommendations to prevent judicial corruption. It said "specific, objective requirements" on a candidate's integrity contained in a publicly available document would help increase transparency on such appointments. The group urged the judicial branch to consider including lower-court judges in a body that's responsible for the appointment, transfer, promotion and discipline of judges. It said a code of conduct should be drawn up for judges, and called for strengthening the independence of prosecutors. As frightening as the "The Nun" is, it doesn't hold a candle to today's real-life horrors in the Catholic Church. But while a new generation of filmmakers has breathed new life into horror by embedding it with frightful and salient social commentary, the "The Conjuring" franchise - of which "The Nun" is a spinoff and the fifth installment - isn't about anything so real. It's about exhuming classic horror archetypes - creaky old houses and creepy old dolls - with (mostly) old-school effects. And what's more old school than a mean ol' nun? Set in 1952, "The Nun" is the origin story of Valak (Bonnie Aarons), a demonic nun who first turned up in "Conjuring 2," as the pursuit of Vera Farmiga's paranormal expert. This time, our protagonist is Sister Irene (played by Vera's younger sister Taissa Farmiga), a novitiate who, just before her vows, is dispatched by the Vatican, along with Father Burke (Demian Bichir), an expert in unexplained phenomena (or as he says, "miracle hunting"), to a remote Romanian abbey where a young nun has just hung herself. This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Demian Bichir in a scene from "The Nun." (Cos Aelenei/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP) The decaying, overgrown abbey and its adjoining covenant are suitably eerie. The place, handsomely crafted by production designer Jennifer Spence, has the feel of a horror-movie set, complete with a foggy cemetery, and the action that follows has the almost comforting pattern of surprises and scares that's to be expected. Entering the gothic world of "The Nun," built so sturdily on horror movie cliches, is to slide into a darkly fantastical realm that's practically cozy it's so familiar. Crypts will turn into traps, apparitions will flicker in the mirrors and ancient Christian dogma will be used for all its sinister power. Certainly, anyone who goes anywhere at any time clutching a lantern will run into trouble. But what distinguishes "The Nun" is its silky, sumptuous shadows. Directed by British filmmaker Corin Hardy ("The Hallows") and shot by Maxime Alexander (who was also cinematographer on the "Conjuring" spinoff "Annabelle: Creation," ''The Nun" shrouds itself so much in darkness that it at times verges on becoming a nightmarish abstraction. You almost lose sense of what exactly is going on, as Sister Irene falls into a labyrinthine abyss. The spell, of course, gets broken as the demands of plot and franchise return. And "The Nun" has little to offer beyond: Beware of spooky Romanian abbeys. But for a moment or two, it hangs suspended in a luxurious gloom, the kind that these days passes for a welcome escape. "The Nun," a Warner Bros. release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for terror, violence, and disturbing/bloody images. Running time: 96 minutes. Three stars out of four. ___ MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ___ Follow Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Taissa Farmiga in a scene from "The Nun." (Justin Lubin/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said terrorism, Syria and Yemen were among the topics of discussion during a White House meeting Wednesday with the emir of Kuwait. Trump said Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah was a "very special friend" of his, while the 89-year-old Kuwaiti ruler said he was "very happy" to meet Trump for the third time in nearly a year. The president said the U.S. and Kuwait practice "large-scale" trade and investment, and work together against terrorism. He declared Kuwait a "great partner" in that effort. President Donald Trump shakes hands as he meets with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) The emir said before the meeting that he and Trump would also discuss trade and investment, and cooperation on the military, energy and education. More than a billion adults around the world are at risk of serious disease through lack of exercise, a study has shown. Investigators found that in 2016 more than a quarter of the global population 1.4 billion people were insufficiently active. As a result, they faced an increased risk of heart and artery disease, Type 2 diabetes, dementia, and some cancers. (PA Graphics) The research conducted by the World Health Organisation shows there was little progress in improving physical activity levels between 2001 and 2016. If current trends continue, the global target of reducing sedentary lifestyle by 10% by 2025 will not be met, said the scientists. Study leader Dr Regina Guthold, from the WHO in Switzerland, said: Unlike other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide, on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health. The study was based on self-reported activity levels both at work and at home and during travel and leisure time. Researchers analysed information from 1.9 million men and women who participated in 358 population surveys. They found that in 2016, around one in three women (32%) and 23% of men worldwide were not attaining recommended healthy levels of physical activity at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. High-income Western countries displayed the greatest increase in the proportion of people taking insufficient exercise over the study period, a rise from 31% in 2001 to 37% in 2016. In the UK, 40% of women and 32% of men were insufficiently active in 2016. Countries with the worst physical activity record included Kuwait, American Samoa, a US territory in the South Pacific, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In each of these countries, more than half the adult population was insufficiently active. The findings appear in The Lancet Global Health journal. Dr Guthold added: Regions with increasing levels of insufficient physical activity are a major concern for public health and the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. Long-time Washington Post reporter Bob Woodwards book on Donald Trumps first 18 months in office includes some incendiary comments attributed to the president and key former and current White House staffers. Mr Trump and other officials have denied some accounts. Here are some of the most explosive passages: White House chief of staff John Kelly on working for Mr Trump: Hes an idiot. Its pointless to try to convince him of anything. Hes gone off the rails. Were in Crazytown. Jeff Sessions (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Mr Trump on attorney general Jeff Sessions: This guy is mentally retarded. Hes this dumb southerner. How in the world was I ever persuaded to pick him for my attorney general? He couldnt even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama. What business does he have being attorney general? The president after making a speech condemning white supremacists over violence in Charlottesville: That was the biggest f****** mistake Ive made. You never make those concessions. You never apologise. I didnt do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak? Mr Trump to former director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn when he tried to resign after Charlottesville: This is treason. Jim Mattis (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Defence secretary Jim Mattis on Iranian leaders: Those idiot raghead mullahs. Mr Trump after Twitter doubled its character count for a single tweet from 140 to 280: Its a good thing, but its a bit of a shame because I was the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters. The president on his nickname for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: Little Rocket Man. I think that may be my best ever, best nickname ever. Ivanka Trump (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Ivanka Trump, when told she was a staffer by Steve Bannon: Im not a staffer! Ill never be a staffer. Im the first daughter and Im never going to be a staffer. Deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes on Mr Kelly: Hes not a detail guy. Never put more than one page in front of him. A 17-year-old boy is among five people arrested on suspicion of being members of a banned far-right terrorist group. The youth, from Nottingham, was arrested by counter-terrorism officers after a series of raids across the country, West Midlands Police said. Two men, aged 22 and 28, both from Birmingham, a 23-year-old man and a woman, 22, both from Halifax, West Yorkshire, were all arrested on Wednesday. The arrests were made in a series of raids (Joe Giddens/PA) The five have been detained on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organisation, National Action, which was banned in December 2016. They are all being held at a police station in the West Midlands, after an operation carried out by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit in conjunction with CTP North East and East Midlands CTIU. A number of addresses are also being searched in connection with the arrests. A police spokesman said: The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led. Hundreds of fusiliers set off on a parade through the city of London to celebrate 50 years since their regiment was formed. Bayonets were fixed high as more than 500 serving and former army personnel began marching through the square mile to the beat of drums. Members of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers wait to set off from the Tower of London (John Walton/PA) They set off at 10am after getting into formation at the Tower of London, their regimental headquarters. The troops will parade toward Guildhall, where they will be received by the Duke of Kent and undergo a full inspection. The troops were due to march from the Tower of London to the Guildhall (John Walton/PA) Retired Colonel James Denny, regimental secretary for The Fusiliers, thanked the regiments Colonel-in-Chief, the Duke of Kent, for his continued support. He said: The Privilege Parade on September 5 promises to be a great event for all the Fusilier family and we are delighted that so many of our affiliated regiments from around the world will be able to join us on this special day. More than 500 personnel were participating (John Walton/PA) It is a great honour to be allowed to parade through the City of London in this, our 50th anniversary year, so a huge thank you to all the officials for enabling this momentous occasion to take place. The march is the final event in a year-long programme across the country to commemorate 50 years on from the infantry regiments formation in 1968. Members of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers march to celebrate 50 years since their regiment was formed (John Walton/PA) The Regiments affiliated regiments in Canada (The Royal Canadian Regiment, The Lorne Scots and the Royal Westminster Regiment) and from Australia (Pipes and Drums of the Royal Victoria Regiment) are attending in support. A reception in Guildhall will follow the parade. A South Korean delegation has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to arrange this months inter-Korean summit and to help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. The office of South Korean president Moon Jae-in said the envoys, led by his national security adviser, delivered a personal letter from him to Mr Kim and exchanged opinions on unspecified issues. It is not clear whether the Korean officials fixed a date for a third summit this year between Mr Moon and Mr Kim or made any progress in breaking an impasse between the North and the US over dismantling the Norths nuclear weapons programme. The South Korean delegation boards an aircraft for Pyongyang (AP) The envoys will fly back to the South after attending a dinner reception hosted by the North. Earlier, they met Kim Yong Chol, a former spy chief who has been negotiating with the United States on nuclear issues, and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Norths agency that handles inter-Korean affairs, at Pyongyangs Koryo hotel. Mr Moons office is planning to hold a briefing on the visit on Thursday. The South Korean leader, who discussed his plans with US president Donald Trump by telephone on Tuesday, said before the trip that his envoys are tasked with a crucial role at a very important time that could determine the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. People hang ribbons symbolising their hope for Korean reunification on the border between the two countries (AP) As it pushes ahead with summits and inter-Korean engagement, Seoul is trying to persuade Washington and Pyongyang to proceed with peace and denuclearisation processes at the same time so they can overcome a growing dispute over the sequencing of the diplomacy. Seoul also wants a trilateral summit between the countries, or a four-nation meeting that also includes Beijing, to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The UN General Assembly in late September would be an ideal date for Seoul, but many analysts consider the chances of this happening to be low, considering the complications of the process and how far apart the parties currently are. US officials have insisted that a peace declaration, which many see as a precursor to the North eventually calling for the removal of all US troops from the Korean Peninsula, cannot come before North Korea takes more concrete action towards abandoning its nuclear weapons. Such steps may include providing an account of the components of its nuclear programme, allowing outside inspections and giving up a certain number of its nuclear weapons during the early stages of the negotiations. BBC news presenter Rachael Bland has died after being diagnosed with incurable cancer, her family has announced. It come days after the 40-year-old BBC Radio 5 Live newsreader revealed on social media that she had only days to live. A picture of Rachael as she hosted You Me and the Big C. Shot by Claire Wood on the 7th March 18. Her family confirmed that she had died this morning shortly after 3am, the BBC said. A post on Blands official Twitter account said: Our beautiful, courageous Rachael died peacefully this morning surrounded by her close family. We are crushed but she would want me to thank everyone who took an interest in her story or sent messages of support. Youll never know how much they meant to her. Steve and Freddie xxx. Our beautiful, courageous Rachael died peacefully this morning surrounded by her close family. We are crushed but she would want me to thank everyone who took an interest in her story or sent messages of support. Youll never know how much they meant to her. Steve and Freddie xxx pic.twitter.com/soq7YHvF9u Rachael Bland (@Rachael_Hodges) September 5, 2018 Bland was diagnosed with primary triple-negative breast cancer in November 2016 and had been documenting her journey on her blog Big C Little Me, which has the tag line Putting the can in cancer. Her podcast, You, Me and the Big C, reached number one in the UK podcast charts after Bland made her announcement earlier this week. The 40-year-old was married to husband Steve for four years. The couple had a two-year-old son Freddie and would have celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on September 14. In a tweet posted on Monday, the broadcaster wrote: Im told Ive only got days. Its very surreal. In an early episode of her podcast she told how she had discovered she had cancer after breastfeeding Freddie. BBC. You me and the big C. Shot by Claire Wood on 7th March 18. She said: I had pain first. I had this weird soreness. It was kind of inside my armpit. It went away. It was just around the time I was breastfeeding. But because of that I was having a little bit of a feel. When I found it, I was like: How did I miss this? It was the size of a walnut. Originally from the Cardiff area, she had joined the BBC in 2001, and her career started at Radio Wiltshire, where she worked as a journalist and newsreader. She later joined BBC Radio 5 Live where she became a feature on Richard Bacons late-night show and ended up staying on. She also began presenting on BBC News. In 2011 when the BBC relocated to Salford, Blands was the first voice heard on Radio 5 Lives first broadcast from the new location and studios. Mother to Freddie. Wife to Steve. Our treasured colleague Rachael Bland has died. She inspired so many with her blogs, the chart-topping podcast #YouMeBigC and certainly put the can in cancer. We will miss her dearly. pic.twitter.com/b0UKRwDDCY BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) September 5, 2018 Her husband Steve told the BBC: Rachaels death has left a huge hole in our perfect little family that well never be able to fill. She was an incredibly talented broadcaster as well as a wonderful and much-loved daughter, sister, aunt, niece, wife and, most importantly to her, a mother to her precious little Freddie. We all take such huge comfort and pride from the amazing and tireless work she has done since her diagnosis to reduce the stigma around cancer and prove that it is possible to live life to the fullest even when facing huge challenges on a daily basis. At the end, even though her body was at its weakest, her voice was at its strongest and most powerful. Rachael was and will always be an incredible inspiration to everyone she met. To us, she was perfect in every way and we will miss her more than words can say. We just ask that everyone respects our familys privacy as we try and come to terms with losing our beautiful girl. BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: Rachael was a popular and inspiring journalist. Everyone has been moved by her courage and dignity. She will be hugely missed by her many listeners and by staff across the BBC. Our sympathies go out to her family and many friends at this difficult time. Looking back at the multi-level interactions between China and Africa since the 2000s, overseas Chinese entrepreneurs have played a significant role in China-African cooperation and they are also witness to the China-Africa friendship, experts agreed at a seminar on Tuesday. Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs are becoming one of the worlds most influential political and economic powers for globalization and Chinas development, especially in Africa, according to a report on the development of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs that was released at a seminar held by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing on Tuesday. Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs are a group of entrepreneurs who are of Chinese origin and are active in the field of economics. Rooted in Chinese culture and familiar with the international environment, they are world-class talents capable of thinking from the perspectives of both China and other countries. file pic By 2016, with a total of 3,254 overseas Chinese enterprises established in Africa, investment in Africa had surpassed $40 billion. The overseas Chinese-invested enterprises are mainly located in Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, Angola, and Uganda. The economic interactions between the two regions have surged since the 2000s, when an increasing number of Chinese enterprises entered into the African continent. Chinese medical and agricultural professionals built up communication channels for Chinese and Africans. Further, Chinese-invested manufacturing enterprises quickly launched in African countries In Ethiopia, the largest footwear manufacturer, Huajian Group, has invested a total of $200 million in a complete industrial chain, which successfully creates thousands of jobs for locals. Jushi Group, a Chinese fiberglass producer that launched a production line in Egypt with the support of the Egyptian government, has already helped Egypt leap forward as the worlds third largest fiberglass producer. Such companies continuously bring in qualified and advanced products to Africa, as well as Chinese concepts and experience that benefit economic development. The turning point came when Africas new round of urbanization focused on industrial upgrading, experts noted. Economic cooperation between China and African countries outshines others as one of the best performers on the world stage in the last five years, noted Yang Baorong, a researcher of Institute of West-Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Some overseas Chinese entrepreneurs also established kindergartens and schools for African young people. Africas younger generation makes the ancient continents future development more promising. The cooperation between Chinas and Africas younger generation is paving a promising way for future prosperity. China and Africa both stand on the crossroad of development where challenges and opportunities collide. It is time for China and Africa to rethink industrial upgrading and business localization under the trend of globalization. Through overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, China can know better our African friends and market, said Wang Huiyao, chief editor of the report and chairman of CCG. Measures addressing Northern Irelands high suicide rate have been delayed by the impasse at Stormont, a health chief said. The Protect Life 2 draft strategy is designed to stop people from taking their own lives, but there is no health minister to sign it off. When she was health minister in 2016, Sinn Fein leader Michelle ONeill launched a consultation on the proposed action which has not yet been implemented. North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon expressed alarm that a strategy for suicide prevention had not been introduced because there are no ministers in Northern Ireland. House of Commons/PA. That included tackling repeated self-harm which is a major risk factor for suicide; focusing on those who have been bereaved by suicide; and improving the initial response to the care and recovery of people experiencing suicidal behaviour. North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon said: I am really alarmed to know that there is a strategy to deal with suicide in Northern Ireland but that it has not gone ahead because we do not have a minister. A recent court decision means civil servants are limited in the action they can take in the absence of a minister. Lady Hermon added: I would have thought that there could not be anybody who could object to anything to reduce the number of suicides in Northern Ireland. According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, 297 people killed themselves in Northern Ireland in 2016. The year before, the tally was even higher and health experts have blamed the legacy of the Troubles and levels of deprivation. Dr Adrian Mairs, director of public health at the Public Health Agency (PHA), told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs at Westminster that they were taking pioneering steps to tackle the problem. He linked the problem to a higher rate of mental ill-health than elsewhere in the UK, partly due to the Troubles legacy and ongoing violence in some areas, as well as greater levels of deprivation. He said: There is a wide range of reasons why we have a higher suicide rate in Northern Ireland. We do have a policy to reduce that, we have a lot of programmes and policies in place to provide information, education, training and learning to the statutory, voluntary and other sectors to identify suicidal ideation. A register is used to identify those who have self-harmed and may be at greater risk of suicide. The suicide rate is around 16 per 100,000, compared with 345 per 100,000 self-harming. Royal Bank of Scotland has been branded utterly disgusting after announcing plans to swing the axe on another 54 branches, resulting in 258 job losses. The lender, still 62% owned by the taxpayer, said the move was linked to it not having to sell its Williams & Glyn business. As a result, the group has branches in close proximity to each other and is seeking to reduce overlap. An RBS spokesman said: As we are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other in England and Wales NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. As a result we have reviewed our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and have made the difficult decision to close 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches. Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales will be able to use NatWest branches and local post offices for their everyday banking needs. The latest wave of closures comes on top of the closing of 162 branches announced earlier this year, which resulted in 792 job losses. Unions reacted with fury to the news, describing the decision as a hammer blow to the disabled and elderly. Rob MacGregor, of union Unite, said: It is utterly disgusting that Royal Bank of Scotland has the audacity to announce that yet more important local bank branches will permanently close their doors. This announcement heaps further misery on communities across England and Wales that have already seen the demise of local banking services as branches that were signposted by the bank earlier in 2018 as an alternative for customers whose branches were closing, now suffering a similar fate. The disabled, elderly and many local businesses will today be deeply disappointed that their bank has chosen to withdraw from their community and no longer provide them with the access to banking services which we all deserve. Chief executive of RBS Ross McEwan (PA) Last year, RBS avoided the compulsory sale of Williams & Glyn, which had been ordered by regulators as part of the banks obligations under state aid rules following its 45 billion Government bailout at the height of the financial crisis. Instead, RBS will put up money to be shared among so-called challenger banks to help them better compete with bigger players. The closures will come as RBS reintegrates Williams & Glyn, including its branch network, back into the core bank. RBS also pointed out that since 2014, branch transactions across its English and Welsh operations are down 30%, while there has been a 53% increase in the number of customers using mobile banking, and mobile transactions have increased by 74%. We will now focus on investing in our Royal Bank network in England and Wales to make sure customers have a consistent range of products and services wherever they bank, be it Scotland, England or Wales, the lenders spokesman added. One of Japans busiest airports remains closed indefinitely a day after the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in at least 25 years caused at least 11 deaths as it swept across part of the countrys main island. Typhoon Jebi flooded a runway at Kansai airport, toppled huge cranes, flipped cars on their side and damaged historic shrines as it arrived with sustained winds of 100mph. The typhoon cut a path of destruction in and around Osaka and the nearby cities that bore the brunt of the storm. High waves hit breakwaters at the port of Aki (Ichiro Banno/Kyodo News/AP) In Kyoto, the former imperial capital and a popular tourist destination, wooden shrine buildings and entrance gates were knocked down. Trees also fell at a shrine in Nara, another historic city. More than 400,000 households in western and central Japan remain without power, and electric utilities warned it would take time to bring everyone back online. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said at least 11 people had been confirmed dead and 470 people were injured. A tanker slammed into the side of a bridge (Kentaro Ikushima/Mainichi Newspaper/AP) Some 3,000 airline passengers who had to spend the night at the offshore Kansai airport were able to leave on boats and buses under sunny skies. They were stranded after a tanker unmoored by the storms pounding waves and wind slammed into a bridge that is the airports only link to the mainland. Officials could not say when the airport, a gateway for Asian tourists visiting Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, will reopen. The closure of the main airport serving one of Japans major business and commercial areas triggered concern about the possible impact on tourism and the economy. Flooding at the airport had largely subsided on Wednesday but flight operations equipment needed to be assessed for damage, as did the crushed part of the bridge. The airport was built on artificial islands in Osaka Bay. Kansai International Airport was left under water (Kentaro Ikushima/Mainichi Newspaper via AP) Passengers stranded overnight appeared relieved but exhausted after an uneasy night in the dark. Miki Yamada, a 25-year-old office worker planning a trip to Thailand with her friend, told the Kyodo news service she spent the night at an airport cafeteria. It was a rather scary night, as we were so isolated, she said. The Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka was closed for a second day, but said it would reopen on Thursday. Factories in the region, including car maker Daihatsu, electronics giant Panasonic and drinks giant Kirin are expected to resume operations on Wednesday after suspending production during the typhoon. Burned cars in Nishinomiya (Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News/AP) The deaths included a man in his 70s who was blown to the ground from his apartment in Osaka prefecture. Police said at least five others died elsewhere in the prefecture after being hit by flying objects or falling from their apartments. In nearby Shiga prefecture, a 71-year-old man died when a storage building collapsed on him, and a man in his 70s died after falling from a roof in Mie, officials said. In Nishinomiya in Hyogo prefecture, about 100 cars at a seaside dealership burned after their electrical systems were shorted out by sea water, officials said. When passengers disembarked the Aeroflot SU2588 flight from Moscow to London Gatwick on the afternoon of March 2 2018, little did they know they were in the company of two men police believe were sent to the UK to kill. Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov, prime suspects in the Salisbury poisoning (Metropolitan Police/PA) Police have now named Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov as prime suspects in the Salisbury poisonings which led to the death of Dawn Sturgess, and resulted in her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey falling seriously ill. Here is a timeline of the suspects movements, released by Scotland Yard, during their brief trip to the UK: Friday March 2 2018 1500: Suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov arrive at Gatwick Airport, having flown from Moscow on Aeroflot flight SU2588. CCTV image of Alexander Petrov at Gatwick Airport on March 2 (Metropolitan Police/PA) 1740: The pair arrive at London Victoria station by train from Gatwick. 1800: They then travel on public transport to Waterloo station, and then to the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, east London, where they stay for two nights. Saturday March 3 1145: The pair arrive at Waterloo station, having left the hotel, bound for Salisbury. It is believed the two are on a reconnaissance mission. 1425: They arrive in Salisbury by train. 1605: Having spent a short time in the city, Petrov and Boshirov leave Salisbury to begin the return journey. 2005: The pair arrive back in Bow, east London, where they stay at the City Stay Hotel for a second night. Sunday March 4 0805: The day of the Novichok attack. Petrov and Boshirov use the Underground at Bow to travel to Waterloo, and then on by train to Salisbury. CCTV footage showing Russian nationals Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov in Wilton Road, Salisbury, shortly before midday on the day of the attack (Metropolitan Police/PA) 1148: The pair are caught on CCTV leaving Salisbury railway station. 1158: They are then spotted in Wilton Road in Salisbury, a short distance from Christie Miller Road, Mr Skripals address. Police say this is moments before the attack. Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov in Fisherton Road, Salisbury, at 1308 on March 4 (Metropolitan Police/PA) 1305: The suspects are caught on CCTV in Fisherton Street, heading back towards the railway station. 1350: Petrov and Boshirov begin their journey back to London. 1645: The pair arrive back in London at Waterloo station. 1830: They board the Underground heading to Heathrow Airport. The suspects at Heathrow Arport security at 1928 on March 4, bound for Moscow (Metropolitan Police/PA) 1928: CCTV catches the pair going through passport control. 2230: They depart London for Moscow on the Aeroflot flight SU2585. Ministers have pledged they will come up with the solution in due course to the security implications of a no-deal Brexit in Northern Ireland. The comment came in the face of repeated questions from DUP leader Nigel Dodds, who was frustrated at the lack of action following a warning from Northern Irelands top police officer over Brexit planning. Chief Constable George Hamilton said in June that he feels in the dark because of a lack of information, and said he did not know to who he should send a business case asking for additional resources for border duties after Brexit. DUP MP Nigel Dodds (Jonathan Brady/PA) .@NigelDoddsDUP at #NIQs pressing for extra resources given to PSNI to prepare for the UK leaving the European Union. The Chief Constable has been clear that he has not been given a fair allocation. pic.twitter.com/CGO1iGA8B3 DUP (@duponline) September 5, 2018 Mr Dodds, speaking in the Commons, reacted with annoyance when told by Northern Ireland Minister Shailesh Vara that the Government would be issuing guidance in future. He said: With the greatest of respect, were not asking about issuing guidance, were asking about the allocation of resources. So can the minister, and I really want to press him on this since it is a very big issue and its impact in terms of resourcing for policing in Northern Ireland more widely. What is he going to do and the Government, this has been on their table for many months now. Mr Vara responded: I can give an assurance that the Secretary of State actually spoke with the chief constable this morning, were in regular dialogue and were considering the proposals that he has put forward. We are considering the proposals, thats what I can say and we hope to come up with the solution in due course. Later in the question session, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley was asked about what moves had been made to re-establish an executive at Stormont. She said: Im acutely aware of the deep frustration and difficulties faced by the people of Northern Ireland and the urgent need to re-establish a locally elected democratically accountable devolved government. I remain in close contact with the five main political parties and the Irish government where possible. Theresa May has directly challenged Jeremy Corbyn to rule out a second referendum on Britains withdrawal from the EU. But the Labour leader did not respond, instead accusing the Prime Minister of dancing round all the issues as the Brexit plan she drew up at Chequers was ripped up by her own MPs and a no-deal outcome became more likely. The pair clashed at Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons shortly after the UKs Brexit preparations were branded incompetent by former Bank of England governor Mervyn King. In a damning assessment, Lord King told the BBC the Government had been left without a credible bargaining position. He said it beggars belief that Britain, one of the worlds leading economies, had found itself in a situation where the country was being told to take a course of action or face catastrophe. He suggested blame should be shared by the Government, Parliament as a whole and those in Whitehall who were tasked with making key decisions. Lord King said the Government had been left without a credible bargaining position (PA) In the first PMQs since Parliament returned after the summer break, Mr Corbyn seized on the former governors comments as well as warnings about the dangers of a no-deal Brexit from figures including Chancellor Philip Hammond, the TUC and the CBI. A majority of people may have voted to leave, but they expected negotiations to be handled competently and they certainly are not, Mr Corbyn told MPs. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that no deal is better than a bad deal. But no deal is a bad deal, and everybody from the CBI to the TUC to her own Chancellor are telling her the same thing. The Chequers proposal is dead, already ripped apart by her own MPs. When will the Prime Minister publish a real plan that survives contact with her Cabinet and with reality? Those are of course two very separate concepts. Mrs May retorted: What would be bad for this country would be signing up to a deal at any price whatsoever, which is the position of the Labour Party. That would destroy jobs, that would be bad for the British people. Theresa May speaks during Prime Ministers Questions (PA) The Prime Minister twice called on Mr Corbyn to stand up and rule out a second referendum, but he ignored her challenge. Labour has so far declined to take off the table the option of a vote on the final Brexit deal, and Mr Corbyn is coming under intense pressure from Peoples Vote campaigners to commit to a second referendum. The partys Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said in a high-profile speech in London that he was ready to support a second poll as a last resort to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without an agreement. But he said the Governments first option should be to ask the EU to postpone the March 2019 deadline for the UKs departure to allow further negotiations. AB: "The biggest danger facing British Politics right now is to allow this polarised No-Deal-Peoples-Vote dynamic to shape the next six months. Instead, Greater Manchesters interests lie in finding a common-sense Brexit deal." Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (@MayorofGM) September 5, 2018 Mr Burnham accepted the move would be divisive, but said social unrest on the streets of Britain could be a price worth paying to prevent the nightmare scenario of a no-deal Brexit. Research released on Wednesday suggested fewer than one in five voters now expects Britain to get a good deal out of the Brexit talks. The proportion expecting a good deal has fallen from 33% in February 2017 to just 17% in June 2018, while those predicting a bad deal have increased from 37% to 57% over the same period, according to a survey for NatCen Social Research. On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told business leaders she could not fully rule out no deal because we still have no result from the talks. Dominic Raab is facing questions from MPs on the Commons European Scrutiny Committee (Peter Nicholls/PA) Lord King, who has spoken favourably of Brexit in the past, tore into the last-minute preparations for a no-deal Brexit, warning they had left Britain without a credible bargaining position. He made the comments after ministers confirmed efforts were under way to stockpile medicines and ensure an adequate food supply if talks fail. Frankly, if a government cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes, whatever position you take on the EU, it illustrates a whole lack of preparation, Lord King said. It doesnt tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the EU is good or bad, it tells us everything about the incompetence of the preparation for it. Asked if that meant the Government had been incompetent, he said: The group of people tasked with trying to make decisions on all of this is Parliament as a whole, not just the Government, and the civil service, who have brought us to a position where we are now being told that we have to accept a certain course of action otherwise it would be catastrophic. Now, it beggars belief that the sixth biggest economy in the world should get itself into that position. Lord King, who was in charge of the UKs central bank from 2003 until 2013, said credible plans should have been put in place to leave without a deal because Britain cannot impose a deal on the EU. However he warned that such plans cannot be drawn up in six months and would take several years. Lord King said he feared the biggest risk to the UK was that the referendum had failed to resolve the issue of Brexit and it isnt going to go away. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab was facing questions from MPs on the Commons European Scrutiny Committee alongside the PMs Europe adviser, Olly Robbins, on Wednesday afternoon. Two Russian military intelligence officers are accused of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack. Police and prosecutors announced they had enough evidence to charge the men named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov over the poisoning in March. Theresa May told MPs investigations have concluded that the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russias military intelligence service. In a statement that will deepen the diplomatic crisis between the two countries, the Prime Minister said: The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state. Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were left critically ill after being exposed to the military grade nerve agent Novichok. Exactly six months after news of the poisoning broke, two alleged perpetrators were identified in a dramatic joint police and Crown Prosecution Service press conference. Detectives believe it is likely the pair, thought to be aged around 40, travelled under aliases and that Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. Prosecutors will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men, but a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained. (PA Graphics) Detectives believe the front door of Mr Skripals Salisbury home was contaminated with Novichok on Sunday March 4. Police said CCTV shows the two suspects in the vicinity of the property on that date. Hours later, the men left the UK on a flight from Heathrow to Moscow two days after they had arrived at Gatwick. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: We have no evidence that they re-entered the UK after that date. He also confirmed that officers have now linked the attack on the Skripals to events in Amesbury four months later. Security and barriers outside Zizzi restaurant, Salisbury, which is the only public place still cordoned off in the town (Ben Birchall/PA) In the second incident, Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 48, were exposed to the same nerve agent used in Salisbury. Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, just over a week after the pair fell ill. Mr Basu said: We do not believe Dawn and Charlie were deliberately targeted, but became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of. We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders. The charges announced on Wednesday relate to the first incident, but Mr Basu said officers continue to liaise with the CPS regarding the poisoning of Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess. Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to nerve agent Novichok (Met Police/PA) Police also released an image of a counterfeit perfume bottle after tests found it contained a significant amount of Novichok. Mr Rowley told officers he found a box he thought contained perfume in a charity bin on June 27. Three days later he got some of the contents on himself, while Ms Sturgess applied some of the substance to her wrists. Mr Basu said the manner in which the bottle and packaging was adapted makes it a perfect cover for smuggling the weapon into the country. The counterfeit perfume box found by Charlie Rowley on June 27 (Met Police/PA) But he added: We dont yet know where the suspects disposed of the Novichok they used to attack the door, where Dawn and Charlie got the bottle that poisoned them, or if it is the same bottle used in both poisonings. Providing an in-depth update on an investigation he described as one of the most complex and intensive ever undertaken by counter-terror policing, Mr Basu also: Appealed for anyone who knows the two suspects or saw them while they were in the UK between Friday March 2 and Sunday March 4 to contact authorities; Published a detailed account of the movements of the two men over the three days, which included spending two nights at a hotel in east London and making a suspected reconnaissance trip to Salisbury the day before the Skripals were poisoned; Revealed tests carried out on the hotel room in Bow where the suspects had stayed showed contamination of Novichok but at levels below that which would cause public health concern; Said that despite meticulous and painstaking searches, although unlikely, it is impossible to guarantee there are no other materials linked to the incidents in Salisbury. CPS director of legal services Sue Hemming said prosecutors in the services counter-terrorism division considered the evidence and concluded there was sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Petrov and Boshirov with: conspiracy to murder Mr Skripal; attempted murder of Mr Skripal, Ms Skripal and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey; use and possession of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act; and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Skripal and Mr Bailey. Ms Hemming said: We will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of these men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals. Russia has made this clear following requests for extradition in other cases. Should this position change then an extradition request would be made. We have, however, obtained a European Arrest Warrant which means that if either man travels to a country where an EAW is valid, they will be arrested and face extradition on these charges for which there is no statute of limitations. The case has echoes of the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. In that case, two men were identified as suspects but Russia refused to hand them over. Yulia Skripal (Dylan Martinez/PA) Mr Skripal, 67, and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4. They spent weeks critically ill in hospital but have since been discharged. Mr Bailey, who was involved in searching Mr Skripals home after the attack, was left seriously unwell. The officer continues to make good progress but remains off work, police said. The events sparked a huge public health alert and plunged the UK Governments relations with the Kremlin into crisis. Moscow has repeatedly denied claims that Russia was behind the attempted assassination in March. A senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said he does not know the people named as suspects by the UK security services. President Putins foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow that the names of the two Russian men suspected in the poisoning do not mean anything to me. Mr Ushakov pointed to the fact that British authorities mentioned that they think the mens names are aliases, and wondered why this has been done and what kind of a message Britain is trying to send to the Russian government. Education Secretary John Swinney has insisted he will retain the option of bringing forward legislation to reform Scotlands schools despite a warning from international experts that better results could be achieved without changing the law. The Deputy First Minister said he had received cautionary advice from the Scottish Governments International Council of Education Advisers on the matter. Teachers leaders and local government body Cosla both made clear they did not want SNP ministers to introduce legislation. Education Secretary John Swinney said legislating for school reforms was `still an option (David Cheskin/PA) However, Mr Swinney resisted calls to completely ditch the Education (Scotland) Bill which was dramatically shelved at the end of June saying legislating to introduce the reforms was still an option I can bring forward if necessary. Just before Holyrood finished for its summer recess, the Education Secretary announced the Bill was being put on hold, claiming changes he wanted to make could be achieved quicker without pushing through new laws. He insisted at the time that he would bring back the legislation if sufficient progress is not made by June 2019. However, Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott claimed teachers saw that as the threat of another law being imposed on top of them. Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said it would be useful if the big stick of legislation could be withdrawn. The union leader said he had a concern about how much progress could be made in a year, saying: Frankly, if were talking about changing the culture, the idea that were going to do that in a year is fanciful. Changing the culture of Scottish education is a decades-long agenda, significant progress for me is were all still sitting round the same table in a years time because we are at least then collaborating on the agreed agenda. .@tavishscott asks @JohnSwinney about advice given to parents on participation of children in Scottish National Standardised Assessments. We expect a further statement to Parliament later today. Education, Children and Young People Committee (@SP_ECYP) September 5, 2018 We need to get rid of the idea that there are threats sitting behind the offer of friendship around collaboration. The union leader continued: I think it would be good if we had an early signal that the collaborative approach is working and that the legislation isnt going to be required, because I think the idea that there is a big stick waiting there is not conducive to the idea of collaborative practice. The big stick removal would be useful. Stephen McCabe, Cosla spokesman for children and young people, said councils would prefer the Bill to ditched completely. He said: Were happy that it hasnt been introduced, were not so happy that it is sitting there on the shelf. When asked by Mr Scott if dropping the Bill would be a good idea, Mr Swinney said: No, I think it is there as an option I can bring forward if necessary. It remains for me an option I can bring forward if sufficient progress is not made. .@MspLiz asks what changed @JohnSwinney s mind about the need for a bill. Education, Children and Young People Committee (@SP_ECYP) September 5, 2018 He told MSPs on Holyroods Education Committee why the Bill had been put on hold, saying while there was very broad support for giving schools across Scotland more power, there was substantial disagreement about the detail of all of that. With a deal struck between ministers and councils on the issue, Mr Swinney stated: I wanted to make sure I built on the agreement that was emerging about school empowerment and essentially captured that opportunity to take forward the reform agenda. I was also influenced by the commentary of the International Council of Education Advisers who essentially believe the Scottish Governments education agenda is soundly focused and anchored, but they gave me some cautionary advice that pursuing a legislative approach to the reforms I was trying to take forward might not create as good an outcome as if I took forward a collaborative approach. The concept of empowering schools is not just created by legislation, it needs to be a change of culture within our education system, and legislation doesnt always routinely deliver a change in culture. Recently discovered household waste thrown away by families thousands of years ago will provide valuable clues for archaeologists uncovering the secrets of Devons Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval history. The rubbish, found by experts working on a major archaeological dig in the county, will allow them to reconstruct farming methods thousands of years ago and learn more about what people ate. Members of the community and experts from the University of Exeter are once again investigating fields near Ipplepen, in south Devon. The archaeological dig in fields near Ipplepen (University of Exeter/PA) The excavations have shown features such as ditches and wells were back filled with domestic rubbish including broken pots, butchered animal bones, metal studs from old shoes, and even a dead badger. The remains of Amphora, large pottery storage vessels used to transport and store wine and olive oil from the Mediterranean, have also been found. This suggests the community in the area enjoyed foreign food and drink. The settlement was occupied from the Middle and Late Iron Age from about 400 BC to AD43 throughout the Roman period and into the early medieval period. It was home to a farming community and, in the Roman period, a road was constructed through the settlement that linked it with Exeter. Professor Stephen Rippon, who is leading the archaeological work, said: We can use these animal bones to reconstruct past patterns of farming. If animals such as the sheep were killed at a young age then they were being kept for their meat lamb, whereas if they were kept into old age then they were being kept for their wool and even their milk. Some of the bones that have been found have cut marks from when they were butchered. Looking for weekend plans? Why not visit the @UniExeter's @IpplepenDig open day, for artefacts, displays and re-enactments (refreshments available)? Drop by the CA stand to meet Zoe and Emily, and learn how to make Roman coins and split-pin #Roman soldiers! #Devon #Ipplepen pic.twitter.com/IYV5Or4bzN Cotswold Archaeology (@CotswoldArch) September 4, 2018 University of Exeter archaeologists have been excavating different parts of the site during the past seven years with the help of the local community. In previous years, excavations have uncovered Iron Age roundhouses, a Romano-British settlement and associated field system, Roman road, and an early medieval cemetery. This year the team are exploring the southern part of the site where traces of a settlement have been found that was occupied during the final years of Britain being part of the Roman Empire. Guests at a hotel visited by two men suspected of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack have been urged by health officials to come forward. The chief medical officer for England said anyone who stayed at the CityStay Hotel in Bow, east London, between Sunday March 4 and Friday May 4 should contact the investigation team. One of the remaining issues of concern for authorities is identifying and reassuring those guests that stayed in the CityStay hotel in the period between the suspects leaving the hotel and the police identifying, controlling and testing this location, Dame Sally Davies said. Dame Sally Davies (Kirsty OConnor/PA) This room was only allowed back into use after experts deemed it to be safe, she added. Members of the public should also avoid picking up any objects they do not recognise, as per previous Public Health England advice, while experts focus on finding and making safe any remaining materials that may have been discarded by these suspects especially in the Salisbury area. Dame Sally said she is confident that members of the public who travelled alongside the suspects between March 2 and March 4, or after, are not at risk. This includes those who travelled on public transport systems in London, train services and stations, airports, and those who were on the same Aeroflot flights. The risk to the public remains low provided that our advice not to pick up unknown objects is followed, she said. Everyone can be confident that our public transport systems in London and the South are safe, and also we can be confident that Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport and the rail services linking them to London are safe. Anyone who stayed at the CityStay hotel during the relevant period is asked to call the investigation team on 0800 789 32 or email salisbury2018@met.police.uk The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation contained a lot of ingredients that spoke of the hope and mutual benefit between China and Africa, said director of Amble Travel and Tours, Gao Lemmenyane, during the Summit which took place on Sept. 3 and 4, 2018. Gao Lemmenyane, who runs a tour company in Botswana, said, As a country, Botswana is quite excited about what has come out of the interactions over the last couple of days, and we are really looking forward to now implementing the agreements that were signed in this period, adding, as an individual, Im hoping that my business will derive benefits from this. He went on to say that Botswana is a beautiful country, with sights such as the Okavango Delta and the Chobe River. He encourages Chinese people to visit the country to see a wonderful diversity of animals in their natural environment rather than in the zoo and learn more about the countrys rich cultural heritage. He notes that coming to Botswana will allow visitors to get a taste of African hospitality and learn from the African people. Lemmenyane added that currently, most of the tourists visiting Botswana are from Europe and America, but he hopes that through a forum like this, more people from China will learn about Botswana and make the trip to appreciate the countrys beauty, and the peace and serenity that exists in Africa. The human cost of Stormonts political impasse on victims of historical institutional abuse is becoming increasingly severe, Northern Irelands senior judge has said. Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan again expressed intense frustration at the decision-making paralysis. He acknowledged difficulties facing politicians in a divided society but said handling difficult and challenging disputes was a feature of life for judges. Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan has again expressed intense frustration at the Stormont stalemate. Paul Faith/PA. If, however, resolution is not possible there must be a fallback position, a decision-maker. The provision of political direction to the machinery of government is a requirement of a functioning democracy. It is not an optional extra. He said implementation of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry recommendations was urgent. On its publication in January 2017, almost 20 months ago, over a third of those who had engaged with the inquiry were aged over 65, several had died and others were in very poor health. Groups speaking on behalf of many of those who were in residential homes have made repeated pleas to have the recommendations acted on. Sir Declan said: Those pleas have been supported by all of the main political parties in Northern Ireland yet today those recommendations have still not been implemented and the human cost on those affected is increasingly severe. Stormont has not sat for more than a year and a half in a row between former coalition partners the DUP and Sinn Fein over identity issues like the Irish language. The senior judge said there should be a process to address the problems facing powersharing. I shudder to think what message it sends to the thousands of young people leaving our shores for university or work, people that we should be trying to attract back to populate our legal and other services. His funding proposals to deal with inquests into some of the most controversial killings of the Troubles have met with political disagreement. Sir Declan opened the new legal year at the law courts in Belfast and recalled his comments at the same event a year earlier in which he said the political impasse had stalled the reform agenda of the justice system. On Wednesday he said: Implicit in those remarks was an expectation that those responsible for giving political direction to the machinery of government would have devised a method of ensuring that those of us engaged in the provision of public services could continue to enhance and improve the quality of what we do. The Lord Chief Justice acknowledged the respect and sympathy he held for politicians seeking to deal with the evident divisions within the community. Equally I acknowledge the difficulty for civil servants responsible for day-to-day business and the restrictions on what they can achieve within the current legal framework. But handling difficult and challenging disputes is a feature of what we do as judges. The Governments consultation on addressing the legacy of past violence in Northern Ireland has been extended by three weeks. Those responding said they needed more time, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said. The deadline has been shifted from September 10 to October 5. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley has extended her legacy consultation by three weeks (Kirsty OConnor/PA) The deadline to have your say on proposals to address the legacy of #NorthernIrelands past has been extended to Friday 5 October. https://t.co/sc5dDK2w8p#LegacyConsultation pic.twitter.com/LyOcbjEy1G Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) September 5, 2018 Ms Bradley said: The legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland is an enormously sensitive and emotive issue, and I want to make sure everyones voice is heard as we move forward. I have listened to those who want to take a little bit more time to consider their responses particularly those individuals who have been most affected by the Troubles, including victims and survivors and former police officers and veterans and I am happy to extend the deadline so that they can have their say. The UK Government launched the consultation, Addressing the Legacy of Northern Irelands Past, on May 11 to find the best way to meet the needs of victims and survivors and to help people address the impact of the Troubles. It touched on areas like recovering more information, seeking justice and acknowledgement and helping Northern Ireland move towards long-term peace and stability. The inquiry into the sacking of senior politician Carl Sargeant has been suspended ahead of a legal challenge by his family. The Welsh Government ministers widow lodged an appeal at the High Court in London last month seeking to challenge how the inquiry will proceed. The QC leading the inquiry, Paul Bowen, has halted proceedings pending the result of the judicial review. Bernie Sargeant and son Jack at the former Welsh Government ministers funeral (Peter Byrne/PA) Bernie Sargeant has spoken publicly of her concerns that the investigation could become a cover-up. Mr Sargeants family are unhappy their lawyers would be barred from questioning witnesses, and oral evidence would not be heard in public. They are also challenging rules which would allow the independent investigator to bar the family from hearings. Mr Sargeant was found hanged at his home last November, days after he was sacked from his Welsh Government role and suspended from the Labour Party over allegations about his personal conduct. Carwyn Jones (Kirsty OConnor/PA) First Minister Carwyn Jones announced an independent inquiry into how he handled his former ministers sacking. Charlotte Haworth Hird, solicitor to the investigation, said in a statement: Given that the lawfulness of the operational protocol will now be considered by the High Court, Mr Bowen QC has taken the decision to suspend the investigation pending the final determination of the judicial review proceedings. It would not be appropriate to take any further steps in the investigation, including obtaining evidence, in circumstances where, if the judicial review is successful, the operational protocol could be quashed and the procedure of the investigation and powers of the investigator may change. A spokesman for the First Minister said: The Permanent Secretary has agreed to a request from the IQCI for a change to the timetable for completion of its report. Whilst we understand the reasons for this announcement, the delay is deeply frustrating. There is a case for substantial change to the devolution settlement, the Constitutional Relations Secretary has told MSPs. Mike Russell said the weight of Brexit had proven too much for the existing arrangements to bear as he appeared before the Finance and Constitution Committee to discuss trade after the UK leaves the European Union (EU). Scottish ministers sought urgent discussions with the UK Government on the devolution system after the EU Withdrawal Bill was passed despite the Scottish Parliament voting to withhold consent. The Constitutional Relations Secretary says changes to the devolution settlement are needed (Scottish Parliament/PA) Mr Russell confirmed the Scottish Government will not bring forward a consent vote for the Trade Bill aimed at ensuring the UK can continue its existing trade policy as far as possible immediately after leaving the EU or any other Brexit legislation until the issue is resolved. I think everybody would accept that the weight of Brexit is too great for the current devolved settlement to bear. Thats obvious, Mr Russell said. The system has not worked, and therefore there needs to be changes to the system. We think there is a case to be made for substantial change. Scottish ministers are pressing for changes to the Trade Bill which they argue are needed to address concerns over where powers in devolved areas will lie and the set-up of the Trade Remedies Body, which will affect Scottish consumers and businesses. They have also called for a role for the Scottish Government in the development of future trade deals. Mr Russell said the current level of engagement between the Scottish and UK governments should be improved. I am pretty critical presently of the nature of that engagement, he said. Where I see essentially a tick-box exercise going on, I have an obligation to say there is a tick-box exercise going on. Earlier, UK Trade Policy Minister George Hollingbery told MSPs that while trade is a reserved matter, the views of the devolved governments would be taken seriously. There is extensive discussion at official level about the UKs trade policy as it emerges and as it evolves with the devolved authorities, he said. We absolutely take those discussions very seriously and the points that are made will be incorporated as appropriate into the policies that we bring forward. He added: I absolutely confirm to you that it is the departments clear intent and desire to take the concerns of the Scottish Government and the other devolved authorities extremely seriously. Mr Hollingbery was also optimistic about reaching agreement over the Trade Bill. We are absolutely committed to carrying on talking and working with colleagues in the Scottish Parliament and officials to try and find our way through this, he said. When I say Im confident, I believe there is plenty to talk about still and that we will achieve success. Residential establishments run by three male religious orders will be examined by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in a phase of public hearings announced to begin in summer next year. Institutions run by the Order of Benedictines, the Marist Brothers and the Christian Brothers orders within the Catholic Church are to be scrutinised in what will be the fourth phase of hearings at the probe. Five institutions in East Lothian, the Highlands, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Fife will be under the spotlight when the hearings get under way in the middle part of 2019, the inquiry team has revealed. Chair Lady Smith has revealed further information on future hearings (Nick Mailer/PA) Those establishments are Carlekemp in North Berwick and the Fort Augustus Abbey School in Inverness-shire, run by the Order of Benedictines; the Marist Brothers St Josephs College in Dumfries and St Columbas College in Largs; and St Ninians in Falkland, run by the Christian Brothers. Inquiry chair Lady Smith has urged anyone with any relevant information about the orders and schools to contact the probe. The inquiry is tasked with examining historical allegations of the abuse of children in care. It began taking statements from witnesses in the spring of 2016 and commenced public hearings in May last year. It has already heard evidence on institutions run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul and the Sisters of Nazareth during earlier public hearings. Phase three of the hearings will begin in October this year with an investigation of residential childcare establishments run by large-scale care providers Quarriers, Aberlour and Barnardos, the inquiry team said. Announcing the 2019 phase, chair Lady Smith said: Please would anyone who has any relevant information about any of these orders and schools contact the inquiry. It does not matter whether you have already made a report to the police or to anyone else, and it does not matter whether or not you have been involved in any other investigation. You can still talk to us and we want to hear from you. I am well aware that it can be difficult and very emotional to talk about experiences in care and I want to take this opportunity to give an assurance that we have a dedicated witness support team here who will help and support anyone providing evidence to us. She also said that investigations into establishments run by male religious orders, and other preparatory work, are well under way. We have been pleased with the response to date, she said. A later stage of the inquiry will examine the provision of care by the De La Salle Brothers, who ran a number of institutions in Scotland. The inquiry can be contacted on 0800 0929 300 or emailed at talktous@childabuseinquiry.scot People can also write to the Inquiry by post at SCAI, PO Box 24085, Edinburgh EH7 9EA. Bosses at a London hospital say they have asked external regulators to oversee work being done to deal with long-standing issues relating to its cardiac surgical service. St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust bosses say they want oversight from outside. The trust has recently hit the headlines after becoming embroiled in litigation with one of its heart surgeons. St Georges Hospital in Tooting (John Stillwell/PA) Bosses excluded Professor Marjan Jahangiri from St Georges Hospital in Tooting pending a disciplinary investigation after a bullying allegation. A High Court judge, in late August, described the move as irrational. Mr Justice Nicklin, who analysed issues at a High Court hearing in London, said Professor Jahangiri should be allowed to return. Professor Jahangiri has complained of a breach of contract, the litigation is continuing. The judge was told that bosses were concerned about the working relationship between the six heart surgeons in the unit, and about an allegedly dysfunctional environment. Trust chief executive Jacqueline Totterdell says bosses are already taking action to address the issues within the cardiac surgical service. She says she wants an independent panel of regulators to provide external oversight and help resolve issues. Ministers have faced calls to show compassion and change the law on bereavement benefits after a Supreme Court victory for an unmarried mother. Siobhan McLaughlin, 46, was refused the benefit after her partner of 23 years John Adams died from cancer in January 2014 because the couple, who had four children, were not married or in a civil partnership. But, by a majority of four justices to one, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the current law on the allowance is incompatible with Human Rights legislation. Tory grandee Sir Mike Penning, speaking in the Commons, urged ministers to step in and change the law. The former work and pensions minister said: I say to the minister that I am no fan of the European courts and I am extremely pro-marriage, but we have to live in the modern world that we live in now. When hes looking at how the Government responds to this court ruling can we look at something called fairness and natural justice? Many, many people would have been able to go to work because their partner stayed at home with the children and then theyve lost their loved one, but theyre not married. We need to show compassion at the same time as understanding the benefit system. Stella Creasy : UK Parliament official portrait 2017. Later in the question session Labour MP Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) urged ministers to follow Germanys example. She said: Will he learn from Germany where the money follows the child through orphan pensions and marriage isnt the requirement but parenting is? Work and Pensions Minister Justin Tomlinson responded to MPs concerns saying that the Government was in the very earliest stages of considering the ruling. He added: Officials at the department are closely working with their counterparts in Northern Ireland to examine the judgment and what our next steps should be. However, as the House will be aware, only Parliament is able to change primary legislation and Lady Hale ruled that a declaration of incompatibility does not change the law: it is then for the relevant legislature to decide whether or how it should be changed. Therefore the courts ruling does not change the current eligibility rules for receiving bereavement benefits. Shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood responded: Unmarried bereaved parents should not be subject to discrimination because of their marital status, putting it simply: their childrens needs are the same. She added: The purpose of financial support by the state for bereaved families is to try to ensure that as far as possible families struggling with the grief at the loss of a parent or partner should not have to face the additional worry of how they will manage financially. That should surely apply to families regardless of whether the parents were married or not, as the Supreme Court said last week. Part of Belfast city centre could be cordoned off for at least four months following the Primark shop fire, the citys Lord Mayor said. Fourteen businesses are unable to trade as they are within a safety exclusion zone established amid fears the blackened structure could collapse. There will be no through access for pedestrians down the main shopping street, Royal Avenue, and signs will be erected, Belfast City Council added. Last week, flames and thick black smoke engulfed the five-storey historic Bank Buildings which housed Primark. Businesses remaining within the Primark safety exclusion zone have been advised that the current cordon is likely to be in place for a minimum of four months. Belfast City Council #OneWeeThing (@belfastcc) September 5, 2018 More than 100 firefighters battled the major blaze for more than three days as it ripped through the building on Castle Street. Lord Mayor Deirdre Hargey said engineers would assess the site and consider bracing the badly damaged shell, then determine if its facade can be saved. She added: While it is imperative that the safety cordon remains, we recognise it is having a serious impact not just on the traders within the cordon, but for those in the immediate area who are suffering due to a reduction in footfall. The area within the cordon will be inaccessible until next year, meaning it will be out of bounds throughout the busy pre-Christmas shopping season when many businesses earn enough to sustain them through leaner times. Deirdre Hargey at the scene (Liam McBurney/PA) The council will be implementing measures to help struggling firms. The mayor added: As well as erecting signage to encourage and direct footfall, council along with other agencies and government departments are working together to find alternative premises for businesses and arranging initiatives for affected traders to provide advice in respect of rates and employability. Belfast City Council and its partners are also planning a campaign aimed at sustaining visitors to the city and supporting retailers over the next four months. Primark customers and staff were evacuated from the building last week after smoke could be seen billowing from the roof. Flames reaching at least 50ft were visible across Belfasts skyline. A safety cordon around the former Primark store in Belfast will be maintained for four months (Liam McBurney/PA) 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. The building has survived bombs and fires throughout its long history in the city. It was undergoing a 30 million refurbishment and there was a recent recruitment announcement that the company was seeking to hire 100 additional staff. A senior fire officer described it as one of the biggest blazes they had battled in a number of years, but no-one was injured. A plane has been quarantined amid reports a number of passengers have become ill aboard a flight from Dubai that arrived at New Yorks Kennedy Airport. The Emirates flight landed at JFK at about 9.10am (2.10pm BST). The airline said about 10 passengers were sick and were getting medical attention as a precaution. The Emirates flight landed at JFK (Steve Parsons/PA) Nobody is off the plane yet. Sick passengers are being triaged on plane. 521 aboard. https://t.co/kx00DbNENA eric phillips (@EricFPhillips) September 5, 2018 Video footage shot by news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by emergency vehicles and ground control personnel. A spokesman for New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said representatives of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are on the scene. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for the mayor, tweeted that the flight stopped in Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak, and early indications point to that as a possibility. A New York Police counter-terrorism division tweeted that it is monitoring what appeared to be a medical situation. Facebook and Twitter executives have said they are aggressively trying to root out foreign interests seeking to sow divisions in American democracy as the November elections draw near. Facebooks chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified before the US senate intelligence committee. There was an empty chair in place for Googles parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg (AP) Ms Sandberg told senators that Facebook was more determined than adversaries trying to meddling in the upcoming elections, and she called the fight an arms race, echoing previous comments by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Mr Dorsey will appear later before a House committee amid complaints from Republicans that social media companies have shown evidence of bias against conservatives. In testimony released before that hearing, Mr Dorsey denied that Twitter uses political ideology to make decisions. US congress has criticised the companies over the past year as Russias interference in the 2016 elections and beyond became clear. Today were committing to the people, and this committee, to do that work, and do it openly. Were here to contribute to a healthy public square, not compete to have the only one. We know thats the only way our business thrives, and helps us all defend against these new threats. jack (@jack) September 5, 2018 That scrutiny has led to additional criticism over the companies respect for user privacy, and whether conservatives are being censored. Virginia senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the senate committee, said: The companies have made progress, the government has made progress, but the bad guys have made progress as well. Mr Warner has proposed ways that the companies could be regulated for the first time. A later hearing before the house energy and commerce committee will focus on bias and Twitters algorithms. An empty chair reserved for Googles parent Alphabet (AP) Some Republicans, including US president Donald Trump, have pushed the idea that Twitter is shadow banning some in the party because of the ways search results have appeared. Twitter denies that this takes place. The committee invited Larry Page, the CEO of Googles parent company, Alphabet, but the company said it would send a lower-ranking executive instead. The committee rejected that offer. The committee chairman, Richard Burr, said Google does not understand the problem if it does not want to work with the US government to find solutions. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (AP) The spat with Google is the latest in a years worth of attempts by congress to force the companies to focus more sharply on the Russian interference issue. While Mr Burr said he believes Facebook and Twitter do understand the problem, it took both companies several months last year to acknowledge they had been manipulated. The companies have made many policy changes, and have caught and banned malicious accounts over the past year. However, their business models free services that rely on attracting as many users as possible for as long as possible and finding out as much about them as possible remain the same. Ms Sandberg, in her prepared remarks, detailed how Facebook was addressing the problem but reiterated that the company was slow to spot it. The social media chiefs prepare to testify (AP) Thirteen Russians were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller this year on charges of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 US presidential election by creating fake accounts that pushed divisive issues on social media. Mr Dorsey said Twitter has continued to identify accounts that may be linked to the same Russian internet agency as identified in Mr Muellers indictment. He said Twitter has so far suspended 3,843 accounts the company believes are linked to the agency, and has seen recent activity. On bias, the Twitter CEO said in prepared testimony before his second hearing that Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules. Only Mr Dorsey was invited to the House hearing after specific Republican concerns about bias on Twitter. While all three tech companies have been accused of political bias against conservatives, the more public-facing nature of Twitter has made it an especially easy target. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 26, 2015. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng) Serving as a pivotal country along the Belt and Road, the Netherlands is willing to strengthen its long-standing ties with China, as well as promote further commercial cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Dutch politicians and business leaders during an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, held in Beijing on Sept. 5, 2018. The ties between both countries are already strong. Commercially, the Netherlands is the third trade partner of China within the EU, while cultural exchanges, people contact and educational cooperation between our two countries are also flourishing, Bas Pulles, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China, told Peoples Daily Online. Regarding the Netherlands as an important partner within the EU, China established a comprehensive partnership with the Netherlands in 2014, with a focus on open and pragmatic cooperation. Supported by Chinese policy and the excellent climate for Chinese investments in the Netherlands, we were able to ride the wave of fast-growing outward investments from China in recent years, added Pulles. According to statistics, the Netherlands is now a major distribution and R&D headquarter for Chinese companies in Europe, with the latter setting up nearly 90 European distribution centers and more than 50 R&D centers in the Netherlands. To date, Chinese companies have established more than 680 direct investment enterprises in the Netherlands, creating over 15,000 local jobs, said Roland Brouwer, Executive Director of Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency in China. Experts believe that the Netherlands, which is the sixth-largest economy in the European Union in terms of GDP and a great access point for China to enter the European market, will see further business cooperation with China under the framework of the BRI. During his state visit to China in April, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reiterated his countrys interests in the BRI, noting that the initiative has presented many opportunities for Dutch companies, with 236 individuals and 165 companies and institutions joining his delegation to make new contacts and show where the Netherlands excels to their Chinese counterparts. We are expecting a high-level Chinese visit to the Netherlands in the coming months, said Pulles, who expected that China and the Netherlands will further promote their business ties. Education Secretary John Swinney has apologised to parliament for a misleading letter on controversial primary school tests sent by a senior civil servant. Mr Swinney said that while he did not personally sign off on the missive from Graeme Logan, a deputy director at the Scottish Government, he took full responsibility for it. Mr Swinney told MSPs at Holyrood he remained committed to the Scottish national standardised assessments at all levels despite cross-party opposition and calls to cut his losses on the issue. John Swinney has apologised for a `misleading letter on P1 testing (Russell Cheyne/PA) Welcome apology from John Swinney that last weeks letter from the Scottish Government about PI tests contained misleading information. Liz Smith (@mspliz) September 5, 2018 Ministers had been pressed to clarify whether parents had the right to pull their child out of the tests after concerns about the P1 assessments. The letter from Mr Logan to councils last week said children could only be withdrawn in exceptional circumstances and stated that advice had been taken from the Society of Local Authority Lawyers in Scotland (Solar) which was later disputed by the organisation. Conservative MSP Liz Smith asked whether Mr Swinney had personally signed off the letter, which she said had contained misleading information. He responded: I did not sign off the letter that was issued by the deputy director to directors of education but I take full responsibility for it because Im a minister in the Scottish Government and its right that I take full responsibility for it. We did not seek legal advice from Solar. We discussed the legal position that we hold to, which has been consistent throughout all of the governments communication on this matter, we discussed that with representatives of the Solar organisation but an error was made in our handling of this in that we expressed a view which we believed to have been expressed by Solar, but which in fact Solar does not express such opinions. I can only apologise to Parliament for the events that took place in that respect, but I take responsibility for it because I should take responsibility for it. It's time for the SNP to listen to teachers, parents and pupils. End the testing of Primary 1 children now. pic.twitter.com/g6fxwzW0KT Scottish Labour (@ScottishLabour) September 5, 2018 He stressed that the substance of the letter was consistent with the Scottish Governments position that while there is no statutory right for parents to withdraw their child from any aspect of schooling other than some parts of religious education, they could discuss the matter with the school. Mr Swinney, who has already announced changes to the P1 tests in response to concerns, said he remained committed to them as they provided valuable information for teachers. I want that information to be available so that at the earliest opportunity we can act to close the attainment gap, he said. Green MSP Ross Greer urged Mr Swinney to cut his losses. In the case of P1 tests its quite clear that a majority of this parliament want to see them go and sooner or later that is what were going to vote for, he said. Labours Iain Gray said: Faced with the evidence of stress on four and five-year-olds caused by these tests, testimony from teachers that they are time-consuming and of little educational worth, and a campaign by parents to boycott them, he is carrying on regardless. In P1, at least, they should be suspended. I believe thats the view of this parliament and I hope we will have the chance to demonstrate that as soon as possible. Lib Dem Tavish Scott urged Mr Swinney to reflect on the fact that he hasnt carried the case in terms of four and five-year-old girls and boys. Irans rial has fallen to a record low as worried residents of Tehran queued up outside beleaguered money changers. The currency has seen a staggering 140% drop in value since America pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal only four months ago. Those who went to work at the start of the Iranian week on Saturday saw their money shed a quarter of its value by the time they left the office on Wednesday. Signs of the currency chaos can be seen everywhere in Tehran, where travel agents offer holiday prices only in hard currency and nappies have disappeared from store shelves something acknowledged by the supreme leader. Many exchange shops in Tehran simply turned off their electronic signs showing the current rate for the US dollar, while some Iranians who want hard currency sought out informal money traders on street corners. Exchange shops that remained open offered 150,000 rials to the US dollar. Irans economy has faced troubled times in the past, whether from the shah overspending on military arms in the 1970s or the Western sanctions following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and US embassy takeover. Drastic fluctuations in oil prices have also taken a toll. This time, however, the currency has crashed along with hope many felt following the 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers, including the administration of then-US president Barack Obama. Iran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. The West had feared Iran would use its nuclear material to build atomic bombs, while Tehran has always insisted its activities are purely peaceful. In May, despite the United Nations repeatedly acknowledging Iran had lived up to the terms of the deal, US president Donald Trump withdrew America from the accord. Shortages of essential goods have been acknowledged by Iranian leaders (AP) He said he wanted stricter conditions placed on Iran that included limiting its ballistic missile programme, curtailing its regional influence and forever limiting its nuclear activities. While European nations say they want the deal to continue, Americas enormous influence in global financial markets led oil companies and aeroplane manufacturers to quickly withdraw from working in the country. Harsher sanctions loom in early November, including those targeting Irans oil industry, a key source of hard currency. The Trump administration denies it is seeking to overthrow Irans government through economic pressure, but Iranian officials say the link is clear. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans supreme leader, called the US moves economic sabotage this past weekend, and specifically mentioned the nappy shortage. Some 70% of material for disposal diapers is imported. As the rial falls, it makes purchasing the material from abroad more expensive. Imagine that in Tehran or other major cities, baby diapers suddenly become scarce. This is happening, this is real, this is not make-believe, Khamenei said, according to a transcript on his official website. In making a direct reference to nappies, he said: This makes people angry. On the other side, the enemy wants people to be angry with the government and system. This is one of their ways. The detective who led the latest investigation into the Kingsmill massacre says he feels remorse he could not get justice for the bereaved families, an inquest has heard. Ten workmen were murdered in the mass shooting in south Armagh on January 5, 1976. The atrocity has been attributed to the Provisional IRA. No one has ever been convicted over the murders. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison told an inquest sitting in Belfast it was a horrendous situation for the bereaved families. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison was tasked with leading a fresh investigation in 2016 (PA) I sit here with remorse today that my investigation has not given the families the justice they deserve, he said. If I could change the situation I would. Mr Harrison was tasked with leading a fresh investigation into the atrocity in 2016 after a palm print, found in a van police believe was used by the murderers, was successfully matched. The palm print was collected in 1976 with attempts made to match it using police database systems in 2010 and 2014, but these were unsuccessful. Earlier during the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Harrison put this down to system and human error. Following the prints eventual successful matching, a 59-year-old man was arrested by police in Newry, Co Down. He was questioned and a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service. In February 2017, the PPS announced it would not be pursuing a case against the man due to insufficient evidence. Mr Harrison read a section of the report he submitted to the PPS to the inquest. Posters of the ten protestant workmen killed in the massacre on display at the Family Research and Policy Unit offices in Markethill, Co Armagh (PA) It revealed some difficulty proving whether the van had been used by the gunmen, due to a lack of witnesses and a lack of firearms residue inside the van, which was likely to have transported 11 heavily armed men thought to have fired more than 100 rounds at the scene. Mr Harrison said he believes it is more likely than not the van was the one used by the terrorists, but there are no witness accounts that can place it at the scene. There is also a lack of certainty over how the palm print came to be in the van. Mr Harrison added: We were not able to discount that the palm print had been placed there innocently. The man who was arrested, referred to in court as S54, was asked to account for how his palm print was found in the van. He made no comment during police interviews. The inquest also heard the suspect was described in police intelligence report as dangerous. An old school, very dangerous terrorist who would be familiar with police procedures. He should be treated with caution, the inquest heard. Alan Black, the sole survivor of the 1976 attack (PA) Alan Black, who suffered 18 gunshot wounds and was the sole survivor of the atrocity, was in the public gallery with a number of the families of the 10 who were killed. Kingsmill was one of the most shocking incidents in Northern Irelands past. Republican terrorists stopped a minibus carrying a group of Protestant textile workers off a bus, lined them up and shot them on a roadside. The European Unions chief Brexit negotiator told a delegation of MPs that Theresa Mays proposals for a future trade deal were dead, it has been claimed. Michel Barnier held talks with the Brexit select committee on Monday to discuss progress in the negotiations, and made it crystal clear that the Chequers plan was unacceptable, according to Labours Stephen Kinnock. During exchanges with Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, the anti-Brexit campaigner insisted Brussels had spiked the plans. He said: I can tell you absolutely, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt that Chequers is dead in the water. Mr Barnier made it crystal clear that Chequers is completely unacceptable to the European Union. Y'day I was in Brussels with @CommonsEUexit & Barnier told us in no uncertain terms that the Chequers proposals are completely & utterly dead in the water. What's the govt playing at? Is there a Plan B? Theyve wasted 2 years. Stop the madness. Back a unifying #EEA-based Brexit. Stephen Kinnock (@SKinnock) September 4, 2018 Mr Raab asked: Can I just check he said dead in the water? He said: Les propositions sont mortes. Mr Raab replied: OK. Former Brexit minister David Jones quizzed Mr Raab on why he was flogging this dead horse?. The Tory MP asked: You admitted that your focus is on trying to deliver an agreement along the lines of Chequers. We know from Mr Kinnock that Mr Barnier thinks that Chequers is mort dans leau. We know that several members of the Conservative Party, the Parliamentary Conservative Party from both Remain and Leave tendencies think that Chequers is dead in the water. Why are you flogging this dead horse? Today, I updated MPs and took questions on the substantial progress we are making with our EU partners in Brexit negotiations, remaining outstanding issues, and our contingency plans for No Deal. We are confident we can strike a good deal, but are preparing for all eventualities. https://t.co/psvvQvXwy7 Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) September 4, 2018 Mr Raab replied: This is a negotiation with the EU so you are going to hear noises from various sides that are critical. That is an inherent part of a sensitive, contentious negotiation like this, but you should be in no doubt that we are making good progress. During the session of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, Mrs Mays Europe adviser rejected suggestions that he should tell the Prime Minister to put the Chequers plan out of its misery. Olly Robbins said the proposals were a credible, sensible offer. Theresa May speaks during Prime Ministers Questions (PA) Sterling jumped on Wednesday afternoon following reports that Britain and Germany are preparing to drop key Brexit demands, paving the way to a deal in the coming months. Berlin is ready to accept a less detailed agreement on Britains future trade ties with the EU in an effort to get a Brexit deal done, according to Bloomberg. Downing Street insisted there was no change in the UKs position on the need for proper information about the future relationship to be available by the time Parliament votes on the withdrawal agreement. Mrs May, meanwhile, directly challenged Jeremy Corbyn to rule out a second referendum on Britains withdrawal from the EU, but the Labour leader sidestepped the calls. The pair clashed at Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons shortly after the UKs Brexit preparations were branded incompetent by former Bank of England governor Mervyn King. In a damning assessment, Lord King told the BBC the Government had been left without a credible bargaining position. He said it beggars belief that Britain, one of the worlds leading economies, had found itself in a situation where the country was being told to take a course of action or face catastrophe. He suggested blame should be shared by the Government, Parliament as a whole and those in Whitehall who were tasked with making key decisions. Lord King said the Government had been left without a credible bargaining position (PA) Labour has so far declined to take off the table the option of a vote on the final Brexit deal, and Mr Corbyn is coming under intense pressure from Peoples Vote campaigners to commit to a second referendum. The partys Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said in a high-profile speech in London that he was ready to support a second poll as a last resort to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without an agreement. But he said the Governments first option should be to ask the EU to postpone the March 2019 deadline for the UKs departure to allow further negotiations. Reality television star Kim Kardashian has returned to the White House for a meeting with senior presidential advisers as part of criminal justice reform efforts by the US government. A White House official confirmed Kardashians appearance after TMZ reported on her visit to the White House. The reality TV star held a meeting with Mr Trump three months ago (Ian West/PA) She last visited the White House three months ago to push for a pardon for Alice Marie Johnson. One week later, Mr Trump granted the 63-year-old clemency, freeing her from prison after more than two decades in jail on drug charges. Kardashian participated in a listening session on clemency and prison reform with several White House staffers, including the presidents senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary, said: The discussion is mainly focused on ways to improve that process to ensure deserving cases receive a fair review. Among the others in attendance were CNN commentator Van Jones, Shon Hopwood, a lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery, and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who has been instrumental in steering Mr Trumps supreme court choices, including Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings have begun in Washington. The star has previously said she will push for clemency for a man serving a life term over drugs offences (AP) There are no plans for Kardashian to meet with the US president. She gave an interview this week in which she said she would lobby for Chris Young, who was charged in December 2010 for being involved in drug trafficking in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was later convicted and, due to mandatory minimum sentencing, was given life in prison without parole after being arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession. Mr Kushner has added prison reform to his broad portfolio, though others in the administration namely US attorney general Jeff Sessions support the toughest possible sentences for drug and other convictions in America. The presidents son-in-law has had an interest in prison reform since his own father, Charles Kushner, was incarcerated for 14 months after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. British and French fisherman have celebrated progress made in negotiations to end the scallop wars in the English Channel. After lengthy discussions on Wednesday, during which the French were said to have expressed regret for recent skirmishes, both sides reached an agreement on the principles of a deal. No UK vessels will fish for scallops during the window in conflict, during which the French are not allowed to harvest the molluscs. Members of the crew on board Honeybourne III (Andrew Matthews/PA) Instead, smaller British boats will be compensated for their losses but the sum is to be debated in Paris on Friday and if both sides do not agree, the accord could be sunk. A joint statement from the UK and French governments said the talks in London had been constructive and a finalised deal hinges on a reasonable compensation package. National regulations allow British ships to fish legally in the area all year round, but French fishermen are banned from taking scallops in the Baie de Seine between May 15 and October 1 to conserve stocks. A previous industry accord prevented UK vessels larger than 15 metres doing so too, but smaller ones could help themselves. The agreement-in-process will prevent the smaller British ships taking advantage of that window, but a UK industry representative involved in the talks said they will only be finalised if British fisherman do not lose a penny. Jim Portus, the chief executive of the South Western Fish Producers Organisation, said: Im very pleased that weve negotiated a deal which satisfies the honour of fishermen on both sides. The French are in a hurry to make sure that it happens because what they dont want either is for there to be another conflict. Quite frankly if its not good enough on Friday, it will be rejected. Asked if the French apologised, Mr Portus was tight-lipped. Instead he said: Im pleased to say regret was voiced before we started our negotiations. We want to ensure that our seas are healthy and productive for future generations, and weve outlined how we plan to do this in our #FutureFishing white paper. There is only one week left to share your thoughts with us: https://t.co/n5uXb5fX28 pic.twitter.com/o3h4mMQsih Defra UK (@DefraGovUK) September 5, 2018 All British boats have been asked to voluntarily stop taking scallops from the conflict zone until the deal is finalised. French industry representative Pascal Coquet told reporters outside the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), where negotiations were held, that it was a good deal. The talks were held after some 35 French boats confronted five British craft off the coast of northern France last week, with UK crews reporting that rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were hurled at them during the confrontation. A cordon around businesses in Belfast city centre in the crucial months leading up to Christmas following the Primark building fire is totally unacceptable, Belfast Chamber has said. Rajesh Rana, president of Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said the expected four-month cordon in the retail core of the city would have a seriously detrimental effect not only on the businesses in the immediate vicinity but on the entire city. Fourteen businesses are unable to trade as they are within a safety exclusion zone established amid fears the blackened structure on Castle Street could collapse. Last week, flames and thick black smoke engulfed the five-storey historic Bank Buildings which housed Primark. Businesses remaining within the Primark safety exclusion zone have been advised that the current cordon is likely to be in place for a minimum of four months. Belfast City Council #OneWeeThing (@belfastcc) September 5, 2018 More than 100 firefighters battled the major blaze for more than three days as it ripped through the building. The citys Lord Mayor Deirdre Hargey said on Wednesday that the area within the cordon could be inaccessible until next year, meaning it would be out of bounds throughout the busy pre-Christmas shopping season when many businesses earn enough to sustain them through leaner times. Mr Rana called on Belfast City Council and Primark to find an urgent alternative to the cordon to allow pedestrians to access the area safely. He said the chamber was doing everything within its own powers to help the traders but footfall was already down and some businesses were reporting a serious decline in takings over the past seven days. Deirdre Hargey said on Wednesday that the area within the cordon could be inaccessible until next year (Liam McBurney/PA) The Lord Mayor said engineers would assess the site and consider bracing the badly damaged shell, then determine if its facade can be saved. Ms Hargey added that the council and other agencies and government departments were working together to assist businesses and find alternative premises for them. Primark customers and staff were evacuated from the Primark building after smoke could be seen billowing from the roof. Flames reaching at least 50ft were visible across Belfasts skyline. Primark customers and staff were evacuated from the Primark building after smoke could be seen billowing from the roof (Liam McBurney/PA) 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. The building has survived bombs and fires throughout its long history in the city. It was undergoing a 30 million refurbishment and there was a recent recruitment announcement that the company was seeking to hire 100 additional staff. A senior fire officer described it as one of the biggest blazes they had battled in a number of years, but no-one was injured. A senior administration official has sounded an alarm about President Donald Trumps amorality and impetuous leadership style in an unsigned opinion piece published in The New York Times. Mr Trump swiftly responded to the op-ed on Wednesday, calling it a gutless editorial and really a disgrace. The writer, claiming to be part of the resistance to Mr Trump but not from the left, said: Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trumps more misguided impulses until he is out of office. The newspaper described the author of the anonymous column as `a senior official in the Trump administration (Susan Walsh/AP) The newspaper described the author of the anonymous column as a senior official in the Trump administration. The publication of the op-ed immediately triggered a wild guessing game as to the authors identity on social media, in newsrooms and inside the West Wing where officials were blindsided by it. It was not immediately clear what, if any, steps were being taken by the White House to attempt to unmask the writer. The column was released a day after the release of details from an explosive new book by longtime journalist Bob Woodward that raises concerns among the highest echelon of Trump aides about the presidents judgment. The op-ed writer said Mr Trump aides are aware of the presidents faults and are trying to do whats right even when Donald Trump wont. The writer also alleged there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment because of the instability witnessed in the president. The 25th Amendment allows the vice president to take over if the commander in chief is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. The writer adds: This isnt the work of the so-called deep state. Its the work of the steady state. Mr Trump lashed out at the newspaper for publishing the op-ed during an event with sheriffs at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. They dont like Donald Trump and I dont like them, he said of the New York Times. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the author a coward who should do the right thing and resign. She added the individual has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States and accused them of putting himself or herself ahead of the will of the American people. Kei Nishikori turned the tables on Marin Cilic to reach the US Open semi-finals for the third time after another dramatic encounter at Flushing Meadows. The pair both reached their first grand slam final here in 2014, with Cilic going on to claim a straight-sets victory. The Croatian has built on that success, reaching two more finals in the last two seasons, but Nishikoris only similar run came in New York two years ago when he defeated Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals before losing to Stan Wawrinka. Making history...@keinishikori defeats Cilic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the #USOpen semifinals! This is the 1st time in the Open Era that a Japanese man and woman (Osaka) are in the SF of a Grand Slam...#USOpen pic.twitter.com/0razc0QO7N US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2018 This proved to be Nishikoris day, though, as he ground out a 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 6-4 victory to mark a landmark moment for Japan after Naomi Osakas win over Lesia Tsurenko earlier. It is the first time in the Open era that Japan is represented in the semi-finals of both the main draws at the same grand slam. The pair, both shy characters, have recently become friends, and Nishikori said: I hope people were watching us today. Hopefully many people were cheering in support. And even here I saw a lot of Japanese coming up for the tournament. Its good to have home support outside of Japan. Its great news were both in the semis. Hopefully we do well this week. She has won a Masters. I think she can win the title now, even though its a grand slam. I feel its a big chance for her. Im also happy for myself, too, being injured last year, I couldnt play this tournament. Im happy to come back, make semis. I always play good here. So I hope I can keep going. Cilic looked to be in control of the match at a set and a break up but back came Nishikori to win the second set, and then the third on a tie-break after the Croatian wobbled on serve. Cilic responded by taking the fourth but dropped serve early in the decider and his mood darkened, the 29-year-old arguing with the umpire and then slashing a ball wildly into the stands. Nishikori has one of the best records in history in deciding sets. This was the 200th match in which he has been taken the distance and the 153rd time he has come out on top, including 18 out of 24 over five sets. Kei Nishikori celebrates victory (Jason DeCrow/AP) That made it all the more surprising that the 28-year-old allowed his advantage to slip, missing a break point that would have given him a 5-1 lead and then being pegged back to 4-4. But Cilic was unable to hold his nerve serving to stay in the match and it was Nishikori who held his arms aloft after four hours and seven minutes. Cilic said: I came out in the match great, 6-2 4-2 serving, and everything was going great. Just a little bit of a shift of the momentum there. Kei started to hit a little bit better. He broke me. He won six games in a row, converted three of three break points. Just put me back a bit on my back foot. From that point on, I felt the match was quite even. I came back. I had some chances. With a great quality player like Kei, he also had his chances, and he converted. So it came down to a couple points. A plane from Dubai caused a scare on Wednesday after a pilot radioed it would be landing at New Yorks Kennedy Airport carrying several passengers and crew members who fell ill with flu-like symptoms. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immediately quarantined the double-decker Emirates aircraft, holding 520 passengers, so it could evaluate about 100 of them. Some complained about coughs, headaches, sore throats and fevers. Emergency response crews gather outside a plane at JFK Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai (Bebeto Matthews/AP) Officials said 10 people three passengers and seven crew members ended up in hospital in what Emirates called a precaution. The rest were cleared to continue their travels while the CDC sought to determine what caused the sickness. On social media, passengers including 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice posted photos and videos of a large-scale emergency response when the aircraft touched down around 9am at JFK. Video from news helicopters showed the jet stranded on the tarmac for several minutes before passengers began to emerge so they could board buses to get to the terminal. Vanilla Ice, real name Robert Van Winkle, posted a video on Facebook of an emergency response to an initial report that dozens of people could be sick. On Twitter, he described looking out the window to see several ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles converge on the plane. He also wrote the sick people were seated on the bottom floor of the jumbo jet, so Im happy Im up top. So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place pic.twitter.com/i9QLh6WyJW Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) September 5, 2018 Another traveler in the business class section of the aircraft, Raghida Dergham, also said in an interview that sick passengers were in a lower level economy section of the plane. I feel great. I feel fine, Ms Dergham said. Nobody was alarmed It was handled very well. But other passengers said they suspected some passengers were sick before they got on the plane and blamed the airline for not doing more to protect the health of others. Why did they allow them on the flight? I sat with them for 13 hours. If its a virus, were all getting sick, said Srinivasa Rao. Passenger Erin Sykes posted a video of officers in masks and gloves taking the temperature of passengers on the tarmac. In an interview, Ms Sykes said she saw a few passengers being taken off the plane first for medical attention, but she added many, many others were showing signs of illness. Very intense coughing. Violently sick. Going into the bathroom a lot, she said when asked to describe the scene. She added: These people should know not to travel in a confined space with other healthy people. Another passenger, Zeph Shamba, said he saw at least one man on the 14-hour flight coughing and vomiting. People were worried because we dont know what it is. And we get down there and guys with masks on their noses and stuff like that, Mr Shamba said. Its like the plane from hell. Chinas decision to extend a total of $60 billion in financial support to Africa has been hailed a triumph by African politicians and economists, with Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, stressing that the money is to be primarily used in energy and agricultural sectors. When talking about the $60 billion of financing to Africa, we see many alignments with African Development Banks five development priorities, especially in lighting up and powering Africa and feeding Africa. I think the money will be primarily used in those areas, Adesina told the media during the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Tuesday. Adesinas remarks come after President Xi delivered a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the FOCAC on Monday, reiterating that the financing will be provided in the form of government assistance as well as investment from financial institutions and companies. According to Xinhua News Agency, the financing includes $15 billion in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion of credit lines, the setting up of a $10 billion special fund for financial development and a $5 billion fund to help finance African imports. Chinese companies are also encouraged to make at least $10 billion worth of investment in Africa over the next three years. Energy is Africa's number one priority, as it serves as the foundation of the continents industrialization and development, while feeding a populous continent like Africa requires more investment. Im looking forward to the cooperation between the African Development Bank and its Chinese counterparts, in an effort to use the money wisely, said Adesina. In addition to financial support, Adesina also noted that China can cooperate with African countries further under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which may create more opportunities for both sides. The Belt and Road Initiative will not only benefit Africa in infrastructure construction, but also in energy sectors. Im a big supporter of the BRI, which will close the infrastructure and energy gap in Africa, said Adesina. According to Xinhua, China has honored its 2015 promise to provide Africa with funding support totaling $60 billion, with financing either already being delivered or arranged. China decided to provide the funding support at the FOCAC Johannesburg summit to ensure the successful implementation of ten China-Africa cooperation plans decided at the same summit. British and Russian officials will come face-to-face as the UN Security Council discusses the Salisbury Novichok attack hours after Theresa May said Moscow agents were behind the deadly poisoning. Police and prosecutors announced on Wednesday they had enough evidence to charge the men, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, over the poisoning in March. The Prime Minister told MPs it was carried out by two Russian spies and sanctioned at a senior level by Vladimir Putins regime. She told the Commons investigations have concluded that the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russias military intelligence service, and it was not a rogue operation. The UK has called for a #UNSC meeting tomorrow, Thursday, to update the Council on the Salisbury investigation. pic.twitter.com/exK4kEX0uD UK at the UN (@UKUN_NewYork) September 5, 2018 As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia will be represented at Thursdays meeting called by Britain to update members on progress in the Salisbury investigation alongside UK allies such as the US and France. Australia on Thursday said it was in lock step with the UK on the importance of holding Russia to account over the heinous attack, although it is not currently a council member. Mrs May did not explicitly blame the Kremlin for authorising the attempted assassination, although senior Conservatives directly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of approving the operation. Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said there was no doubt it was state ordered and President Putin bears responsibility for a war-like act. The charge daffaires at Russias London embassy was summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down by an official following Mrs Mays statement. The PM told MPs the UK would push for new sanctions against Russia (Mark Duffy/UK Parliament/PA) The PM told MPs the UK would push for new sanctions against Russians responsible for cyber attacks, additional listings under the existing regime and promised to work with intelligence allies to counter the threat posed by the GRU. Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were left critically ill after being exposed to the military grade nerve agent Novichok in March. The alleged perpetrators were identified in a dramatic joint police and Crown Prosecution Service press conference. Detectives believe it is likely the pair, thought to be aged around 40, travelled under aliases and that Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. Prosecutors deem it futile to apply to Russia for the extradition of the two men, but a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained and the authorities are also seeking the assistance of Interpol. Detectives believe the front door of Mr Skripals Salisbury home was contaminated with Novichok on Sunday March 4. #Salisbury: UK publishes suspects' names and photos, but shows no willingness to engage with Russia in order to establish the truth. Our offers of cooperation remain on the table. https://t.co/9pASx5T5O6 pic.twitter.com/9MPGBud34w Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) September 5, 2018 Mr Skripal, 67, and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city centre the same day and spent weeks critically ill in hospital. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu also confirmed officers have now linked the attack on the Skripals to events in nearby Amesbury four months later. In the second incident, Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed to the same nerve agent used in Salisbury. Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, just over a week after the pair fell ill. In a statement, the Russian Embassy in the UK accused the British authorities of being unwilling to engage with them and called on the Government to give up politicised public accusations. By Heba Kanso BEIRUT, Sept 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Like children across the northern hemisphere, young Palestinian refugees went back to school this week after their summer break. How long they will be able to stay is an open question. The United Nations agency that funds schools for Palestinian refugee communities has said it may run out of money to keep them going by the end of this month after Washington - its biggest donor - halted its funding. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza - among them Ziad Shtewi, a 63-year-old father of 10 who lives in a camp in north Lebanon. "Many Palestinian refugees can't find work, or get paid little. How will we educate our kids?" said Shtewi, who has has two children at UNRWA schools. "These kids will be in the streets. It will be a generation of uneducated kids. It would be a horrible life. Education is critical for their future." UNRWA runs 66 free schools across Lebanon, which it says is home to nearly half a million registered Palestinian refugees, most of them descendants of those who were driven from their homes or fled the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation. Schweti said the impact of the funding cuts would be "catastrophic" for the community - a view echoed by fellow refugee Fuad Ashool. "We have our hands on our hearts and are really afraid of the future - I am worried about where my kids are going to go," said the 53-year-old father of four, who like Schweti lives in the Nahr al-Bared camp. Ashool used to paint apartments, but can no longer work because of his back pain. He said he feared losing UNRWA's financial assistance, and worried for Palestinians who were even worse off. "Our people will have to become beggars," he said. "We are a group of people that want to go back to our homeland, and in Lebanon we are thankful for being here, but this stress that we are living in is so uncertain and difficult," said Ashool. 'PASSPORT TO DIGNITY' UNRWA has said it faces a shortfall of more than $200 million after the United States slashed funding earlier this year, having promised $365 million for the whole year. Washington said the agency needed to make unspecified reforms and called on the Palestinians to renew peace talks with Israel. UNRWA-run schools in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip got under way last Wednesday. "All eyes are on the end of September when, if things continue as they are, we will not have enough money to keep our schools open," said spokesman Chris Gunness. "Palestine refugees see an UNRWA education as a passport to dignity and if they lose that, they lose their future. If UNRWA services close down, the situation of a deeply marginalized community will get significantly worse." Barred from taking up most jobs in Lebanon, the refugees depend on UNRWA for basic services. Many live in overcrowded camps with frequent electricity and water cuts. For Lora, who relies on UNRWA for the blood pressure medication she needs, it is a question of survival. "Without UNRWA we can't live. It will be devastating for our people," the 43-year-old Palestinian told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone, declining to give her full name. "We could die at the doors of hospitals because we can't afford it." (Reporting by Heba Kanso, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org) By Dan Williams JERUSALEM, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Israel has carried out more than 200 attacks against Iranian targets in Syria in the last two years, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday, in a rare summary of its campaign. According to regional sources, Israel began carrying out military strikes in Syria in 2013 against suspected arms transfers and deployments by Iranian forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies, both Damascus's partners in Syria's civil war. Israeli officials have rarely detailed specific operations. On Tuesday, an Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment after Syria said it shot down rockets fired by Israeli planes at military targets near the city of Hama. But Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz used a speech to give a more general summary of Syria missions, prompted by a military briefing given to local media earlier in the day. "Only just now it was published - in the name of military sources, so I can quote it too - that in the last two years Israel has taken military action more than 200 times within Syria itself," Katz told a conference hosted by the IDC Herzliya college. "Understand the significance of this matter in terms of preserving the red line, preventing the things that Iran has done, is doing and is trying to do against Israel from Syria." Asked to confirm Katz's comments, an Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel had carried out around 200 attacks within Syria over the past year and a half. In August 2017, the outgoing chief of Israel's air force told Haaretz newspaper that his corps had carried out "nearly 100 strikes" in Syria. That left another 100 in the time since, according to the official Israeli accounts issued on Tuesday - or roughly two a week. Israel, which monitors neighbouring Syria intensively, has long alleged that Iran came to assist the Damascus government, in part, to set up a permanent garrison there, effectively forming an extended anti-Israel front with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran, Israel's arch-foe, has been a core supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the 7-year-old civil war, sending military advisers as well as materiel and regional Shi'ite militias that it backs. Israel's Syria strikes have been largely ignored by Russia, Israel's big-power backer, and backed by the United States. On Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman signaled that the country could also attack suspected Iranian military targets in Iraq, where Reuters has reported the deployment of ballistic missiles by Tehran. Briefing reporters on Tuesday, a senior Israeli military officer who requested anonymity said that Israel believed Iran was using Iraqi territory as a conduit for missile transfers to Syria. (Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) ANKARA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Turkey told the United States on Tuesday that Kurdish militants must completely abandon Syria, as violence in the rebel-held northern Syrian enclave of Idlib escalated. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar made the call during talks with visiting U.S. special representative for Syria James Jeffrey, the defence ministry said in a statement. Akar conveyed Ankara's discomfort with the presence of Kurdish militants in the region, it added. Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, resumed air strikes on Tuesday against insurgents in Idlib. This followed weeks of aerial bombardment and shelling by pro-Syrian government forces in an apparent prelude to a full-scale offensive against the rebels' last major enclave. Assad has repeatedly pledged to take back "every inch" of Syria, which would mean regaining both Idlib and Kurdish-led areas in the northeast. Turkey, which has backed some rebels against Assad, has previously said a military operation into Idlib would be disastrous. Ankara is angry over Washington's support for the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria. Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey and Europe. Turkish forces have carried out two-cross border operations against the YPG in Syria. In a move long sought by Turkey, the NATO allies agreed in June to implement a roadmap for the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Under this, Turkish and U.S. forces are now carrying out joint patrols there to clear the area of YPG militants. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter he had also met Jeffrey to discuss developments in Idlib in particular. According to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Jeffrey conveyed Washington's stance that an offensive in Idlib would risk civilian lives and prospects of a political settlement of the Syrian war. Such an assault would "fuel support for terrorism and harm regional stability", it also said on Twitter. Ankara and Washington have more recently been in a stand-off over the fate of a U.S. evangelical pastor being tried in Turkey on terrorism charges that he denies. The row has helped to send Turkey's lira currency plunging about 40 percent this year. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and David Stamp) BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations is holding an emergency meeting this week with animal health experts in Asia to discuss the threat of African swine fever after the first outbreak of the disease in the region was discovered in China last month. China has detected eight cases of the highly contagious virus since discovering the first outbreak on Aug. 3, raising concerns about its spread in the world's largest pork producer and beyond its borders into Southeast Asia. Its arrival in China marked a new front in the battle to control the disease, which has travelled from Europe over the past decade through Russia. First detected in Africa almost a century ago, the virus is often deadly for pigs but does not harm humans. Specialists from China and nine countries close by and considered to be at risk from a spread of the disease are attending the meeting running from Wednesday to Friday in Bangkok, along with experts from outside the region and participants from the private commercial swine sector. The nine countries are Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement on Wednesday. The FAO has repeatedly warned that the arrival of the disease poses a significant threat to Asia. "It's critical that this region be ready for the very real possibility that (swine fever) could jump the border into other countries," said Wantanee Kalpravidh, regional manager of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) in Asia. "That's why this emergency meeting has been convened - to assess where we are now - and to determine how we can work together in a coordinated, regional response to this serious situation." Chinese authorities are rushing to contain the virus, shutting live markets in infected provinces and banning transportation of live pigs and pork products in and out of those regions. Highlighting the challenge though, South Korea had to ramp up quarantine measures at airports after finding a traveller carrying Chinese food infected with the disease. The seminar will review recent research studies and technologies and consider lessons from recent and ongoing episodes in Europe, it said. The disease is transmitted by ticks and direct contact between animals, and can also travel via contaminated food, animal feed, and people travelling from one place to another. There is no vaccine. (Reporting by Josephine Mason Editing by Joseph Radford) Seated :- Ranil de Silva Metal Factor, Anne Balakrishnan Group Director Marketing, Asia Broadcasting Corporation, Laila Gunasekere Martenstyne President IAA, Chalaka Gajabahu Chairman Organizing Committee, Young Spikes Competition Sri Lanka Standing :- Media competition winners - Arshaq Ali & Nireka de Silva Nextage, Digital competition winners - Levanya Mirando & Malithi Jayasinghe Mullen Lowe, Integrated competition winners - Nethmi Weerawarna & Chalukya Weerakoon JWT, PR competition winners - Chanchala Gunewardena & Maheshi Dunuwilage Bates Strategic Alliance, Cheil Creative Academy - Jonathan Joseph Academy of Design The eagerly-anticipated Spikes Asia Young Spikes programme returns for its 10th edition. Nine young professionals, and one tertiary students from Sri Lankas advertising, PR and design industries will represent the country at the annual Young Spikes 2018 & Cheil Young Creative Academy at Spikes Asia 2018 to be held from 26th to 28th September 2018 at Suntec, Singapore. It is Asia Pacific's most inspiring creative festival - offering three days of learning, inspiration and networking for professionals in creative communications, culminating in a grand awards ceremony. These 9 talented young professionals were selected via a local competition conducted by Metal Factor in partnership with the IAA Sri Lanka Chapter. The final winners from the diverse aspects of advertising are: Integrated - Nethmi Weerawarna and Chalukya Weerakoon from JWT. Digital - Leyanvi Mirando and Malithi Jayasinghe from Mullen Lowe. Media - Arshaq Ali and Nireka de Silva of Nextage. PR - Chanchala Gunewardena and Maheshi Dunuwilage of Bates Strategic Alliance. These four teams will participate at the Young Spikes Asia competition to represent Sri Lanka. Jonathan Joseph, a student from Academy of Design will participate in the Cheil Creative Academy which is a three day intensive educational programme designed for tertiary students in the visual communications industry at the festival. There was an overwhelming demand for participation in the SriLankan competition, as these young professionals compete for the ultimate prize of representing the country on the regional platform that is Young Spikes provides during the Spikes Asia festival each year. Hailing this years winners, Ranil de Silva, the Sri Lankan Representative for the Spikes Asia Festival said, Over the years, we have seen some exceptional creative talent emerging from the local competition as the young students and professionals strive to qualify to represent Sri Lanka at Spikes. Winning at the local competition has now become a badge of honor for these young guys and girls who I hope will make their mark on the regional Spikes Asia stage making all of us in the SriLankan industry very proud. Participating in the Young Spikes Asia Competitions in Singapore is a goal today that young professionals strive to achieve towards. My congratulations to the winners who I hope will go on to win bigger and better rewards at the regional competition. We at ABC are delighted to support this initiative which develops the professionals competency of the youth in this industry stated Raynor De Silva , Chairman ABC via programs of this nature we are able to provide much needed exposure to our young professionals to help develop the industry, concluded Mr. Silva At the session in Singapore, these professionals benefit from a tailored agenda which includes exclusive access to personalized tutorials and masterclasses from top industry figures, as well as participating in the Spikes Asia seminar and workshop programs. They are able to attend the networking events, giving them an exceptional first-hand insight also into the evolving marketing and communications industry of which they will be its future leaders. The Young Creatives Academy conducted by Cheil worldwide will culminate into a graduation ceremony. The Academys programme will take place during the three-day Spikes Asia Festival, where the selected students (currently in tertiary education studying marketing communications will be tutored under the leadership of Noor Azhar, who is a lecturer in Visual Communications and Media Design at the Singapore Polytechnic. This years programme was chaired by Chalaka Gajabahu/ CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Sri Lanka. He was supported with a committee comprising representatives of the advertising agencies in Sri Lanka. The local competition was facilitated by Metal Factor for the 10th consecutive year. Metal Factor is a personal initiative spearheaded by Ranil de Silva to give back to the marketing communications industry. Metal Factors objective is to help Sri Lankas advertising industry realize its ambition of achieving world-class standards and to gain global recognition for the work of the industry. Metal Factor has been responsible for many programs that benefit the industry, very specially the youth. Metal Factor has played a crucial role in developing the next generation of creative leaders, and continuously organizes competitions to select promising young advertising professionals to represent the country at the worlds most prestigious festivals. The Spikes Asia Festival is the regions oldest and most prestigious event that recognizes the best work in the categories of Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Digital, Direct, Promo and Activations, Media, Design, Poster, Craft, Integrated, Mobile and PR. A collaboration between the organizers of the Cannes Lions Festival and Haymarket, the Spikes Asia Festival provides the regions rapidly growing creative and advertising industry with an opportunity to network, exchange ideas and think creatively. The festival serves as an important platform, which not only recognizes the best work in the region, but also brings together Asia Pacifics leading creative thinkers and brightest young professionals. An open day, an open heart For the busy housewife who visits the Jathika Pola regularly she may be unaware that just down this same road by the side of the canal is a Centre that has been in operation for the last thirty years or so. The Centre supports persons affected by leprosy most of whom are already disabled because of the disease and are shunned by society, even ostracized by their own families, because of the shame and stigma attached to leprosy. In the early biblical days leprosy-affected persons were not allowed to be seen in public and had to announce their presence by ringing a bell so that others could stay out of their way some considered it a curse from the gods. This myth was however dismissed by Jesus Christ when he touched lepers and healed them of their affliction Most of these persons are too old, weak or disabled to work and depend on the kindness of loved ones for their sustenance and eagerly look forward to the monthly stipend that Surol doles out to them. It is with this same love and compassion for persons considered unworthy and untouchable by society that SUROL has reached out to, in a very humane and commendable way The Society for the Upliftment and Rehabilitation of Leprosy Affected Persons (SUROL) a registered charity was founded in 1971 and nurtured to what it is today due to the selfless and dedicated work carried out by the late Rev Fr. Glen Fernando. Today SUROL continues his legacy with the same dedication and commitment and supports leprosy affected persons irrespective of their caste, creed or colour - Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians are all served with the same spoon with no discrimination or difference. Recently, the SUROL Centre in Narahenpita was a hive of activity when an Open Day was held for these affected persons from the Colombo district who gathered at SUROL to share their life experiences. Some of them came in hired tuk tuks because of their disabilities and SUROL reimbursed their travel costs. Most of these persons are too old, weak or disabled to work and depend on the kindness of loved ones for their sustenance and eagerly look forward to the monthly stipend that SUROL doles out to them. 78 year old B.N. Premadasa is from Panadura and lives with his family. They said that SUROL gifts them with two hampers each year, one during the National New Year and the other at Christmas, consisting of dry rations, provisions, a towel, sarong/material, bed sheet plus a cash gift that brings a bit of cheer to their otherwise dreary and painful lives. Presently SUROL can only look after about 300 families due to financial constraints and invite the public to contribute towards this very deserving and humanitarian cause by calling their hotline 11 2503263 or by email to surol1971@gmail.com or by visiting their website www.surolsrilanka.org Field Officers Terrence and Saman can identify each and every person by face and name in every district in the country that SUROL supports and together with Accounts Officer Niranka were mainly instrumental in organizing this Open Day. They were seen chatting enthusiastically with those present whilst serving them with tea, refreshments and lunch together with the other staff Bala and Selvaraj. SUROL is able to carry out this mercy mission only because of the benevolence of donors and patrons who have come forward to sponsor one or more families affected by leprosy. SUROL also organizes fund raising ventures to supplement contributions and have set themselves a target of trying to support 500 such families. THE HINDU, 04th SEPTEMBER, 2018-A portion of the arterial Majerhat bridge in southern Kolkata has collapsed, trapping several people and crushing many vehicles. As crowds gathered at the spot in congested Alipore locality, where mangled cars were buried under the debris of the bridge, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the first priority is to rescue the injured and those who are trapped. The area has several under-construction buildings nearby. She also said the casualty figure may not be too high. Hospital sources have confirmed at least one death. The Chief Minister is monitoring the situation from Darjeeling, where she has gone for an official meeting. An eyewitness said some people in a minibus and private cars were trapped. Fire brigade, police and NDRF personnel are engaged in rescue work in the fading light. The Majerhat bridge runs over the Majerhat Railway Station and connects the city centre to Behala and other southern suburbs. The incident took place at around 4.45 pm. It is reported that India has invited a multi-party parliamentary delegation from Sri Lanka for a familiarization tour and also to discuss mutual matters. This step taken by the Indian Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be regarded as a step taken in the right direction taking into consideration the inter-connected bilateral social and political problems faced by the two countries. India is our immediate neighbour and its representatives had come here to help us on various critical occasions in the history of our island, when our island state was threatened by use of arms by our misguided youth in recent history. A well equipped battalion of Indian Armed Forces were here in 1971 on the invitation of the Sri Lankan government ready to help the country at large when an insurrection took place under the initiative of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. This insurrection was targeted to topple the coalition government that was elected by the people eleven or twelve months before, with the backing of the working class movement, organized trade union movement and also by the peasantry. Lal Bahadur Shashtri, the then Indian Prime Minister who maintained fraternal relations with Sri Lanka, absorbed 520,000 of estate labour as citizens of India. Later, Kachchaitivu also came as a donation to Sri Lanka. The series of meetings that will be taking place in Delhi, between Sri Lankan and Indian leaders from September 9-14, will open the door to discuss several mutual and regional matters Then came the second insurrection, which developed into a large scale war in South East Asia well organized and launched by the LTTE, and also cooperated by various foreign elements. However, during a critical stage of the war, on the invitation of the Sri Lankan government the IPKF came here, on the orders of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. It should be noted here with gratitude that thousands of Indian soldiers sacrificed their valuable lives to safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Mother Sri Lanka. As a result of this generosity, India, lost a precious life, that of Rajiv Gandhi, the grandson of epoch-making Jawarharlal Nehru and son of magnificent Indira Gandhi. Whatever the tragic instances of the past and unwise attitude taken by some of the south Indian politicians, New Delhi and Colombo have maintained friendly relations throughout the long period of our history. Even the left leaders of our country, who were followed by the British secret agents during the second world war, preferred India to safeguard their own lives. The revolutionary Indian comrades looked after them very well. The illustrious Foreign Secretary of India, Romesh Bhandari advised New Delhi throughout his diplomatic career to look into the problems of Sri Lanka, from a point of view of New Delhi and not to be a partner of other sinister objectives, that would harm the interests of its immediate neighbour. Under the wise leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapakse and the war efforts well coordinated by his commanders and also due to the active support extended by international players, including India, Sri Lanka was able to eradicate LTTE terrorism from the soil of Sri Lanka. It is the considered view of some war experts, that the elimination of the LTTE terrorism from the soil of Sri Lanka, has also benefited India in the long-run. A well equipped battalion of Indian Armed Forces were here in 1971 on the invitation of the Sri Lankan government ready to help the country at large when an insurrection took place under the initiative of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna In this positive background, the series of meetings that will be taking place in Delhi, between Sri Lankan and Indian leaders from September 9-14, will open the door to discuss several mutual and regional matters, including bilateral trade agreements, problems within the SAARC region, suggested defence agreements, strategic engagements with other foreign powers, proposed new constitution for Sri Lanka, problems arising from the 13th Amendment, home grown solution for Sri Lanka, and so forth. The vast and rich experience possessed by the two countries during the last seven to eight decades in handling various issues of this nature, should help both parties to find workable solutions, safeguarding the traditional relationships and fraternity of both countries. I would like to end this essay, with the lucid statement made by Shivshankar Menon, the former Indian Foreign Secretary in his well-illustrated thesis-CHOICES-INSIDE THE MAKING OF INDIAS FOREIGN POLICY- But no matter what one might think of its internal politics, Sri Lanka today is a better place without the LTTE and the civil war. And India contributed to making that outcome possible. The Cabinet decided yesterday to endorse the use of 'necessary force' by the police in case public order is disturbed and public properties damaged during the protest rally today, it is learnt. The Ministers discussed the matter at the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The Cabinet asked Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara to take action in this regard. (Kelum Bandara) Last March you took the decision to pull out of Baselworld. Do you still believe that was the right decision? Yes. The best barometer is the reactions of our retailers, and they have been very positive. First, because they no longer stayed for four or five days, but generally only for two days, which didnt give them chance to see all the brands. Why did they only stay for two days? Because Baselworld has become very expensive, at every level. Living expenses, the city, accommodation, but also for us as exhibitors. We moved down to Hall 1.0, but we had to continue paying for additional areas, when it really made no sense for us. Over the last six months, have you been able to see all the retailers that you would previously have seen in Basel? Yes. We had a two-pronged strategy, comprising visits to them, supplemented with some joint events for different markets. For instance, we chose Milan in Italy and Madrid in Spain. For two other countries, we attended major local events: Retromobile in France and Couture in Las Vegas. Eberhard & Co. at Retromobile 2018, Paris Eberhard & Co. Are these the markets you will keep a close eye on from year to year? Not necessarily. We have to make the most of the fact that we are an agile, independent brand. We can adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of our markets. Its clear that Italy, which represents 40% of our sales, is a vital element, and will remain so. We will be expanding into some new markets, and there are others where we will probably strengthen our position. The latter include the United States, for example, and Germany, where I think we have growth potential. Six months ago you were talking about a new production calendar. Have you been able to implement it? Yes, although its still a work in progress. The idea is to have a first launch phase at the beginning of the year, another in the spring, a third just before the summer and the fourth in the autumn, ready for Christmas. This sequence ties in very well with our online sales, and it seems to be in line with what our e-commerce customers expect. Do you think you would reconsider your decision to leave Baselworld? Yes, why not? Quite frankly, until September 2017 we thought wed be there in March 2018. Our decision to leave was based on cost. Baselworld is more expensive than a roadshow in financial terms but also in time. Also, the fair needs to have a better method. These days, Baselworld is all about renting the booth, without any additional services. I also think that theres a reason for the recent management changes in the fairs leadership team. What would you suggest? More modern and open communication methods. For instance, you could have live streaming for some sessions. They could also consider hosting de-localised Baselworlds elsewhere in the world. After all, thats what the organisers of the GPHG (Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve) do, and it seems to work pretty well. Our watch market is a niche. Were not as powerful as the car industry, for example. For that reason we have to work harder, be more creative. There should be a genuinely global project, combined with a true overall philosophy, and a targeted, constructive plan. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today rejected claims that he met with former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran in Singapore. In response to a question raised by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, he told Parliament that he has had no connection with Mahendran after he left for Singapore. MP Dissanayake asked whether the Prime Minister had met Mr Mahendran in Singapore as reported in media and asked whether he did not have a personal responsibility to bring Mahendran back to Sri Lanka as he was PMs confidante and the one who recommended him for the Central Bank Governor Post. "He can personally mediate to bring Mahendran back to Sri Lanka as he was his close confidante without seeking Interpol assistance or repatriation laws," the MP said. The PM said the Government had taken every step to bring Mahendran back to Sri Lanka and asked the MP to complain if the Government had neglected the investigation. "We have allowed the Attorney General and the Police to carry out their investigations independently," he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera) Former Principal of Asian International School (AIS), Goolbai Gunasekara yesterday said that it was impossible to accept that the 25-year-old Kamer Nizamdeen who was arrested in Australia for alleged terrorism charges, was radicalised. I certainly remember Mohammed Kamer Nizamdeen who was recently accused of being a possible terrorist in Australia. It is something I not only do not believe in, but also it is something I will continue to disbelieve until (if ever) it has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt that this exceptional boy is guilty of, someday, Kamer came to AIS for the final 2 years of schooling in order to do his London A/L exam. He came from one of Colombos best known and most prestigious boys' schools where he had achieved excellent results at the Ordinary Level Exam. Many students enter international schools to do their Advanced Level Exam and most of them do well. But Kamer immediately became one of the most popular boys in his class for the very simple reason that his main attribute was niceness. This is an overworked adjective, but one that describes Kamer perfectly. He was a gentle, charming and yes, a nice boy in every way, His unfailing courtesy to teachers and to his classmates was noticed from the start. Teachers who taught him were always full of praise for his work ethic and his general thorough approach to studies. His teachers have kept in touch with him after he left us (gaining 3 As I might add) and entered the University of Melbourne, Envy is one of Sri Lankas worst national traits. It is characteristic of an island mentality say some psychologists. I am no psychologist myself, but long experience has taught me a fair amount of discernment. Kamer was gentle, sweet natured and comfortable with himself. He had no hang-ups. He had a happy home and projected an aura of personal calmness and self control. Perhaps he was too successful at what he did and that upset his contemporaries, she added. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo travel to New Delhi this week in an effort to seal a new defence cooperation agreement with their Indian counterparts despite tensions over threatened American sanctions. Hanging over the meeting, planned for September 6, is the prospect that the US will impose economic sanctions on Prime Minister Narendra Modis government unless it significantly reduces purchases of oil from Iran and cancels a planned $6 billion purchase of S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Indian officials have said the Russian arms deal would go ahead as planned. The first US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue is about expanding a strategic partnership rather than closing individual arms deals, according to a Defence Department official. Transfers of advanced defence technology would be boosted if the two sides are able to complete work on a proposed Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement. Sales of US arms, associated parts and logistics support to India have increased to an estimated $15 billion this year from zero in 2008 and could rise by an additional $3 billion by 2019, said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The prospects include a potential deal to build advanced F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. in India. But the threat of sanctions clouds the prospects for US-India cooperation. The US plans to reimpose sanctions on purchases of Iranian oil in November after President Donald Trump quit the 2015 multinational nuclear deal with Iran. Meanwhile, a 2017 law imposed by Congress requires the president to penalise countries that conduct a significant transaction with Russias defence sector. Bloomberg, Hindustan Times, Sep 03, 2018 Microsoft plans to take the local start-ups to the next level supporting them to expand globally with the launch of the Microsoft ScaleUp programme in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was also one of the first countries in the SAARC and Middle Eastern regions to become part of the Microsoft ScaleUp programme. Joining for a discussion with Mirror Business, Microsoft for Start-ups Managing Director Lathika Pai during her visit to Sri Lanka recently said, Since I have come to Colombo, I met absolutely phenomenal local start-up founders and I would say world-class entrepreneurs. What stops these entrepreneurs becoming really big is the fact that they need the support in terms of taking them global. So, thats why Microsoft is here to announce that Sri Lanka is now part of the global ScaleUp programme. Microsoft ScaleUp offers late-stage and series A start-ups, who are keen to take advantage of Microsofts growth programmes, such as co-marketing and co-selling opportunities, hone their infrastructure and build their businesses. Our focus to go deep with few start-ups and really helping to create that, I would say, next US $ 100 million company coming over the next five years, she asserted. Pai was also hopeful that Microsoft ScaleUp would support the start-ups to transform to unicorn companies. She noted that Microsoft would be selective in choosing local start-ups, pointing out that working with a few start-ups enables Microsoft to support them to go deep. Its about working with a few, going deep, helping them with their technology platform and architecture and bringing them out to Microsoft market place. Getting them co-sell ready is a very critical part of this particular programme. Why is it critical? Because Microsoft today is almost in every enterprise across the globe. So, if a start-up looking is co-sell ready and if they want to expand their market to New Zealand or the US or Latin America, then Microsoft is there. As being part of Microsoft market place, co-selling, accessing to these markets become easy, she elaborated. Pai highlighted that many start-ups face challenges in expanding globally as they lack a viable technology platform. When start-ups want to go global, they dont realise. It may be really exciting for them to get a global customer but do they have the technology platform to support it? The answer is nine out of 10 times, no. You got yourself a few clients and you are somehow managing it. But you are not ready to take it global with the demands of enterprise clients. The ScaleUp programme is to really ensure that from market-ready to start-ups becomes enterprise-ready. Thats really what our goal is, she said. She noted that the start-ups, which are B2B, revenue generating, Series A funded would be qualified to the programme. However, she said that the start-ups, which have developed cutting-edge technologies, would be an exception to this criterion, as Microsoft could support these start-ups to create value to deliver the next disruptive technology. Pai reiterated that the Microsoft ScaleUp programme is not a venture capital fund. However, it would help start-ups to get access to various forms of funding and credit. Sharing his view on the programme, Microsoft Country Manager Sri Lanka and the Maldives Hasitha Abeywardena said, When you enrolled in ScaleUp, you get the access to other markets, which includes co-selling with the Microsoft team, not only in Sri Lanka but also worldwide. This is a platform for Sri Lankan companies to showcase themselves and sell their products. Abeywardena was also upbeat that Microsoft ScaleUp could also contribute to achieve Sri Lankas IT/BPM export goal of US $ 5 billion in 2022, while developing people. He revealed that Microsoft has supported and worked with over 200 start-ups in Sri Lanka during the past five years, which he called the first phase in supporting local start-ups and he noted that Microsoft ScaleUp is the second phase. Microsoft has committed US $ 500 million over the course of the next two years to run joint sales engagements and offer to start-ups access to technology and community spaces. (NF) Joint Opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa said participants from all around Sri Lanka continued to make their way toward Colombo to join the Jana Balaya Kolombata protest despite hindrances. Despite incidents reported regarding the Government backed groups trying to cause hindrances to people coming to join the mass protest, communities from all around Sri Lanka continue to make their way toward Colombo in solidarity, he tweeted. Video by Buddhi, Damith (Colombo) REUTERS: The Sri Lankan rupee fell to an all-time low yesterday, marking its 11th straight session of setting fresh record lows. The rupee, which hit a record low of 161.97 early in the trade, closed at 161.95/162.05 per dollar, compared with Mondays close of 161.60/70. The currency surpassed its earlier record of 161.65 hit in the previous session. There was (dollar) demand from local and foreign banks. We saw some oil and gas import bills, a dealer said, requesting anonymity. The depreciation pressure remains as exporters are waiting to see the bottom in the rupee fall. The rupee will be under depreciation pressure with the year-end seasonal importer dollar demand, dealers said. Absence of dollar conversions by exporters and outflows from equities and government securities also pushed the rupee lower, analysts have said. Exporters are holding on to dollars as they expect the local currency to decline further, dealers said. The Sri Lankan currency is also hurt by weakness in the Indian rupee. India is Sri Lankas biggest trading partner and the Indian rupee, which also hit a record low yesterday, has been one of the worst performers in Asia this year. Foreign investors bought government securities worth a net Rs.578.3 million (US$3.58 million) in the week ended Aug. 29, marking the first week of net buying since April. However, they have net sold Rs.46.9 billion worth securities so far this year, Central Bank data showed. Govt wont intervene in forex market: Eran Sri Lanka will leave market forces to decide the level of its rupee, and the government will not intervene in the foreign exchange market, State Finance Minister Eran Wickremaratne told Reuters yesterday. We will not intervene, he said. We have left it to the market. We will just do the right policy and let it sort itself. Never panic about it. The currency fell to an all-time low of 161.97 versus the U.S. dollar yesterday, in its 11th straight session of fresh record lows. The rupee, which weakened 1.2 percent last month, has dropped 5.5 percent this year. Russian airline, Aeroflot, will re-launch regular non-stop flights to Colombo from October 28, the Moscow-based airline announced this week. The airline stopped regular flights to Colombo around a decade ago. The flights will operate under the winter schedule effective through March 30, 2019. Flight SU 0286 will depart Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 22:05 and arrive at the Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at 9:05. The return flight SU 0287 will depart Colombo on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:45, and arrive at Sheremetyevo at 17:30. Aeroflot said it would operate an Airbus A330 on this route. The nine-hour flight is expected to boost inbound tourism from Russia to Sri Lanka as it will obviate the need for transit in a third country. Aeroflot, which means Air Fleet, is the fourth oldest airline in the world, having started operations in July 1923. A key member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, it flies to 130 domestic and international destinations using a fleet of 243 aircraft with 28 more on firm order from Airbus and Boeing. Aeroflot, which has several subsidiary airlines and aviation companies, also operates the Russian-made Sukhoi Super Jets. Incidentally, KLM, the worlds oldest commercial airline (since 1919) has also re-started flights to Sri Lanka. Among the other airlines planning to launch regular services to Sri Lanka in the next two months are Edelweiss (Switzerland) and Vistara (India). Several other major foreign airlines have also expressed an interest in flying to Sri Lanka while many existing operators have added extra capacity via bigger aircraft and/or more flight frequencies. (Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares rose for a fifth straight session yesterday and marked their highest close in more than three weeks, led by gains in banking and beverage stocks. However, trading volume was low as investors stayed on the sidelines for want of fresh triggers. The days turnover stood at Rs.181.9 million (US$1.12 million), the lowest since August 3 and less than a fifth of this years daily average. The Colombo stock index ended 0.6 percent higher at 6,128, its highest close since Aug.13. It had gained 0.4 percent last week, its second straight weekly gain. The index, however, was down 1.1 percent in August, having hit its lowest close since March 2017 on last Tuesday. The bourse is down 3.8 percent so far this year. Most investors are awaiting proper direction on economy and taxes, said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at broker First Capital Holdings. The main concern is that foreign selling is still continuing and we dont think this uptrend can continue for long. Foreign investors sold a net Rs.31.3 million of shares yesterday, extending their net outflow so far this year to Rs.4.2 billion worth of shares. AIA Insurance Lanka Plc jumped 82 percent, with around 1,700 shares changing hand, due to a share buyback, dealers said. Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc shares closed 2.5 percent firmer while Dialog Axiata Plc gained 0.8 percent and Hemas Holdings Plc ended 0.5 percent higher. Sri Lankan companies posted an average 4 percent earnings growth in the June quarter from a year earlier, helped by financials, beverages, telecommunications and power and energy sectors, CT CLSA Securities (PVT) Ltd said in a research note. The Sri Lankan Ambassador to Maldives did not boycott the opening ceremony of the China-Maldives friendship bridge in Maldives but turned back as his vehicle was not allowed to proceed to the venue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said yesterday. Ministry Spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said the ambassador had not boycotted the event as he went there in order to participate in the event.However, their vehicles were not allowed to proceed so they were forced to turn back, she informed Daily Mirror. Media reports said that the Ambassadors of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Maldives had boycotted the bridge opening ceremony, an event that was also not attended by the Indian Envoy. Member of the Maldives Parliament and Joint Opposition Spokesperson Ahmed Mahloof said the Ambassadors of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh boycotted the bridge inauguration event as their cars were stopped by President Abdulla Yameens security and they were asked to walk. Only the Chinese Ambassadors car was allowed to proceed to the venue. Such an insult to traditional friends, he tweeted. The two-kilometre long bridge which connects Male and Hulhule Island, was built using funds mainly received from China. The opening was held on August 30. (Lahiru Pothmulla) MAS Holdings Chief Growth Officer and Director Nathan Sivagananathan Following is the keynote speech delivered by MAS Holdings Chief Growth Officer and Director Nathan Sivagananathan at the 19th annual general meeting of the Tea Exporters Association, held on August 31, 2018. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake, committee and members of the Tea Exporters Association and all other esteemed guests; I thank Tea Exporters Association Chairman Jayantha Karunaratne for inviting me to deliver this keynote speech today. It is a privilege to address all of you, who are stakeholders in an industry that is of utmost importance to Sri Lanka. It is a matter of national pride that the Ceylon Tea brand is globally recognised for premium quality tea. Unfortunately, when I introduce myself as Sri Lankan to people abroad, they are still much more likely to bring up Ceylon tea than Ceylon underwear! As we know, the Sri Lankan tea industry was born out of the demise of the previously thriving coffee industry in the 1860s, after coffee plantations were devastated by a disease that affected Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia. Sri Lankas tea planting was initiated by a young man who set up the first tea plantation in Kandy at the age of 17. The birth of Ceylon tea was thus initiated from one mans entrepreneurship and experiment in diversification in the face of devastation. Sri Lanka celebrated its 150th anniversary in the tea industry last year. We now face the question - will the industry survive for another 150 years? If we are to survive, we must use the sense of entrepreneurship exerted at the time tea was first brought to Sri Lanka. Putting things into context, we face challenges in maintaining our reputation as one of the worlds premier tea producers. World tea consumption has grown at an average of 4.5 percent every year in the last decade, driven by rapidly increasing demand from China, India and other emerging economies. However, tea production in Sri Lanka is stagnant. Production in 2017 was at the same level it was 15 years ago (around 310 million kg). Competitors have therefore gone ahead: China grew its tea supply at an average rate of 6.5 percent annually since the 1960s, compared to Sri Lankas miniscule annual average growth rate of 0.8 percent. Over the last 50 years, Sri Lankas share in the global supply of tea dropped from 20 percent to 6 percent. We are not capitalising on the rising global demand for tea, a US $ 70 billion industry being driven by growth in the value-added segment. I am here today to talk about my industry apparel and other industries that have gone through similar problems: Major issues for both apparel and tea are low labour productivity and labour shortages, as workers move from agriculture and manufacture to service sectors. This has been one of our biggest challenges over the last 10 years. A second challenge is undiversified export markets. Sri Lankan tea exports are dependent on a few markets including Russia (15 percent) and the Middle East (50 percent), which are both facing crises. Likewise, Sri Lankas apparel sector is traditionally dependent on the US and UK. We also face the obstacle of cheaper competitors. Sri Lanka has lost significant market share over the years due to the high price of our tea. If you look at tea imports to Britain in 2016, Sri Lanka only supplied 3 percent, while Kenya supplied 47 percent - a drastic change from a few decades ago. The apparel sector is, of course, no stranger to cheap competition from Asia and now Africa. This is a key part of why we need to have more value-added services in our industry. Finally, Sri Lanka has an unconducive policy environment: It is vital that all major export industries are governed through clear, consistent policies. Despite these challenges, the apparel industry has been able to consistently add value and maintain growth globally by providing specialised products to the global market. The key fundamentals that have helped us are looking at the global changes that are taking place, understanding, and reacting to them. Today I will speak to you about three of them: your consumer, your business and your supply chain. (1) Understand and cater to your consumer In the apparel industry we have come to learn the importance of understanding the final consumer. Over the years we have realised that our focus should not be solely on the brands for whom we manufacture but the final consumers. We have teams dedicated to consumer insights and consumer-centric design and innovation. We even hired a professional consultancy firm to help us put in place our strategy and oversee its implementation. The tea industry similarly needs to hire dedicated individuals to carry out research on consumers in their main markets, tracking their likes and dislikes, income levels and lifestyle changes, to adapt tea to suit customer needs. A key trend worth noting is the rise of millennials and Gen Z. Globally, tea is appealing to younger, wealthier, trendier consumers. The Tea Association of the USA estimated that as of 2018, 87 percent of millennials in the USA drink tea far higher than other age group. We can see this in the success of DAVIDsTEA, a high-end tea retailer that has expanded dramatically since 2008 by tapping into a growing tea boutique industry. Starbucks prompted the same revolution in coffee 20 years ago, when it turned coffee from something people drank with breakfast at home, to a premium product with instant brand recognition. This has even been effective in traditional tea drinking countries like India, where domestic consumption of coffee has grown at almost double the rate of tea since Starbucks entry into the market. Winemakers have remained relevant in todays beverage market by getting rid of the stereotype that wine is a fancy drink for refined palates only. By making branding trendier, they target millennials with modern label designs and differentiated packaging such as boxes and cans. Health and wellness is another major trend. People are looking at ways of being healthier through eating, drinking and their lifestyle. Tea and specifically herbal tea has an opportunity to benefit from this trend from increased awareness about its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and weight loss effects. Sri Lanka is lucky enough to already grow many of the spices and herbs that the West now recognises for their medicinal qualities and there is a big opportunity to play in the wellness tea which has risen by more than 5.8 percent in the US market in 2018-2018 alone. Other key drivers are transparency and sustainability. Modern consumers want to feel that they are minimising the ecological and social impact of their consumption. In 2005, the expiry of the quota era exposed our apparel industry to Chinese competition. We were faced with two extreme options: compete with global giants in mass garment manufacturing in other Asian countries or the less competitive yet highly risky option of rebranding. We focused on rebranding the industry as an eco- and labour-friendly manufacturing location through our garments without guilt movement, making Sri Lankans the first in the world to champion the cause of ethical garment manufacture. The coffee industry was an early adopter of sustainability certification standards such as Fair Trade. The Brazilian coffee industry led its remarkable recovery from imminent decline through self-regulation and setting up certifications for purity and sustainability. The tea industry is moving in this direction: Between 2009 and 2012, certified tea sales grew by 49 percent annually. Major players like Finlays, Unilevers and Tata have all launched major sustainability initiatives, including Tata pledging 100 percent sustainable sourcing by 2020. An emerging model in Taiwan improves transparency in processing by using RFID tagging of batches of tea leaves. In summary, Sri Lanka has been traditionally been slow to capitalise on trends in the market. We still export 80 percent of our tea in bulk format, with almost 40 percent facing value-added at import destinations and tea hubs in the Middle East. There is a massive opportunity to fast-track grow by keeping track of emerging consumer trends. (2) Invest in your business In 2005, along with the end of the quota era, we were also completely disrupted by a competitor and lost a large amount of business almost overnight. We responded by investing in innovation as a crucial part of our growth strategy, particularly by creating a Research and Innovation team. As part of this, we visited several companies like 3M, Google and Facebook to draw learnings from them. You might wonder why an apparel manufacturer would visit these technology companies, but thats one of the most important things I can share with you there are a myriad of learnings in other industries that you could apply to the tea industry. A couple of major takeaways are to embrace technology and professionalise. Embrace technological development. Automation is needed to improve productivity across the value chain and this can be done through robotics and data analysis. We also focus on digitisation to drive digital technologies to the core, to be able to play in the global digital economy and strengthen data analytics. Other industries have been able to revolutionise their businesses with technology: - Coffee producers have used infrared technology to reduce coffee pulp drying time from several days to hours, thereby minimising post-harvest loss. - The 8000-year-old wine industry modernised through biodynamic processes that improve the quality of the soil and the farms microclimate, thereby improving the taste of grapes. The tea industry needs to invest in digitising payment and collection methods, soil testing, geo mapping and automating book keeping. Even a drastic agricultural revolution like aquaponics could be considered an opportunity, not something to fear have we thought about whether tea could be grown in a different way? It is essential to develop unique systems of tea planting and not rely on tea planting systems set in place during British rule. Prioritise professionals. The tea industry is not attractive to graduate and professionals, who are drawn to industries like, banking, IT, hospitality. It is vital to change this through higher incentives and exciting opportunities for growth. Apparel was also an old-fashioned industry with a bureaucratic nature and formal attire but we have changed that culture completely though entrepreneurship. Our employee backgrounds are not limited to those with manufacturing and textile expertise but engineers in robotics, aerospace, mechatronics, marketing entrepreneurs, financial analysts, those who have studied in the likes of Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge. This variety brings in a global view and challenges existing legacy perspectives. The tea industry also needs to bring in younger entrepreneurial employees to create a culture of entrepreneurship so employees feel they have ownership of some of the wealth created through tea. These younger mindsets will drive the industry forward towards the 21st century. (3) Your supply chain Look upstream and downstream. As part of our retaliation to the end of the quota system, we looked at what we could do for our brand partners. We invested in the downstream value chain by moving into fabrics and other parts of our supply chain. We also built our own design and development services, pitching products to consumers instead of playing the role of a traditional contract manufacturer. Our transition out of being a contract manufacturer is also taking place via launching our own brands, to use our expertise to earn the higher margins associated with the retail space. We have launched several online brands, which has required a significant amount of knowledge in digital marketing and consumer insights. Trade zones outside Sri Lanka are helping the apparel industry be more global. The Sri Lankan tea industry can benefit from having a Tea Trade Zone or a bonded hub based within a Free Trade Zone in the Middle East or Africa, where global tea can be mixed and exported to compete with global pricing. Eighty percent of our tea is exported in bulk and probably blended elsewhere, so why not start doing this ourselves? Although based offshore, this still brings in revenue to Sri Lanka though a different supply chain. We need to move on from the belief that all investment should be within Sri Lanka to bring in revenue. We must shift to a mindset that we can invest in other countries if this will have a more favourable impact on the industry as a whole. Automate the tea auction system. This was proposed over 10 years ago and tasked to the Colombo Tea Traders Association but has not been established yet, even though it would be a key step towards revamping Sri Lankas tea export industry. India has already automated its tea auction and Sri Lanka too needs to move on to this system to access a wider selection of buyers around the world, as well as facilitate faster purchases and transparency, as well as better documentation. This also needs to link to the EDI (electronic data interchange) system, which connects exporters to Sri Lanka Customs and Sri Lanka Tea Board. The apparel industry has already established this link. Finally, the government plays a key role is ensuring the playing field is conducive. It is essential that the policies governing the tea industry are based on scientific, rational decisions and that they are kept consistent. We need to invest more in research and development: tea should be a popular topic of research for Sri Lankan scientists but sadly it is not. The Tea Research Institute (TRI) can be used more effectively to incentivise more efficient, viable, commercialised research. SLINTEC is a great example of a public-private institution doing excellent research and churning out patents. It is also important to support producers through replanting support or fertiliser subsidies, as this ensures the quality of the tea produced. The government can also do more to promote Sri Lankan tea on an international scale. The Sri Lanka Tea Board must utilise the vast fund collected through the tea promotional levy since 2010. We must support outbound exports the same way we support the inbound tourism industry. Finally, the state should improve the economic and social infrastructure in tea producing areas to improve the environment for those working in the tea industry. In conclusion, despite these internal and external challenges, we must be positive about our capacity to create positive change. Tea is Sri Lankas largest producer-led export, which is vital to the strength of our economy. Not only have we dedicated 4 percent of this countrys land to tea cultivation, this is also a livelihood crop, on which over one million Sri Lankans are directly or indirectly dependent for their livelihood. We can and must use this as a stepping stone to drive higher growth, increase FDI and support national development. Egyptian police have arrested 11 people and seized 22 ancient Egyptian artifacts as authorities identified a gang dealing in stolen archeological treasures. Authorities identified the gang after the wife of one of its members reported her husband's disappearance following his abduction by two men who said were deceived into paying him 5 million EGP (approx. $280,000) to invest in the sale of archeological artifacts. The interior ministry said all the gang members have been captured, releasing a video showing 11 people arrested including the two men who paid the money. The footage showed the recovered pieces, which include 22 statues of different sizes, including waist-length sculptures, as well as two wooden boxes. Police also seized huge sums of money and a quantity of opium with the men, the ministry said in the statement. Illegal trade in antiquities and illegal excavation has flourished in Egypt in recent years. Two months ago, Egyptian authorities received hundreds of ancient artifacts from Italy after they were recovered from smugglers in May. The pieces went on display at the Egyptian museum in Cairo in July. Search Keywords: Short link: This article is the second of those preparing the ground for a review of the new data on the last phase of Eelam War IV served up by access to the despatches of the British Defence Attache Lt. Col. Gash (the first being an analysis of Prabhakarans strategy of assassinations). It concentrates on the character of the state of Tamil Eelam throughout its period of existence, viz. from 1990-2009. It by-passes the pre-history when the Tamil New Tigers-become-LTTE was an incipient insurgent force competing with other Tamil militant organisations and with the GoSL and or the IPKF for control of terrain. Tamil Eelam in its fuller emergent state form could be said to have originated in early 1990 when the IPKF forces departed and the LTTE insurgents gained control of most of the Jaffna Peninsula. This span of control increased in mid-1990s when the Tiger insurgents out-manoeuvred the Premadasa government and seized control of most of the Eastern Province after attacking and seizing several police stations and then massacring around 600 policemen who had surrendered. This spatial reach was reduced in mid-late 1995 when the SL Army attacked from the Palaly enclave and seized control of the Jaffna Peninsula. But it then expanded again when the Tiger forces over-ran the SL Army base at Mullaitivu in 1996 and then took control of Kilinochchi town and eventually the huge army base at Elephant Pass in 1999-2000. However, the LTTE and its supporters abroad always had larger territorial ambitions and its maps of the Eelam project were in step with the traditional homelands claim presented by the ITAK (Federal Party) from 1949 onwards thereby embracing Puttalam and Chilaw in the expansive world-view typical of all fascist states in their embryonic stage. There is little doubt, therefore, that the Tiger leadership launched Eelam War IV in mid-2006 with a conviction that they could cap their existing paraphernalia of statehood with formal worldwide confirmation. Thus, from 1990 one witnesses the LTTE setting up an independent administration in its territories with Velupillai Prabhakaran as its talaivar or Supreme Leader and its military commanders as the dominant authority in all regional centres. There was a civil administration consisting of the previous Tamil civilians who had served the government of Sri Lanka and who retained the titles of yesteryear. Over time the LTTE inserted some of its own personnel alongside some of these posts or displaced these persons with their own appointees. This process involved the creation and or overseeing of the judicial organisation as well. The law courts were LTTE run and instruments of control. The LTTEs consolidation of state authority was enhanced by its military successes in the period 1996-2001. It reached out for international status with considerable assistance from Norway and the latters point man Eric Solheim. The military clout secured after they brought the Kumaratunga government to its knees in 1999-2001 enabled the LTTE to sign a ceasefire via A Memoranda of Understanding in April 2002 in formalities associated with all the characteristics of a state. This status was beamed to the whole world on10th April 2002 when media personnel from many countries assembled at Kilinochchi to witness the Talaivar Prabhakaran, his de facto Foreign Minister Anton Balasingham and the Political Commissar, Thamil Chelvam, hold court in solemn splendour. Tamil Eelam under the LTTE was an efficient authoritarian state run by a dictator who commanded widespread respect among its citizenry. Its propaganda capacities were as innovative as remarkable. Central to its process of cultivating respect was the homage paid to its fighting dead, the maaveerar, at a ceremony held on the 27th November every year at the 21 thuyilum ilam (resting houses) in LTTE territory sites that were regarded as temples. These events were preceded by several weeks of intense propaganda work and appropriate music blanketing the air waves everywhere and maaveerar-sheds depicting the dead maaveerar from each locality at judicious locations in each locality. Remarkably, as I can attest from my experience in Jaffna Peninsula in late November 2004, such processes and events devoted to the deepening of Tamilness and obeisance to the talaivar and his martyr soldiers were freely pursued within GoSL territory as well. An Office of Great Heroes (maaveerar) was set up in 1995 and the head was an experienced grey-haired official whose no-nonsense capacities impressed me greatly when I met him briefly in Kilinochchi in 2004. The LTTE was well-served by the longstanding history of education in the Peninsula and such centres as Batticaloa several generational cohorts of public servants were available to implement its programmes. Tamil Eelam was also an innovative state. State-of-the-art underground hospitals had been constructed in Jaffna town in the early 1990s; while the underground complex built subsequently at Mullaitivu was impressive. Its innovative building of fast shallow water attack boats gave its Sea Tigers considerable clout as a brown water navy. Its commited suicide cadre in the Black Tigers sharpened the LTTEs raiding capacity as well as assassination work. The devastation of the Central Bank in Colombo Fort on 31 January 1996 and the Tamil commando strike on Katunayake airport on 24th July 2001 mark the capacity to inflict clinical assaults displayed by these personnel. My Ethnographic Experience in Kilinochchi in late November 2004 Through the good offices of Uthayam and guidance form Tamil friends I travelled south from Jaffna to Kilinochchi with these friends on the 26th November and in doing so passed through border controls typical maintained by the government of Sri Lanka and that of Tamil Eelam that were typical of all such practices world-wide (though not quite as mind-blowing as those I experienced at Check Point Charlie in Berlin in 1976). The first event I attended at Kilinochchi was the opening of a Media Centre on the 26th where Thamil Chelvam was the main speaker. However, my principal focus was the huge gathering of perhaps 150,000 people at the Kanagapuram Thuyilumilam south of the town who assembled at this temple in homage to their maaveerar on that sacred day, 27th November. The organisation at both events was exemplary. The arrangements on the 27th indicated attention to spatial requirements and participant comfort. Again, the restaurants in town and the bus services were state run and well-run. I was intrigued by the occasional scenes of cyclists and tractors bearing two coconut seedlings, apparently gifts to householders on that day the 27th November which would therefore boost the productive capacity of the smallholdings everywhere a simple innovation, yet so useful. In conversations in English with two Health Department officials who joined our little party at meals and in interviewing Thiru Master (a senior LTTE counsellor and one of the speakers at the media event) at his house, I was peppered with complaints about GoSL activities. These men were feisty and itching to return to war. These experiences helped me understand a point dinned into my ears subsequently (2010) by Anoma Rajakaruna on the foundations provided by her frequent visits to Tamil Eelam on feminist projects during the ceasefire period 2002-06. The LTTE state, she said, had its fingers everywhere and most people were dependent on its arms in one way or another sometimes in several ways. Muralidhar Reddy and Silan Kadirgamar were therefore on the ball when (in conversations with me in 2010) they insisted that in 2006-to-2008 most of the residents in LTTE terrain were hostile to GoSL and in support of the LTTEs diktats. However, the LTTE and its supporters abroad always had larger territorial ambitions and its maps of the Eelam project were in step with the traditional homelands claim presented by the ITAK (Federal Party) from 1949 onwards thereby embracing Puttalam and Chilaw in the expansive world-view typical of all fascist states in their embryonic stage Nor must we forget that the LTTE had spent time and effort in regimenting the ordinary civilians in martial formations through the makkal padai training arrangements. Thus, a martial orientation had been instilled among the ordinary citizens. This was a state geared for war. One illustration of this commitment was provided by the sarong-clad manager of the guest house at which I was staying. He was an Indian Tamil from the Kandy locality whose family had migrated to the Vanni way back in the 1970s or so. His son had died as a Tiger fighter and there was a little shrine in the sons memory in the guest-house vestibule. The father a middle-aged man, perhaps in his 50s was unequivocal if the LTTE asked him to join their armed forces, he would gladly join. The Hallmarks of Sovereignty There is little doubt, therefore, that the Tiger leadership launched Eelam War IV in mid-2006 with a conviction that they could cap their existing paraphernalia of statehood with formal worldwide confirmation. The existing pillars of statehood included a little innovation on their part that also pointed to a shortfall. At some point in the past I do not have a date the LTTE had decreed that their clocks should not adhere to Sri Lanka time. All their clocks were adjusted to be one hour behind that of the standard SL time. (The SL time was adjusted one hour ahead and sometime later to half an hour ahead of the standard SL time as a move to save electricity during the Chandrika Kumaratunga government. It was subsequently abandoned.) However, this little sign highlights a fundamental shortfall. The currency in use in Tamil Eelam was the Sri Lankan rupee. I paid for my meals and bought books and disks at Kilinochchi with my stock of rupees. Why, then, had there been no change on this front answer because a significant number of residents in Tamil Eelam were either pensioners of the SL state or were serving officers in departments subject to directives from Colombo. They were recipients of pensions and or salaries from the government of Colombo. While dependent on Colombo in this manner, they took orders from the LTTE. Thus, one pillar of the LTTE economy was the cash flowing in regular fashion from the GoSL. That foundation, and its tell-tell sign, the ubiquitous Sri Lankan rupee, marked an outstanding shortfall; in fact, it was an Awful Sore on the forehead of the Tamil Eelam body politic. The LTTE state, moreover, drew some of its wherewithal in food supplies and medicinal needs from the stocks despatched to their citizens by the GoSL arms working in conjunction with UN and other humanitarian agencies. The government centred in Colombo was marking asserting its sovereign rights in this manner. The supplies were so useful that the LTTE chose to let them flow in. In this concession and in their continued dependence on the rupee as currency, they were conceding limits on the fullness of their statehood. That was not a major concern for talaivar Prabhakaran in 2006. Bolstered by past success, he and his commanders were certain that they would finalize their nation-status by waging war. Ramesh, the Tiger Propaganda Chief whom I met in Kilinochchi in November moved to Mullaitivu in December to prepare for this step. The ravages of the tsunami of 26th December that year delayed the move. However, the LTTE machinery of state regrouped and initiated Eelam War IV at Mavil Aru in August 2006. Oops....! We couldn't find that... 404 error Unfortunately the page you were looking for could not be found. It may be temporarily unavailable, moved or no longer exist. 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. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that he discussed with his Uzbek counterpart President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent about how similar the Egyptian and Uzbek experiences in economic reforms were. In a press conference held at the presidential Uzbek palace Wednesday morning following his talks with President Mirziyoyev, the Egyptian president thanked his Uzbek counterpart, government, and people for the warm reception he received. "We succeeded in this visit in signing a number of agreements that will without a doubt contribute in creating a rapprochement between two great nations whose history and interests in technology gathered between them, president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said. El-Sisi also revealed that that Egypt was ready to cooperate with Uzbekistan in sectors including energy and car manufacturing. "We also discussed ways to boost tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries as well the necessity to boost the economic relations to reach political bilateral relations, in addition to boosting military and security cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts," El-Sisi said. The Egyptian and Uzbek presidents issued a joint statement following the talks between the two presidents stating that the two countries were seeking to enhance joint cooperation in all industries. El-Sisi also invited Mirziyoyev to visit Egypt. The Egyptian president arrived in Tashkent on Tuesday night where he was received by President Mirziyoyev. Tashkent is the last stop in El-Sisi's short Asian tour that started last week in Bahrain, followed by a visit to China where he participated in the Chinese-African Cooperation Summit. Search Keywords: Short link: SkyHawks cruise to playoff win OMAHA The fifth-ranked Skutt Catholic SkyHawks are finally getting healthy and it showed in a 31-10 opening round playoff win over the No. 10-ranked Norris Titans at Moylan Field... SkyHawks capture sub-district crown OMAHA The 10th-ranked Bennington Badger volleyball team drew the unenviable task of playing top-seed and second-ranked Skutt Catholic in the opening round of the Class B-2 sub-district tournament at... Cavs down Mustangs WAHOO The Concordia Mustang volleyball team saw its season come to an end with a loss to the second-ranked Bishop Neumann Cavaliers in the first game of the Class... Antlers roll past Dukes into quarterfinals ELKHORN The Elkhorn High football team began its title defense with an impressive 36-0 victory over York Friday in its Class B State Playoffs home opener. The defense played... Falcons season ends in Wahoo WAHOO The 2021 season came to an end for the Douglas County West volleyball team in Wahoo when they were defeated in four sets by the sixth-ranked Wahoo Warriors... US Seeks Expanded Access to Greek Bases The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. A Del Mar bluffs recent collapse provided new impetus to a campaign to relocate a railroad track that sits atop seaside cliffs lining the citys shore. Frank Stonebanks, who leads Citizens for Access to Del Mar Beach, Bluffs and Trails, said the Aug. 22 incident illustrates the urgent need for action. Yet, regional plans dont call for moving the tracks eastward off the promontories between Solana Beach and Sorrento Valley for another three decades. Its going to take people waking up one morning and seeing, Pacific Surfliner crashes into the ocean; 50 people dead, Stonebanks said. Unfortunately until something like that happens, I dont think anybodys going to do anything about it. The collapse of an approximately 60-foot-wide sandstone cliff face near the foot of 11th Street occurred shortly before 3 p.m. No one was present underneath the dirt and debris that fell on the beach and no injuries were reported. Train traffic between the Solana Beach station north of Del Mar and the Sorrento Valley depot to the south was halted for a couple of hours, while the tracks were inspected to ensure safety. The bluffs that line much of the coast from Oceanside to San Diego are notoriously unstable. Collapses occur periodically and have caused fatalities. Officials warn beachgoers to avoid lingering close to the fragile cliffs. Built more than a century ago, the coastal railroad continues to provide service between San Diego and Los Angeles. In addition to Amtrak trains, the tracks in San Diego County are used by Coaster local commuter trains operated by the North County Transit District. While much of the route has been or is in the process of being double-tracked to expand capacity, that is impossible through Del Mar because the bluff tops are too narrow to accommodate another track. Del Mar residents have fretted for years about the potential for crumbling hillsides resulting from erosion they believe is exacerbated by vibrations of the locomotives zooming along rails a few steps from the cliffs. Yet, bluff collapse is not the only issue presented by the the rails and train traffic through Del Mar. Stonebanks learned that firsthand about two years ago, he said. Like many residents for whom it is a daily ritual, Stonebanks crossed the tracks to access a path down to the beach, only to be slapped with a citation and $400 fine by a sheriffs deputy. I saw warning signs that said it was dangerous, but I had no idea it was illegal, Stonebanks said. The experience motivated Stonebanks, who moved with his family to Del Mar from New York City four years ago, to explore the issue of the railroad and beach access. Contrary to most California coastal cities, Stonebanks learned, most of Del Mar lacks legal access to the beach. For about a 2 1/2-mile stretch from 15th Street to Torrey Pines State Beach at the citys southern border, people cross the tracks to get to the beach at risk of either tickets or mortal injury. On average, 11 people a year are killed on the tracks between San Diego and Oceanside, Stonebanks said. He acknowledged the majority of the victims are suicides, but contends the lack of access in Del Mar exacerbates the danger. Stonebanks inquiry led to the formation of the citizens group and the creation of a petition presented to the Del Mar City Council, the North County Transit District, which oversees the tracks, and other agencies. The petition calls for more leniency in enforcement of the railroad-crossing prohibition; the creation of safe, legal beach access points and a public park encompassing the bluffs, along the bluffs; and the eventual relocation of the tracks inland away from the bluffs. As for the enforcement issue, Stonebanks point was amply illustrated while he was being interviewed at the foot of 11th Street. A dozen or so pedestrians, mostly clad in bathing suits and toting surfboards, stepped across the tracks and disappeared down the path to the beach. The trail lies about 50 feet north of the collapsed bluff face. Here, you can get a $400 fine and a possible permanent mark on your record for going surfing, Stonebanks said. Weve proven that (NCTDs) enforcement actions dont work. Handing out tickets and stuff is not working. The petition got results in regard to its point regarding beach access. Del Mar, the transit district and the San Diego Association of Governments jointly funded a study now in progress. In his and his groups quest, Stonebanks said hes found strong support from the Del Mar City Council and Mayor Dwight Worden. Id like to see at least one beach access installed in the next few years so people dont have to risk citations and risk their lives, Worden said in a recent interview. As for moving the tracks, Stonebanks described it as a big ask, given the likely cost of more than a billion dollars and the requisite cooperation of local, state and federal agencies. Despite the difficulties, Worden stressed it should happen, not only for bluff protection and safety, but for the economic benefit of increasing rail commerce. Some people say Im tilting at windmills, he said. To me, thats a tilting worth fighting for. ... Im pushing to try to make it happen sooner rather than later. Stonebanks said he and his group will keep pushing for their goals and he plans to continue lobbying Del Mar, NCTD and other relevant agencies in his quest. Yet, he remains skeptical. Egypt's Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki told soldiers and commanders of the Third Army that armed forces are working on development and reconstruction in Sinai while still rooting out terrorism, a statement by the army spokesperson Tamer El-Refai read. Zaki gave the speech during a meeting with Third Army field officials concerning the implementation of the planned visions of internal security and eliminating terrorism in accordance to the Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018. Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 is a counter-terrorism campaign which involves the army, navy, air force and police. The operation was launched in February to target terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in north and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta, and the Western Desert. The meeting began with all the Army commanders, soldiers, and officers standing for one minute to mourn those army and police forces who have been killed in action. Zaki stressed that the development of combat and technical capabilities of the units in all branches and specializations is a top concern of the General Command of the Armed Forces. He also pointed out that the challenges faced to root out terrorism and extremism will not deter the armed forces from achieving security and stability. The minister also expressed his pride in the heads of tribes of central and southern Sinai, and appreciated their patriotic role and their full support for the armed forces in their fight against terrorism. He also opened a dialogue with the Third Army, in which he listened to their views and inquiries across a variety of topics. He called on them to exert more effort and attention to the physical fitness and morale of the fighters as a cornerstone for building the fighting individual while also maintaining the highest levels of efficiency and combat readiness. He finished with expressing his gratitude concerning the high moral and determination to confront extremism and terrorism. The meeting was attended by Mohamed Farid, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and a number of senior commanders of the armed forces. Search Keywords: Short link: The Del Mar Union School board revisited its school safety resolution on Aug. 29 and decided not to include an outright ban on semi-automatic or assault weapons. A group of parents has been requesting the ban since the board passed the safety resolution without one in April. The board did agree to remove language regarding working with community stakeholders, including gun owner organizations, to develop educational opportunities on firearm safety. Many parents believed the language was too vague and dangerous. The board is expected to vote on the revised resolution at its Sept. 26 meeting. Parents such as Kristen Panebianco, a member of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention, have spoken out on the districts resolution at the May and June board meetings. Panebianco and others were calling for stronger language that included a ban on assault weapons but also a ban on high capacity magazines, bump stocks and any other equipment, alteration or modification that would increase a firearms capacity for ammunition or rate of fire language that has been adopted by the boards of the Solana Beach, San Dieguito Union, San Diego Unified, Encinitas, Cardiff and Vista school districts. Clerk Erica Halpern said she was disappointed that the board was not including the ban in the resolution but she was in the minority. Only she and Stephen Cochrane supported including the ban. This came from the community and was a strong voice, Cochrane said. I could see them feeling like were not listening to them. President Kristin Gibson disagreed, saying she did listen but she does not agree. Gibson said in response to the request to add the language, she reached out to Sandy Hook Promise, the California School Boards Association (CSBA) and legal counsel to discuss whether such a ban should be in a school boards purview. She found it is legal and the board does have a right to include the language, however, the CSBA advised using broader, less specific language urging the state to invest in and support strategies to ensure that schools are safe and free from violence. Every single person I spoke with confirmed that a resolution, regardless of its contents, will have very little impact on making schools safer, Gibson said. To bring this sort of controversy here when I dont believe this resolution in and of itself is going to have any meaningful impact frightens me and it troubles me. While Del Mars resolution does not call for a ban on assault weapons, it does demand action from state and federal representatives regarding the sale, transfer, possession, manufacturing, and distribution of all firearms, dangerous weapons and ammunition. Stricter controls referenced in the resolution include background checks of all purchases of firearms as well as reasonable waiting periods and mandated training in the safe use of guns. The resolution also includes the districts implementation of a social and emotional learning curriculum, options-based training for all staff in response to an active shooting and the inclusion of mental health experts policies that promote a positive school environment so every child feels connected. A lot of the stuff in the CSBA-recommended resolution is about mental health issues: depression, violence, bullying. These are the things that we can have a direct impact and make our schools here in Del Mar the safest they can be, said board member Scott Wooden in favor of a resolution that stays out of the partisan fray. We are a non-partisan board. Were supposed to be non-partisan, were supposed to look out for whats best for the students and were supposed to educate and thats what Ive been trying to advocate for here in my position on the board. Board member Doug Rafner said he did not see a resolution as having any effect as he hasnt seen anything come out of other school districts adopting the stronger language, six months removed from the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 students and staff members were killed. A resolution is really a meaningless gesture, Rafner said. I dont want to do something thats meaningless that ends up polarizing our community which clearly it has. During public comment, the board heard from both sides of the issue. Kara Chine, speaking on behalf of Team Enough, a group of teen activists from Canyon Crest Academy, Torrey Pines High School and San Dieguito High School Academy, argued that the words that the district uses do matter and a resolution could have an impact. (Team Enough) would like me to implore you to use your language, use your leadership and acknowledge your responsibility to the children of your districtThey are a generation of future voters that know things must change and will, said Chine. They are tired of being afraid and they are looking at their communities, their teachers, their city leaders to make clear stands with specific language about what can or cant happen in the schools. They hope to see these places as sanctuaries of safety again. Panebianco argued that a resolution is not meaningless when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks about gun control being solved at the local level and the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos considers allowing states to use federal educational grants to purchase guns for schools. Your voice matters, Panebianco urged. What you say to our officials matters. They care what you think and what represents us. Michael Schwartz of San Diego County Gun Owners encouraged the board to be school board members and not anti-gun activists. The last time I was here you passed a reasonable, middle-of-the road proclamation that you all pretty much agreed on. But thats not enough for the extremists who arent happy with the proclamation thats just about school safety, Schwartz said. Dont allow yourself to be used and dragged into a national issue that is far beyond the scope of what you should be doing as a school board. Del Mar resident Paul Hines agreed, noting while he was in favor of reducing violence in schools of all kinds, a ban would present itself as a blatant attempt to undermine his second amendment rights. While the board agreed to remove the language about gun owner groups and other stakeholder groups helping to provide educational opportunities on firearm safety and storage, they believed parents confusion was mostly in the unfortunate phrasing in the resolution. This never meant we were going to have gun owner organizations working directly with our children in our classrooms but safe storage is such a significant issue, I dont think gun safety should be something that just happens at home, Gibson said. Woodens concern has been in the area of safe gun storage and educating the parent community. Gibson cited frightening statistics that approximately half of all gun owners dont lock up their guns in their homes, including 40 percent of households with kids under age 18. Guns used in 80 percent of all incidents at schools were taken from the home of a friend or relative. At the end of the last school year, the district promoted the ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Campaign which encourages parents to ask Is there an unlocked gun in your house? before sending a child over to play. As Halpern said, while the language in the resolution was troubling to some, the district should play a role and normalize the behavior of asking if firearms are safely stored, Thats one way to have an actual impact, she said. During public comment, Schwartz had strong words for any board member who would support an assault weapons ban as well as for Cochrane personally. Youve lost your partys support and endorsement even though you worked so hard to get it when you ran, Schwartz told Cochrane, referencing the Republican Party of San Diego County. Were going to run somebody against you in 2020. Schwartz told the board that if they voted in favor of a ban, San Diego County Gun Owner members would show up in mass until the decision was reversed and said board members would hear and see their names on political radio shows and in op-eds about the extremism and gun activism that they prefer to do over school board business. I dont care if my name is on the news. I dont care if Im never elected again, Gibson said in response. Im going to do what I think is best for kids and those who dont agree with me, I apologize for that, but that is exactly how Im going to be making my decisions. By Kaori Kaneko 4 September 2018 TOKYO (Reuters) Japan began on Wednesday to clean up after a powerful typhoon killed 11 people, injured hundreds and stranded thousands at a flooded airport, though when the airport in an industrial and tourist hub might reopen was not clear.Typhoon Jebi, or swallow in Korean, was briefly a super typhoon and was the most powerful storm to hit Japan in 25 years. It came after months of heavy rain, landslides, floods, and record-breaking heat that killed hundreds of people this summer. []Winds that in many places gusted to the highest ever recorded in Japan, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, left a swathe of damage, with fruit and vegetables, many about to be harvested, hit especially hard. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was criticized in July 2018 for an initially slow response to devastating floods that month, posted updates on the rescue efforts at Kansai. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. 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. Homecare platform startup Ucarer launches in Silicon Valley Taiwan-headquartered Ucarer, which helps connect Chinese seniors who need in-home care with homecare professionals, is seeking series B funding as it begins to expand business to Silicon Valley. With its recent launch in Silicon Valley, Ucarer has become the first homecare service platform that specializes in serving the Chinese community in the US. Tech startups are raciing to gain foothold in the homecare space where demand for high-quality and personalized in-home care is growing. Ucarer cited Aging in Place Technology Watch as indicating that tech-enabled homecare startups have received more than US$400 million of funding as of 2018. Chinese in-home care market is underserved largely because of cultural elements and yet Chinese homecare players are currently still in an infancy stage. Ucarer said it has raised US$1.5 million in series A round, led by Taiwan-based family funds in 2017. The company started in 2015 in Taiwan by co-founders Hung-yi Chen, David Lin, and Wilson Liu. The founding members each have two decades of experiences in ecommerce operations, software development, and caregivers management under their belts. Prior to Ucarer, Chen, now Ucarer's chairman, started his career in CRM (customer relationship management) product development management at Oracle, and later came to manage products in different lines of business within Oracle. Then he was CIO and VP of Monday Tech Taiwan, an ecommerce company which was later acquired by Yahoo. Throughout his work and living experiences in Silicon Valley, Taiwan and China, Chen said he understands the homecare needs of the Chinese community. "In addition to Taiwan, the Chinese American market in Silicon Valley is the market we're aiming for," said Chen. "There are over seven millions of Chinese immigrants in the US and Canada, and 10% of that population is living in San Francisco Bay Area. The SF Bay Area market demand is around US$250 million annually," he said. Chen also explained that the plan is to use the new capital to further penetrate the Taiwan market and to develop business in the US market. The company chose to land in Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale with the initial focus on the Chinese market in Silicon Valley. Jessica Su, Ucarer's caregiver support director who is in charge of the management of caregivers, said "caregivers who want to offer their services via the platform are thoroughly interviewed and qualified by Ucarer before their detailed information can be added to the portal. Through the know-hows in screening processes, we can deploy the caregivers quickly and carefully." Ucarer started in Taiwan and plans to expand the service to Chinese population all over the world. In Taiwan, the platform offers its customers different care service providers, ranging from certified caregivers, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and creative arts therapists. "We're not simply taking the business model from Taiwan to apply in the US," said Chen. "We want to build Ucarer as a household brand name in the US with expanded service to include massages and acupuncture therapists," he added. After launching in Silicon Valley, the company plans to expand to southern California next and eventually all over the US. Ucarer co-founder and chairman Hung-yi Chen (left), and team member Adam Lin at Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale. Photo: Company A Giza criminal court sentenced four people to fourteen years in prison on Wednesday in the retrial of a case over the killing of a prominent Shia leader and three other members of the shrinking Egyptian Shia Muslim community in June 2013. The court convicted the four men of manslaughter of the Shia leader Hassan Shehata and three members of his family and his followers. The case dates back to June 2013, when an angry mob led by Salafist sheikhs torched Shia residences in the small village of Zawyat Abu Musalam in Giza governorate, killing four citizens. Shehata was visiting one of the families in the village when the attack happened. The attack was videotaped and the footage sent shockwaves across the country. This is not the first time that an Egyptian court has issued sentences on the case, which has seen a number of appeals. In the first sentencing of the case in 2015, 23 defendants, including 18 in absentia, were sentenced to 14 years prison for killing the four men. Eight others were acquitted. In 2017, nearly two years after the first sentence, Egypt's Court of Cassation rejected an appeal presented by nine of the defendants, upholding their 14 year sentences. Search Keywords: Short link: The UK appointed a new ambassador to Egypt, replacing John Casson, who held the post since August 2014, a statement by the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said on Wednesday. In a press release, the FCO said Sir Geoffrey Adams has been appointed the UK's Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt in succession of Casson. Casson was known to be one of the most engaging foreign diplomats in Egypt, especially through his social media accounts, which took a special admiration to Egypt and its Arabic dialect. The 61-year-old Adams will take up his appointment in September 2018. The new ambassador held the post of UK Ambassador to the Netherlands from 2013 until 2017. He served as ambassador in Tehran from 2006 until 2009. He was once the Deputy Head of Mission in Cairo from 1998 through 2001, as well as several posts in Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia. Search Keywords: Short link: More crimes against humanity were committed in Burundi in 2017 and 2018, whipped up by rhetoric from top officials including President Pierre Nkurunziza, a U.N. human rights report said on Wednesday. Burundi has tried and failed to stop the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2016, and refuses to cooperate with it. The commission said last year that officials at the highest level were responsible for crimes against humanity. "The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity continue to be committed in Burundi," the Commission's latest report said. "These crimes include murder, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity, and persecution on political grounds." Nkurunziza's spokesman and Burundis human rights minister declined to make an immediate comment. Burundi has been seized by violence since early 2015 when Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term, widely seen as a breach of the constitution. Clashes between security forces and rebels left hundreds dead and forced about half a million to flee -- rattling a region still haunted by the memories of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, which has a similar ethnic mix to Burundi. In May this year a referendum changed the constitution in a way that could allow him to remain president until 2034. "This climate of disregard for human rights continues to be fomented by repeated instances in which hatred and violence have been advocated by the authorities, including the Head of State and members of (the ruling party) CNDD-FDD," the commission said. The Commission said Nkurunziza's policies, pouring resources into security at the expense of social services, increasing debt and the burden on women looking after families, had turned Burundi from a developing country to a humanitarian emergency. "In the space of two years, the number of people 'in need', mainly in terms of health care, food, water, hygiene and sanitation, increased from 1 million to 3.6 million, representing more than 34 per cent of the population." Corruption and "misappropriation of public funds among high-level authorities" were further depleting state resources, it said. Members of the National Intelligence Service and the police, including high-ranking officials, committed a large number of human rights violations, and the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling party, was playing a growing role, the report said. Opponents of the government had been detained and tortured, often by the Imbonerakure, the commission said. The number of summary executions appeared to have diminished since 2015, when they took place on a large scale, but the perpetrators took care to cover their tracks by weighing down the bodies and throwing them into rivers, it said. Search Keywords: Short link: Creating an enabling environment for pan-European banks in the Banking Union Remarks by Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Eurofi Financial Forum 2018, Vienna, 5 September 2018 In recent years, the European Union has achieved major progress towards financial integration. We now have a single supervisor and a single resolution authority, and banks are subject to the same European rulebook. The Banking Union contributes to providing effective mechanisms for cross-border risk-sharing and broadening the sources of funding within a country, thereby promoting macroeconomic stability and growth. However, we still observe a number of obstacles that hinder the fungibility of capital and liquidity of banking groups. Very often, these obstacles relate to regulatory fragmentation and ring-fencing of national markets. Further harmonisation would help to address many of the issues, while appropriate prudential safeguards can be put in place to address possible financial stability concerns by national authorities. First, a number of national options and discretions are hindering the practical application of cross-border liquidity waivers within the Union. While such waivers are explicitly allowed by the CRR, and already contain prudential safeguards, so far the ECB has received almost no application for their use from the banks it supervises. An important reason for this lack of applications is the existence of national large exposure limits on intragroup exposures in several European countries. These limits prevent institutions in these countries from transferring liquidity within the group in a flexible manner and thus represent practical obstacles to the use of liquidity waivers. Effectively, they are hindering the free flow of liquidity in the Banking Union and should be harmonised further. Second, the proposal to have cross-border capital waivers within the EU was not taken forward in the on-going review of the CRR, which is a missed opportunity. Such waivers would be consistent with the establishment of the SSM and the Banking Union and help to support the free flow of capital across the Union. On the one hand, it is understandable that some national authorities are concerned about the possible financial stability implications of the proposal. On the other hand, such concerns could be addressed by making the waivers subject to additional prudential safeguards, and by putting in place appropriate transition arrangements that account for the planned further progress on the Banking Union. Third, the major progress we have made in our Banking Union needs to be recognised also in the international regulatory framework. For example, the G-SIB framework currently penalises cross-border transactions within the Banking Union by attaching a higher systemic risk score to banks with more of such transactions. This goes against the very rationale of the Banking Union, as it reduces the incentives for cross-border transactions and risk diversification. The international regulatory framework should recognise the progress that has been made in the Banking Union and exclude intra Banking Union positions from the cross-jurisdictional indicators in the G-SIB methodology. Fourth, there are also some resolution related aspects that warrant further consideration. In particular, the allocation of internal MREL has turned out to be an area of tension between national jurisdictions. Jurisdictions with a foreign bank subsidiary prefer to have a high pre-positioning of internal MREL to ensure an orderly resolution of its local subsidiary. However, this implies a certain degree of ring-fencing to the detriment of the foreign parent bank. The compromise reached by Member States in the Council only allows that internal MREL is waived if the resolution entity and the subsidiary are located in the same Member State, neglecting the fact that we have achieved so much in terms of joint supervision and resolution among euro area countries. To account for this progress, internal MREL waivers on a cross-border basis in the Banking Union should be allowed as this would contribute to continuous cross-border banking, e.g. by generating efficiency gains and promoting further integration. Therefore, it should also be possible to use guarantees to replace internal MREL and allow for more flexibility in the allocation of resources within the Banking Union. Of course, to install confidence it will be important to have adequate safeguards in place, including that there is no legal or practical impediments to the provision of support by the parent to the subsidiary, in particular when the resolution action is taken. By Lucyna Gornicka, Christophe Kamps, Gerrit Koester and Nadine Leiner-Killinger[1] Economists often try to forecast whether the economy as a whole will grow or contract. When measuring the effects of fiscal policy measures on economic activity, such forecasts are based on so-called multipliers. Using a new dataset compiled from economic forecasts and recommendations by the European Commission under the excessive deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact, we derive the multipliers that were assumed by forecasters during the European sovereign debt crisis to project the effects of fiscal consolidation on economic growth. Our results confirm that forecasters adapted their assumptions on multipliers as the crisis progressed and accounted for larger effects of consolidation on growth later on in the crisis. Another finding is that the actual fiscal multipliers were not exceptionally large during the crisis. As is well known, from 2008 the euro area was faced with a financial crisis, and national government debts increased to often unprecedented levels. In order to deal with this crisis-induced increase in debt, as of 2010 many euro area countries embarked on a process known as fiscal retrenchment, i.e. raising taxes and/or cutting public services. The crisis reignited a controversial debate on the impact of fiscal policies the use of taxes and government spending to influence the overall economy on economic growth. The fact that the impact of fiscal policies on growth is not directly observable but has to be estimated lies at the heart of this debate. Forecasters usually try to estimate the effects of fiscal measures on growth using the so-called fiscal multiplier. This measures the effect of a 1 change in government spending or a 1 change in taxes on economic activity as measured by GDP. At the height of the sovereign debt crisis in 2011 and 2012, GDP growth was much lower than forecasters had expected especially in the countries worst hit by the crisis. In an influential contribution to the policy debate at the time, two economists, Olivier Blanchard and Daniel Leigh, argued that the forecast errors came about largely because forecasters had underestimated the feedback effects of fiscal consolidation on economic growth in other words, forecasters underestimated fiscal multipliers.[2] At the same time, Blanchard and Leigh (2013, 2014) found that the underestimation of these negative feedback effects declined in the later years of the crisis. They conjectured that this reflected at least in part the lessons learned by forecasters in the course of the crisis about the size of fiscal multipliers. In a recent paper of our own, we test this hypothesis. We identify the fiscal multipliers used by forecasters at the European Commission during the sovereign debt crisis between 2009 and 2015 and investigate their role in explaining forecast errors during consolidation episodes. We find that the forecasters did indeed adjust their assumptions about the impact of fiscal retrenchment on growth to incorporate a larger negative impact as the crisis progressed. A new dataset One of the strengths of our paper and one of its advantages over the papers by Blanchard and Leigh is its use of a new dataset. Our dataset is new in that it combines the two forecast scenarios published by the European Commission when conducting its surveillance of fiscal policies in the European Union (EU): the regular forecasts and the forecasts made under the excessive deficit procedure (EDP). In the regular Commission forecasts, the economic outlook is based on the assumption that no fiscal consolidation measures will be undertaken beyond those already legislated for. In the forecasts under the EDP, the Commission specifies the size of the additional fiscal consolidation that would be recommended to reduce an excessive deficit to below the 3% of GDP threshold by a certain year.[3] We then compare the two forecasts. With a limited number of assumptions, it is possible to calculate the fiscal multipliers for individual countries and years as applied by the forecasters at the European Commission. It transpires that all EU Member States except Estonia, Luxembourg and Sweden were under the EDP at the height of the sovereign debt crisis. For this reason, we could derive the fiscal multipliers as actually applied by the European Commission for almost all EU Member States in the period 2009-15. Learning effects What do our results show? They show that forecasters definitely learned from the crisis. This can be seen from the increases they made to the fiscal multipliers used in the European Commissions recommendations. By how much did their multipliers increase? In the early years of the crisis, between 2009 and 2011, the recommendations were based on assumptions of a fiscal multiplier of around 1/4 on average, that is, below what forecasters often consider to be the standard value of 1/2. By contrast, later on in the crisis, between 2012 and 2015, most forecasts under the EDP were based on fiscal multiplier assumptions that were much higher than this level at around 2/3. As shown in Chart 1, 18 EDP forecasts issued in the second half of 2009 are based on an ex ante implicit fiscal multiplier of around 0.1. The five EDP forecasts issued in the first half of 2010 are based, on average, on an even lower implicit fiscal multiplier of close to 0. These low implicit fiscal multipliers reflect the implicit assumption at the beginning of the crisis that fiscal retrenchment would have only very limited negative effects on growth if any. In fact, given that the private sector was concerned about the state of public finances in the light of soaring deficit and debt levels, fiscal tightening was expected by some to raise confidence and ultimately growth.[4] As the crisis continued, however, it became obvious that fiscal adjustment had had a more negative impact on growth in the early years of the crisis than anticipated. Therefore, it is likely that the broad-based rise in implicit fiscal multipliers during the later years of the crisis reflects the fact that, as previously posited by Blanchard and Leigh, forecasters did indeed learn as the crisis progressed. Chart 1: Ex ante fiscal multipliers in EDP recommendations issued by the ECOFIN Council between 2009 and 2015 (number of EDP recommendations indicated above columns) Note: EDP recommendations issued by the ECOFIN Council. The y-axis reflects the average size of the fiscal multiplier across all the EDP recommendations issued. For the second half of 2010, the average multiplier excludes the outlier, Finland, for which the EDP is based on an implicit multiplier of close to 2. No new EDP recommendations were issued in 2011. The data is depicted on a half-yearly basis for the early years of the crisis (from the first half of 2009 to the second half of 2011) to reflect the fact that recommendations under the EDP were issued throughout the year, which was not always the case in the later years under consideration. Source: European Commission, own calculations. Implications for the estimation of true ex post fiscal multipliers What can these findings tell us about the unobservable true ex post fiscal multipliers, that is, the actual impact that fiscal retrenchment had on growth during the sovereign debt crisis? To infer something about the true ex post fiscal multipliers, Blanchard and Leigh start from two hypotheses: first, fiscal forecasters applied a standard fiscal multiplier of 0.5 in their projections; and, second, lower than initially projected growth indicates the extent to which this standard fiscal multiplier underestimated the actual impact of governments fiscal consolidation plans on growth. They conclude for a country sample broadly comparable to ours and across forecasts by different international institutions that multipliers were markedly above 1, implying that each euro of fiscal consolidation reduced output by more than this amount. Does our analysis of information contained in the EDP recommendations support these findings that the true ex post fiscal multipliers are higher than expected? Not quite. We find that the true ex post multiplier remained below 1 at the height of the crisis. As argued by Blanchard and Leigh, our analysis shows that the impact of fiscal retrenchment on growth was indeed larger than initially assumed by forecasters. But we show that their initial assumption at the time was not what experts consider standard, but markedly below that. These very optimistic beliefs regarding the limited impact of consolidation on growth indeed imply that their true impact was larger, but not by as much as Blanchard and Leigh posit. Our analysis benefited from the European Commissions increased transparency regarding the fiscal policy recommendations that are issued to EU Member States under the EDP. More transparency regarding the applied fiscal multipliers would generally enhance the impact of forecasting by international institutions and thus, ultimately, improve policy-making. References Alesina, A. and Ardagna, S. (2010), Large Changes in Fiscal Policy: Taxes versus Spending, Tax Policy and the Economy, Vol. 24(1), pp. 35-68. Blanchard, O. and Leigh, D. (2013), Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, Vol. 103(3), pp. 117-120. Blanchard, O. and Leigh, D. (2014) Learning about Fiscal Multipliers from Growth Forecast Errors, IMF Economic Review, Vol. 62 (2), pp. 179-212. Gornicka, L., Kamps, C., Koester, G. and Leiner-Killinger, N. (2018) Learning about fiscal multipliers during the European sovereign debt crisis: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment, ECB Working Paper Series, No. 2154, Frankfurt am Main. Alaska in quandary over federal plan to boost deep-sea fish farming Alaskans have expressed concern over a federal plan to increase aquaculture production by boosting open-ocean fish farms. According to a news report published by juneauempire.com, the Alaskans made known their reservations over the plan to acting Undersecretary Tim Gallaudet of the Department of Commerce on Aug. 31 during a listening session at the end of a weeklong gathering of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts in Juneau. Gallaudet said the strategic plan was an "initiative to grow the American blue economy," referring to the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. He also said that the commerce department aimed to "reduce the seafood trade deficit". The report also mentioned President Donald Trump's trade war with China as having resulted in Chinese tariffs on Alaska seafood exported to that country, and American tariffs on processed Alaska seafood products imported from China. "A strong U.S. marine aquaculture industry will serve a key role in US food security and improve our trade balance with other nations", the plan states. Ban on fish farms Alaska's concern over the federal plan stems from the fact that Alaska bans fish farms. Its jurisdiction extends only to waters three miles offshore. Beyond that is considered federal waters, and the state ban does not apply. Aquaculture in Alaska is almost limited to the production of shellfish and aquatic plants. These include Pacific oysters, blue mussels, littleneck clams, scallops and bull kelp. However, non-profit mariculture continues to provide a steady supply of aquaculture in the state. "We are very concerned about the aquaculture activities," Frances Leach, director of the United Fishermen of Alaska, was quoted as saying in the report. She suggested that any National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines allow an opt-out clause applicable to Alaska. But Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries and former director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said concerns about aquaculture were misplaced. "In terms of finfish, I think we're talking about very contained operations, as opposed to hatchery operations", he said. Dairy exports from Belarus to China increase 5.6 times Aleksei Bogdanov, head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, revealed during a press conference in Minsk on Monday, enterprises affiliated with the Ministry increased dairy exports to China 5.6 times from the period of January - July 2018. "From January - July 2018, Belarus' farm export to China totalled to $23.3 million, which is an increase of 4.2 times more, as compared to the same period last year. Dairy was the biggest contributor. In January - July, we set a record of having supplied 57,300 tonnes valuing at $20 million. Dairy exports to China rose almost 5.6 times in terms of money and 6.9 times in terms of volume," Bogdanov shared. The first container train carrying Belarusian dairy products set off to China on September 4. He added, "The plans are set to add more cars to trains. The goal is to ramp up dairy exports to China up to 100 containers per month and to extend the product range. Today we sent skimmed milk to China. We also supply whey and dried whole milk. We actively promote finished products such as cheese and butter. Moving forward, we are seeking to branch out into the Chinese yoghurt market." China has approved almost all of Belarusian dairy plants to export their products into the country. Source: Belarus News New Australia-Indonesia trade deal augurs well for Aussie cattlemen Australia and Indonesia have announced the conclusion of the negotiations for the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which was welcomed by the Australian livestock and red meat industry. Indonesia is an important market for the industry in that it purchases significant quantities of Australian live cattle, beef and offal. "IA-CEPA is a most welcome addition to the suite of FTAs [free trade agreements] the Australian Government has concluded to date with key trading partners", said David Foote, chair of the industry's IA-CEPA taskforce. According to Meat & Livestock Australia, IA-CEPA will deliver: -- A quota (with a 0% in-quota tariff) for 575,000 head of live (male) cattle, which will grow by 4% per annum over five years to 700,000 head. Import permits will be issued automatically on an annual basis and without seasonal restrictions - a welcome improvement on previous administrative procedures. A review of this trade will be conducted after five years to consider future increases in the quota (i.e. above 700,000 head). -- Liberalised access for female live cattle exported to Indonesia, with 0% tariff on entry into force (EIF) of the agreement and no quota or import permit restrictions. -- Immediate or gradual liberalisation of tariffs applicable to boxed beef and sheep meat exports to Indonesia - whereby those tariff lines not already benefiting from 0% tariffs secured under AANZFTA, will benefit from either a 0% or 2.5% tariff on EIF (down from 5%) with the tariffs being eliminated altogether over five years. -- Similar advantages will be extended to frozen offals - with the 5% tariff eliminated on EIF of the agreement. "In an increasingly competitive market, whereby Indonesia is granting access to numerous beef suppliers, a removal of these import tariffs will assist in maintaining Australian product's cost competitiveness," Foote said. Last year, Australia exported a total of 512,871 tonnes of live cattle and in the first seven months of this year, live cattle exports totalled 290,150 tonnes, according to Meat & Livestock Australia. In terms of head count, Australia's cattle exports to Indonesia last year numbered 511,878, which accounted for 58% of all exported cattle, according to figures from the Australian Livestock Export Corp. Ltd. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the foreign minister, ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay on Wednesday hours after the Latin American nation said it had decided to return its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The United States and Guatemala also moved their embassies to Jerusalem in May and Netanyahu has attempted to persuade other countries to follow their lead. "Israel views with great severity the unusual decision by Paraguay that will strain the ties between the countries," a brief statement from the Prime Minister's office said. Former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes travelled to Israel to inaugurate the new embassy in May. He was replaced by Mario Abdo, also a member of the conservative Colorado party, last month. Search Keywords: Short link: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he did not discuss assassinating Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, which journalist Bob Woodward has reported in his forthcoming book about Trump's administration, according to multiple media outlets. Trump, speaking to reporters during a visit with Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, also said that if there is a slaughter in the Idlib province of Syria, the United States will be very angry. The Syrian military shelled Idlib, the last stronghold of active rebellion against al-Assad, on Wednesday as a war monitor said insurgents blew up a bridge in anticipation of a government offensive. Search Keywords: Short link: Blog Archive November (11) October (92) September (92) August (120) July (122) June (82) May (82) April (76) March (100) February (106) January (143) December (132) November (90) October (62) September (64) August (77) July (67) June (89) May (92) April (75) March (87) February (85) January (86) December (74) November (67) October (60) September (60) August (59) July (64) June (51) May (62) April (52) March (58) February (69) January (68) December (70) November (78) October (98) September (77) August (70) July (68) June (60) May (67) April (54) March (61) February (55) January (69) December (61) November (53) October (48) September (40) August (47) July (55) June (56) May (71) April (55) March (43) February (3) December (14) November (48) October (46) September (39) August (27) July (18) June (33) May (44) April (38) March (31) February (34) January (34) December (26) November (57) October (43) September (81) August (66) July (77) June (85) May (70) April (56) March (49) February (32) January (39) December (42) November (25) October (16) September (36) August (34) July (40) June (55) May (45) April (62) March (56) February (57) January (60) December (58) November (50) October (55) September (31) August (77) July (65) June (27) May (52) April (53) March (77) February (75) January (36) December (24) November (31) October (31) September (29) August (30) July (49) June (53) May (61) April (65) March (96) February (35) January (53) December (56) November (52) October (51) September (109) August (94) July (70) June (65) May (85) April (80) March (96) February (74) January (79) December (75) November (104) October (105) September (108) August (86) July (101) June (106) May (100) April (97) March (103) February (92) January (95) December (137) November (122) October (173) September (111) August (178) July (168) June (184) May (193) April (161) March (149) February (121) January (131) December (120) November (97) October (137) September (105) August (133) July (120) June (103) May (111) April (72) March (48) February (58) January (27) Search All categories Advertising General Aerospace General Agriculture General Airlines General America - Post 9/11 General Apparel General Apple Products General Architectural General Architecture Architecture Art & Entertainments Books Celebrities Country Music Dance Magazines Movies Museums Music Music Downloads News & Talk Shows Performing Arts Photography Television Web Sites Arts/Culture General Auction General Automotive Aftermarket Classic Autos Consumer Publications General Motorcycle & Bike Racing Recreational Vehicle Repair & Service Trade Publications Blogging & Social Media Blogging & Social Media Business Advertising / Marketing Books Consumer Research Direct Marketing e-Commerce Entrepreneurs Finance Franchise Human Resources Insurance Investment Management Markets Network Marketing Online Marketing / SEO Payday Loans Public Relations Publications Real Estate Retail Stocks Supermarkets Women in Business Careers/HR General Chemical General Coaching / Mentoring Coaching / Mentoring Computers Apple Products Databases Games & Entertainment General Hosting Instruction Linux / GNU "Open Source" Macintosh Microsoft Windows PC Operating Systems Programming Security Software Tablet PCs Utilities Construction General Consumer Gifts and Collectibles Hobbies Web sites / Internet Design Graphic Design Industrial Web E-Cigarette General eCommerce General Economy General Education College / University General Home Schooling K-12 Post Graduate Technical Electronics General Email Marketing General EmailWire Press Releases Press Release Tips Employment/Careers General Engineering General Entertainment General Environment General Events / Trade Shows General Finance General Food General Franchise General Fraud / Identity Theft General Gaming General Government General Judicial Law Enforcement Legislative Local National Public Services Security State Transportation Healthcare General Home and Family Banking / Personal Finance Bereavement / Loss Home Furnishings / Interiors Landscaping & Gardening Marriage / Relationships Money Parenting Payday Loans Pets Taxes Wedding / Bridal Home Schooling General Hotels/Resorts General Household General Industry Aerospace / Defense Agriculture Apparel / Textiles Broadcast Construction / Building Electrical Food Funeral Healthcare Leisure / Hospitality Logistics / Shipping Manufacturing / Production Mining / Metals Oil / Energy Paper / Forest Products Plumbing, Heating & AC Print Media Printing Publishing Radio Restaurants Tobacco Toy Insurance General Internet/Online General Legal General Leisure General Lifestyle Beauty Dating / Singles Diet / Weight Loss Fashion Food / Beverage Health & Fitness Hotel / Resorts Pastimes Restaurants Retirement Travel & Tourism Machinery General Maritime General Medical Addiction Allergies Alternative Medicine Asthma Cancer Cardiology Chiropractic Dental Dermatology Diabetes Emergency Family Medicine General General Geriatrics Hospitals Infectious Diseases Internal Medicine Managed Care / HMO Medical Products Mental Health Neurology Nursing Nutrition OB / GYN Pediatrics Pharmaceuticals Physical Therapy Plastic Surgery Psychology Radiology / Imaging Research Sports Medicine Surgery Vision Military General Mining/Metals General Miscellaneous General Nanotechnology Nanotechnology Non-profit General Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Oil/Energy General Opinion / Editorial Opinion / Editorial Paper Products General Paper/Forest General Pharmaceuticals General Podcasting Announce Tools and Services Politics Politics Print Media General Public Utilities Public Utilities Publishing General Radio General Real Estate General Religion Christian General Islam Jewish Other Restaurants General Retail General RSS & Content Syndication RSS & Content Syndication Science and Research Science and Research Self-Help / Personal Growth Self-Help / Personal Growth Shipbuilding General Society African American Interests Asian Interests Childrens Issues Disabled Issues / Disabilities Gay / Lesbian Hispanic Mens Interests Native American Senior Citizens Social Services Teen Issues/Interests Womens Interest Software General Sports Baseball Basketball Bicycling Boating / Maritime Bowling Boxing Fishing Football Golf Hockey Hunting Martial Arts Outdoors Rugby Soccer Tennis Water Winter/Snow Sports/Fitness General Stocks General Supermarkets General Technology Biotechnology Computer Electronics Enterprise Software Games Graphics/Printing/CAD Hardware / Peripherals Industrial Information Internet Multimedia Networking Public Sector/Government Robotics Semiconductor Software Telecommunications Webmasters Telecom General Wireless Television General Tobacco General Trade General Transportation General Travel General Utilities General Volunteer Volunteer Weather Weather US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he remained open to the possibility of talks between Washington and Tehran, but said Iran was in turmoil and struggling to survive. "Iran is in turmoil right now. They're in total turmoil," Trump told reporters before a meeting with Kuwait's emir, without offering any evidence. "Now they are just worrying about their own survival as a country," he said. "We'll see what happens with Iran. Whether they want to talk or not, that's up to them, not up to me. I will always be available but it doesn't matter one way or the other." In May, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 international agreement intended to stall Tehran's nuclear capabilities and has since reimposed sanctions suspended under the deal. Trump said in July that he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani without any preconditions to discuss how to improve relations, which Rouhani dismissed. When asked whether he would be willing to meet Rouhani at the UN General Assembly, Trump, who will chair a Security Council meeting at the United Nations on Iran this month, said, "It's possible. Anything's possible. Anything's possible. We'll see." Search Keywords: Short link: UN envoy urges Erdogan and Putin to discuss Idlib "Telephone call between two of you would make big difference even before Tehran," Staffan de Mistura said. The UNs special envoy for Syria called on the leaders of Russia and Turkey on Tuesday to dialogue to effect a solution for Syria's Idlib. "YOU'RE THE ONES WHO CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE" "To President Putin and President Erdogan, you are the ones, who actually were able to talk to each other, make a telephone call, organize a formula that allows the end of that horrible peril not to be the worst," Staffan de Mistura said at a news conference at the UN Office in Geneva. "A telephone call between two of you would make a big difference even before Tehran," he added. "AN ERDOGAN-PUTIN MEETING WOULD BE EFFECTIVE" Talks on Syria in the Iranian capital will be held Sept. 7 with Iran, Russia, and Turkey. De Mistura said the situation in Idlib should be carefully evaluated in terms of politics and the military and a sustainable solution is not impossible as an Erdogan and Putin's one-on-one meeting would be effective. "There has often been in the past occasions for finding a reasonable, logical, non-dramatic solution. That's why I am urging them to talk," he remarked. SYRIANS FEAR FROM A POSSIBLE ATTACK The priority in Idlib is to protect civilians as women, men, teachers, medical staff, engineers, according to de Mistura, as children have been trapped in the unknown. Earlier Tuesday, de Mistura held a news conference in Geneva, where he said the organization is worried about a possible operation in Idlib by the Assad regime and its supporters. Civilians in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, fearing a possible assault by the regime and its allies, are looking to Turkey to ensure the regions safety. Residents are urging Turkey to increase the number of observation points in the area with a view to protecting civilians from an attack they believe is imminent. Located near the Turkish border, Idlib is home to more than 3 million Syrians, many of whom fled from other cities following attacks by regime forces. In May, Idlib was designated a de-escalation zone -- in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden -- as part of ongoing peace talks in Kazakh capital of Astana. A pioneering initiative to couple world-class research laboratories and business-management experts aims to create a European innovation ecosystem that will accelerate the development of disruptive technologies and their progress to market. ATTRACT, as the initiative is known, will commit 17 million to funding 170 breakthrough detection and imaging ideas with market potential to help enable the creation of products, services, companies and jobs based on these technologies. "Europe is at the forefront in science, and international research infrastructures play a pivotal role to enable excellence in science by providing services and by developing new technology. The sustainability of fundamental research, and its ability to contribute to the great societal challenges of our times, requires more than ever an ecosystem bringing together the worlds of basic science, innovative technology and industry in a collaborative and open framework. This will enable breakthrough research. But most importantly, it will allow to transfer new technology into new products and architectures for the development of our society, and to create new jobs for the upcoming generations of European citizens. ATTRACT aims to contribute to reach this ambitious objective" says Francesco Sette, director general of the ESRF. The ATTRACT seed fund is open to researchers and entrepreneurs from organisations all over Europe. The call for proposals is already open and will collect breakthrough ideas until the 31st of October 2018. A high-level, independent Research, Development and Innovation Committee will evaluate proposals and select those to be funded based on a combination of their scientific merit, innovation readiness and potential societal impact. The successful proposals will be announced in early 2019. The 170 breakthrough projects funded by ATTRACT will have one year to develop their ideas. During this phase, business and innovation experts from the ATTRACT Project Consortiums Aalto University, EIRMA and ESADE Business School will help project teams explore how their disruptive technology can be transformed into breakthrough innovations with strong market potential. Creating life-changing technologies for society Most scientific advances, technical applications, commercially worthwhile products and businesses targeting emerging societal challenges rely on detection and imaging technologies in some way. Disruptive innovations emerging from ATTRACT will trigger transformations that will have real impact on peoples lives. Examples of future applications for society could include: portable scanners for out-patient treatment; sensors to help the visually impaired navigate the world more easily; networks of sensors to make agriculture more productive and less energy-intensive; smarter use of monitoring and big data analysis to make factories work more efficiently; better forms of online learning; and new ways to accurately monitor climate change. Led by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the ATTRACT initiative involves the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the European XFEL, Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Aalto University, the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA) and ESADE. The initiative is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Driving the economy and jobs State-of-the-art detection and imaging technologies form the cornerstone for several industrial sectors, including ICT, energy, process industries, manufacturing, aeronautics, medicine, robotics, space and transport. These technologies drive a direct annual market of over 100 billion[i] (Frost & Sullivan Report, Top Technologies in Sensors & Control). The market for medical imaging and radiation detectors is worth 21 billion a year. a year. Satellite imaging is a 2 billion market , and is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% from 2018 to 2023. , and is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% from 2018 to 2023. Open data can unlock over 2.7 trillion in value. in value. The ICT sector represents 4% of the EUs GDP, and includes technologies such as advanced manufacturing, robotic arms, remote sensors, and opto-mechanical assemblies. European research already excels in these areas. The availability of ATTRACT funding will accelerate the development of breakthrough solutions, as well as improving Europes return on its scientific investment by capturing the interest of private investors business angels, venture capital firms and corporate investors. ATTRACT will also create multiple ways in which private investment can get involved in supporting the resultant businesses, thus creating economic growth for years to come. Michael Krisch, head of the Instrumentation Services and Development at the ESRF and chair of ATTRACT Project Consortium Board says: "I am particularly honored to chair the Project Consortium Board, which is the ultimate decision-making body of the ATTRACT Phase-I Project Consortium. As the major European X-ray facility, ESRF was furthermore charged to lead work package 3: Liaison with European and national Research Infrastructures, Academia, and Research & Technology Organisations, where we aim to make sure that the Open Call reaches all the relevant institutions who could potentially benefit from ATTRACT. I profoundly believe that ATTRACT will be a real game-changer in the way European Research Infrastructures will contribute to strengthen European Industry." The Egyptian cabinet approved at its weekly session on Wednesday a funding agreement of 205 million euros between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Egyptian government to upgrade the metros line one, one of the main transport systems in the Egyptian capital. The agreement will support the partial refurbishment of Cairos oldest metro line through rehabilitating the components of the railway infrastructure including energy units, signals, and central control systems. The metros first line was inaugurated in 1987 and serves up to 1.8 million commuters on daily basis, said the Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat, adding that efforts are being made to improve the service. The rehabilitation programme of the Egyptian metro is expected to receive an additional 350 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank and another 50 million euro loan from French development agency Agence Francaise de Developpement. The 33 station metro line stretching from El-Marg north Cairo to Helwan in the south is one of the three lines that connect Cairo. A fourth line is currently under construction. Search Keywords: Short link: Written by ACM *Strasbourg/- A badly Surprizing Verdict was issued Today for the cold-blood Murder of a young Girl aged 15, Mia Valentin, stabbed with a 20 cm. long Knife, by an Afghan Muslim mass irregular migrant/asylum seeker, Abdul Mobin Dawodzai, in Germany, on December 2017, at Nearby Kandel village of Rhineland-Palatinate (near the Borders to France) : - The brutal Killer's condemnation was limited to only ... 8 (eight) Years, (i.e., in practice, soon just 5 years, if not even less...), while various similar Deadly Attacks are still going on Nowadays also in several Other Locations throughout Europe (See Infra) ! On the Contrary, even for a mere, bloodless, Theft or Fraud, without any violence nor attack against any person, condemnations may extend, sometimes, beyond 10 Years + And, normally, a Murder is punished with at least 15 Years in Prison, (i.e. about the Double from what he got now !). Already, People were reportedly Demonstrating against such a Verdict on that Deadly Stabbing at Kandel. Moreover, Not any Independent Public Scrutiny was allowed during that case's Trial, since it was all conducted behind Closed Doors, "in camera"... According to Press Reports, this even Hinders Officials to Reveal, also Afterwards, what really Happened during his Trial ! The Pretext for Both those Exceptional measures was that the Killer had been considered, by German Authorities, as a ..."Child", and, therefore, benefited from relevant Legislation, due to protect "Minors" (i.e. Children). But, while he had declared to be only 15 y.o., in fact, according to the Official Expert who checked him, the Killer should have been aged, when he committed his Crime, somewhere between 17 and 20 y.o., most probably around 20, (i.e. he was already an Adult). Therefore, today, (on 2018), his Real Age would certainly be Over 20... Many Youngsters among those who massively came in Europe through Turkey, particularly on 2015-2016, notoriously use to claim that they are all ...underage "Children", with the result, for that Group of Immigrants to have the greatest percentage of so-called "Non-Accompagnied Children" in History ! But Medical and/or other Tests practiced f.ex. in the UK, reportedly discovered recently that more than 2/3 of those recent young migrants Massively imported through Turkey, whose real Age had been contested the last five years, were finaly found to be, in fact, Adults... By disguising themselves into so-called "Children", they obtain not only Legal Advantages (See above), but also Financial and Social ones : F.ex. they receive much More Money each Month, they are placed, not in Collective Centers, but at individual facilities in chosen foster Families, they benefit from special Education courses, etc. And they can even escape, much more easily than Adults, from severe Condemnations whenever they might commit an Horrible Crime, (as, f.ex., in the above mentioned case). Various German mainstream Politicians reportedly Urged for a much more Strict Examination of the Real Age of such Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants, precisely after several Recent Cases of this kind. All those Facts already started to provoke a growing Row, recently, in Germany, and elsewhere throughout Europe, but that is "nothing", compared to a Surprizing Inefficiency of the Police when there is a need to Protect innocent People from Brutal Aggressions, or even their Life, in such kind of cases : Indeed, among others, in this case of Mia Valentin, the Family of that Girl aged just 15 y.o. had already Denounced to the Police the ill-treatments, insults and threats that she reportedly faced from Abdul Mobin Dawodzai, and had even lodged a formal Legal Complaint to the Local Police against him, for slander, insults, aggressions and threats, just a few weeks before she was brutally murdered ! But the local Police, (which, in Germany, depends mainly from each Region ("Lander"), the Federal Police intervening only in certain special cases), apparently, did nothing more, in order to protect that threatened young Girl, than just ..."Visit", once, Mr. Abdul Mobin Dawodzai... Moreover, Despite the fact that his Asylum Claim had been Rejected, he was Not Deported, even if he was reportedly Known to the Police for "Serious bodily Injury Crime", committed earlier. However, the Public Authorities already Knew, (particularly in South Germany), that such, recent Islamist Irregular Migrants brough in Europe by Turkish Smugglers, can be very Dangerous, as it was Recently, Tragically revealed at Nearby Reutlingen (Baden-Wurttemberg), where a poor, Hard Working European Young Woman from Poland, Anne, had been atrociously Killed on 2016, also with a 30 cm. Long Manchette of a Turkish Kebab Shop (sic !), by a Middle East Mass Irregular Migrant who had Arrived in Europe through Turkey, and afterwards Attacked with that same Manchette also various Other innocent Civilian People, (including, f.ex., an Aged Couple, peacefully citting inside their own Car, some Passers-by, Clients of a nearby Cafe, etc). In fact, the situation was even Worse, in that 2017-2018 case of Kandel village (Comp. Supra) : The competent German Authorities, in addition to that brutal Murderer's real Age, did Not even Know for sure his ...Name, and were not even certain about his real Nationality, (he had claimed to be Afghan, but without proof) ! Similar Problems with the real Identity of those presented as "unaccompanied Children" had notoriously emerged also with the Brutal Murder, after Rape, of 19 y.o. Student Maria Landenbuger at Nearby Freiburg, by an Afghan also imported through Turkey, who was not only treated as "Child" aged only 16, while, in fact, he was about ...32 Years Old, as his own Father revealed, later-on, but had even been accepted as "Asylum" seeker, placed at a Foster Family and regularly paid a notable amount of Money in Germany, while ...totaly Ignoring the fact that he was a Convicted dangerous and violent Criminal, since he had just been Condemned and Jailed in Greece, a few years earlier, for Throwing over an 8 meter High wall to a rocky beach, another young Girl, who was seriously wounded, but managed to escape from Death only because she knew, from athletism, that the priority was to protect her Head... Strikingly Near to that is also the Recent case of 3 German Civilians very seriously wounded, (one of whom even Died afterwards), by brutal Knife Stabbings from mainly 3 Muslim irregular migrants at Chemnitz (Eastern Germany), just a few Days ago, towards the End of August 2018 : - The main Suspect, reportedly, is someone already Condemned previously for having provoked Dangerous Bodily Harm to Other Victims in the Past, but his Sentence had been Suspended. Moreover, in addition to a Criminal Record with 6 Offences, (including Fraud and Drug possession, abuse of 2 different Identities and Forged Documents, etc), he was also known for ...always Carrying a Knife with him (sic !), but nothing wasn't done by the Local Police in order to make him harmless. Despite all that, the Public Authorities had, reportedly, even Delayed so much an already ordered Deportation of that individual, after the Rejection of his Asylum claim, that it had become Legally impossible without starting anew another procedure for that same purpose : A Delay which proved to be Fatal for the Life of the Killed Victim. (As, also, just 1,5 Year Earlier, on December 2016, another such Delay, had already been proven Fatal also for the Lives of Many other innocent Civilian People, at the Horrible Massacre by another irregular Mass Migrant imported through Turkey, at Berlin's Christmas Market, when they were atrociously crashed with a Lorry). Currently, Minister of Justice in Germany is Socialist MP Katarina Barley, who has Only a Few Months in her New Job there, from March 2018. Before that (on 2017) she had been appointed Minister for Family. Meanwhile, she even worked, for a Short Period of Time, at the Ministry of Labour (sic !). In such conditions, it's naturaly Difficult to imagine how, Barley, (who is a German-British politician from Koln), could aquire the necessary Experience in order to meet the Challenge of her New Job at the Ministry of Justice, which obviously represents a Big Responsibility Nowadays... The 3 most Seriously Wounded Victims of those Knife Stabbings in Chemnitz are 2 German-Russians and 1 German-Cuban, who Died at the Hospital, later-on : Daniel Hillig, a Young Carpeter. The 3 main Suspect Killers are irregular migrants from Syria and Iraq, who had arrived to Europe through Turkey, (and 2 were already arrested). Few are currently known about the possible Motives behind those latest Bloody Crimes. An "Heroic" Rumour at Chemnitz was that the Victims would have tried to Defend a Girl Harassed by those who attacked them with knifes soon afterwards. But it's also a Fact that those Bloody Aggressions against 2 Russians- and a Cuban- origin Germans occured, by a Coincidence, while the International Attention is now Focused on a reportedly Imminent attempt by the Russia-Backed Syrian Army to Liberate the last Armed Islamist Jihadists-held Syrian province of idlib, near to Turkey, (there where 3 Russian Airplane Pilots have been Killed earlier)... At any case, many German People have been participating, Recently, to various Collective Protests, (included in Kandel and Schemnitz), by holding Posters expressing a "Need for Security and Protection". And they seem, apparently, due to continue doing so, more and more, as long as more than 1,5 Million irregular Migrants/Mass Asylum Seekers who suddenly Started to be imported through Turkey from 2015-2016, still stay or come inside Europe, without a serious Distinction between Real Refugees, (and/or at least Sincere Economic Migrants really seeking to be Integrated in our Society), chosen by Europeans, or Dangerous Thugs, practically chosen and send to Europe by Turkish Smugglers. Indeed, various Other Bloody Knife Attacks by recently Islamized Migrants also in Other Regions and even other EU Countries, almost at the Same Time, (f.ex., Nowadays, in Addition to the Murder of a Medical Doctor by Knife at nearby Offenburg, also the Killing of 2 American People and Wounding a 3rd Victim by Knife at the Netherlands, in Amsterdam's Railroad Station, where the Killer acknowledged his Islamist Terrorist Aims, while, in France, at Trappes City, the Murder of 2 Civilians by Knife was even Revendicated by ISIS, etc), obviously Remind that the real Problems and relevant Risks are quite Wide-spread. Battling the Saracens, 1250 Combat in the Seventh Crusade Printer Friendly Version >>> T he news reached France's King Louis IX as he lay on his sickbed in Paris during the summer of 1244: Jerusalem had again been conquered by the Infidel Muslims. Desperately ill and near death, the King vowed in a prayer that if he got well, he would mount a crusade to recapture the Holy City. The King regained his health, but four years lapsed before he honored his vow and launched what would become the Seventh Crusade. It was a debacle. In August 1248, Louis and his army sailed with great fervor from France to the island of Cyprus. They spent the next few months there preparing for an assault on Egypt whose conquest would provide grain to feed the army and open the road to Jerusalem. The decisive battle was fought in February 1250 at the town of Al Mansurah in the Nile delta. Louis and his army were utterly defeated by the Muslims and forced to retreat. Louis was ultimately captured and held for ransom along with his brothers and many of the nobles who accompanied the campaign. With payment of the ransom, Louis was released. The king remained in the Middle East encamped at the Christian stronghold at Acre until troubles at home forced his return to France in 1254. "I gave him a thrust with my lance just under the arm-pits and struck him dead." Accompanying Louis IX on his crusade was Jean de Joinville, a councilor to the King, who kept a record of his adventures and later incorporated this into a biography he wrote of his sovereign. His experiences provide insight into warfare in the Middle Ages. We join de Joinville's story as he attacks some Muslims during the early stage of the Battle of Al Mansurah: ADVERTISMENT . . . I and my knights had decided to go and attack some Turks who were loading their baggage in their camp on our left; so we fell on them. As we were pursuing them through the camp I caught sight of a Saracen on the point of mounting his horse; one of his knights was holding the bridle. At the moment he had both his hands on the saddle to pull himself up, I gave him a thrust with my lance just under the arm-pits and struck him dead. On seeing this, his knight left his lord and the horse, and thrusting his lance at me as I passed, caught me between the shoulders, pinning me down to the neck of my horse in such a way that I could not draw the sword at my belt. I therefore had to draw the sword attached to my horse. When he saw me with my sword drawn he withdrew his lance and left me. When I and my knights came out of the Saracens' camp we found what we reckoned to be about six thousand Turks, who had left their tents and retreated into the fields. As soon as they saw us they came charging towards us, and killed Hugues de TricMtel, Lord of Conflans, who was with me bearing a banner. I and my knights spurred on our horses and went to the rescue of Raoul de Wanou, another of my company, whom they had struck to the ground. As I was coming back, the Turks thrust at me with their lances. Under the weight of their attack my horse was brought to its knees, and I went flying forward over its ears. I got up as soon as ever I could, with my shield at my neck and sword in hand. One of my knights, named Erard de Siverey - may God grant him grace! - came to me and advised our drawing back towards a ruined house where we could wait for the king, who was on his way. As we were going there, some on foot and some on horseback, a great body of Turks came rushing at us, bearing me to the ground and riding over my body, so that my shield went flying from my neck. As soon as they had passed, Erard de Siverey came back to me and took me with him to the walls of the tumble-down house. Here we were joined by Hugues d'Ecot, Frederic de Loupey, and Renaud de Menoncourt. While we were there the Turks attacked us from all sides. Some of them got into the house and pricked us with their lances from above. My knights asked me to hold on to their horses' bridles, which I did, for fear the beasts should run away. Then they put up a vigorous defence against the Turks, for which, I may say, they were afterwards highly praised by all men of good standing in the army, both those who witnessed their bravery and those who heard of it later. During this incident, Hugues d'Ecot received three wounds in the face from a lance, and so did Raoul de Wanou, while Frederic de Loupey had a lance-thrust between his shoulders, which made so large a wound that the blood poured from his body as if from the bung-hole of a barrel. A blow from one of the enemy's swords landed in the middle of Erard de Siverey's face, cutting through his nose so that it was left dangling over his lips. At that moment the thought of Saint James came into my mind, and I prayed to him: 'Good Saint James, come to my help, and save us in our great need.' Just as I had uttered this prayer Erard de Siverey said to me: 'My lord, if you think that neither I nor my heirs will incur reproach for it, I will go and fetch you help from the Comte d'Anjou, whom I see in the fields over there.' I said to him: 'My dear man, it seems to me you would win great honor for yourself if you went for help to save our lives; your own, by the way, is also in great danger.' (I spoke truly, for he died of his wound.) He consulted the other knights who were there, and they all gave him the same advice as I had given him. After hearing what they said, he asked me to let go his horse, which I was holding by the bridle; so I let him take it. He went over to the Comte d' Anjou and begged him to come to the rescue of me and my people. A person of some importance who was with the count tried to dissuade him, but he said he would do as my knight had asked. So he turned his horse's head to come to our help, and a number of his sergeants set spurs to their horses as well. As soon as the Saracens saw them coming, they turned to leave us. Pierre d' Auberive, who was riding in front of the sergeants with his sword clenched in his fist, saw them leaving and charged right into the midst of the Saracens who were holding Raoul de Wanou, and rescued him, sorely wounded As I stood there on foot with my knights, wounded as I have told you, King Louis came up at the head of his battalions, with a great sound of shouting, trumpets, and kettledrums. He halted with his troops on a raised causeway. Never have I seen a finer or more handsome knight! He seemed to tower head and shoulders above all his people; on his head was a gilded helmet, and a sword of German steel was in his hand. The moment he stopped, those good knights in his division whom I have already named to you, together with other valiant knights of his, flung themselves right at the Turks. It was, I can assure you, a truly noble passage of arms, for no one there drew either bow or crossbow; it was a battle of maces against swords between the Turks and our people, with both sides inextricably entangled." References: This eyewitness account appears in: Villehardouin, Geoffroi de; Joinville, Jean; Shaw, Margaret R.B. (translator), Chronicles of the Crusades, (1963). How To Cite This Article: "Battling the Saracens, 1250," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2009). A RELENTLESS nine-month campaign to save the only country boarding facility between Perth and Geraldton has paid off, after the Federal government this week announced it would provide $8.7 million to keep open the doors of the Moora Residential College (MRC). The MRC was set to close at the end of this school year after WA Education Minister Sue Ellery announced last December that an $8.7m upgrade flagged for the college would be taken off the table as part of a raft of cuts to education, in a bid to fix the States dire budgetary circumstances. Save Moora College campaigners have since been fighting for $500,000 to fund urgent maintenance work for the continued safe functioning of the residential facility, which is home to 25 students who attend Central Midlands Senior High School (CMSHS). After a sophisticated social media campaign, tireless lobbying and multiple protests on the footsteps of State Parliament, the Moora community was told on Tuesday the Federal government had decided to step in, with an $8.7m capital grant for the colleges refurbishment. CMSHS P&C president Tracey Errington, who led the fight to save the college, said there were tears of joy at the high school when students were told their home away from home would remain open. There were tears, there was laughing; its just awesome, Ms Errington said. Theyre all so excited; staff and students are just so relieved and everyone is thrilled that weve got our full funding for the upgrade. Ms Errington said the persistence and determination of the Moora community to keep the facility open was a reflection of the importance of the MRC, and the resilience of regional WA. It says a lot about the community fighting together for something that they believe in, she said. We care about our kids, we care about our community and we werent prepared to just let it get steamrolled. We want to congratulate both the Federal government and State governments for coming to the party and reversing the decision. Moora Shire president Ken Seymour said he was over the moon that the Federal government had thrown its support behind the college, a facility he described as an essential part of the Moora community. He said keeping the MRC open would not only retain some of the student population at CMSHS, but help draw new families to regional WA. When trying to attract people to country towns, especially with children, they come in and they look at the education facilities and the medical facilities, Mr Seymour said. If theyre both good, theyre prepared to move into the region and run their businesses and find employment, so education and medical facilities are at the top of the list and when theyre not there people go elsewhere. Mr Seymour said the efforts of Save Moora College campaigners and support from the wider WA community had been pivotal in keeping the college open. He singled out Ms Errington, who he described as a tireless, dogged worker. The workload that she was under and the amount of research she has been able to achieve has just been phenomenal, Mr Seymour said. Theyve got the message out there loud and clear and its just been phenomenal to watch. If anything, its galvanised the community. Deputy Prime Minister and The Nationals leader Michael McCormack said the grass roots campaign to save the college had sent a resounding message across Australia that keeping the country residential facility was essential. He said the Federal government understood regional Western Australians should have the same access to the basic educational opportunities their metropolitan counterparts enjoyed. The community outrage expressed at various events, on social media and in the general media demonstrated not only the value of the Moora education facilitys great value to regional residents and students, but also the need to protect these people by ensuring they can continue to have fair access to essential, basic services like education, Mr McCormack said. The Federal Liberal and Nationals government is committed to backing regional Australians which is why weve agreed to provide $8.7 million in capital funding to the Moora Residential College to secure its future by building new residencies. Unlike others, we understand regional people living in a regional town like Moora, or any other non-metropolitan post code, such as those who will now have continued access to the Residential College, should be protected and not threatened by government actions and funding allocations. Liberal Durack MP Melissa Price backed Mr McCormacks sentiments, and said keeping the college was of huge importance to those in her electorate. Ms Price said she had worked closely with Mr McCormack and Liberal Senator for Western Australia, Mathius Cormann, to ensure Federal funding would allow the MRC to remain available for regional students. This is some of the best news for my electorate and I am very proud my support and lobbying for this outcome has been realised; parents and students can now enjoy the certainty of a bright future, Ms Price said. Premier Mark McGowan thanked the Federal government for its financial assistance and said the State would support the college through ongoing recurrent funding. He said the State government had already thrown $60,000 behind the school this year to improve fire detection and warning systems for the safety of students and staff at the MRC. I understand this process has been difficult for the community, staff, parents and students, Mr McGowan said. Our decision to close the boarding facility was an extremely tough decision, but it was made in the context of the dire financial situation we inherited. I would like to thank the Federal government and Senator Cormann, in particular, for their funding offer and welcome their interest in supporting WA. Together with the community, we now have an opportunity to make an upgraded facility in Moora work in the long-term and ensure the boarding facility is sustainable into the future. My government remains committed to delivering responsible financial management in the best interests of the whole State. The SEC closed its investigation into ING Group NV one day after the banking giant reached a $900 million settlement with Dutch authorities. In a new SEC filing Wednesday, ING said: As previously noted, in connection with the investigations ING also received information requests from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). ING has received a formal notification from the SEC that it has concluded its investigation. In the letter the Division of Enforcement states that, based on information as of this date, it does not intend to recommend an SEC enforcement action against ING. ING said Tuesday it will pay the Dutch Public Prosecution Service 675 million ($782 million) and disgorge 100 million ($115 million) to resolve criminal investigations for lapses in client on-boarding, the prevention of money laundering, and corrupt practices. The SECs declination is consistent with the feds new policy against piling on. In May, the DOJ said it will try to avoid multiple-agency prosecutions of corporate defendants in FCPA and other cases. According to FCPA Tracker, ING first disclosed the criminal investigations in an SEC filing in March 2017. ING Group shares are listed in Amsterdam, Brussels, and New York. ____ Harry Cassin is the managing editor of the FCPA Blog. SACRAMENTO, Calif. In the final hours of the states 2018 legislative session, the California Legislature passed a wide-ranging bill aimed at strengthening and updating Californias new motor vehicle franchise laws. Its passage wasnt a complete victory for the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), which has lobbied for the bill since it was introduced in February by Assemblymember Eloise Reyes (D-San Bernardino). Missing from the final bill, which was approved last Thursday by a 77-0 vote, were protections addressing future services and opportunities for automakers to serve customer directly. The legislation, AB 2107, now heads to Gov. Jerry Browns desk. He has until Sept. 30 to veto or sign the bill. If no action is taken, the legislation will take effect Jan. 1, 2019. Thanks to the stewardship of Assemblymember Reyes, the passage of AB 2107 is a huge victory for all Californians, local businesses and consumers alike, said CNCDA President Brian Maas. If signed by the Governor, the passage of this bill brings Californias new motor vehicle franchise laws further into the 21st century by establishing a level playing field between local independently-owned dealerships and multinational vehicle manufacturers. If enacted, the legislation will add further clarifications related to retail reimbursements on warranty work and customer retail pay. It will also expand the types of protests dealers can file with the states New Motor Vehicle Board regarding manufacturer encroachment; would deem a facility upgrade requirement as unreasonable if a facility was modified in the last 15 years; and builds upon existing law requiring that all performance standards be reasonable with a dealers demographics, market characteristics, allocation, local and state economic circumstances, and historical performance of the line-make. Additionally, the bill allows dealers to select their own digital service vendors, restricting manufacturers from selecting specific vendors for their dealers to use. It also restricts a manufacturers ability to force dealers to repair a vehicle that a dealer is not allowed to sell or lease. The legislation also preserves the states existing statutory disclosure dealers are required to give to consumers when a non-OEM endorsed F&I product is sold, thereby prohibiting OEMs from instituting their own disclosure form as General Motors did last summer. The bill also clarifies that treating dealers differently when providing financing or advancing money because the dealer sold a non-approved product is prohibited. Stripped from the approved legislation, however, was a proposed statewide ban on automakers engaging in direct-to-consumer sales. The language would have modified the states existing guideline, which states that an automaker cant compete against a same-brand dealership within a relevant market area. Additionally, another provision was stripped from the bill earlier this summer that would have banned automakers from offering subscription programs unless they use their dealers to operate them. Franchise laws exist to govern the relationship between dealers and manufacturers, and California was overdue for significant improvements in the laws that will continue to protect dealers, their businesses and their customers, Maas said. We are pleased and encouraged that the California State Legislature unanimously agrees and supports our approach to improvements in Californias franchise laws. For the second year in a row, the American Film Showcase (AFS) and the El Gouna Film Festival continue their partnership in the second edition of the festival. The cooperation will be highlighted during the Cine Gouna platform, while a workshop and mentoring session managed by two prominent American filmmakers Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe will take place during the festival. Both Fulton and Pepe are directors of documentaries and fiction films and collaborated together in both fields for over 20 years. Their documentary feature Lost in La Mancha was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Documentary and won the evening standards Peter Sellers Award for the best comedy. In 2016, their latest documentary The Bad Kids received the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was selected for the American Film Showcase (AFS). AFS is the premier film diplomacy program of the US State Department, in cooperation with the University of Southern Californias School of Cinematic Arts. The AFS program promotes people-to-people engagement, offers contemporary insights into American society, and fosters understanding across cultures. The participation of the AFS in the EL Gouna Festival was facilitated by the US Embassy, who will also offer a $10,000 post production fund and online mentorship opportunity with an American distributor for an Egyptian filmmaker. The fund will be presented at the award ceremony of the festival. The second edition of El Gouna Film Festival is set to open on September 20 and will last for eight days in the seaside resort town of El Gouna. Eighty films will be screened throughout the festival and the Creative Achievement award will be granted to the iconic Egyptian director Dawood Abdel Sayed and Tunisian producer Dorra Bouchoucha. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Politecnico Milano, a scientific-technological university based in Milan, Italy, and 360 Capital Partners, a European venture capital firm, have partnered to launch a new 60m fund. Poli360 aims to support tech transfer from academia to industry backing students and researchers from Politecnico Milano. The investments will focus on advancing high tech projects and startups based on research and/or IP in such sectors as industrial manufacturing, automation, energy, civil infrastructure and telecommunications management, advanced materials, and design. They will cover the entile lifecycle of innovation projects, from the beginning focused on tech development to IP tech transfer to the industry, to high-tech company creation. The fund will leverage the expertise of Politecnico Milano and the tech transfer platform managed by Technology Transfer Office of Politecnico and by PoliHub, a startup incubator. The new vehicle will be managed by 360 Capital Partners, which will closely work with the offices of the university involved in the initiative. Poli360 will also leverage an anchor investiment from ITAtech and other Italian industrial groups. FinSMEs 05/09/2018 . (), ... The Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre will run between 10 and 20 September The Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre will kick off its 25th edition Thursday at the Higher Council for Culture, revealing its program before the performances start on 10 September. The festival, headed by Sameh Mahran, will honor two Egyptian theatre icons, famous actor Ezzat El-Alaily and puppeteer Nagy Shaker, who died last month at the age of 86. The festival committee, who announced the launch of a YouTube channel, has chosen 25 shows out of 160 submissions from 35 countries, including Brazil, Tunisia and Kuwait. The performances will be staged on numerous theatres across Cairo. Amid the celebration of the silver jubilee, the Festival revived many performances that won prizes and caught attention throughout the past years by showcasing their records during August. The Festival will also publish a historic book that documents all the shows and seminars held during all of its editions. The press conference, headed by the Minister of Culture Inas Abdel-Dayem, will take place on Thursday 6 September. The Cairo Int'l Festival for Experimental Theatre launched in the late 1980s. It was suspended in 2011 and returned as the Cairo Int'l Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre in 2016. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Gov. Rick Scott, a November Republican candidate for U.S. Senator, held a rally at the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library late Tuesday afternoon to honor local veterans and share his thoughts on the upcoming election. Special guest speakers included Florida native and North Fort Myers resident Gen. Jim Dozier, a 35-year Army veteran who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart. He was a prisoner of war in Italy in 1981 for 42 days; Ed McSorley, a Marine who served in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart; and Capt. Wayne Smith, an Air Force veteran who served 5 years as a POW alongside the late John McCain in Vietnam. He has earned countless military honors and is currently a board member of the SWFL Veterans Alliance. Weve got to give respect to the people who are willing to die for our freedom, Scott said to the tightly gathered group, including a number of veterans, inside the museum. Scott, a Navy veteran in his own right, has awarded more than 15,000 veterans with the Governors Veterans Service Medal during his time as governor. Along side his wife Ann, Scott told family stories about visiting military-themed museums and landmarks. He spoke of his recent trip to Kuwait, his time in the Navy and how difficult it was, and still can be, to acclimate back into society after serving. He touched on his work trying to help military families solve issues with jobs, educational opportunities and getting mental health support quicker. We have six, five-star veteran nursing homes in Florida, Scott said. Go visit one of them. People tell you some unbelievable stories. I will do everything I can to make this country a better country, for our veterans, Scott said to the crowd in closing. Its the most important thing I think we can do. Scott spoke with the media following his speech and gave his thoughts on the current algae crisis and the claims by current senator and Scotts opponent in November, Democrat Bill Nelson, that Scotts to blame for the issue. Our Department of Environmental Protection, the budgets up 30 percent since I got elected. We have funded project after project. We have record funding to deal with the Everglades, he said. Scott spent some time pointing out the mistakes Nelson has made. Hes been there 40 years and done nothing. And all he can do right now is attack, said Scott. Im going to represent this state, Scott said when asked what hes going to do that Nelson didnt. Hes good at doing nothing. He mentioned how it was he who got the money for the Herbert Hoover Dike restorations, and how it couldve been done sooner if not for Nelson. Ive got the money for the dike, finally. Thatll take until 2022, he said. What Congress still needs to do and President Trump has already approved it is the EAA reservoir. And weve put in $800 million. The feds are actually $900 million behind, in an agreement they made with us years ago, to match us with Everglades funding. Im going to focus on just like Ive done is record funding for the environment, record funding for transportation, record funding for reports, Scott said. Im going to make sure, if were going to send our federal taxes up there, were going to get our fair share back. Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj Four suspected criminals were killed in a shootout today with security forces in New Cairo's Fifth Settlement. Security forces targeted a gang of masked men who opened fire on a man driving his private car on Tesein Road in the Fifth Settlement in an attempt to force him to pull over, but he managed to escape. They also fired on a truck driver, shooting him in the leg and stealing all of his money. Security forces followed the masked men to Egypt's Ain Sokhna road, where both sides exchanged fire, killing the criminals. Authorities found two automatic rifles, live ammunition, and empty bullet casings by the bodies. The prosecutors have been brought in to investigate the incident. Search Keywords: Short link: This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. There's a new Ford watch that costs $461,500. But it comes with a car. Well, its really the other way around. Its a special edition chronograph made by Autodromo thats only available to owners of the $450,000 Ford GT supercar and lists at $11,500. The watch is assembled in the USA using Swiss movement, and features a knob and buttons styled after the switchgear in the mid-engine coupe. Buyers can pick the colors of the face, stripes and bezel to match those on their vehicle. Its delivered in a carbon fiber box and comes with an aluminum case engraved with the cars chassis number. Ford plans to make only about 1,000 GTs through 2020, and Ford Performance Marketing Manager Jim Owens doesnt expect that every owner will buy a watch to go with it, so matching pairs may become hot tickets on the auction circuit, where GTs have already been sold for as much as $1.8 million. Too rich for your blood? There's also a fan version for $695, but anyone can buy one of those. Well, anyone with a spare $695 who thinks watches are still a thing. FORD GT TEST DRIVE: Amanda Bynes is back on social media. After almost six months since her last tweet, Bynes, 32, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share her first post, a photo of herself sitting alongside "Hairspray" producer, Neil Meron. "Me and the incomparable producer of Hairspray, as well as many other amazing things," Bynes captioned the picture of the pair. In 2007, Bynes starred in the musical film as Penny Pingleton. Meron retweeted the post writing: "What a great #reunion @amandabynes I was so happy to see you and share a meal." Earlier this year, it was reported that Bynes was planning a Hollywood comeback. At the time, Us Weekly reported that Bynes was looking to make a triumphant return to Hollywood after being plagued with a troubled past. Amanda is going to be graduating from fashion school this summer, a source told the magazine in February. She is doing so well and is very excited about the next chapter of her professional life. Bynes last appeared in the 2010 movie "Easy A," in which she played Marianne. John Krasinski couldnt contain his excitement when he was given the rare privilege of sitting down with CIA personnel while filming Amazon Prime Videos new series Tom Clancys Jack Ryan. I have to say, I completely nerded out when I went to see them, Krasinski, 38, told Fox News Friday during the series premiere at the Battleship USS Iowa to kick off LA Fleet Week. I will say I also thought that it would be the most uneventful interview Ive ever had in my life because I thought every answer would be We cant talk about that, and instead they were the most unbelievably diverse, intelligent, giving and generous group and we are so lucky to have them. For his meeting, the Office alum spoke about his time in the 2016 Michael Bay film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi." He was unsure of what would come away from his conversation with the CIA other than the sensationalized Hollywood account of whats been shown. To be honest, I think I went in there very similar to '13 Hours' I think I went in there with a more Hollywood version of what I was expecting and what I wanted to get out of it, he said. So, for '13 Hours' I went in there really wanting to learn about the warrior and I think what I really ended up coming away with was being proud to get to know these men." Krasinski continued: And, I think thats how I feel about going to the CIA, I went in there wanting to meet spies and wanting to meet officers, and instead I met incredibly dedicated people and very honorable people and people who are putting their lives in the line in a whole different way. And, if chosen to do that selfishly I dont know, theres nothing more heroic than that for me. During Fox News' conversation with the A Quiet Place star, he never wavered on his affinity for the men and women who serve our nation and even praised the boy scout-like nature of his Jack Ryan character, who Krasinski says is as normal a hero as they come. For me as a person, Jack Ryan ever since I was a kid, hes one of those people who doesnt have a cape and he doesnt shoot things out of his hands hes guy who uses his instincts and his brain, Krasinski explained. And more importantly, theres a lot of jokes in the show about him being a boy scout and I dont know I kind of thought its about time that we had a boy scout on television as a hero now. Krasinski elucidated that the work he and his band of cast-mates and crew members did filming Jack Ryan pales in comparison to the everyday efforts the CIA members and our troops. Im a big anti-hero fan. I love 'Homeland,' I love 'Breaking Bad,' but maybe it was time to have a good guy out there for once and I was really excited to do that, he said. "I certainly am inspired to at least have the opportunity to play someone whos representing a community like the CIA. You realize by doing a show like this how lucky we are to have those people on the front line for us because it sure as hell wouldnt want to be me because you wouldnt want me out there, youd want the real people. Kim Kardashian West is taking on the case of another prisoner with a life sentence, after her campaign to free Alice Marie Johnson earlier this year was successful, according to a new report. During an appearance on Jason Floms Wrongful Conviction podcast, which is set to air Wednesday, Kardashian, 37, said she's been talking to Chris Young, who is currently serving a life sentence without parole, Page Six reported. Yesterday, I had a call with a gentleman thats in prison for a drug case got life. Its so unfair, Kardashian said, adding: Hes 30 years old. Hes been in for almost 10 years. Per the site, Kardashian said Young was sentenced to life in prison without parole for possession of marijuana and half a gram of cocaine following his arrest in 2010 because of mandatory-sentencing regulations. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star went on to share that she's been in contact with former Judge Kevin Sharp of Tennessee, who according to Page Six resigned over a law that forced him to give out the life sentence. I was on the phone with the judge that sentenced him to life... who resigned because he had never been on the side of having to do something so unfair, and now he is fighting [alongside] us to get [Young] out, said Kardashian, who added that she speaks to President Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner regularly, calling him passionate about changing sentencing laws. The Dallas Morning News reported in June that Brittany K. Barnett, who was a member of Johnson's legal team, was also working to get Young released. Kardashian took her quest to have Johnson pardoned all the way to the White House. On May 30, she met with President Trump in the Oval Office. Following their meeting, on June 6, Trump commuted Johnsons life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, enabling her to be released from prison. Kardashian expressed her gratitude to the president at the time in a tweet which read, Best news ever!!!! So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion and contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are deserving of a second chance. I hope to continue important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition. Fox News' Morgan M. Evans contributed to this report. Actor Christopher Lawford, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has died, TMZ is reporting. The frequent Extra correspondent was at a yoga studio Tuesday night when he had a medical emergency and later passed away, a law enforcement official told the outlet. Law enforcement officials did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment. Lawford was the only son and oldest child of Patricia Kennedy -- sister of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy -- and Peter Lawford -- the English actor and socialite who was a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack. The coroner's office also told Fox News it did not have Lawford's body. Officials said that if Lawford was in LA County and had seen a physician within the last 20 days, the doctor could have signed the death certificate and he wouldn't have had to be seen by the medical examiner. Lawford's publicist said she didn't know about Lawford's reported death and it's all news to her. However, Lawford's cousin Kerry Kennedy shared her condolences on Twitter. Lawford had made a long career as an actor making appearances on All My Children, General Hospital, Terminator 3, Frasier as well as a number of other television shows. Closely related to President Kennedy, Lawford was also an author and was an active member of the Democratic National Committee, where he worked with his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. TMZ reported Lawfords cause of his death was from natural causes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Josh Waring plans to sue Orange County, Calif., after saying his jail cell was pepper-balled. Former Real Housewives of Orange County star Lauri Petersons son claims that deputies deployed five non-lethal pepper balls into his cell at Californias Intake Release Center earlier this summer, according to The Blast. He said the alleged attack was unprovoked, and that he was not able to access medical attention or water afterward. As a result, he wants $2 million. Peterson told Page Six on Tuesday that she believes the alleged actions could have been in retaliation for Josh filing grievances regarding his treatment behind bars. She said Orange County has 30 days to respond to his complaint. He has been in prison on attempted murder charges for two years. He writes grievances but they just laugh at those, tear them up and throw them in the trash can, she said. Peterson told us that she believes officers continue to mistreat her son. When they get mad at him they wont let him make his phone calls that are court ordered, she alleged. Hes to receive two hours of court-ordered phone calls which theyd withhold those for days. They turned off his lights in his cell theres only one light in his cell they turned off his light for seven days. And so he was in total darkness for seven straight days. Theyll put him in the visiting booth and leave him there for up to eight hours sometimes without even letting the visitor come see him. But theyll keep him chained to a metal stool with no food or water or a restroom break or medication. Page Six previously reported that Waring is suing Orange County for $1.4 million, claiming his privileged phone calls were intercepted while he was acting as his own attorney. Peterson told us he came up with the $1.4 million figure $1,000 per violation based on the judgment in another case over a similar matter. This story originally appeared in the New York Post. Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle company, Goop, has agreed to pay a settlement after it was accused of making unscientific claims regarding three of its products. According to Goop, its $66 Jade Egg can help balance hormones, regulate menstrual cycles, and increase bladder control when inserted vaginally. However, 10 prosecutors from the California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force said in their lawsuit that Goop's claims "were not supported by competent and reliable science." Goop agreed to pay the $145,000 settlement but told SFGate in a statement, "While Goop believes there is an honest disagreement about these claims, the company wanted to settle this matter quickly and amicably." Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release, "We will vigilantly protect consumers against companies that promise health benefits without the support of good scienceor any science." The other two products called into question were Goop's $55 Rose Quartz Egg and its $22 Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend. Customers who purchased the products between Jan. 12, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2017 will be refunded. The ruling also stops Goop from making "any claims regarding the efficacy or effects of any of its products without possessing competent and reliable scientific evidence that substantiates the claims." Last year, Paltrow's wellness company was awarded the "Rusty Razor" award for being the "best" at promoting "pseudoscientific nonsense." The company has long been been criticized for promoting "health benefits" without scientific proof. New episodes of House of Cards won't be available on Netflix until Nov. 2, but the show has already released a clip suggesting protagonist Frank Underwood is dead. On Wednesday, the shows Twitter account shared footage of Robin Wright as President Claire Underwood, Frank's on-screen wife. ROSEANNE BARR GETS EMOTIONAL, SAYS SHE CRIED WHEN JOHN GOODMAN DEFENDED HER Ill tell you this though, Francis, she says in the clip, referring to Spaceys character. When they bury me, it wont be in my backyard. She adds, And when they pay their respects, theyll have to wait in line. You should have known, the show wrote when sharing the video, which features a tombstone indicating Frank lived from 1959 to 2017. Kevin Spacey starred as the House Majority Whip, who eventually worked his way into the presidency, for five seasons. His character's headstone lies to the left of his father's in the clip. An episode from the show's third season involved Frank visiting the South Carolina site and urinating on the grave of his father, Calvin Underwood. Fans, however, have been expecting the absence of Spacey's role from the program. The Hollywood star, 59, was accused of sexual misconduct last fall by several men and the show's production was subsequently put on pause in October 2017. A representative for Netflix told Fox News at the time they would take proper steps to ensure cast and crew members felt "safe and supported." "[We're] deeply troubled by [the] news concerning Kevin Spacey. ... As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time," the company said. Spacey also released a statement admitting he didnt remember at least one of the alleged incidents involving actor Anthony Rapp who first told Buzzfeed News that Spacey, then 26, made a sexual advance on him when he was 14 years old. In the statement, the 58-year-old star came out as a gay man. Netflix later announced it was parting ways with Spacey, and the show resumed production in January for its final season. Fox News' Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report. At age 10, Craig Horwich had a big mouth loaded with questions for his future stepfather, Jackie Gleason. The celebrated comedian, one of the top stars of Hollywood during the 50s and 60s, is still remembered today as roly-poly bus driver Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners, a sitcom he created based on one of his comic sketches. Gleason passed away in 1987 at age 71 from cancer. Horwich, now 55, runs Jackie Gleason Enterprises, which still licenses the actors shows and specials. With the help of Horwich, Time-Life recently released a DVD collection of The Jackie Gleason Show, which also features unreleased episodes in full color. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Horwich told Fox News he still vividly remembers meeting the TV icon for the first time. I was unaware of the magnitude of his fame, said Horwich. He was an incredible man. I had questionitis. I remember him saying that to me. I had questionitis. He answered a trove of questions that came out in rapid fire from this young boys mind. "He lived in this beautiful, big home. He would be driven around in a limo He was always well dressed. Always at the head of the table and in charge. I found him very intriguing. Gleason first met Horwichs mother, Marilyn Taylor of the June Taylor Dancers, in the late 1940s while they were working the east coast nightclubs. The troupe was ultimately featured in Gleasons variety programs. A romance soon blossomed. By 1952, thats when Jackie and my mom began a relationship, said Horwich. But my mom would not go out with Jackie until he got a separation. He was married, but separated The relationship ran its course. Jackie was unable to be granted a divorce. He was very Catholic as his wife was. So the relationship really had a shelf life. So they went their own ways. Gleason was then married to dancer Genevieve Halford, with whom he had two daughters. They eventually divorced in 1970 and Gleason went on to marry former secretary Beverly McKittrick from 1970. That union lasted until 1974. Meanwhile, Taylor had moved north. After they went their own ways, my mom moved to Chicago and met my father, said Horwich. I was then born. And then in the early 70s, my father passed away in Chicago. So my mom and I moved to Florida so she could be with her family. Then fate came knocking. It turned out Gleason happened to be in Florida when Taylor came to town. When he found out my mom was now widowed and living in South Florida He wooed and reunited with her, he said. They married and quite literally lived happily ever after. Horwich, who was 12 when the couple tied the knot, witnessed a new side to the TV star. The majority of his time at home was spent quietly, he said. He was a prolific reader. Constantly reading. There was a store called Bookland Every week or two the owners would come by and drop off a box of books. Jackie just consumed books. He read everything but he was most intrigued with non-fiction. He felt that his life as an actor, as a performer, was all fiction. He also listened to the radio. He had a room upstairs that we called the radio room. There were dozens of radios. He listened to airplanes flying over at the airport, long distance radio operators from around the world. He had the passion and curiosity of a child with the experiences of an adult. Gleason, who grew up in working-class Brooklyn, N.Y., was happily enjoying the wealth and fame he achieved entertaining America with what Horwich described as his God-given talent. And Horwich insisted Gleason never grew tired for being recognized as Kramden. He embraced it and was very proud of it all, boasted Horwich. The Honeymooners, which explored the hilarious antics of a city bus driver (Gleason) and his sewer worker friend (Art Carney) as they struggled to strike it rich, aired from 1955 until 1956. Kramden was originally one of a dozen characters Gleason played on his variety show The Jackie Gleason Show, which was broadcast live from what is now the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, the current home of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. That hourlong variety show aired from 1952 until 1957. Horwich revealed Gleason never rehearsed to bring Kramden to life. He had a photographic memory, he explained. He could watch somebody do a dance and on his first try recreate the dance. It was a gift and he knew it He believed rehearsals can take the edge off of a performance. "Theres just nothing like that first performance. He didnt enjoy rehearsing so he didnt do it. Thats why Art Carney and Audrey Meadows (Alice Kramden) were deserving of all accolades. And Jackie at every point in his career always acknowledged their talents. While Gleason was a gentle giant, he had high standards when it came to performers who would join him on stage. Horwich confirmed Meadows was originally rejected for the role of Kramdens wife because she was too glamorous. Jackies vision of The Honeymooners was to be very authentic, very blue collar without the luster that we see on television, he explained. Audrey, who was a beautiful woman, originally auditioned but was told she was too attractive. But she had an agent who said, I got an idea. Lets dress you down, take the makeup off and take an early morning shoot. They took photos of her without makeup and lighting. When Jackie saw it, he said, Theres Alice. Her beauty almost got in the way, but she proved she was perfect." Despite The Honeymooners becoming a massive success, it ended after one season. He signed a contract for two years, said Horwich. But Jackie realized that after one year that if you were to do any more, it would just be a variation of those same storylines. He said, I cant do this again, the audience will tire of it. That was it was just one year and 39 episodes. Those were the ones that were put in syndication from the 50s to today. Gleason stayed busy successfully pursuing film, television and even music. His last credited role was 1986s Nothing in Common. Horwich said that when it came to Gleasons outlook on life during his later years, he followed one motto Just play the melody. Be true to yourself and everything will fall into place, explained Horwich. He had a very impoverished childhood in Brooklyn He learned as a young adult that there was a lot more out there He was able to provide through hard work an affluent life that he was very proud of. He was able to enjoy the rewards of his labor. This article originally ran in September 2018. Reality television star Kim Kardashian West has her sights set on changing the realities of several incarcerated people. Kardashian West, 38, has met with President Trump at the White House multiple times now in her efforts to get pardons for certain people serving long prison sentences related to drug offenses. On June 6, 2018, Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. This came following a meeting with Kardashian West. But Johnson isnt the only person Kardashian West has advocated for. Read on for a look at people shes trying to help. Cyntoia Brown Now 30 years old, Cyntoia Brown was serving a life sentence for a murder she committed when she was a 16-year-old prostitute. Brown said she shot a 43-year-old real estate agent after he picked her up and brought her back to his house because she was afraid for her life. Prosecutors had alleged Brown was trying to rob him. She was slated to remain in prison for at least 51 years, meaning shell be at least 67 years old before she can be released. But Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted her clemency in January which will allow her to be released on parole supervision later in 2019. Kardashian West, who said last year she asked her attorneys to help with Brown's case, thanked the Republican governor on Twitter. The system has failed. Its heartbreaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she had the courage to fight back is jailed for life! she previously said on social media. We have to do better & do whats right. Matthew Charles In May 2018, Kardashian West shared with her more than 60 million Twitter followers the story of Matthew Charles. Charles was released from prison early in 2016 but was directed to go back to jail after a federal court said his reduced sentence was an error, Nashville Public Radio reported. Charles, who is in his 50s, already served 21 years for selling crack to an informant, but he was sentenced to 35 years, according to Nashville Public Radio. While in prison, Charles took college classes and became a law clerk. He even taught a GED program. He's had a job since he's been released. In sharing Charles story, Kardashian West called the situation so sad. This man has completely rehabilitated himself, she said. Charles was released from prison at the beginning of 2019 after Trump signed the First Step Act, a sweeping criminal justice reform legislation, into law. Alice Marie Johnson Alice Marie Johnson was arrested in 1993 and convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering in 1996, Mic previously reported. She became involved with cocaine dealers after she lost her job, her son was killed, she got divorced and her home was foreclosed on, according to Mic. Johnson said she did not sell drugs or participate in drug deals, but she did admit to acting as an intermediary for those involved, passing along messages. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Trump granted clemency to Johnson on June 6, 2018. She was released from federal prison later that day. If you think about a decision that youve made in your life, and you get life without the possibility of parole for your first-time nonviolent offense, theres just something so wrong with that, Kardashian West previously told Mic about Johnson. Chris Young Kardashian West told Jason Flom's "Wrongful Conviction" podcast that she has taken up the case of Chris Young, a Tennessee man who authorities said was caught buying crack cocaine in 2010. Because Young had already been charged with drug crimes twice, Young received a life sentence thanks to the state's "three-strike" law, The Tennessean reported. The judge who handed down the sentence has said he does not believe it was the right decision and said what he was "required" to do was "cruel." Kardashian West reportedly met with Trump on Sept. 5, 2018 to discuss Young's case. Fox News' Benjamin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sharon Osbourne is opening up about her son Jacks impending divorce. Im sad. Im very, very sad, she said on SiriusXMs Howard Stern Show on Tuesday. Shes a good girl. And the thing is it just didnt work. She continued, They love each other, they cant live with each other. Jack Osbournes wife Lisa Stelly filed for divorce in May, just three months after they welcomed their third child together. Sources told Page Six at the time the couple had been fighting badly for the last nine months. First and foremost, we absolutely still love each other, Jack, 32, wrote on Instagram at the time. Our family is the most important thing in our lives, and we tried everything we could for many years to make this work. Whats best for our family right now is that we separate lovingly, and remain best friends who are committed to raising our children together. However, the amicable split seemed to turn sour last month when Jack allegedly punched Stellys new boyfriend. Then, he requested a judge not grant her any spousal support. Despite the drama, Sharon said she still gets to see her grandchildren all the time. They are such a joy, she told Stern. This story originally appeared in the New York Post. A restaurant chain in Oregon is receiving customer backlash after employees started wearing politically charged buttons that read Abolish ICE and No one is illegal much to the companys dismay. Late last month, Burgerville sent home 10 workers from its Montavilla location in Portland after they refused to take off the pins which, supervisors said, violated company policy that bans "controversial" pins. However, one day later, the company gave the employees back pay and let them return to work with their protest buttons after the union called the policy a form of "white supremacy." RESTAURANT FACES BACKLASH AFTER SHAMING TEEN WHO PAID BILL WITH QUARTERS The company, a small chain that operates in Oregon and southwest Washington, is currently negotiating a union contract with the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU), the first federally recognized fast-food union in the United States. The talks reportedly include the employees' rights to express their political views during work hours. The BVWU did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment, but made clear on Facebook its support of the Montavilla Burgerville employees. MAINE RESTAURANT RESPONDS TO 'DISTURBING' COMMENTS AND 'HOSTILE' CUSTOMERS ANGRY OVER FRENCH FRY CHANGE Lets be crystal clear: the only reason they changed this policy is because of the actions of our co-workers. When workers at Montavilla chose to not take off their Black Lives Matter, No One Is Illegal and Abolish ICE buttons knowing they would be forced to go home they used their collective power to denounce white supremacy and shut down the drive thru and dining hall, pushing Corporate to change their policy, the recent post reads. While this is a huge victory, Corporate is not off the hook. The post goes on to demand a formal apology to the crew at Montavilla for forcing them to decide between their jobs and supporting the fight against white supremacy. Burgerville corporate did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment either, but Liz Graham, director of human resources, told The Oregonian that the company is working on a better way to roll out its button-free policy. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS "Guests provided feedback that they didn't want to see personal and political messages while they ate," Graham told The Oregonian. "Additionally, some employees expressed that the content of the buttons was drawing unwanted attention that made them uncomfortable." Several customers have taken to Twitter to call for a boycott of the company after employees were allowed back to work with their protest pins. However, there were many patrons that voiced their support of the employees' actions. The company has expressed concern that buttons worn by employees could lead customers to make assumptions about the company's politics. Well, that was quick. On Sept. 1, the opening day of Iowas squirrel-hunting season, a 50-year-old man accidentally shot his brother, 55, at the Brushy Creek State Recreation Area, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported. SEE IT: FLORIDA MEN PULL IN MASSSIVE 750-POUND GATOR: WE WERE 'MORE SCARED THAN WE WERE HAPPY' Sao Bunpan and his brother Khor were hunting with two others when Khor accidentally shot Sao in the upper body, authorities believe. It is unclear what type of gun Khor was using, but the Department of Natural Resources had earlier suggested .22 rifles or shotguns in a news release ahead of opening day. Sao was initially rushed to a hospital in Webster City, before being brought to Des Moines for further treatment. His injuries are said to be non-life-threatening. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are investigating the incident, though they do not suspect foul play. WATCH: SQUIRREL FILMED STEALING M&Ms AT DISNEY WORLD SOUVENIR SHOP Ironically, in late August, the DNR issued a news release ahead of squirrel-hunting season, recommending it for novice hunters, as there isnt as much competition for squirrels. Squirrel hunters can go out knowing theyre not likely to have their hunt interfered with by other hunters, Jim Coffey, a forest wildlife research biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, was quoted as saying. We had around 20,000 hunters harvest 100,000 squirrels in 2017. Its a great introduction to hunting because there is such little competition from other hunters, he added. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Iowas squirrel-hunting season runs through Jan. 31. One Maryland fisherman is in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a spear gun at sea. The U.S. Coast Guard received a call around 2 p.m. Sunday that someone had been injured with a spear gun aboard a 25-foot cabin cruiser, roughly 35 nautical miles off the coastline of Ocean City, Patch Annapolis reported. The identity of the injured man has not been released. FLORIDA MEN PULL IN MASSIVE 750-POUND ALLIGATOR: MORE SCARED THAN WE WERE HAPPY After emergency personnel responded to the scene, a Maryland State Police helicopter flew the injured fisherman to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. According to WGDM, the trauma center called in members of the Baltimore City Fire Department's rescue squad to help remove the spear. Just one other person was reported to be aboard the boat with the injured fisherman, Patch reported. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Officials said that spear guns are mostly to catch larger fish. If Bolivia's public records are correct, Carmelo Flores Laura is the oldest living person ever documented. They say he turned 123 a month ago. The native Aymara lives in a straw-roofed dirt-floor hut in an isolated hamlet near Lake Titicaca at 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), is illiterate, speaks no Spanish and has no teeth. He walks without a cane and doesn't wear glasses. And though he speaks the Aymara language with a firm voice, one must speak directly into his ear to be heard. "I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming," he tells a group of Associated Press reporters who drove from the capital, La Paz, after a local TV report about him. Hobbling down a dirt path, Flores greets them with a raised arm, smiles and sits down on a rock to chat. His gums bulge with coca leaf, a mild stimulant that staves off hunger that, like most Bolivian highlands peasants, he has been chewing all his life. Guinness World Records says the oldest living person verified by original proof of birth is Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman, while the oldest verified age on record was 122 years and 164 days: Jeanne Calment of France. She died in 1997. "I should be about 100 years old or more," Flores says. But his memory is failing. His 27-year-old grandson Edwin says he fought in the 1933 Chaco war with Paraguay, but Flores said he only faintly remembers that. The director of Bolivia's civil registrar, Eugenio Condori, showed the AP the registry that lists Carmelo Flores' birthdate as July 16, 1890. Condori said there is no birth certificate because they did not exist in Bolivia until 1940. Before that, births were registered with baptism certificates from the nearest Roman Catholic church, authenticated by two witnesses. "For the state, the baptism certificate is valid because in those days priests provided them and they were literate," Condori said. He said he could not show Flores' baptism certificate to the AP because it is a private document. The grandson says the family had to show the government the baptism certificate so Flores could qualify for a monthly subsidy for the elderly. To what does Flores owe his longevity? "I walk a lot, that's all. I go out with the animals," says Flores, who long herded cattle and sheep. "I don't eat noodles or rice, only barley. I used to grow potatoes, beans, oca (an Andean tuber)." The water Flores drinks streams down from the snow-capped peak of Illampu, one of Bolivia's highest mountains. He says he doesn't drink alcohol, though did imbibe some in his youth. He's eaten a lot of mutton, and though he likes pork it is hardly available. He fondly remembers hunting and eating fox as a younger man. Flores is rustic, to say the least. He's unshaven with several months of beard, long fingernails and has been wearing the same unwashed clothes for some time. His clothing includes tire-rubber soled sandals, a wool cap and a brimmed hat over that for extra protection from the piercing Andean sun. He says he has never been farther afield than La Paz, 80 kilometers away, and has never been seriously ill. And he sorely misses his wife, who died more than a decade ago. Of their three children only one is still alive: Cecilio, age 67. There are 40 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren but most have left the hamlet of Frasquia, a dozen homes located a two-hour walk from the nearest road in Warisata. His grandson Edwin, Edwin's wife and their two children live next door. Edwin Flores says his grandfather, who grew up in a semi-feudal society, long worked for the rancher who owned Frasquia until 1952, when the state seized major holdings in an agrarian reform and parceled them out to peasants who worked the land. Although electrical power arrived in Frasquia three years ago, time seems to have stood still here. As Flores spoke, peasants prepared chuno, or dehydrated and chilled potatoes, and tilled the soil with ox-driven plows. Donkeys brayed and sheep and cattle grazed. Almost everyone was elderly or middle-aged. Most of the young are gone. Things are getting a little hairy for cats in New Zealand. The village of Omaui, in New Zealand, is considering a proposal to eventually ban all domestic cats in the area, according to The Guardian. The so-called pest plan will require all cats to be spayed or neutered and microchipped, and residents will not be able to replace their pets when they pass away. Were not cat haters, but wed like to see responsible pet ownership and this really isnt the place for cats, said John Collins, of the Omaui Landcare Trust told Newshub. The area is home to native bush and nature reserves, and cats are posing a threat to native wildlife including insects, reptiles, birds, and smaller animals, according to Newshub, which is the central issue behind the ban. Residents of Omaui are upset, since observing wildlife in their backyards isnt exactly a replacement for a pet many of whom are considered members of the family: You're just told one day that your cats, your treasured little possessions... really, that's it. Either they get trapped in the traps, or those that survive can't be replaced, resident Terry Dean told Newshub. Another resident, Nico Jarvis, told the Otago Daily Times that if I cannot have a cat, it almost becomes unhealthy for me to live in my house. She says her cats offer rodent control on her property as well as companionship. The new proposal intends to make the area cat-free by 2050. Other areas of New Zealand, like the Kotuku Parks of Kapiti Island and Auckland have similar (though not the same) cat control measures, according to The Guardian. Residents have two months to weigh in on the proposal. This article originally appeared on Travel + Leisure. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Ever since Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel in May 2017 to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible Russian collusion with Donald Trumps campaign a major question has loomed: Will Mueller and his team of prosecutors get to interview President Trump? Negotiations between the Mueller team and lawyers for President Trump including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for a possible presidential interview have gone on and on and on, yet as far as we know the question of President Trumps testimony remains unresolved. And all the while, the Mueller probe has preoccupied the news media, the American people, the president and his administration with no end in sight. The continuing Mueller investigation is like an open wound on the presidency and our nation. It needs to be brought to a close and the best way to do that is for the president to tell Mueller all he knows about Russia and the election that put him in the White House. Whether you support him or oppose him, we can all agree that President Trump is unconventional doing things other presidents have never done. So now its time for him to take another unconventional step: testify before Mueller and his team of prosecutors, under oath, and on live television so the American people can hear directly from their president on the Russia investigation and other allegations of wrongdoing against him, his campaign and his associates. Once the president testifies, Muller should quickly wrap up his probe, lay his cards on the table by producing a report, and give us his assessment of whether the president or anyone working for his campaign or in the White House who has not already been charged with a crime broke the law and should face new charges. And in President Trumps case, Congress should examine the Mueller report and decide whether to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. We all know the impeachment cloud is hanging over the presidents head weakening him as a world leader, limiting his effectiveness at home and taking his attention away from the many duties of his office. One way or another, this needs to end. Why would President Trump want to testify on TV before Mueller? Wouldnt he be exposing himself to greater legal jeopardy and a greater chance of impeachment? If the president is innocent of wrongdoing as he has stated many times he should have nothing to fear. He can save himself, his family and members of his inner circle from the prospect of further investigation by sitting down and answering Muellers questions. Several of the questions around which prosecutors are circling involve matters of mental state or intent. There are plenty of them. Did Donald Trump conspire with Russia to win the presidency? Is he aware of anyone on his campaign doing so? Did President Trump fire FBI Director James Comey because he intended to block the investigation into Russian election meddling? Or did the president remove Comey because of the FBI directors record of bad judgment in publicly announcing investigatory steps into the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign during the summer and fall of 2016? Did Trump intend to protect his family when he authorized the hush-money payoffs to two women alleging they had extramarital affairs with him? Did he even know about the campaign finance limits when he reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for payments to the women? Lets face it: if marital infidelity was an impeachable offense, a lot of our presidents would have been forced out of office. As was the case with Bill Clinton when he was impeached by the House (but acquitted after a trial in the Senate) we can expect lawmakers will require criminal behavior before they convict a president in an impeachment trial. So the question is not whether Trump was a faithful husband its whether he broke any laws in trying to keep his alleged affairs (affairs he denies) quiet. A publicly aired interview with Mueller without any limits on questions would allow President Trump to tell all he knows and pave the way for an end to the Mueller investigation. Prosecutions like those against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen could be pursued by U.S. attorneys offices. So could other new cases of alleged criminal activity Mueller has uncovered. By testifying voluntarily, President Trump would spare the nation the harm of a constitutional showdown with Mueller if Mueller tries to subpoena his testimony and the president fights such a move all the way to the Supreme Court. As occurred with President Nixons tapes of White House conversations during the Watergate scandal, lower courts and ultimately the Supreme Court may assert the final authority to find the presidents testimony relevant to the investigation. The high court could decide that executive privilege must give way to the needs of a criminal investigation and order the president to honor a subpoena. President Trump would then trigger a constitutional crisis if he refused to obey a judicial order a step that President Nixon refused to take when he handed over his tape recordings in the Watergate case. By agreeing to an interview with Muller and his team, President Trump would also honor the fundamental constitutional responsibilities of the presidency. A private individual in Trumps circumstances might choose to refuse to cooperate, out of fear of a perjury trap where prosecutors seek to trick a witness making a false statement under oath. A private person could also invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refuse to testify under those grounds. But the very purpose of the executive power the president holds is the power to execute the laws. The Constitutions text vests the president with the core duty to take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. With these words, the Constitution makes the president responsible for all federal law enforcement. Consequently, the president must cooperate with the demands of those very prosecutors who work for him in the execution of his constitutional responsibilities. Otherwise, he encourages everyone to resist the needs of law enforcement, frustrates the carrying out of the laws, and ultimately fails in his constitutional duties. For President Trump, his constitutional duty must come first. That demands that he tell the nation, under oath, once and for all, the truth about his 2016 campaign. And if the president does this, Mueller has an obligation to wrap up his probe, report to Congress and the American people, and let the chips fall where they may. Our nations best interests will not be served if this investigation lasts for months and even years longer. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Top executives from Facebook and Twitter will undergo questioning before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday from senators outraged by a rising deluge of scandals over online censorship, privacy invasion, secret data mining, fake news, hate speech and disinformation warfare campaigns by foreign nations. Google was invited to the hearing as well but refused to send a top executive. The concerns the Intelligence Committee are exploring are real, the dangers clear and present. But can we legislate our way out of this mess? Heading into a historic midterm elections in November, foreign nations are actively attacking our social media in coordinated disinformation campaigns designed to sow social discord and political confusion. Just last week, Facebook revealed it had found hundreds of fake accounts apparently generated by Russian and Iranian state-sponsored hacking crews. Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has warned: Election influence from abroad represents an intolerable assault on the democratic foundation this republic was built on. Perhaps the scariest news yet is that Facebook can lead to violence that leaves people injured or even killed. A new landmark study has directly linked increases in per-person use of the social platform to large spikes in bigotry-fueled violence. As their creations have spun out of control, social media companies have scrambled to develop programmatic solutions, many of them problematic. Facebook, for example, has been deploying a trustworthiness score to users in order to decide whose posts should be highlighted and whose should be buried. While meant to combat fake news, trolls and bot accounts, this algorithm to automatically rate people reminiscent of Chinas Orwellian social credit system is a far cry from any ideal of an open and democratic national discourse. Instead, these are the types of cures that could kill the patient. Despite the shocks of the current moment, there is also a sense of deja vu. Weve been on this journey with Facebook and other tech giants for the last 10 years or more. Its like a Groundhog Day of repetitive scandals. Each time, storms of outrage, the distant thunder of looming legislation, and blizzards of #DeleteFacebook hashtags all soon melt away, as a numbing reality sets in. After the standard stages of anger and grief, most users come to realize there is no alternative. To even consider leaving Facebook, despite its many fails and depredations, is difficult. For many, it would mean cutting off from friends, family and professional networks. It would mean vanishing from social circles and political tribes in short, a sort of modern exile or excommunication. And there truly is nowhere to go. Facebook, Google, and the select members of our 21st century digital oligarchy have either laid waste to their enemies (read: competition) or colonized them (think Instagram). Nearly half of all Americans now get their news from Facebook. So at the current scale, decisions made by Facebook and other social media companies have an outsized impact on our entire society. When Facebook tweaks an algorithm for managing the flow of news, when Twitter posts a refreshed terms of use policy, or when Google adjusts its privacy defaults, those acts of curation now have the same impact as would a sweeping censorship law in years past. The discourse and interactions of millions, even billions, of people are shifted with each secret edit of code. At Wednesdays hearing, Intelligence Committee members will ask executives of Facebook and Twitter what they plan to do to counter malign actors, including foreign attempts to disrupt free and fair elections. Senators will also ask about efforts to balance concerns over fake news and hate speech with the desire for an unimpeded flow of information and unfettered opinion. And they will once again demand an accounting for various breaches of privacy, personal data and trust. All of these questions and concerns are valid. And most all of them have been asked and answered before, with promises made and with wringing of hands but with no significant result. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, has floated a white paper listing 20 policy proposals. Warner suggests legislative and regulatory action to reduce anticompetitive behavior, support public education and promote transparency of business practices. Worthy in intent, these specific recommendations may be fixes around the edges. Moreover, the white paper itself warns that these suggested policies could have unforeseen effects and could potentially worsen the problems they are meant to address. More importantly, Warners white paper spotlights the likely root cause of many problems: the rise of a few dominant platforms. At Wednesdays hearing and in the other congressional committee hearings that will follow, asking social media companies to do better simply wont work. Nudging them with little carrots and sticks wont alter their efforts to become even larger and more powerful. Instead, the overall conditions must be reset. Lets name the core problem, once and for all. What we are witnessing is a concentration of enormous power in just a handful of companies. When this happens, the cost of service becomes far too high. In this case, the price is not in dollars but rather to personal privacy, the free flow of information, human safety, the First Amendment and our democracy itself. Tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google have grown so powerful that they can whether through intent or incompetence unleash serious threats to our society and political system. Yet they remain secretive and unaccountable. The time has come for a serious consideration of antitrust action against these companies. Theyre just too big now, and therefore too dangerous. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! After sitting through almost seven hours of opening statements from senators and repeated outbursts from protesters at his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Judge Brett Kavanaugh showed why he would be an outstanding Supreme Court Justice when he delivered a brief opening statement. Democrats desperate to keep this extraordinarily qualified judge off the nations highest court never let up in their daylong demonization of the judge, who currently serves on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But Kavanaugh was calm throughout the hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee and finally responded by emphasizing a judges duty to correctly interpret the law, rather than bending it to achieve his or any other judges view of the best policy. A good judge must be an umpire a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy, Kavanaugh said in his opening statement. I dont decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge. I am a pro-law judge. Kavanaugh directly responded to those who demand only that he decide their way on their favorite policy issues of the day. Over the past 12 years, I have ruled sometimes for the prosecution and sometimes for criminal defendants, sometimes for workers and sometimes for businesses, sometimes for environmentalists and sometimes for coal miners, the Supreme Court nominee said. In each case, I have followed the law. Democrats are going to get nowhere trying to attack Kavanaugh on his possible future rulings on health care or abortion. Indeed, Kavanaugh has written nothing significant about these or other hot social issues which is why some religious conservatives launched a whisper campaign against him immediately after Justice Anthony Kennedys retirement. Like nominees of all stripes since the Senate rejected Robert Borks nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987, Kavanaugh will refuse to answer questions on any specific matters that might come before as a justice. Thats appropriate Supreme Court justices should judge cases based on the evidence and legal arguments that are presented to them, not based on their preconceived personal views. Its too bad that Democratic senators who entered the confirmation hearing with closed minds determined to oppose Kavanaugh regardless of what he says or what his record shows dont show the patience, moderation, and good spirits that Kavanaugh displayed Tuesday. The judge called for a return to the civility and common sense that used to characterize Americas greatest institutions of government. Thats something both Democrats and Republicans should agree to. The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution, Kavanaugh said. The justices on the Supreme Court do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle. They do not caucus in separate rooms. If confirmed to the court, I would be part of a team of nine, committed to deciding cases according to the Constitution and laws of the United States. That kind of reasonableness could make Kavanaugh a far more influential player on the Supreme Court than Democrats may think. While the late Justice Antonin Scalia and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist could excite with cutting prose or daring ideas, they had difficulty building winning coalitions on the high court for conservative jurisprudence. Kavanaugh made clear that he would instead follow the example of Justice Kennedy, who he was nominated to replace for whom he clerked. Kavanaugh described Kennedy as his mentor and hero, and called him a model of civility and collegiality. If Kavanaugh were to apply his reasonableness and persuasive talents on the Supreme Court, he might move the court toward the more restrained, limited role that conservatives have hoped for these last three decades. In both legitimate and illegitimate ways, liberals attempted to block the start of the first day of Kavanaughs confirmation hearing. Police had to remove protesters from the hearing room and several dozen were arrested. Democratic senators repeatedly interrupted the Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, when he delivered his mild opening statement, The Democrats unreasonably demanded a delay over the late release of thousands of pages of documents by the White House. This was an obvious stalling tactic without justification. Such delaying tactics, however, reveal a Democratic Senate minority that has little stomach for conducting a responsible debate over the future of the Supreme Court. In fact, if the issue at hand was simply Kavanaughs qualifications to sit on the high court he should win the approval of every senator, regardless of party. Kavanaugh boasts a sterling background, including service as a law clerk in a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court, an aide to Kenneth W. Starrs Whitewater probe and a prominent White House official under President George W. Bush. He has served for 12 years on the federal appeals court in the nations capital commonly known as the second most important in the nation. Democrats fighting Kavanaughs nomination are doing so because he was nominated by a Republican president they bitterly oppose. But since they are the minority party in the Senate, Kavanaugh seems virtually certain to win confirmation. The judge might even pick up a few votes from vulnerable Senate Democrats such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota who face difficult re-election campaigns in states carried by Trump in the 2016 presidential election. More important than his resume is Kavanaughs understanding of the limited judicial role in society. In his opening statement, Kavanaugh rejected the outcome-oriented approach to judging that seems popular among Democratic senators, emphasizing his nonpartisanship and fairness in judging cases. But thats not what Senate Democrats want to hear. The vast majority of them appear to want to see justices on the Supreme Court who support the Democratic political platform of abortion rights, socialized medical care, and other issues near and dear to the partys left wing. This is not the role of a Supreme Court justice, and Brett Kavanaugh knows this. If he joins the nations highest court we can be sure he will be an outstanding and fair justice. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Judge Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to the Supreme Court entered its second day Wednesday, after the unhinged left was on full display on the opening day Tuesday. Partisan rancor reigned as outbursts, interruptions, protests, and juvenile political stunts broke out when opponents of the nomination attempted to highjack the days proceedings. Each Trump-hating Democrat on the committee took his or her turn flaunting the lefts radical anti-freedom agenda, as the American people got a glimpse of what life would look like if Democrats were entrusted with control of government. By contrast, Kavanaugh delivered an opening statement that emphasized he would judge cases fairly and without political influence. My judicial philosophy is straightforward, Kavanaugh said. A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. A judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent. The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution, Kavanaugh added. Halloween might not be until next month, but rest assured if Tuesday was any indicator, every scare tactic in the book will be employed this week by the frightening liberals. Unsurprisingly, committee Democrats began their rigged obstruction charade by asking for delays and requesting more documents to review. As everyone knows, these tactics are illegitimate stunts, because the Democrats have already tipped their hands. The Democrats on the committee are all going to vote against Kavanaughs confirmation, and in large part have already publicly stated as much. If there was a chance at changing minds and getting to yes, that might be a reason to look at more records from Kavanaughs esteemed career but thats a pipe dream. The crazed left-wing base and the entrenched D.C. special interests driving this insanity wont permit such open-mindedness. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, did a great job showing fairness but not giving in to the lefts overt acts of obstruction. Reasonable American voters are keeping score. They will not forget this disgraceful sideshow any time soon, but career Democratic Party politicians and the purveyors of their far left ideology are too far gone to care what anyone thinks. The truth is that President Trump made another outstanding pick for the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is a supremely qualified jurist who will faithfully interpret the law and defend the Constitution. Kavanaughs years of government service are open to the public and available for inspection by anyone who wishes to learn about his stellar record. Democrats have tried and failed to smear this fine man, but that wont stop Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California from further politicizing these hearings as an audition for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination contest. The Democratic machines playbook is as well-known as it is stale. Everyone knows whats going to play out and its sad that the American people are going to have to stomach it yet again. Committee Democrats are going to take turns attacking Kavanaugh for his principled decisions and in the process highlight their failed agenda for the American people. So if there is an upside to this pathetic display by the liberals, their dangerous agenda will bubble up to the surface for all to take in. This week Kavanaugh will be ridiculed for supporting the right to robust political speech that is enshrined in the First Amendment. Then his integrity will be questioned for standing tall for the right to keep and bear arms that is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Following that, an assault on Kavanaugh will commence in order to grandstand the lefts unflinching addiction to abortion on demand. Soon after, committee Democrats will yell and scream about unchecked executive power and the rule of law, while advocating for President Obamas unconstitutional DACA program for immigrants brought to America as children and lawless sanctuary cities. But rest assured, the centerpiece of the Democratic agenda will not be forgotten. Judge Kavanaugh will be peppered with hypotheticals and relentlessly questioned about his views on presidential power and impeachment. The Democrats will gladly take these hearings into the mud pit and the biased mainstream media will undoubtedly praise them for it. But I know that Kavanaugh will answer each question honestly and with the wisdom, fortitude, and integrity of someone well-suited to be on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh deserves robust bipartisan support but the liberal machine is powerful and Senate Democrats are too weak to stand up to it. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Tuesdays opening day of Judge Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee devolved into chicanery and chaos, as a litany of hecklers repeatedly interrupted speakers. The atmosphere became so heated that Ashley Kavanaugh, the judges wife, was forced to escort her visibly upset daughters 13-year-old Margaret and 10-year-old Liza from the hearing room. Is this what weve become? When the children of a Supreme Court nominee are forced to witness members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and public attendees berate and belittle their father and dishonestly call his character into question its obvious that civility and respect are in short supply. From Supreme Court hearings to bakeries and burger joints, can we not respect the dignity of people with whom we may have significant disagreements? Kavanaugh is clearly a good man who is deeply committed to his family, his church and his career. He should of course be subject to questioning from senators at his confirmation hearing. But he should not be eviscerated on national television. Regrettably, what we saw unfold at the first day of Kavanaughs confirmation hearing scheduled to continue through Friday is a microcosm of a broader strategy used by some people to harass, intimidate and shame people who hold opposing views. Its one thing to oppose the nomination of a Supreme Court nominee. But its another thing to say that a vote for Kavanaugh is tantamount to being complicit in evil which is precisely what Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in the days leading up to the hearing. Its one thing to disagree with In-N-Out Burger donating to Republican candidates. But its another thing to call for a boycott of the restaurant chain which is what California Democratic Party official Eric Bauman did last week. (Never mind that In-N-Out also donated to Democratic candidates.) Sadly, decorum and civility in political life have become increasingly rare. And both politicians and pundits have resorted to cheap theatrics and the tactics of schoolyard bullies. I find it ironic that many of the same people who praised the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for his good manners and overall decency have no problem with the nasty tone surrounding Tuesdays hearing. In fact, many are contributing to it. Fair-minded opposition is a hallmark of this country, but there is nothing fair about besmirching a persons character simply because you disagree with him or her. When is all of this going to stop? Is this really how we want to live and treat one another? Surely it is not. From Supreme Court hearings to bakeries and burger joints, can we not respect the dignity of people with whom we may have significant disagreements? My friend Dr. Tim Keller, the former senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, once said the reason the melting pot of New York City has worked so well is that people there havent gone out of their way to stick their fingers in the eyes of people of other traditions. As a father, my heart aches for Judge Kavanaughs daughters. But Im also proud that Ashley Kavanaugh had the good sense to remove the couples daughters and limit their exposure to such vulgarity. In the end, it would appear that both Kavanaugh and his wife are blessed with good judicial temperaments. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Democrats are really, really angry. Every now and then, its worth recalling what it is they are so angry about. It boils down to this: they are powerless, unable to enact a progressive agenda disliked by the majority of the country. Since Democrats are in the minority in Congress, they cannot legislate. Since President Trump beat Hillary Clinton, they lost the ability to whip up diktats through White House executive orders. And if Judge Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, Democrats wont be able to look to that branch of government to further their ends. LIZ PEEK: REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES IN 2018 SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT ONE THING, AND ONE THING ALONE Hence the Democratic anger and frustration on full view during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Kavanaughs nomination to the Supreme Court. Democrats on the committee, several of whom may be running for president in 2020, have embarrassed themselves. The staged interruptions and complaints about the process by Democratic senators made a mockery of the calls for civility and bipartisanship that adorned the memorials for their late colleague, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. Apparently, treating your ideological foes with courtesy is appropriate only if that graciousness flows right to left, not the other way around. The Democratic committee members say they are angry that they have not received more documents about the judge, and that some of the pages were delivered less than a day before the hearings were to commence. But its all hogwash; the material provided was more than that received from the past five nominees combined. Kavanaugh has an extensive public record of decisions that Democrats are free to review. They do not want to review them; they prefer to sulk and posture. After all, every single one of the Democrats on the committee has vowed to vote against confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court so what difference would a few thousand pages make? The Democratic senators have made their minds up. The fury of Democrats has nothing to do with missing pages or hurried timetables. It has everything to do with being sore losers. They still cannot accept that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Doing so would demand coming to terms with why, under President Obama, the party lost not only the presidential election but also an unprecedented number of seats in the Senate, the House, in state legislatures and governors mansions across the country. It would mean admitting that President Obama was a disaster for his party. During that agonizing descent into impotence as Democrats lost the House in 2010, the Senate in 2012 and the White House in 2016 not once did the party veer from policies that clearly were unpopular with voters. Not once did Democrats loosen their grip on the progressive juggernaut that propelled them forward. They embraced environmental laws that could cripple the countrys energy base, health-care mandates that were affordable only to those subsidized by the government, restrictions on law enforcement agencies that compromised our safety on our streets, regulations on small and big businesses that made them uncompetitive. They made it harder for entrepreneurs to succeed and create jobs, and they supported immigration programs that mocked the rule of law. Because Democrats lost their majorities in Congress, President Obama took it upon himself to create laws and to implement them. In many instances, such as with Obamas Clean Power Plan which would have upended our countrys energy industries the Supreme Court slammed on the brakes, so egregious was the executive overreach. Ditto the effort to fundamentally change our immigration and labor laws. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 against President Obamas use of recess appointments in the case of National Labor Relations Board vs. Noel Canning. At the time, Bob Goodlatte, a Republican representative from Virginia, said that the "9-0 decision last week was the 13th time the Supreme Court has voted 9-0 that the president has exceeded his constitutional authority." In the 2016 Supreme Court session, the White House lost 10 cases on unanimous decisions. That was a humiliating outcome that included votes from two Obama-appointed justices. In fact, the Supreme Court ended up being the referee-in-chief, handing down an unprecedented number of unfavorable rulings to the Obama White House. Over time, most presidents score a win rate of about two-thirds; for Obama it was about half This history brings the flap over Kavanaugh into perspective. If you are pushing an unpopular agenda, legislating from the White House is the last resort. But in that scenario, the makeup of the Supreme Court becomes vitally important. The addition of Kavanaugh will almost certainly tilt the Supreme Court to the right, although over time judges can gravitate one way or another. Justice Sandra Day OConnor, for instance, who was appointed by President Reagan, was initially a reliable conservative voter on the court but over the years become ever more liberal. For the moment, however, Kavanaugh is solidly conservative; he is, in particular, no fan of the endless spread and intrusion of Big Government. For instance, he declared unconstitutional the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency uniquely unaccountable to Congress or the president. Kavanaughs dislike of an overreaching government is catnip to conservatives, but anathema to liberals, who increasingly embrace a soft form of socialism, encouraging ever more federal control of our industries and our lives. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Supreme Court with Kavanaugh aboard would become a serious speedbump for progressives. The next Democratic president would be less able to legislate from the White House. Instead, Democrats would have to promote their programs the old-fashioned way; they would have to win some elections. And that, for sure, is why Democrats are so angry. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM LIZ PEEK Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in a Democratic primary Tuesday in the latest shakeup of the House Democratic caucus by a far-left challenger. Capuano conceded defeat to Pressley in the race to represent Massachusetts' 7th District approximately 30 minutes before The Associated Press formally called the race. With 69 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Pressley had the lead by 10,682 votes. Pressley, who is running unopposed in November, is set to become the first African-American woman elected to Congress from the Commonwealth. Capuano is the fourth House member to lose a primary this year, along with Reps. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C.; Mark Sanford, R-S.C., and fellow 10-term Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y. The prospect of a Pressley upset had drawn some comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's defeat of Crowley in June. The New York democratic socialist had endorsed Pressley, as did Our Revolution, the offshoot of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. However, unlike Crowley, Capuano had fiercely contested the Massachusetts race by racking up endorsements, attending debates and highlighting his consistently liberal voting record in one of the most Democratic districts in a traditionally Democratic state. And unlike Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political neophyte, the 44-year-old Pressley has a track record in Massachusetts' halls of power. She served as former Secretary of State John Kerry's political director when he was a U.S. senator and became the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council in 2009. Greeting voters at a Boston polling station earlier Tuesday, Pressley spoke of "the ground shifting beneath our feet and the wind at our backs." "This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy," she told reporters. "This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life." Pressley has backed Medicare-for-all and called for defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She likely was aided by the demographics of the 7th district, which cuts a north-south swathe through the city of Boston and includes portions of neighboring Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, Milton and Somerville -- where Capuano served as mayor for nine years in the 1990s. PRO-TRUMP REPUBLICAN WINS PRIMARY TO TAKE ON SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN State lawmakers designated the district as the first majority-minority district in Massachusetts. Just a third of the population is white, with blacks, Hispanics and Asians constituting most of the other two-thirds. However, Pressley had bristled at the notion that race was a defining issue in her campaign. "I have been really furious about the constant charges being lobbed against me about identity politics that, by the way, are only lobbed against women and candidates of color," she said in one debate. "I happen to be black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both, but that is not the totality of my identity." The contest also formed sharp divides among Boston's Democratic political and media elite. The city's mayor, Marty Walsh, campaigned with Capuano in the final days of the race. U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a grandson of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, also endorsed the incumbent, calling him "a guy who won't shy away from steep odds or tough truths." OPINION: IS THIS WOMAN THE GOP'S OCASIO-CORTEZ? Pressley was backed by state Attorney General Maura Healey, who repeatedly has challenged the Trump administration's policies on on immigration, gun control and other issues. She also was endorsed by The Boston Globe, which called her "the future of the Democratic Party." The last time an incumbent Democratic House member in Massachusetts lost a primary was in 2014, when Seth Moulton defeated former Rep. John Tierney, who brought significant personal baggage to the campaign. Fox News' Gregg Re, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh the single best legal mind of his generation, adding he's certain the judge is going to be on the Supreme Court. Graham told Fox News Martha MacCallum that Trump was the big winner in Wednesdays hearing and that Democrats were the big losers. He said that Republicans have voted in favor of certain liberal judges in the past when the party was in the minority -- but he claimed Democrats have been unwilling to do the same. I think the country is tired of the yelling and theyd like us to get things done. And, at times, Donald Trump drives me crazy, but hes produced, and Kavanaugh is the single best legal mind of his generation. Any Republican president wouldve picked him. BRETT KAVANAUGH VOWS TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND IN EVERY CASE, AFTER CHAOTIC CONFIMATION HEARING Graham went on to say that Kavanaugh is equally qualified if not more qualified than Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan, both of whom were approved for the high court during the Obama administration. He also said on The Story that the hearings will reflect poorly on Dems, adding: If this is their approach to how to govern, they're going to have a hard time in 2020. Graham seemed to be confident that Kavanaugh would be approved. Kavanaughs going to be on the Supreme Court. Well done, Mr. President. Graham also spoke about the recent loss of his close friend Sen. John McCain -- and the man picked to serve out the remainder of his term. Theyve taken Johns wingman, John Kyl, who's steady as a rock, solid conservative who tries to solve hard problems and let him finish out his good friends term and it makes a lot of sense to me and come January well get somebody that will be able to run in 2020. ACTRESS PIPER PERABO ARRESTED, THROWN OUT OF KAVANAUGH HEARING AFTER LAUNCHING PROTEST He also added that Kyl, a former Arizona senator, is a vote for Kavanaugh. MaCallum briefly asked Graham about the New York Times report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was willing to accept some written answers from Trump about Russian collusion accusations. He said it seemed unlikely Mueller's team would produce a report before midterm elections. If they're still negotiating, talking to the president, most likely you wont get a report until after the election. Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings started Tuesday and are set to continue through the week. Fox News Martha MacCallum contributed to this report. Republicans in deep-blue Massachusetts selected pro-Trump State Rep. Geoff Diehl to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in November, setting the stage for a contentious referendum on the first-term senator's national profile as she openly mulls a run for the presidency in 2020. Diehl triumphed over attorney John Kingston, and Beth Lindstrom, an aide to former Gov. Mitt Romney, with early results showing him with a convincing double-digit lead over his rivals. Of the three candidates, Diehl had the closest ties to President Donald Trump. Diehl co-chaired Trump's 2016 Massachusetts campaign. He was quick to note that despite its liberal reputation, Massachusetts gave Trump one of his most lopsided early primary wins. Warren, who has served in the Senate since 2013, ran unopposed in Tuesday's Democratic primary. She released ten years worth of tax returns recently, laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run in 2020. Warren hasn't yet declared her intention to run, saying she's wanted to focus on her reelection first. But she has clearly floated the possibility of pursuing the White House, saying in August she's not afraid to be "the underdog." President Trump repeatedly has unloaded on his prospective rival, saying she lied about having Native American roots to help her legal career and vowing to toss a heritage test at her during a presidential debate. Fox News has ranked the November race as likely Democrat. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday soundly defeated ultraconservative challenger Scott Lively on his way to seeking a second four-year term in office, overcoming charges that he is too moderate as Republicans seek to maintain their hold on New England's governorships. He's set to face 47-year-old Ohio native Jay Gonzalez, the Democratic nominee for governor, in November. A former official in the administration of Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, Gonzales has hammered Baker on the deficiencies in the state's mass transit system and called for stronger protections for immigrants. 'REAL INDIAN' RUNNING AS INDEPENDENT AGAINST WARREN SUES AFTER STATE TELLS HIM TO STOP CALLING HER 'FAKE INDIAN' But despite Massachusetts' longstanding reputation as a deeply liberal state, Baker commands sky-high approval ratings there and ranks among the nation's most popular governors. He largely ignored Lively, a staunch supporter of President Trump. Baker credited in part his willingness to work cooperatively with Democratic leaders at the Statehouse. He is a progressive Republican, and supports universal healthcare and greater state investments in transportation and education. Republicans currently hold the governorships of four out of six states in highly liberal New England, including Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and are looking to grow that number in November. Also on Tuesday, in a major upset, Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley defeated 10-term incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano. Pressley, expected to be the first black woman elected to represent Massachusetts in Congress because she's set to run unopposed in November, had the backing of Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And Rep. Richard Neal defeated Democratic primary challenger Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, an attorney who had hoped to make history herself by becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress from Massachusetts. She backed a proposal to make Medicare available to all Americans regardless of age. Neal will run unopposed in November. Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Trump on Tuesday asked whether Bob Woodward could be a Dem operative after an early copy of the veteran reporters soon-to-be-released book portrayed a chaotic White House plagued by infighting and bad-mouthing against the president. Labeling details of the book a con on the public with made up quotes, the president also seemingly questioned the timing of the book reveal. The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly, Trump tweeted. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing? An early copy of The Washington Post associate editors book was obtained by The Washington Post. According to the Post, it portrays a Trump White House thats filled with second-guessing by members of Trumps staff, who repeatedly bad-mouth him behind closed doors. The book is to be released on Sept. 11. White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shaj was asked about the book during an interview on Fox News The Story with Martha MacCallum Tuesday night and said that although he has yet to read it due to his focus on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whats been reported about it is not the White House that Ive seen. He also said that some people referenced in the details have raised questions about the veracity of things that are being reported in that book. WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AT WOODWARD BOOK DETAILING INFIGHTING, INSULTS, ADMINISTRATIVE COUP DETAT A number of other officials from the presidents staff including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, both of whom were specifically referenced in the book have come out against it. The book claims that Mattis told associates of the president that he had the understanding of a fifth- or sixth-grader, according to The Washington Post. After Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on Syrians in April 2017, Trump is said to have demanded Mattis launch an assassination attempt. Lets f---ing kill him! Lets go in. Lets kill the f---ing lot of them, Trump reportedly said. But Mattis reportedly told an aide: Were not going to do any of that. Were going to be much more measured. In a statement released Tuesday, Mattis said, in part, that the contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodwards book were never uttered by me or in my presence. Separately in the book, Kelly is reported to have frequently lost his temper, and described Trump as an idiot. Its pointless to try to convince him of anything. Hes gone off the rails. Were in Crazytown, Kelly said, according to Woodward. I dont even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job Ive ever had. But Kelly also came out against the book, asserting that the comments attributed to him were not true. The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," he said in a statement. "As I stated back in May and still firmly stand behind: 'I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS. I'm committed to the President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administrations many successes.'" Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife are making their first major foray into politics with a $10 million contribution to a super PAC that aims to elect military veterans to Congress. The contribution introduces Mr. Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, to a class of political megadonors that includes Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and California billionaire Tom Steyer, who have each poured more than $100 million into elections over the past decade. But unlike with Messrs. Adelson and Steyer, the Bezos contribution isnt to a partisan political organization. Instead it is to With Honor Fund, a year-old super PAC that backs veterans of both major parties who are running for House seats. Federal Election Commission filings show the organization had raised $7 million between its launch last October and the end of July. Rye Barcott, the founder of With Honor Fund, said the Bezoses shared his groups goal of building a cross-partisan coalition of House members willing to work with the other party. They perceive themselves to be pretty nonpartisan, Mr. Barcott said. The idea of doing something different and disruptive appealed to them, along with our focus on values and integrity in our national discourse. A Bezos spokesman confirmed the contribution and said the Amazon chief executive and his wife, MacKenzie, declined to comment. With Honor Fund is backing 33 House candidates now running19 Democrats and 14 Republicans. Mr. Barcott said the PAC does no screening for ideology, but rather seeks out a common bond of service and commitment to the country. In a New Hampshire House race, With Honors ads backing Democrat Maura Sullivan show President Trumps face as it says she will back affordable health care...no matter who stands in the way.But in an ad for Michael Waltz, the GOP nominee for a House seat in northeast Florida, With Honor says Mr. Waltz will work with President Trump to fight for Floridas conservative values. Mr. Barcott said With Honor Fund backs candidates who agree to its three-point pledge, which calls for integrity, civility and courage. Other major With Honor contributors include Leslie Wexner, the CEO of the company that owns Victorias Secret, and his wife, Abigail Wexner, who gave a combined $2.8 million. Mr. Bezoss parents gave the super PAC $2 million. Mr. Bezos, whom Forbes magazine in March ranked as the worlds richest man with a net worth of more than $150 billion, has to this point not been an active campaign donor. FEC data shows that since 2007 the couple has given $52,600 to federal candidates$31,000 of that went to Democrats and $21,600 to Republicans. They have also given $170,000 to PACs associated with Amazon and Blue Origin, a Bezos-owned aerospace manufacturer. In Washington state, where the Bezoses live, the couple gave $2.5 million to back a 2012 referendum to legalize same-sex marriage. Beyond that, they have given just $8,400 to state-level candidates. Mr. Bezos joins a roster of American billionaires who have spent tens of millions of dollars backing candidates. This year Mr. Adelson and his wife gave $55 million to the super PACs backing House and Senate Republicans. Richard Uihlein, an Illinois shipping magnate, has spent $31 million this year on federal candidates and PACs and millions more on state-level races. Mr. Steyer, who advocates impeaching Mr. Trump, has spent $30 million so far on Democratic candidates and PACs. And former New York City Mayor Michael Bloombergsignaled in June that he would spend $80 million to elect Democrats in 2018, but FEC records show he has given just $1 million so far. Bloomberg spokesman Howard Wolfson said Tuesday that Mr. Bloomberg still plans to spend to back Democrats. Write to Reid J. Epstein at reid.epstein@wsj.com Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing boiled over into a series of tense exchanges late in the evening Wednesday, as high-profile Democrats lined up to hammer the appellate judge with thinly veiled accusations that he was hiding ties to President Trump's inner circle and harbored sympathies for racist policies. In an especially combative moment late in the day, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., pointedly asked Kavanaugh whether he ever had discussed Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his Russia probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson Torres, the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, a former personal attorney to President Trump. "Be sure about your answer," Harris warned. "I'm asking you a very direct question. Yes or no?" "I'm not sure I know everyone who works at that law firm," Kavanaugh said. "I'm not remembering, but I'm happy to be refreshed." "How can you not remember whether or not you had a conversation about Robert Mueller or his investigation with anyone at that law firm?" Harris asked, visibly exasperated. "This investigation has only been going on for so long, sir, so please answer the question." "I'm just trying to think -- do I know anyone who works at that firm?" Kavanaugh eventually replied. "I'd like to know the person you're thinking of." "I think you're thinking of someone and you don't want to tell us," Harris shot back, sending the room into a few seconds of near-total silence. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee then interjected briefly to defend Kavanaugh, saying that "this town is full of law firms" and that they "are constantly metastasizing, they break off, they form new firms -- they're like rabbits. There's no possible way we can expect this witness to know who populates an entire firm." According to the firm's website, Kasowitz employs more than 250 attorneys, not including dozens of staff members. A barrage of protesters erupted in a chant of "Answer the question" before being led out by police as Lee spoke. In all, 73 people were arrested and charged for unlawful demonstrations within Senate buildings on Wednesday, including 66 people who were removed from the hearing room during the day, according to Capitol Police officials. In another dramatic exchange, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., implied Kavanaugh had been open to racial profiling tactics, citing an email exchange between Kavanaugh and a colleague. However, Booker did not provide Kavanaugh a copy of the emails to review while questioning him about it, prompting another objection from Lee, who charged that it was inappropriate to "cross-examine" Kavanaugh about documents that he "can't see." Booker countered that when Democrats received the emails, which he said were titled "racial profiling," they were marked "committee confidential," indicating that they contained sensitive information. "The system is rigged," Booker said, arguing that the documents should not have been marked confidential, because they did not contain personal or national security information. "The process is unfair, unnecessary, unjust, and unprecedented on this committee." Lee ultimately agreed that the emails should be released, but that Kavanaugh should still be able to review them: "There's no reason why this shouldn't be something we can't discuss in public -- I don't know why it was marked 'committee confidential,'" he said. The emails, released later Thursday, showed Kavanaugh advocating for race-neutral security screening policies at airports in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, although he said that during an "interim" period before such policies could be implemented, administration lawyers would need to "grapple" with the possibility considering race during screening in the interests of national security. Also Wednesday evening, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono pressed Kavanaugh at length about whether he was aware of inappropriate behavior by former 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski when he clerked for Kozinski from 1991 to 1992. Kozinski abruptly retired last year after several woman who had worked as law clerks or colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct that included touching, inappropriate sexual comments and forced viewings of pornography in his chambers. Hirono, who repeatedly has asked other judicial nominees whether they ever sexually harassed anyone, noted that Kavanaugh and Kozinski had kept in touch after his clerkship, with Kozinski recommending Kavanaugh during his 2006 confirmation hearings for his current job on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. "You saw nothing, you heard nothing, and you obviously said nothing," Hirono said, even as Kavanaugh denied being aware of any misconduct by Kozinski and said he would have reported it if he had known. "I'm sorry about the circumstances, but we'll get through it." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. For the most part, the lengthy hearing focused on Kavanaugh's writings and, in particular, key opinions he authored while serving on the nation's most prestigious appellate court. At one point, Kavanaugh was asked by Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy about the constitutionality of individual federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions against presidential action -- a phenomenon that has attracted scrutiny after district court judges unilaterally brought temporary halts to President Trump's travel ban and other initiatives. Kavanaugh demurred, saying he could not discuss potential pending issues before the Supreme Court. After Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse decried what he said was the improper mixing of partisan politics with legal discussion during the hearing, he reiterated his arguments from Tuesday that Congress often delegates excessive authority to mostly unaccountable executive branch agencies. WATCH: SASSE UNLOADS ON CONGRESS DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING In response, Kavanaugh specifically touched on the Obama-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), saying that even if the agency was a good policy idea, its creation was an improper "departure from historical practice" because it employed a single director, rather than a committee, who could only be removed by the president for cause. Kavanaugh wrote an opinion for a three-judge panel striking down the CFPB's structure as unconstitutional in 2016, but was later reversed in part by a 7-3 vote in an unusual en banc review by other justices on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The en banc review found the CFPB's structure to be constitutional, but agreed with Kavanaugh that one of the agency's major interpretive decisions had improperly violated due process requirements. "A single person can make these enormous decisions?" Kavanaugh told Sasse on Wednesday, referring to the director of the CFPB. "From my perspective ... that was an issue of concern." The confirmation hearing has been chaotic at times, with Democrats trying to delay the proceedings as they complain they haven't received enough records from Kavanaugh's past work. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell found a way to allow Wednesdays confirmation hearing to continue into the night, after a brief floor clash with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer had objected to McConnells request for the committee to continue meeting after 2 p.m., despite plans to go late. But McConnell, using a parliamentary maneuver, adjourned the Senate for the day -- because committees can meet as long as they like when the Senate is not in session. KAVANAUGH VOWS TO 'KEEP AN OPEN MIND IN EVERY CASE' California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees ranking member and the first Democrat to question the nominee, began her questioning of Kavanaugh by referencing the outbursts from protesters: I'm sorry about the circumstances, but we'll get through it, she said. Feinstein asked the nominee about his past case argument that Washington D.C.s assault weapons ban was unconstitutional. He said he was following the precedent of the Supreme Court, but acknowledged that gun violence posed significant policy concerns. In his 2011 dissent in a follow-up to the landmark D.C. v. Heller case, Kavanaugh wrote that based on Supreme Court precedent, gun restrictions should be assessed principally by reviewing "text, history, and tradition," rather than a balancing analysis that mainly considers dangers to the public and the government's interest in regulation. Kavanaugh wrote that there is "no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction" between semiautomatic rifles and semiautomatic handguns, rejecting the city's attempt to apply regulations to rifles, other than automatics, that could not constitutionally apply to handguns. Feinstein also pressed Kavanaugh over the Roe v. Wade court decision regarding abortion. Well, as a general proposition, I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade, he said. Later in the day, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., dismissed Kavanaugh's statements on Roe, saying that describing the case as important "existing Supreme Court precedent" was akin to callously introducing a woman as "my current wife," drawing a slight grin from Kavanaugh. The nominee then stressed that "precedent on precedent" has since supported abortion rights, noting that the 1992 Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey explicitly upheld Roe. But when pointedly asked by Blumenthal to vow to never overturn Roe, Kavanaugh reiterated that it would be inappropriate for nominees to the Supreme Court to discuss hypothetical cases during their confirmation hearings -- a view echoed by each sitting Supreme Court justice. It was a recurring theme for Kavanaugh on the day, as he emphasized that he would remain an impartial jurist despite his personal views, both before and after the confirmation hearings. To argue that he can be trusted to be fair to all litigants, Kavanaugh cited his decision in the 2012 case Hamdan v. United States, in which he overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's personal driver, Salim Hamdan. The conviction, Kavanaugh said, violated the Constitution's Ex Post Facto provision by punishing a defendant under a system of military tribunals enacted after his alleged crimes. You'll never have a nominee who's ruled for a more unpopular defendant," Kavanaugh told senators Wednesday, saying that while Hamdan was a widely reviled Guantanamo Bay detainee, he was still entitled to some constitutional protections. Feinstein also asked Kavanaugh about past comments regarding investigations involving a president, a key issue amid the Russia probe that has implicated numerous Trump associates. Kavanaugh said hes never taken a position on the constitutionality of whether a president should be investigated while in office. In response to later questions from Sasse, Kavanaugh emphasized that "no one's above the law," saying that while any criminal prosecution of a sitting president may face "timing" issues, there is no absolute constitutional prohibition against eventually pursuing such a prosecution. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pressed Kavanaugh about what he knew about the Bush administrations warrantless surveillance program. Leahy also asked Kavanaugh if a president has a right to pardon himself, a power President Trump has said he believes he has. The question of self-pardons is something I have never analyzed, Kavanaugh replied. Outbursts from protesters have been a recurring feature since the hearings began. Moments after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley opened the hearing Wednesday, shouting could be heard from the back of the room: Sham president, sham justice! Ironically, at one point, protesters shouted as Kavanaugh discussed how he tried to be respectful in court. "Ive tried to be a very collegial judge, Ive tried to be civil," he said. Kavanaugh served for more than a decade on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and, before that, for five years as a lawyer in the White House Counsel's office in the George W. Bush administration. He also worked for independent counsel Ken Starr for three years during the probe that led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh's elevation from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court would mark a generational rightward shift on the Supreme Court, raising the stakes beyond those of last year's nomination of Neil Gorsuch. The judge's nomination, though, will ultimately succeed or fail depending on a handful of swing-vote senators, including vulnerable red-state Democrats and moderate pro-choice Republicans who have all said that they would withhold judgment on the nominee. Republicans command a narrow 51-49 Senate majority. Party leaders have said they hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed by a floor vote by early October, when the next Supreme Court term begins. Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Judson Berger and Bill Mears contributed to this report. In her quest to become New Yorks next governor, Cynthia Nixon has advocated for a single-payer health care system in the state something studies have shown would be a costly endeavor. The proposed New York Health Act (NYHA), which would establish universal health care for everyone in the state, including undocumented immigrants, would require the states tax revenue to increase by about 156 percent by 2022, according to a study by the RAND Corp. But it also found state spending on total health care under NYHA would be slightly lower about 3 percent by 2031 than under the current system. Nixon recently told the New York Daily News editorial board she did not yet have a plan to pay for single-payer. Pass it and then figure out how to fund it, Nixon said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who Nixon is challenging in the Democratic primary next week, has said it should be up to the federal government to pass a universal health care system. During a debate between the two candidates last month, Cuomo said the NYHA was good in theory, but would cost more than New Yorks annual budget to implement it in the long-term, according to the Albany Times Union. 'SEX AND THE CITY' STAR CYNTHIA NIXON COULD BE NEW YORK'S NEXT GOVERNOR: A LOOK AT HER POLITICAL ACTIVISM Nixon, on the other hand, has said a single-payer system will save the state and New Yorkers money overall. There is widespread disagreement over how much it would cost to implement a single-payer health care system. Supporters say it would cut excessive administrative costs compared to those incurred by private insurers. But critics, including most Republicans, warn the savings would be less dramatic than expected and the system would cost too much. Joe White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage, has estimated that with single-payer "costs and taxes will rise, or patient access will be severely diminished turning Americas medical system into a third-world product. The Medicare-for-all bill proposed earlier this year by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was estimated to cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years by a Mercatus Center at George Mason University study. ANDREW CUOMO, CYNTHIA NIXON ACCUSE EACH OTHER OF LYING, CORRUPTION IN HEATED PRIMARY DEBATE The term single-payer health care denotes only one entity bears the financial responsibility of health care the government. Under this system, the government would be solely responsible for covering health care costs. The basic idea of single-payer is to cover everybody with a single government program, and that program would basically cover all the doctors and hospitals, Dr. Adam Gaffney, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Fox News. As the Times Union reported, the NYHA has continuously been introduced by Democrats in the state Assembly every year since 1992 but has been unsuccessful in the Senate. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and other Democrats reportedly considered staging a mass walkout during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but feared such move would only give ammunition to Republicans. Politico, citing unnamed sources, reported that during a Labor Day conference call, Democratic senators debated whether to walk out in protest of the Republican opposition to the release of millions of pages of missing Kavanaugh documents. But the partys top lawmakers ultimately decided against such a course of action, in part fearing the backlash from a made-for-TV moment that would only help the Republican Party, and impede any chances to stop the nomination of Kavanaugh, the report said. The consideration of such a drastic move revealed a split between the partys more liberal wing, who wish to stop the confirmation of Kavanaugh by all means necessary, and more senior Democrats, who believe the nomination should be defeated only by following rules and norms. The Democrats ultimately come to a compromise a disruptive and chaotic hearing, Politico reported. Younger Democrats, such as California Sen. Kamala Harris, hijacked Tuesdays hearing almost as soon as it started and urged the committee to delay the hearing amid protests by liberal activists, some of whom were arrested. Harris received praise for her defiance of the chambers norms. This was a big step forward, and Kamala Harris showed real leadership by going first in interrupting the hearing. Now we need other Democrats who aren't on the committee to speak up and oppose this nominee, too, Brian Fallon, director of Demand Justice, an anti-Kavanaugh group, told the outlet. By not staging a walkout, however, Democrats also allowed themselves to become part of the process and grill Kavanaugh in the upcoming hearings, hoping to mobilize opposition to his candidacy. If I thought that there was a way that we could stop the hearings from proceeding, I would participate in that. But the hearings are going to proceed. And therefore, we are there to do our job, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, told Politico. We considered a lot of different options yesterday. This was the agreed approach, said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. It really singles this hearing out as something unusual. The obstructionist tactics, which will surely boost some lawmakers reputations among the increasingly liberal base, may still backfire when it comes to the confirmation of Kavanaugh. Democrats ultimately need to convince moderate Republicans to vote against Kavanaughs confirmation. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the swing votes that could stop the nomination, dismissed Tuesdays protests as a lot of drama, according to the outlet. Still, Democrats havent ruled out a boycott or walkout of Kavanaugh hearings, Politico reported. A group of combative Democrats reportedly met in the office of Durbin to talk about future strategy concerning the Supreme Court nomination. Republican Rep. Mark Meadows is asking the Justice Department and its inspector general to review DOJ official Bruce Ohrs contacts with Trump dossier author Christopher Steele as well as the FBI, saying in a new letter that their coordination may have broken from established protocol to further their investigation of the Trump campaign. Meadows, in the letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, said he wrote to encourage Horowitz and U.S. Attorney John Huber to include Mr. Ohr's involvement in these events in their parallel investigations, as his testimony brought new concerns to light." Horowitz is investigating government surveillance abuse, while Huber was tasked by Sessions to conduct a separate investigation examining similar issues. Ohr, meanwhile, has been at the center of Republican scrutiny over his contacts with Steele and his wifes role working for Fusion GPS, the firm behind the dossier. According to Meadows letter, during his transcribed interview last week behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Ohr, who appeared voluntarily, described to lawmakers and staff "multiple" contacts with the FBI and Steele before and after the ex-British spy was fired by the FBI as a confidential source. Steele was terminated over his contacts with the media surrounding the controversial Trump dossier in the fall of 2016. House Republican lawmakers are now considering whether to recall former senior FBI leadership, to possibly include fired deputy director Andrew McCabe and fired director James Comey, over who authorized the backchannel communications that circumvented Steeles termination. Meadows, a North Carolina congressman and leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus, also wrote that Ohr testified neither he nor his wife Nellie has been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of the Russia investigation. A source close to the investigation said his wife received multiple payments during her 2016 work for Fusion GPS. Lawmakers have not ruled out calling Nellie Ohr as a witness. According to Mr. Ohrs testimony, his concerns related to Mr. Steeles bias and his own apparent conflict of interest do not appear to have been included in the FISA materials approved to surveil [Trump campaign aide] Carter Page, the letter said. Republican lawmakers have long questioned how law enforcement were able to secure multiple surveillance warrants against Carter Page, suggesting the dossier played an outsized role. The IG's office and the DOJ declined to comment for this report. Separately, Meadows, along with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have asked Horowitz to investigate allegations that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to subpoena records from congressional staffers pursuing the surveillance warrant issue. The allegations were first documented in a June report by Fox News. At the time, a DOJ official told Fox News that Rosenstein never threatened anyone in the room with a criminal investigation. The official said the department and bureau officials in the room are all quite clear that the characterization of events laid out here is false, adding that Rosenstein was responding to a threat of contempt. On Aug. 6, Horowitz wrote to the congressmen that, "We are carefully reviewing the information in your letter. After we complete our assessment of the information you provided and your request, we will be in further contact with you." Facebook and Twitter executives issued mea culpas Wednesday for failing to root out Russian meddling in the 2016 election, with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg saying it was completely unacceptable, and promising to keep cracking down. We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act. This is on us, she said at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. This interference was completely unacceptable. Facebook in particular came under fire for being at the forefront of Russias attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, as actors set up fake Facebook groups, organized protests and spread memes as part of an effort to disrupt the election. Thirteen Russians were indicted by FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year on charges of plotting to disrupt the election by creating fake social media accounts to weigh in and stir up political issues. Democrats have seized on the revelations to question the result of the election, and have repeatedly expressed anger at social media platforms for failing to act. Sandberg said that the company was taking action in rooting out meddling, fake accounts and abuse. In combating fake news, she said articles rated as false by third-party fact checkers are demoted, and those who share them are warned about them. She said the company had doubled its safety and security section to combat bad actors, as well. Let me be clear: we are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting. When bad actors try to use our site, we will block them, when content violates our policies, we will take it down, and when our opponents use new techniques, we will share them so we can strengthen our collective efforts. Everyone here knows this is an arms race and that means we need to be ever more vigilant. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted a small number of actors were able to game Twitter to have an outsized impact. "Abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots and human coordination, misinformation campaigns, and divisive filter bubbles that's not a healthy public square," he said. "Worse, a relatively small number of bad-faith actors were able to game Twitter to have an outsized impact." We acknowledge the real world negative consequences of what happened and take full responsibility to fix it, he said. Lawmakers praised Sandberg and Dorsey for appearing and helping be part of the solution, and expressed disappointment that Alphabet (Googles parent company) CEO Larry Page did not show up for the hearing. Page's seat at the hearing was left empty. Lawmakers also praised the companies for the work they have done since 2016, upping their policies and rooting out bad actors, but said more work was still to be done. While Democrats focused on Russian interference, Republicans also drew attention to alleged bias by Silicon Valley platforms. Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C. commended their work in shutting down a host of foreign actors last month, and also warned of danger from Iran. Facebook announced last month that it had removed 652 pages, groups and accounts linked to Iran for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" But Burr also warned that big social media platforms are open to corruption and misuse. The information your platform disseminates changes minds, hardens opinions, helps people make sense of the world. When you control that or you influence that a little of it, youre in positions to win wars without firing a shot, Burr said. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. expressed concern that in attempting to keep platforms in other countries, tech companies agree to the demands of authoritarian regimes like those in China, Vietnam and Turkey. Because their definition of disinformation or misinformation could actually be the truth. Their discord or what they define as discord could be defending human rights," he said. "Interfering in their internal affairs they would define as advocating for democracy." As examples, he said that Vietnam is demanding companies store and share data of those accused of anti-state activity. He also said that Pakistan has asked Twitter to block sites that breach blasphemy laws, and that Turkey has requested the blocking of 12,000 accounts since 2014 -- and that 700 have been blocked. Republicans, meanwhile, have been more focused on the alleged censoring or shadowbanning of conservatives, particularly on Twitter. Twitter has repeatedly denied it shadowbans, saying examples that were uncovered were part of an algorithm glitch that have since been fixed. President Trump has weighed in in the past on alleged censorship and has promised to act if companies do not act themselves. Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we wont let that happen, he tweeted last month. "They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others. Democrats, however, zeroed in on what they see as the continued threat from Russia. Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., said it is obvious that serious mistakes were made by both Facebook and Twitter. He said that while there has been positive actions from the companies, but warned the Russians are getting better as well and agreed with Burr that other actors, like Iran are using the Russians playbook. While Republicans were cautious about possible regulation of social media companies, Democrats seemed much more gung-ho. The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end, Warner, who has proposed a series of regulations, said. Where we go from here though is an open question. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, warned the execs: "There are lots of people who would love to help you run your organizations through the regulatory system." Dorsey will appear at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon, focused on alleged bias and Twitters algorithms. The Associated Press contributed to this report. As the second day of Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearings got underway, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took to social media to allege he would help gut or overturn Roe v. Wade if confirmed to the nations highest court. Kavanaugh, who was appointed by President Trump earlier this year, has never expressed outright opposition to abortion, but his nomination set off warning bells from liberals and womens rights groups who warned he could vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, echoed those concerns in a series of tweets Wednesday morning as the Senate Judiciary Committee began its questioning of Kavanaugh. If Brett Kavanaugh becomes a Supreme Court justice, will he help gut or overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in America? Yes, of course he will, Clinton said. ABORTION, ROE V. WADE AT CENTER OF SUPREME COURT NOMINEE DEBATE: WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO THE LANDMARK LAW? Clinton pointed to Kavanaughs involvement in a case of an undocumented teenager who sought to be released from custody to have an abortion. While the court eventually allowed her to have the procedure, Kavanaugh disapproved. He argued if the government helped the 17-year-old get the procedure, then it ignores its permissible interest in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor and refraining from facilitating abortion. Anti-abortion groups have endorsed Kavanaugh, considering him a reliable vote to overturn Roe. His confirmation would be a victory for activists who want to end a womans right to make her own health decisions, the former New York senator said. Its remarkable that we have to keep repeating this, even in 2018: Womens rights are human rights, and human rights are womens rights. One of the most fundamental human rights is the right to make the most personal decisions about ones own body, she continued. To deny women that is to rob them of the ability to decide their own futures. KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION HEARING LIKELY TO FOCUS ON ABORTION, GUN RIGHTS AND MORE Even if Kavanaugh considered to be more conservative is appointed to the bench, the court probably wouldnt have an impact on Roe anytime soon, Carol Sanger, a Columbia Law School professor, previously told Fox News. The court cant decide to change a case until it has a case before it, Sanger pointed out. And the court chooses its own docket so it gets to pick what cases it hears. We dont know whether they think there is a good case coming up to rule on Roe. They might not want to do that right away. If such a case did come up, and the court decided to overturn Roe, abortion wouldnt necessarily become automatically illegal in the U.S. Instead, it would leave the issue up to the states. Some states, however, do have more restrictive laws or fewer clinics equipped to provide the procedure already. A full repeal of Roe could lead to more regulations in more conservative states, said Aziza Ahmed, a Northwestern University School of Law professor who has done extensive research on abortion and health law. Four states do have so-called trigger laws in place that would make abortion almost automatically illegal if Roe is overturned: Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota. But still other states such as New York already have laws already on the books, pre-dating Roe, which legalizes abortion. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, 12 states had banned abortion prior to the 1973 decision that could potentially be reinstated should Roe be overturned; 21 states had pre-viability bans. KAVANAUGH DOCUMENTS TAKE CENTER STAGE IN CONFIRMATION HEARING: WHAT DO DEMS WANT? Kavanaughs hearing got off to a contentious start on Sept. 4, with dozens of protesters and lawmakers interrupting the opening statements. U.S. Capitol Police arrested 70 people and charged them with disorderly conduct or with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding, police said. Among those arrested was UltraViolet executive director Shaunna Thomas, the women's organization confirmed Fox News. Thomas, who co-founded the group focused on reproductive rights and combating sexism, said, Senators, on behalf of the millions of women across the country whose rights will be stripped by a Kavanaugh court, I demand you reject this nomination, according to an UltraViolet spokesperson. Clinton concluded her Wednesday Twitter thread by encouraging those to contact their senators to tell them to vote against confirming Kavanaugh. On the first day of Kavanaughs hearing, Clinton also took to Twitter to oppose the judge. She said those who have a pre-existing condition or care about someone who has one should encourage their senators to oppose Kavanaugh. She said he would be a threat to ObamaCare. This is as serious as it gets. Its up to us to save health care for millions of our fellow Americans again, she said. Republicans currently command a narrow 50-49 Senate majority, though it will return to 51-49 once Jon Kyl, the selected replacement for late Arizona Sen. John McCain, is officially sworn in Wednesday. If all goes according to Republicans plans, Kavanaugh could be sitting on the bench when the Supreme Court begins its new term on Oct. 1. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A federal judge on Wednesday rejected ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manaforts effort to have his second trial moved to a venue outside Washington D.C. During a court hearing, District Court Judge Amy Jackson told Manaforts defense team and prosecutors that she was not convinced by the defense argument that they wouldn't be able to find a fair jury in D.C. Jackson said party affiliation is not necessarily a predictor of bias," referring to the Manafort teams assertion that Manafort could not get a fair trial in the District of Columbia, which is overwhelmingly populated by Democrats. Jackson also signaled Wednesday that she will not allow any discussion of "Russian collusion" during the 2016 campaign into the upcoming trial, though she would allow some mention of Manafort's role as the campaign manager of "a presidential campaign." The case was brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, which is probing potential crimes related to the 2016 election. But Manafort has not been charged with anything related to the campaign. Manafort defense attorney Kevin Downing shot back, "You can't exclude politics ... Mr. Manafort is here because he was the manager of the Trump campaign." Jackson agreed that there could be some explanation of Manafort's position in the campaign as the investigation began but, "I don't want to dwell on his position in the campaign." Manafort, in the upcoming trial, is facing seven counts of foreign lobbying violations and witness tampering. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Sept. 24. In August, in a separate trial, a federal jury in Virginia found Manafort guilty on eight counts of federal tax and banking crimes. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced Attorney General Jeff Sessions will convene a meeting with state attorneys general this month to discuss long-standing concerns by conservatives that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are "stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms." The announcement came after a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing involving top officials from Facebook and Twitter, and ahead of a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on alleged bias and lack of transparency, where Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified. The Attorney General has convened a meeting with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms, the statement said. There was no date set for the meeting. And it was not immediately clear how many attorneys general would attend the meeting. The Senate hearing focused primarily on the use of social media by Russia and other foreign actors in the 2016 election, with executives promising to do more to combat such meddling in the future. But President Trump and a number of Republicans have prioritized concern that tech companies discriminate against conservatives with bias in treatment and so-called shadow banning. FACEBOOK, TWITTER ISSUE MEA CULPAS ON FAILURE TO SPOT RUSSIAN MEDDLING What were concerned about is how Twitter has in some ways it looks like selectively, adversely affected conservatives, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said at the House hearing. He used the example of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who he said had her Senate campaign announcement video taken down by Twitter. Dorsey said that action was a mistake, which was corrected, and prompted an apology from Twitter. In his opening remarks, Dorsey pushed back against the idea Twitter was biased by its creators personal opinions. But he conceded mistakes were made in terms of its algorithms. I want to start by making something clear: we don't consider political viewpoints, perspectives, or party affiliation in any of our policies or enforcement decisions. Period, he said. Impartiality is our guiding principle. Trump has repeatedly claimed social media platforms are biased against Republicans and conservatives. In an interview with The Daily Caller this week, he said social media companies had backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Maybe I did a better job because Im good with the Twitter and Im good at social media, but the truth is they were all on Hillary Clintons side, and if you look at what was going on with Facebook and with Google and all of it, they were very much on her side, he said. Fox News Jake Gibson contributed to this report. It would be tempting to call the Brett Kavanaugh hearing a circus, but that would be unfair to clowns and jugglers. The thing totally spun out of control from the first moments yesterday, a combination of Democrats going into all-out resistance mode and screaming protestors who, for some reason, Capitol police took roughly forever to remove. And the confirmation hearing began on a day when President Trump drew flak for an extraordinary tweet raising questions about the nonpartisan mission of the Justice Department. The backdrop for the Senate hearing is that everyone knows the Republicans have the votes to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, since the filibuster has been abolished. And the Democrats are still angry about the mistreatment of Merrick Garland in 2016. So the Democrats, as a minority, are really only able to accomplish two things: Play to their base in aggressively opposing the nomination and perhaps slow down the show. They simply lack the power to do anything else. So it was that Kamala Harris, with an eye on 2020, immediately demanded that Chairman Chuck Grassley adjourn the Judiciary Committee hearing. Her argument, echoed by her Democratic colleagues, is that they'd just gotten 42,000 pages of documents the night before, and there were reams of other Kavanaugh papers that the White House was withholding on grounds of executive privilege. Democrat Richard Blumenthal called the session a "charade" and a "mockery." But Grassley, who patiently allowed the Dems to air their objections, said the panel had received more material than for any other high court nominee in history. Republican John Cornyn said the hearing, punctuated by screaming spectators, had degenerated into "mob rule." One reality that undercuts the document demands is that all the committee Democrats have already announced their opposition to Kavanaugh. So whatever the validity of their request, it's not going to change their minds about elevating the appeals court judge. In the end, it was the worst of Congress on display. An entire day was devoted to procedural wrangling and then endless bombast as senators made their opening statements, some slamming the nominee or asking him questions while Kavauaugh had to sit there, stone-faced, unable to respond. Only after enduring hours of this split-screen speechifying did Kavanaugh get to deliver his opening remarks. It was a high-profile display of talking without listening. Meanwhile, the man who nominated Brett Kavanaugh tweeted the following: "Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff." So this is nothing short of remarkable. One of those lawmakers, Chris Collins, faces well-documented charges of insider trading (and the case did not begin under Obama). The other, Duncan Hunter, has been accused of misusing, along with his wife, $250,000 in campaign funds on lavish personal expenses. So what is the president saying? That Sessions should have delayed the charges until after the midterms to help the GOP? That the DOJ shouldn't have brought the charges at all because the House members are Republicans? When Trump taunts his attorney general over the Russia probe, I get the larger strategy, which is trying to discredit the investigation. As a former Justice Department reporter who has watched career prosecutors bring cases against Democratic and Republican politicians in every administration, I don't understand, in this case, what message the president is trying to send. During Wednesday's Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Brett Kavanaugh warned he wouldnt answer certain hypothetical questions from lawmakers, citing the so-called Ginsburg rule. Kavanaugh said he studied past hearings of Supreme Court nominees, including those of the eight current justices, and how they reacted when asked about specific cases. He pointed specifically to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who during her 1993 confirmation hearing said it would be wrong for her to preview in this legislative chamber how I would cast my vote on questions the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide" a move that has since been dubbed the Ginsburg rule. Kavanaugh told lawmakers that, keeping in line with that nominee precedent, he will give no hints, no forecasts, no previews during the hearings with a possible exception of questions about older cases. He also cited Justice Elena Kagan, saying she was opposed to giving a thumbs up or thumbs down on a case. KAVANAUGH GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON ABORTION AND GUNS, AS PROTESTERS DISRUPT HEARING During questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kavanaugh declined to answer a question about whether a president should be required to respond to a subpoena. So thats a hypothetical question about what would be an elaboration or difference from US v. Nixons precise holding, and I think going with the Justice Ginsburg principle which is really not the Justice Ginsburg alone principle; its everyones principle on the current Supreme Court and as a matter of the canons of judicial independence, I cant give you an answer on that hypothetical question, Kavanaugh said. Kavanaugh has often praised US v. Nixon, the landmark Supreme Court decision which required then-President Richard Nixon to comply with a subpoena from a special prosecutor who sought tapes and documents pertaining to the Watergate scandal. When Feinstein pressed, Kavanaugh again said he did not want to give my view on a potential hypothetical because each of the eight justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court, when they were sitting in my seat, declined to decide potential hypothetical cases. KAVANAUGHS STAUNCH GUN-RIGHTS DEFENSE AMONG HUNDREDS OF DECISIONS IN SPOTLIGHT Kavanaugh has maintained he was not asked about how he would rule on certain cases, specifically Roe v. Wade, before his nomination. This is the second day of Kavanaughs confirmation hearing and the first when members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are able to ask the judge questions. The contentious hearing has been marked with numerous protests from those in the audience and from Democratic senators who spent much of the first day calling for a delay in the hearing. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The chaotic start to Judge Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearing was coordinated from the top by Democratic senators who wanted to stall the Supreme Court nomination process amid complaints about access to documents. Kavanaugh returns before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for the start of formal questioning. He has delivered only his opening statement so far, vowing Tuesday to be a neutral and impartial arbiter after enduring a morning and afternoon of blistering statements from Democrats warning about the implications of his potential confirmation. Many of those Democrats repeatedly tried to object, delay and even adjourn the hearing amid requests for more documents and more time to review the files they had. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., seemed to acknowledge the show was coordinated when asked by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis during Tuesdays hearing to respond to reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led a phone call over the holiday weekend discussing protest plans. Durbin said there was a phone conference yesterday, where many issues were raised. He said this included concerns that over 100,000 documents related to Judge Kavanaugh had been characterized by the chairman of the committee as committee confidential and questions of whether the committee should hear the nominee without access to basic information about his public record. Politico, citing unnamed sources, reported that Democrats discussed going even further than their strategy of rapid-fire disruptions. According to the report, they considered staging a mass walkout during the confirmation hearing. But the partys top lawmakers ultimately decided against such a course of action, in part fearing the backlash from a made-for-TV moment would only help the Republican Party, and impede any chances to stop the nomination of Kavanaugh, the report said. The consideration of such a drastic move revealed a split between the partys more liberal wing, who wish to stop the confirmation of Kavanaugh by all means necessary, and more senior Democrats, who believe the nomination should be defeated only by following rules and norms. The Democrats ultimately came to a compromise a disruptive and chaotic hearing, Politico reported. Younger Democrats, such as California Sen. Kamala Harris, hijacked Tuesdays hearing almost as soon as it started and urged the committee to delay the hearing amid protests by liberal activists, some of whom were arrested. Harris received praise for her defiance of the chambers norms. This was a big step forward, and Kamala Harris showed real leadership by going first in interrupting the hearing. Now we need other Democrats who aren't on the committee to speak up and oppose this nominee, too, Brian Fallon, director of Demand Justice, an anti-Kavanaugh group, told the outlet. By not staging a walkout, however, Democrats also allowed themselves to become part of the process and grill Kavanaugh in the upcoming hearings, hoping to mobilize opposition to his candidacy. The obstructionist tactics, which will surely boost some lawmakers reputations among the increasingly liberal base, may still backfire when it comes to the confirmation of Kavanaugh. Democrats ultimately need to convince moderate Republicans to vote against Kavanaughs confirmation. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the swing votes that could stop the nomination, dismissed Tuesdays protests as a lot of drama, according to the outlet. Meanwhile, another viral moment from Tuesdays hearing when Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg who was killed in the Parkland shooting, was seen approaching Kavanaugh for a handshake, only for the nominee to walk away also was the result of some planning. The committees top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, tweeted that she invited Guttenberg to sit in the audience. He knows firsthand how Brett Kavanaughs extreme views on guns could lead to more massacres, tweeted Feinstein, who has long championed gun control measures. But Guttenberg said it was his decision to approach Kavanaugh. I initiated an effort to introduce myself to Kavanaugh. It was my decison and I own it. Anyone trying to come up with some politial master plan is simply wrong, he tweeted. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh praised Chief Judge Merrick Garland who was nominated to the nations highest court by former President Barack Obama as hardworking and a great judge. During Kavanaughs confirmation hearing Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, noted that Kavanaugh and Garland have a very similar record on issues they voted on together while on the D.C. Circuit Court. Cruz claimed the two voted together 93 percent of the time; he also said Garland joined about 96 percent of the published opinions authored by Kavanaugh when they were on the same panel. Senate Republicans infamously declined to consider Garlands confirmation to the Supreme Court after he was nominated by Obama following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. As the vacancy was at the very end of Obamas term, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the decision of a new Supreme Court justice should be left up to the next president Donald Trump. The refusal to consider Garlands confirmation is still a point of contention for Democrats, many of whom have vociferously protested Kavanaughs own hearing. GOP SENATOR SAYS DEMOCRATS INTERRUPTING KAVANAUGH HEARING WOULD BE IN CONTEMPT OF COURT Of the similarities between the two judges noted by Cruz, Kavanaugh said, I think were trying hard to find common ground. As Ive said before, [Garland is] a great judge a great chief judge and hes very careful and very hardworking, and we work well together and try to read the statute as written, read the precedent as written, Kavanaugh said. Hes a judge like I try to be as well a judge whos not trying to impose any personal preferences onto the decision but take the law as written, and thats what Ive tried to do in those cases and that probably explains some of that. I think it also goes back to I think judges are distinct from policymakers, and I think that shows up when you dig into the actual details of how courts operate and go about their business, he continued. KAVANAUGH CITES 'GINSBURG RULE' IN DECLINING CERTAIN QUESTIONS DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING: WHAT IS IT? Garland was appointed to the powerful federal appeals court in the District of Columbia by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1997; he was elevated to chief judge of the court in 2013. Kavanaugh was appointed to the court by former President George W. Bush, a Republican, in 2006. Fireworks erupted at the start of Kavanaughs confirmation hearing as Democrats continuously interrupted and spoke over Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, to ask for more time to review some 42,000 documents the committee received last-minute. Democrats have seen thousands of those documents but wanted time to review even more. They also said theyve been denied access to many more documents they claim is needed to properly vet Kavanaugh. Additionally, 70 people were arrested on the first day of the hearing as protesters shouted down lawmakers and disrupted the hearing. Police removed more demonstrators Wednesday as well, but it is unclear exactly how many arrests have been made. With two months left to go until midterm Election Day in North Dakota, GOP Senate candidate Kevin Cramer released an ad attacking incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp on her late-term abortion stance. In the 30-second ad released by Cramer's campaign, titled "Respecting Life," the candidate's two daughters one of whom is pregnant argue that Heitkamp doesn't support their father's "strong commitment to life." Heitkamp, according to the daughters, "disagrees" and "even high fived another senator after voting yes to allow late-term abortions" alongside footage of the senator cheerfully high fiving Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Politifact, however, reported that after Heitkamp voted no on proceeding to a motion that would make almost all abortions after 20 weeks illegal, she was chatting with fellow Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey. Schumer appeared, and the two waved hello and the grabbed their hands in a "very gradual meeting of awkwardly waving hands." "They were greeting each other to say hello," Heitkamp's communications director told Politifact at the time. "As senators often do during votes." Heitkamp, a former state attorney general, won her seat in the State Senate in 2012 by less than one percentage point. A Republican Senate candidate is facing criticism after his campaign released an ad on gun rights that misattributed the Constitution. In the since-deleted ad, Matt Rosendale who is challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in Montana is standing near a sign that says, The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The problem? That line is attributed in the campaign spot to Article II, a part of the Constitution that refers to executive power. The phrase in the ad is actually part of the Second Amendment. Theres two ways folks look at gun rights. Some folks, like me, shoot straight. Support the Second Amendment, Rosendale said in the ad, pointing to the sign behind him. FOX NEWS MIDTERM ELECTION HEADQUARTERS Rosendales campaign has since re-released a corrected version of the ad which attributes the line to Amendment II. A spokesperson for Rosendales campaign acknowledged to KULR-TV the original ad was posted to YouTube by mistake. It still remains online, however, as its been uploaded to YouTube by another user. Some social media users are still calling out Rosendale for the mistaken ad. One Twitter user encouraged the campaign to "work on your Photoshop skills." Another criticized Rosendale for his willingness to "support amending commercials but not the Constitution." MONTANA REPUBLICANS TAP ROSENDALE TO TAKE ON VULNERABLE DEMOCRAT TESTER Rosendale, Montanas state auditor, beat out three other Republicans in the states June primary. A former state senator, Rosendale has billed himself as a Trump conservative and had the support of GOP Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Rand Paul in the primary. He is running against Tester, a Democrat who has held the seat since 2007. Although Trump won the state in the 2016 presidential election with 56 percent of the vote, Fox News has ranked the Senate race as leaning Democrat. U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Pakistan Wednesday where he is expected to meet with the countrys new prime minster in an effort to curb strained relations between the two countries. Pompeos goal to reset the uneasy relationship could be complicated by the appointment of veteran diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad as the special advisor on reconciliation in Afghanistan. An Afghan native, Khalilzads job will be to bring the Taliban and Afghan government together toward rapprochement. He has been very critical of Pakistan in the past and his appointment will not help move things forward, said Zahid Hussain, a defense analyst and author of two books on militancy in the region. Khalilzad previously served under George W. Bush as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq and as a U.N. ambassador. While in Pakistan, Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as the countrys foreign minister and army chief. Later in the day, he will leave for India where Afghanistan and bringing an end to the war are likely to be discussed. The Associated Press contributed to this report A former Trump administration official was accused by liberal activists on Tuesday of being a white supremacist over an unintentional hand gesture she made during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Zina Gelman Bash, a former Kavanaugh clerk who now works in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons administration, was attacked by liberal activist on social media for holding her hand in an OK gesture as she was sitting behind Kavanaugh. Many on social media believed it was a so-called white power hate symbol. What fresh hell is this!!!??? Kavanaughs assistant Zina Bash giving the white power sign right behind him during the hearing? This alone should be disqualify!!! Amy Siskind, president and co-founder of the female advocacy group New Agenda, wrote in a now-deleted tweet. She later backtracked, saying that her comment became a distraction, though urged the media to ask Bash about the gesture, noting that it's not a natural resting position. The conspiracy didnt slow down even after some pointed out that Bash had a Mexican mother and a Jewish father, while her grandparents only narrowly escaped the Holocaust. This neo-nazi is Zina Bash. Shes intentionally throwin up White Power signs at a Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearing. On national TV. She works for Kavanaugh & is also one of the writers for Trumps immigration policy. This is their new Amerikkka, tweeted actress Kelly Mantle. The Anti-Defamation League previously noted that the OK gesture isnt a hate symbol. Has the simple thumb-and-forefinger OK hand gesture become a white supremacist hand sign? Well, no, it hasnt, but you are likely to hear just the opposite from social media, thanks to the latest hoax from members of notorious website 4chan, read a post from the anti-racism group. Kavanaughs former law clerk Zina Bash is flashing a white power sign behind him during his Senate confirmation hearing. They literally want to bring white supremacy to the Supreme Court. What a national outrage and a disgrace to the rule of law, wrote Dr. Eugene Gu, attracting over 12 thousand retweets. U.S. Attorney John Bash, her husband, came to the defense his wife on social media, posting a series of comments regarding the false accusations leveled against Bash. The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. We werent even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing, he wrote. Zina is Mexican on her mothers side and Jewish on her fathers side. She was born in Mexico. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people never have and never would, he continued. Some of the Twitter comments have even referred to our baby daughter. I know that there are good folks on both sides of the political divide. I hope that people will clearly condemn this idiotic and sickening accusation, he posted. President Trump's top personal lawyer said Tuesday that his legal team is still deciding whether to "accept the proposition" of responding to the special counsel's request for written answers regarding the Russia investigation. Jay Sekulows comments came after a New York Times reportciting two people briefed on the matter-- said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller would accept written answers on questions about whether the president's campaign conspired with Russia's election interference. But I will tell you this, Im not concerned about the President of the United States responding, if we decide to accept the proposition of responding to written questions, responding to questions about Russia and interference with the election, Sekulow told Fox News Hannity. Sekulow said Trumps lawyers and Muellers team have an ongoing dialogue." He said that hes not going to discuss the contents of what has been agreed to or not agreed to. Sources told Fox News, though, that Muellers team has come closer to the conditions Trumps attorneys have been seeking and they will respond to the latest letter. Mueller did not say he would be giving up on an interview altogether, including on questions of obstruction of justice, according to The Times. Mueller also reportedly did not ask for written responses on the obstruction investigation. Sekulow did not address the obstruction investigation, but primarily discussed the Russia investigation portion, saying Im not worried about questions on Russia. The President is committed. Theres no crime here, no underlying crime that the president was involved in. Im not concerned about where that goes. Look, if they ask questions, and we think theyre appropriate, we would respond, Sekulow said. He pointed out that Trumps legal team has handed over 1.4 million pages of documents to the special counsels office. This White House has been the most transparent in history when it comes to investigations or inquiries like this, Sekulow said. This needs to come to an end. He said he doesn't give specific times or dates as to when he thinks the investigation should end, but that it needs to happen sooner than later. Because at the end of the day as I said, its a process of negotiation, Sekulow said. Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report. After winning her primary election, Ayanna Pressley became yet another progressive woman who upset an incumbent congressman on her way to make history. Pressley, 46, upset longtime Rep. Michael Capuano in Massachusetts Democratic primary on Sept. 4 all but ensuring her a spot in the history books as the states first black woman elected to Congress. No Republicans ran in the race. This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy, she said after her win. This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life. In her primary campaign, Pressley was endorsed by and compared to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young Democratic socialist who rose to prominence when she ousted longtime Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley in New Yorks primaries earlier this year. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley tapped into growing cries within the Democratic Party for newer and more diverse leadership. Capuano, 68, has only served the 7th congressional district since 2013, but had represented the 8th district for 14 years prior. Read on for a look at what to know about Pressley. She became the first black congresswoman from Massachusetts With no Republican running in the general election, Pressley ultimately became the first black congresswoman from Massachusetts. But she has stated prior, thats not what her campaign was about. I am black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both. But Ive never asked anyone to vote for me because Im black and a woman, she told Elle magazine. Im asking people to consider me because Im pledging to be a vote, a voice, and a partner. Im asking people to vote for me because Im an activist leader and a problem solver. FOX NEWS MIDTERM ELECTIONS HEADQUARTERS The last time an upset occurred in a Democratic primary in Massachusetts was in 2014 when Seth Moulton defeated Rep. John Tierney in the 6th congressional district. Pressley served on the Boston City Council Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in 2009, becoming the first woman of color to be elected to that legislative body, according to her campaign website. While on the council, Pressley established and chairs the Committee on Healthy Women, Families, and Communities, a group which addresses public health concerns, particularly pertaining to youth, families, seniors and women. It also addresses domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, reproductive health and child abuse. On her campaign website, Pressley notes that she is a survivor, but The New York Times reported that while she focuses on helping others who are victims of sexual assault, she doesnt talk much about her own experience. Ive just kept going, like millions of people do every day, because life does not allow them to do anything else, Pressley told the newspaper, adding, The people closest to the pain should be closest to the power. WHO IS JAHANA HAYES, THE CONNECTICUT CANDIDATE WHO COULD MAKE HISTORY? She has also worked to establish a pregnant and parenting teen policy as well as a sexual health education curriculum for Boston Public Schools, according to her campaign website. She wants to abolish ICE Pressley has joined a growing list of Democrats who have called for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency especially under President Trumps administration. This decision garnered her the support of Maura Healey, Massachusetts popular attorney general who has repeatedly sued the Trump administration in an attempt to block certain policies, including on immigration. My mother did not raise me to ask for permission to lead. Ayanna Pressley We have to be disruptive in our democracy and our policymaking and how we run and win elections, Pressley told The Associated Press, adding, My mother did not raise me to ask for permission to lead. Her mom is the catalyst for her campaign In interviews and campaign materials, Pressley credits her mother for the reason why she got into politics. Pressley was raised by a single mom in Chicago who instilled in her the value of civic participation, according to her campaign website. Raising me as a single parent, my mother held many jobs. Most of them had to do with the betterment and the achievement of our community and society at large, Pressley told Elle magazine. I grew up seeing her active in ministries at our church, with the homeless, as a social worker, with elderly, with youth, as a childrens rights organizer with the Urban League of Chicago. She took me with her to vote in every election. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS PRIMARY ELECTIONS Public service and community organizing and movement building is such a part of my DNA that its really hard to separate it. Its just all Ive ever known and the only way that Ive ever really wanted to make a contribution to the world, she said. Pressley has worked for other famous Massachusetts politicians Before being elected to the Boston City Council, Pressley worked for former Rep. Joseph Kennedy II as a senior aide, according to her biography. Kennedy, a Democrat, represented Massachusetts in Congress until 1999. He was succeeded by Capuano. She also formerly worked for John Kerry, a former Massachusetts senator, secretary of state and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. According to The New York Times, she was Kerrys Massachusetts political director during his presidential bid. And when she ran for city council, Kerry knocked on doors for her, The Times reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In August 1946, a Maryland man went to his usual lunch spot for a bite to eat. Finding the diner full, he asked a man sitting alone if he could share his table. The man, as it supposedly turned out, was Adolf Hitler. The dictator was dressed cheaply and very nervous, according to the witness. Hitler fidgeted and played with his napkin. His lunchmate called the authorities. In 1948, a letter arrived at a Spanish-language newspaper. The writer claimed hed last seen Hitler in Bogota, Colombia, 10 days previously and that he was in perfect health. The Fuehrer had plans to conquer the moon and Mars. Conspiracy theories regarding the death of Hitler are legion. Tales about his escape from a German bunker began cropping up just a few hours after his supposed death on April 30, 1945. Now a new book claims to put the kibosh on all the rumors and definitively solve the mystery of what happened to the Nazi monster. The Death of Hitler: The Final Word (Da Capo Press) is written by French journalist Jean-Christophe Brisard and Russian documentary maker Lana Parshina. The duo ventured to Moscow to comb historical documents stored in secret archives. They were also allowed to examine a skull fragment containing a bullet hole and teeth supposedly taken from the German leaders body stored at the library belonging to Russias notorious Federal Security Services. The authors spent months negotiating for access to the depositories presided over by stern former-Soviet librarians and humorless guards wearing severe black uniforms. How foreigners even Lana with her perfect Russian and her old Russian passport like us could get official access, that was the biggest challenge, Brisard tells The Post. Among the 7 million documents stored in the Russian archives, the authors found top-secret accounts detailing the interrogations of members of Hitlers inner circle, who were captured when Soviet troops took Berlin. What emerged was a detailed, if sometimes frustratingly contradictory, chronicle of Hitlers final days. By April 1945, the Fuehrer had retreated to a heavily fortified underground bunker near the Reich Chancellery at 77 Wilhelmstrasse. On April 29, with Russian troops just blocks away, Hitler married girlfriend Eva Braun in a 10-minute ceremony. Just before the union, Hitler dictated his will to his private secretary. The document stated that he and Braun had chosen death and that their bodies should be burned upon discovery. Hitler tested cyanide on his dog, Blondi, preparing for the end. The next afternoon, he emerged from his room and quietly said goodbye to his closest aides. What happened next is unclear. Hitlers valet, Heinz Linge, was stationed outside the door and told the Russians he heard a gunshot. He ran to alert Hitlers secretary Martin Bormann, and the two entered the room to find their leader and his wife dead. The bodies were wrapped in blankets, carried upstairs, doused with gasoline and burned. The Russian files reveal that the Soviets collected numerous accounts (often under extreme duress) of the events from other bunker dwellers, and the interrogators grew irritated by the disparities, believing they were being lied to. Some Nazis reported hearing a shot, others didnt. Some reported seeing a bullet wound in Hitlers head, others didnt. Had Hitler shot himself in the mouth or the temple? Or had he not shot himself at all and instead taken cyanide? The Soviets preferred the latter narrative, because they believed it showed cowardice on Hitlers part. A 1945 Russian autopsy performed on the burned corpses recovered near the entrance to the bunker backed up the cyanide hypothesis. A crushed glass capsule was found in the mans mouth and the smell of bitter almond was strong, indicating the poison. The bodies were then buried, although they were later exhumed and cremated. But fragments of the jawbone were saved. The skull piece was discovered by the Soviets in 1946, near where the burned bodies were found. It was stored in an archival safe, uncataloged until stumbled upon by a librarian in 1975. To examine this physical evidence, the authors brought in Philippe Charlier, a French forensic pathologist who was nicknamed the Indiana Jones of graveyards for his role in identifying high-profile historical bodies. Charlier was acceptable to the Russians, not just because of his reputation, but because he was not American. Anything but an American. The cautious Russians allowed only a visual analysis of the skull piece, and Charlier was able to determine that it belonged to an adult male and that it had been burned. But was it Hitlers? The doctor couldnt say. Hitlers teeth provided more clarity. Charlier was able to compare the jawbone with X-rays taken of Hitler in 1944. His conclusion? It was a match. No doubt. There was perfect agreement. Hitler did not escape Berlin in 1945. He died in that bunker. But the how of Hitlers demise remained a mystery. Charlier was also allowed to analyze the teeth with a microscope, and discovered strange blue stains. Charlier was stumped. Could cyanide have caused the discoloration? One of the bigger breakthroughs came completely by accident. Once Charlier had returned to France after the initial examination, he discovered some nearly microscopic pieces of dental tartar from Hitlers teeth stuck to the rubber gloves he wore for the examination. He examined these grains by electron microscope and found more evidence strengthening the case. Within the sample, he discovered vegetable fibers but no meat, indicating the teeth belonged to a vegetarian, as Hitler was. The tartar also was scanned for traces of three metallic elements that would indicate that Hitler had shot himself in the mouth, as his chauffeur, Erich Kempka, had told the British in 1945. No traces were found, meaning Hitler almost certainly shot himself in the temple, as some witnesses stated. As for the cyanide? Charlier was unable to come to any conclusion and is still unsure what caused the blue stains on the teeth. Without a more thorough examination, they will remain a mystery. And Russia apparently isnt exactly welcoming any new inquiries. The teeth among the most fascinating historical artifacts of the 20th century were returned to the repurposed cigarillo box in which theyve been casually stored, wheeled deep into the archives and dropped onto a shelf alongside God knows what other relics. It is unclear when, or if, they will ever be seen again. This story originally appeared in the New York Post. Three horses and two dogs that were found dead in Monroe County, Ky., on Sunday morning were possibly killed by a large cat," the sheriffs department said. Officials with the Monroe County Sheriffs Department and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife were called to a home in Tompkinsville on reports of dead animals, the sheriffs department said in an online statement. When they arrived, officials found three deceased horses, as well as the bodies of a pit bull and a husky. SHARK IN SHALLOW WATER REPORTEDLY SPOOKS BEACHGOERS ON NORTH CAROLINA'S BALD HEAD ISLAND It is believed that this occurred in the wee hours of the morning and all sign show that it possibly could have been done by a large cat/animal, the statement continued, adding that members of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlifes diagnostics team were called to examine the animal carcasses. MOOSE DROWNS IN VERMONT LAKE AFTER BEING SPOOKED BY ONLOOKERS SNAPPING PHOTOS A spokesperson for the sheriffs department told Fox News on Wednesday the investigation is ongoing," adding officials still believe a large cat is responsible for the deaths. No others animals have been killed at this time. We highly advise you to please keep a close eye on small children and animals when they are let outside and use caution and be aware of your surroundings, the sheriffs department warned in the statement. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is starting to earnestly evaluate space resources for future mining. Since its establishment in the 1870s, the USGS has focused pretty much solely on Earth. But now it's also investigating what benefits may or may not exist in tapping extraterrestrial water, minerals and metals. The agency seeks to portray accurately how humanity could exploit off-Earth assets a no-nonsense approach that contrasts with the pie-in-the-sky estimates of trillions of dollars of profit proffered by some less scientifically minded space-mining advocates. [Photos: The Search for Water on the Moon] Proven expertise This past June, several USGS experts took part in a Space Resources Roundtable held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. "The space-resources community will benefit greatly from working together with the USGS to assess the location and value of minerals, energy and water on the moon, Mars and asteroids," said Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines. The USGS offers proven expertise and an unbiased, quantitative approach to characterizing terrestrial resources, Abbud-Madrid told Space.com. That know-how "can also lead to reliable and much-needed geological maps for more precise landing-site and resource-deposit selection," he said. It's also worth noting that the new director of the USGS, Jim Reilly, is a geoscientist and former NASA astronaut. During his 13-year NASA career, Reilly flew on three space shuttle missions, conducted five spacewalks and racked up a total of more than 856 hours in orbit. Multifaceted issue The exploitation of space resources is a fascinating and multifaceted issue, said Laszlo Kestay, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. "The USGS has been paying steadily increasing attention to the issue of space resources for the last several years," Kestay told Space.com. The drivers for this are diverse, he said. For example, the U.S. human space program seems to be focusing on missions to deep space, where space resources are extremely valuable. Furthermore, commercial efforts to extract space resources are growing in maturity. Kestay pointed to the USGS' increased responsibility for the Landsat satellites, a venerable series of Earth-observing spacecraft. The USGS is now considered one of the U.S. space agencies, he said. "The USGS realized that our congressional mandate to assess natural resources extends to space," Kestay said. At this time, the USGS does not have a funded program to conduct full-scale assessments of space resources. "But we are anticipating that the USGS may be directed to do so soon, and we are taking a number of steps to be prepared for that possibility," he said. Confidence building Kestay pointed to the USGS' participation in space-resource workshops. In addition, there's the 2017 "Feasibility Study for the Quantitative Assessment of Mineral Resources in Asteroids" led by Kestay, which found that the water and metal resources of near-Earth asteroids are sufficient to support humanity should it become a fully spacefaring species. "At this point, we have done enough work to feel confident that the methods the USGS uses to assess mineral, energy and water resources on Earth can be used to assess space resources with minimal modification," Kestay said. "We have also done enough preliminary work to identify some areas where humanity's lack of knowledge will result in exceedingly large uncertainties in assessments undertaken today." Follow the water "Lunar ice would be a good example of a resource that we do not understand well enough to provide estimates with much precision," Kestay said. Attempting such an assessment could still be "useful," he said, because it can identify the most critical information that future missions need to collect. "It is also perhaps counterintuitive that we have a much better understanding of ice on Mars than on our own moon, but NASA's 'follow the water' strategy [on the Red Planet] has provided a wealth of knowledge," Kestay said. "Finally, it is clear, even before we undertake a full-blown assessment, that there are significant resources in space to assess!" [Photos: The Search for Water on Mars] Lessons learned No major mining company would undertake the huge cost of developing a new mine on Earth without a detailed resource model, Lawrence Meinert, scientist emeritus for the USGS, told the School of Mines attendees. "Given the even higher costs of space travel and development, new space resource models and assessment techniques are a prerequisite for practical development of space resources," Meinert said. Lessons learned from terrestrial exploration, mining and assessment can be applied to space resources, Meinert said. "So it's not just the excitement of new knowledge; there are certain things you need to do. One of them is characterizing what it is you're going to develop," he told Space.com. Policy, investment decision making Space-resource assessments will require a combination of remote sensing and physical sampling to better constrain actual asteroid, moon and planetary compositions, at a scale appropriate for resource classification and potential utilization, Meinert said. "This information can then be used to inform resource-assessment models that have been developed and successfully utilized on Earth," Meinert concluded. "Such model assessments will be foundational to guide policy and investment decisions concerning the emerging field of space resources." This version of the story published on Space.com. Google was given "the empty chair treatment" at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, a sign lawmakers are fuming that neither CEO Sundar Pichai or Larry Page, chairman of parent company Alphabet, chose to attend the event to discuss election interference. Instead of Pichai or Page, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google offered its top lawyer, Kent Walker, to the committee, an offer that was declined. Facebook sent its Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter sent its CEO Jack Dorsey. REPORT REVEALS GOOGLE IS TRACKING YOU IF YOU LIKE IT OR NOT Alphabet is the holding company, founded in 2015, that holds Google, along with several other businesses, including autonomous cars. Lawmakers are unhappy News of a "empty chair treatment" first emerged when Sen. Mark Warner (D.-Va.) told CNBC last week it could be a possibility. "Chances are there's going to be an empty chair there," Sen. Warner told the financial news outlet last week. "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." In his opening statement, Warner again expressed his dismay that Google did not send its top executives. "Im deeply disappointed that Google one of the most influential digital platforms in the world chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee," Warner said. Warner continued: "I know our members have a series of difficult questions about structural vulnerabilities on a number of Googles platforms that we will need answered. From Google Search, which continues to have problems surfacing absurd conspiracies.To YouTube, where Russian-backed disinformation agents promoted hundreds of divisive videos.To Gmail, where state-sponsored operatives attempt countless hacking attempts, Google has an immense responsibility in this space. Given its size and influence, I would have thought the leadership at Google would want to demonstrate how seriously it takes these challenges and to lead this important public discussion." Google did not respond to Fox News' request on Pichai or Page's whereabouts. It did however offer a statement, noting that over the past 18 months, it has met with "dozens of Committee Members and briefed major Congreessional Committees numerous times" on its work to prevent foreign interference in U.S. elections. A Google spokesman said that Walker, its SVP of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, is in Washington D.C. today to deliver "written testimony, brief Members of Congress on our work and answer any questions they have," before adding the company understood Walker would be "an appropriate witness for this hearing" when it discussed this in late July. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Tuesday that Google doesn't "understand the problem" if it doesn't want to work with the government to find solutions. HOW TO FIND AND DELETE WHERE GOOGLE KNOWS YOU'VE BEEN Google's rocky relationship with Washington The back-and-forth with Google is the latest in a year's worth of attempts by Congress to force the companies to focus more sharply on the Russian interference issue. While Burr says he believes Facebook and Twitter do understand the problem, it took both companies several months last year to acknowledge they had been manipulated. It also underscores how difficult the problem may be to solve. While the companies have made many changes around their policies and have caught and banned hordes of malicious accounts over the past year, their business models free services that rely on attracting as many users as possible for as long as possible and finding out as much about them as possible remain the same. Some critics have charged that unless they change this, they will continue to contend with bad actors taking advantage of their systems. The company has come under pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in recent weeks. President Trump also accused the tech giant of snubbing his State of the Union address. Google refuted the accusation that it snubbed his State of the Union address after years of promoting President Obamas addresses. On January 30 2018, we highlighted the livestream of President Trumps State of the Union on the google.com homepage," a Google spokesperson told Fox News. "We have historically not promoted the first address to Congress by a new President, which is technically not a State of the Union address. As a result, we didnt include a promotion on google.com for this address in either 2009 or 2017. GOOGLE IS FINED $5B BY EU IN ANDROID ANTITRUST CASE A widely circulated screenshot from the Internet Archives Wayback Machine shows Googles promotion of President Trumps 2018 State of the Union address dated Jan. 31, 2018. On Twitter, @WrockBro said that the date discrepancy is because the Wayback Machine follows GMT. Trumps 2018 State of the Union address began at 9:15 p.m. ET on Jan 30, which was 2:10 a.m. GMT on Jan 31. The Internet Archives Wayback Machine documents more than 336 billion Web pages. The claims were made in a 24-second video posted on Twitter by Trump on Wednesday. The president also tweeted the hashtag #StopTheBias. Last month, the president said Google and other tech companies are "treading on very, very troubled territory." Trump's chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, also said the administration is looking at "regulating" Google. The company has also come under pressure from human rights groups, as well as its own employees about a potential search engine in China, which would be censored to the needs of the Chinese government. This story has been updated to include Google's response. Fox News' Kristin Brown, James Rogers, Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia The Navy is making an aggressive push to explore and refine the new combat tactics, offensive weaponry and networking technologies needed for modern warfare on the open seas - as part of a service-wide strategic initiative to prepare the fleet for major ocean combat against increasingly high-tech enemies. The San Diego-based Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center is moving quickly on new ocean warfare training to help the US Navy regain sea control in great power competition, Lt. Cmdr. Seth Powell, program manager, Warfare Tactics Instructor Program, told Warrior Maven in an interview. The 15-to-17 week courses place sailors on surface ships in combat-like scenarios intended to mirror the most advanced current and future enemy threats they are likely to encounter. Course leaders say the training involves a concentrated, in depth focus on weapons systems likely to be used by potential enemies. One of the big things we focus on is exactly what tactics we have to take into account, given the capabilities of the enemy, Powell said. Adjusting to a fast-evolving threat environment, involving technologically sophisticated adversaries, requires course participants to experiment with new Tactics, Techniques and Procedures necessary to meet as-of-yet unprecedented kinds of attacks. How do we take ready ships and turn them into more lethal ships? We put everything they have learned on the ships and out at sea, Powell said. The current courses have in part been put together through Warfighter Tactics Instructor training, preparations aimed at breaking the training down into specific warfare focus areas including integrated air and missile defense, surface warfare and amphibious warfare; the Navy plans to stand up a mine warfare program next year. Lessons learned and findings from the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center training are expected to inform the development of Navy doctrine as well as the acquisition priorities needed for future war scenarios, Powell added. As we bring advanced systems online, we are thinking about how to utilize them with advanced tactical training, he said. Some of the particular kinds of enemy weapons these courses anticipate for the future include a range of emerging new systems - to include lasers, rail-guns and long-range missiles, among other technologies. Not surprisingly, these courses appear as somewhat of a linear outgrowth or tactical manifestation of the Navys 2016 Surface Force Strategy document. Tilted Return to Sea Control, the strategy paper lists a number of specific enemy threat areas of concern focused upon by course trainers. Examples of threats cited by the strategy paper include anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, integrated and layered sensor systems, targeting networks, long-range bombers, advanced fighter aircraft, submarines, mines, advanced integrated air defenses, electronic warfare and cyber and space technologies. Much like the training courses and the Surface Force Strategy, the Navys Distributed Maritime Operations Concept also builds upon the Navys much-discussed distributed lethality strategy, in place now for a number of years. This strategic approach emphasizes the need to more fully arm the fleet with offensive and defensive weapons and disperse forces as needed. Having cyber, space and missile weapons - along with over-the-horizon ship and air-launched weapons - are relevant to offensive attack as well as the distributed portion of the strategy. Having an ability to defend against a wider range of attacks and strike from long-distances enables the fleet to spread out and conduct dis-aggregated operations, making US Navy forces less vulnerable to enemy firepower. Interestingly, the pressing need to emphasize offensive attack in the Navy fleet appears to have roots in previous Navy strategic thinking. Part of the overall strategic rationale is to move the force back toward open or blue water combat capability against near peer competitors, such as that which was emphasized during the Cold War. While the importance of this kind of strategic and tactical thinking never disappeared, these things were emphasized less during the last 15-plus years of ground wars wherein the Navy focused on counter-terrorism, securing the international waterways, counter-piracy and things like Visit Board Search and Seizure. These missions are, of course, still important, however the Navy seeks to substantially increase its offensive lethality given that rivals such as Russia and China have precision-guided anti-ship missiles able to hit targets at ranges greater than 900 miles in some cases. The advent of new cyber and electronic warfare attack technologies, enemy drones and the rapid global proliferation of sea mines all present uniquely modern nuances when compared to previous Cold-War strategic paradigms. Nevertheless, the most current Naval Surface Warfare Strategy does, by design, appear to be somewhat of a higher-tech, modern adaptation of some fundamental elements of the Navys Cold-War-era approach - a time when major naval warfare against a Soviet force was envisioned as a realistic contingency. A 1987 essay titled Strategy Concept of the US Navy, published by Naval History and Heritage Command, cites the importance of long-range offensive firepower and targeting sensors in a geographically dispersed or expansive open ocean warfare environment. The paper goes so far as to say the very survivability of US Naval Forces and the accomplishment of their missions depends upon offensive firepower. Integrated forces may be geographically distant, but their movements, sensors, and weapons are coordinated to provide maximum mutual support and offensive capability, the paper writes. The Cold War-era Strategic Concepts document also specifies that Naval defensive capability should include long-range detection systems such as airborne early warning, quick reacting command and control systems and effective defensive weapons systems. More Weapons and Technology - WARRIOR MAVEN (CLICK HERE)-- An Israeli man was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport for bringing a fake bomb, via his carry-on bag, into the air hub, triggering a serious scare and the temporary closure of six Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening lanes. On the morning of Sept. 4, after the item was spotted on an X-ray monitor, Alon Felman told police he had brought the replica improvised explosive device into Newark Airport for a police training seminar he was attending in Florida, News 12 New Jersey reports. Felman had just arrived in Newark from Tel Aviv, according to NBC. TRAVELER'S LIMBO TRICK AT PHILADELPHIA AIRPORT GOES VIRAL A TSA spokesperson confirmed to Fox News that TSA officials alerted Port Authority Police, who responded to the scene and called in the Essex County Bomb Squad to verify that the device was not a real bomb. In the interim, six checkpoint security screening lanes were temporarily closed to keep travelers at a safe distance from the device. The third level of Terminal C also remained closed for a time during the investigation. Felman was subsequently arrested by Port Authority Police, charged with creating a false public alarm and interference with transportation, News 12 reported. "The terror threat is real and we do not take chances when it comes to protecting the lives of travelers." Tom Carter, TSA New Jersey Federal Security Director Security is no joke. Our TSA Officer who was staffing the X-ray monitor identified what appeared to be a fully assembled IED and reported it to her supervisor, said TSAs New Jersey Federal Security Director Tom Carter in a statement obtained by Fox News. Everyone reacted to the event properly. Law enforcement was called in and a safety perimeter was established until such time as it was deemed safe to resume normal operations, he added. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The item was built to look exactly like an explosive device. The terror threat is real and we do not take chances when it comes to protecting the lives of travelers, TSA's Carter continued. We have a great working relationship with our law enforcement partners and we thank them for their response to this unfortunate incident. The individual who brought this device to the checkpoint knew he had a replica bomb with him and as such, he should have known better than to bring it to an active checkpoint. His foolish actions inconvenienced hundreds of passengers today, he added. The incident occured just one week before the 17th anniversary of September 11. A gay couple is claiming they were separated during priority boarding while straight families were allowed to board together. Jeff Cobb and his husband were flying from San Francisco to Taipei, Taiwan with their 19-month-old child on Saturday when Cobb says an airline crew member told the men they could not both board in the family boarding group. AMERICAN AIRLINES APOLOGIZES TO PASSENGER FOR 'SHREDDED' SUITCASE, MISSING ITEMS My husband and I were told only one of us could join our 19-month-old in the family boarding group of EVA Air 27 from SFO on 9/1/18," Cobb wrote on Twitter. I explained we were both the fathers of the child, and they said it was their policy that only one parent can board and the other has to wait in the normal line. Not having flown EVA before, I accepted it and let my husband and child go while I boarded later. Cobb said when he finally boarded the plane, his husband told him straight families had been allowed to board all together. When I met him on the plane, he said there were many other (straight) families all boarding together, Cobb said, International Business Times reports. Im very disappointed that the EVA ground staff at SFO thinks its OK to separate same-sex families during boarding. I will definitely not be flying this airline again after this incident. UNITED AIRLINES APOLOGIZES AFTER FLIGHT ATTENDANT FORCED INFANT TO SIT IN A DANGEROUS POSITION The airlines family boarding policy is not available on the website and Eva Air did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment, but a representative told the International Business Times the incident was a misunderstanding. EVA Air and most especially our San Francisco International Airport team sincerely apologize to all the passengers affected by this incident. It is our policy that passengers traveling with infants can have priority boarding," a representative said. The policy does not limit the number of accompanying adults or specify the relationship to the infant. This unfortunate incident was due to misunderstanding," the statement continued. Our San Francisco ground-handling agent understood that only one parent could board with an infant. We have apologized to our passengers and reminded our airport staff and agents about our priority boarding policy so that we can prevent this kind of incident from happening again. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Those on Twitter called the airline shameful and asked for better staff training. This is not the first airline to be accused of separating a gay couple while keeping straight couples together. In July, Alaska Airlines apologized to a gay couple after one of the men said an airline flight attendant gave preferential treatment to a straight couple. Alaska Airlines said the incident was because of a seating mistake involving another couple in Premium Class. A Norwegian Cruise Liner sailing to the Caribbean and Mexico from Florida stopped almost as soon as it departed on Sunday to rescue four distressed Cuban nationals spotted in the middle of the ocean, a representative for the cruise liner confirmed to Fox News. On Sunday, September 2, after departing Miami, Norwegian Getaway rescued four distressed individuals, the liner said in a statement. FURIOUS NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE PASSENGERS SLAM SHIP'S HORRIBLE, NONSTOP CONSTRUCTION ZONE According to a passenger on Twitter, the men were spotted by others on board by a flash in the middle of the ocean. I am currently on Norwegian Getaway and some passengers noticed a flash in the middle of the ocean," the passenger, who goes by Pico on Twitter, wrote. "They then told the cruise workers and they stopped and it turned out to be four people from Cuba which they rescued." WORLD'S NEW LARGEST CRUISE SHIP SETS SAIL He later shared footage of what he believed to be the people rescued, and claimed they were wearing Norwegian Cruise Line staff uniforms. A representative for the cruise line told Fox News the men were immediately taken to the ships medical facility for care. The individuals, who are Cuban nationals, were safely brought on board, immediately taken to the ship's medical facility for evaluation and provided with clothing and food. The Bahamas Maritime Authority and the U.S. Coast Guard were notified by the ship's Captain, who was advised to disembark the rescued individuals at the next port of call in Costa Maya, Mexico on September 4. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The liner praised the crew for the rescue mission. We are very proud of our team for executing a successful rescue of these individuals. The ship reportedly continued on its seven-day journey, arriving at Costa Maya, Mexico, on Tuesday before departing for Belize the next day. It is currently unknown how the men came to be stranded in the ocean. A tiny Alaska Native village has experienced a boom in tourism in recent years as polar bears spend more time on land than on diminishing Arctic sea ice. More than 2,000 people visited the northern Alaska village of Kaktovik on the Beaufort Sea last year to see polar bears in the wild, Alaska's Energy Desk reported Monday. PHOTOS: TOURISTS IN ENGLAND SPOTTED TAKING SELFIES AT EDGE OF CLIFF The far north community is located on north shore of Barter Island on the Beaufort Sea coast in an area where rapid global warming has sped up the movement of sea ice, the primary habitat of polar bears. As ice has receded to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food. The village had less than 50 visitors annually before 2011, said Jennifer Reed, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Today we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors, many from around the world each year," Reed said. Polar bears have always been a common sight on sea ice near Kaktovik, but residents started noticing a change in the mid-1990s. More bears seemed to stay on land, and researchers began taking note of more female bears making dens in the snow on land instead of on the ice. WATCH: TOURISTS NUZZLED, LICKED BY LOOSE LION AT SAFARI PARK WEEKS AFTER WOMAN WAS MAULED U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began hearing reports of increasing numbers of polar bears in the area in the early 2000s, Reed said. As more attention was given to the plight of polar bears about a decade ago, more tourists stated heading to Kaktovik. Most tourists visit in the fall, when bears are forced toward land because sea ice is the farthest away from the shore. Some bears become stranded near Kaktovik until the sea freezes again in October or November. The fall is also when residents of Kaktovik kill three bowhead whales. Bruce Inglangasak, an Inupiaq subsistence hunter who offers wildlife viewing tours, said residents were unsure how tourists would react to whaling. "The community was scared about, you know, activists that [were] going to try to get us to shut down the whaling subsistence whaling," Inglangasak said. "But that's not true." FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX TRAVEL NEWS Inglangasak said he's been offering polar bear tours since 2003 or 2004. Most of his clients are from China and Europe, as well as from the Lower 48 U.S. states and arrive in Katovik on charter planes from Anchorage and Fairbanks. Many tourists stay several days in the village, which has two small hotels, Inglangasak said. The roof atop a Florida home appeared to suffer considerable damage after photos from fire officials showed it split apart by a fallen crane. The Orlando Fire Department on Tuesday shared photos from the crane accident on Facebook, adding that Luckily, no one was injured. SCAFFOLDING COLLAPSE NEAR WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT KILLS 2 WORKERS One image, appearing to be from the front of the house, showed the area cordoned off with caution tape and a truck carrying the base of the crane leaning on its front tire as the equipment lay inside the torn damage. WORKERS SEEN ON FLORIDA BRIDGE BEFORE DEADLY COLLAPSE IN TIME-LAPSE VIDEO A second photo showed a different angle of the home, showing the other side of the crane visible through the roof. Details of what caused the incident were not available, a spokesperson for the fire department told Fox News. An additional crane was requested to help clear the fallen one, the spokesperson said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The mother of missing two-year-old Florida boy Jordan Belliveau was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, authorities announced Tuesday. Charisse Stinson, 21, had told police that she was walking home with her young son Saturday night when a mystery man called "Antwan" picked her up in his car and violently attacked her, knocking her unconscious. Stinson said that she came to in a park early Sunday and her son was nowhere to be seen. She reported him missing hours later. Jordan's body was found in a wooded area in Largo earlier Tuesday. An Amber Alert for the boy was canceled. Authorities had released a composite sketch of "Antwan," as well as surveillance video of a man they described as a "possible witness" who may have spoken to Jordan's mother. At a news conference Tuesday evening, authorities said Stinson had been arrested earlier in the day, but declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation. More information was due to be released Wednesday. Click for more from Fox13News.com. A Steller sea lion in Sitka, Alaska was reportedly rescued by officials on Monday after he spent four days trapped on land, dehydrated and hungry. The sea creature was first spotted around 2 a.m. on Friday morning, running down a road in southeast Alaska, the chief of the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department told the Anchorage Daily News. Estimated to be roughly 8-feet long, the animal was later spotted near a high school around a quarter mile away from water. On Sunday, the sea lion was "hiding out in the woods ... likely stressed, dehydrated and hungry," according to Julie Speegle, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She said the animal's presence so far inland was "unusual," and that he appeared to be "scared and confused." The sea lion seemed to be scared of the road, which separated the woods from the ocean. Eventually, scientists felt their best option was to sedate the animal, the news outlet reported. Volunteers cleared a line in the trees to the sea lion, and a NOAA veterinarian darted the creature around 1 p.m. on Monday. The sea lion was rolled onto a front-end loader, then onto the back of a flatbed truck, before being driven to a harbor in Sitka. Kim Raum-Suryan, of NOAA's Protected Resources division, said that after the sea lion woke up, he was spotted swimming in the harbor. Officials hope that "if he's healthy he'll go off and be a regular sea lion again." Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall west of the Alabama-Mississippi border late Tuesday night spawning multiple possible tornadoes from powerful winds that have already claimed one life in Florida, FOX 10 reported, citing officials. The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings in south Alabama and Northwest Florida after radar indicated possible twisters associated with Gordon. The storm reportedly downed trees and flooded highways as it moved inland but no damage was immediately reported. Around 8:40 p.m. in Floridas Escambia County, emergency responders received a call of a downed tree that slammed into a mobile home in Pensacola. The Escambia County Sheriffs office said its deputies found a deceased child, whose name and age was not released. No others were injured. The Escambia County Sheriffs Office is investigating. Gordon struck land around 10 p.m. and is expected to lose strength as it makes its way inland across the lower Mississippi Valley through Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. It did not reach hurricane status. The National Weather Service in Mobile cautioned that the Styx River near Elsanor could reach a flood stage later Wednesday. Gordon had moved from 70 miles south of Mobile, Ala., and roughly 75 miles southeast of Biloxi, garnering maximum sustained winds of 70 mph "with higher gusts" before moving northwest toward the north-central Gulf Coast at 14 mph, where it was forecasted to hit land, the NHC said in a 8 p.m. ET update. The NHC said Gordons tight core was about 30 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, or 35 miles south of Mobile, Ala. where heavy rains and winds picked up shortly before nightfall. The storm quickly blasted Alabama's Dauphin Island with powerful winds and storm surge, as photos and video from the area showed. On the forecast track, the center of Gordon will make landfall along the north-central Gulf Coast within the hurricane warning area this evening or tonight, and move inland over the lower Mississippi Valley through Wednesday, the NHC update said. Gordon could still become a hurricane before landfall occurs along the north-central Gulf Coast. TROPICAL STORM GORDON THREATENS GULF COAST, HURRICANE WARNING IN PLACE The hurricane warning remained in effect for the area stretching from the mouth of the Pearl River in Mississippi to the Alabama-Florida border, the NHC said. As much as 8 inches of rain could fall in some parts of the Gulf states through late Thursday, which could trigger flash flooding in some areas. A storm surge warning also remained for Shell Beach, Louisiana to Dauphin Island, which could see water levels reach up to five feet, the NHC said. The warning indicates a danger of life-threatening inundations, from rising water moving inland from the coastline. This is a life-threatening situation, the update warned. Persons located within these areas should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions. A storm surge watch also was in place for areas located west of Shell Beach to the mouth of the Mississippi River, as well as areas east of Dauphin Island to Navarre, the NHC said. President Trump on Tuesday urged residents to adhere to guidance from officials, adding that the government stands ready to assist. Everyone in the path of #Gordon please heed the advice of State and local officials and follow @NHC_Atlantic for updates, Trump tweeted. The Federal Government stands ready to assist. Be safe! TROPICAL STORM GORDON DRENCHES SOUTHERN FLORIDA Governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all declared states of emergency, allowing them to quickly mobilize state resources and National Guard troops to help during and after the storm. Roughly 200 members of the Louisiana National Guard were activated for the storm, the National Guard tweeted Tuesday. Fox News Paulina Dedaj, Travis Fedschun, Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A mother and father in Wisconsin were charged on Tuesday after their 15-year-old son reportedly died during a 40-day religious fast. Kehinde Omosebi, 49, and Titilayo Omosebi, 48, of Reedsburg, face charges of child neglect causing death and child neglect causing great bodily harm, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. MOTHER'S BOYFRIEND ARRESTED IN DEATH OF 10-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT ABUSE: POLICE On Sunday, Kehinde allegedly walked to the Reedburg police station to report his son had died on Friday, Chief Timothy Becker said. Friday wouldve been the 44th day of the fast. Investigators who went to the Omosebi home reportedly had to force their way in, as the doors was padlocked on the inside. No food was discovered in the home. They found the extremely emaciated and deceased teenager, and also found a gaunt 11-year-old child, along with his mother, Titilayo, who was also undernourished, according to the report. The father, Kehinde, told authorities that the family began fasting on July 19, and that he was a religious minister affiliated with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries, which is believed by police to have been made up. MOTHER ARRESTED, CHARGED WITH MURDER OF FLORIDA BOY JORDAN BELLIVEAU The mother and 11-year-old were transported to a hospital. The mother reportedly refused medical treatment due to religious reasons, and was taken to the Sauk County Jail. The child remains in protective custody at Childrens Hospital in Madison, while, according to Becker, the parents are eating while in jail. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The $400,000 raised through a GoFundMe account to support a homeless veteran in Philadelphia after he gave his last bit of money to help a stranded motorist is reportedly drained. A lawyer representing Johnny Bobbitt, whose story garnered national attention last year after he gave Kate McClure his last $20 to fill up her gas tank, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that news of the depleted account came as a complete surprise. Chris Fallon, the lawyer, said he became aware of the financial standing of his clients account after a conference call with attorneys for McClure and her boyfriend Mark DAmico the couple who started the GoFundMe account for Bobbitt after his kind gesture, promising him a home. "It completely shocked me when I heard," Fallon told the paper. Bobbitts attorneys requested that the couple remain in New Jersey, surrender their passports, post a bond and restrict access to their bank accounts after they failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to deliver any remaining money from the GoFundMe account, according to the paper. Last week, Superior Court Judge Paula T. Dow ordered the couple to wire the remaining funds to a trust for Bobbitt, and submit an accounting report of the donated money within 24 hours. Bobbitt has received roughly $75,000 dollars of the funds, which he used to purchase a camper and SUV both of which he no longer has, the paper reported. DAmico told the paper during an interview in August that he controls the money in the account and that he would dispense the funds 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 spent it on giving it to relatives and friends, and some on drugs. Fallon told the paper on Tuesday that his client hopes to enter a residential detoxification program. Bobbitt, who questions the couple's motives and fears they may have squandered the money, claims they used the funds to buy a new BMW and take lavish vacations. He also questions if the couple has the legal authority to deny him the money. Three lawyers are representing Bobbitt pro bono. Jacqueline Promislo, another lawyer for Bobbitt said the couples lawyer, Ernest E. Badway, never responded regarding the request to transfer the remaining GoFundMe funds or if the money had been moved, according to the paper. The paper could not reach McLure or DAmico for comment. Badway declined to comment to Fox News late Tuesday. The couple earlier said the new car was paid for with their own money. McLure, who is a receptionist, and DAmico, who is a carpenter, said they have done nothing wrong and did everything they could to help Bobbitt. Badway claimed in court last week that Bobbitt stole at least $200,000 of the funds since the account was created, the paper reported. He also argued the court order to wire the money within 24 hours was a harsh remedy. A hearing regarding the disputed funds is scheduled to take place Wednesday at 10 a.m., the paper reported. GoFundMe has donated $20,000 into an escrow account created by Bobbitts attorneys to help with housing and goods as the legal proceedings continue, a spokesman told the paper on Tuesday. The company also said it is cooperating with the investigation. A California police officers life changed after he met a homeless, pregnant woman who asked for his help. Santa Rosa Police Officer Jason Whitten, 33, responded to the call from a woman who said she needed a home for her unborn baby. The baby's father told Good Morning America the woman was suffering from drug addiction. "Like a lot of people I've talked to, I heard about her life and her story," he said. "I knew her [other] two children from the camp I had worked at for foster youth. When she started talking about them, I had an immediate connection with her just by knowing who her wonderful children were." GEORGIA OFFICER WOUNDED IN WALMART SHOOTOUT IN SERIOUS CONDITION, MOUTHED TO HIS WIFE: I LOVE YOU The officer said he drove the pregnant woman to a rehab facility. The woman asked Whitten if he wanted to adopt her baby, but he said wasnt sure if she was serious. In February, the woman gave birth but couldnt get clean. The baby girl had heroin in her system when she was born, and the county asked the woman if she wanted to place her daughter in foster care. She told officials to contact Whitten. "She said: 'I knew you had daughters. I knew you were firm, but you were fair,'" Whitten recalled. "She had this vision of her daughters playing in tutus with her sisters. That's what she said she wanted." On Aug. 30, the Whitten family adopted the baby girl and named her Harlow Maisey Whitten. The little girl now has three older sisters. POLICE OFFICER PUMPS, PAYS FOR ELDERLY WOMANS GAS, VIRAL FACEBOOK POST SHOWS "I fell in love right away," Whitten said. "She's so adorable. She will cry if she needs something, obviously as babies do, but as soon as we would touch her, she'd immediately stop crying. She knew right away that she was safe." The police department congratulated Whitten in a Facebook post. Congratulations, Whitten family, and welcome, baby, to the SRPD family! the post read. Two Catholic priests were arrested Monday after police said they were caught performing sex acts on each other in a parked car near a Miami Beach playground, reports said. Diego Berrio, 39, and Edwin Giraldo Cortez, 30, face charges of lewd and lascivious behavior after a passerby spotted the alleged rendezvous in a rented Volkswagen Beetle in broad daylight, the New York Post reported. Giraldo Cortes also faces an indecent exposure charge. The car did not have tinted windows, so officers said they were able to witness the sexual acts upon arrival, the newspaper reported. The two Chicago-area priests apparently didnt notice the police until officers knocked on the window to get their attention, the report said. I parked my vehicle and approached the passenger side of the vehicle on foot, an officer wrote on the arrest report, according to The Miami Herald. I observed defendant Berrio in the passenger seat, performing oral sex on defendant Giraldo who was seated in the drivers seat. Giraldos pants were unzipped and his genitals exposed. Berrio and Cortez are from Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Berrio served as a priest at the Mission of San Juan Diego and Cortez at the St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago. In a statement Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Chicago said both priests will no longer serve as priests in the archdiocese. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately, the statement read. The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Mission San Juan Diego as soon as possible. Berrio was released from police custody Tuesday, the Post reported. The Colorado man accused of killing his wife and two daughters last month is under suicide watch, reports said Tuesday. Chris Watts, 33, is reportedly under "Close Watch Protocol," at the Weld County Jail, which is about 60 miles north of Denver. While under Close Watch Protocol the technical name for suicide watch Watts spends 23 hours a day in his jail cell and guards must check on him every five to 10 minutes to make sure he is still alive and in custody, People magazine reported. Fox News has reached out to the jail for confirmation. Watts is accused of killing wife Shanann, 34, and their daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. Their bodies were found on property owned by Andarko Petroleum, one of Colorado's largest oil and gas drillers, and where Watts worked as an operator. The girls had been submerged in crude oil for four days, court documents filed by defense lawyer James Merson said. Watts allegedly told police that his wife strangled their children after he asked for a separation. Police said they learned that Watts was having an affair with a co-worker. While under suicide watch, he is not allowed the same privileges as other people at the jail, including no access to weights, reading material and television, People magazine reported. He is allowed to leave his cell for one hour a day to shower and make phone calls to his family or to counsel. The magazine cited that a source at the jail also confirmed it to HLN. Watts is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Cities can't prosecute people for sleeping on the streets if they have nowhere else to go because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court said Tuesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with six homeless people from Boise, Idaho, who sued the city in 2009 over a local ordinance that banned sleeping in public spaces. The ruling could affect several other cities across the U.S. West that have similar laws. It comes as many places across the West Coast are struggling with homelessness brought on by rising housing costs and income inequality. When the Boise lawsuit was filed, attorneys for the homeless residents said as many as 4,500 people didn't have a place to sleep in Idaho's capital city and homeless shelters only had about 700 available beds or mats. The case bounced back and forth in the courts for years, and Boise modified its rules in 2014 to say homeless people couldn't be prosecuted for sleeping outside when shelters were full. But that didn't solve the problem, the attorneys said, because Boise's shelters limit the number of days that homeless residents can stay. Two of the city's three shelters also require some form of religious participation for some programs, making those shelters unsuitable for people with different beliefs, the homeless residents said. The three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit found that the shelter rules meant homeless people would still be at risk of prosecution even on days when beds were open. The judges also said the religious programming woven into some shelter programs was a problem. "A city cannot, via the threat of prosecution, coerce an individual to attend religion-based treatment programs consistently with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," Judge Marsha Berzon wrote. The biggest issue was that the city's rule violated the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment, the court found. The amendment limits what the government can criminalize, it said. "As a result, just as the state may not criminalize the state of being 'homeless in public places,' the state may not 'criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the streets,'" Berzon wrote. The ruling shows it's time for Boise officials to start proposing "real solutions," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, whose attorneys were among those representing the homeless residents. In 2007, the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of homeless residents of Los Angeles, finding that as long as there are more homeless residents than there are shelter beds, a law outlawing sleeping outside was unconstitutional. Both sides later reached an agreement and the entire case was eventually thrown out. In 2009, a federal judge said a Portland, Oregon, policy designed to prevent people from sitting or lying on public sidewalks was unconstitutional. Portland officials now must also give campers at least 24 hours' notice before cleaning up or moving unsanctioned camps. A state judge rejected a similar anti-camping law in Everett, Washington. Sara Rankin, a professor at the Seattle University School of Law and director of its Homeless Rights Advocacy Project, said the ruling will serve as a wake-up call to local governments, forcing them to invest in adequate supportive housing for the chronically homeless. "I think it's finally common sense," Rankin said of the ruling. "There are certain life-sustaining activities that people can't survive without doing. It's a really important recognition that people have to be able to legally exist and survive somewhere." A conservative student group at a Wisconsin-based college claims they were told their 9/11 Never Forget poster violates the schools bias policy because it exclusively targets Islamic terrorism, but the college says that's simply not true. By focusing relentlessly on one religious organization, one religious group, one religious identity, Ripon Colleges bias incident team allegedly told the Young Americas Foundation that their posters remembering September 11th create an environment where students from a Muslim background would feel singled out and/or harassed. 9/11 MEMORIAL NEARS COMPLETION 17 YEARS AFTER TERRORIST ATTACK The schools claim that the posters may make Muslim students feel harassed is absurd, YAF spokesman Spencer Brown told Fox News. [It] ignores the fact that innocent Muslims also died at the hands of radical Islamists on 9/11, and continue to suffer under the same evil ideology around the world. Ripon College spokewoman, Melissa Anderson, told Fox News the posters were never ruled against or told they violated any bias policy, which doesn't exist. She added posters don't even need to be pre-approved on campus. "The Bias Protocol Board doesnt have any disciplinary authority at Ripon," Anderson said. "There would never have been a meeting last Tuesday if local YAF had not requested it." YAFs 9/11: Never Forget Project, which started in 2003, is made up of 2,977 American flags, one for each of the victims who died that day, and Never Forget posters, both of which have been desecrated and defaced at college campuses across the nation. Last year many posters were torn down and destroyed, Hannah Krueger, YAF Ripon chapter president, told The College Fix. The posters went before the student judiciary board and they found them to be in compliance with the poster posting policy. It is only this bias protocol team that finds them to be inappropriate and racist. 9/11 VICTIM REPORTEDLY ID'ED 17 YEARS LATER DUE TO DNA TESTING Krueger said the bias team informed them that their posters were offensive at the end of the spring semester, but she was unable to meet with them until last week, giving them little notice before the 17th anniversary. Kreuger said the bias team heavily implied the current posters could not be put up. Anderson said the university offered up its student marketing resources to create a new poster. "There was no ban," Anderson said of the 9/11 memorial, adding that the school has received several threats after it was reported the private school was blocking the posters. "The meeting did not result in any action." Brown told Fox News that Ripon is trying to pretend that the spirit of their bias teams ruling wasnt to dissuade students from displaying the posters this year, when it clearly was. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A New Jersey couple who raised $400,000 online for a homeless Good Samaritan must give sworn testimony detailing what happened to the money, a judge said Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Paula Dow said that Katie McClure and Mark DAmico must appear Monday for a deposition in a suit filed by Johnny Bobbitt over the whereabouts of the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for him via GoFundMe. Dow chastised the pairs attorney over grandstanding and said his clients have to appear in person to assert their right against self-incrimination. Bobbitt was also ordered to be deposed. In court, McClure and D'Amico's attorney, Ernest Badway, said about $200,000 had gone to Bobbitt, but Dow said Badway indicated he was "misadvised" by his clients and that later the court learned there was no money left. She said she wants them to appear in person. Neither the couple nor Bobbit was in court Wednesday. "I am not allowing you to be their voice anymore," said Dow, a former state attorney general. Bobbitts story went viral in late 2017 after he gave McClure his last $20 for gas when she was stranded. She set up a GoFundMe page for him, which raised $400,000. Eventually, the relationship soured sometime after Bobbitt received roughly $75,000 of the funds. He used the money to purchase a camper and SUV, but he has admitted he squandered some of on drugs. He no longer has the camper or SUV, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday. Bobbitt accused McClure and DAmico of mismanaging the donations raised. The couple deny the claims. Last month, DAmico claimed that he controls the funds in the account and that he would dispense the money when Bobbitt gets a job and stops using drugs. Last month, Dow ordered the couple to wire the remaining funds to a trust for Bobbitt by Friday, and submit an accounting report of the donated money. The money will be transferred to an account controlled by Bobbitts lawyers but cant be used until the judge determines how it will be managed. However, it seems that the account has been drained. The newspaper reported that the lawyer representing Bobbitt learned of the depleted account after a conference call with attorneys for the pair. It completely shocked me when I heard, Chris Fallon, Bobbitts attorney, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Fallon said in court on Wednesday that Bobbitt is entering a 30-day residential treatment program. He has earlier said Bobbitt has a drug addiction. GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said the company is working with law enforcement to ensure that Johnny Bobbitt gets all the money raised for him. While we assist law enforcement with their ongoing investigation, GoFundMe is also working with Johnnys legal team to ensure hes receiving support while the remaining funds are being recovered, Whithorne said in a statement. He also said the company gave $20,000 to an account set up by Bobbitts attorney to provide assistance to him during the investigation. During an appearance on NBC's "Megyn Kelly Today" show, D'Amico told Kelly there was well over $150,000 left of the donations. Fox News' Benjamin Brown and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Ten people were taken to the hospital Wednesday after an Emirates Airline plane from Dubai carrying more than 500 passengers and apparently rapper Vanilla Ice landed in New York City with about 100 passengers and crew members feeling ill, officials said. Nine others who were sickened were evaluated and refused further medical attention, Eric Phillips, spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said. Influenza is believed to be the culprit, as patients have demonstrated flu-like symptoms, a New York City health official said. "Given the symptoms that we are seeing in the patients and given the history that they present, it looks like this is probably influenza," Acting New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said. "But again, until we have our final results late tonight we won't be able to give a final determination on what the underlying cause is of this illness." Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local authorities arrived at John F. Kennedy airport around 9 a.m. shortly before Emirates Flight 203 landed with 520 people on board. The plane was quarantined as authorities evaluated the situation. Vanilla Ice appeared to be one of the passengers on the plane. He tweeted around 1:40 p.m. that he was seated on the top floor of the Emirates flight and landed at the New York City airport with tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place. This is crazy. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy Im up top, its a double-decker plane 380, the Ice Ice Baby rapper tweeted hours after the morning incident. The CDC said 100 passengers and some crew members on the flight complained of feeling sick. Some reported symptoms of a cough and fever. CDC public health officers are working with port authority, EMS, and CBP officials to evaluate passengers including taking temperatures and making arrangements for transport to local hospitals those that need care, the CDC said in an initial statement. Passengers who are not ill will be allowed to continue with their travel plans, and if necessary will be followed up with by health officials. By 12:30 p.m., all passengers and crew members were off the aircraft after undergoing evaluation. All passengers were screened by the local health authorities prior to disembarkation, and three passengers and seven crew members were transferred to the hospital for further medical care and evaluation. Nine passengers underwent additional medical screening at the site near the aircraft and were released afterwards. The rest of the passengers were allowed to leave and clear customs, the airline told reporters. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused. The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is always our top priority. Phillips said health officials were conducting tests to determine what caused the sickness. The spokesman also initially tweeted that the flight from Dubai stopped in Mecca, where there's a flu outbreak. He later clarified that some of the passengers came from Mecca and the flight was a direct one from Dubai to New York City. Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A two-year-old girl was shot in the head in an Indiana home on Tuesday evening, police said. The toddler was rushed to a hospital in Gary, Ind., about 30 miles southeast of Chicago. Police said the girl was stabilized and in critical condition. She was being transferred to a children's hospital in Chicago, The Chicago Tribune reported. Investigators are determining whether the girl obtained ahold of a gun or if someone shot her, according to NBC Chicago. Police are questioning two adults who were with the girl during the incident, Fox 32 Chicago reported. The shooting occurred at around 6:51 p.m. local time, police said. Neighbor Marethia Burnett told NBC Chicago that she's seen too many shootings in the area. Its just sad. Its just really sad," she said. "I just feel for the family. The mother of this baby." This is a developing story. Check back for updates. A man told a Kansas court on Tuesday that he chopped up his wifes body in a hotel after she killed herself to protect his family. Justin Todd Rey, 36, appeared in front a Johnson County judge to explain during his preliminary hearing why he spent eight hours hacking Jessica Reys body into pieces last October, The Kansas City Star reported. Its something I had to do, Rey said in court. My family is very dear to me. Its something I had to do to protect my family. Jessica Rey gave birth to a baby in a bathtub at a Kansas City, Mo., hotel and then killed herself. Justin Rey, instead of calling police for help, dismembered his wifes body so he could take her remains to Arizona while caring for his newborn and two-year-old daughter. Authorities located the body parts in bags at a storage shed in Lenexa, Kansas. MAN IN '15 MOST WANTED' FUGITIVE LIST CAPTURED AFTER 16 YEARS ON THE RUN FOR MURDERS Rey, who is not charged in his wifes death, entered a not guilty plea Tuesday for charges of two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child's misconduct. He was also charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri. Rey had initially provided officials with conflicting reports on what happened the day his wife died. He previously said she died in childbirth, but Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy testified that Rey told her his wife had killed herself. After having his children pose for photographs with her body, Rey said he "skinned her like a fish," according to Murphy. She said Rey flushed body parts that would not fit in containers down the toilet. Police discovered Rey and his children at a storage facility after receiving calls. The officer said Reys daughter almost looked like she had cancer with bags under her eyes and thinning hair. Several witnesses said the newborn also had a serious eye infection. CANADA MAN GETS PRISON TIME FOR SMUGGLING GUNS IN LIBRARY ON BORDER On Tuesday, Rey denied putting his children at risk and living at the storage facility, as some witnesses claimed. He said they had been at the facility for about 11 hours and was preparing the family for a trip to Arizona, where he intended to give his wife a proper burial. "I didn't endanger my children," he testified. "My children were perfectly healthy." Rey also denied flushing anything but a placenta down the toilet. His trial on the Kansas charges was scheduled for Nov. 5. Separately, Rey was charged in November in California in the death of Sean Ty Ferel, a Palm Springs resident who disappeared after vacationing with Rey in 2016. Ferel's body hasn't been found, but his blood was detected in the trunk of his vehicle after Rey was involved in an accident months after Ferel disappeared. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Latest on a prison inmate charged with raping a woman at a Utah wildfire (all times local): 1 p.m. An Idaho prison inmate charged with raping a woman while working at a wildfire base camp in Utah has invoked his right to a speedy trial. Prosecutor Kevin Daniels said 27-year-old Ruben Hernandez made his first court appearance in Utah's Sanpete County in a short hearing on Wednesday. Daniels says he did not formally enter a plea, but the request to move quickly typically indicates a defendant disputes a charge. He is due in court for an evidence hearing next week. A defense attorney newly appointed to the case did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Hernandez was part of a program common in Western states where minimum-security prison inmates are released to help fight wildfires. He is accused of assaulting a base-camp worker Aug. 29 after she rejected his advances. __ 8 a.m. Idaho is scrutinizing its program allowing prison inmates to help battle wildfires after one was charged with raping a woman working at a remote base camp in Utah. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray says they've returned five crews to prison as they review which inmates are allowed to serve, the training they receive and how they are deployed. Meanwhile, inmate Ruben Hernandez is set make his first court appearance Wednesday on a felony rape charge alleging he assaulted the woman after she rejected his advances. He was part of a 10-person crew who cooked and did janitorial work. They were supervised by two Idaho correctional officers. Most states in the U.S. West have similar programs allowing low-level offenders to be temporarily released to aid in firefighting efforts. A man named one of U.S. Marshals 15 most wanted fugitives was captured Wednesday 16 years after he allegedly killed his sister and an ex-girlfriend in New York City. Andre Neverson, 54, was arrested after U.S. Marshals and police received information that he was hiding in a house in Bridgeport, Conn., authorities said. U.S. Marshals closed in when Neverson was spotted leaving the home. He was taken into custody and will be transferred to New York City, where hes accused of murdering two women in 2002. The United States Marshals Service is extremely pleased to have a violent criminal, who murdered two women in New York, off the streets of Connecticut after 16 years on the run, U.S. Marshal Brian Taylor, District of Connecticut said in a news release. HAUNTING STORIES BEHIND MISSING POSTERS OF NATIVE WOMEN Neverson allegedly killed his sister by shooting her in the head and stomach in Brooklyn on July 8, 2002. The Trinidad and Tobago native had entered the U.S. illegally months after he was deported in 2000 for shooting his then-girlfriends uncle five times, PIX11 reported. A day after gunning down his sister, Neverson abducted his former girlfriend, who was found dead two days later, officials said. At the time of murders, Neverson was on parole for attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of the firearm. Neverson was seen again in November 2002 when he went to the home of another ex-girlfriends home to see his daughter. He eventually fled the house when the girlfriends brother interrupted him. New York City police searched for him, but to no avail. The U.S. Marshals added Neverson to 15 Most Wanted fugitives list in 2004. Authorities previously described him as an "armed and dangerous" man who spoke several languages and wore wigs to disguise himself. A man who was upset about an officer-involved shooting intentionally crashed his truck into the side of the studios for FOX 4 in Dallas early Wednesday before jumping out of the vehicle and started "ranting" before he was arrested, officials said. In a Twitter post, FOX 4 said that after crashing the vehicle in the building, the man got out and "started ranting." Dallas police investigated for several hours to make sure nothing was in a bag left outside. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident, which took place just before 7 a.m. ET. Dallas Police Public Information Officer Debra Webb said that officers made contact with the suspect and took the man into custody "without incident." The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Michael Chadwick Fry, was described as being an "agitated mental state," will face charges for criminal mischief. Fry was previously arrested in 2016 in Denton County, located outside of Dallas. He was also arrested in Dallas County in 2011, according to FOX 4. "It's just concerning to matter what the building is or who is outside," Webb said, responding to a question if the man was targeting a media organization. "We're really lucky today no one was injured." Webb said that Fry appeared to be upset about an officer-involved shooting elsewhere and left numerous flyers that were "mostly rambling." Photojournalists from the station filmed Fry placing numerous boxes next to the side of the building "filled with stacks of paper." The papers were then strewn along the sidewalk and adjacent to the building. FOX4 reporter Brandon Todd said that Fry stood outside the building saying something about "high treason," ranted about a sheriff's department and then held up papers against windows. Webb had no further details about the man's motivation, other than other than they don't believe he was targeting the media. Pictures posted by the television station showed boxes of paper strewn throughout the parking lot, in addition to broken windows and the man in handcuffs. The station reported that most of the people inside have been evacuated, but few are continued to work to "keep the news on air from a secure location" until police cleared the scene. "Scary moment this morning when a man drove his truck into our building," reporter Shannon Murray said on Twitter. "We evacuated while the bomb squad is investigating." The incident drew a large amount of emergency responders surrounding the building downtown as authorities investigated, interrupting service for Dallas Area Rapid Transit nearby. The man was crying when he was taken into custody, Todd said. Authorities said he was taken to a hospital for examination and is now at the Dallas County jail. A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the retrial of a former Blackwater security guard convicted of murder in 2014 for his role in a mass shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians that touched off an international firestorm. Nicholas Slatten, 34, a decorated former Army sniper from Sparta, Tenn., who served two tours in Iraq, went on trial for a second time in June. The latest decision is a setback for the Justice Department, which had long sought to hold Slatten and the three other employees of the military contracting firm accountable for the incident. Slatten and three other guards, Paul Slough, a decorated Army and National Guard veteran; Dustin Heard and Evan Liberty, both Marine veterans, were all working for Blackwater, at the time under contract by the State Department. ERIK PRINCE FIGHTS ACCUSATIONS HE TRIED TO HELP SET UP RUSSIA BACK CHANNEL AT SECRET SEYCHELLES MEETING On Sept. 16, 2007, in the midst of President George W Bushs surge, Slattens convoy traveled to downtown Baghdad as part of an effort to evacuate a U.S. diplomat. At some point during the trip, the guards began opening fire with machine guns and grenade launchers, fearing they were under attack from a potential car bomb. No evidence of a bomb was ever found. As a result of the firefight, some 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed, and another 17 were injured. During the first trial in 2014, prosecutors had argued Slatten fired the first shots without provocation, spurring a fusillade of machine gun and grenade fire. They also claimed he harbored deep-seated hatred of Iraqis. Slattons attorneys argued he was innocent, citing the confession of Slough, who told investigators he in fact fired the opening shots. FIRST IRAQ ELECTION SINCE ISIS TOPPLED DRAWS LOW TURNOUT OF 10M VOTERS Sloughs testimony was never presented to the jury during Slattens trial and Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder. He had been serving a life sentence in Sumterville, Fla., before being moved to Virginia and D.C. for the retrial. Slatten's original sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder was overturned in 2017 by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit after they ruled a lower court had erred by not allowing him to be tried separately from his three co-defendants in 2014. But jurors in the subsequent retrial were deadlocked on the 16th day of deliberations. Jurors had indicated in a note to the judge last week that it had reached an impasse, the Washington Post reported. They had been sent home for the weekend and asked to return to court Tuesday. Speaking after the mistrial was declared, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth for D.C., told the jurors: I commend you for your efforts. You strove to be good jurors. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office told Fox News: "A mistrial was declared today, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is reviewing the matter and have no further comment at this time." It is unclear if prosecutors will attempt to retry the case. Slattens attorneys did not return a request for comment. The three other convicted defendants, Slough, 38, of Sanger, Tx., Heard, 37, of Maryville, Tenn., and Liberty, 36, of Rochester, NH., still face resentencing. The U.S. Court of Appeals that ordered Slattens retrial, also threw out the sentences of the other trio, saying they violated the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. An illegal immigrant from Mexico accused of murdering 20-year-old Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts over the summer reportedly went by a different name during his time working at a dairy farm. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was known as John Budd while he was employed at Yarrabee Farms, according to The Associated Press. Three individuals with information pertaining to the suspects employment confirmed the name used to hire and pay him during his time at the farm. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information during an ongoing criminal investigation. Official government documents also showed the John Budd alias, one source told the outlet. MOLLIE TIBBETTS MURDER SUSPECT IDD AS CRISTHIAN RIVERA, 24, LIVING IN US ILLEGALLY News of the reported pseudonym comes weeks after Tibbetts body was found in an Iowa cornfield and Rivera was charged in her murder. She had been missing since July 18. Amid the Aug. 21st discovery, authorities said Rivera, who lived in the rural Poweshiek County area, was being held on a federal immigration detainer. Hes believed to have been in the area for four to seven years. Yarrabee Farms, which previously said Rivera was employed there for the past four years, would not confirm to The Associated Press whether or not he went by John Budd at work. Upon his hiring at the farm in 2014, Rivera showed an out-of-state photo I.D. and social security number, farm officials have said, adding that up until his apprehension, they thought the documents were his. FARM THAT HIRED CRISTHIAN RIVERA, MOLLIE TIBBETTS SUSPECTED KILLER, DID NOT USE E-VERIFY SYSTEM, OFFICIAL SAYS We learned that our employee was not who he said he is, Yarrabee Farms co-owner and manager Dane Lang said on Aug. 22. The farm followed legal requirements to examine the documents and determined "that they appeared genuine on their face and related to the person presenting them," Lori Chesser, an immigration employment lawyer advising the farm, told The Associated Press. "Questioning a name or other characteristic would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of the law." Over the course of his employment, the suspect also was called and responded to the name he used in the hiring process, Chesser said. The farm did not use a federal E-Verify check on Rivera, Lang previously said, clarifying an earlier comment that they had. The E-Verify system allows companies to confirm the identity and eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. Fox News Nicole Darrah, Lucia I. Suarez Sang and The Associated Press contributed to this report. More than 6,000 fraternity chapters in the United States and Canada will be forced to implement a ban on any alcohol with more than 15 percent alcohol by volume, officials said. The North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) released a statement Tuesday that its fraternity members would be adopting a new standard prohibiting hard alcohol from fraternity chapter facilities and events. Under the ban, any alcohol above 15 percent ABV will be prohibited from any chapter facility or event. The NIC is ordering over 6,100 chapters on 800 campus in the U.S. and Canada to implement the ban by Sept. 1, 2019. At their core, fraternities are about brotherhood, personal development and providing a community of support, NIC President and CEO Judson Horras said in a press release. Alcohol abuse and its serious consequences endanger this very purpose. The new rule comes after fraternity pledges suffered alcohol-related deaths at Louisiana State University and Penn State University last year. EX-PENN STATE FRATERNITY MEMBER SENTECED TO HOUSE ARREST, PROBATION IN PLEDGES DEATH One Penn State pledge, 19-year-old Tim Piazza, died in February 2017 after a night of heavy drinking and a series of falls that left him with a fractured skull and severe abdominal injuries. Ryan Burke, a former fraternity brother, was the first of more than 20 defendants to plead guilty to four counts of hazing and five alcohol violations in Piazzas death. He was sentenced in July to three months house arrest. Maxwell Gruver, an 18-year-old Louisiana State University fraternity pledge, died at a Baton Rouge hospital on Sept. 14, 2017 after fraternity members found him lying on a couch at the fraternity house and couldn't tell if he was breathing, police said. TEN ARRESTED IN LSU FRAT PLEDGES DRINKING DEATH An autopsy report revealed that Gruvers blood-alcohol content level at the time of his death was 0.495, nearly six times the states legal limit for driving. The coroner concluded that he died of acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration. The Distilled Spirits Council issued a statement Wednesday attributed to its interim CEO, Clarkson Hine, commending the NIC for taking steps to address alcohol abuse among fraternity members but adding that such policies should treat all forms of alcohol equally. "Such an approach sends a misleading message that some forms of alcohol are 'softer' than others, and undercuts equivalence information in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, and the majority of college alcohol education materials, which teach students that 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine and a cocktail with 1.5 fluid ounces of distilled spirits each contains the same amount of alcohol," Hine said. While the NICs ban looks to enhance the safety of its members, it may not be tough enough. There is no mention of any means to limit the amount of alochol consumed. Chapter facilities and events will be allowed to serve alcohol with more than 15 percent ABV under the new standard if it is served by a licensed third-party vendor. The ban also targets hard alcohol but ignores beer, which is more common on campuses. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 12 ounces of a regular beer contains 5 percent alcohol. Horras is hopeful for the new measure, saying that it shows fraternities clear commitment and leadership to further their focus on the safety pf members and all in our communities. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A roughly 10-month old dog in Houston, Texas, made headlines this week after he was found with a shoelace around his neck, causing his head to swell to an enormous size. The dog, named Gus by his rescuers, was first spotted roaming a busy street last Wednesday, Anna Barbosa, president of Houston K-911 Rescue, which has now taken responsibility for Gus, told Fox News. Once captured, rescuers took Gus to an emergency veterinary clinic. Veterinarians removed a shoestring that had been wrapped around the pups neck and was deeply embedded into the tissue. Barbosa said the shoestring was likely placed on Gus neck as a puppy, but was never removed. As a result, the lack of circulation caused his head to fill with fluid. Its really awful, the way these homeless dogs have to live, Barbosa said, noting Gus is the second dog her organization has rescued in recent months thats suffered from a similar condition (that dog, Ralph, which was found with a wire chain around his neck, has since recovered and was adopted by a family in Wisconsin). DOG MISSING NEARLY A YEAR IN NEW HAMPSHIRE WOODS REUNITES WITH OWNERS: 'HE IS ONE TRUE SURVIVOR' Due to heavy scarring around the circumference of Gus neck, the pup was later sent to a soft tissue specialist at the Texas A&M Small Animal Clinic in College Station. There, veterinarians were better equipped to treat the scarring, especially around his jugular vein. Since arriving at the hospital, Gus has undergone a surgery to remove the scar tissue. However, surgeons were forced to stop partway through the procedure because Gus lost too much blood, Barbosa said. He was given a blood transfusion, but will likely need another surgery to remove the remaining scar tissue. An X-ray revealed Gus had at least 28 pellets throughout his body. Local law enforcement officials have since opened a case to further investigate who may have injured the dog, Barbosa said. There is so much cruelty. Some people [shoot] because they want the dogs off their property or they do it for grins; you never know why people do this stuff, she said. Gus is currently recovering at the clinic, where he has also undergone both cold laser therapy and massage therapy to help reduce swelling in his head. Hes looking great, Barbosa said, adding Gus nose has become more visible as some of the swelling has gone down. He's afraid of everything, but hes so gentle. MOOSE DROWNS IN VERMONT LAKE AFTER BEING SPOOKED BY ONLOOKERS SNAPPING PHOTOS The dog has been in "so much pain" that he "doesnt really have a personality yet, Barbosa said, but he'll lift his head when someone says his name. So I think hes starting to make the connection, she added. We as rescuers are overwhelmed with the situation here in Houston, if this helps the animals get a voice then his story will be worth it, Barbosa said, citing the roughly 1.2 million stray dogs in the city. A large number of those dogs are found Houstons Fifth Ward, a notoriously low-income neighborhood, The Boston Globe previously reported. Hes a representation of the homeless animal crisis that we have, she added. Eventually, like with any rescue animal, Barbosa hopes Gus will find a loving home. [Hes in] survivor mode. Hopefully with time, he will be a different dog than the one we took up there," she said, adding that a Facebook page has been set up for Gus as he continues his journey to recovery. President Donald Trump is holding out the possibility of a federal government shutdown this fall if Congress doesn't act to secure the nation's borders. Trump tells reporters: "If it happens, it happens. If it's about border security, I'm willing to do anything." The president has previously suggested to lawmakers that he would not allow a government shutdown before the November midterm elections. Trump was meeting with Republican congressional leaders at the White House to address the fall agenda. He says they were discussing "how we can responsibly fund the government, protect American taxpayers and defend American security." Lawmakers face a Sept. 30 deadline to pass spending bills to keep the government open. Trump says the lawmakers have made tremendous progress. President Donald Trump will mark the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by participating in a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania. The White House says the president will be accompanied at Tuesday's ceremony in Shanksville by first lady Melania Trump. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field. Trump observed the solemn anniversary for the first time as president last year. He and the first lady led a moment of silence at the White House surrounded by aides and administration officials at the exact time that hijackers rammed the first of two airplanes into the Twin Towers. Trump also participated in a 9/11 observance at the Pentagon last year. The Trump administration is investigating the FBI into how it handled sexual-abuse allegations against former U.S. gymnastic national-team doctor Larry Nassar following accusations that agents failed to respond to claims made by gymnasts in 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Department of Justice's inspector generals probe stems from an internal FBI review into the bureaus handling of the allegations against Nassar. It reportedly took at least nine months before the FBI officially opened a probe in the disgraced doctor. Nassar pleaded guilty last year to state sexual-abuse and federal child-pornography charges, though none of the charges included national-team gymnasts 2015 allegations, and was sentenced in January to 60 years in federal prison. The FBI will also face scrutiny from other bodies of government, including Congress and its Senate Judiciary and Senate Commerce committees, which urged in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide information and materials related to the bureaus handling of the allegations. The DOJ probe will focus on how numerous FBI officials acted on or potentially failed to act on the allegations raised by gymnasts against Nassar and why it took at least nine months until a formal investigation into Nassar was opened. According to the Journal, the DOJ investigators have already interviewed several people, including athletes and gymnastics officials, as part of their probe efforts. The investigation could potentially lead to criminal charges or disciplinary action. The investigators are looking into the Indianapolis FBI offices 2015 handling of the gymnasts allegations, the newspaper reported. Former Olympian McKayla Maroney reportedly spoke with a local bureau agent over the phone, rather than in person, concerning the allegations against Nassar, yet the interview didnt lead to the opening of a formal investigation. This prompted the DOJ to seek for correspondence between former USA Gymnastics Chief Executive Steve Penny and officials at FBI field offices in Indianapolis and Los Angeles. Pennys correspondence with the former special agent in charge of the Indianapolis office, W. Jay Abbott, are also being looked at. Abbott previously told the New York Times that the allegations against Nassar were complicated due to the sensitivity of child sexual-abuse allegations and because there was a vigorous debate about whether Nassars techniques constituted a legitimate medical procedure, as Nassar said himself. A homeowner in Sandston, Virginia is tired of students coming onto his property while theyre waiting at a nearby bus stop. So he chose to erect an electrified fence to ensure they would get the message. They dont respect other peoples land, the man told WTVR-News. I pick up trash every day. Thats when the man, identified by ABC 8 as Bryan Tucker, decided to set up an electric fence, which WTVR-News reported is powered by a battery. FORMER VIRGINIA POLICE CHIEF CHARGED WITH RAPE, ABDUCTION, COPS SAY The fence separates the mans front yard from a school bus stop, according to the news station. He took the measure because he claims simple no trespassing signs didnt do the trick. Nothing stops people, he told WTVR-News. On Tuesday, when many children were waiting to take the bus to the first day of school, people began to raise concerns. "I touched it, I got a slight shock, it wasn't that great," James Mehfoud, who lives in the neighborhood, told WTVR-News. "I understand his concern. I just don't think he understood the neighbors' concern about their kids. One of them could touch it, fall into it, and get shocked." VIRGINIA POLICE OFFICER CHARGED IN DEATH OF 6-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER "What, you don't like kids?" Wayne Milby, a local parent, asked. "Me, I'm a parent and I don't want any children to get electrocuted." Outraged parents called officials with the Henrico County Police Department, ABC 8 reported. Tucker was later told to remove the fence because it was technically placed on county property. However, he can reinstate the fence as long as it stays on his property line, according to the news station. The message has gotten across. Parents are posting and talking about it, Tucker said. An attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan that killed one American was carried out by a member of the Afghan national police who is now in Afghan government custody, a U.S. official said Tuesday. It was the second so-called insider attack there this summer. Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the American was killed in eastern Afghanistan by an Afghan policeman. Another U.S. service member was wounded; O'Donnell said that person's wounds are not life-threatening. On Tuesday evening the Pentagon said the soldier killed was Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard, 42, of Thornton, West Virginia. It said he died of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Logar Province, but it provided no other details about the incident. Bolyard was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, based at Fort Benning, Georgia. His brigade was sent to Afghanistan early this year as part of a revamped American strategy to bolster the Afghan security forces by placing U.S. military advisers with Afghan troops closer to the front lines. When the Monday attack was announced, the coalition termed it an apparent insider attack. The new U.S. commander of coalition forces, Army Gen. Scott Miller, called the death "a tragic loss for all who knew and all who will now never know him." O'Donnell said in a telephone interview Tuesday that it now has been "definitely" determined that the attacker was an Afghan policeman. The shooter fled the scene but was apprehended by Afghans, he added. Separately, the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul announced that a U.S. service member died in a "non-combat incident" Tuesday, also in eastern Afghanistan. That service member's name has not yet been released. U.S. SERVICE MEMBER IN AFGHANISTAN DEAD IN APPARENT 'INSIDER ATTACK' The threat of attacks on U.S. and coalition troops by Afghan soldiers and police is a persistent worry, although such violence is far less common than several years ago. There was an epidemic of attacks in 2012, with dozens of Americans killed and wounded in shootings almost weekly by the very troops the U.S. was fighting alongside. U.S. troops since 2014 have been mainly in an advisory and training roles, rather than combat. The 2012 rash of killings led to the development of new procedures and precautions by coalition forces, including the use of "guardian angels" -- armed U.S. forces keeping watch whenever their fellow soldiers interact with Afghan forces. The reasons for such attacks are often not determined conclusively, but officials have said they sometimes reflect resentment by Afghans of the presence of foreign forces. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001. TALIBAN: FOUNDER OF HAQQANI NETWORK DEAD IN AFGHANISTAN The previous insider attack this summer was against one such U.S. protective soldier, Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, California. He was killed and two other Americans were wounded in an attack July 7 by an Afghan security force member at an airfield on the military base at Tarin Kowt in southern Uruzgan province, a Taliban hotbed. As a medic for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Jhony Guependo saved a comrade who stepped on a land mine from bleeding to death. He also stitched up guerrilla fighters who had injured themselves with machetes while building camps deep in Colombia's rainforest. But Guependo, 25, says he never had any formal medical training. The former rebel is now trying to fix that, and build a new life for himself, by studying medicine in Cuba. "I was always known for being good at healing people," Guependo said, just a few hours before departing for Havana on his first ever international flight. "Now I want to become a doctor so that I can help vulnerable people." Two hundred young Colombians will travel this year to Cuba to pursue medical degrees, including 22 former FARC rebels, as part of a scholarship program that is financed by the island's communist government. The first batch of scholarship recipients left on a flight for Cuba on Tuesday. It is being rolled out as Colombia strives to find new occupations for former rebel fighters, who in many cases lack formal schooling and have spent most of their lives in guerrilla camps. "It's a tough transition," says Guependo, who joined the guerrillas 10 years ago when he was 15. "But I would encourage my comrades to stick with this, because war doesn't offer us any solutions now." More than 6,000 rebels laid down their guns after Colombia and the FARC signed a peace deal that includes reduced sentences or legal benefits for guerrilla leaders and guaranteed representation in the country's congress. But finding jobs for the rank and file has been a challenge and in some areas of the country former rebels have reportedly abandoned transition camps to join criminal organizations. Participants in the Cuban government's medical scholarship scheme have said they would like to return to Colombia after completing their degrees, and serve in remote communities where doctors are few and far between. Scholarships were also offered to dozens of young men and women from remote areas of the country who were not combatants, but whose families do not have enough money to send them to universities in Colombia. "I want to be the first person in my family with a college degree," said Johan Arenas, a 19-year-old from the southern province of Meta who was admitted into the program. Arenas says his family was forced to flee their hometown at the turn of the century due to fighting between the guerrillas and paramilitary groups. But he said he had no problems with having former guerrilla members as his new colleagues, because "resentment doesn't mix well with peace." For Guependo, the former FARC medic, it will be his first time leaving Colombia. "It will be sad to leave everyone behind," Guependo said. "But in life you have to make sacrifices to become someone and chart a new path for yourself." United States U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters that President Trumps deal of the century in solving the Israeli-Palestinian situation can happen but only if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agrees to it. Haley was speaking to reporters at a press conference marking the United States presidency of this months U.N. Security Council. Haley in response to a question if the deal of the century was attainable said, Only if Abbas comes to the table. We have ensured that (Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin) Netanyahu will come to the table. Abbas, for the good of his people, needs to come to the table. The Palestinian leadership cut off all contacts with the Trump administration when the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital in December. While many critics of the Trump administration have claimed there is no peace plan, Haley said she had read it, but told reporters that it would not be rolled out during this months United Nations General Assembly debate when Trump and other world leaders will address the global body. I can tell you that (White House senior adviser) Jared Kushner and (Trumps special envoy for international negotiations) Jason Greenblatt have done unbelievably detailed work in it. I have read the plan. It is thoroughly done. It is well-thought-out from both sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis. She continued, The presidents full intent is to completely do everything he can with the peace plan. Haley, who has made defending close U.S. ally Israel a top priority at the U.N., told reporters that Abbas must do more to help the Palestinian people. I will tell you again, for the good of the Palestinian people, the region, the international community, we have to put pressure on Abbas, and say, its time. Its time for a better life for Palestinians. And only he can deliver that. And we have to acknowledge that Hamas is part of the problem. As for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the agency that the Trump administration cut all funding to last Friday, Haley criticized it for being a political organization. She said the U.S. up until last year had given had given $6 billion to the Palestinians. UNRWA is a political arm that claims to serve Palestinians. We have, for two years, asked UNRWA to reform itself because it has this ongoing number of refugees that is unsustainable. We cant sustain and the world knows. Everybody knows it. Every year, they come and say the schools arent going to open. But they keep adding numbers of refugees to where were never going to be able to sustain that. Haley noted that the U.S. was not cutting aid to the Palestinians just UNRWA. She called upon other countries in the region to put their money where their mouth is. Dont blame us for cutting aid. Dont blame us for saying that we think UNRWA is political, and that it needs to be reformed. If you think its fine, go: you pay for it. But dont blame the United States for a faulty political organization that I dont think is doing justice to the people of the Palestinian community. Haley also outlined the U.S. plans for its Security Council presidency for the month of September. That includes Trump chairing a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Iran. The meeting will address Irans continued violations of international law, and the Islamic regimes meddling throughout the Middle East. Haley said she would not oppose Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending the meeting. Asked whether the Trump administration had a strategy for Iran, and if that included regime change, Haley told reporters that the administrations strategy was very simple. Haley said that, Were going to stand with the Iranian people. This is not about a regime change, and whos the next leader. This is everything about standing with the Iranian people, and say they have every right to be heard in their government, and they have every right to change it if its not being led the right way. And were going to continue to expose all the violations that Iran does. And we think the international community should join us with that because it is an issue for the future and it is a future an issue that affects every country in the world. Trump also will preside over a meeting to counter narcotics. Haley said the issue is very important to him, and is a topic that has hit nearly all countries in the world. At that meeting, the president will issue a global call to action to the world leaders assembled in New York. Authorities in Britain charged two Russian men on Wednesday with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-Russian spy and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this year, saying the pair used a fake perfume bottle involved in another poisoning that left a woman dead but offered little hope to bring them to justice. The Crown Prosecution Service said the men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are charged with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok for the March attacks. Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the city of Salisbury on March 4, and spent weeks in critical condition. Officials suspect the father and daughter were poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-engineered nerve agent. Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers that British intelligence has concluded that the two men are officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence service. May said the attack "was not a rogue operation" and was almost certainly approved at a "senior level of the Russian state." Prosecutor Sue Hemming said the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens. We have, however, obtained a European Arrest Warrant which means that if either man travels to a country where an EAW is valid, they will be arrested and face extradition on these charges for which there is no statute of limitations," Hemming said in a statement. Police said the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned. Assistant police commissioner Neil Basu said the men were probably using aliases. He appealed the public "to come forward and tell us who they are," but conceded it was "very very unlikely" police would be in a position to arrest them any time soon. The nerve agent used to poison the Skripals was smuggled to Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle and applied to the front door of Sergei Skripal's house, according to Metropolitan Police. UK MAN POISONED BY NOVICHOK NERVE AGENT NOT LOOKING GOOD, BROTHER SAYS More than three months later, the bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley. He was hospitalized and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the contents. Met Police said it did not believe the pair were deliberately targeted, but "became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of." "Let me be clear, we have no doubt these incidents are connected," Basu said during a news conference on Wednesday. Police released a series of images of the men as they traveled through London and Salisbury between March 2 and March 4. Police say the two men flew back to Moscow from Heathrow Airport on the evening of March 4, hours after the Skripals were found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury. EX-RUSSIAN SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL'S POISONING: WHAT TO KNOW Yulia, 33, recovered more quickly and was discharged in April. Her father was released from the hospital in May. The police officer who came to their assistance, and was hospitalized, has also been released. The Skripals have been taken to an undisclosed location for their safety. After the announcement by British authorities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the names of the two suspects "do not mean anything to us," according to Sky News. Britain later summoned a Russian diplomat in London after naming the two suspects, according the RIA news agency reported. Sergei Skripal served with Russias military intelligence agency, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003, and later became involved in business. DAUGHTER OF POISONED SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL TURNS DOWN RUSSIAN HELP Skripal was arrested in 2004 in Moscow and later confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995. He also said at the time that he provided information about GRU agents in Europe, receiving over $100,000 in return. In 2006, Skripal was convicted on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years. However, he later was pardoned and released from custody in July 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. He had been living quietly in the cathedral city of Salisbury, 90 miles southwest of London, when he was struck down. Britain blamed Russia for the attack while Moscow denied all allegations. In response, more than two dozen Western allies, including the U.S., ordered out over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity. In response, Russia ordered out 60 U.S. diplomats and closed the consulate in St. Petersburg in a tit-for-tat response. Fox News Kathleen Joyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Three people have been charged in the death of a 68-year-old Missouri woman who scraped together all she had," and retired in the Central American nation of Belize, authorities said Monday. Two men, both 18, and a 16-year-old minor face murder charges after the body of Sherris Stringham was found Friday near a river in Pomona, about 50 miles from the village of Hopkins where she lived, according to the Associated Press. The suspects are also from Hopkins. Stringham, a native of Blue Springs, Mo., was last heard from Aug. 25, and had missed several appointments with friends and her house was found in disarray with her wallet empty and car missing, the AP reported. She was reported missing Aug. 27 and her vehicle was found abandoned several days later hundreds of miles away in the northern Orange Walk District. No motive was confirmed, but robbery was suspected, the AP reported. Stringhams family hired a private investigator to search for her and investigate her case, The Kansas City Star reported. A GoFundMe page was set up to cover their costs. The page said Stringham had recently retired to Hopkins after two decades of driving a school bus and working at a local grocery store and had scraped together all she had and bravely struck out and retired to Hopkins. As of Tuesday night, $15,540 had been raised. Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen, who was found guilty of the torture, sexual assault, murder and dismemberment of a Swedish reporter, appeared before an appeals court Wednesday to fight against his life sentence. The three-day session at the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen will not deal with the April 25 guilty ruling. Madsen still denies murdering Kim Wall but wants to move on, according to his lawyer, so has accepted the verdict. In Denmark, life is on average 16 years, but it can be extended if necessary. Madsen, who claims Wall died accidentally inside the submarine in August 2017, wants a time-limited sentence, not an open-ended term. He has confessed to throwing her body parts into the Baltic Sea. Wearing a dark blazer, a black T-shirt and jeans, Madsen listened quietly as prosecutor Kristian Kirk read out the April verdict to present the case. The Copenhagen City Court had ruled unanimously that Madsen, 47, had lured Wall, 30, onto his home-made submarine on Aug. 10 with the promise of an interview. The court ruled the murder was sexually motivated and premeditated, with the prosecution using Madsen's shifting explanations against him and quoting a court-ordered psychiatric report that described him as "emotionally impaired with severe lack of empathy, anger and guilt" and having "psychopathic tendencies." Madsen's lawyer Betina Hald Engmark, on Wednesday said the prosecution case was based "on undocumented claims." Clearly, she said, Madsen did something "horrible" by cutting Wall into pieces, but he should only be sentenced for that, noting that the cause of death has never been established. Under Danish law, indecent handling of a corpse carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. The Egyptian resort where a British couple died last month was found to have a "high level of E. coli and staphylococcus bacteria," a travel company said Wednesday. Thomas Cook, a British-based travel company that operates around the world, said that specialists investigating the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada found that "food and hygiene standards identified a high level of the potentially fatal bacteria, according to Sky News. "It is clear from these results that something went wrong in August at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada and that standards fell below what we expect from our hotel partners," the company, which books travelers at the hotel, said in a statement. "It is likely that the presence of E. coli and staphylococcus would explain the raised level of illness reported among guests at the hotel during this time." The results of the tests, however, do not reveal what caused the deaths of John, 69, and Susan Cooper, 63, on Aug. 21 while on vacation. The deaths prompted the travel company to evacuate 300 guests from the hotel as a precaution. The couple's daughter, Kelly Ormerod, has said she is suspicious because her parents had been in perfect health hours before they died. She previously told Sky News that her father, John Cooper, died in his room while her mother died after she was taken to the hospital. HOTEL ROOM WHERE BRITISH COUPLE FOUND DEAD HAD 'STRANGE ODOR,' EGYPTIAN OFFICIAL SAYS "I think when they went back to that room that evening there was something in that room that's actually killed them whether they've inhaled something that poisoned them, I don't know," she told Sky News last month. "I can only have my opinion on what's gone on, but there's something that happened in that room that killed my parents." BRITISH COUPLE DIES IN EGYPT HOTEL, DAUGHTER SAYS 'SOMETHING IN THAT ROOM' KILLED PARENTS The travel company said Wednesday that tests by experts showed normal carbon monoxide levels near the couple's room and normal levels of chlorine in the swimming pool, but that Egyptian authorities are still investigating the Cooper's hotel room. Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abdullah, governor of Egypt's Red Sea region where the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel is located, previously said "there was a strange odor in the room." Egyptian authorities dismissed criminal motives as being behind the deaths. An official statement by the Red Sea governorate after the deaths said an initial medical examination of John Cooper showed he had suffered acute circulatory collapse and a sudden cardiac arrest. It said Susan Cooper later fainted and was rushed to a hospital, where resuscitation attempts continued for a half-hour. An ex-Russian spy and his adult daughter were critically injured after they were poisoned by a nerve agent back in March and now Russia is paying for the attack. Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found unconscious March 4 on a bench in a shopping mall in Salisbury, about 90 miles west of London. The pair were released from the hospital two months later and moved to a private, secure location. On Aug. 8, the U.S. announced it was imposing sanctions on Russia for using a chemical weapon in violation of international law, though the Kremlin repeatedly denied involvement. Following a 15-day congressional notification period, the sanctions took effect on or around Aug. 22, according to a statement from the State Department. British Prime Minister Theresa May said days after the poisoning that it was highly likely Russia was responsible. And the U.S., Germany and France all appeared to back her. 2 RUSSIANS CHARGED OVER NOVICHOK POISONING OF EX-SPY, USED FAKE PERFUME BOTTLE, BRITISH OFFICIALS SAY Since the March attack, a British couple with no ties to Russia have also been poisoned by the substance in Salisbury. Dawn Sturgess, 44, died more than a week after authorities believe she was exposed to Novichok the military-grade nerve agent also used in an attempt to assasinate Skripal. Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed to the agent and remains in critical but stable condition. On Sept. 5, authorities in Britain charged two Russian men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, with the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, as well as Sturgess. The nerve agent used to poison the Skripals was smuggled to Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle and applied to the front door of their house, according to Metropolitan Police. Police believe the couple later found that same bottle, thus exposing them to the toxic nerve agent. Heres what we know about Skripal, and the incident that nearly killed him. His background as a spy Skripal served with Russias military intelligence, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003, and later became involved in business. Skripal was arrested in 2004 in Moscow and later confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995. He also said at the time that he provided information about GRU agents in Europe, receiving over $100,000 in return. WHAT'S THE GRU, RUSSIA'S MILITARY INTELLIGENCE AGENCY? 3 THINGS TO KNOW At the time of Skripals trial, the Russian media quoted the FSB domestic security agency as saying that the damage from his activities could be compared to harm inflicted by Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU colonel who spied for the United States and Britain. Penkovsky was executed in 1963. In 2006, Skripal was convicted on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years. However, he later was pardoned and released from custody in July 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. Skripals wife and son have both died in recent years. Prior to his wifes death, however, she reportedly told police she feared for her husbands life, the New York Daily News reported. How world leaders responded to the attack On March 15, world leaders said in a joint statement they "abhor" the attack against Skripal. "It is an assault on U.K. sovereignty and any such use by a State party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all, the statement, signed by British Prime Minister Theresa May, President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, read. The leaders called on Russia to "live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN Security Council to uphold international peace and security." May had given Russia until midnight on March 13 to respond to the charges. When Moscow failed to respond, May expelled 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K. They were given a week to pack their belongings and head back to Russia. This will be the single biggest expulsion for over 30 years and it will reflect the fact that this is not the first time the Russian state has acted against our country," May said at the time. The U.S. also ordered 60 Russian diplomats to leave and announced it would close the Russian consulate in Seattle. In response, Russia then said it would expel 60 U.S. diplomats and close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg. Two dozen countries, including the U.S., ordered more than 150 Russian diplomats out within a one-week span in a show of solidarity with the U.K. How Russia reacted to the allegations On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would cooperate with the U.K. in an investigation of the poisonings, calling them a "tragedy." However, Putin said if the claims they were poisoned by the Soviet-designed nerve agent were true, the victims would've died instantly. "Russia does not have such [nerve] agents," Putin said, according to The Guardian. "We destroyed all our chemical weapons under the supervision of international organizations and we did it first, unlike some of our partners who promised to do it, but unfortunately did not keep their promises. Putin added that he thought "any sensible person would understand that it would be rubbish, drivel, nonsense, for Russia to embark on such an escapade on the eve of a presidential election." Putin's remarks came after Russia earlier retaliated against the U.K.: Moscow announced March 17 that it also would expel 23 British diplomats, among other diplomatic measures. Fox News' Travis Fedschun, Zoe Szathmary, Madeline Farber, Kathleen Joyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The American woman who was held captive with her husband by a Taliban-linked militant group claims her husband routinely physically and emotionally abused her while they were in captivity. In new documents unsealed this week, Caitlan Coleman, 32, alleges that her husband Joshua Boyle regularly threatened to kill her by setting her on fire during their five-year ordeal as hostages by the Haqqani network. The Ottawa Citizen reported that Coleman is seeking to gain sole custody of their three children who were all born in captivity. Coleman claims that throughout their time as hostages, her husband became increasingly erratic and irrational, depicting me as an enemy of his life. FORMER TALIBAN HOSTAGE CAITLAN COLEMAN SPEAKS OUT FOLLOWING RESCUE [He] had uncontrolled rage, instituted corporal punishment of me, and struck me in a fit of rage, she said. Coleman also accused her husband of having extremist ideologies that included the complete subservience of women. As evidence, she cited his previous marriage to Zaynab Khadr, the eldest daughter of Ahmed Said Khadr, a member of Usama bin Ladens inner circle. In his own 23-page affidavit, Boyle, a native of Canada, denied the allegations of abuse against him and instead accused her of neglecting their children because of mental health issues. The couple, who met online and married in July 2011, were taken hostage on October 2012 after they went on an overseas trip to Afghanistan. They were rescued in October 2017 by Pakistani security forces. FORMER TALIBAN HOSTAGE JOSHUA BOYLE ACCUSED OF USING ROPE DURING SEXUAL ASSAULT In January 2018, Boyle was charged with numerous crimes including sexual assault and was released on bail. In July, an Ontario judge granted Coleman temporary sole custody of their children and issued a restraining order prohibiting Boyle from contacting or coming near his wife and the children. Coleman currently lives in Pennsylvania with the kids. She is due to give birth to the couples fourth child this month, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito said he will take to heart how his father was mindful of Japan's history and tried to build closer ties during his upcoming visit to France, expected to be his last foreign trip before becoming emperor. Naruhito, 58, told a news conference Wednesday that foreign visits, including his Sept. 7-15 trip to France, are a key role for the royal family in fostering friendship. Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, always paid close attention to the history of the countries they visited and thought deeply about how they could promote mutual understanding and friendship in the future, Naruhito said. "I've closely observed the emperor and the empress' way, and I will cherish their feelings as I make an effort to promote international goodwill," Naruhito said. As next emperor, he said, "I hope to always seriously think about what I can do for the people of Japan and the rest of the world while praying for their happiness and reflecting on what the emperor has done up until now." Naruhito's 84-year-old father, Akihito, will abdicate on April 30, handing the Chrysanthemum throne to his son the next day. Akihito is seen as having devoted his life to make amends to victims of World War II, which was fought in his father Hirohito's name. The crown prince said he also wants to interact with younger people who will play a key role in deepening understanding and friendship in the future. The crown prince will join cultural events and visit schools during his upcoming trip, which marks 160 years of Japan-France diplomacy. "I hope to directly get the feel of how Japanese traditional culture and pop culture are perceived in France," Naruhito said. His wife, Masako, will not accompany him because she is still recovering from a stress-induced mental condition which she developed soon after giving birth to their only daughter, Aiko, now 16, following criticism that she failed to produce a boy. She has since largely withdrawn from public appearances, though her activities have slowly increased. Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, still has ups and downs and it would be difficult for her to immediately increase her official duties, Naruhito said. He said foreign visits are not the only way of promoting international goodwill, and receiving foreign dignitaries or attending international events at home can be just as important. He added that he hopes Masako can gradually do more. "I believe her experience of having lived overseas and worked in diplomacy will definitely help," he said. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Find her work at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi A terminally ill Australian man had one last wish before he made his final trip to the hospital for palliative care last week: an ice cream sundae. Paramedics from Queensland Ambulance Service learned that it had been a few days that Ron McCartney ate any food, and asked him, "if you could eat anything, what would it be?" A caramel sundae, McCartney, 72, replied, according to a post on the Queensland Ambulance Services Facebook page on Tuesday. His daughter, Danielle Smith wrote on her Facebook page that her dad enjoyed this so much and [it] was the last thing he was able to eat by himself, according to the BBC. According to the Queensland Ambulance Service post, paramedics were left humbled and tinged with sadness after his wife thanked them for the swift and high level of care and compassion toward her husband. Smith told the BBC that her father, who had spent the past 17 years in a fight against pancreatic cancer, died on Saturday. Last November, the same ambulance service fulfilled a palliative care patients final wish to see the ocean one more time before she died. A photo of a paramedic with a patient on a stretcher overlooking the ocean has since gone viral, being shared more than 20,000 times. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The U.N. envoy for Yemen said Wednesday that he hopes Yemenis can draw a "flickering signal of hope" from peace talks set to resume after a two-year hiatus a new bid to end a grueling war that has spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Martin Griffiths was preparing to start three days of "consultations" on Thursday with envoys from Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Iran-aligned Shiite rebels, the first U.N.-hosted talks since a previous round ended in Kuwait two years ago. Since then, fighting has put some parts of the country on the brink of famine, fomented a massive cholera outbreak and raised the war's death toll to over 10,000. The meetings offer a faint hope of ending a conflict that started spiraling toward catastrophe in March 2015, when a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition intervened in support of the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi against the Shiite rebels, known Houthis, who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. "We have all agreed the time has come to begin a new process, to relaunch the process, which will lead to a resolution of this conflict," Griffiths told reporters Wednesday. "It has been two years too long since the parties last met." Griffiths, who was appointed in February, said he met with rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi in Sanaa, and that al-Houthi was "very positive" about the Geneva discussions and was "actually quite impatient, I think, for rapid progress." The consultations were to focus on the reactivation of the peace process and confidence-building measures like the release of prisoners, the envoy said. "People of Yemen, like in any other conflict, are desperately in need of a signal of hope. We'd like to think that the work we will do together in these next days will begin to send a flickering signal of hope to them," Griffiths said. He couldn't predict whether the two sides would suspend fighting during the talks, but said he did not expect "major" military operations in the pivotal port city of Hodeida a crucial entry point for aid and imported goods as they go on. "The one thing that can destroy any prospects for peace is war," Griffiths said, adding that he hoped at least for "no provocative military events." The two sides are not expected to meet face-to-face, but will speak separately with Griffiths, who said he hoped they would eventually come together in a one room. The participation of the Houthis remained in question. Rebel officials said their team refused to leave Sanaa on a U.N. flight, while demanding the evacuation of some injured people to neighboring Oman for treatment. The Saudi-led coalition controls Yemen's airspace and flights from rebel-held Sanaa have been rare to nonexistent in recent months. Griffiths said he was meeting Wednesday with the government's chief envoy, Foreign Minister Khaled el-Yamani. The rebels were set to send Mohammed Abdel-Salam as their delegation chief. The U.N. envoy has also invited another separatist group, calling itself the Transitional Southern Council, to participate. In Sanaa, residents expressed mixed views about the prospects for the talks. "We hope these negotiations will lead to a basis on which an end to bloodshed can be built, because the Yemeni people have reached a state of exhaustion," said lawyer Ameen Al-Bareihi. "We hope that the two sides can calm down in order to reach a solution." Others expressed concern about the pressure from abroad, and hope that Yemenis themselves would come to terms. "If you could only see the situation here," said Said Mohamed Al-Senawy, an internally displaced person. "God willing, they will come out with a solution ... We are Yemeni, our blood is all one, and our land shouldn't be divided and our blood shouldn't be spilled especially for people with outside interests." The U.N.'s World Food Program says some 18 million people, or two-thirds of Yemen's population, don't know where their next meal will come from and 8 million are "precariously close" to famine. The U.N. says Yemen is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with supplies of food and water, health care and infrastructure damaged or in jeopardy. Yemen's war is widely seen as a regional conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, eclipsed by the similarly devastating conflict in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands and carried greater geopolitical implications. ___ Associated Press writer Ahmed al-Haj and video journalist Saleh Maglam in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed. The stepmother of a 9-year-old girl in India was accused of ordering her son and three others to rape and kill the child, while in her presence, officials said. The stepmother, who was not named, was allegedly upset that the girl was favored by her father, the BBC reported. The girls body was found in a jungle on Sunday in the Baramulla district. Officials said the girls body was burned with acid and she may have been tortured. She was missing for 10 days before her body was found, police told the BBC. INDIAS MONSOON FLOODS LEAVE 800,000 DISPLACED, THOUSANDS STRANDED Senior police officer Imtiyaz Hussain said the girl was killed with an axe after being raped. The girls stepmother was accused of strangling the victim as she was hit with an ax, NDTV News reported. Six people have been arrested in connection with the girls murder and gang rape in Indian-controlled Kashmir. INDIAN POLICE ARREST 4 IN RAPE OF MOTHER, TEENAGE DAUGHTER The girls death comes after an 8-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped in April. Her mutilated body was found in the woods a week later. After the fatal gang rape of a medical intern on a bus in 2012 in Delhi, hundreds of thousands of Indians took to the streets to demand stricter rape laws in the country. The Associated Press contributed to this report. [This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.] London, United Kingdom - September 5th, 2018 - BAFTA Young Game Designer winner, Dan Smith, and publisher, Ripstone Games, are proud to bring its acclaimed sci-fi puzzler The Spectrum Retreat to the Nintendo Switch eShop on September 13th, where it will cost 9.99 / 12.99 / $12.99. The Spectrum Retreat will be available in Europe and North America, with a release in Germany and Russia to follow later in 2018. The Spectrum Retreat is the brainchild of Dan Smith, who won the BAFTA Young Game Designers Award in 2016 for his first-person puzzler prototype when he was only 18 years old. Since then, Ripstones internal development team has partnered with Smith to evolve his award-winning prototype into a trippy, art deco-inspired sci-fi adventure. The Spectrum Retreat puts players in the role of a guest at the peculiar, pristine hotel, The Penrose, where nothing is as it seems. Youve been here as long as you can remember, with no idea why, and its up to you to solve the mystery of this uncanny resort. To do this, youll have to solve a series of increasingly complex colour-coded puzzles in an effort to uncover the true purpose of The Penrose. Having launched on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in July, The Spectrum Retreat received rave reviews from Gamereactor, Trusted Reviews, and The Xbox Hub. Developing The Spectrum Retreat took up nearly a quarter of my life, said Developer and Designer Dan Smith. Launching it earlier this year was a massive moment for me and Im delighted that Nintendo Switch owners will finally get a chance to experience it." The Spectrum Retreat was a real labour of love for both Dan and everyone at Ripstone who believed in his vision said Matt Southern, Head of Development at Ripstone Games. What began as a clever puzzle game expanded into a rich, contemplative narrative about the role of technology in an ever complex society and were thrilled to bring it to Nintendo Switch. Visit The Spectrum Retreat webpage on the Ripstone website: https://ripstone.com/game/the-spectrum-retreat For more information about the BAFTA Young Game Designers please check out http://ygd.bafta.org About Dan Smith Dan Smith Studios is an independent game development studio, represented by Dan Smith. Founded in 2016, its first focus has been on the development of first person puzzle game The Spectrum Retreat, which is due for a 2018 release for PC and consoles. Dan Smith is a BAFTA YGD Game Making Award winner and Computer Science student at the University of Leeds. He is based mainly in Newcastle and Leeds, England. About Ripstone Games Ripstone is a global independent video games label founded in 2011 by game and film industry veterans. They fully fund the development, distribution and marketing of video games made by elite creative teams. They have financed and published 17 games across 45 SKUs, with global sales of over 10 million units. Ripstone's back catalogue includes Ironcast, Stick It To The Man, Pure Pool, Pure Holdem and Chess Ultra. At their home in Liverpool, England they also have a world-class internal development team, whose credits include Plague Inc, Chess Ultra and The Spectrum Retreat. The whole company focuses on providing a total, personal support service for developers, empowering them to make the very best PC and console games, ensuring gamers know about them, then rewarding the teams for success. They are particularly noted for their outstanding ability to nurture new and small developers. www.ripstone.com Media Contact Plan of Attack on behalf of Ripstone Games Jeffrey Matulef (North America) [email protected] Tom Davis (Europe) [email protected] GINX Esports TV is pleased to announce that it has partnered up with Ping Zero for their next event, Ping Zero 51, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand. Held at Eden Park from 14-16 September, Ping Zero 51 will accommodate all game genres and styles from casual to competitive gaming. The most-anticipated three-day event is the largest LAN event in New-Zealand. Solenne Lagrange, Marketing Director for GINX TV says: GINX TV is committed to support local esports scenes wherever the channel is available. Ping Zero is known for the quality of its events and we are very happy to be working with them to help the NZ esports scene grow." GINX Esports TV, which is available in New-Zealand on SKY also announces its official support to the Waikato United Gaming Society. The channel is sponsoring eight of the Society players to participate in Ping Zero 51. Lagrange continues: These grass-root events are perfect to connect with the community. We cant wait to see the audiences response to the channel. The pop-up channel is available to SKY Starter customers at no additional costs, on channel 159 and channel 059 until November 12th. About GINX Esports TV GINX Esports TV is the worlds leading esports TV network and is available in over 40 countries in 55+ million homes internationallyincluding: UK, France, Scandinavia, Italy, Middle East, South Africa and a partnership with Super Channel in Canada. The linear 24/7 channel aims to extend esports reach intotelevision and to provide a more mainstream voice in the esports ecosystem. GINX Esports TV is the home of esports on TV. GINX Esports TV - Facebook / Twitter For more information and images please contact: Solenne Lagrange, Marketing Director, GINX Esports TV Email: [email protected] [This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.] DENVER - Sep. 5, 2018 - Dire Wolf Digital and Renegade Game Studios today announced that Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! is now available online and at select retailers. The first intergalactic expansion for hit deck-building game Clank! In! Space! features a new mechanic where players select one of eight new Scheme cards, each representing one of Lord Eradikuss dastardly plans to devastate the galaxy. Its up to players to stop the apocalypse and save the galaxy, or at least escape with the treasure before someone else does! Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! includes the following contents: Two Double-sided Game Board Modules 35 Adventure Deck Cards Eight Large Scheme Cards One Haldos Boss Marker The tabletop game can also be enhanced through the Renegade Companion App, which allows players to keep score, save records, play single player, and spice up their multiplayer experience. The Companion App is available for free on iTunes and Google Play. This expansion retails for $25 MSRP and requires the Clank! In! Space! base game. To learn more about Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse!, please visit https://www.direwolfdigital.com/clank-in-space-apocalypse/ About Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! is the first expansion to hit deck-building game Clank! In! Space! While the galaxy belongs to Lord Eradikus, small pockets of resistance continue to oppose him. With the evil cyborg turning his oculus implants to these ragtag heroes, it is up to you and your fellow thieves to aboard his ship and loot his valuable artifacts before his wicked scheme wipes out the entire universe. About Dire Wolf Digital Dire Wolf Digital is an independent game studio specializing in strategy card games. Based in Denver, Colorado, the Dire Wolf Digital team includes more than 100 designers, artists and engineers creating games for some of the worlds top brands, as well as original properties. Their games include Eternal, Pokemon TCG Online, Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival and Lotus. For more information, please visit https://www.direwolfdigital.com/ About Renegade Game Studios Renegade Game Studios is a premier developer and publisher of original award winning board games, including Overlight, Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, and The Fox in the Forest. Our mission is to publish games that are fun, challenging, and unique. We believe that gaming is for everybody and that everybody is a gamer; you just have to find the right game! Everyone under the age of 18 will need a consent from a parent or guardian to receive the shot. Parking disc sometimes required : Long term parkers at supermarkets may face fines Bonn More and more supermarkets are monitoring the use of their parking lots. There are fines for those who forget to put a parking disc in the window or who overstay the allowed parking time. Signage is key. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Customers who park at many Bonn supermarkets are required to use a parking disc. Some examples are the Aldi, Lidl and Rewe supermarkets in Duisdorf. They use private firms to control the parking situation, issuing tickets where necessary. One of those firms, Fair Parken has recently raised the parking penalty to 25 euros. Many feel this is a rip-off but supermarkets say they are left without an alternative. Which is why the parking ticket business is booming. Its Thursday midday and a man wearing a Fair Parken T-shirt is in the parking lot of a shopping center, taking pictures of cars which violate the parking regulations. "They always come infrequently, sometimes alone, sometimes in threes, sometimes several times a day," says a saleswoman who is out taking a smoking break. The parking lot monitors are thorough - anyone who has not placed a parking disc in the window, or who has exceeded the maximum time of two hours, must pay a fine of 24.90 euros. But the parking monitor is also helpful: When asked what to do if you do not have a parking disc, he pulls one out of his pants pocket. "You can keep this," he says in a friendly manner. From a legal standpoint there is no problem The business model of companies like Fair Parken is simple. They forge an agreement with the property owners, allowing them to impose fines - and guarantee in return that there are no problems with illegal parking. From a legal standpoint, this is acceptable because on private property, an owner can do what they want. A supermarket can let its customers park for free, or it can choose to exercise parking fees and maximum parking times. Parking crunch has increased Because the demand for parking has increased due to the ever growing number of vehicles, the parking lot monitor business has become successful. In 2017, Fair Parken had eight parking monitors located in Bonn, now there are 25. In all of Germany, they have around 650. A company spokeswoman said the growth can be attributed to the increasing pressure on existing parking areas. This branch has really developed in the past years, as can be seen in the number of requests to register private parking lot monitors with the proper federal authorities. In 2010, there were around 53,000 inquiries, in 2016, 600,000 and in the past year around 850,000 inquiries. "Fair Parking" claims to be active only in locations "that suffer significantly from illegal parking". The firm says it always tries to be accommodating, as do the supermarkets. No one wants to take the risk of alienating customers. But there is criticism about the fine being raised from 20 to 25 euros. Susanne Bauer-Jautz of the Bonn consumer center, says she has been receiving more and more complaints about the parking tickets. The issue is usually the signage. "It must be clear before entering the car park that fines can be levied," she says. Otherwise, the parking penalties are not legitimate. nametalkam at 5-09-2018 06:58 PM (3 years ago) (m) A Pro Buhari group have stumped up the cash and paid for the Presidents nomination form for the APC primaries. A Pro Buhari group have stumped up the cash and paid for the Presidents nomination form for the APC primaries. The group, known as Nigeria Consolidation Ambassador Network (NCAN) presented a cheque for N45 million naira to chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole. Yesterday, the APC released the timetable and the price list for the Expression of interest forms and Nomination forms for the Presidency. The set price was N40 million for the Nomination form and N5 million for the Expression of interest form which brings the total to N45 million. The price also covers the Vice President as there would be no extra charge and the APC also announced that there would be a 50 percent slash for Women and people with disabilities. Sanusi Musa, coordinator of the group, presented the cheque and stated that they are fully behind Buhari and also noted the need to consolidate on the foundation for a better Nigeria We cannot afford to go back to Egypt. We cannot afford to destroy the future of our children, Sanusi said. The foundation laid by President Muhammadu Buhari must be reinforced. We believe in the leadership of President Buhari, we count on him to consolidate the good work he has started for another four more years. It is for this reason Mr. Chairman, we have decided to pull our meagre resources together and purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms for President Buhari as he present himself to our party members to be chosen as its candidate for the 2019 general election. Our members from various villages, local governments and states have contributed to making this happen. We have no doubt that Mr. President has both in action and word being working lay a foundation for greater and prosperous nation that our generation and future generation will be proud of. Under his administration Nigeria has become a country sought after for investment in the world. Nigeria has assumed its leadership role in not just Africa but the world. The group, known as Nigeria Consolidation Ambassador Network (NCAN) presented a cheque for N45 million naira to chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.Yesterday, the APC released the timetable and the price list for the Expression of interest forms and Nomination forms for the Presidency.The set price was N40 million for the Nomination form and N5 million for the Expression of interest form which brings the total to N45 million.The price also covers the Vice President as there would be no extra charge and the APC also announced that there would be a 50 percent slash for Women and people with disabilities.Sanusi Musa, coordinator of the group, presented the cheque and stated that they are fully behind Buhari and also noted the need to consolidate on the foundation for a better NigeriaWe cannot afford to go back to Egypt. We cannot afford to destroy the future of our children, Sanusi said.The foundation laid by President Muhammadu Buhari must be reinforced. We believe in the leadership of President Buhari, we count on him to consolidate the good work he has started for another four more years.It is for this reason Mr. Chairman, we have decided to pull our meagre resources together and purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms for President Buhari as he present himself to our party members to be chosen as its candidate for the 2019 general election.Our members from various villages, local governments and states have contributed to making this happen.We have no doubt that Mr. President has both in action and word being working lay a foundation for greater and prosperous nation that our generation and future generation will be proud of. Under his administration Nigeria has become a country sought after for investment in the world. Nigeria has assumed its leadership role in not just Africa but the world. Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 5-09-2018 06:58 PM (3 years ago) | Hero In front of a rare sirloin steak (It cant be too rare according to the Congressman) and a bottle of domestic beer, the U.S. Representative for Montana Greg Gianforte talked through key issues and policy priorities with local leaders that included Mayor Becky Erickson, County Commissioners John Fahlgren and Paul Tweten, Chief of Glasgow Police Brien Gault and candidate for Sheriff Tom Boyer, among others. In a fast-paced conversation riddled with interruptions, jokes and anecdotes, Gianforte keyed in on issues to include law enforcement and border enforcement, receiving information from local law enforcement on drugs and mental health issues, listening intently to the views of local officers, deputies and community leaders. While discussing drug courts and mental health with Mayor Erickson, Gianforte injected, We need to focus more on rehabilitation than incarceration. At a different point in the conversation, local Chief Gault projected a grim outlook for law enforcement once the Keystone XL pipeline construction begins. Gault contrasted the Keystone XL assessment for potential protests with the past protest encampments along the Dakota Access Pipeline saying this will be, worse than what that was, and he exclaimed that there was, No possible way Valley County [Sheriffs Office] and the city [Glasgow Police Department] can deal with any of that. Gault finished his assessment of KXL by saying, Its going to be bad there is no doubt in my mind. Gianforte responded to Gaults concerns discussing how he had been in contact with TransCanada (the parent company for Keystone XL) and the Fort Peck and Rocky Boy Tribal Governments. The fact is that the Tribes, local government and TransCanada do not benefit if we have a conflict, explained Gianforte, who went on to say that unspecified out of state forces wanted to create conflict with the pipeline. When asked by Commissioner Fahlgren what measures could be taken to diffuse a possible protest, Gianforte focused on keeping dialogue going between the parties involved in the construction and governance. He responded to Fahlgrens question directly saying, I think conversations are really good. Keystone XL is a massive international oil pipeline intended to transport tar sand oil from northern Alberta to refineries in Texas. Despite recent courtroom setbacks, the pipeline is set to begin construction in Valley County in the next couple of years with road access and employee encampments already under construction. The pipe will enter the United States along the Canadian, Philips County and Valley County borders. Briefly discussed at the meeting was the current Farm Bill, which has been passed in the House with a separate version passed in the Senate, and is currently in a bicameral conference to reconcile the bills and, hopefully, be signed into law by the time the current bill expires in October. Gianforte described the timeline for the bill saying, We are going to try and put those [House and Senate farm bills] together in Sept. when we return after Labor Day. Gianforte insisted that if the two bills were not reconciled in time for the expiration of the current bill, Congess would pass an extension while the issues were resolved. Currently, the key difference between the House and Senate versions are a requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit recipients to work, volunteer, or train for no less than 20 hours a week. The House bill contains the requirement and the Senate failed to pass an amendment that would have included the measure in their version. It is unclear if the SNAP benefit work requirement could pass the Senate. Chair of the Valley County Republican Committee, Sarah Swanson bent the Congressmans ear on issues of rural infrastructure expansion. Specifically, she railed against a federal AT&T contract to expand rural cellular coverage, claiming that AT&T was merely building competing towers exactly where current local cooperative towers already exist. She claimed that this did not help expand the cellular reception to areas currently lacking coverage, but facilitated AT&Ts expansion to the region with federal money. Another topic brought up by Swanson was the problem faced by weather forecasting in the region due to radar gaps in the National Weather Service radar coverage in the region. Drug enforcement and border security became a key point of discussion for the group. Chief Gault lamented the narcotics situation and the trafficking of meth from Mexican cartels. Gianforte quickly responded with, Thats why we need to secure the border, before adding later on that, It is so much less expensive to secure the border than to deal with these things across all our communities. Gianforte and company wrapped up the evening discussing the foster care crisis in Montana. Stacy Rhodes, a foster parent trainer and day care provider, lamented the current foster care system and the return of children to families just to have them come straight back to foster care. Rhodes specifically asked Gianforte about the need to fix the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA which she pronounced phonetically). In Rhodes view, ICWA has had negative consequences for permanently placing foster children with adoptive families. In response to the question, the Congressman cited the example of a Kalispell based program called Child Bridge which he claimed places over 200 foster kids in permanent homes each year. We have to take care of the kids, said Gianforte adding, If we save one child weve done something. Montanas sole representative to the House capped off the night discussing Washington D.C.s spending problem and asserting that balanced trade and growth would effectively balance the budget over time. He stated that the House was working on a bill which had been dubbed Tax Cuts 2.0 which would make improvements to recently passed tax cut legislation. Gianforte showed his support for the new tax cut bill commenting that, Better is always possible. "Promise me, when you grow up, you'll use your brain instead of your back," a mother tells her daughter as they tiredly dig out a flooded ditch on the family farm. That daughter, Miranda (Yeska) Orr, followed her mother Carolyn's advice, and is now a VA research health scientist at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, faculty member of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, faculty member with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Disease and instructor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. She has spent a great deal of time studying how Alzheimer's affects the brain and is making strides in researching how to stop the progression with the eventual goal of curing Alzheimer's. A 1998 graduate of Saco High School, Orr recently led research showing a type of cellular stress, that is known to be involved in cancer and aging, has now been implicated for the first time in Alzheimer's. The research also showed that with the right combination of medication, Alzheimer's can be managed. Her research was published in the journal Aging Cell on Aug. 20, with much popularity in the science and medical community. To put into perspective how successful her study is, 6,000 papers are published every day from various fields of science, and a couple of days after publication, Orr's research was trending at number 13. Since the publication of the study, Orr has received correspondence from all over the world, including Australia and China, praising her work in this medical breakthrough. The team found that stress, called cellular senescence, is associated with harmful tau protein tangles, one of two proteins that are in the brain, which are hallmarks in 20 human brain diseases, including Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. According to Orr, cellular senescence allows the stressed cells to survive, but the cell becomes zombie-like, functioning abnormally and secreting substances that kill the cells around it. "When cells enter this stage, they change their genetic programming and become toxic," said Orr. "Their existence means the death of surrounding tissue, which then affects the functionality of the brain to control other parts of the body." The discovery was found in four types of mice that model Alzheimer's disease. The researchers then used a combination of drugs, including a natural compound and a chemotherapy drug that is already FDA approved to treat leukemia, to clear the senescent cells from the brains of Alzheimer's mice, whose age was equivalent to 65-70 year-olds in human years. After three months of treatment, the findings were unlike anything the researchers anticipated. "The mice were 20 months old and had advanced brain disease when the therapy was started. After clearing the zombie cells, we saw improvements in brain structure and function. The treatment seems to have stopped the disease in its tracks," said Orr. Even though this medical breakthrough has been discovered, Orr and her team are cautious about whether this research will be an ultimate cure. Currently, the scientists are testing younger mice to determine how early the drugs can be given to have an effect to slow down the progression of the disease. "We also have to determine how long it takes for new zombie cells to come back after being treated with the drugs," said Orr. Now that the research is out there and public, other scientists need to replicate the findings to ensure the reproducibility among many laboratories and maybe even have a new spin on what Orr and her team did. The team is already discussing whether it is time to proceed with a clinical study to test the combination of drugs in humans who have mild cognitive impairment, which according to Orr, can be a risk of developing Alzheimer's later in life. It's hard to believe how far Orr has come since graduating from Saco High School. Upon graduation, she started at Montana State University-Bozeman majoring in art, and then noticed her roommate's pre-med textbooks. She quickly realized she found her roommate's textbooks more interesting than her own and changed her life course. She transferred to Montana State UniversityBillings where she graduated with her pre-med degree. While enrolled in college, her family went through a trying time after her grandmother, Vivian Siewing, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and knowing there is no cure. With the disease hitting so close to home, she made it her mission that after graduating from MSU-Billings, she was going to cure Alzheimer's in her lifetime. After working at her uncle Gary Porter's embryo transfer company, which jumpstarted her scientific career, Orr applied to the Montana State University neuroscience graduate program in 2005. She attained a joint PhD between MSU-Bozeman and the McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Great Falls. Being a scientist was not even a thought to Orr until she was in college. "I wanted to become a doctor to cure Alzheimer's. It wasn't until my college advisor told me, 'If you want to cure Alzheimer's, you need to become a scientist, not a doctor.' I could not wrap my mind around what my advisor told me," said Orr. In 2007, she moved to Great Falls to complete her research at the McLaughlin Research Institute with then director, Dr. George Carlson, and then in 2010 moved to San Antonio and started her post-doc work in 2012. In 2016, she was promoted to faculty and has since received competitive grants to fund her research from both the VA and National Institute of Health. To say her family is proud of her accomplishments is an understatement. "There are no words for how proud I am of her," stated her mother, Carolyn Yeska. "She has always been studious in school and keeps pushing forward, never stopping. I am thrilled she is making such strides in finding a cure for a disease that I will get later in life." Her uncle Gary shared the same sentiment stating "She was always easy to teach, intelligent. I am honored to have created an environment for her to flourish in her current field." Her father, Jay, beamed with pride stating "It impresses me that these findings can help cure other diseases. Everyone reading and looking at her study can use her research as a way to think outside of the box, which only will improve the field." Orr's hope with this study and future studies is that in 10 years the findings she discovered in mice will work in humans and work to stop the disease. There are currently strides being made in other studies with Alzheimer's in mind, and Orr's study will only help those scientists with their research. With each new study published, new scientists entering the field with new ideas, and current scientists finding different angles, only more good things will come in finding a cure for the disease. U.S. Senator Jon Tester is pushing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take an active role to help return Glasgows flood levee back to active status. In a letter sent to Chief Engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers Lt. General Todd T. Semonit... Dear Editor, I am excited to be a candidate for Valley County Commissioner. The primary campaign was a very positive experience for me because of the great group of candidates who were all focused on how to serve Valley County in the best way pos... From commercial drones to the development of "flying cars" -- electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing vehicles -- we're experiencing a rapid transformation of the low-altitude aviation industry. Aerial innovation has implications for sectors that include not only aerospace and civil aviation but also construction, e-commerce, traditional ground transportation operations and regional planning. With household names like Boeing and Uber venturing into increasingly localized aviation operations, cities and states should be looking at their own regulations, policies and strategic positions with regard to these new technologies.Implementation of these technologies is accelerating quickly and, as is typical in the age of advanced transportation technology, has already outpaced the policymaking that governs it. And while significant work remains to be done in achieving true integration of drones into the national airspace, industry governance has improved significantly over the last few years. Drone policy, for example, has evolved rapidly since 2015 and stands to progress significantly in the next one to three years as programs like the Federal Aviation Administration's Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (IPP) provide new opportunities for experimental-use applications and new partnerships within the aerial innovation industry.These uses range from plane inspections at airports to medical-supplies delivery and mosquito-population monitoring. Key features of the IPP include the integration of public-private partnerships and the designation of state, local and tribal governments as the leaders of these programs. This indicates a shift in openness toward increased local participation and control over the regulation and implementation of lower-altitude airspace operations.For the most part, however, airspace is federally regulated. So why would states and local governments invest in aerial mobility and aviation innovation? One answer is jobs. That was a strong source of motivation for the 149 governmental organizations that applied to be part of the first 10 IPP project slots. And there is the enticing possibility of direct federal investment, such as the $3 million grant to Cape May County, N.J., by the Commerce Department, announced just last week, to help build a multi-tenant building at the county airport for the unmanned-aviation industry, which is expected to bring 130 jobs and $1.9 million in private investment.The value of the commercial drone industry rose from $40 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2017, and is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2026, by conservative estimates. The average drone pilot makes $35 an hour, and specialist pilots can earn up to $100 an hour. There has been over $200 million invested in urban air mobility, with the promise of future services like low-noise, low-emissions air taxiing and ambulatory medical services. These jobs touch public and private organizations alike.And non-federal governments are catching on. In 2017, Los Angeles approved a drone pilot training program funded at a local community college by the local workforce development board, while the University of Louisiana at Monroe is among higher-education institutions developing drone-management programs for four-year degree students.Ohio recently made aggressive moves toward integrating drones into the Dayton-Springfield airport, in collaboration with local universities. A primary objective is the economic opportunity the state sees, especially as a historic manufacturing center for the aviation and automotive industries, whose manufacturing lines are being increasingly blended.And a Massachusetts-based company that is developing its own flying car, Terrafugia, recently signed a deal with the Nashua, N.H., airport to start building and testing its vehicles on site. The company gets the benefit of having industrial research and development and operations in the same place where it is testing, along with the opportunity to learn from its airport landlord.All three examples illustrate the power of government to positively influence their regions' strategic positioning within this burgeoning field, through workforce development, industrial-base revitalization and the activation of local aviation assets. Additional benefits for these early entrants will be new sources of revenue, spin-off innovation industries and increased control over the implementation of these technologies inside cities.At its core, aerial innovation provides a unique economic opportunity for cities in an age of agglomeration, innovation networks and decentralized production, wherein place-based economic- and business-development opportunities are increasingly difficult to realize without substantial tax-incentive packages. Moreover, cities can use their unique bargaining power to protect their citizens from potential risks posed by drones, including strategies like community engagement, clear policies and designated testing areas.Partnerships across multiple levels of governments, researchers, private industry and, most importantly, the public, will allow this industry to thrive. It's a great opportunity for cities and states to participate in the largest boom in aviation technology since the 1950s while guiding its implementation. 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. Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday renewed his call for accountability in Maryland's local school systems, but Democratic challenger Ben Jealous said that what they really need is more funding.With two months to go before the Nov. 6 election, the two candidates both staked out education as their main issue on the first day of classes for most of Maryland's public school students -- except for many in the Baltimore region whose buildings lack air conditioning.At a State House news conference, the Republican governor pointed to a series of scandals in local school systems around the state while vowing to submit legislation for the second straight year creating an "investigator general" in the Maryland State Department of Education. He also signed an executive order creating an Office of Education Accountability under the Governor's Office for Children."Our children desperately need someone to fight for their civil rights," Hogan said.Meanwhile, Jealous visited a Baltimore school to call for establishing a fund to reimburse teachers who spend personal funds on school supplies. The Democrat said he would create the fund by allowing Maryland residents to donate a portion of their tax refunds to it.In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, the former NAACP president dismissed Hogan's accountability announcement."He would prefer to blame local leaders and bring in lawyers when first and foremost we should be focused on making sure every school gets the resources it needs to properly educate our children," Jealous said.The question of whether Maryland is spending enough to educate children in its public schools is one of the central issues in this year's gubernatorial race.As sweltering weather forced the closing of 10 Baltimore County schools Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan blamed local officials for the hot buildings while his Democratic challenger in this year's election said the Republican governor should take responsibility.The first day of classes became an occasion...Hogan insists he has fully funded schools under the state's current education formulas. Jealous insists that those formulas fall well short of what the schools need -- a position that has helped him win the support of the state's teachers unions.The governor said at his news conference that he believes teachers should be better paid. He said school systems were spending too much on administrative costs.Hogan also noted that he supports raising more money through the so-called "lockbox" proposal the General Assembly put on the November ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment. If it passes, the measure is expected by 2023 to reserve more than $500 million in annual casino revenue for education that now can be used for other purposes.The governor said routinely holding school administrators accountable would help to ensure that they are wisely spending the nearly $6.5 billion Maryland spends on education each year."We are continuing our fight to improve Maryland local schools, as well as our fight for accountability in local school systems because the status quo simply is not good enough for Maryland's children," he said.The governor said he would propose legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January to create the position of investigator general. The official would have the power to issue subpoenas and hold public hearings as part of an effort to weed out corruption and mismanagement in the state's 24 local school systems.The investigator general would not be a direct gubernatorial appointment under Hogan's new bill. The official would be chosen by a commission whose members would be chosen by the governor, the speaker of the House and the Senate president.A similar bill failed in this year's legislative session.The governor predicted his proposed legislation will pass next year -- if he wins the election -- under pressure from taxpayers.Hogan recounted a series of problems that have afflicted school systems in recent years -- the perjury conviction of former Baltimore County school superintendent Dallas Dance, alleged grade-tampering in Prince George's County and mold in Howard County schools.A heat wave will continue to upend the start of school for the more than 70 Baltimore city and county schools without adequate air conditioning on what was supposed to be their second day back from summer vacation.Baltimore City will close more than 60 schools three hours early on Wednesday, and...The governor said he was creating the accountability office now to immediately begin providing greater transparency. He named Valerie Radomsky as director of the new office. The former Baltimore County teacher had been serving as Comptroller Peter Franchot's chief education advisor.Hogan said the office's expenses would be covered out of the governor's office's existing budget. The position would not have the subpoena authority envisioned in the governor's proposed legislation.Del. Eric Luedtke, a Montgomery County Democrat who attended the news conference, said he shares Hogan's desire for accountability."I believe it stops at the governor's desk," Luedtke said.Like other Democrats, Luedtke sought to shift the debate to school funding, contending Hogan has fallen short in that area."This is a bunch of window-dressing," Luedtke said of the governor's announcements. "This is much ado about nothing new." On the campaign trail, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan often talks about how he wants lower taxes for retirees -- including exempting 100 percent of retirement income from Maryland taxes.The Republican governor pitched a similar proposal to senior voters when he was running four years ago, including at a forum at the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville where he said: "Our plan -- and we can't do it immediately -- will be to completely eliminate state income taxes for pensions and retirement income."But the idea has not happened in his first term.Now Hogan is making the pitch again. He rolled out the pledge in August while visiting Leisure World in Silver Spring, the massive senior housing complex where voting turnout has historically been among the highest in the state."We're not going to stop fighting for you until we exempt 100 percent of your retirement income from Maryland state taxes," Hogan said to loud applause, according to Bethesda Beat.Hogan has enacted tax cuts on the retirement income of veterans and law enforcement officers.But a blanket exemption for retirees has proved too costly.Gov. Larry Hogan marked Veterans Appreciation Month on Thursday by renewing his call for elimination of state income taxes on Maryland's military retirees.At a State House news conference, Hogan contended that such a move is needed to keep the state's military retirees from moving to states that...When Republicans introduced the plan in the General Assembly in 2014 it died in committee after the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services said it would deprive the state of more than $1 billion of revenue per year.Asked about whether the governor planned to push for the proposal again, Hogan's campaign called the governor's comments an "aspirational" goal that can't be accomplished quickly."Gov. Hogan has consistently stated that, over time, he wants to eliminate retirement taxes, and that will require continuing to keep spending under control," Hogan campaign spokesman Scott Sloofman said. "He has taken targeted steps to chip away at retirement taxes by exempting the first $15,000 of retirement income from state taxes for veterans, correctional officers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, rescue, and emergency personnel. And as our budget situation continues to improve he expects to make more progress."Sloofman criticized Hogan's Democratic opponent Ben Jealous, who has proposed even more expensive initiatives without clear funding streams, such as a single-payer health care system.Jealous spokesman Steven Hershkowitz said Hogan, once again, is making promises he can't fulfill without busting the budget."Maryland could certainly be a more affordable place to live for seniors, but making the same broken promise from four years ago -- one that would require billions of dollars of cuts in education and health care -- is not the way to do it," Hershkowitz said.He added that Hogan hasn't done enough to stop seniors' prescription drug prices from rising under his watch."If Larry Hogan really wants to make it easier for seniors to pay their bills," Hershkowitz said, "he should stop taking contributions from pharmaceutical corporations and start taking action to bring down prescription drug prices." The LePage administration complied with a court order Tuesday and finally submitted required documents to the federal government to expand Medicaid to 70,000 Mainers, but there's a catch. Gov. Paul LePage -- an expansion opponent -- is asking federal officials to deny the application."I strongly encourage CMS (U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to reject the State Plan Amendment that may soon be submitted by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to court order," LePage wrote in an Aug. 31 letter to Seema Verma, CMS administrator, and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. "If accepted, the SPA would commit Maine to expanding the Medicaid program to an additional 70,000 to 90,000 individuals. However, not one dime of the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be needed to pay for the state's share of the expansion has been appropriated."The State Plan Amendment is a required first step toward implementing expansion, and Maine's highest court on Aug. 23 ordered the LePage administration to file the plan. Maine DHHS filed the plan on Tuesday.LePage vetoed a $60 million Medicaid expansion funding bill that state lawmakers approved in June, arguing that the funding contained one-time budget gimmicks. Democratic lawmakers countered that $60 million was more than enough to fund the expansion, and that a permanent funding solution should be decided by the next governor and Legislature.LePage is finishing his final term, and will be out of office in January. Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills, Republican businessman Shawn Moody and independents Terry Hayes, the state treasurer, and businessman Alan Caron are running in the general election to succeed LePage.Mills noted Tuesday night that Medicaid expansion is supported by groups ranging from hospitals to the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and those "fighting the opioid epidemic.""Like a lot of Mainers, I've had enough of this administration standing in the way," Mills said in an emailed statement. "The money is there, and, as governor, I'll implement Medicaid expansion on day one. From the health of our people to the health of our economy, there's too much at stake not to."The other candidates had not responded to requests for comment.Voters approved Medicaid expansion by a 59 to 41 percent margin in November 2017, and the law passed at the ballot box required the state to file a State Plan Amendment in April. But the LePage administration has refused to implement it. The expansion, a key component of the Affordable Care Act, would provide health insurance for low-income Mainers earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, or $34,638 for a family of three and $16,753 for a single person.Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, which is suing the state for failing to expand Medicaid, said asking the federal government to reject the expansion plan is unprecedented."They submitted a plan, but said, 'Don't approve it.' This is not over," Merrill said. "The governor is doing everything he can to block the will of Maine voters, trying to stop 70,000 Mainers from having health insurance."Merrill said that given the stance of the LePage administration, the legal battle will continue.Maine Equal Justice Partners has so far won its court fights with the LePage administration, and in August the court ordered Maine DHHS to file the State Plan Amendment.Merrill has maintained that there is enough funding to start Medicaid expansion, and that the federal government does not get involved in how the state comes up with its share of dollars for the expansion.The federal government pays for 90 percent of the cost of expansion, so Maine would pay about $50 million per year, according to nonpartisan estimates, and would draw down more than $500 million in federal funds to expand Medicaid.LePage argued in his three-page letter that an "activist court" forced his administration to file the State Plan Amendment. He said the federal government will likely have to reject the application because of the lack of state funding, and that the "failure of the Legislature to provide any funding for additional staff leaves DHHS in serious jeopardy of being unable to meet its obligations to accurately make eligibility and program integrity determinations."LePage wrote that "if the SPA is approved, the state will become obligated under federal law to fund the full range of Medicaid services to tens of thousands of additional individuals. Until the necessary funding is in place, however, the federal government can take no assurance that Maine will be able to pay for its share of costs under the program."The Maine Supreme Judicial Court kicked the core issue in the lawsuit, whether the LePage administration could be forced to implement expansion without a specific funding source -- back to Superior Court. The Superior Court is still considering constitutional and other questions regarding the case.Also unresolved, Merrill said, is what happens to people who signed up for Medicaid under expansion starting on July 2. Maine issued denial letters to at least some of the applicants, according to documents provided by Maine Equal Justice, but according to the law voters approved, Mainers could begin applying for coverage in July. Taking Away Polling Places In the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act, nearly a thousand polling places have been shuttered across the country, many of them in southern black communities.The trend continues: This year alone, 10 counties with large black populations in Georgia closed polling spots after a white elections consultant recommended they do so to save money. When the consultant suggested a similar move in Randolph County, pushback was enough to keep its nine polling places open.But the closures come amid a tightening of voter ID laws in many states that critics view as an effort to make it harder for blacks and other minorities to vote and, in Georgia specifically, the high-profile gubernatorial bid by a black woman.The ballot in November features Stacey Abrams, a Democrat trying to become the first black woman elected governor in the United States, versus Brian Kemp, the Republican secretary of state who has led efforts in Georgia to purge voter rolls, slash early voting and close polling places.Local officials across the country shuttered 868 polling places in the three years after the Supreme Courts 2013 ruling, according to a 2016 report from the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the research arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of 200 civil rights groups.Arizona, Louisiana and Texas, the report said, have all made alarming reductions in polling places.We are now seeing the fallout of that ruling, said Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.Polling places have often been used as political tools to shape the outcome of elections. Officials can reduce the voter participation of certain groups by eliminating polling places, and increase participation in other groups by placing precincts in key neighborhoods.But its not just the number of polling places that affect voter outcomes. Moving voters to different voting environments also may affect how they vote.The number of polling places in a county can have a significant impact on who votes. And changing the location of a polling place, according to a 2011 study in the American Political Science Review, can lower voter turnout.Fewer polling places also can lead to longer lines, which may dissuade people from voting, the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found. Knowing this, officials can change the outcome of an election by manipulating polling places.You can basically lessen the turnout of people who disagree with your position, said Abraham Rutchick, a psychology professor at California State University Northridge, who has studied the impact of polling placement.Officials in Florida might have used the tactic recently to target college students. A federal judge ruled in July that election officials, at the direction of Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott, reveal[ed] a stark pattern of discrimination by blocking early voting at the states college and university campuses.Many young people have registered to vote in the aftermath of the school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, where student survivors have led registration drives throughout the state. Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said state officials were trying to block these first-time voters from getting access to the ballot.Its jaw-dropping that they wouldnt be doing everything they can do to get those students to vote, Brigham said. It sends a very unfortunate message to our students that they arent doing so.The League of Women Voters joined students and the Andrew Goodman Foundation, a New Jersey-based advocacy group, in the successful lawsuit.In the days after the ruling, county officials who run elections at Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and the University of South Florida all said they would set up early voting for upcoming elections.But Miami-Dade County, home to Florida International University, and Duval County, home to University of North Florida and Florida State College, wont allow early voting this year, which could impact voter turnout among those college students.Counties across the country continue to eliminate polling places. Just last month, Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, a Republican, removed 170, mostly Democratic voting precincts from Lake County home to the states largest Latino and second-largest black communities.Lawsons office said her plan updates the map to reflect new demographic data and still puts polling places close to public transportation. Local Democrats said it keeps African Americans and Hispanic voters from the polls.There are other efforts underway in counties in Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio and Wisconsin to move thousands of voters to new locations. The primary driver for closing some of these polling places is a tight local budget.Some voters in Barton County, Kansas, now will have to drive 18 miles to vote in Novembers election because of polling place consolidation. In the past three decades, the county has gone from 40 polling places to 11. The main reason, said County Clerk Donna Zimmerman, is cost.Its expensive, Zimmerman said. Its always hard when youre taking the ballot further from the vote. Its a hard decision, and one I take to heart.Voters in the rural county will be able to vote by mail, however.In Kankakee County, Illinois, officials reduced the number of polling places from 69 to 65 this year. County Clerk Dan Hendrickson said each closed polling place saves the county a thousand dollars.Hendrickson said he decided against closing a polling place in a predominantly black area in the city of Kankakee because of concerns from the community about transportation costs.We could move that polling place somewhere else, he said, but not a one of them could vote then.In Georgia, civil rights groups remain vigilant, observing each of the states 159 counties to make sure polling locations arent shuttered.This has become commonplace in the state. Nearly a dozen counties closed many of their polling places in 2016.Last year, Fulton County officials tried to close several polling places in predominantly black neighborhoods of South Atlanta, claiming they werent used enough to remain open. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the county didnt give enough public notice before closing them. A month later, and after public pressure, the county decided to keep those precincts open.When local officials attempt to close polling places in majority-black neighborhoods, as they tried in Randolph County, Georgia, they force black voters to travel farther to vote, Rutchick said, and to vote in an environment they may find threatening, like in a majority-white neighborhood.Indeed, Andrea Young, the executive director of the Georgia chapter of the ACLU, said poll closings often target so-called super voters, who consistently vote and depend on routine and comfort in the voting process.It suppresses the African-American vote, she said.Pushing back against that notion, Mike Malone, the white election consultant hired in Randolph County, said in community meetings that the suggested closings were not racially motivated.Is this the right time? he asked at the August meeting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The answer is no. Its not. The reason its not the right time? Its never the right time.Malone has since been fired by the county. The other 10 counties that closed polling places at Malones recommendation, however, will keep the locations shuttered ahead of the November election.At the time, Fulton County officials said the polling places they decided to close had declining popularity, and closing them would streamline the voting process.Richard Barron, the countys director of elections and registration, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in July 2017 that voters were relying more on early voting and wouldnt be as hurt by the move. In making the decision, he said, the county looked at several factors, including race, voters at the precincts and distances to make a fair decision.We dont like to move polling places, Barron told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. We like to have consistency so voters know where they go all the time.Polling place environments also can have a large impact on how people vote. Sometimes the influence can be overt, such as when a location is a church or a school.In mid-August, city officials in Medford, Massachusetts, moved a polling place from a Veterans of Foreign Wars building because of a large All Lives Matter sign on display at the location, which some residents claimed was racist. And during the Pennsylvania primaries in May, voters in Philadelphia accused poll workers of intimidation for putting Bibles on polling place tables.In June, the Supreme Court struck down a Minnesota law preventing political apparel at polling places, opening the door for more explicit political influencing there. Most states, however, have a 100-foot buffer zone around polling places to prevent electioneering, including stumping for candidates and issues and putting up campaign signs and posters.But often, the influence is subtle.Changing a polling location to an unfamiliar environment, said Marc Meredith, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, can be an effective tool of voter manipulation.While peoples partisanship is their biggest motivator, he said, the environment where you vote can influence how you vote.In 2006, Meredith and his studys co-authors found that people who voted at schools were more likely to support an education funding initiative. In 2010, Rutchick in a separate study found that people who voted in churches were more likely to vote conservatively on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, finding the presence of Christian imagery activates Christian values and attitudes and can thereby influence voting.Both studies show that voting environments can unconsciously trigger specific voter behavior. And while the effect is minimal, Rutchick said, weve had enough close elections this year that those little things do matter.One way to shield certain groups from being targeted by discriminatory policies, such as closing polling locations, is to harness a vote-by-mail system, as is done in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, said Nina Kohn, a law professor at Syracuse University. It insulates voters from location biases so they can more accurately cast their ballot.But that sort of system, said Young of the ACLU, favors voters who are highly literate.If you mess up your ballot, she said, its not counted.Instead of dramatically changing voting systems, Kohn said, voters could instead focus on local boards of election, where decisions on voter procedure and polling places are often made.As we look to the midterms, we need to pay very close attention to where polling locations are located, she said. This is not just an issue of fairness, but it could affect tight races. It could be the difference between someone winning or someone losing. Cities can't make it a crime to sleep on a public street or sidewalk when no homeless shelters are available, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case that could affect so-called "sit/lie" ordinances in San Francisco and elsewhere.The constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment," under the Eighth Amendment, prohibits "criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter," said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The state, the court said, "may not criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless."The 3-0 ruling reinstated lawsuits by homeless people challenging ordinances in Boise, Idaho, that made it a crime to sleep on a sidewalk or to use any sidewalk or public property as a "camping place." The court's decisions apply to federal cases in nine Western states, including California. Tuesday's ruling will become a binding precedent unless it is successfully appealed."Our hope, not just for Boise but for cities like San Francisco and cities across the country, is that it causes them to take a look at the laws they have on the books and have conversations about how to stop relying on those policies," said a lawyer in the case, Eric Tars of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty."Our real goal is not to protect the right of people to sleep on the streets," Tars said, "but a conversation about how we can address the core of the problem, that people don't have a place to sleep."Advocates for the homeless were joined in the case by the U.S. Justice Department, which filed arguments in the Boise case in 2015 saying laws against sleeping on public property, when no shelter space was available, unconstitutionally punished people for being homeless. The filing was issued by President Barack Obama's administration and has not been withdrawn by President Trump's Justice Department.The Justice Department arguments were also a warning to communities throughout the nation that the criminalization of homeless camping should be discouraged. Many communities, including Oakland and San Francisco, still take that as a guideline even while they have anti-camping laws on their books.While the court said a city could not outlaw sleeping on a sidewalk at all hours, it was less clear about partial bans, like the ordinance approved by 54 percent of San Francisco voters in 2010. That made it a misdemeanor to sit or lie down on a public sidewalk, or on a mattress or other object on a sidewalk, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.Without referring directly to the San Francisco measure, Judge Marsha Berzon said in Tuesday's ruling that a city's ban on "sitting, lying, or sleeping outside at particular times or in particular locations might well be constitutionally permissible." She did not indicate whether a 7 a.m.-to-11 p.m. prohibition would be considered a "particular time."In a followup measure, 52 percent of San Francisco voters in 2016 approved a 24-hour prohibition on putting tents on public sidewalks. But before enforcing that ban, officials would have to offer the homeless person shelter and, if available, a bus ticket to another city where a friend or relative could provide housing.That measure would not violate Tuesday's ruling, which said cities that made housing available could penalize conduct by those who refused to accept it. But the court said an ordinance that flatly prohibited sleeping on the sidewalk could not be salvaged by a Police Department policy -- like one announced by the Boise police chief -- to enforce it only when housing is available.Such a policy, Berzon observed, "could be amended or reversed at any time."John Cote, spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said Herrera's office was analyzing the ruling to see whether the local ordinances fit the court's standards. "Aspects of this ruling are already reflected in the laws we have on the books," he said.San Francisco issues citations for at least 14 laws prohibiting camping or resting on the streets, but since the Justice Department took its position against criminalizing homelessness in 2015, the number of citations has dropped by about 50 percent to about 10,000 a year, according to the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness.That's still too many, said the coalition's director, Jennifer Friedenbach."Moving people from place to place, and citing them under these laws, does no good and it just makes it harder to get off the street," Friedenbach said.She and other homeless advocates around the nation have said for many years that, instead of criminalizing homeless people, cities and counties should simply provide enough housing, drug or mental rehabilitation, and shelter for people depending on their needs. Proposition C, a November ballot measure in San Francisco that Friedenbach helped craft, would tax businesses $300 million a year to raise money for homeless programs.Alameda County homeless-aid officials were also examining the ruling to see how it might affect the way they manage street populations, but policies throughout the county already emphasize shelter and services over criminalization."People may be taken to task for things that are illegal, like prostitution or possessing stolen goods, but they're not really being cited for camping," said Elaine deColigny, executive director of EveryOne Home, the county's main homeless-aid coordination agency. "There are camps that are so dirty or vermin-infested that they have to be moved so the sites can be cleaned, but the intention is always to offer people other places to go, like the Tuff Shed locations, or programs." For years, public-sector unions have been keenly aware of the possibility that their influence could take a hit if a court decision reversed the rules that govern their funding. That day came this summer, when the Supreme Court declared in Janus v. AFSCME that unions could no longer require non-members they represent to pay agency fees covering collective bargaining expenses. The decision, which overturned longstanding legal precedent, is widely expected to cut into union budgets and suppress membership.But just how the ruling will play out remains uncertain, as does its effect on unions political power.To assess public-sector unions current political spending,reviewed data on state election contributions reported by the National Institute on Money in State Politics . Nationally, union spending pales in comparison to that of large corporations and major industries. In 2016 and in the limited number of state contests of 2017, public-sector unions contributed $82 million to state-level candidates and party committees, an amount thats just over 3 percent of total contributions to these campaigns.In select states , however, unions are more significant spenders. Between 2014 and last year, Minnesotas public-sector unions contributed $73 million to state candidates and committees, accounting for nearly 8 percent of total contributions within the state -- the highest share nationally. As one might expect, unions in blue states tend to spend the most. But there are exceptions. In Alabama, a red state with a right-to-work law, they represented almost 7 percent of total contributions over the four-year period.Its tempting to look to the effects of existing right-to-work laws for clues as to how the Janus decision might unfold. One often-cited study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) compared counties in states enacting such laws with neighboring counties in adjacent states that dont have those laws. Researchers found a 2 to 3 percentage-point drop in voter turnout and poorer performance for Democrats following the passage of right-to-work laws.Its unknown, however, whether the Janus ruling will produce comparable results in states that are generally union strongholds. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, who co-authored the NBER study, says it would be a mistake to assume the effects of Janus will be of a similar magnitude. In the short run, unions are going to take a hit in their organizational clout and their political clout, he says. But in the longer term, its really up to the unions themselves as to whether or not theyre able to re-engage their members and restructure themselves in ways that make membership appealing to more workers.Much of the political strength of public-sector labor will depend on how well theyre able to retain members. One study by the liberal-leaning Illinois Economic Policy Institute and a University of Illinois professor predicted that the Janus decision would reduce union membership among state and local government employees by 8.2 percentage points, or 726,000 workers. Just over half the total loss would come from California, Illinois and New York.Unions frequently respond to unfavorable court rulings by allocating more money for recruitment activities and member services, leaving less for campaigns. The NBER study found unions political spending was negatively correlated with spending on member services. Teachers unions in Michigan and Wisconsin reported steep declines in political spending following enactment of right-to-work laws.But unions dont always need deep pockets to wield significant influence. Take the wave of recent teachers strikes in several conservative states that yielded pay raises for educators. Instead of buying costly TV airtime, unions might invest more on grassroots activities, such as in-person canvassing and phone banks. Where unions have had the greatest political impact, says Ken Jacobs of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley, has been in their ability to move their membership to vote and engage in public policy.The response of state legislatures to the Janus decision will further determine, at least in part, the amount of influence unions retain. California lawmakers recently passed one measure ensuring that unions could meet with new hires to discuss the benefits of membership, and an additional measure restricting how public employers communicate to employees the advantages and disadvantages of unions. Several other states controlled by Democrats have approved or are considering various measures designed to mitigate the effects of the Supreme Court decision.At the same time, conservative groups backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and other corporate interests are ramping up outreach efforts in California and other states encouraging workers to drop their union membership. Were going to see quite a bit of trench warfare in the coming years, Jacobs says.If theres one key difference between the Janus decision and right-to-work laws , its that public-sector unions have had years to prepare for the court ruling. Education Minnesota, with about 90,000 teachers and administrators, has conducted conversations with members about what they want from the union. We anticipated Janus and knew that now, more than ever, we were going to need to amplify the voices of educators, says Denise Specht, the unions president.Union leaders learned, for example, that many teachers were struggling to pay off student loan debt, so they started a training initiative on loan forgiveness programs and budgeting expenses. Since January 2016, the union has organized 23 new locals. We are finding more and more people signing up to be political advocates at the workplace or in their neighborhoods because they know what the 2018 election means, Specht says.In a 2014 precursor to the Janus case, Harris v. Quinn, the Supreme Court ruled that unions couldnt collect agency fees from quasi-public employees who werent members. Unions representing home care workers responded by strengthening ties with their membership. The United Domestic Workers of America, which represents mostly low-income caregivers, reports its dues-paying membership initially dropped from 68,000 to 48,000 following the ruling, but has since rebounded to about 75,000.In solidly blue California, Jacobs doesnt expect a big short-term impact on the participation of public-sector unions in politics, but labors role in the long run remains an open question. We could see a lot more where public policy influence comes through both engagement of members and engagement of the community, he says, because thats what unions will have to do to maintain their membership. They could come out stronger in the end. Description GIS 05 September, 2018: Mauritius participated on 4 September 2018 in a mock tsunami exercise in the Indian Ocean. The National Emergency Operations Command (NEOC) triggered level 3 warning at around 11 00 hrs. Simulated tsunami waves were generated by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale on the Makran Trench off the southern coast of Iran which were expected to spread through the whole of the Indian Ocean. As at 12 30 hrs, some 2 170 persons had already been evacuated around Mauritius for the purpose of the mock exercise. All relevant stakeholders comprising members of the Operation cell and the Planning cell were gathered at the headquarters of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre (NDRRMC) in Port Louis. The Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Etienne Sinatambou, and the Officer in Charge of the NDRRMC, Mr Servansingh, were also present. In a statement to the press, Minister Sinatambou highlighted that Mauritius along with 25 countries around the Indian Ocean were participating in the Indian Ocean Wave 2018 exercise while recalling that Mauritius was at its third participation in such exercise since 2014. The purpose of this exercise, he pointed out, is to increase tsunami preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each country and improve coordination throughout the region. It also tests the Standard Operating Procedures and communication links at all levels of the warning chain, he said. The Minister observed that in the course of the exercise, three Tsunami Service Providers from Australia, India and Indonesia provided simulated tsunami threat information to all National Tsunami Warning Centres in the Indian Ocean region. The Mauritius Meteorological Services, which is the National Tsunami Warning Centre for the country, evaluated the information and formulated test national tsunami warnings, which were disseminated to the NEOC/ NDRRMC, the Police Information and Operations Room and the public. According to the scenario, waves of 1.09 metres height were expected to crash on Agalega at 15 42 hrs, waves of 1.6 metres would reach Rodrigues at 17 06 hrs, and Mauritius would be hit by 1.42 metres high waves at 17 22 hrs. For his part, the Officer in Charge of the NDRRMC, Mr Servansingh underscored that the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and subsequent events in the Indian and Pacific Oceans brought to the worlds attention the urgent need to be more prepared for such events. He underlined that the Indian Ocean Wave exercise is an effective tool for evaluating the readiness of the end-to-end Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigations System and for identifying changes that can improve its effectiveness. According to him, this important exercise not only tests the current procedures of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System, but also helps to identify operational strengths and weaknesses in Mauritius. He also stated that an Inundation Map for Mauritius prepared by the Mauritius Oceanography Institute was expected to give an indication as to the areas and regions affected by the tsunami. In the course of the IOWave18 exercise, partial evacuation was carried out by local authorities at Baie du Tombeau public beach, Grand Baie public beach, Bois des Amourettes, Providence (south) as well as in Rodrigues, Agalega and St Brandon. All beaches were closed and sanitisation was carried out on islets, he added. He concluded by saying that after the mock exercise, a debriefing session with all stakeholders would be held whereby improvements and changes to be made will be discussed. Exercise IOWave18 Exercise IOWave18 simulated Indian Ocean countries being put in a tsunami warning situation and require the National Tsunami Warning Centre and the National and/or Local Disaster Management Offices in each country to implement their Standard Operating Procedures. Exercise IOWave18 comprised two scenarios on successive days: one in the north western Indian Ocean off the coast of Iran, and the other in the eastern Indian Ocean off the west coast of northern Sumatra. The first scenario commenced on 4 September and simulated a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Iran. The second scenario will be held on 5 September and will simulate a magnitude 9.3 earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra. Both scenarios would generate simulated tsunami waves travelling across the Indian Ocean basin. This exercise is carried out in the second week of September every two years. Previous Indian Ocean exercises were conducted in 2009 (IOWave09), 2011 (IOWave11), 2014 (IOWave14) and 2016 (IOWave16), including local tsunami warning exercises carried in Mauritius. (TNS) - School districts across the county are doing their part in making sure their students are safe on campus.Alvarado ISDIn Alvarado ISD, the district has added two more school resource officers from the Johnson County Sheriffs Office to bring their total number to four, AISD Public Information Officer Tommy Brown said.They also added an enclosed vestibule at Alvarado High School and are converting analog cameras to high resolution digital cameras, storing all information in a reliable, central location.Burleson ISDIn Burleson ISD, officials said they have implemented several programs to enhance security at their campuses.In partnership with local first responders, the district is implementing the Standard Response Protocol developed by the I Love You Guys Foundation, which provides a common vocabulary, an understanding of what to do and common expectations of behavior during a crisis.The SRP defines specific actions in the event of a crisis: Lockout: Used when a threat is outside of the building. Everyone is brought inside the building and school continues as normal. Exterior doors are locked and staff are asked to increase situational awareness. Lockdown: Used when a threat is inside the building. Classroom doors are locked, lights are turned off and students and staff move out of sight. Evacuate: Used when students and staff need to leave the building. Shelter: Used when specific protective actions are necessary. This could be due to severe weather. Hold: Used when students need to be out of the halls or any reason to restrict movement in the building.For more information about the program, visit iloveuguys.org/srp.html.The district also partners with CrisisGo, providing access to emergency plans, evacuation maps, class rosters, checklists and more. This mobile app provides a digital version of emergency management procedures with the SRP integrated for emergency responses.Using the app, campus staff members can send a panic out to notify the appropriate personnel. Administrators may then send out an alert immediately notifying local first responders as well as campus and district staff of the incident.Godley ISDIn Godley ISD, Superintendent Rich Dear said they cant discuss much about their safety protocols because they dont want anyone working around it.I can tell you we have monthly emergency and safety drills, updated emergency action plans, visitor management systems and have recently updated our school radio and camera system district-wide, Dear said. We utilize the Stay Alert program which allows students, parents or community members to anonymously report bullying or questionable behavior via email or 800 number. We have created a district safety team of GISD parents to give feedback for district safety needs.We also know that our students play a big role in keeping our schools safe. We empower our students to become ethical, responsible and caring young people by modeling and teaching good character through the Leader In Me [program].He said they believe that positive relationships combined with a safe and friendly environment are essential to students' learning.We want our kids to look forward to being in an encouraging environment that empowers them to explore, learn and grow, he said. Keeping our schools safe allows students and teachers to focus on learning the skills needed for a successful education and future.Grandview ISDIn Grandview ISD, Superintendent Joe Perrin said this year they are requiring all staff along with their junior and high school students to wear ID badges.All outside doors will be locked throughout the district, and visitors will have to be buzzed in at the front doors, Perrin said. We have installed video doorbells that will allow visitors to be seen and heard before entering a building. We have also added additional swipe card readers and cameras around the district.In October, he said all administrators will receive ALICE training covering active shooter response. The administrators will then train their staff the following week, he said.ALICE Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate is a set of proactive, options-based strategies that increase your chances of survival during a violent intruder or active shooter event.The two-day instructor training course is designed to teach law enforcement, as well as school, church, hospital and workplace administrators and employees skills and strategies that bridge the gap between the time a violent event begins and law enforcement arrives.Perrin said the safety of their students and staff is extremely important to them.It is something that we are always trying to improve upon and is a focus for the district, he said. We want to make sure that we do everything we can to provide a safe environment at Grandview ISD.Joshua ISDIn Joshua ISD, the district implemented its police department this year. The department is made up of Chief David Hoschar and four officers who patrol all campuses.The district is the second in Johnson County to create its own department, with Keene ISD creating theirs in August 2015.The district had been looking to create their own department after ending their contract with the Johnson County Sheriffs Office, which provided them with four school resource officers.JISD Superintendent Fran Marek said safety is their No. 1 goal.While we received amazing service from the Johnson County Sheriffs Office, I feel having our own police department will give us ownership to be able to implement additional safety procedures which are necessary in our current society, Marek said.Keene ISDIn Keene ISD, officials have been very busy enhancing its security measures.In August 2015, the district created its own police department.The first chief, Tim Kosar, was there for one year before he was replaced by the current Chief Ronny Potts, whos been in his position for two years.In December 2015, the board of trustees approved the districts guardian program allowing certified personnel to be armed on campus. In June 2017, district administrators and staff also participated in the ALICE program.This year, KISD Superintendent Ricky Stephens said they have wrapped the windows and doors of their entrances in an effort to buy time in case a shooter tries to shoot their way past their locked doors.Also, we just approved the WAVE security button system, he said. Throughout the offices and the hallways will be push buttons that automatically alert our administrators, teachers, county and local law enforcement if an active shooter is present.Stephens said safety is the very first thing you have to provide a child before you can ever hope to educate them.If a child comes to school feeling safe, he is way more likely to learn. Keene ISD takes safety very seriously, Stephens said.Rio Vista ISDIn Rio Vista ISD, Superintendent Tim Wright said they cant discuss most of the things they are doing to enhance security, but they are working on a plan.They have enhanced campus entrances, and he said he also encourages all his teachers and staff to keep their doors locked at all times.Venus ISDIn Venus ISD, Superintendent James Hopper said based on feedback from their staff members and in accordance with guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, they have adopted a proactive stance with respect to violent critical incidents.All instructional staff members have received scenario based training on the numerous options available to them during a crisis, and they are equipped and empowered to make decisions in order to ensure the safety of the students placed in their care, Hopper said. The Venus ISD board of trustees has been more than supportive in terms of campus security and is ensuring that resources are available to meet campus safety needs as they arise.He said safeguarding the lives of their students and staff is the utmost priority.Effective learning cannot take place in an unsafe environment, and we will provide a safe, secure, learning environment where our students can thrive, he said.2018 the Cleburne Times-Review (Cleburne, Texas)Visit the Cleburne Times-Review (Cleburne, Texas) at www.cleburnetimesreview.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. What will change file-20180829-195304-31p8lq.JPG The Bloede Dam in March. The obsolete fish ladder is in the foreground. Matthew Baker/UMBC Why sediment movement? file-20180829-195316-7u39dz.JPG Aerial image of the Patapsco River channel showing gravel, cobble and sand deposits. Matthew Baker/UMBC New ways to track changes file-20180831-195316-1d4yzog.jpeg 3D view of a Patapsco River channel point cloud. Matthew Baker/UMBC 3D view of the Patapsco River point cloud. This month, the Bloede Dam will be removed from the Lower Patapsco River near Ilchester, Maryland.The restoration is a one-of-a-kind natural experiment that will help test how relatively inexpensive drones can help scientists like me understand the integrity of streams and rivers.My collaborators include students and researchers from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Maryland Geological Survey, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey.If our approach works, it will allow us to track sediment movement more completely and accurately than ever before, at a fraction of the expense.Completed in 1907 and operational for 30 years, the Bloede Dam contained the first submerged hydroelectric plant in the U.S. At 26.5 feet high, it represents one of the largest dam removals on the Eastern Seaboard.Why remove the dam? The state , federal agencies and nonprofit American Rivers hope to eliminate a derelict public safety hazard.Taking out the dam will also complement restoration from previous dam removals upstream and expand connected habitat for fish and other aquatic creatures. The Patapsco once hosted major freshwater runs of shad, alewife and American eel, which were blocked by the dam. A fish ladder has proven ineffective at connecting upstream sections of the river with the downstream estuary and the Chesapeake Bay.Despite a prominent role in early U.S. manufacturing, the Patapsco Valley has suffered its share of environmental challenges. Colonial shipping was forced to relocate to Baltimore after the original port at Elkridge Landing was choked by sediment from shipping ballast, river bank mining and upstream forest clearing. Once a 10-foot channel surrounded by a saltwater marsh, today the site is fresh and the channel less than two feet deep. Periodic floods have also wreaked havoc in the narrow gorge, occasionally with catastrophic results. In the past few years, flash floods just upstream in Ellicott City have ruptured the sewer main that runs along the valley bottom and reorganized large quantities of sand, wood and rock in the downstream channel.Today, the dam stores approximately 2.6 million cubic feet of stratified silt and sand less than eight miles from Chesapeake Bay tidewater. When the dam is removed, we want to know how this much sediment is going to move and how fast.Understanding sediment movement is critical for river management in every jurisdiction of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.Sediment helps balance water flow to maintain channel shape and stable habitats for aquatic plants, invertebrates and fish. River sediment is necessary to help estuarine coastlines combat sea level rise. However, fine sediment can also be a pollutant in, or carry nutrients and heavy metals to, downstream estuaries.Although its easy to observe evidence of sediment erosion from riverbanks or hillsides, its often unclear where and how much of that sediment is redeposited and stored. Management of sediment storage, particularly behind dams, can be somewhat controversial After studying several other dam removals , we expect sediment trapped behind the dam to rapidly evacuate and redistribute downstream over a period of several years.However, theres still much we dont know. Floods following intense storms can move huge quantities of sediment, altering the valley bottom in just hours. Will such storms redeposit sediment elsewhere in the gorge or the coastal floodplain, or deliver it to the bay?Its logistically difficult to accurately measure large and potentially rapid channel changes.In a typical field survey, technicians measure water depth, flow, bottom substrate and other information at specific locations. Though stream channels can vary tremendously over space as well as through time, we scientists are rarely able to represent such variability in our measurements. Instead, we collect isolated snapshots in time. That leaves us with less understanding of dynamic sediment movement, devastation wrought by flood waves or the diversity of conditions necessary to support aquatic life.Gauging stations located upstream and downstream of the dam measure water flow and estimate suspended material like fine silts and clays, but not coarser sands and gravels moving along the channel bottom. Surveys of 30 cross-sections distributed over eight miles provide information about how channel shape and composition vary as one crosses the channel, but relatively little about the thousands of feet in between each transect.Whats more, after a major flood, scientists must conduct new cross-sectional surveys, taking up to a month in occasionally in risky conditions.Our team is attempting to add to our measurements by deploying small, off-the-shelf drones that photograph the entire valley bottom. Repeat photographs before, during and after removal can help us track the location of a sediment plume as it moves downstream. They also allow new perspectives of the river.Relying solely on overlapping photos collected both before and after dam removal, we will create 3D computer models of the channel bottom and water depth not just at the surveyed cross-sections, but every few inches along the channel. Although this technology works best in shallow water, our models should allow us to vastly improve estimates of both the amount and location of channel change as sediment moves downstream.With the new approach, our team collects a photo set of all eight miles in just a few days, and further work occurs within a desktop computer. That means measurements can be repeated or made anew at any time using archived images.Although we are certainly curious to see how this much sediment moves, we are especially interested in how well we can capture it. If it works, this technology will likely change the way scientists collect measurements and monitor rivers. (TNS) Lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned top executives at Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday about their companies ability to thwart foreign interference, and hinted that industry regulations may be coming.The size and reach of your platforms demand that we, as policymakers, do our job, to ensure proper oversight, transparency and protections for American users and for our democratic institutions, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in his opening remarks. The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end.After the hearing, the Department of Justice issued a statement saying Attorney General Jeff Sessions would meet with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms.Shares of Twitter fell nearly 5 percent after the hearing concluded. Facebook shares declined about 1.5 percent.The hearing attended by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Inc.s chief operating officer, and Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey was designed to address foreign influence, but included a sprawling list of grievances against the nations biggest and most influential social networks. Senators asked about user privacy, misinformation and services in nondemocratic countries.Google was conspicuously absent from the hearing. The Senate committee had invited Larry Page, chief executive of Googles parent company Alphabet Inc. But Google declined and countered by offering to send its chief legal officer, Kent Walker. The committee rejected Pages replacement and Google submitted written testimony instead that focused on security measures.Members of the committee wanted to ask about reports that Google was working on a censored search engine for China. The company has also been criticized for its handling of YouTube, which has also been exploited for foreign propaganda.Im deeply disappointed that Google, one of the most influential digital platforms in the world, chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee, Warner said in his prepared remarks.Other senators also expressed disappointment in Google, which was represented at the hearing by an empty chair. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., used the companys absence as the impetus to ask Sandberg and Dorsey about whether they retain their company values in foreign markets with nondemocratic leadership.He cited Twitters willingness to block government critics in Turkey and reports that Facebook had worked on a program that would restrict certain content depending on a users geography.We support our principles all around the world, Sandberg responded.Dorsey said Twitter has to comply with local laws. He said people in Turkey are still able to read banned accounts by using virtual private network software.Rubio appeared to have gotten into an altercation with conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host Alex Jones outside the hearing, video shows. Jones, whose content has been taken down by YouTube and Facebook, wanted Rubio to address allegations that the platforms are censoring conservatives.Dont touch me again, Rubio told Jones after the host patted the senator on the shoulder during an interview with reporters. Jones called Rubio a frat boy as the senator walked away.Dorsey faced the House Energy and Commerce Committee later in the day to address charges of political bias on Twitter. Conservatives, led by President Donald Trump, have accused Twitter of stifling right-wing voices on the platform. Twitter has vehemently denied censoring conservatives and has even angered critics on the left for allowing Jones back onto the social network after a brief suspension.I want to start by making something clear: We dont consider political viewpoints, perspectives, or party affiliation in any of our policies or enforcement decisions, Dorsey said during his opening remarks. Impartiality is our guiding principle.However, Dorsey gave some credence to the belief that Twitter was suppressing conservative accounts in its search field a charge dubbed shadow banning.Recently we failed our intended impartiality, Dorsey said. Our algorithms were unfairly filtering 600,000 accounts, including some members of Congress, from our search auto-complete and latest results. We fixed it.Dorsey said the companys algorithm did this because it weighed the behavior of people following the accounts.Still, critics called charges of censorship dubious. The hearing, they said, was political theater. Twitter has no obligation to uphold the First Amendment; free-speech laws apply only to government entities.Other than election-related activity of non-U.S. actors, there is almost nothing Congress can do when it comes to policing speech in any medium, as Congress surely knows, said Larry Downes, project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy.The platforms can voluntarily police their sites all they want, but as weve seen in the last few years, starting down that path never leads to a destination that anyone thinks is better than where we started. These hearings are almost entirely for show.Sandbergs appearance before the Senate comes five months after her boss, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, faced Congress in hearings that mostly underscored how ill-equipped lawmakers were dealing with the complexity of foreign influence and data privacy.In prepared remarks, Sandberg reiterated Facebooks regret for not acting more swiftly to prevent foreign meddling on its networks in the lead-up to the 2016 election, and highlighted how much the company has done since.Facebook has doubled the number of workers focused on security and safety issues to 20,000. And its shutting down more accounts it calls inauthentic, including a recent batch tied to Iranian and Russian authorities.Were shutting down fake accounts and reducing the spread of false news, Sandberg said in the remarks. Weve put in place new ad transparency policies, ad content restrictions, and documentation requirements for political ad buyers. Were getting better at anticipating risks and taking a broader view of our responsibilities. And were working closely with law enforcement and our industry peers to share information and make progress together.The company has also increased transparency in its advertising, allowing users to see all ads a particular Facebook page is running as well as disclosing who paid for any political ad.Those efforts have come at a considerable cost. Facebook, which has 2 billion users to Twitters 300 million, reported disappointing second-quarter financial results that sparked a massive sell-off.In addition to its controversy with Russian meddling, the company has had to weather the Cambridge Analytica scandal and strict new European privacy rules that have both highlighted the vulnerability of the user data Facebook hoards.Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked Sandberg and Dorsey if they agreed that protecting user data is a national security issue (they agreed) and pressed Facebook to share internal audits showing how the company shared user information with cellphone manufacturers, particularly with Chinese brands with ties to the Chinese military, Huawei and ZTE. Sandberg could not commit to sharing the audit.Personal data is now the weapon of choice for political influence campaigns and we must not make it easier for adversaries to seize these weapons against us, Wyden said.Social media experts said fake foreign accounts remain a threat, but warned that authentic domestic accounts that spread propaganda also need to be addressed. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a broadcasting group funded by the federal government that is intended for foreign audiences, was found to be buying ads on Facebook targeting Americans.There was a lot of focus on inauthentic account activity, both foreign and domestic, but no discussion of the risks of authentic domestic activity here in the United States, said Jennifer M. Grygiel, a professor of communications at Syracuse University. Both Facebook and Twitter are unprepared to address U.S. propaganda threats. Robert Kubica sounds only mildly interested in stepping up to the Williams race seat in 2018. It is expected that Lance Stroll will shortly quit the struggling British team in order to join his billionaire father Lawrence at Force India. Williams boss Paddy Lowe says reserve driver Kubica will step up to the race role if that happens. "For me it is more speculation than emotion," Kubica told Poland's Przeglad Sportowy. "A lot happened in formula one in August, but for me it's not like a lot of doors suddenly opened or closed." Another name being potentially linked with the soon-to-be-vacant Williams seat is Esteban Ocon, but Kubica warned the Frenchman not to get too excited. "If I was him, I would not be pushing too much for it," he laughed. "But I just do my own thing." Kubica said he didn't take the reserve role at Williams with the hope of getting an opportunity to race within 2018. "No. What I was trying to do was drive a formula one car. Currently the regulations are not favourable because there is almost no testing. "So my priority was to sit behind the wheel, but of course by signing a contract you have to be professional and in case something happens get in the car and do your job," he said. "But the fact that I could get into the car does not automatically mean that I will be able to do all the races. On the one hand it would be the accomplishment of a dream, but on the other it may not have the happy end that I want." (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko says Red Bull will quit formula one if the Honda project doesn't work out. Disenchanted with its customer Renault relationship, the energy drink owned team is joining its junior outfit Toro Rosso in using works Honda power from 2019. Marko, Red Bull's top F1 official, told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that a lot is riding on it. "We are happy to have a great partner in Honda for the next few years. But if this cooperation does not work as expected, Red Bull as a company will leave formula one. "As Mercedes and Ferrari do not want to supply Red Bull and no new manufacturer is coming, only the exit remains," Marko added. However, the Austrian said he is confident. "The partnership with Honda is going well for Toro Rosso so far and will work well with Red Bull Racing as well," he said. "After the McLaren disaster, Honda was close to leaving F1 again at the end of 2017. We had to convince them in some intensive talks to try with us," Marko revealed. (GMM) Stoffel Vandoorne is not yet commenting to the media about McLaren's decision to dump him for 2019. Once McLaren's highly promising development driver, the 26-year-old is reportedly now pinning his hopes on a Toro Rosso seat after being replaced by Lando Norris. McLaren issued a positively worded statement about Vandoorne's impending departure, but when contacted by La Derniere Heure, all the Belgian driver said was: "No comment." His manager Alessandro Alunni Bravi explained: "Stoffel needs to stay professional and enjoy the last seven grands prix with McLaren to confirm he's a great driver." McLaren boss Zak Brown told Speed Week it had been a difficult choice, given that Lando Norris was highly sought after by rival teams. "There was great interest in him," he said. "Lando probably would have ended at Toro Rosso." As for Vandoorne, Brown said Toro Rosso should now consider signing him up. "I definitely think he's a formula one driver. If I was Toro Rosso and I had two free seats, I would put Stoffel in one without hesitation," he is quoted by Marca. "Whatever we can do to help Stoffel, we will do it in the blink of an eye. We consider him a part of the family. It has been exceptional to work with him," Brown added. (GMM) A recent mobility study by ABI Research on regional ride-hailing markets found that 16 billion ride-hailing trips were completed worldwide in 2017. ABI forecasts that 24 billion completed trips by the end of 2018. In the report, ABI Research analyzed the number of ride-hailing trips completed by users in different regions and evaluated market shares for each region. The results showed that just more than 70% of ride-hailing trips were completed in Asia alone, with the next biggest markets being North America and Latin America, with only 5% of trips being completed in Western Europe due to stricter regulation. The sheer size of the Asian ride-hailing market has prompted numerous companies, both local and foreign, to try and establish a foothold in the local markets. In direct contrast to Western Europe and North America, vehicle ownership is relatively low in Asian markets due to the large expense and impracticality for consumers in large cities. This has spurred the growth of dynamic ride-hailing services, where the average cost of a trip can be as low as US$0.10 per mile. This low cost combined with a favorable regulatory environment has really helped foster the use of ride-hailing services. Shiv Patel, Research Analyst at ABI Research It hasnt been all success stories for those operating in Asia, however. Some foreign companies, such as Uber, have struggled in the region, leading to its exit out of China and South-East Asia. Ubers withdrawal from the region, however, has helped create extra opportunities for local players, as they look to establish themselves and expand within the region and globally. Didi Chuxing has used Ubers exit to establish a strong leading market position in China, with more than 90% market share of the largest ride-hailing market in the world. Players in South-East Asia such as GO-JEK and Grab have used the withdrawal of Uber to step up investment and expansion in the area. Ride-hailing in Indonesia, the largest market in South-East Asia and the fourth largest market ride-hailing globally, after China, India and the United States, has recently seen fierce competition driven by increasing investment and expansion in the country. The Indonesia market was once a three-way race between Uber, GO-JEK, and Grab. However, with a slowly decreasing market share in the region, Uber decided to withdraw from the market, selling its assets to Grab. Grab used aggressive investment over 2017 and the acquisition of Ubers South-East-Asian operations to develop a dominant market-leading position (by the number of trips) in the Indonesian ride-hailing market. Our research showed that at the beginning of 2017, Grab had just 30% market share of the Indonesian ride-hailing market, while local rival GO-JEK had a commanding 58% of the market. By the end of June 2018, Grab had made an impressive turnaround, establishing a 62% market share of the ride-hailing marketa direct result of its aggressive investment and expansion in Indonesia over 2017, which was further helped by its acquisition of Ubers business in the region in 2018. Shiv Patel However, Uber still has a strong market share in India, the third-largest ride-hailing market globally. Uber was found to have a 46% market share in the country, just behind local rival Ola Cabs, who recently announced it was taking on Uber in the U.K, one of Ubers strongest markets. Overall, the results showed that ride-hailing is growing at a remarkable pace and that Asia is the key market underpinning this growth. Ubers exit out of the large Asian ride-hailing markets will be a painful pill to them to swallow. Despite this setback, Uber is still the only company to have leading market positions across different global markets (Latin America, North America, and Western Europe). However, as Asian ride-hailing players start to build significant scale on their Asian operations, Uber must be prepared to face competition from not only local players in European and Latin America markets but also from the likes of Ola Cabs, Didi Chuxing, and Grab as they look to expand beyond their core home markets. Shiv Patel These findings are from ABI Researchs Vehicle and Mobility Market Data report. This report is part of the companys Smart Mobility & Automotive research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights. Business Mahira Khan, Ahad Raza named Pakistan Pavilion's official Ambassadors at Expo 2020 Dubai Mahira said, I feel so proud to be the official Pavilion Ambassador. Its been such a pleasure going around the Pavilion from the landscapes to the rich history and the diversity you see, you will be amazed at what all Pakistan has to offer. It really is a Hidden Treasure. Haiti - FLASH : Extension of registrations to the UEH for 5 entities The Rectorate of the State University of Haiti informs the public in general, the applicants in particular that enrollment in the entrance exams for the academic year 2018-2019 are extended until Sunday, September 30, 2018 for the following 4 entities [which had already been extended for the first time until 31 August 2018 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25345-haiti-flash-extension-of-registrations-to-the-ueh.html ] : 1 - School of Law and Economics of Caves (EDSEC); 2 - School of Law and Economics of Fort Liberte (EDSEFL); 3 - School of Law and Economics of Port-de-Paix (EDEPP); 4 - Faculty of Law, Economics and Management of Cap-Haitien. 5 - For the School of Law and Economics of Gonaives (EDSEG), the extension will be until October 10, 2018. All the details for the contests and how to register : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25033-haiti-flash-admission-contest-of-the-state-university-of-haiti-registrations-open.html See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25345-haiti-flash-extension-of-registrations-to-the-ueh.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Security : Luggage theft at the International Airport, the AAN denies the rumor Tuesday in front of the media, the General Direction of the National Airport Authority the AAN has wanted to deny the information that there would be cases of theft of passenger baggage at the International Airport Toussaint Louverture, assimilating these false information to rumors to tarnish the image of the airport, saying it was almost impossible to steal luggage in the airport. In order to demonstrate this "near impossibility", he invited the journalists to observe the embarkation and disembarkation of the luggage and to see for themselves the impossibility of stealing luggage on a journey of less than 100m, between the site of landing of the hold of the plane and the arrival of luggage in the reception room, all under the surveillance of several cameras and a police presence. The Director of Security, Dimitri Bastien, said that the standards and procedures applied at Toussaint Louverture International Airport are the same as those used in the member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and asserted that the institution had so far received no formal complaint from alleged victims of baggage theft. People who are victims of theft at the airport must file a complaint with the officials of the airline who transported their luggage, explained Herve Mouscardy, Manager of a tour operator. As for the officials of the AAN, while acknowledging in the past one or two cases of theft before security measures were reinforced, they suggest that these rumors could be fueled by baggage flights that take place outside the airport and not inside the airport. S/ HaitiLibre DAMASCUS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes infiltrated the Syrian airspace on a low altitude on Tuesday, targeting Syrian military sites in the central province of Hama and northwestern province of Tartus, the Syrian army said. The Israeli warplanes penetrated the Syrian airspace coming from over the Lebanese territories, more specifically from the western side of Beirut city in Lebanon and moved north into Syria, said the statement. The Syrian air defenses intercepted much of the Israeli missiles and forced the Israeli warplanes to flee, said the army statement, stopping short of specifically identifying the targeted facilities. The state-run TV said the Israeli attack targeted the Wadi al-Oyoun area in Hama province while activists said that a scientific research center in the city of Baniyas in Tartus was also targeted. In July, the Israelis targeted the scientific research center in the town of Masyaf in Hama countryside. A month later, Aziz Asber, a senior Syrian scientist running the research centers in Masyaf, was assassinated in the same area. The assassination was blamed on Israel as Asber was reportedly running a missile program with the help of the Iranians. Israel repeatedly claimed it was targeting Iranian positions in Syria with its official stressing that Israel will not tolerate Iranian presence in Syria. The fresh escalation comes as the U.S. and its Western allies were threatening the Syrian side with the use of force over allegations that the government side is planning a chemical attack in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria. Damascus read the threats as the Western powers' way to hinder the government forces' planned assault in Idlib under false pretexts of chemical weapons' use. (Hedgeweek) North American hedge funds which launched in 2018 are charging 1.46 per cent management fees on average, marginally higher than the global industry average of 1.40 per cent, according to data released by EurekaHedge. The last two years have seen average management fees moving higher, following five consecutive years of decline. North American hedge fund managers utilising long short equities strategy have successfully traded their way through the first seven months of 2018 to remain in the positive territory, returning 3.91 per cent despite the volatile market situation. On the other hand, their peers focusing on Greater China mandate struggled under the escalation of the global trade friction. The Eurekahedge Greater China Long Short Equities Hedge Fund Index is down 2.58 per cent year-to-date. To read this article: The suspension is due to new guidelines on the situation in the conflict-ridden country issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Migri stated that it will examine the guidelines and, if necessary, make adjustments to its asylum policy in regards to Afghanistan. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced yesterday it has suspended the processing of applications from asylum seekers from Afghanistan. In the meantime, we will not be making any decisions on asylum applications submitted by Afghans. We will provide further information as soon as we have examined the issue thoroughly, a Migri spokesperson said on Twitter. The forced removals of unsuccessful asylum seekers to Afghanistan have recently stirred up widespread debate in Finland and other parts of Europe. Migri issued a total of 1,147 decisions to asylum applicants from Afghanistan between May 2017 and May 2018, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Its statistics indicate that fewer than one-fifth (196) of the applications were granted and roughly four-tenths (465) of the applications were denied, while the rest of the applicants were, for example, granted subsidiary protection (170). Migri said in August it is closely monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan. The situation, it said, has deteriorated particularly in Ghazni, after an offensive launched by the Taliban in April, but also in Faryab. Up-to-date information is always used when making asylum decisions, and the agency is constantly assessing the situation in Afghanistan, assured Migri. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi SANAA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi forces on Tuesday fired four ballistic missiles at the facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in the border city of Jizan, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported. Meanwhile, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported that the Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles over Jizan. The Saudi TV did not provide details about the other missiles claimed by the Houthi militias. On Monday, the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile at economic targets in Jizan. Yemen has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa. Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that has intervened in the Yemeni war since 2015 to support the Yemeni elected government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced about 3 million others. A TEENAGE boy from Henley completed a 123-mile kayaking challenge along the River Thames. Elliot Fielder, 15, set off from Lechlade in Gloucestershire on Monday last week and paddled about 20 miles each day until he arrived at Teddington Lock in London early on Saturday evening. Elliot, who lives in St Andrews Road with his parents Justin and Jo and siblings Tom, 14, and Robyn, eight, was raising money for a volunteering trip to India next year. The Gillotts School student spent about seven hours a day in his kayak, which was provided by Henley Canoe Hire. He decided to take on the challenge despite his only experience being two canoeing holidays on the River Wye in Wales. Elliot was joined in the boat on each day of the challenge by family and friends including his parents, uncle Stephen Davies and godparents Steve Dance, former Upper Thames rowing club rower Ian Neville and Olympic rowing champion Dame Katherine Grainger. He said: It was good having a fresh pair of arms every day and nice to have someone to talk to. They were all impressed with how I was doing but for most of the time we talked about other things. At the end they all said how impressed they were. Elliot was cheered on from the bank by supporters including his sister and best friend Leo Allen, who joined him in the kayak on the final day. Family members held up homemade signs telling him how many miles of the challenge he had completed which helped when he was struggling with tiredness. He said: The first day was all right and I wasnt tired at all but the second day was tiring and days three and four felt like they were dragging on. It got easier towards the end because I knew I was getting closer. The support on the banks also really helped. When I got to Teddington I was just relieved, to be honest. I was too knackered to think much at the time but now Im proud that I did it. Elliot raised about 1,000, which will go towards his visit to northern India and Uttarakhand in the Himalayas after he completes his GCSEs in July next year. He will be going with World Challenge, which runs educational expeditions for schools where students provide support to local communities. The students are expected to raise the full cost of their expedition, which is about 3,000. Elliot said: Ive never been to a place like India. I asked a lot of people who have been what its like and they said it would be a totally different experience. Mrs Fielder, who paddled with Elliot on one day and spent the rest of the challenge following from the bank, said: Im incredibly impressed with his determination and resilience he didnt complain at all. He just got his head down and got on with it, which is very impressive for someone who is only 15. I was broken on Tuesday night and couldnt have got back in to the boat on Wednesday. All his godparents are rowers but they were the same. The fund-raising is going really well. I asked all the adults to pay for the privilege of going in the boat with him and also had it on Facebook, so weve had quite a lot of donations. Meanwhile, Elliot doesnt plan to get back in a kayak any time soon. He said: It has not put me off but I probably wouldnt do it along the Thames again. To make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ elliot-kayak-challenge BEIRUT, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will continue its cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to ensure security in South Lebanon, LAF Commander Joseph Aoun said on Tuesday. "Our continuous cooperation preserves stability and security in the south while reflecting positively on the stability of Lebanon in general," Aoun said during a meeting with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Stefano Del Col at the UNIFIL headquarters in south Lebanon. Aoun pledged the LAF's "full support" to Del Col for the success of his mission, the UNIFIL website. "The excellent cooperation and coordination between the two forces has dramatically improved the security situation and been instrumental in providing the stability to UNIFIL's area of operations," Aoun said. For his part, Del Col emphasized the importance of building on the momentum of an already enhanced presence of UNIFIL and LAF coordination, noting that a priority for the international community and UNIFIL is to further build the capacity of LAF in southern Lebanon. "The establishment of the (LAF) Model Regiment, for example, is an important step forward to extend state authority and security, and preserve stability," Del Col said. He added that the two sides have "a common intent" to ensure stability in the area of operations and ensure that the area is free of unauthorized weapons and hostile activities of any kind. China has played a constructive role in safeguarding and promoting peace and security of Africa in recent years, while sparing no effort to support the continents economic progress. China has contributed to Africas peace and security affairs in an active and constructive way, and put into place its military aid plan for Africa, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs Xu Jinghu said when elaborating on the four highlights of China-Africa cooperation on peace and security. China has also mediated the hot-spot issues of Africa, promoted peace talks, and supported Africans to solve problems in their own way, she told a press conference of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Sept. 1, adding that what China did has been recognized and welcomed by countries involved. China also made proactive contribution to Africas maritime security, Xu said, citing the fleets sent by China to Somalia waters and the escort mission under the UN framework. Besides, China has dispatched the most peacekeepers to Africa among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and it is also the second largest financial contributor to the UN peacekeeping missions, the representative said. With the rising Sino-African political and economic relations, China has promoted win-win economic cooperation, mutual assistance in security matters, and solidarity in international affairs, said an article published on Quartz Africa. The article gave a high recognition on Chinas efforts to find an effective solution to Africas security issues through promoting the latters development. China appointed the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs since May 2007 to mediate hop-spot issues of Africa. The practice has made unique and constructive contribution to the continents peace and security. At each UN ministerial conference on African construction and peace, China has called on the international community to help the continent enhance the capability of peace and security, by firmly supporting Africa in counter-terrorism moves, helping Africa address the root causes of conflicts, and playing actively the role of regional organizations. At present, around 2,000 Chinese peacemakers are deployed at 5 African mission zones, and Chinese Navy has sent a total of 30 batches of escort formation to conduct missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, protecting more than 6,000 Chinese and foreign vessels. Sudan Tribune hailed China as a reliable friend and key cooperation partner of Africa, saying that Chinas moves are open and transparent without other intentions, and its proposals have been well accepted by all sides. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chinese medical units on UN peacekeeping operations have established friendship pairs with local SOS Children's Villages. Every batch of peacekeepers would have a handover at the villages when they finish their shift at the mission zone. In Liberia, Chinese peacekeeping engineering unit stuck to their posts even during the Ebola burst, and finally completed the countrys first foreign-aided Ebola treatment center after working 28 days consecutively. In Mali where the temperature goes up to nearly 50 degrees Celsius in dry season, Chinese peacekeepers constructed a second-level hospital in less than four months. Besides, the anti-explosion, patrol and guarding courses offered by Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion in South Sudan have been made into textbooks for the peacekeeping troops of each country. China supports African countries' efforts in independently resolving their continent's issues in their own way, China pledged, adding that based on the principles of respecting the wills of African countries, not interfering in African countries' internal affairs and observing the basic norms governing international relations, China will play a constructive role in maintaining and promoting peace and security in Africa. The solemn commitments made by China are transforming into practical actions to deepen the China-Africa cooperation on peace and security. FROM APRIL 1933when Hitlers government issued its first anti-Jewish lawuntil early 1944, the United States government did virtually nothing to aid those persecuted by the Nazis. An anti-immigration majority in Congress in the 1930s and a need to devote all available funds and materiel to pursuing the war once the U.S. had entered arguably made American silence defensible. But on January 22, 1944, after a Treasury Department report showed that the State Department had been actively suppressing news of the Holocaust, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up the War Refugee Board (WRB). Many dismissed the boards efforts as too little and too late, and the WRB worked in such shadowy ways that its impact is hard to measure. However, within its 21 months of existence, the board helped save hundreds of thousands of those targeted for Nazi extermination. With a broad mandate and the freedom to function independently, it was an effort that has never been tried before or since then. It is also an effort that some historians have highlighted as a subject in need of scholarly attention. Rebecca Erbelding, an archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and co-curator of its latest exhibit, Americans and the Holocaust (reviewed at right), heeded their call, and chose the WRB as the topic of her doctoral research. Rescue Board is a readable version of her dissertation. Erbelding quotes historian Yehuda Bauers assessment that what made the WRB unique was that it was officially permitted to break practically every important law of a nation at war in the name of outraged humanity. The board worked on a number of fronts, from conducting psychological warfare on those who took part in the exterminations, warning of dire consequences, to funneling money to anti-Nazi allies in Europeamong them, Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped thousands of Jews escape occupied Hungary. It also helped falsify papers for those in danger of deportation, transport escapees to safe havens, and set up top-secret ransom negotiations with Kurt Becher, the Nazi commissar of all concentration camps. Erbelding has mined storehouses of public and private records, and tells the stories of the WRBs exploitsits successes and failuresin a clear and compelling way. While some readers might find the book too painstakingly detailed, it is a must-read for those looking for answers in the renewed debate over whether the U.S. should have taken stronger steps to stem the Holocaust. Washington, DC-based writer Daniel B. Moskowitz is a frequent contributor to World War II. This review was originally published in the October 2018 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here. When the USS Indianapolis sank in shark-infested waters, the navy unjustly held its captain responsible. It took more than 50 years to clear his name Monday, July 30, 1945 The Philippine Sea Just after midnight Captain Charles B. McVay III helped see his ship through a devastating kamikaze attack in late March 1945. (Bettmann/Getty Images) Captain Charles B. McVay III helped see his ship through a devastating kamikaze attack in late March 1945. (Bettmann/Getty Images) THE FIRST TORPEDO slammed into the heavy cruiser USS Indianapoliss starboard bow, killing dozens of men in an instant. The violent explosion ejected Captain Charles B. McVay III, 47, from his bunk in the emergency cabin just aft of the bridge. The ship whipped beneath him and set up a rattling vibration that took him back to Okinawa four months earlier. Had they been hit by another suicider? No, McVay thought. Impossible. Another shattering concussion rocked Indy amidships. Acrid white smoke immediately filled McVays cabin. He picked himself up off the deck, felt his way to the cabin door, swung around the bulkhead, and appeared on the lightless bridge, stark naked. At that moment, there were 13 men on the bridge; only three would survive. For the captain and many others, a nightmare that would span decades was just beginning. Fifteen hundred yards from Indianapolis, aboard the Imperial Japanese submarine I-58, Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto peered through his night periscope at the scene of destruction unfolding quickly before him. A hit! A hit! he shouted. His elated crew improvised a victory dance. To ensure he struck the American cruiser even if it had zigzaggeda maneuver for evading torpedoes the ship was almost sure to makeHashimoto had fired six Type 95 oxygen torpedoes in a fanwise spread. His tactic had worked. Now, on the targets main and after-turrets, skyscrapers of silver water shot toward the moon. Red tongues of flame followed immediately after, tasting the night. Hashimoto had watched the enemy send many of his fellow submarine commanders down to salty underwater graves and feared that he would fail to take a prize for Japan before the war was lost. Filled with joy, Hashimoto prepared to send a message to his commander in chief: I-58 had torpedoed a large American warship. Aboard Indianapolis, Captain McVay was trying to verify that a distress signal had been transmitted when a wall of water swept him from the ship along with hundreds of his men. From the sea, they saw the flagship of the Pacific Fleet standing on end, its stern towering over them. McVay and his men stared spellbound as Indys massive screws kept up a lazy turning, while all around them the phosphorescent water glowed like green fire. Only 12 minutes had passed since the torpedo blasts. Now, amid a roar like waves pounding the beach in a storm, Indianapolis plunged straight down. McVay looked up to see men still leaping from the stern and the giant silhouettes of Indys port screws falling directly toward his head. As he pivoted and began to swim, hot fuel oil slid up the back of his neck, and soon he heard a loud churning sound behind him. When McVay looked again, his ship was gone. Of the 1,195 men aboard Indianapolis, some 300 had gone down with the ship, including McVays executive officer, Commander Joseph Flynn, and the ships dentist, Lieutenant Commander Earl Henry Sr., whose wife had just had a baby boy. Now in the ink-black center of the Philippine Sea, 280 miles from the nearest land, McVay swiveled his head in the liquid darkness. He could hear men calling out as he floated alone in a thick layer of fuel oil, which rocked on the surface in a gooey slab, its tarry stench climbing down his throat like the caustic fumes of road construction. McVay found a pair of emergency rafts and soon after heard his quartermaster, Vince Allard, calling out in the dark. The last time McVay had seen Quartermaster Third Class Vincent Allard was on the deck, when Allard logged the captains order to cease zigzagging and return the ship to base course. Allard was struggling to support two young sailors who were in such bad shape that McVay thought they were dead. Both men, in fact, survived. North of McVays position and far out of sight, Seaman Second Class L. D. Cox swam into another young sailor, Seaman Second Class Clifford Josey, who was covered in flash burns. In the dim moonlight, it looked to Cox as if Joseys face was melting off. Cox stayed with Josey, held him, and soothed him with talk about what it was going to be like when they both got home to Texas. Within an hour, Josey was dead. Over the next five nights and four days, many such quiet heroicsalong with acts of cruelty and cowardicewould spin out across the survivor groups. Roughly 300 of the 880 men in the ocean coalesced into a single large mass. Some of these men only had life jackets; others, nothing at all. Other survivors were fortunate enough to find floater nets and rafts equipped with meager rations, flares, fishing supplies, and flashlights. Japanese submarine I-58 (above), helmed by Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, launched the torpedoes that sank the heavy cruiser. (U.S. Marine Corps/Naval History and Heritage Command) Japanese submarine I-58 (above), helmed by Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, launched the torpedoes that sank the heavy cruiser. (U.S. Marine Corps/Naval History and Heritage Command) At first, the men held out hope for rescue. But hours turned into days because the navy did not even realize the ship was missing. After delivering components to Tinian for the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, Indianapolis regrouped at the nearby base at Guam before departing for Leyte, Philippinesan 1,100-mile straight shot across the Philippine Sea. Afterward, officers at Guam had done nothing other than move Indy westward on a plotting board according to her planned speed of advancethis despite confirmed reports of an enemy sub chase dead ahead of the heavy cruisers track. At Leyte, meanwhile, when Indys estimated time of arrival came and went, naval personnel noticed her absence, but also did nothing. Furthermore, intelligence personnel had intercepted the message Hashimoto sent about sinking a large warship and had transmitted it to high-ranking officers at Guam and Pearl Harbor, along with intelligence officers working for Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. The message was missing the location and type of ship sunk, but previous intel had placed Hashimotos boat, I-58, in the same area where Indy and her men were known to be. Again, no one took action. As the days passed, hundreds of men died of their wounds or gave up hope and drowned themselves. Many sailors were taken by sharks. One moment, these predators behaved like gentle and curious giants, nosing up close to inspect the men with black, unblinking eyes. The next, they attacked, their steel-trap jaws snuffing out a mans life before he could draw a breath to scream. Thursday, August 2, 1945 Over the Philippine Sea By the morning of Thursday, August 2, the men had been in the water for four nights and three days. Wilbur Chuck Gwinn, a navy pilot, was flying over the Philippine Sea in his Lockheed PV-1 Ventura bomber. It was just after 11 a.m., and Gwinn was 350 miles north of Palau, cruising at 3,000 feet. At this altitude, he could see 20 square miles at a glance, and the sea below appeared as smooth and reflective as a foil sheet. His crew was testing a new trailing antenna that had become tangled for the third time. Frustrated, Gwinn turned the controls over to his copilot and ducked into the Venturas belly to help. Gwinn bent to take a look through a window in the deckand almost as quickly leapt to his feet and dashed for the cockpit. Whats the matter? his aviation ordnanceman shouted over the propeller noise. Gwinn shouted back, Look down and youll see! He had spotted an oil slick, which he took for the telltale trail of an enemy submarine. When he descended for his attack run, though, Gwinn saw the last the thing he expectedpeople. The pilot alerted his squadron commander at Peleliu, who dispatched a PBY-5A Catalina, or Dumbo, with Lieutenant Adrian Marks at the controls. When Marks reached the survivors, he saw that many would not last until a ship could arrive to fish them out of the sea. Then his crew saw a shark take another man; Marks, against regulations, decided to make an open-sea landing. Survivors of the sinking included Willie Hatfield and Cozell Smith, whose left arm was bandaged from a shark bite. (U.S. Navy/ National Archives) Survivors of the sinking included Willie Hatfield and Cozell Smith, whose left arm was bandaged from a shark bite. (U.S. Navy/ National Archives) Shortly after 5 p.m., against a lowering sun, Marks executed a power stall into the wind and slammed his airplane belly-first into the back of a huge swell. The Dumbos hull screeched in fury, emitting all the sounds of a crash. The crew pitched forward, safety harnesses crushing their chests. The sea rejected the plane, batting it 15 feet back into the air. Fighting physics, Marks gripped the control column with both hands. The Dumbos belly again smashed into a wave and again bouncedbut not as high this time. Marks wrestled the controls, willing the plane to obey. Finally, the Dumbo breached the swells shining skin. Marks and his crew saved 53 men. Near midnight of the mens fifth night in the water, rescue ships finally arrived and hauled aboard 263 more, though men continued to die even after rescue operations began. The ships transported survivors to base hospitals around the Philippine Sea before eventually bringing them all to Guam. While the navy encouraged the men to write letters home, it prohibited them from mentioning their whereabouts, the fact that Indianapolis had sunk, their nurses or doctors, or to refer in any way to the ordeal they had just survived. August 13, 1945 Mayfield, Kentucky Eleven days had passed since the rescue when Jane Henry, the wife of Indianapoliss dentist, hurried to the upstairs phone to answer it before the ringing woke up the baby. Jane and two-month-old Little Earl were staying with her parents, George and Bessie Covington. In his last letter, Earl Sr. had gushed about the photos of the son he had yet to meet. Wouldnt it be wonderful, he wrote, if the war was over by the time Indianapolis returned to the States? Jane Henry, wife of Indianapolis dentist Earl Henry Sr., cradles son Earl Jr. Little Earl was six weeks old when his father was lost at sea. (Courtesy of Earl ODell Henry Jr. www.earlhenrybirdprints.com) Jane Henry, wife of Indianapolis dentist Earl Henry Sr., cradles son Earl Jr. Little Earl was six weeks old when his father was lost at sea. (Courtesy of Earl ODell Henry Jr. www.earlhenrybirdprints.com) Jane snatched up the phone and heard voices already on the extension. George, we are so sorry to hear the news. What news? Jane heard her father say. The other voice paused. Horace and Arletta just got a telegram today from the navy, he said, referring to Earls parents. It says Earls missing in action. Janes insides went cold. She raised a hand to brace herself against the wall. The next day, Jane received her own version of the dreaded telegram, which she read through a curtain of tears: I DEEPLY REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR HUSBAND, EARL ODELL HENRY, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER USNR, IS MISSING IN ACTION 30 JULY 1945 IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY. YOUR GREAT ANXIETY IS APPRECIATED AND YOU WILL BE FURNISHED WITH DETAILS WHEN RECEIVED. Later that morning, a town church bell began ringing, its insistent peal floating down the street in joyous song. Another bell joined, and another, until it seemed every church tower in Mayfield had joined in some kind of rapturous chorus. George opened the door to see people spilling out of their homes, laughing and crying and embracing. Even inside the house, Jane could hear their words: Japan surrendered! The war is over! She looked down at the wrinkled telegram still clutched in her hand and wept. December 3, 1945 Washington Navy Yard Washington, DC During his court-martial, McVay detailed his whereabouts directly after the initial explosion on the night Indianapolis went down. (Bettmann/Getty Images) During his court-martial, McVay detailed his whereabouts directly after the initial explosion on the night Indianapolis went down. (Bettmann/Getty Images) Four months after being pulled from the sea, Captain Charles McVay walked into the courtroom in Building 57 at Washington Navy Yard. A week-long naval court of inquiry had recommended that McVay be tried by court-martial, the primary charge being he had endangered his ship by failing to zigzag despite the fact that, with no known submarine threat, it was standard procedure to cease zigzagging at night when visibility was poor. On September 25, Admiral Ernest King concurred. King also ordered what would come to be called a supplemental investigation. This probe roved far and deep, and the officers conducting it did not hesitate to report facts that might expose the navys failures in Indys sinking. These men sent regular updates to King. One of these updates may have sealed McVays doom. On November 9, Kings inspector general, Admiral Charles Snyder, said McVay felt the new investigation might produce evidence favorable to his case and suggested the court-martial be delayed until that investigation was complete. That would be sometime in mid-December. King first agreed to the delay, but quickly reversed himself after learning that the men conducting the investigation wished to interrogate the leading lights of the Pacific Warincluding admirals so senior they had personally accepted the Japanese surrender. On November 12, King ordered the court-martial to proceed at once. In doing so, he would ensure that the admirals testimonyand accounts of the navys inactionwould not reach the public ear. December 10, 1945 Washington, DC Sub commander Mochitsura Hashimoto stood atop a run of aircraft loading stairs and looked out at a foreign land: Washington, DC. The victor had summoned the vanquished: the U.S. Navy had called Hashimoto to testify at McVays court-martial. Already, a procession of witnesses had testified about such topics as visibility, moonlight, abandoning ship, and whether the Indianapolis crew knew of the protracted submarine chase ahead of its track, while reporters scribbled furiously. But when Hashimoto arrived, American newspapers began calling him a star witness. In a highly unusual move, the navy called Hashimoto, a defeated enemy commander, from Japan to testify at McVays court-martial. (AP Photo) In a highly unusual move, the navy called Hashimoto, a defeated enemy commander, from Japan to testify at McVays court-martial. (AP Photo) McVays attorney and his supporters ob-jected vigorously to an enemy commander testifying against an American officer. But Hashimoto ended up testifying that zigzagging would not have saved Indianapolis. Or he tried to: fatefully, an interpreter mistranslated his words, giving the opposite impression. Defense witness Captain Glynn Robert Donaho, a 15-year submarine veteran, did testify, initially, that zigzagging would not save a target from a torpedo strike. With this, momentum seemed to have swung in McVays favor. But after enduring more than 50 sometimes-condescending questions from prosecutor Captain Thomas J. Ryan, Donaho undercut all he had said by admitting that when a target ship zigzags, it can be disconcerting for a submarine commander, as it throws off his calculations. With that, a wrecking ball smashed into the defense. The military court found McVay guilty of hazarding Indy by failing to zigzag. He was sentenced to lose 200 numbers toward his advancement to commodoremeaning 200 men of McVays rank would move ahead of him for promotionwith a recommendation for clemency. McVay knew his career was over and carried his fate with stoic resignation. But grief did not fade for the families of the lost, and many undertook a campaign to never let McVay forget it. While their son or brother or father or husband had disappeared into the deep, McVay, in their view, had received a slap on the wrist and a lifetime pension. For 23 years, letters from the families of those lost, like the Joseys and the Flynns, arrived in his mailbox in envelopes that seemed sealed with venom. If it werent for you, my son would be 25 years old today! If it werent for you, Id be celebrating Christmas with my husband! If it werent for you, my girls would have a father! At first these rants came weekly. Then they tapered down and came mainly around Christmas and other milestone dates. But they never stopped. McVay bore silently the torture of those 879 Indianapolis deaths, his sense of guilt and grief swelling in that eternal river of hateful letters. Finally, it was too much. On November 6, 1968, he dressed in his usual navy uniform of a pressed khaki shirt and matching pants. At 12:30 p.m., he walked out the front door of his home in Litchfield, Connecticut, sat down on a stone step, put a .38 revolver to his temple, and pulled the trigger. McVay was not the only Indianapolis survivor to end his own life. At least a dozen more committed suicide within a few years after the sinking. Even among those who lived, no man who went into the water came out the same. June 1999 Offices of Senator Bob Smith Washington, DC When salvation came, it came 31 years later, and from an improbable source. Look, Bob, I respect you, Im on the committee with you, but come on, Senator John Warner of Virginia was saying. This is some kids school project. Is this really worth a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee? Warners response was typical of the uphill battle New Hampshire senator Bob Smith had been fighting for a year. Thats how long it had been since he had first spied a line item on his daily agenda that stopped him cold. Whats this? Smith had said, shooting a quizzical look at his legislative assistant, John Luddy. USS Indianapolis and Hunter Scott? Its a meeting with the survivors of USS Indianapolis, sir, Luddy said. Hunter Scott is an eighth grader, Luddy added. Hes a constituent of Joe Scarborough, a congressman representing Floridas 1st Congressional District. From all the material the 14-year-old had collected, one theme emerged. To a man, the survivors were still outraged over the treatment of their captain. Hunter Scott rallied to their cause. Also outraged was U.S. Navy Commander Bill Toti, the last captain of a nuclear attack submarinealso named USS Indianapolisdecommissioned the year before. Having extensively studied the navys position, Toti found their treatment of the captain offensive. At the Pentagon, he worked tirelessly on the survivors behalf. He published a new analysis of McVays role in the Indy disaster in the prestigious journal, Proceedings. As both a friend to the survivors and an aide to the vice chief of naval operations, Toti found himself uniquely positioned to influence the navys final word on McVays culpability for the disaster. To secure the Senate hearing, there was only one man Smith needed to convince: Warner, the committee chair. But Warner was opposed to reopening the issue. The navys already decided this, Warner said. Were going to stir up a hornets nest that doesnt need to be stirred up. Were going to listen, Smith said. Thats all were going to do. Exoneration comes later, if you agree with it. If you dont agree with it, we wont do it. After months of wrangling, Smith finally secured his hearing. September 14, 1999 Senate Armed Services Committee Washington, DC Three months later Senator Warner brought the hearing to order. He praised the courage of the men aboard Indianapolis that fateful night 54 years earlier, particularly those survivors present in the hearing room. Among the witnesses were the young Hunter Scott; survivor Paul Murphy, who argued that the navy had blamed McVay to avoid admitting its own mistakes; and journalist Dan Kurzman, who spotlighted his discovery of a smoking gun. Kurzman had found a memorandum buried deep in the National Archives. From the former special assistant to the navy secretary in 1945, it read: The causal nexus between the failure to zigzag and the loss of the ship appears not to have a solid foundation. In the end, however, the man who finally persuaded Warner was the same one who sank Indianapolis. In November 1999 Japanese commander Mochitsura Hashimoto of submarine I-58, then 90 years old, wrote a letter to the senator expressing his dismay over the fact that McVay was ever tried in court: I HAVE MET MANY OF YOUR BRAVE MEN WHO SURVIVED THE SINKING OF INDIANAPOLIS. I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THEM IN URGING THAT YOUR NATIONAL LEGISLATURE CLEAR THE CAPTAINS NAME. OUR PEOPLES HAVE FORGIVEN EACH OTHER FOR THAT TERRIBLE WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. PERHAPS IT IS TIME YOUR PEOPLES FORGAVE CAPTAIN MCVAY FOR THE HUMILIATION OF HIS UNJUST CONVICTION. For Warner, it was the final weight on the scale. He decided to take the exoneration resolution to the Senate floor. On October 12, 2000, the measure passed. House Joint Resolution 48 also passed, and with stronger exoneration language: that the American people should now recognize Captain McVays lack of culpability for the tragic loss of USS Indianapolis and the lives of the men who died as a result of the sinking of that vessel; and that Captain McVays military record should now reflect that he is exonerated for the loss of USS Indianapolis and so many of her crew. Finally, Captain Charles McVays record reflected his innocence. August 19, 2017 The Philippine Sea A look at Louisianas World War II training grounds A long-neglected road leads through old Camp Claiborne. (Courtesy William R. Coulson) A long-neglected road leads through old Camp Claiborne. (Courtesy William R. Coulson) IN SEPTEMBER 1941, as German troops raced toward Moscow and Japan extended its reach across the East, the United States was still playing war games. Throughout that month, the U.S. Army staged the Louisiana Maneuvers, the most extensive field exercises in its history. Thousands of nascent GIs in World War Istyle helmets fought sham battles across central Louisianas prairies, cotton fields, and pine-covered hills. Today travelers come to the region to see antebellum plantations and Civil War sites, but for me it was the Second World War that beckoned. Seventy-six Septembers after the 1941 maneuvers, I rented a car and explored the battlefields of Louisiana. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 forced preparedness on America, and in 1940 the army selected central Louisiana as a training ground. The warm climate allowed year-round operations, and the remote woodlands of Kisatchie National Forest offered plenty of space. Camp Beauregard, a mothballed World War I camp just north of Alexandria, sprang back to life. In 194041 the army carved three more facilities out of national forest lands: Camp Livingston, 10 miles north of Alexandria; Camp Claiborne, 18 miles south of Alexandria; and Camp Polk, eight miles southeast of Leesville. The maneuver area was vast, ranging from East Texas to Louisianas eastern border, with the Red River bisecting it. The action occurred in two phases, pitting Lieutenant General Benjamin Lears Second Army against Lieutenant General Walter Kruegers Third Army. Participants included a veritable whos who of future World War II commanders. Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower was Kruegers chief of staff. Major General George S. Patton led the 2nd Armored Division. General Headquarters Chief of Staff Lesley McNair, known as the brains of the army, supervised the exercises. All were under the watchful eye of U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. Nearly half a million troops participated. In light of Hitlers blitzkrieg across Europe, McNair was especially keen to test Americas armored forces, with the armys M2 and M3 tanks playing the lead roles. Infantry, artillery, air forces, paratroopers, and even cavalry troopers on horseback took part as wellnot to mention critical support troops. McNair trucked in mountains of blank rounds and even played recorded battle noises to add authenticity. Obviously, some actions had to be simulated, such as airstrikes and the destruction of bridges. Equipment shortages also hindered realism. Antitank guns, to give just one example, were often made of logs. Just as the first exercise was about to begin, on September 15, a tropical storm soaked the troops in the field. But the training went on: General Lear, based north of the Red River, attacked Kruegers forces to the south, camped on the flat prairies between Lake Charles and Lafayette. Lear planned an armored sweep around Kruegers left flank, but his slow advance allowed Krueger to blunt the attack, reposition his forces, and grab the initiative. Major General George S. Patton inspects 2nd Armored Division field exercises during the war games. (National Archives) Major General George S. Patton inspects 2nd Armored Division field exercises during the war games. (National Archives) The second exercise, nicknamed the Battle of the Bridges, commenced on September 24 with another drenching storm. In this scenario, Lear defended Shreveport from Kruegers forces attacking from the south. Lear traded space for time, destroying bridges (in simulated fashion, of course) as he retreated northwesterly up Red River Valley, forcing Kruegers engineers to construct hundreds of pontoon bridgesright alongside those already declared destroyed. The most dramatic event was Pattons armored sweep through East Texas, getting behind Lear and approaching Shreveport from the north. Though the fighting may have been simulated, the casualties sometimes were real. A pilot died in a midair collision on the first day. In another incident, two soldiers drowned trying to cross the rain-swollen Cane River near Natchitoches. But there were moments of levity, too. According to one oft-told story, maneuver umpires declared a bridge wrecked, only to see soldiers walking across it. Cant you see that bridge is destroyed?, yelled the umpire. Of course, one soldier responded. Cant you see were swimming? By the time the maneuvers ended on September 28, the soldiers had gained some insight into the rigors of a war campaign. Commanders got experience, tooand many who were found lacking the necessary skills lost their jobs. Louisiana remained an important training ground once the U.S. entered the war. The famed 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, for example, were reactivated at Camp Claiborne in 1942. After the war, Polk and Beauregard remained in army hands. Claiborne and Livingston were abandoned, and the Kisatchie National Forest swallowed them up. Tourists today will find most maneuver-related sites within an hours drive of Alexandria. Perhaps the best place to begin your explorations is the Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum at Camp Beauregard, which houses artifacts from the war years, including uniforms, equipment, weapons, and maps. But for me, the ruins of the abandoned camps held greater allure. My first stop is Camp Livingston. There is no interpretive signage at the site, but fortunately the director of the Louisiana Maneuvers museum, Richard Moran, offers to show me around. He takes me down a nondescript rural road and, before long, broken concrete slabs and crumbling vestiges of warehouses and loading docks begin to appear among the tall, fragrant pines and tangled underbrush. The shady streets have not been maintained since Roosevelt was in office and are riddled with heaves and potholes. Everything is covered with pine needles, except for a narrow path down the main road where a few vehicles occasionally pass. The war feels distant; it is hard to imagine these streets crammed with soldiers and trucks or the sound of Reveille in the morning. Among the spots Richard shows me is the old camp recreation area. The swimming pool is overgrown with brush, the deep end filled with stagnant green water. Nearby stand pillars that once supported the gymnasium walls, rising ghost-like from the forest floor. Graffiti artists have tagged the ruins, while discarded clothing, beer cans, and multicolored shotgun shells lay on the ground among the pinecones. Next I visit Camp Claiborne, the ruins of which stretch a couple of miles along State Highway 112. A few information panels mark the site of the old camp headquarters, where the 82nd and 101st Divisions were rebranded as airborne units. As at Camp Livingston, enigmatic concrete ruins dot the forest. Weathered sidewalks lead to nowhere. The woods are eerily quiet, sounds muffled by 70 years of accumulated pine needles. Nature has swallowed most of Camp Livingston, but concrete pillars from the old gymnasium remain. (Courtesy William R. Coulson) Nature has swallowed most of Camp Livingston, but concrete pillars from the old gymnasium remain. (Courtesy William R. Coulson) One sunny morning, I drive along the south bank of the Red River from Alexandria toward Natchitoches, about 50 miles northwest. Several tributary rivers and streams cross my path, most notably the Cane River, which meanders through snow-white cotton fields that seem ready to burst. The river runs slow and lazynot like the storm-swollen torrent of 1941but I nonetheless think about the two soldiers who died trying to cross it, and the hard work of the engineers during the Battle of the Bridges. I then turn westward and drive through the wooded uplands, sharing the road with rumbling trucks hauling timber stacked like giant matchsticks. A portion of State Highway 118 between Florien and Kisatchie, an area that saw considerable action in the first maneuver, is now designated the Louisiana Maneuvers Highway. A historical marker along the road at Peason Ridge highlights the impact of the war on that rural community. In 1941 the army forced its 25 resident families off their lands to create a permanent training ground. Small weather-beaten display cases poignantly exhibit memorabilia about life there before the war. There are numerous photographssmiling families, proud couples, a bearded Confederate veteran, and a local boxer, fists up, ready to fight. Soldiers still train at Peason Ridge today. As the hazy orange sun sinks into the west, I head toward New Orleans, where the next day I pay a visit to the impressive National World War II Museum. I walk through its exhibitsnumerous and marvelousbut my mind drifts back to the countryside, just a few hours to the north, where the woods and fields have their own stories to tell. WHEN YOU GO Alexandria is the best base for exploring the maneuvers area. Alexandria International Airport is served by American, Delta, and United airlines. In addition to Camp Beauregards Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum (geauxguardmuseums.com), the Fort Polk Museum (jrtc-polk.army.mil/museum.html) and Long Leafs Southern Forest Heritage Museum (longleaf.la) also have exhibits about the maneuvers. WHERE TO STAY AND EAT Alexandrias Hotel Bentley (hotelbentleyandcondos.com) offers the areas most elegant lodging option. The likes of Eisenhower and Patton once walked its fine mosaic floors and marbled hallways. Inside is a small exhibit of the war years. Louisiana is noted for its unique Cajun cuisine. The southern edge of the maneuvers area between Lake Charles and Lafayette offers the best options for tasty boudin, crawfish, and gumbo. WHAT ELSE TO SEE AND DO Camp or hike Kisatchie National Forest (fs.usda.gov/kisatchie), but bring your bug spray. The maneuvers passed through what is today the Cane River Creole National Heritage Area (nps.gov/crha), south of Natchitoches, which preserves the areas multicultural history. During the Civil War, real battles raged in Red River Valley: Mansfield battlefield and Forts Randolph and Buhlow are both maintained by Louisiana State Parks (crt.state.la.us/Louisiana-state-parks). This column was originally published in the October 2018 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here. COULD THE UNITED STATES have stopped the Holocaust? The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum attempts to answer this question with a major exhibit, Americans and the Holocaust, that explores the countrys response to Nazism. Following the rise of Hitler, many Jews in Germany attempted to seek refuge in the States. But when they arrived by ship at American ports, restrictive immigration policies implemented by Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long turned them away. Long, who supervised the State Departments visa division, cited national security concerns in actively seeking to reduce the number of Jewish refugees immigrating to the States. Longand many Americansbelieved the fleeing refugees could include spies or saboteurs. To suppress aid and rescue efforts, he deliberately misrepresented records of U.S. refugee acceptance numbers and even stifled incoming reports to Washington about the mass murder of Jews in Europe. Beyond Longs sabotage, Americans and the Holocaust highlights evidence of American apathy and racism toward not only Jews but African and Asian Americans within its own bordersincluding legalized segregation, Jim Crow laws, and Japanese American internmentas well as indifference to news reports of the Nazis increasingly violent anti-Semitic rule. Through interconnecting rooms, visitors can explore a timeline of historical displays featuring coverage of Nazism through American newpapers, newsreels, and film that evidence the mounting pressure for Washington to respond as Hitlers bloody campaign peaked. Each section contains interactive displays, photos, videos, documents, and short documentaries on wartime views of Nazism. As news headlines spotlighted Nazi Germanys ill treatment of its own citizens throughout the 1930s, the Roosevelt administration stayed uncomfortably silent. One possible reason for that is shown in a display of a 1938 poll revealing that two-thirds of Americans believed that German Jews were either entirely or partly to blame for their own persecution. While the museum unmasks the reasons for Washingtons silence, it also provokes questions about why Roosevelt, despite early knowledge of Germanys atrocities, took no action, and why Americans remained skeptical even when confronted with reports of the death camps. Can America be held responsible? The United States alone could not have prevented the Holocaust, the museums website explains, but more could have been done to save some of the six million Jews who were killed. In trying to provide an overview of complex answers to complex questions, Americans and the Holocaust uncovers the unpleasant truth of what happens when those with the power to help fail to reach out to the most vulnerable of our earthly population. Rasheeda Smith is associate editor of World War II. This review was originally published in the October 2018 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here. THE AVERAGE MILITARY ENTHUSIAST or student of African American history knows little about the life and struggles of the first black national hero of World War II, Doris Dorie Miller. The popular depiction of Miller is that of a cook aboard a battleship anchored at Pearl Harbor who leaps into action to save his mortally wounded captain during the Japanese attack. Miller then mans a .50-caliber machine gun and, although he has had no formal training, shoots down enemy aircraft. For his bravery, he is awarded the Navy Cross and receives national recognition. At that moment in American history, Dorie Miller represents the inefficiency and irrationality of racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces. For most individuals, this is where Millers story ends, but for authors Cutrer and Parrish, this is where it begins. The authors successfully highlight just how much Miller reflects the average African American serviceman in World War II. He was an improbable hero from a rural community in Texas, whose parents were farmers and grandparents were former slaves, much like my grandfather, and many others. Miller joins the navy at 19 to help support his family and escape the poverty, racism, and disenfranchisement typical of the African American experience. His race and lack of education relegate him to the position of a messman, charged with making beds and shining shoes for white sailors and officers. After Pearl Harbor, a war bond tour thrusts Miller into the national scene, where his newfound celebrity becomes a burden and a source of anxiety for him and he grows increasingly depressed about his chances to live a prosperous life postwar. After receiving the Navy Cross, he tells his brother, my life is a holy hell. The white folks never did like me because Im colored. Now the colored guys aboard ship do not like me because they say I think Im somebody special. Miller convinces himself that his next active duty assignment will be a suicide mission. And, sure enough, when he returns to duty, a Japanese submarine sinks his ship. Two years to the day of his heroism, on December 7, 1943, the Navy Department notifies his parents that he is missing in action and presumed dead. While the book is thoroughly researched and well written, the authors fall short in their desire to demonstrate that Millers entrance on the national scene reflects the birth of the civil rights movement. In fact, the civil rights movement and its connection to African American military bravery and service predate the American Revolution. The authors also share the romantic notion that Miller and others like him had a moral or ethical impact on Washington and the U.S. Armed Forces that led to greater awareness and sensitivity to the talents and loyalties of black men and women. But changes in equal opportunity for blacks in the service were motivated by the need for military efficiency and to serve the political interest of national leaders. The fact remains that despite countless examples of African American sacrifice and heroism for the first 300 years of our nations history, blacks were denied civil liberties and experienced racial violence without judicial recourse until relatively recently. Marcus S. Cox is the associate dean of graduate programs and professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana. This review was originally published in the October 2018 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here. Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (L) shakes hands with visiting Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) Xu Qiliang in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sept. 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xiaowei) ASTANA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with visiting Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) Xu Qiliang here on Tuesday, pledging to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields. Kazakhstan and China are friendly neighbors and important cooperation partners, Tokayev said, adding that Kazakhstan greatly values its long friendship with China and supports the Belt and Road Initiative. Kazakhstan firmly supports China on international issues and is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in such fields as politics, economy, culture and security, the Senate chairman said. The two countries would jointly fight against the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism and improve the livelihood of both peoples, Tokayev said. Xu, also member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said China and Kazakhstan have established a stable comprehensive strategic partnership thanks to the efforts of the two countries' heads of state, and are enjoying a further development of bilateral ties. Noting the alignment of China's Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) economic program, as well as the "Chinese dream" and the "Kazakhstan dream," Xu said this would bring more welfare to the peoples of the two countries. Together with Kazakhstan, China is ready to fulfill the important consensuses reached by the two heads of state, deepen the pragmatic cooperation and exchanges between the two militaries as well as strategic mutual trust, and secure regional peace and stability with joint efforts, Xu said. During his visit to the Central Asian country, Xu also met with Defense Minister of Kazakhstan Nurlan Ermekbaev. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Our Dual Focus PhD series tracks the working lives of our part-time PhD fellows. Many work at the highest of levels, both nationally and internationally, including for other parts of the UN System. They come to Maastricht for our unique PhD Dual Career Training Programme in Governance and Policy Analysis ( GPAC ). This time Dr. Mindel van de Laar speaks to Atsuko Okuda , who is pursuing a PhD alongside working as Chief, ICT and Development Section at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ( ESCAP ) Midsummer, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) published the E-Governance A powerful tool toward resilient, inclusive and sustainable disaster risk management. You contributed as an author on e-resilience and e-government. Can you please elaborate what the survey and publication are about? The UN E-Government Survey is one of DESAs flagship publications. The report is published every other year under a specific theme of emerging e-government issues. The report is the only e-government report which covers 193 countries along the three components of telecommunication infrastructure, online service and human capital. It provides policymakers, academics and practitioners with valuable data, insights and analysis on different dimensions of e-government across the globe. The E-Government Survey 2018: Gearing E-Government to Support Transformation towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies addresses risks and vulnerabilities in society. In Asia and the Pacific where I work, natural disasters, ranging from earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions to glacier lake outbursts, destroy hard-won development gains. How to maximize the use of ICT to better prepare and manage disaster risks is a development imperative. We at the UN ESCAP promote the concept and operationalization of e-resilience, as part and parcel of e-government. E-resilience encompasses a spectrum of ICT applications and infrastructure, defined as the use of ICTs during all phases of disaster risk management prevention, reduction, preparedness, response and recovery towards reducing risk and impact and maintaining the gains made towards sustainable development, including through e-government. The operationalization has been taking place as part of the implementation of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS), a regional broadband connectivity initiative which was developed and launched by ESCAPs 62 member countries. The significant momentum for e-resilience has been built based on good practices and lessons learned emanating from regions major disasters. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake cut fibre optic cables which affected the emergency and rescue operations. Learning from the lessons, the government and telecom operators introduced various measures and systems which helped provide resilient emergency communication which was later found effective in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes in the western part of Japan. Against this background, we gladly accepted the invitation from DESA to contribute a chapter on e-resilience. Our contributions have also reflected emerging technology trends, covering artificial intelligence, social media integration, space applications and geo-referenced systems to build resilient societies. How do you think e-governance can contribute to faster, more efficient and more effective responses by governments in case of emergencies? And how can we make governments more resilient, and better able to manage the e-developments? The Chapter illustrates how e-government solutions have been helping governments enhance the effectiveness of emergency responses and reduce disaster risks across the world. In Bhutan, for example, the Department of Hydro Med Services developed a meteorological, hydrological and glacier lake outburst warning system. Equipped with sensors and real time data, the system generates actionable information to alert people to evacuate in time. Resilient governments can save peoples lives and critical assets and at the same time facilitate e-developments. For instance, a resilient government should be able to maintain and protect vital information, such as civil registration records of the population. School enrolment, employment, financial transaction, land registrations and other transactions depend on the existence and integrity of such information. Although we take it for granted, a resilient government provides the basis for e-developments by ensuring the authenticity of such information and providing critical services to citizens even at a time of crisis and emergency. In order to materialize the vision of resilient government, all the components should be in place, including 24/7 telecommunications services, backups of data and applications, emergency power supply and human and institutional capacity, just to name a few. Can you tell us what you do on a daily basis, and how governments benefit from the ESCAPs involvement? As mentioned earlier, we are promoting the regional broadband connectivity initiative, called Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS). E-resilience and inclusive broadband are two main pillars of the initiative. We believe that in order to advance e-resilience, we need to address the digital divide as a matter of urgency. According to our analysis, the broadband access gap between developing and developed countries is widening, leaving the majority of people behind in the digital transformation. All the above e-resilience initiatives and new capabilities depend on the availability, resilience and affordability of broadband connectivity not only in urban but also rural areas. Our team is undertaking research and analyses to identify root causes of the digital divide and assess the uptake and impact of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain. The findings form the basis for policy recommendations, regional policy dialogues and regional cooperation to address the challenges and find solutions collectively. For that purpose, we invite all the member countries, partners, research institutes and civil society organizations to our intergovernmental meetings. In 2017, you started your PhD in the GPAC2 programme. Your topic of study is e-governance compliance, with a particular case study of a country to be implemented. Can you share your PhD topic, and why that is particularly relevant for e-governance implementation? My daily work inspired me to study deeper into e-governance, in particular how people interact with technologies such as e-governance in the developing country context. E-governance initiatives are designed to offer an unprecedented amount and visibility of data and information which can be aggregated, disaggregated and analysed to identify patterns and help improve policies, procedures, and processes. Despite the fact that similar e-governance functions and initiatives have been implemented across the world, the evidenced outcomes seem to vary markedly. My research explores the relationships between e-governance institutional instruments and compliance among government users as a conduit to explain the variation. It answers the question: How and in what situations do e-governance institutional instruments lead to a change in the type of e-governance compliance among government users? I hope that this research will provide empirical evidence of factors and processes critical to e-governance compliance among government employee users in the process of e-governance implementation, which has not been researched adequately in the past. Additionally, the practical implication and application for policy making are expected to be significant. The findings, I hope, will help improve the design of e-governance initiatives, considering the roles of identified key factors, for more effective development interventions and accelerated achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Source: https://www.merit.unu.edu/e-governance-is-helping-us-build-more-resilient-societies/ Andrea Harrington is cheered as she arrives at Flavours of Malaysia on Tuesday night. Sheriff Thomas Bowler and Paul Caccaviello. Third-place finisher Judith Knight was disappointed by cheerful. Harrington supporters cheer as numbers come in. City Councilor Melissa Mazzeo and Paul Caccaviello at the polls. Tom Sakshaug and former City Councilor Jonathan Lothrop at the polls in support of Harrington. Former District Attorney David Capeless at Mazzeo's. Paul Caccaviello telling supporters around 10 p.m. that the race isn't over. City Councilor John Krol at the Harrington party. State Rep. John Barrett and Andrea Harrington. John Barrett III. Andrea Harrington with her family after claiming victory. Harrington supporters cheer the results. PreviousNext Harrington Claims Victory in Tight District Attorney Race Harrington takes the stage to thank her supporters. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The race for the district attorney post turned into long slog into the evening as incumbent Paul Caccaviello attempted to fend off prime challenger Andrea Harrington. The lead between the candidates shifted as the votes in the two cities were recorded but narrowed as ballots from the smaller towns came streaming in. Harrington opened up a lead that couldn't be overcome. It was after 11 p.m. before Harrington, a defense attorney, claimed victory, her supporters chanting "Andrea, Andrea" as she took the microphone to thank them. But she and her followers were already primed as she spoke them at Flavours of Malaysia, earlier in the evening her message filled with hope. "We fight and we fight and we don't win," she said, referring to the often disenfranchised. "But it looks like tonight we may have changed that story ... "It looks like this county has chosen hope over fear. Our best days in Berkshire County are in front of us not behind us." While the winner is going on to the general election, there's no one on the ballot to oppose the Democratic nominee. Caccaviello, the handpicked successor for District Attorney David Capeless, conceded not long after 11 p.m. when it became apparent he couldn't overcome the widening gap in the polls. "I called her earlier and conceded the primary. She ran a tenacious campaign," Caccaviello said. "You watch the numbers and percentages as far as who called in and it gets to that point." The 30-year veteran prosecutor won his hometown of Dalton by nearly the double the votes of Harrington but was only able to stay 600 votes ahead of her in the big prize of Pittsfield. Harrington, meanwhile, saw her investment in North County pay off by taking all five of North Adams' wards and pummeling Caccaviello and third candidate Judith Knight in Williamstown nearly four to one. The incumbent, however, was able to hold the more conservative Adams and Cheshire but not enough to wipe out Harrington's lead. Around 10 p.m., Caccaviello addressed his supporters at Mazzeo's and warned them it wasn't over yet. "It's obviously a very tight race, a very close race," he said to the cheering crowd. "I would tell you that the effort of everyone in this room and beyond supporting me in this candidacy has been overwhelming ... I think it's going to be a long night. Let's hope that we get the numbers this campaign deserves ... "This is a county that deserves public safety, public service and people that want to do the work and do justice for the people we serve." And it still might not be over yet. Caccaviello is planning to take a couple of days to reflect on the campaign but at this point, he wouldn't rule out a write-in campaign in the November general election. "It is really to evaluate options and maybe consider a write-in campaign. You have to think about that if it is this close," Caccaviello said. Caccaviello supporters had an up-and-down evening at Mazzeo's as they were elated with early reported wins in various Pittsfield wards. The city is the largest voting section and a large win there is difficult to overcome. But, soon, Williamstown's numbers came in and brought a damper to the party as that lead established in Pittsfield was wiped away with Harrington making up just about all of the difference. That was shortly followed by news that Harrington had won in North Adams. But, the roars of applause went up when a number of towns tipped Caccaviello's way. Paul Caccaviello was surrounded by supporters when he watched the results come in. Those at that event included Capeless, Sheriff Thomas Bowler, City Councilors Melissa Mazzeo, Anthony Simonelli, and Kevin Morandi. But Harrington still kept a lead with only a few towns left to report and the unofficial results became more clear. At Flavours in Pittsfield, Harrington supporters were collecting the outstanding numbers. Then after Lee's numbers arrived, former City Councilor Barry Clairmont made an announcement to supporters that Harrington had enough votes to declare a victory. Cheers erupted and in the Harrington camp were the likes of state Reps. John Barrett III and Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Mayor Linda Tyer, City Councilors Peter Marchetti, John Krol, Helen Moon, and Pete White. Tyer and Barrett then took the stage to announce Harrington as the next district attorney. And that's when Harrington got the call. Unsure if there would be a concession given how close of a race it was, Harrington was on stage ready to declare when Caccaviello called. Meanwhile, Knight, who trailed in third place, conceded early in the evening that her campaign had "been a long shot." "All things considered I did pretty well and if I had more time and more able to go further, I think it would have turned things," she said. "I got my message out, which is the most important." Knight claimed both the progressive mantle and the experience, having worked as prosecutor, public defender and defense attorney. Programs she was talking about in her first run for the district attorney's office were now coming to fruition and she said she isn't about to see the winner drop the ball and that she'll be watching what unfolds in the coming years carefully. The campaigning, she said, was a little too political and less about issues. Knight believes Harrington had gotten a big boost of support from the Pittsfield mayor's office and that Caccaviello had been a little late in realizing he'd have to fight for his job. "I feel I stayed true to what I know. I stayed true to my heart," Knight said, laughing as she didn't rule out another try if the next district attorney doesn't live up to expectations. Town and city clerks were happy with the turnout, saying it was higher than normal for a primary. In many towns, the turnout for this primary exceeded that of the last presidential primary. North Adams City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau didn't have final numbers on the voting the new machines apparently don't total quite the same as the old ones but believed it had been a good, steady turnout. "The new machines are working great," Gomeau said. The city had pegged turnout at about 13.6 percent at 4:30, prior to the after-work rush. Last year's state representative primary saw a 28 percent turnout. In Lenox, the turnout was 33 percent, with 1,477 votes cast out of 3,178 registered voters. Cheshire Town Clerk Christine Emerson was also pleased with the primary voting. "We had a very good 597, just about double what we do for a primary," she said. That voter turnout may have helped push Harrington to victory. It was all smiles and cheers at Harrington's victory party, as she thanked family, friends and supporters for the effort that put into her campaign. "We have worked harder and smarter than ever thought possible," she said, adding that "campaigns aren't won by complicated strategies" but by phone calls, emails, house meetings and knocking on doors. "I told her she had to produce a ground game ... she produced a ground game second to none," said Barrett, an early supporter. Harrington took time to applaud the work of Caccaviello, saying she'd heard from victims across the county how he had fought for them. Her husband, Tim Walsh, reminded them that "there's no dancing in the end zone for us, there's a lot of work to be done." "To everybody who voted for me, who believed in me, who believed together we can build a new future for Berkshire County," Harrington said. "For all the people who did not vote for me, I promise I will work just as hard for you as I work for everybody else." On Tuesday night, Harrington and her supporters celebrated but she is prepared to start working on changing the direction of the office right away. Dennis Powell, president of the local NAACP branch and a member of the School Committee, told supporters that "we voted her in and now we have to support her." Meanwhile, Caccaviello compared the campaign to a trial: he made his best case and the jury - or in this case the voters - decided. Source: Jane's 360 Chinas Wuchang Shipbuilding has held a first steel cutting ceremony for the Royal Thai Navys (RTNs) first S26T (Thailand) diesel-electric submarine (SSK). Steel for the vessel was cut on 4 September at Wuhan, China, in a ceremony attended by senior officials from the RTN. The RTN signed a contract with the China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC) in May 2017 for one S26T SSK. The government-to-government contract is worth THB13.5 billion (USD410 million), and calls for the delivery of the boat by 2023. The S26T SSK is derived from the Peoples Liberation Army Navys Yuan-class (Type 041) submarine, but neither the RTN nor CSOC has given further details of the platform. Gonzalez Wins Primary to Take on Charlie Baker NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The local district attorney's race was the hottest ticket in Tuesday's primary but there were plenty of other races on the ballots for both parties. On the Democratic side, Jay Gonzalez outpolled Bob Massie by nearly double to move onto the general election. A former administrator under Gov. Deval Patrick, he'll face popular Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who's pursuing a third term. For lieutenant governor, Quentin Palfrey bested Jimmy Tingle to win the nomination with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Palfrey's been in the Berkshires fairly frequently over the past months. William Galvin easily swept challenger Josh Zakim to for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state. Galvin, who's been in office since 1995, has no competition in the general election. Veteran Congressman Richard Neal easily fended off his opponent Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a Springfield attorney, to move onto the general election for the 1st Massachusetts District for which he faces no competition. Though he outpolled Amatul-Wadud by nearly 70 percent, she was a known figure in Berkshire County, coming within 70 votes of him in Williamstown and was doing better comparably to some other towns. The only other local race was for state senator in which incumbent Adam Hinds won easily over challenger Thomas Wickham with nearly 90 percent of the vote. There was more jockeying on the Republic side as candidates vied to take on their Democratic compatriots. Baker easily outpolled his primary opponent Scott Lively in a light election. Only about 227,000 votes were cast in the Republican gubernatorial primary compared to 467,000 in the Democratic. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito had no primary opponent. James McMahon won more than 60 percent of the vote against Daniel Shores for the Republican nomination for attorney general. He will face off with incumbent Democrat Maura Healey, who had no primary opponent. Geoff Diehl, a state representative, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate over John Kingston and Beth Lindstrom. Democrat Elizabeth Warren, the state's senior senator, immediately accepted three televised debates with Diehl in the coming months: one on Oct. 21 at the Western Mass Consortium with local news; one on Oct. 30, in Boston on WCVB; and a third on WBZ to be announced. The Museum of Dog is needs more room to run. Museum of Dog Planning Move to Larger Quarters in Pittsfield NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Museum of Dog needs a bigger doghouse. Owner David York had plans to rehabilitate the former Quinn's Paint & Wallpaper building at the corner of Canal and Union streets but now says the historic building isn't large enough for his collection of dog artifacts and art and to do the programming he's planning. "We are averaging over 800 visitors per week and we are out of room," York wrote in an email about putting the building on the market. "People are driving 2 to 3 hours for experiences at Museum of Dog with their dogs." York opened his collection in the 8,000-square-foot building earlier this year. The museum has received an enormous amount of fanfare in articles across the country, including in Parade and The Boston Globe. Plans have been to restore the building to its original condition since the closure of Quinn's it's seen several uses, most recently as a bar and an antiques store. "The Union Street building has been great due to its history, location and character," York wrote. "We certainly need more [square] footage on one or 2 levels to accommodate Nat Geo and Sundance dog short films and a few other new collections I've acquired." He purchased the building almost a year ago for $220,000 and has listed the property for $299,000 with Burnham Gold Real Estate York made his fortune in real estate and opened Atlanta's first doggy day-care facility and a couple facilities in Texas. He also had been active with animal rescues in the Atlanta area. Since arriving in North Adams, York has become more invested in the city. He recently opened Bowlin' on the River, a salad and coffee shop on Marshall Street, and has plans for a second coffee shop on Main Street. He's also become involved with local dog and humane shelter activities, most recently judging the grand marshal for the Fall Foliage Festival Parade. This year's theme is "Year of the Dog" based largely on his museum. York said the decision of where to move the Museum of Dog has so far been narrowed to two locations but did not yet indicate where those buildings are. Update 3:27 p.m.: While York did not respond to a query earlier in the day about whether he was leaving North Adams, he later told The Berkshire Eagle that he was looking in Pittsfield because he could not find anything suitably sized in downtown North Adams or that would not require rezoning. Soldiers from China, Australia and the US conduct a whitewater rafting exercise at Tully River in Cairns, Australia. (Photo by Sheng Chuyi) By Sheng Chuyi and Zhang Huaiying CAIRNS, Sep. 5 (ChinaMil) -- Exercise Kowari-2018, a trilateral survival training exercise among China, Australia and the US, was held from Aug. 29 to Sept. 5 in Cairns, Australia. Mixed into three combined teams, thirty soldiers from the Chinese Marine Corps, the Australian Army, the US Army and the US Marine Corps carried out joint exercises including such subjects as mountain marching, sea kayaking, canyon crossing and whitewater rafting. The Kowari joint exercise is an important platform for the militaries of China, Australia and the US to maintain positive interaction, deepen mutual understanding and enhance mutual trust. This is the fifth Kowari joint exercise hosted in Australia. It is also the first time that China sends its Marines to participate in the joint exercise. The exercises were carried out in the dangerous terrain and virgin forest around Cairns. The participants have to deal with waves, rapids, whirlpools, crocodiles, cliffs and other dangers, which is the good test and training of military skills, psychological quality, will and team spirit. China, Australia and the US also sent high-level delegations to observe the exercise on site. Senior Captain Chen Weidong, deputy chief of staff of the Chinese Marine Corps, said in an interview that the Chinese participating soldiers, through exchanges with the Australian and US forces, have further understood the direction and goals of military construction in other countries and improved the skills for survival and extreme challenges in the wild. The joint exercise has also deepened mutual trust, provided a bridge for future training exchanges and promoted friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Australian, as well as Chinese and American militaries, Senior Captain Chen added. The US Marine Corps Col. James Schnelle, commanding officer of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, said that the Chinese participating soldiers have strong capabilities in overcoming difficulties and are very united during the joint exercise. The eight male and two female soldiers representing the Chinese Marines in the joint exercise have won wide praise for their superb skills, excellent conduct and self-confidence. Soldiers from China, Australia and the US conduct whitewater rafting exercise at Tully River in Cairns, Australia. (Photo by Zhang Huaiying) iWorld | Telecom 60% ad inventory for 'Bigg Boss' 12 sold The launch of the festive season in India generally coincides with the start of the most popular reality show on TV - Big Boss. Produced by Endemol Shine and broadcast on Colors, the show is in its twelfth successful run. continue reading... iWorld | Telecom New telecom policy may go to Cabinet in 2 weeks: DoT's Sundararajan The new telecom policy -- branded as the National Digital Communications Policy -- is expected to be placed before the Indian Cabinet for approval in two weeks, a top official said on Tuesday. continue reading... iWorld | Social Media India one of the fastest growing AR markets: Facebook India is one of the fastest growing regions for augmented reality (AR) technology and Facebook is providing tools like AR Studio for developers and creators in the country to help them create unique experiences, according to ET. continue reading... We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Actor Luv Sinha, who debuted in 2010, will be seen after eight years in Paltan. Sinha told India-West that signing the J.P. Dutta war drama was his best birthday gift. (photo provided) Stellar IT Solutions has filed a lawsuit on behalf of one of its Indian American workers, whose H-1B renewal application was denied by USCIS. The agency has dramatically increased its number of Requests for Evidence and has been denying a greater number of applications from Indian nationals. (Stellar Software Networks photo) The World Hindu Congress is set to hold its second conference in Chicago. The three-day conference, expected to draw a large Indian American audience as well, will be held from Sept. 7 through Sept. 9. (photo provided) Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying speaks at a daily briefing in this file photo. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn] The Philippines moved the BRP Gregorio del Pilar from the Banyue Shoal early on Tuesday morning, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, adding that China hasn't found any environmental damage, such as an oil spill. The Philippine military vessel ran aground near the Banyue Shoal in the Nansha Islands on Aug 29. China has followed the incident closely and has kept in contact with the Philippines, Hua told a news conference on Wednesday. The Philippines informed China of the incident and its rescue plan after the stranding happened, and both sides had discussions over China's assistance, Hua said. China's coast guard, on duty in the waters, had good interaction with the Philippine ships, and the Philippines expressed appreciation for China's goodwill, Hua said. Home Search ICH IDF Confirms: Israel Provided Weapons, Cash to Syrian "Rebels" Editors Note September 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The article below was published by the Jerusalem Post On September 04, 2018 . It has since been removed and is no longer available as the screen grab below shows. A search on Google confirms that the article was available Thankfully the article was archived here and is reproduced below. ====== IDF Confirms: Israel Provided Light-weapons to Syrian Rebels Bashar Assad claimed that Israel had been providing arms to terror groups and its forces had regularly seized arms and munitions with inscriptions in Hebrew. By Anna Ahronheim IDF gives urgent treatment to Syria refugees, June 30, 2018.. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMANS UNIT) The Israeli army has admitted, for the first time, that it provided large amounts of cash, weapons and ammunition to Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights. While the IDF maintains that it was not intervening in Syrias civil war, on Monday it confirmed that as part of Operation Good Neighbor Israel had been regularly supplying Syrian rebels near its border with light weapons and ammunition in order to defend themselves from attacks and a substantial amount of cash to buy additional arms. Through Operation Good Neighbor, which was launched in 2016 the Israeli military had provided over 1524 tons of food, 250 tons of clothes, 947,520 liters of fuel, 21 generators, 24,900 palettes of medical equipment and medicine. Reports first surfaced of Israel providing arms and cash to rebel groups several years ago, with the regime of Bashar Assad claiming that Israel had been providing arms to terror groups and its forces had regularly seized arms and munitions with inscriptions in Hebrew. According to reports Israel had been arming at least seven different rebel groups in Syrias Golan Heights, including the Fursan al-Joulan rebel group which had around 400 fighters and had been given an estimated $5,000 per month by Israel. Israel stood by our side in a heroic way, the group's spokesperson, Moatasem al-Golani, told the The Wall Street Journal in a January 2017 report. We wouldn't have survived without Israel's assistance. The army believes that the decision to provide weapons and cash to the rebel groups along the border with Israels Golan Heights was the right decision. Israels aim in providing the weapons and cash to rebel groups throughout Operation Good Neighbor which shut down once the Assad regime retook control of the Golan Heights in July, was to keep troops belonging to Hezbollah and Iran away from Israels Golan Heights. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air power and Iranian backed Shiite militia fighters, have been recapturing large swathes of territory and is now believed to have control over 70% of the war-torn country. While Syrian troops have once again been deployed to the border with Israel, in order to prevent an escalation between the two enemy countries, Russian military police have been deployed along the Golan Heights border along with UN Peacekeepers. Israel has warned against Irans entrenchment in Syria and has stressed time and again that Syrian soil can not serve as a forward operating base by Iran and that the war-torn country cannot be a waystation for arms smuggling to Hezbollah in Lebanon. While Israels military had been carrying out operation against Iranian targets in Syria for several years, its extent only became public after an Israeli Air Force F-16 which was taking part in retaliatory strikes was downed by Syrian air defenses in February. Last year Former Israel Air Force head Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amir Eshel stated that the IAF carried out 100 airstrikes in Syria over the past five years. On Monday the military announced that in the past year and half alone, Israel has carried out 202 strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter ==See Also== Jerusalem Post to RT: Report on IDF funding Syrian rebels pulled on request of army's censor' IDF has forced the Jerusalem Post to remove its explosive report on the Israeli military giving weapons to the Syrian rebels, the newspapers managing editor confirmed to RT. We were told by the armys military censor to remove that part of the story, David Brinn, the managing editor of the Jerusalem Post told RT as he replied to a request for comment. The report, IDF confirms: Israel provided light-weapons to Syrian rebels, which claimed that the Israeli military acknowledged for the first time that it had provided money, weapons and ammunition to the Syrian militants, was removed just hours after being published without any explanation. According to Brinn, the story was removed for security reasons evidently. The IDF told RT that it would not comment on the issue. ===== 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. September 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Andrei Martyanov has answered my question. I agree with everything Martyanov says . But I believe my question remains unanswered. Probably it is my fault. Perhaps I framed the question so sharply that it came across as an attack on Putins level-headed policy. Also, my use of the phrase turning the other cheek could have implied denigration of Putin rather than my admiration for his level-headedness and humane approach to his great responsibility. I understand Putins policy. I agree with Martyanov that it is the only policy that makes sense. I also agree with Martyanov that the correlation of forces has changed dramatically in Russias favor. But to use another phrase, I am concerned about the slip between the cup and the lip. I think something needs to be done to halt Washingtons provocations before they become so extreme that matters get out of hand. Historically, provocations do tend to get out of hand, more often than not. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Perhaps Russia has prevented, by exposing it in advance, the false flag chemical attack that Washington had in the works in order to have an excuse for another missile attack on Syria, an attack designed by Washington to disrupt Syrias elimination of the last stronghold of Washingtons proxy army in Syria. That Washington would actually use an obvious false flag chemical incident to attack Syria a second time in defiance of Russia does not indicate that Washington understands that its power is not what it was. I agree with Martyanov that Washington should understand that, but I am not sure Washington does. Further evidence that Washington does not understand the new correlation of power is the political, academic, and media treatment of Professor Stephen Cohen, perhaps Americas premier Russian scholar. Cohen sees all the dangers in the current level of tensions that I see, and he is denigrated as a Putin stooge for his balanced analysis. I am on the CIA- or George Soros- or National Endowment for Democracy- or Israel Lobby-funded PropOrNot list of Russian agents/dupes. Indeed, Martyanovs own excellent book, which I recently reviewed, explains the extraordinary myths in which Washington lives. I doubt Washington escaped, as Martyanov seems to think, from its self-made Matrix between 2014 and 2018. Countries as full of themselves as America is dont sober up in four years without a revealing military defeat or an economic collapse for which no fix is available. Indeed, Martyanov begins his excellent book with Alexis de Tocquevilles analysis of American hubris in 1837. Hubis is the definition of American existence. Or consider this for example: The open wound of Novorussia is festering. Washington is pouring arms into Ukraine https://russia-insider.com/en/trumps-envoy-kurt-volker-us-eager-drastically-expand-military-aid-ukraine/ri24663 . I think that Putin left this wound open, because he did not want to enable Washingtons propaganda to inflame Europes fears of more annexations on top of the alleged annexation of Crimea. This was a sound decision consistent with Martyanovs explanation, but it is an opportunity for the neoconservatives who Martyanov correcly understands to have a tendency to be unrealistic. It is those unrealistic times that are dangerous. I dont think Washington has yet lost its hubris. My reference to Napoleon and Hitler is meant only as examples of the extraordinary mistakes that people lost in their hubris can make. Ordinary peoples probably do not perceive the limitations on American power that Martyanov describes. What they hear are belligerent US accusations and threats against Russia and the presentation of their own president as a traitor who has to be impeached because he wants peace with Russia and is involved in a conspiracy with Putin against America. With their own perceptions influenced by Washingtons propaganda, populations in the US and Europe cannot serve as constraints on their governments belligerence toward Russia. When we read in the British press that the militarily impotent UK is preparing for war with Russia, where is there realization of the real correlation of forces? To say that the UK is preparing for war against Russia is like saying that the local Boy Scout troop is preparing for war against Russia. It makes no sense, and this absence of sense is a big concern. It seems to me that some decisive response by Russia that signaled a clear defeat for Washington would bring awareness to Western populations that their governments are risking all of our lives by provoking incidents in which Washington does not hold a winning hand. The idea that the militarily impotent European countries, who are incapable of preventing themselves from being overrun by refugees from Washingtons wars in behalf of Israel in the Middle East and North Africa, serve as any sort of NATO constraint on Russian military power is totally absurd. Jean Raspails The Camp of the Saints is happening before our eyes. Europe is ceasing to exist. Already London, England, has a Muslim Mayor. There are a lot of things Putin could do short of the easy task of sinking US shipsevery one of which is totally indefensible against Russian hypersonic missiles. The US Navy is poised to attack Syria. Syria is a Russian ally that Putin has spent Russian lives, money, and prestige helping to clear Syria of the insurgents Washington sent to overthrow Syria in order to establish chaos in place of an organized country. Putin could have equipped Syria with the S-300 and/or S-400 air defense system. Russia (and China) could enter into an alliance with Syria and Iran that suggests or implies, without declaring it, mutual defense provisions. This would introduce an element of caution in the West that is missing. The more the West has caution, the less the risk of war. If Russia stands aside or accepts attacks on Syria and Novorussia, Russia tells Washington that there is no need for caution. My concern is that there are many ways to end up in war. Unanswered provocations and unaddressed open wounds are two ways of getting there. All that I am suggesting is that some thought be given to these possibilities. If provocations produce an unintended showdown, a mistake made with nuclear weapons would be the last mistake of the human race. The Saker intends to answer my question. We will see where he takes this issue. I will say that this discussion has risks for each of us, because those we are attempting to alert, warn, and to bring out of their insouciance will characterize us as Russian agents and Putin stooges for doubting US primacy. We will be accused of trying to protect Russia with a peace campaign. What I think tells most against Martyanovs optimism is that it is he, The Saker, Stephen Cohen, Pat Buchanan, and myself who are marginalized, not the crazies who are responsible for the dangerous and irresponsible provocations of the worlds most capable and best armed nuclear powerRussia. The crazies are in control of the US National Security Council, office of Homeland Security, office of National Intelligence, CIA, US Department of State, Pentagon, the US media, and the US Democratic Party. Republican Senator John McCain is being made into a hero for his hatred of Russia and support for war. The National Endowment for Democracy, the private foundations, the Council on Foreign Relatons, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Postthe entirety of monied and loudspeaker America is organized for the demonization of Russia and any American who questions this demonization. Who could have ever imagined that a candidate for President of the United StatesHillary Clintonwould declare the elected president of Russia, elected with a majority vote never achieved by any American president, to be the new Hitler? Hillarys accusation breached all known diplomatic protocols, yet she was not held accountable. In contrast, what is controlled by Martyanov, The Saker, Professor Cohen, Pat Buchanan, and myself? Perhaps we are buttressed by truth, but the truth is not widely acknowledged and few hear it. In an important way, Putins strategy relies on the recognition of truth and on good will, whose prospects are not favorable in the West. Indeed, the United States government and the interests that control it have turned a deaf ear to all facts and all truth. We also need to consider that for centuries Germanic and other tribes continued to attack Roman legions that they had no prospect and no success for the longest time in defeating. Humans do crazy things, and there are no more crazy humans than American neoconservatives. It is these crazy humans who are in control of the US government, its foreign policy, its military policy, its media, and its organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy that are its tools for the destabilization of targeted countries. Whatever the correlation of forces, the Russian government is so insouciant that it permits Washington-funded NGOs inside Russia to operate against the Russian government; it permits Washington-funded newspapers inside Russia to demonize Putin and the Russian government; it permits Russian oligarchs and Russian companies to keep money abroad where it can be seized, thus creating animosity against the Russian government from holders of wealth. The Russian government continues to describe its current enemy, which is far more dangerous than Hitler ever was, as our partner. Imagine the consciousness-changing effect if Putin and/or Lavrov used the words our enemy. Martyanov is correct. Russia holds the correlation of forces, but it doesnt know what to do with it. The Russian government permits attacks on itself from an inferior power. It is this that is the danger. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order . ==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 Ellsberg Says Assange, as a Journalist, Cant Be Tried Under Espionage Act By Consortium News September 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - In an interview with Consortium News Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says the Espionage Act, under which he was indicted, cannot apply to Julian Assange because he is a journalist. Speaking during an online vigil for Assange organized by Unity4J.com, Ellsberg told Lauria that the motive for U.S. leaders to protect their secrets and go after Assange has nothing to do with their mantra of national security. The purpose is not to protect national security, but to protect the asses of the people who wrote the directives of classified material, most of which should never have been classified, Ellsberg said. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Ellsberg, 87, said that as a publisher and journalist, the Espionage Act cannot be applied to Assange, as it should not have been applied to Ellsberg for non-spying activities when he released the Pentagon Papers revealing that the U.S. government long knew it was losing the Vietnam War but continued lying to the American public. Julian is not a whistle blower per se, but a facilitator of whistleblowing, Ellsberg said, the point being that as a journalist, he can not fairly be tried under the Espionage Act. As one who only received classified material and published it, It is essential that Julian Assange not be indicted, be convicted, or be extradited to the United States, Ellsberg said. This article was originally published by " Consortium News " - ==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 By Finian Cunningham September 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Well, thats precious. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week says he shares Russias concern about Syrias Idlib Province being a haven for terrorists but nevertheless he is urging diplomacy to solve the problem. Pompeo's pumping of diplomacy sounds decidedly like a lot of deceitful hot air. Why didn't the Americans think of diplomacy when their warplanes were obliterating the Syrian city of Raqqa last year, with thousands of civilians blown to pieces? And even in spite of all that carnage, the terror groups were reportedly given safe passage out of Raqqa by US forces to regroup elsewhere in Syria. Thus the belated call for diplomacy from Pompeo has a huge credibility deficit. This is the same Pompeo who as the former CIA chief once said he wanted the lawless spy agency to become even meaner in its methods of extrajudicial violence. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Pompeo has also previously justified the use of torture against terror suspects, despite the violation of international law. During a visit to the US-run Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, he notoriously rebuffed hunger-striking inmates by callously quipping that they had appeared to put on weight. So let's get this straight. Mike Pompeo may officially be the US' "top diplomat". But evidently diplomacy isn't really his forte when brute military force seems to be a preferred option. It seems curious therefore that the Secretary of State has suddenly developed a sensitivity for diplomacy and humanitarian law. Pompeo is admonishing Russia to seek a diplomatic solution to the latest phase of the Syrian war being played out in the northwest province of Idlib. "It is not the way to do that [fight terrorism] to put the lives of all these innocent civilians at risk and create a humanitarian crisis We are hoping that this can be resolved diplomatically," Pompeo told reporters this week. His comments followed a warning from President Donald Trump who cautioned Syria, Russia and Iran to not launch a military offensive to retake control of Idlib. The province is the last remaining stronghold of illegally armed militants in Syria. Victory over the militants there could spell the definitive end to the nearly eight-year war in the country. A war that has cost up to half a million lives, and caused millions of families to be displaced, their homes shattered. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is not buying Pompeo's appeals. Lavrov rightly says it is the sovereign right of Syria to eradicate the illegally armed groups and to assert its control over the entire country. Those armed groups are mendaciously referred to as "rebels" by Western news media in an attempt to disguise the fact that the militants are dominated by internationally outlawed terror groups, primarily Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State (Daesh). It is revealing of the moral turpitude in Western governments and news media, as well as the United Nations' chiefs, when they are strenuously pleading for restraint to be shown towards the "rebels" when in fact these armed groups are the most vile terrorist plague to have inflicted Syria. The estimated 10,000 militants holding out in Idlib comprise terror groups which have shown no mercy to Syrian civilians over the past eight years. Horror stories include decapitating sons in front of mothers and burning children alive. Sergei Lavrov and his Syrian and Iranian counterparts are absolutely correct. Syria cannot be returned to full peaceful normality until these psychopaths have been liquidated. They are the ones refusing to lay down their weapons. Yet while Western media cover for these criminals with euphemisms like "rebels", Mike Pompeo actually acknowledged the real, odious nature of the Idlib militants. But, as noted, he then goes on to apparently advocate the use of "diplomacy to resolve the problem". If Washington's calming words sound incongruous that is because they are barefaced lies. What is really concerning the US is that the terror army it has steadfastly and covertly built up, sponsored, armed and directed to illegally overthrow the Syrian government is now facing a spectacular defeat. The Syrian army, with its Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah comrades, is moving in for the final retribution against the US-backed terror proxies. These proxies, also supported by Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey, were orchestrated to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. But thanks to the military intervention by Russia, the nefarious endgame was averted. The victorious endgame is that the US-led regime war has been vanquished. The belated clamor for restraint and diplomacy out of Washington is really about salvaging its "terrorist investment" in Syria which has been depleted to the province of Idlib. A recent article in the Washington Post quoted a Trump administration official as giving the game away. "Right now, our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and the Syrian regime] until we get what we want," the official said in reference to the attempts by Washington to obstruct the final offensive on Idlib. What the US planners want is to keep Syria in a state of instability and weakness by preventing the Assad government gaining full sovereign control over its territory. Pompeo's risible contradiction is this: he admits there are terrorists in Idlib, not fuzzy-sounding "rebels", but he is urging diplomacy as a solution to deal with terrorists. The explanation for this apparent discovery of American probity and diplomacy is that it is completely disingenuous. The motive has nothing to do with humanitarian concerns or peaceful resolution. It is all to do with Washington trying to find a way to spare its terror assets so that they can fight another day. Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. This article was originally published by " Sputnik " - ==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 I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. By Anonymous - The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here. President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. Its not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trumps leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall. The dilemma which he does not fully grasp is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them. To be clear, ours is not the popular resistance of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trumps more misguided impulses until he is out of office. The root of the problem is the presidents amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making. Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright. In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the enemy of the people, President Trumps impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic. Dont get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more. But these successes have come despite not because of the presidents leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective. From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chiefs comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims. Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back. There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next, a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision hed made only a week earlier. The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it werent for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful. It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do whats right even when Donald Trump wont. The result is a two-track presidency. Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations. Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals. On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putins spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable. This isnt the work of the so-called deep state. Its the work of the steady state. Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until one way or another its over. The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility. Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation. We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them. There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans. The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration. This article was originally published by " NYT " - ==See Also== Former Congressman Claims The DEEP STATE Is Real In New Book In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information ClearingHouse endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) 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 Russia's Alleged Skripal 'Assassins' Caught Breaking The Laws Of Physics By Tyler Durden September 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - As we detailed earlier, in what appears to be the latest escalation in the UK government's campaign to blame Russia for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia Skripal and three other seemingly random Britons (one of whom succumbed to the deadly Novichok nerve agent used in the attacks), British prosecutors are saying they have "sufficient evidence" to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, both Russian nationals, with conspiracy to murder Skripal, as well as the attempted murder of his daughter and police detective Nick Bailey, according to Reuters. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The news comes nearly two months after investigators said they had identified the suspected perpetrators of the Novichok attack by crossing referencing CCTV feeds with records of people who entered the country around that time. There's just one thing... About that CCTV feed! Authored by Craig Murray, Russia has apparently developed an astonishing new technology enabling its secret agents to occupy precisely the same space at precisely the same time. These CCTV images released by Scotland yard today allegedly show Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Borishov both occupying exactly the same space at Gatwick airport at precisely the same second. 16.22.43 on 2 March 2018. Note neither photo shows the other following less than a second behind. There is no physically possible explanation for this. You can see ten yards behind each of them, and neither has anybody behind for at least ten yards. Yet they were both photographed in the same spot at the same second. The only possible explanations are: 1) One of the two is traveling faster than Usain Bolt can sprint 2) Scotland Yard has issued doctored CCTV images/timeline. Will any mainstream media organizations question this publicly? This article was originally published by " Zero Hedge " - ==See Also== The Strange Timestamp In The New Novichok 'Evidence' By Moon Of Alabama Today, in a politically convenient moment, the British government released new information about the poisoning of the British spy Sergej Skripal, his daughter, and three other persons. It claims to have identified two men with Russian passports who arrived in London from Moscow on March 2, went to Salisbury on March 3 on a 'reconnaissance' trip, came back to Salisbury on March 4 to put Novichok poison on the doorknob of Skripal's home and flew back from London to Moscow on the same day. The names of the men were given as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov which are Russian language equivalents of Joe Smith and Sam Jones. These names are likely false. The police says that CCTV pictures were taken at several steps of the men's travel. The British news agency Reuters seem to distribute these. Several media have picked up copies. Here are screenshots of two CCTV pictures, taken from an 18 picture gallery in a report by The Independent headlined Salisbury poisoning suspects are Russian state assassins, Theresa May tells MPs. These are pictures 7 and 8 of a 18 picture gallery within that piece. , Pic 7 of 18 - full, uncropped screenshot , Pic 8 of 18 - full, uncropped screenshot (Update: The pics are also available at the Metropolitan police site: 1, 2.) Notice that the time stamp on both pics is identical, 02/03/2018 16:22:43. But the pictures show two different men, each walking alone through the same part of a jet bridge as they arrive in Britain. How can it be that both of these pictures were taken at the exactly same second? And who tilted the permanently installed CCTV camera between the two shots? How did the camera angle change between pic 1 and two which were apparently taken at the very same place and at the very same time? If these two pictures can not be trusted how much can one trust the other CCTV pictures the Met showed to support its claims? The full statement of the Metropolitan police is here. Excerpts of Prime Minister Theresa May's statement are here. While May claims the two men were send by Russia's military spy service GRU, the Metropolitan police makes no such claims. Theresa May did not say on what evidence she based her conclusion. There seems to be none. It also seems a bit curious that a 'Russian assassin' team, allegedly from a highly professional secret service, would travel together and use direct flights from Moscow to London and back. That seems extraordinary careless. Why not fly separate and via a third country? And why would a professional assassin team drop a cellophane wrapped, unopened perfume bottle with the same poison into a charity bin behind shops in Catherine Street in Salisbury where Charlie Rowley would find it some 14 weeks(!?) later? The police says that it found traces of Novichok in the crappy hotel the 'Russian agents' stayed in between March 2 and March 4. It found those traces on May 4 but it waited until today to publicly ask other guests at the hotel to contact the police? If the incident was a professional assassination attempt with a highly potent 'Novichok' compound why did 4 out of 5 people who came into contact with it survive? The 80% failure rate is inconsistent with the scary tale about the highly potent 'Russian' Novichok poison. A decent dose of Megachok is probably more lethal. , bigger Sergej Skripal has not been seen in the public or even on video since the incident happened. His daughter Yulia Skripal appeared in a British government hostage video but then vanished. The Russian Embassy in London says that it has no access to them. The policeman, who allegedly was also injured during the incident, also never reappeared in public. Why are these people held incommunicado and under arrest? This article was originally published by " Moon Of Alabama " - ==See Also== https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/the-impossible-photo/ 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 Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid player in Serie A and earns three times more than any other player in the entire Italian league, according to a report published by Tuttosport. The Portuguese star has been in the headlines in Italy since his 100m (88m/$117m) move to the Bianconeri in the summer. Despite his failure to score after 3 games which has attracted lots of criticism it comes as no surprise that Ronaldo is top of the rankings when it comes to earnings, but the wage gap between the Juventus star and the rest of the league is mind-boggling to say the least. Italian newspaper, Tuttosport, have revealed the wages of all Serie A players, with the 33-year-old taking home far more than any of his team-mates or rivals. Ronaldo is earning an astonishing 31 million (28m/$36m) per season in Turin and is on a four-year deal with the reigning Serie A champions. This makes the five-time Ballon dOr and Champions League winner the biggest earner in the league, and he earns more than three times as much as anyone else. In a distant second place is Gonzalo Higuain, who joined AC Milan from Juve after Ronaldo arrived in Turin, raking in 9.5 million (9m/$11m) per season. After Higuain, it is fellow Argentine attacker and Juventus star Paulo Dybala on 7m (6m/$8m), with Italys Miralem Pjanic not far behind on 6.5m. Unsurprisingly, Juventus wage budget is far greater than any other teams in the division. Massimiliano Allegris men are currently spending a whopping 219m (197m/$253m) per season on player salaries alone, while AC Milan are next as they hand out 140m (126m/$162m) per year. Roma are in third place, with their spending reaching 116m and 100m (90m/$116m) respectively. Empoli are the lowest spending team in the league with modest expenses of just 16m a season. How some northerners prevented Azikiwe, Ekwueme from being president PDP presidential aspirant Bafarawa Director-general of president Muhammadu Buhari re-election campaign, Festus Keyamo(SAN) has thrown a subtle shade at former Vice president Atiku Abubakar. Atiku, a presidential aspirant has been a heated argument with Vice president yemi Osinbajo over restructuring. Atiku, who has promised to restructure Nigeria, if he is elected president in 2019, had criticised Osinbajos stance on restructuring, saying Osinbajo got it wrong, a publication the present VP has since replied. Human rights lawyer has fired some shots at the former Vice president saying he never mentioned the first letter of restructuring, while he was in office but now pretends to be a champion. Keyamo, in a Twitter post on Wednesday, further said that Atiku, while in office, was preoccupied with restructuring his party in order to take control of it to become president. He wrote: Nollywood actress, Anita Joseph has said she is not only a snack but also a full bakery. The curvy actress said this as she shared some new and lovely photos on her Instagram page. Sharing the photos, Anita Joseph wrote; Some women areOnce in a lifetime Type of Females,there is no upgrade after her tag dat strong woman if you agree blessings See photos below; https://instagram.com/p/BnTgadalqhu/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control Anita Joseph was recently linked to Sugar Daddy in a viral report that he bought her a house in South Africa. According to online report, the owner and CEO of All Seasons Hotel Owerri has built a solid love nest for himself and his love interest Anita. The two have been alleged to be in a romantically linked relationship for the past 6 months despite series of attempts to cover it up from the prying eyes of the public The Hotelier and the actress have been recently spotted in Johannesburg, South Africa at a wine tasting event and the lover boy with Instagram handle @mykeikoku has been lavishing his money on Anita and their love nest is in a paid for secret location in Johannesburg. It was gathered that Anita Joseph recently confided in a close friend that she is enjoying the luxury of the love with Mr Lover boy, because of his generosity and kindness and whispered about the house he recently bought her, a penthouse apartment in Sandton, South Africa . It is also whispered that the actress receives luxury gift or steady bank alert from the smitten lover boy, every passing week. A Nigerian woman has become a graduate at the age of 61 and social media users have been impressed by the development. A photo of the woman in her academic gown was shared online by her son who announced that she had become a graduate. Sharing the photo on Twitter, the son identified as Palizawa Yasuke, told his followers that his mother is 61 years old. He also congratulated her for achieving the incredible feat. He wrote: Congrats to my Momma for graduating with a Biology Degree at 61 Many followers who were clearly impressed by the womans achievement, have joined her son, Palizawa, in congratulating her. Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe(R) meets with Singapore's Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong(L) in Beijing on Sept. 5, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Mu Ruilin) BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe met with Singapore's Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong Wednesday in Beijing. Wei, who said relations between China and Singapore have been steadily consolidated and deepened, expressed China's willingness to work with Singapore to strengthen high-level strategic communication as well as push forward practical cooperation in fields such as joint exercises and training and exchanges between think tanks. He also said China stands ready to make joint efforts with Singapore to promote the two countries' partnership of comprehensive cooperation and actively safeguard regional peace and stability. Ong said Singapore values China's role in international and regional affairs and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China, increase strategic trust between the two sides, and boost the development of the two countries' military relations. Police officers allegedly from a unit called the Inspector General of Polices Special Tactical Squad, were said to have invaded the home of elder statesman, Edwin Clark on Tuesday, with a warrant to search for weapons. According to Mr Clark, while recounting the incidence said At about 12:30 pm when they came to me that policemen were waiting for me, I asked, what for? They said they had a warrant to search my house. I asked them to come in. Some were outside and I learned they came with two vans. I asked them, do you know me? I am an old man going to 92, I have been a Federal Minister of Information, been a senator and you think that Im piling weapons? I told them to go ahead with their search. They searched all the rooms but found nothing. They wrote their report and asked three of my people to sign and they left. Although, the IGP Idris Ibrahim has apologised to Clark over the Tuesdays raid of his Abuja home, Nigerians have continued to drop their two cents on the matter. PRESS RELEASE RE- SEARCH OF THE HOUSE OF ELDER STATESMAN, CHIEF EDWIN CLARK BY THE POLICE TODAY, 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2018. IGP sends high powered delegation of a DIG and other Senior Police Officers to apologize to the Elder statesmanhttps://t.co/GLobHnePSW pic.twitter.com/RR0fPdCrhS Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG) September 5, 2018 Many lambasted the present administration and the IGP for always feigning ignorance whenever something they should have a grip on, occurs. According to them, someone gives these orders, saying it only shows leadership failure when top government officials deny having any knowledge about something that they clearly should. See reactions below Sometimes I wonder how gullible Buharists are. Now some Buharists are saying that @bukolasaraki sent the police to invade Chief Edwin Clarks residence, to score cheap political gain. These people are brainwashed. Im hung up on this!!! ije1 (@ije12002) September 5, 2018 https://twitter.com/TWEETORACLE/status/1037287336143466497 The truth is that the #IGPIdris can't deny d fact that he's not aware of the embarrassment towards Edwin Clark,d apology means nothing because the deeds has been done ,shame to @PoliceNG who don't see the political thieves to go aft,wht abt @HMKemiAdeosun ? Wiser Marshall (@WiserMarshall) September 5, 2018 Big question.. so what if Edwin Clark was killed, they will end up saying, they didn't give orders, and they don't know who gave orders. Who is actually this unseen commander? MR BASSEY (@donjossy) September 5, 2018 IGp is always feigning oblivion whenever he carries out his dirty works and it goes south He doesn't know about Saraki's blockage He doesn't know about Edwin Clark's home raid So many transmissions with no source Mr Copacetic (@Needl_es) September 5, 2018 IGP Idris didn't send the Police to block Saraki's convoy IGP Idris didn't send the Police to invade the Benue State House of Assembly IGP Idris didn't send the Police to raid the home of Pa Edwin Clark IGP Idris should honorably resign since he's not in control of the Police CAPTAIN (@UtohPaul) September 5, 2018 Reno Omokri, a former aide of former president Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the high cost of the All Progressives Congress(APC) nomination form. The APC announced that its expression of interest form for presidency is N5,000,000 while its N45,000,000 for nomination form for the same category. Reacting to the cost, Mr Omokri has said that the presidential nomination form of the ruling party is too expensive and as such, mocks the #NotTooYoungToRun Act, that was recently signed by president Muhammadu Buhari. Omokri, in a Twitter post on Wednesday stressed that Nigeria needs a #NotTooPoorToRun Bill following the high cost of the APC nomination form for presidency. He Wrote: Dear @OfficialAPCNg 45 million for a Presidential nomination form is too expensive. You make mockery of the #NotTooYoungToRun Act. Your nomination forms cost 4 times what @OfficialPDPNig charges. Nigeria needs a #NotTooPoorToRun Bill because of what you are doing #RenosDarts Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) September 5, 2018 Also reacting is Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). Ologbondiyan says such huge amount to purshase nomination forms in the ruling party would definitely encourage corruption. According the National secretary of the main opposition party, writing via Twitter on Wednesday said, the candidates, if elected would do all they can, to recoup their investment. He wrote: A couple who met in secondary school got married over the weekend, more than a decade after they first met, and theirs seem to be an interesting and unique love story. The groom, Udeh Vincent Chukwunonso, revealed that he met his bride in secondary school when her elder sister handed her over to him, asking him to be her school father and watch over her. He fulfilled the promise he made to watch over his school daughter until he graduated. They remained friends after they graduated and got married on Saturday, September 1, 2018. Sharing photos of them as kids in secondary school and as adults getting married, the groom wrote : A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. We started as innocent friends, school father and daughter. Today, we stand as man and wife in what seem like a script written by God & foretold by the prophets. I am eternally grateful to Adanna Immaculate Osahon who requested that I watch over her younger sister in school. I have fulfilled my promise and will do so forever. See photos below. Speaking at a town hall meeting in Minnesota, the United States of America, Nigerian Vice president, Osinbajo had said the problem of Nigeria was not geographical restructuring but prudent management of national resources. The Vice President had also noted that the prudent management of the nations resources and the provision of essential needs of the people were better ways of addressing Nigerias development challenges. Problem with our country is not a matter of restructuringand we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the argument that our problems stem from some geographical restructuring, he had said. But Abubakar on Saturday faulted the stance of his successor, stressing that the current Vice President got it wrong on restructuring. In an open letter he personally signed and sent to DAILY POST, Osinbajo insisted that restructuring in whatever shape or form, will not mean much if our political leaders see public resources as an extension of their bank accounts.Speaking at a town hall meeting in Minnesota, the United States of America, Osinbajo had said the problem of Nigeria was not geographical restructuring but prudent management of national resources. The Vice President had also noted that the prudent management of the nations resources and the provision of essential needs of the people were better ways of addressing Nigerias development challenges. Problem with our country is not a matter of restructuringand we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the argument that our problems stem from some geographical restructuring, he had said. But Abubakar on Saturday faulted the stance of his successor, stressing that the current Vice President got it wrong on restructuring. In an open letter he personally signed and sent to DAILY POST, Osinbajo insisted that restructuring in whatever shape or form, will not mean much if our political leaders see public resources as an extension of their bank accounts. A mother of three, Ronke Olanrewaju, has threatened to poison her husband if a customary court fails to dissolve their marriage. The aggrieved wife had approached the Oja-Oba Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, seeking divorce from her husband, who she described as abusive and violent. Ronke told the court that her husband, Sunday Olanrewaju, beat her up anytime he saw her with male customers, adding that each time the police were brought in, he would boast that he was a prominent politician. A mother of three, Ronke Olanrewaju, has threatened to poison her husband if a customary court fails to dissolve their marriage. The aggrieved wife had approached the Oja-Oba Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, seeking divorce from her husband, who she described as abusive and violent. Ronke told the court that her husband, Sunday Olanrewaju, beat her up anytime he saw her with male customers, adding that each time the police were brought in, he would boast that he was a prominent politician. She said, My lord, he also beat up my mother like a baby. Separate us now, or else, I will poison him. Each time I discuss business with male customers, he would beat me and say they were my lovers. However, the husband, Sunday, begged the court to sustain the marriage, saying his wife was like a mother to him. The President of the court, Chief Henry Agbaje, fixed September 18, 2018, for ruling. (Geary, NB September 4th, 2018) As the adage goes, it aint over til its over. Nathan Blackburn (Timberlea, NS) can attest to that as he led a half lap en route to his first Maritime League of Legends Tour win of his young career. Blackburn won the King Freight Lines 50 INEX National Qualifier on Saturday evening at Speedway 660, becoming the fourth different winner and first Fleet Brake Atlantic Rookie of the Year contender to win an overall feature in 2018. Craig MacDonald (Waverley, NS) was well on his way to a fifth Tour win of 2018 at a venue he wanted to win at more than any other on the schedule. MacDonald had a trailing arm bracket break with just two laps remaining in the event, sending the No. 98 car into the Turn Three beach and out of the event. While MacDonald and his fans were heartbroken and deflated after the parts failure, in turn, it set up one of the wildest finishes in Maritime League of Legends Tour history. Michael Cormier (Grand-Barachois, NB) ran strong all night and kept MacDonald on his toes over the waning laps. When MacDonald broke, it appeared that Cormier would race his way to his first Maritime League of Legends Tour victory. Cormier would lead the final restart to green with Blackburn to his outside and Sam Rogers (Lower Onslow, NS) to his back bumper. They raced hard into the first two corners, with Rogers able to get to the inside and pass Cormier coming to the white flag. Rogers would slip up the track in the second corner on the last lap enough for Blackburn to position his car to the inside of the No. 12. The two raced side by side through the final corners with Blackburn edging Rogers by a half car length for the win. This is unbelievable, said an excited Blackburn in victory lane. Sam and I raced clean and I came out with my first win. We couldnt have done this without the opportunity from Bryan Naugle, his team and our sponsors. Rogers and Cormier completed the all Fleet Brake Atlantic Rookie podium at Speedway 660 in the King Freight Lines 50. Point leader Shelby Baker (Fall River, NS) finished fourth and expanded his point lead with one race to go in the Series. Austin MacDonald (Pictou, NS) came home fifth in the 14-car field. Austin MacDonald and Craig MacDonald drove to victory lane in heat race action for the Maritime League of Legends Tour. Sam Rogers swept Bandolero competition on the weekend to win his third consecutive Tims Corner Motorsports Bandolero Blast. Rogers won the 20-lap INEX National Qualifier on Saturday from behind after the car shut off on the pace lap and failed to fire. Once the field took the green, Rogers was a half lap behind the field but was able to catch up and pass Owen Mahar (Hubley, NS) for the lead prior to a caution with three laps to go in the race. Rogers, after winning his heat race on Sunday, started scratch on the six car field and wasted little time getting to the front to sweep the action on the weekend. Mahar was second again on Sunday while Dylan Dowe (Bedford, NS) was third. Chase MacKay (Bear Cove, NS) was strong in his first appearance to Speedway 660, finishing a close fourth on both races while Nyk Pothier (Halifax, NS) and Ayden Christensen (Windsor Junction, NS) rounded out the field. The Maritime League of Legends will close their 2018 season with the Atlantic Fleet Completion Centre 50 at Scotia Speedworld on Saturday, September 15th. For complete information on the Maritime League of Legends Tour, please visit MaritimeLegends.ca. About King Freight Lines: In 1975 President, Mr. Roland (Rollie) MacDonald formed MacDonalds Excavating as primarily an excavating company. Growth into the transportation side of the business was progressive and in 1986 the name of the company was changed to King Freight Lines Limited to better reflect the now dominant transportation side of the business. King Freight Lines, based out of Pictou NS, now operates throughout Canada and the United States with a fleet of modern equipment. For more information please visit www.kingfreight.com or call toll free 902.485.8077 About The Maritime League of Legends: The Maritime League of Legends Association was formed in 2005 by a group of racers wanting to grow the Legends Cars division in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. In 2018, the Maritime League of Legends Tour will visit five venues throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island between May and September during its ten race season. For more information on the Maritime League of Legends, please visit www.maritimelegends.ca. About Speedway 660: Speedway 660 is one of Canadas premier stock car racing facilities. Located in New Brunswicks Fredericton region, it attracts race teams and fans from the Maritimes, New England and Quebec. The Speedway 660 racing season runs from mid May until Labour Day Weekend. SpeedWeekend, one of the most prestigious short track events in eastern North America, wraps up Speedway 660s racing season. Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) has acquired Super Advice Corporate Services and Personal Advice Services, collectively known as Super-Advice, in a move that is aimed at fortifying the global insurance brokers presence in Australia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 2002, Super-Advice offers employee-benefits consulting and corporate-advisory services with a special focus on corporate superannuation and employee-group insurance. Could what happened in Brazil happen here? In some ways, absolutely, Krmpotich told The Canadian Press. If we think about shifting weather and climate change, absolutely this is something we should be thinking about in Canada. Associate chief librarian Loryl MacDonald of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto said the institution receives enough support from donors. Although the risk of damage always exists when it comes to handling some of the worlds rarest books, MacDonald said that the university is well-prepared for such uncertainties. I believe a lot of the issues in Brazil revolved around not getting the financial resources they need, so knock on parchment paper that we wouldnt have the same incidents here, she remarked. Fortunately for big institutions such as the University of Toronto, they have reasonable access to funding. But the same cannot be said of smaller museums and municipal heritage sites, Krmpotich pointed out. Its hard to convince funders, whether its government funding bodies or philanthropists or government funding agencies, to fund basic core operations, she noted. Smaller institutions also lack conservation staff, which are badly needed following a disaster. When a fire broke out years ago at a First Nations cultural community centre on Vancouver Island, archival institutions across the province pitched in to help preserve the collection. Thanks to the incident, an initiative to create a province-wide network of conservation responders was born. The initiative has yet to handle an archival crisis, but Heidi Swierenga of the Museum of Anthropology says the network gives archivists more confidence. Weve not had any incidents, but what we have is peace of mind, Swierenga commented. Lets just say MOA had a big flood, I would be able to pick up the phone and call conservators and theyd be able to say, Yeah, well be there right away. Related stories: Chubb strives to go above and beyond with disaster response Art insurance needs brokers to think outside the box In a recent feature, The New York Times reported that only 13% of California homeowners have earthquake insurance, despite the states aggressive advertising campaign to push for the coverage. Citing data from the California Department of Insurance, the news outlet also noted that less than one out of 10 commercial buildings are insured these buildings range from low-rise office buildings to high-rise towers. Most new buildings are not buying it all, said Arthur J. Gallagher area vice president for San Francisco Justin Dove. He added that some companies are self-insured, but many think earthquake insurance is too pricey. Scientists say the big one is a certainty, especially since California lies in an area with multiple geological faults the most infamous being the San Andreas Fault, which scientists say the mega quake will originate from. But even scientists are stumped as to why many Californians continue to ignore earthquake insurance. What are we going to do when no-one has insurance and everyone has damage? remarked University of California, Berkeley earthquake expert Mary Comerio. Im terrified of whats going to happen. Earthquake insurance is not part of standard homeowner policies in California, and only a few banks require homeowners to purchase the coverage. Swiss Re disaster specialist Alex Kaplan has called earthquakes the largest uninsured exposure from a natural disaster in the US. According to the New York Times, the median price of a home in California is now above $500,000 estimates of the potential uninsured damages following an earthquake could hit hundreds of billions of dollars. Kuala Lumpur cityscape Im trying to see us maintain our competition, said an experienced indirect tax manager at a multinational oil company, who said she had been working weekends to get ready in time for SST, which replaced the unpopular goods and services tax (GST). We dont want to be any less competitive from our competitors [and] we want to make sure we are in line with the legislation, she told International Tax Review. It is difficult for businesses to be patient when profits, reputation and market share are on the line. As well as the uncertainty around how legislation and included/excluded item lists will develop, companies are struggling with a lack of guidance and having to make changes very quickly. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that much of the legislation is still in draft form. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has said that the government could still change its mind on whether some goods will be subject to the SST, but businesses are having to muddle through regardless. We will study all of these, he said, referring to prawns, bicycles and motorcycles under 250cc. We have been going around listening to feedback from the people. Some are asking that certain items affected by the SST be taken off the list. As a concerned government, we will do the needful. Be patient, added Lim, after a briefing on SST on September 1. Give us some time and we will make the necessary changes by years end. Will companies be better or worse off? The most immediate action companies should take, if they have not done so already, is to analyse whether or not they need to be registered for SST. The SST framework is a more targeted regime that only applies to manufacturers of taxable goods or persons providing specific taxable services, said Yvonne Beh, partner in the tax practice group of Wong & Partners, which is a member firm of Baker McKenzie. Hence, not all businesses who were previously registered under the GST would need to be registered under the SST regime. Many businesses will find that fewer, or even none, of their products are subject to SST. For those that were subject to GST, this will save a lot of time on compliance and allow for more competitive pricing as tax does not need to be applied. Beh pointed out that the SST will bring in MYR 21 billion ($5 billion) less than GST did for the Malaysian government. Industries that will benefit include real estate and construction because SST does not apply to the sale of properties and may not apply to the leasing of heavy machinery. The scope of the SST is narrower than the GST, said Saravana Kumar Segaran, partner at Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill. Almost 60% of goods under the consumer price indexare exempted from sales tax while only a prescribed list of exhaustive services are taxable. For instance, consultancy, IT, management and engineering services are all taxable services but there is no guidance under legislation as to the scope of such services. However, most businesses expect to be worse off. While GST has an input tax credit mechanism effectively allowing the tax burden to move down the supply chain and ultimately be passed to the end consumer SST has no such mechanism. A particular industry which will likely be impacted will be the automotive industry as there will be a 10% sales tax rate for most imported motor vehicles and vehicles manufactured in Malaysia, said Beh. The retail sector will also likely see some impact from sales tax, in particular, imported luxury goods. The oil industry tax manager said: As an individual I am very, very sad because coming from a tax background I know the consequences. From a business perspective, as well, its definitely hitting the businesses because now service or sales tax has become a cost to the business. Its affected our pricing, she added. Weve needed to renegotiate a lot of contracts. Similarities to the old SST The new SST regime, as it exists upon implementation and before any change, is largely similar to the old, pre-2015 SST. That is to say, it is two taxes sales tax and services tax and only listed items are subject to the tax, as opposed to GST where only listed items were excluded from the tax. Irene Yong, partner at Shearn Delamore, said the difficulties for companies is the current period of transition from the GST regime to the SST, given the short time frame within which companies have to adjust. However, there is a positive aspect. As far as software and IT systems are concerned, those which had been used for GST can be migrated and adapted for SST, hence some cost savings can be expected, she said. Confusion Such is the confusion around the re-introduction of SST that even customs officials have confronted restaurant workers, demanding to know why they are imposing SST, reported Malaysian news outlet New Straits Times. All eateries making more than MYR 1.5 million per year must pay SST, unless they are situated in a free trade zone, special or tax-free area. Dont fault these outlets, said Lim. They are just being responsible and abiding by the law. The situation is in stark contrast to the 2015 introduction of GST, which was conducted smoothly for businesses at least, but there were individuals rioting in protest and with plenty of lead time. The law has been brought out very, very hastily, said the oil industry indirect tax manager. Its the same body, the same tax authority that was [administrating] GST. When they rolled out GST I thought they did a very good job, I thought they were very organised. The Malaysian tax authority did a great job because there was a lot of information available on the website, there had a lot of programmes where people were able to have sessions and dialogue, [the authorities would] speak to them, get their view and clarify their position. The very quick switch from GST back to SST is necessary for political reasons. The now-ruling Pakatan Harapan party, led by Mahathir Mohamad, swept to an unprecedented victory. Key to its success was a promise to repeal GST, which was deeply unpopular with poorer Malaysians, and replace it with SST. The tax authority now, moving from GST to SST, we can see that they are rushing because they have a deadline, the indirect tax manager added. The bills received Royal Assent on August 28, just four days before becoming effective and further tinkering is likely until the end of the year, as Lim has stated. Up-to-date versions of the proposed legislation, in both English and Malay, can be found on the dedicated Malaysia Sales & Service Tax website. The website also includes full lists of which goods and services are affected, and which regions are exempt for which aspects of the sales and services taxes. The material on this site is for financial institutions, professional investors and their professional advisers. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQ. Share this article Germany, seeking to rein in internet giants like Google and Facebook, plans to bolster the powers of its competition watchdog to prevent such companies from becoming monopolies even before they achieve scale. The initiative, announced on Tuesday, could include blocking big players from taking over smaller rivals and follows up on a pledge by Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition to curb big U.S. internet companies which, in the eyes of many German lawmakers, have become too powerful. "My goal is to make our competition law more effective," said Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. "In doing so we must find the right balance between the growth chances of German and European platforms and preventing the abuse of market power." A 173-page study commissioned by Altmaier calls for the German antitrust regulator to be given powers to act before a company reaches a critical 'tipping point' on the way to becoming a monopoly -- something that can happen quickly on the internet due to the way it functions as a network. This could, for example, include cracking down on attempts to prevent 'multihoming,' where a platform company requires its business partners to work exclusively with it, but not with any of its competitors. In a second proposal, the study's authors argue that the regulator should be able to stop big players from taking over smaller rivals as part of a strategy to sideline competitors. College of Agriculture and Life Science's first candidate for Dean Daniel Robison gives his presentation on his plan for Iowa State in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union. "I want to be a part of your team," said Robison. While Apple prepares itself to launch the 2018 iPhone XS lineup next week, Samsung is seemingly preparing itself to unveil its foldable smartphone to the public later this year. The Korean companys CEO DJ Koh told CNBC that the company will provide more details on its foldable smartphone later this year. There have been plenty of rumors claiming that Samsung will release its first foldable smartphone this year. DJ Koh said that its time to deliver on a foldable device after consumer surveys carried out by Samsung showed that there is a market for that kind of handset. Samsungs mobile chief, however, failed to provide any more information about the foldable smartphone and how the foldable display will function. He only said that while the development process of the foldable smartphone is complicated, Samsung is nearly done with it. Samsung is now expected to provide more details about its foldable smartphone at its Samsung Developer Conference in November. However, it is entirely possible that we will only see Samsung provide details and a glimpse at its foldable smartphone at its developer conference. The company can also do a limited launch, with the device being available in limited quantities and only in certain markets. Samsung used a similar tactic with the Galaxy Note Edge before the curved OLED technology became a part of its flagship Galaxy S and Note handsets. At IFA 2018 last week, Koh said that the foldable smartphone should offer a meaningful experience otherwise it will not find any takers. It remains to be seen how Samsungs first foldable smartphone is going to be like and how the foldable display will be implemented. You can use most of the uses on foldable status. But when you need to browse or see something, then you may need to unfold it. But even unfolded, what kind of benefit does that give compared to the tablet? If the unfolded experience is the same as the tablet, why would they (consumers) buy it?, Koh said at the IFA electronics show in Berlin last week. Are you excited about Samsungs first foldable smartphone? Do you think it will live up to the hype or it is just going to be a gimmick just like the companys curved OLED displays? [Via CNBC The United States promises to "respond swiftly and appropriately" if Syria uses chemical weapons in Idlib province, the last rebel stronghold in Syria. The White House said Tuesday it is "closely monitoring" the fate of Idlib, where it said "millions of innocent civilians are under threat of an imminent... attack" by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It said President Donald Trump "has warned that such an attack would be a reckless escalation of an already tragic conflict." The White House said it "will continue to work tirelessly with its allies to find a lasting diplomatic solution to resolve the hostilities in Syria" under a United Nations Security Council resolution. Russia and Iran back the Assad regime and say they support Syria's efforts to retake Idlib. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Idlib is a pocket of terrorism and that the situation there is undermining efforts to find a political resolution to the Syrian conflict. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Idlib should be cleared of "terrorists" and that reconstruction efforts and the return of refugees should go forward. Syria, Russia and Iran use the word "terrorists" when talking about Syrian rebels. There are about 3 million people in Idlib, and the UN said it is worried about the potential humanitarian toll that may come with a Syrian military campaign there. Trump warned Syria in a tweet Monday night to not "recklessly attack" Idlib. He also called on Russia and Iran to show restraint. Gilgit Baltistan Council Secretariat Jobs 2018 in Islamabad Latest Gilgit Baltistan Secretariat Management Posts Islamabad 2021 Gilgit Baltistan GB Council Secretariat requires the services of highly qualified, dedicated and well educated individuals for various position in Islamabad Pakistan 2018. How to Apply on Gilgit Baltistan Secretariat 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. Telephone: 051-9217028 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. Muslim Hands Pakistan NGO Job 2018 in Sargodha Latest Muslim Hands NGO Posts Sargodha 2021 Muslim Hands Pakistan NGO required highly qualified and well educated candidate for the posts of Program Officer Education & Sponsorship in Sargodha District Punjab 2018. How to Apply on Muslim Hands 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. President Moon Jae-in talked with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump for about 50 minutes on the phone on Tuesday evening to discuss Wednesday's trip to Pyongyang by five senior South Korean officials. "Improvements in inter-Korean relations and reduction of tensions on the Korean Peninsula will contribute to achieving denuclearization and building a permanent peace framework on the peninsula," Moon said according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. The trip comes as Trump's vague agreements with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are unraveling and Trump canceled a trip to Pyongyang by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month. Trump expressed hope that another inter-Korean summit will not only improve ties but lead to the implementation of his agreements with Kim and future talks. They agreed to meet at the UN General Assembly in late September, which Kim is not expected to attend despite an earlier invitation from Trump. North Korean scientists have published a computer system research paper in a South Korean journal, a first time for North Korean scholars. The August issue of the English-language journal Transactions on Internet and Information System of the Korean Society for Internet Information carries the paper by six North Korean authors led by Prof. Ri Il-nam of Kim Il-sung University and Prof. Choe Song-il of Huichon University of Technology. Titled "Improved Hybrid Symbiotic Organism Search Task-Scheduling Algorithm for Cloud Computing," it discusses how to increase the speed of performance of cloud technology to store files. The North Koreans agreed to publish the paper here in an e-mail in April. They sent the paper on July 4 after overseas peer review and editing. The KSII notified the Unification Ministry of the plan since the law requires all contacts to be reported. In the e-mail, the North Korean scientists also expressed hope of future joint research in the field. North Korea operates a dedicated army of hackers who have repeatedly attacked South Korean and other international websites. Chinese President Xi Jinping will miss North Korea's founding anniversary on Sunday and send instead Li Zhanshu, the chairman of the National People's Congress and the third-highest official in the politburo. The Chinese Communist Party on Tuesday said Li will head a delegation arriving in Pyongyang on Saturday. Li ranks just below Premier Li Keqiang in the party hierarchy and is considered to be Xi's right-hand man, so sending him relieves Xi of the burden of visiting North Korea at a time when denuclearization talks have hit a fresh impasse while allowing North Korea to save face. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has disappeared from public view for the time being and his moment in the limelight of international diplomacy seems to have come to an end. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that there are no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim to meet at the Eastern Economic Forum scheduled in Vladivostok next week, to which Kim was invited. Kim also has no plans to attend the UN General Assembly late this month despite an earlier invite from U.S. President Donald Trump. A government source here said, "If he planned to travel to the UN, that would have been confirmed by now and his de facto chief of staff Kim Chang-son would have traveled to the U.S. already." The last time he was seen in public was on Aug. 20. Every time we talk about electric vehicles, theres one question spring into our mind: "How far is the cruising range?" In fact, many people have a misunderstanding in this respect, that is, a vehicle with high rated cruising range is not necessarily able to run far. Especially in the extremely cold, extremely hot and high-altitude environment, the actual cruising range of electric vehicles will be attenuated. Turpan, located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, is the largest dry and hot environment exposure test site in China. In the test area in August, the temperature reaches 44 C, and the land surface temperature exceeds 60 C, which is a huge challenge to the performance of EV. And today I will work with engineers from BAIC BJEV to see what kind of answers they will make after receiving the tough challenges of their products in the high temperature of 45 C in Turpan in midsummer. The high-temperature test in China is usually conducted in Hainan province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which are located in the southernmost area and the northwest of China respectively. This time, BAIC BJEV chose to test its models in Turpan where the annual average temperature and the annual maximum temperature are the highest and longest-lasting, and where the annual rainfall is the least. What is the aim of testing vehicles in high temperature? Compared to fuel vehicles, the motor, battery, and electronic control system of pure electric vehicles is more sensitive to temperature. Especially in a high-temperature environment, the working status of the battery and the performance of the vehicle will be greatly affected, and even the charging speed will be greatly slowed down. Once the battery continues to overheat, there is even a risk of spontaneous combustion. Therefore, it is vital for EVs to control their own temperature in a high-temperature environment. How is the test being conducted? After some detailed and efficient training, we can't wait to come to the test site to start testing. The protagonist of this time is the upcoming model of BAIC BJEV. (currently, is the engineering test car) Turpan is also called Flaming State where the high temperature and drought has caused the grass and trees to be difficult to grow. On the testing day, the land surface temperature reached 64.2 . The sun's exposure heats the land surface to an extremely high temperature, enabling eggs to be fried without fire under this kind of environment. Since the local traffic control department does not allow the test vehicles to enter the downtown area of Turpan, it is necessary to apply for a pass in the on-site test. The high-temperature test is not simply expose vehicles under the sun blindly. It has to use devices to test the sunlight intensity. The sensors on the body are used for thermal balance tests to test the performance of the vehicle under high temperature conditions and whether some parts will have other changes or be invalid in the high-temperature environment. The sensors used to test the internal temperature are placed at the center console, the rear seats', the feet area and the roof. Sensors are also placed outside the body and in the engine compartment to record real-time temperatures. Since the temperature is varying inside the car, in order to check the temperature of the passenger's possible position, sometimes the temperature sensors were had to be placed on the engineer's head, left and right shoulders, left and right hands, left and right knees and legs. And at this time, the total number of sensors placed will reach more than 100. Regardless of quick charge or slow charge, starting and charging in a high-temperature condition is an indispensable test for NEVs. The thermometer was placed inside the car for 5 minutes and the reading showed that the temperature inside the car reached an astonishing 72.2. Sitting in the car in such an environment, only 3-5 seconds will the passengers feel uncomfortable and even unable to breathe. Engineers of BAIC told us that the high-temperature test of BAIC BJEV will last 40 days, the hottest time from July to August. The road test is about 8000 kilometers in total, that means driving almost five or six hundred kilometers a day under the hot environment is needed. Sometimes, air conditioners are not allowed to be turned on for testing accuracy. Pulling & Sand and Dust Test Even though there is beautiful scenery at Gobi deserts, engineers have no time to enjoy it. They need to travel to and from such sections of roads every day for carrying out various tests, data collection, and inspection of vehicles rigorously. What they can feel most is tedious work. Pulling test refers to using a tow rope to connect the front and rear vehicles. During the driving process, the rear car brakes intermittently which is to quickly increase the load and heat up the motor to check the working conditions of the front vehicle in such situations. Meanwhile, engineers need to bring GPS devices to record the real-time location of the vehicle, and the recorded driving track also helps engineers to troubleshoot the fault. Although the air conditioner was turned on during the driving process, as long as it was off, the inside temperature would rise from more than 30 to more than 40 in a few minutes. The big internal and external temperature difference makes passengers easy to catch a cold. When the vehicle is driving in a high-temperature condition, the discharge power of the battery pack, the motor temperature and the output power of the motor will be affected. In order that the system can better adapt to a high-temperature environment, it is essential to test the best condition and operating efficiency of the vehicle in high-temperature conditions. At the same time, Turpan is also a best site for sand and dust test. The sand here is thinner than that in other places which can be used to examine the sealability of the vehicle. When conducting sand and dust test, the smell of the dust will not be noticed inside the car when air conditioners are in closed-loop. After the test, no obvious sand and dust can be seen at air vents, interior door frame and floor margins. Summary The safety of EVs is the result of complex technologies and technological achievements, and it is also a comprehensive test for the overall integrated R&D system of automotive manufacturers. As a veteran new energy company, it can be seen that BAIC has a completed high-temperature test system to verify and calibrate its own products. Through this test in Turpan, we can see that how a pure electric vehicle maintains its stable performance in an extremely hot environment. The cruising range and the safety performance of a vehicle in extreme environments are all important inspection indexes for EVs. GRANTS PASS, Ore. Josephine County's lawsuit against the state of Oregon over an ongoing marijuana debate has been dismissed, according to a statement from the County released on Tuesday. The County filed suit at the beginning of April following their defeat at the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA)where local pot farmers fought back against a new ordinance that would have restricted growing for certain property owners. The defining factor in that case, however, hinged on the County's failure to properly inform property owners of the new ordinance. Following the LUBA loss, the County drew up their lawsuit against the stateand argued, essentially, that Oregon could not enforce marijuana's legality in Josephine County when the federal government continues to prohibit the substance. County legal Counsel Wally Hicks said on Tuesday that the County was "seeking answers to significant legal questions that had been the subject of vast speculation" when they filed the lawsuit. Federal magistrate judge Mark D. Clarke's dismissal of the case represents a resounding refusal to hear the argument: "Finally...the Court is unpersuaded by Josephine County's argument that the State is 'requiring' it to 'aid and abet a federal felony.' The County has provided no evidence to the Court that it has attempted to ban any and all marijuana use and production," the judge wrote in his dismissal opinion. "Apparently the County is only worried about aiding and abetting federal felonies on certain kinds of land and not others," wrote Judge Clarke. Judge Clarke also wrote that the LUBA decision against the County had little to do with marijuana and did not represent the state intervening on behalf of marijuana, since the ruling hinged on the County's failure to adequately notify constituents of the new ordinance. In other, similar cases, Clarke wrote, LUBA has frequently sided with countieswith no dispute from the state. However, County legal counsel Wally Hicks put a positive spin on the decision. For basically the cost of a $400.00 filing fee and staff time, Josephine County has obtained invaluable clarity on the subjects of marijuana legalization and Home Rule in Oregon," said Hicks. "The courts ruling seems to extend much further than the single topic of marijuana regulation. But this decision could be writing on the wall that the federal government will soon drop marijuana to a lower schedule. "While the courts may, at some point in the future, have to grapple with the conflict between state and federal laws regarding marijuana," concluded Judge Clarke in his opinion, "the issue must be properly presented and ripe for adjudication. Such is not the case in this instance." Daayitwa completed their 8th cohort of the fellowship program marking the end of their summer program that started in June. The concluding event was held at Yala Maya Kendra and was graced by the presence of Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen. Speaking on the occasion Minister Thapa said If we want to make inclusive economic development in Nepal it is impossible to fulfil that dream- without the participation and determination of youth. I want to congratulate Daayitwa for endeavouring in an intervention that gives youth a platform to interact with the government. The Daayitwa Nepal Public Service Fellowship Symposium celebrated the journey of the eleven fellows who worked with the Government of Nepal during the summer to produce meaningful research on Access to Investment, Womens Economic Empowerment, Enterprise Value Chain, Youth Employment and Governance and Bureaucracy Reform. The fellows had exhibited the findings of their research at the Yala Maya hall. A panel discussion was also conducted during the event which talked about research and significance of evidence-based policy which was moderated by Apurba K.C, Leadership Research Officer at Daayitwa while the panellists consisted of Neha Rajbhandari and Nischal S. Bhandari both Daayitwa fellows of 2018 and Shalini Gupta, Research Officer. It also organized two cafe conversation in Womens economic empowerment and Youth Employment participated by the various guests present at the program. Since, 2013, 89 Daayitwa fellows have worked with 20 public agencies and 25 parliamentarians to support high-priority projects. The organization has been partnering with the Government of Nepal to identify and apply innovative methods of research to find evidence for promoting entrepreneurship and strengthening governance. The Daayitwa fellowship program is still one of the few fellowship programs available for students and young professionals in Nepal. The application for the Daayitwa Fellowship program will begin again early next summer. Sebelum Anda bermain, Anda perlu mengetahui apa yang Anda butuhkan untuk masuk ke dalam permainan roulette kasino online ini. Jika Anda sudah mendaftar di situs judi casino online dan sudah memberikan user ID, login terlebih dahulu dan pilih menu live casino yang tertera di situs judi tersebut. Pertama pilih dealer dan putuskan sendiri, lalu pilih meja atau kursi di dalam ruangan. Jika namanya tertera dan berwarna coklat, maka kursi tersebut sudah ditempati oleh pemain lain, dan pilihlah kursi kosong berwarna hitam. Kasino Roulette adalah salah satu permainan paling populer di situs perjudian kasino. Jadi dalam permainan ini kamu harus menebak angka berapa yang akan keluar. Ada 36 nomor berbeda dalam permainan populer ini di mana sebuah bola kecil diputar dan dilemparkan ke dalam mesin roulette. Anda harus menebak dari mana bola kecil itu masuk dan di nomor berapa ia berhenti. Ada banyak jenis pilihan angka dari 0-36, dan mereka dihitung secara berbeda. Sebagai agen casino terpercaya, panduan permainan roulette ini juga memberikan informasi tentang jenis pilihan dan nama permainan roulette casino online sebagai berikut: Jika Anda ingin bermain roulette di situs kasino online, caranya sangat sederhana. Anda dapat bermain di Kasino ION, Kasino Sbobet, dan Situs Kasino. Di bawah ini adalah artikel panduan bermain di mana Anda dapat mempelajari roulette langsung dan memainkannya di situs judi online mana pun. tangkapan layar Sebelum Anda bermain, Anda perlu mengetahui apa yang Anda butuhkan untuk masuk ke dalam permainan roulette kasino online ini. Jika Anda sudah mendaftar di situs judi casino online dan sudah memberikan user ID, login terlebih dahulu dan pilih menu live casino yang tertera di situs judi online tersebut. Pertama pilih dealer dan putuskan sendiri, lalu pilih meja atau kursi di dalam ruangan. Jika namanya tertera dan berwarna coklat, maka kursi tersebut sudah ditempati oleh pemain lain, dan pilihlah kursi kosong berwarna hitam. Panduan Bermain Online Kasino Roulette Kasino Roulette adalah salah satu permainan paling populer di situs perjudian kasino. Jadi dalam permainan ini kamu harus menebak angka berapa yang akan keluar. Ada 36 nomor berbeda dalam permainan populer ini di mana sebuah bola kecil diputar dan dilemparkan ke dalam mesin roulette. Anda harus menebak dari mana bola kecil itu masuk dan di nomor berapa ia berhenti. Ada banyak jenis pilihan angka dari 0-36, dan mereka dihitung secara berbeda. Sebagai agen casino terpercaya, panduan permainan roulette ini juga memberikan informasi tentang jenis pilihan dan nama permainan roulette casino online sebagai berikut: 1. Straight Up: Penempatan angka tunggal dari 0 hingga 36. Contoh perhitungan straight up adalah mengalikan taruhan dengan 35. Ini adalah jenis taruhan tertinggi dalam permainan roulette kasino, jadi 50 dikalikan dengan 35 memberi Anda 1750, mengapa jenis taruhan ini menghasilkan pengembalian yang begitu tinggi? Hal ini karena tidak mudah untuk memenangkan pilihan nomor dengan memilih hanya satu nomor dari banyak. 2. Taruhan split: Jenis taruhan yang ditempatkan pada dua angka atau di antara dua angka yang berbeda. Misalnya, menempatkan di sela-sela angka 9 dan 12 atau 13d dan 14 dihitung sebagai jenis taruhan split. Setiap nomor dapat ditempatkan dalam jenis ini selama nomor tersebut berdekatan dan persis seperti Gambar A dan B. Untuk taruhan ini, jika Anda memenangkan contoh dan mengalikannya dengan 850, Anda akan menerima jumlah taruhan yang dikalikan dengan 17. . 3. Taruhan jalanan: bertaruh dengan 3 angka ke bawah, misalnya 1,2,3 atau 10,11,12. Semua taruhan jalan akan menerima kemenangan dikalikan dengan 11. Misalnya, 50 dikalikan 550. 4. Taruhan sudut: Jenis taruhan di mana empat angka ditempatkan saling berhadapan, seperti 13,14,16,17 atau 19,20,22,23. Semua angka valid karena terdiri dari 4 angka yang diisi seperti kotak dan taruhan dikalikan 8 (misalnya 50 kali 800). 5. Taruhan baris: Atau, Anda dapat mengatakan bahwa ada 6 jenis taruhan yang terdiri dari 2 baris, tetapi 6 poin dengan 2 peregangan, seperti taruhan jalanan. Misalnya, jika Anda memilih angka 7 hingga 12 dan 13 hingga 18, taruhan 50 adalah 5 kali dan kemudian dikalikan dengan 250 kemenangan. 6. Kolom Inner Bet: Jenis taruhan vertikal dengan 12 poin berturut-turut, seperti kolom numerik 1,4,7,10,13,19,22,25,25,28,22,24,34 atau kolom lainnya. Dan jika dia memenangkan kolom, 50 taruhan digandakan dan 100 taruhan. 7. Lusin : Jenis taruhan menempatkan 12 angka tetapi menempatkannya pada kotak berbentuk seperti contoh Kolom A dengan angka 1 sampai 12 dan odds dengan kolom lain untuk dipilih dengan memilih 1 kotak pertama untuk Kolom A. Kalikan dengan 2, 50 taruhan 100. 8. Zero part : Cara bertaruh 0.1,2,3 sama persis seperti di gambar, karena berdekatan dengan angka 0, anda hanya bisa bertaruh 0.1,2,3. Menempatkan taruhan ini mengalikannya dengan 50. hingga 8. 9. Zero Corner: Bertaruh pada angka 0.1,2 atau 0.2,3 adalah dua pilihan karena Anda hanya bertaruh mendekati angka nol. Jenis taruhan ini dikalikan 11 jika taruhan menang. 10. Two Dozen: Jenis taruhan dengan hanya dua pilihan: 1-18 atau 19-36. Jika taruhan Anda adalah 50, itu dikalikan dengan 1 hingga 50 jika Anda menang. 11. Merah atau Hitam: Masukkan taruhan Anda dengan memilih Merah atau Hitam sebagai warna angka yang muncul saat taruhan 50. 12. Genap/Ganjil: Pilih angka yang menghasilkan jumlah jenis taruhan ganjil. Many of major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Wednesday have given the top priority to the statement of Nepal Communist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal that his party is closely watching the performance of ministers, hinting his partys another Chairman and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is likely to reshuffle the Cabinet soon. On the other hand, some newspapers have made the lead story from statements of Prime Minister Oli during the House of Representatives meeting yesterday. Statements made by Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit during a meeting of a parliamentary committee yesterday about the staff adjustment in the federal structure have also been prioritised. Meanwhile, some other sociocultural and economic issues have also been featured on the cover pages of Kathmandu broadsheets today. Important Dahal hints at Cabinet reshuffle Two chairpersons of the ruling Nepal Communist PartyOli and Dahalare reviewing performance of the ministers in the Cabinet in a bid to reshuffle it so as to increase efficiency, according to newspaper reports. Dahal informed about the preparations during a press meeting he organised in Khumaltar of Lalitpur yesterday. We are not thinking that some ministers should not be removed, Rajdhani quotes him to say, We will take strong initiatives if the ministers make people hopeless and the party a failure. TU cancels exams after question leak Lead stories in Naya Patrika and Nagarik have reported that the Tribhuvan University on Tuesday cancelled the examinations of Foundations of Education and Advanced Educational Psychology conducted this Sunday and Tuesday respectively after finding that the questions were leaked before the tests. In a conversation with Naya Patrika, Professor Hom Nath Bhattarai accepted that he was responsible for the leak and expressed readiness to face action. Controversial persons also get national awards President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Tuesday conferred various awards and medals on total 344 persons which were announced on this years Republic Day, according to Gorkhapatra. Republica adds that some of the persons receiving the award are controversial and notorious. They include former Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli, suspended SP Bidyananda Majhi, tainted businessman Rajendra Khetan, plagiarism accused TU Vice Chancellor Tirtha Khaniya and former Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi. Naya Patrika has also carried a story about Majhi. Ignored Speaker leaving for China while Parliament is under pressure Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara is leaving for a China trip this Friday while the Federal Parliament is under pressure to adopt various laws so as to ensure implementation of provisions of fundamental rights by September 19, Nepal Samacharpatra reports in a four column story. The Speaker is scheduled to stay in China for one week and it will directly affects meeting of the House of Representatives, the report adds. Govt rejects Nepali Armys investment proposal Karobar reports that the Ministry of Defence has rejected the proposal of Nepali Army to make investments in profitable industries through its welfare fund citing such activities will tarnish the professional image of the national military organisation. Earlier, media had reported that the Nepali Army wants to amend the Army Act so as to expand its business activities in multiple sectors. Gold smuggling probe report gathers dust It has been more than one month since a committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs formed to investigate into the smuggling and disappearance of 33.5 kg gold and subsequent murder of one of the mules submitted its report to the government. However, the report has not been forwarded to any agency for implementation. It has been kept at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, according to Nagarik. Demonetised Indian banknotes unlikely to get exchanged As the central bank of India is preparing to close the chapter of demonetised banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations, the notes worth INR 100 million are likely to remain unused in Nepal, The Himalayan Times reports in its anchor story. The Reserve Bank of Indias report released recently mentions that 99.3 per cent of scrapped notes have been returned to the formal banking system, suggesting the exchange process will stop now. Govt adopts soft approach to NGOs Owing to criticisms from various walks of life, the government has withdrew from its position about activities of national and international non-government organisations, Republica claims in a four column story. In a plan to woo NGOs and civil society organisations, the National Planning Commission on Tuesday organised a consultative meeting with them and assured the government will work together with them incorporating their suggestions, according to the report. Interesting Chitwan police offer chocolates to traffic rule violators A four column anchor story in Kantipur reports that traffic police in Chitwan district have begun distributing chocolates and snacks to people violating road discipline. Police have claimed it will make them feel embarrassed and consequently they will change their behaviours. It is negligence to violate rules even when you know them. Therefore, we have distributed chocolates to embarrass you, the report quotes Bed Prasad Gautam, Chief of the District Police Office. GLENDALE, Ore. -- The city of Glendale is using a new historic marker to honor its Jewish past in hopes that it makes an impact on the citys future. The historical marker was donated by the Jewish-American Society for Historic Preservation and was installed in Memorial Park just a few weeks ago. City Recorder Dawn Russ said even before it was put in place, the history of the town was obvious. You cant mistake it around the town, Russ said. Theres Montgomery Avenue, Sol Abraham -- the streets are named after a lot of his family and everything. Theres a lot of history, and people are very aware of the history. It wasnt a surprise. It was just an added bonus. According to an article by Jewish-American Society President Jerry Klinger, historical documents show the Glendale area was once a settlement called New Odessa. Settled by Russian-Jewish immigrants escaping the rule of Alexander III, Solomon Abraham and others established the New Odessa settlement. City Councilor Ted Grissom said he hopes the historical marker helps educate more people about the citys rich history. I think it brings the awareness of the people working together, understanding the history and the background, Grissom said. A lot of us didnt really understand it or know it as well as we can now. The settlement disbanded by 1888 due to religious and political differences, and Glendale was later established. City Councilor Judy Cass said theyre looking forward to their upcoming dedication ceremony. Solomon Abrahams great-granddaughter is going to be with us for the celebration next week, and were excited about that, Cass said. Were excited that shes able to make the trip, and maybe she can even add things that we dont know about. The city is holding an official dedication ceremony for their new historical marker Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. in Memorial Park across from the post office. JUNCTION CITY, Ore. -- Governor Kate Brown visited students at Junction City High School Tuesday to learn more about their career and technical education programs. One of the highlights of the tour was the newly remodeled culinary arts classroom. This was thanks to the CTE Revitalization Grant from the Oregon Department of Education. Students said they are excited to learn in a kitchen thats even nicer than some of theirs at home. Learning how to cook and even how to clean the kitchen properly afterwards is one thing that you really need to learn, and the ins and outs of a kitchen, said Leah Eley, a senior at Junction City High School. Eley said she wants to own her own restaurant someday, so a program like this really helps her feel ready to move forward with that dream. Brown said so many other students also realize their path through CTE programs, and because of that those programs drive up graduation rates. The students said to us, 'I didn't know what I wanted to do. I came into this class, I'm learning how to weld, and now I know what I want to do.' It gives them the encouragement and the motivation to graduate from high school, Brown said. Along with that, Brown said these kinds of programs help fill Oregon's need for skilled trade workers. I think it's really important that there be a level of coordination between the private sector and our high schools to make sure that the career and technical education programs are meeting employers needs, Brown said. Brown also got to tour the construction of a brand new building at Junction City High School. This building will house several new CTE programs, including a media center. WASHINGTON -- President Trump described Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a "traitor" and "mentally retarded" to aides, according to excerpts published from an explosive new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward. It's just one anecdote from Woodward's 448-page book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," based on hundreds of hours of interviews with current and past administration officials and documents, which gives a behind the scenes look at the Trump presidency, according to excerpts published Tuesday in the Washington Post. While Woodward says the book comes from firsthand reporting, in a process he calls "deep background" he does not directly identify many sources for the quotes he includes. ABC News has not independently obtained a copy of the book, which is set for release on September 11. The account of the book by the Post depicts the president as angry, frustrated, and paranoid about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The president reportedly lashed out at Sessions to former staff secretary Rob Porter for Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe. "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner," Trump reportedly told Porter about Sessions. "He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama." The book says the president's former attorney, John Dowd, was concerned that the president would commit perjury if he sat for an interview with Mueller, according to the Post. Woodward reports that Dowd told Mueller he was not going to let the president "sit there and look like an idiot." He was especially concerned about a transcript of the interview getting leaked and revealed to leaders overseas, Woodward wrote. Dowd is quoted as telling the president, "Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit." Still, the president is quoted as telling Dowd he would be "a real good witness" despite later losing his cool during a practice session, according to the Post account, and saying, "This thing's a goddamn hoax," and "I don't really want to testify," according to the published excerpts. Dowd issued a statement denying excerpts of Woodward's book in which he is included, saying he was inaccurately characterized and that he never called the president a liar. "I have not read Bob Woodward's book, which appears to be the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents," Dowd said. "I do not intend to address every inaccurate statement attributed to me but I do want to make this clear: there was no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment' of a mock interview at the Special Counsel's office," he said. "Further, I did not refer to the President as a "liar" and did not say that he was likely to end up in an 'orange jumpsuit." It was a great honor and distinct privilege to serve President Trump." CNN, which said it also obtained an advance copy of the book, reports that Trump's attorneys believe him incapable of telling the truth. "He just made something up. That's his nature," Dowd said to Mueller, according to CNN's account. The book paints a picture of the president constantly at odds with his own advisers, including Secretary of Defense James Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly. In a statement, the White House pushed back. "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. In her statement, she went on to list administration accomplishments and predicted a Trump win in 2020. The White House was hard at work reaching out to many former aides who were mentioned in the book, encouraging them to issue statements to the media pushing back on the claims made by Woodward, multiple current and former White House aides told ABC News. Some of the aides out right declined those requests, sources said. President Trump told Woodward in a phone call that he would have spoken to Woodward for the book, but he was not told about an interview request. In a transcript of the call between Trump and Woodward released by the Washington Post, Woodward told the president that he spoke to "six or seven" people about getting an interview and put in a request with presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway and asked Trump ally, Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, to put in a good word for him as well. Trump later acknowledges in the call that Graham briefly mentioned it to him. Woodward also says he sat down with Conway to discuss a Trump interview, according to the phone call transcript. "It's really too bad, because nobody told me about it, and I would've loved to have spoken to you. You know I'm very open to you. I think you've always been fair. We'll see what happens," Trump said. In the book, Woodward writes about Mattis and Kelly's frustrations about working with the president, at times defying his demands. The Post writes that the president dismissed the importance of a military presence in the Korean Peninsula following a National Security Council meeting in January. Mattis became frustrated by the president's response, according to Woodward. "Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like and had the understanding of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader,'" Woodward writes. Kelly also questioned the president's ability intelligence, according to Woodward. "He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown," Woodward reports Kelly as saying. "I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had." But in a statement released by the White House, Kelly denied calling Trump an "idiot." "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," Kelly said. He added, "I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS." Woodward reports that aides tried to hide documents or information from the president that they felt could endanger national security. "A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas," said Porter, according to CNN. In one case, Mattis simply ignored the president's request. Following Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad's brutal chemical attack on his own people, the president reportedly told Mattis, "Let's f------ kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f------ lot of them." After telling the president he would "get right on it," according to the Post, he then turned to an aide and said, "We're not going to do any of that. We're going to be much more measured." Late Tuesday, Mattis, who was en route to India, also issued a statement. "The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility," Mattis said. "In serving in this administration, the idea that I would show contempt for the elected Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone's rich imagination," the statement said. Home Just In Minister Pun off to Bangladesh to attend Energy Week events Kathmandu, September 5 Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barshaman Pun has left for Bangladesh to attend the Energy Week. Minister Pun, who is leading the Nepali delegation, is scheduled to address the event and hold bilateral talks on energy exchange with Bangladeshi officials. During the visit, he will also pay a courtesy call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and will meet the political leadership there. The delegation will return home on Saturday, September 8. Kathmandu, September 5 The Indian consultant hired to preare the DPR for the Pancheswor Multipurpose Project has submitted a fresh repor to the Nepal-India joint authority overseeing the operations. This comes two years after Nepal rejected the DPR prepared by WAPCOS saying that if implemented, the proposal would allow India to use almost all of the Mahakali waters to its advantage, at the expense of Nepal. Pancheswor Development Authority CEO Chiranjivi Chataut said that the report was part of an ongoing process to reach an agreement to start work on the project. WAPCOS also says that the new DPR addresses the concerns of the Nepali side. However, it is not clear what changes have been made to the DPR. The earlier report, presented in April, 2016, recommended that India be allowed to use have 78 per cent of Mahakali waters. both Nepal and India. The Ministry of Energy had formed a committee under former secretary Sriranjan Lakaul to study the DPR and make recommendations. The committee reported to the Ministry in the last week of November, and the ministry to the authority on November 29, 2016. The committee had noted three reservations: AUSTIN, Minn. - While some schools are already back in session, others are heading back for their first day after Labor Day weekend, including Austin Public School students. Neveln Elementary School student Lefrenomar Mungia is excited to be a fourth grader. "I'm also excited to see my friends," she says. Austin Public Schools always start after Labor Day. MASON CITY, Iowa - The November Election could get a little smoother at some local polling places. At today's Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors meeting, interim auditor Pat Wright explained how RBM Election Support Services will be used after the auditor's office approved of retaining their services. During the election, RBM will troubleshoot issues during ballot processing, assisting poll workers, result posting, post-election processing, and assisting with equipment that processes ballots that former auditor Riley Dirksen purchased before he resigned last month. Mark Suby of Mason City says the $4,425 price tag for the three days worth of support is worth it. "It's a good use of taxpayer dollars to make sure our elections are good and clean elections. It's imperative to democracy." And he's also a supporter of the work that has been done. "Ken Kline started all of this years ago, and everybody has a lot of faith in Ken, and it's continued on with the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse now." Wright says that the expense for the three days worth of support has already been included in the budget, knowing that Election Day could be a 17 hour day. CLEAR LAKE, Iowa A Cerro Gordo County man is facing charges for first-degree burglary and domestic assault. Aaron Mitchell, 24, is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $25,000 bond. Mitchell is accused of first-degree burglary stemming from a March 24 incident. He is accused of entering a residence in the 400 block of Main Ave. in Clear Lake and intentionally assaulting the victim. The domestic abuse charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 3 in Mason City at 290th St. and N. Carolina Ave. where Mitchell is accused of strangling the victim and causing her to have difficulty breathing. The woman also suffered scratch marks on her neck, according to court documents. Flood Warning Areas Affected: Faribault; Freeborn NWS Minneapolis (Southern Minnesota) ...A FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 PM CDT WEDNESDAY FOR FREEBORN...EASTERN FARIBAULT...STEELE AND EASTERN WASECA COUNTIES... At 415 AM CDT, Doppler radar had shown a decrease in rainfall since midnight. Since Tuesday morning, rainfall amounts of three to five inches fell across the warned area. This had led to rising creeks, streams and rivers across the warned area. Although no additional heavy rainfall is expected this morning, runoff is not complete. Therefore, area streams, creeks and rivers will remain high. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. Flood Warning Areas Affected: Floyd NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa) .Recent heavy rain will cause significant rises along the Cedar River. River forecasts take into account both observed and forecast precipitation. The Flood Warning continues for The Cedar River at Charles City. * from this evening to Friday evening...Or until the warning is cancelled. * At 2:30 AM Wednesday the stage was 5.9 feet. * Flood stage is 12.0 feet. * Minor flooding is forecast. * Forecast...Rise above flood stage by this evening and continue to rise to near 14.9 feet by Thursday morning. The river will fall below flood stage by Friday morning. * Impact...At 15.0 feet...Leland Avenue floods, and flooding on Park Drive and 19th Avenue is likely. && Do not drive cars into flooded areas. Remember, it only takes two feet of water to float most automobiles, including sport utility vehicles. Turn Around, Don't Drown! Additional river and weather information is available at... http://www.weather.gov/lacrosse . Flood Warning Areas Affected: Franklin NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa) The National Weather Service in Des Moines has issued a * Flood Warning for... Southeastern Wright County in north central Iowa... Franklin County in north central Iowa... Northwestern Butler County in north central Iowa... * Until 345 PM CDT. * In the past 24 hours, a widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain has fallen across the warned area. Local Emergency Management and Law Enforcement officials have reported several road closures due to water over the roadways. * Some locations that will experience flooding include... Hampton, Sheffield, Greene, Big Wall Lake, Dumont, Dows, Latimer, Coulter, Alexander, Geneva, Bristow, Rowan, Bradford, Hansell, Chapin, Popejoy, Aredale, Galt, Beeds Lake State Park and Hampton Municipal Airport. Additional rainfall amounts of one tenth of an inch is possible in the warned area through this afternoon. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Please report flooding to your local law enforcement agency when you can do so safely. Flood Warning Areas Affected: Mower NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa) .Recent heavy rain will cause significant rises along the Cedar...Turkey and Root rivers. River forecasts take into account both observed and forecast precipitation. The Flood Warning continues for The Turtle Creek Near Austin 3NW. * from Wednesday morning to Friday morning...Or until the warning is cancelled. * At 9:30 PM Tuesday the stage was 5.1 feet. * Flood stage is 10.5 feet. * Minor flooding is forecast. * Forecast...Rise above flood stage Wednesday morning and continue to rise to near 11.5 feet Wednesday evening. * Impact...At 10.5 feet...Minor flooding begins along the creek in Austin. && Do not drive cars into flooded areas. Remember, it only takes two feet of water to float most automobiles, including sport utility vehicles. Turn Around, Don't Drown! Additional river and weather information is available at... http://www.weather.gov/lacrosse . ALBERT LEA, Minn. Freeborn County and mayo Clinic Health System representatives are still not seeing eye-to-eye on why services are being consolidated between Albert Lea and Austin. At a public meeting on Tuesday, Mayo representatives updated the board on the project. They told the board theyre working on getting observation hospital beds in Albert Lea. They also are working with the county on opening a mental health care center. But county commissioners and citizens who came to the public meeting are still unsatisfied with answers surrounding the labor and delivery and nursery services moving to Austin in 2020. I just wish somebody would be honest and tell me why this decision was made, Glen Mathiason, 1st District Commissioner, said. I got my feelings on why it was made. But that's the way I feel about it, I had to say it. Because it really hurts this community. Mathiason said for his constituents on the western side of Albert Lea, driving to Austin to deliver a baby, could be about 55 miles of travel. Mayo representatives said one birthing center is more reasonable for services to continue in the future. They said recruiting and retaining physicians in the area is difficult. According to them, it takes about three years to recruit one OBGYN. A new graduate from an OB wants to be busier. They want to maintain their skills and see complex cases as well, Dr. Sumit Bharga said. I don't buy that, Dan Belshan, 2nd District Commissioner said. If they don't want to deliver babies here maybe we'll get someone who will from a different hospital. The group Save our Healthcare also weighed in on the conversation. The group, formerly known as Save Our Hospital, spearheaded the effort to keep all of Mayos services in Albert Lea. SOH is now focused on restoring services, reducing healthcare costs, and taking back control of healthcare in the region. Brad Arends is the chair of SOH and thanked the commission for hosting the public meeting. He also encouraged them to consider healthcare costs when talking to Mayo, in addition to access to services. We have the highest health insurance rates in the state of Minnesota, Arends said. And it's only because of one reason. It's not because we're less healthy. It's because we pay more. After the meeting Arends told KIMT the meeting went as he expected, saying no new information was offered. In a statement following the meeting, Mayo representatives sent KIMT this statement: We thank the county commissioners for the opportunity to speak with them today. We look forward to ongoing discussions with the county, city and community groups about the future of health care for residents of Albert Lea, Austin and surrounding counties in Minnesota and northern Iowa. To learn more on what services can be found at each campus, updated information can be found here. GARNER, Iowa A not guilty plea is entered in a case of drugs and identity theft. Julian Taylor Washington, 20 of Garner, is pleading not guilty to possession with intent to deliver LSD, identity theft, and failure to use a drug tax stamp. Police say they found roughly 42.5 grams of a substance containing LSD when they searched Washingtons home on August 3. Officers say the substance had been split into 104 doses. Washington is accused of using the name of a previous resident of his home to order the substance online. His trial is scheduled to begin on November 28. MASON CITY, Iowa Leaving a residential treatment facility is sending a Clear Lake man back to jail. Matthew Ernest Andersen, 29, was serving time at BeJe Clark in Mason City for a domestic abuse assault conviction. He was admitted to the work release facility on February 27 and did not return to it on August 1. Andersen was recaptured on August 7. He pleaded guilty to absence from custody, a serious misdemeanor, and has been sentenced to 180 days in jail. That time will be served after he now finishes serving his sentence for domestic abuse. Andersen must also pay a $315 fine. CHARLES CITY, Iowa A man arrested three and months after police thought they caught him with methamphetamine is pleading not guilty. Jeremy John Round, 35 of Mason City, was stopped for driving while suspended on May 4. Charles City police officers say they found a vial full of a liquid and nearly 50 grams of a substance they thought was meth. After tests at the Iowa Division of Criminal investigation confirmed they were meth, Round was arrested on August 15. Hes pleaded not guilty to possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine. Rounds trial is set to begin on October 30. ALBERT LEA, Minn. - An armed robbery from over the weekend at the Americinn (811 Plaza St.) is under investigation. Albert Lea police said it happened at 8:54 p.m. Saturday when an unknown male brandished a handgun and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. Officers were not able to locate the suspect and no injuries were reported. The suspect is described as a white male in his 20s and around 6-foot tall. Another armed robbery in Freeborn County occurred Monday night. County and city detectives are working together on a couple pieces of evidence to see if the armed robberies are linked. ROCHESTER, Minn. - Rain damage is closing the eastbound lane of 2nd Street SW between 14th Avenue and 15th Avenue. Rochester Public Works says heavy rains Tuesday damaged the Berkman Apartments construction site and the lane is being closed to allow the contractor to make repairs. A temporary curb is being installed and the lane will reopen once city officials confirm it is safe for traffic. One eastbound lane on 2nd Street SW remains open. Previous story below ROCHESTER, Minn. A construction site has partially caved in. It happened Tuesday evening in the 1400 block of 2nd Street SW in Rochester, near the McDonalds. Police say the sand/gravel was washed away by heavy rain, causing the cement barricades around the site to sink. The gravel was also washed out from underneath a 15 foot long section of the road. With the sinking of the barricades, water flowed into the construction site. Rochester Public Works is blocking off the southern most lane of traffic for safety reasons. AfricaRice is a CGIAR Research Center part of a global research partnership for a food-secure future. It is also an intergovernmental association of African member countries. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org A propos dAfricaRice AfricaRice est un Centre de recherche du CGIAR un partenariat mondial de la recherche agricole pour un futur sans faim. AfricaRice est aussi une association intergouvernementale composee de pays membres africains. Pour plus dinformations, visiter : www.AfricaRice.org Kathmandu, September 5 Poland has proposed that a joint military drill be organised for capacity enhancement of the Nepali Army. The proposal was made by Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Baszczak before Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Iswar Pokharel, who is currently on an official visit to Poland. In response, Minister Pokharel said the Nepali government and the army were ready to provide staff commando training, mountain warfare training and para basic training to the Polish army, according to the DPMs press coordinator Lokendra KC. On the occasion, DPM Pokharel also requested the Polish government to ease visa application procedure for the Nepalis traveling to Poland. He urged the Polish government to resume the MBBS scholarship that it had been granting to Nepali students until 1993. OSAGE, Iowa - As students are heading back to school, one North Iowa school district is reminding drivers to watch out for children, or they could face some serious penalties. The Osage School District has cameras mounted on the outside on the driver's side of each bus in order to catch drivers who may pass the extended stop sign arm when in use. The cameras are able to help get information such as a license plate number, make and model of the passing vehicle, and a brief description of the driver, with footage then given to law enforcement. John Morische is a full-time bus driver for district, and says that he's noticed some careless drivers in the 13 years he's been behind the wheel for the district. "Anybody driving through is too much. We've all had motorists that decide to drive through the red, and it's not good. We've been fortunate we haven't had injuries at our district, and I hope it stays that way." While the cameras can be an expense, Moriche says the investment is worth it. "It's a very important tool that we've used quite a few times. I would highly recommend it. I know they're not cheap, but it's another tool in the tool box." In both Iowa and Minnesota, it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus (with the exception of a four-lane roadway in Iowa, or a roadway that is separated by a safety isle or zone in Minnesota). In Iowa, drivers are required to stop no less than 15 feet from the rear of the bus, and in Minnesota, drivers must stop at least 20 feet away. In addition, both Iowa and Minnesota have recently passed or updated legislation regarding stopped school buses and motorists. In 2012, then Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed into law Kadyn's Law after Kadyn Halverson of rural Kensett was hit and killed while crossing a road to get on a bus. Last year, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety enacted increased fines for those failing to stop. ROCHESTER, Minn. - The task force formulated new boundary lines for Rochester Public Schools elementary students and presented their recommendation to the school board to receive feedback. These boundaries would move three neighborhood areas currently attending Jefferson and Elton Hills, which are the two schools the most over-capacity, to attend Hoover and Churchill, which are under-capacity. Their goals are to try to keep students who walk to school at their neighborhood school as much as possible, and "attempt to relieve schools that are at a greater than 110% utilization level to schools that are at a less than 90% utilization level." "That's just to get us through until something is built," explains Superintendent Michael Munoz. "They just want to get the boundary temporary fix done first, and then they'll start looking at options to address the overcapacity at our elementary and middle schools" Now that the committee has received feedback, they'll bring their recommendation back to the school board to be briefed on September 18, and the board will vote on October 2. Some concerns about the recommendations mentioned at the meeting include maintaining an economic and racial balance in their schools, and fairness in moving students around. Board members were also concerned about Franklin, which is also over-capacity. The task force explained that because the other schools near Franklin are also over-capacity, changing Franklin's boundaries would only shift the problem to a different school. The boundaries will go into effect next school year. If the recommendation is approved, students currently attending a District Wide Option school will continue, and students who are currently transferring from their home school to another boundary school will also be able to continue to do so. As of now, the boundaries will not affect middle or high schools, but one of the task force's next steps is looking at high school capacities. After the new boundaries are established, Superintendent Munoz tells KIMT the task force will begin formulating a recommendation to build a new school or add on to existing schools to address RPS's overcrowding problem in a more long-term manner. They will be looking at sites and locations, options to increase capacity, and a referendum scope. Munoz expects they will present that plan to the school board in November. FOREST CITY, Iowa - A woman is accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from a Forest City business. Amy Lynn Richter, 49 of Titonka, is charged with 1st degree theft and two counts of forgery. The criminal complaint alleges that Richter used company credit cards, house charge accounts, payroll cash advances, and company checking accounts to steal $51,408.51 from Eddy's Glass and Door. The crimes reportedly took place between May 23, 2017, and June 30, 2018. The forgery counts are for two company checks Richter is accused of issuing on May 26, 2017, without permission. The checks totalled $1,425. Charges were filed against Richter on August 30 and she was picked up on a warrant in Forest City on August 31. GARNER, Iowa - An accused Hancock County meth dealer is pleading guilty. Carol Ann Hugo Daniels, 50 of Ventura, was arrested in June after law enforcement searched a home in Woden where Daniels was staying and says it found multiple pieces of drug lab equipment. Authorities said Daniels played a "large role" in Hancock County drug traffic. She entered guilty pleas to possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and distributing a meth precursor. Daniels was sentenced to three to five years of supervised probation and must complete substance abuse and mental health treatment. Exchange operator CME Group reports that metals volume averaged 626,000 contracts per day in August, which was up 1% from 622,000 in August 2017. Among the highlights, copper futures and options average daily volume increased 16% to 149,000 contracts. Average daily volume in gold options rose 29% to 57,000 contracts. On a rolling three-month basis, metals volume averaged 644,000 contracts during the period ending in August. This was down from 661,000 for the three-month period ending in July, 674,000 for the period ending in June and 680,000 for the period ending in May. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Metals Focus: U.S. Silver Powder Exports Strong But To Ease U.S. silver powder exports were little changed year-on-year in June but were strong during the first six months of the year, says the consultancy Metals Focus. However, they are likely to wane in the second half of 2018. The first-half strength was in large part due to photovoltaic demand in China as companies rushed to finalize installations before feed-in tariffs were reduced at the beginning of June as a part of the governments policy announced earlier this year, Metals Focus says. However, the impetus this created has now led to a mismatch between PV demand and supply, which in turn has resulted in downward price pressure for finished cells, the consultancy continues. Meanwhile, other government policies now are weighing on the global PV industry, particularly U.S. import tariffs, Metals Focus explains. In the context of U.S. silver powder offtake, it therefore looks as though the second half of this year will see a much slower pace of fabrication demand, Metals Focus says. To put this into perspective, during [the first half], the volume of reported U.S. gross exports totaled 518t [tonnes], an increase of 29% y/y [year-over-year]. Furthermore, this was the highest half-yearly level since H1.11, when gross exports reached 714t. For calendar 2018, we therefore expect to see solid growth, but well below the H1.18 performance. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Commerzbank: Gold/Silver Ratio Hits Highest Level In Decade Gold has been outperforming silver and platinum, with the gold/silver ratio this week climbing to its highest level in a decade, says Commerzbank. The ratio measures how many ounces of silver it takes to buy an ounce of gold, with a rising number meaning outperformance by gold, and vice-versa. Both metals were hurt Tuesday by a stronger U.S. dollar. The silver price dropped to $14 per troy ounce and the platinum price to below $770 per troy ounce, Commerzbank says. Besides a falling gold price, silver and platinum were dragged down by the weak base metals prices. As a result, the gold/silver ratio increased to over 84, its highest level in almost 10 years. The price gap between gold and platinum has widened to $415 per troy ounce. Editor's Note: The article was updated to reflect a change in prices. (Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are modestly up and near their daily highs in early U.S. trading Wednesday. A sell off in the U.S. dollar index today is working in favor of the precious metals market bulls. December gold futures were last up $3.40 an ounce at $1,202.60. December Comex silver was last up $0.045 at $14.22 an ounce. World stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are also pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins. Global trade worries and the potential drag on the major economies of the world are weighing on equities this week. The U.S. and Canada are deadlocked on trade negotiations, while there are concerns the U.S. will slap more trade sanctions on China. Asian stock markets were also pressured today by weak economic data coming out of China. Secondary currency markets, including the Argentine peso and Turkish lira, remain under pressure against the U.S. dollar. There are still worries this matter could turn into something more serious that impacts the global financial system. In overnight news, the Euro zone composite purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 54.4 in August versus 54.2 in July. The August reading was right in line with market expectations. A number above 50.0 suggests growth in the sector. The key outside markets today find the U.S. dollar index lower after holding slight overnight gains. Meantime, Nymex crude oil prices are lower on a corrective pullback after hitting a 3.5-month high on Tuesday. Also, the storm in the Gulf of Mexico did not reach hurricane status, as some initially reckoned it would. U.S. economic data due for release Wednesday includes the weekly MBA mortgage applications survey, the weekly Johnson Redbook and Goldman Sachs retail sales reports, the international trade in goods and services report, and the ISM New York report on business. Technically, gold bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close in December futures above solid resistance at last week's high of $1,220.70. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at the August low of $1,167.10. First resistance is seen at Tuesday's high of $1,209.70 and then at $1,215.00. First support is seen at Tuesday's low of $1,195.10 and then at $1,189.50. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0 December silver futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $15.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $14.00. First resistance is seen at $14.405 and then at Tuesday's high of $14.59. Next support is seen at Tuesday's low of $14.035 and then at $14.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 1.0. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government shutdown for lack of funds will be avoided in coming weeks and the U.S. House of Representatives will vote in September on another round of tax cuts, Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday. Thats not in anyones interest, Ryan told reporters when asked about the possibility of a government shutdown, to which President Donald Trump has alluded. Ryan also said the House will vote this month on legislation to make permanent the $1.1 trillion in temporary cuts for individuals, families and private businesses that are set to expire in 2025. The House and Senate have been working on spending bills for fiscal year 2019, which begins on Oct. 1, in the hope of funding agencies and programs and avoiding the closure of some federal activities. I think the results will prove itself, Ryan said. In the past, Trump has expressed support for forcing a government shutdown in order to force Congress to approve full funding for a wall that he wants to build on the U.S. border with Mexico. But in an interview with the Daily Caller on Tuesday, Trump was quoted as backing off on that threat. Congress approved nearly $1.6 billion for wall construction this year and the House is pushing for an additional $1.8 billion next year - far below the estimated $25 billion needed for the project that is opposed by Democrats and many Republicans. On taxes, Congress handed Trump a major, deficit-financed tax cut bill at the end of last year that is a central feature of Republicans bid to win the Nov. 6 congressional elections. That law provided deep tax cuts for corporations on a permanent basis. A move by the House to make more of the cuts permanent could have a difficult time clearing the Senate. Reporting By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell By Dong Sun-hwa Taiwanese actor, musician and model Jasper Liu, also known as Liu Yihao, revealed that he is learning Korean so he can appear in Korean shows. "If I have a chance, I want to work in Korea as well. Since there could be a language barrier, I am steadily learning Korean," the actor, 32, was quoted as saying before the "Seoul International Drama Awards" Monday. Liu came to the festival as a presenter. This is the third time he has visited Korea this year. He said he was glad to revisit Korea with his improved Korean. Liu featured in the KBS 2TV reality show "The Return of Superman" in June. In it he met a three-year-old Korean boy, the son of a celebrity, in Taiwan. "I had difficulty communicating with the boy," Liu said. "Through such an experience, I learnt the significance of language and began studying Korean." Pronunciation is his biggest challenge. He has a private tutor, but sometimes has to take a rest midway in a lesson because it is so demanding. "I am willing to take a role for a character that speaks both Korean and Chinese," Liu said. The actor is a Taiwanese heartthrob who debuted in the drama "In Time with You" in 2011. He was catapulted to fame in Korea thanks to the film "Take Me to the Moon" in 2017. There is speculation he might appear at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) that begins on Oct. 4. A view of Powerlong Museum in Shanghai, China / Courtesy of Powerlong Museum Director Xu pursues cultural dialogue through art By Kwon Mee-yoo Wendy Xu, executive administrator of Powerlong Culture / Courtesy of Powerlong Museum By Dong Sun-hwa My friends and colleagues, especially males, were envious when they were told I would have an extended interview over two days with Kim Soo-min, the 2018 Miss Korea. Some of them joked that they would do anything to trade roles with me. Of course, I rejected such proposals. Three historic Catholic locations in central Seoul will be officially authorized by the Vatican as new world Catholic pilgrimage destinations, the Catholic Church's Seoul archdiocese said Wednesday. They will be the first Asian sites to be added to the list of world Catholic pilgrimage destinations when the Vatican officially bestows the recognition on Sept. 14 in a ceremony near Seosomun Park in central Seoul, which is currently under construction. The park area is one of the most symbolic Catholic sites in South Korea, as the greatest number of Catholics were martyred there in the final decades of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). The site is the starting point of the 5.9-kilometer "Pathway of Life" that leads up to the Gahoedong Catholic Church where the first Catholic mass was held in Korea. The route, along with two other pathways in central Seoul, respectively 8.7 km and 29.5 km in length, will be granted Vatican recognition later this month, according to the Archdiocese of Seoul. The three routes were initially designated in 2013 by Korean Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seoul Andrew Yeom Soo-jung ahead of Pope Francis' landmark visit to South Korea in 2014. The Catholic Church's Archdiocese of Seoul will celebrate next week as "Korea Pilgrimage Week" and host 32 Catholic leaders from 13 Asian countries as part of the event. (Yonhap) In this file photo taken on November 9, 2017 shows U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping leaving a business leaders event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Trump on August 24, 2018 announced the cancellation of his top diplomat's upcoming visit to North Korea, while taking a swipe at China over efforts to disarm the nuclear state. Trump says China is not 'helping' with North Korea. AFP China on Saturday lashed out at President Donald Trump for accusing Beijing of not being supportive in efforts to denuclearize North Korea, while South Korea called the U.S. decision to call off a trip to the North by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ''unfortunate.'' The reaction in Seoul and Beijing came hours after President Donald Trump directed Pompeo to delay his trip because of what he saw as a lack of progress on nuclear disarmament talks with the North. Trump also said the nuclear negotiations with North Korea have been hampered by a lack of support from China, which is the North's only major ally and is engaged in an intensifying trade dispute with the United States. The Chinese foreign ministry blasted Trump's comments. ''The U.S. statement violates basic facts and is irresponsible,'' the ministry said on its website. ''We are seriously concerned about it and have made solemn representations to the U.S. side.'' Beijing supports ''advancing the process of a political settlement'' following the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore, the statement said. It appealed to both sides to ''show more sincerity and flexibility'' instead of ''being capricious and overly prejudiced.'' Meanwhile, while describing the postponement of Pompeo's trip as a setback, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it expects China to continue serving a ''constructive role'' in international efforts to solve the nuclear crisis and noted that Beijing continues to express commitment to fully implement sanctions against the North. ''It's most important to maintain a long-term view while maintaining a momentum for dialogue and concentrate diplomatic efforts to faithfully implement the agreements from the summits between South Korea and North Korea and between North Korea and the United States, instead of attaching meaning to each change in the situation,'' the ministry said in a statement. ''While we consider the delay of the visit to North Korea as unfortunate, we believe it's most important for the North Korea-U.S. dialogue including Secretary Pompeo's visits to North Korea to contribute to substantial progress in complete denuclearization and the establishment of a permanent peace regime in the Korean Peninsula,'' the statement said. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa spoke with Pompeo over the phone and agreed that the allies should work to keep the atmosphere of dialogue alive, it said. Trump's surprise announcement appeared to mark a concession by the president to widespread concerns that his prior claims of world-altering progress on the Korean Peninsula had been strikingly premature. Ending a period of animosity over North Korea's nuclear and missile development, Trump made history by meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June. But the meeting only produced a vague statement on a nuclear-free peninsula without describing how and when it would occur. Post-summit nuclear talks got off to a rocky start, with North Korea accusing the United States of making unilateral demands on denuclearization. The North has been demanding that the United States ease or lift the sanctions that are crippling its economy. It also wants the United States to fast-track discussions to formally declare an end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped on an armistice and not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically at war. Pompeo and other administration officials have suggested some concessions short of easing or lifting sanctions are possible before verified denuclearization, but have refused to be specific about what they could be. And they have been skeptical about an end-of-war declaration in the absence of any progress on the nuclear matter. Trump's decision to call off Pompeo's trip is clearly a frustrating development for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who continues to push for inter-Korean engagement. Moon, who lobbied hard for the meeting between Trump and Kim, plans to visit Pyongyang in September for his third summit with Kim this year. Moon says improving relations between the rivals would be an important part of the global diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff because Kim wouldn't give up his arsenal unless he feels safe. The summitry has led to a variety of conciliatory steps between the Koreas, which have held military talks to reduce tensions across the border, agreed to open a South Korean liaison office in the North, and are currently holding highly emotional reunions between elderly war-separated relatives in North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort. Moon has also proposed more ambitious ideas, such as reconnecting railways and highways between the Koreas, but the fate of such projects hinges on progress in negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang to denuclearize the North. (AP) A chartered flight carrying President Moon Jae-in's special envoys takes off from Seoul Air Base early Wednesday. They will return later today. / Yonhap South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy headed to North Korea on Wednesday for talks on a proposed summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as ways to move forward stalled talks on ridding the North of its nuclear weapons. Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, left Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, along with four other delegates including National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung. The same five members visited Pyongyang on March 5-6 for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that eventually led to the historic summit between Moon and Kim in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, followed by a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12. Their trip to Pyongyang is aimed at making arrangements for what would be a third Moon-Kim summit. The leaders of the divided Koreas held their second bilateral summit in Panmunjom on May 26. The countries have agreed to hold the third Moon-Kim summit in Pyongyang this month. "First, the delegation will seek to set a specific date for the South-North summit that the countries have already agreed to hold in Pyongyang in September," Chung told a press briefing Tuesday. "Second, it will discuss ways to develop South-North Korean relations by implementing the Panmunjom Declaration," the top security adviser to Moon added. The South Korean officials will also seek to remove an apparent stumbling block in denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea. Chung Eui-yong, third from right, head of the presidential National Security Office, poses with four other delegates before boarding the flight. On Chung's left is National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and one his right is Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung. / Yonhap Chung Eui-yong, front left, head of the presidential National Security Office, Suh Hoon, front right, chief of the National Intelligence Service, and other South Korean delegates walk to an aircraft at a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, for a flight to Pyongyang on Wednesday. AP By Park Si-soo High-stakes talks between South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoys and their North Korean counterparts started in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Cheong Wa Dae said a chartered flight carrying the delegates landed in the North Korean capital at 9 a.m. The presidential office said the envoys were greeted by Ri Sun-kwon, chief of the North's unification committee, at Pyongyang International Airport and escorted to the Koryo Hotel in downtown Pyongyang. They had a tea meeting with Ri and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the North's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee. The tea started at 9:35 a.m. and ended at 10:14 a.m. The envoys were then taken to an unidentified location for a meeting around 10:22 a.m. North Korean scientists wave the national flag during a military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung Square on September 9, 2013, to mark the 65th anniversary of the country's founding. AP-Yonhap. By Jung Da-min North Korea has pushed its achievements and highlighted the festive mood in the country four days before its Sept. 9 foundation day celebration. The ruling Workers' Party of Korea mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday reported on the country's internal and external politics, economic and educational performance and the various events to mark foundation day. In particular, the newspaper devoted two-thirds of its Wednesday edition four pages to highlighting the country's self-reliant economy and the greatness of its education systems, revealing national policy directions to strengthen the country's socialist economy. Kim Jong-un's visit to the bier of Ju Kyu-chang, who was a key figure in the country's missile and nuclear weapons development, was covered on the front page, but there were no other reports on the country's military policy. In April, Kim vowed to abolish the dual military-economic policy of "Byeongjin," which had dominated for the past five years, putting more of the nation's focus on pursuing economic strategies so it will be recognized as a "normal country" in the international community. The decision, adopted at the third plenary meeting of the seventh Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, stated that North Korea would stop nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests from April 21. This has been seen as part of moves for reconciliation with the South and the United States. Since then there have been hurdles in discussions between the North and the U.S. over denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and declaration of the official end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But the North is not expected to provoke the U.S. by showing off ICBMs at the Sept. 9 military parade. The newspaper also emphasized that the country's economy has performed well despite "appalling conditions," thanks to its people's unity and technologies, and encouraged them to unite against international sanctions. Kim has been on a tour to point out what is wrong with the North's industries and factories, encouraging them to improve to increase output. The paper also gave examples of mining and factory colleges to highlight the excellence of the national education system. Li Zhangshu, chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee and the third-ranking official in the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, will lead a delegation to the North for foundation day, the paper reported. The Russian delegation will be led by Valentina Matvienko, chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council. By Lee Min-hyung North Korea has repeated a call for the South and the United States to walk on similiar paths to speed up the declaration of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the regime's foreign ministry said Tuesday. "The first step to build trust between Pyongyang and Washington is to declare the end to the war, as this will help establish a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," Kim Yong-guk, head of Pyongyang's Disarmament and Peace Institute of its foreign ministry, stated on the institute's homepage. He urged the U.S. to sign the declaration as soon as possible, as this will make smooth progress in the ongoing denuclearization dialogue between both sides. "If both sides have the political willingness, it is reasonable for them to end the technical state of war on the peninsula first," the regime said. The demand came a day before a five-member South Korean special envoy made their way to Pyongyang Wednesday to discuss timelines and agenda for the upcoming inter-Korean summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Nothing has been confirmed about whether they have met with the regime's young leader. But Cheong Wa Dae said the special envoys arrived in Pyongyang, Wednesday morning, and had a discussion with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the regime's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee. South Korea is in a position to play a role as a mediator between the ongoing denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. The regime called for the need to declare an end to the war as a priority to take the next phased steps for its complete denuclearization. But Washington is stepping up its diplomatic pressure against Pyongyang to take more sincere and verifiable denuclearization steps before calling for the declaration. The regime's foreign ministry went on denouncing Washington for continuing to take a hostile policy against Pyongyang, which the regime says is the backbone of the ongoing nuclear problems on the peninsula. "Without establishing a firm peace system on the peninsula, the relations between Pyongyang and Washington can never be improved," the North's ranking official said. With Washington and Pyongyang standing in a political stalemate, the role for President Moon is escalating. Expectations are that Moon and Kim Jong-un will hold their third summit this year in Pyongyang later this month. Both sides are expected to narrow their differences about the ongoing peace talks on the peninsula. No specific timeline has been fixed for their meeting. President Moon Jae-in's special envoy delegation, led by National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, second from left, with chief of the National Intelligence Service Suh Hoon by his side, arrive at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday evening, after visiting Pyongyang earlier in the day to deliver a letter from the President to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Yonhap By Kim Bo-eun President Moon Jae-in's special envoys visited Pyongyang, Wednesday, for crucial discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over a scheduled inter-Korean summit this month, as well as the North's denuclearization. The delegation led by National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong delivered a personal letter from Moon to Kim, Cheong Wa Dae said. The envoys were greeted by top officials Kim Yong-chol and Ri Son-gwon after arriving at Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport early Wednesday, and returned to Seoul around 9:50 p.m. after a dinner reception. Cheong Wa Dae did not elaborate on the content of the letter, stating it would brief the press today. Chung told the press Tuesday that the envoys would "reach a specific deal based on the Panmunjeom Declaration." The declaration is a set of agreements reached between Moon and the North Korean leader in their first summit in April, where they agreed to work to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War within this year. The presidential advisor said declaring an end to the war was a highly necessary step in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization. "We will continue efforts to end the Korean War within the year," he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, speaks to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Dalian in northeastern China's Liaoning Province, in this May 7 file photo. / AP-Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung With Chinese President Xi Jinping's reported Pyongyang visit this month canceled, expectations for smooth progress of North Korea's denuclearization has been brought back to square one. On Tuesday, North Korean media outlets reported China's No. 3-ranked official, Li Zhanshu, will make a Pyongyang visit on Saturday as a special envoy of Xi. Xi's non-attendance dampens erstwhile expectations that his visit may have served as a breakthrough to end the ongoing deadlock for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. "Li will pay a visit to North Korea to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding," the regime's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "He will lead China's special delegation by visiting North Korea on Saturday," it said without elaborating how long the envoys will stay in the regime. Last month, a sign of hope prevailed here that September will be a "month of opportunity" to resolve the stalled denuclearization progress, as Xi as well as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were reportedly planning to visit Pyongyang. But Pompeo's planned Pyongyang visit fell through at a time when the U.S. and the North continue to engage in a war of words for failing to come to terms with details in their denuclearization dialogue. The absences of Xi and Pompeo are expected to pose a growing burden for President Moon who plans to visit the regime's capital city sometime later this month for a summit with Kim Jong-un. On Wednesday, Moon's special five-member envoy led by National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong visited Pyongyang to discuss the summit agenda and its timeline. Nothing has been confirmed about whether they held a meeting with Kim Jong-un. For this reason, Moon is holding the key to find a breakthrough in the ongoing political stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang. During the upcoming summit, Moon is expected to play a mediating role by listening to Kim Jong-un's message about the progress of the ongoing denuclearization and delivering it to U.S. President Donald Trump. It remains to be seen whether Kim will maintain his peace posture at a time when Washington-Pyongyang relations show little sign of progress since the historic June 12 summit between Trump and Kim. By Jung Min-ho A Seoul appellate court on Monday upheld a lower court's three-year prison sentence for Hyosung Group Honorary Chairman Cho Seok-rae for evading taxes, among other crimes. The Seoul High Court also ordered Cho, 82, to pay a fine of 135.2 billion won ($120 million). In January 2016, the Seoul Central District Court fined him 136.5 billion won. The prosecution indicted him in 2014 on charges of misappropriating nearly 800 billion won in company assets through embezzlement, accounting fraud and tax evasion for almost 10 years from 2003. For Cho Hyun-joon, his son and the group's current chairman, the court confirmed the lower court's 18-month suspended prison sentence for embezzling 1.6 billion won. A performer plays at the floating stage at Yeouido Hangang Park. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government By Lee Suh-yoon Visitors to the Han River this month will be able to lie back along the river banks to enjoy outdoor evening concerts free of charge, as part of the city government's ongoing projects to benefit Seoul residents. Every Friday and Saturday evening at the Mulbit (water light) Stage, a floating platform at Yeouido Hangang Park, the city will host music concerts of varying genres, including pop, R&B, jazz, rock and modern renditions of Korean traditional music, known as gukak. The Han River, which runs through the middle of the capital, is the center of leisure and outdoor activities for Seoul residents. The performances will start at 7 p.m. Fridays and 6 p.m. Saturdays, except for the last Saturday of September when the shows are scheduled from 4 p.m. Some of the most anticipated events are gukak performances scheduled for Sept. 22 and 28, which will feature traditional instruments such as the gayageum and haegeum. The stage will also host a standup comedy show Sept. 21. Residents can enjoy the outdoor performance lying down, as bean bags will be provided. Visitors can also bring along their own bean bags or picnic mats. The music concerts will be followed by a screening of short K-drama clips entered in this year's Seoul International Drama Awards. Visitors using public transportation can use exit two of Yeouinaru Station of subway Line 5 to reach the stage area. On the same days, a set of smaller indoor concerts will take place further west along the river in a hall tucked beneath Gwangjin Bridge. Inside the concert hall under Gwangjin Bridge, western Seoul. /Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government By Lee Suh-yoon Multicultural Family Music Broadcasting, run by Woongjin Foundation, celebrated its 10th anniversary at its studio in Mapo, northwestern Seoul, Wednesday. The radio station was set up in August 2008 to cater to some 2 million foreign residents in Korea. According to the foundation, around 50 million listeners tune into the station every year through the internet. The anniversary was attended by Raul S. Hernandez, Nguyen Vu Tu, Singtong Lapisatepun, ambassadors to Korea from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, respectively. Shin Hyon-ung, former deputy minister of culture and chairman of Woonjin Foundation, was also present. The ambassadors directly participated in the radio broadcast on the day, and congratulated the radio station on its achievement. The station is currently operated 24/7 in eight languages Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Japanese, Mongolian, Arab, and Russian by native speakers of each language. The broadcast was set up with the intent of helping foreign migrants and exchange students feel included in Korean society. It provides listeners with news and music from their home countries, as well as Korean lessons and tips for living in Korea. Starting in 2010, the station began broadcasting a popular series of children's stories from the eight different countries to help biracial children better understand their migrant parents' cultural backgrounds. By Park Si-soo President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump plan to meet later this month in New York, the White House said on Tuesday (local time). The leaders agreed during a phone conversation Tuesday to meet while both are attending the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. "They agreed to meet later this month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. She said the two leaders discussed developments on the Korean Peninsula, including efforts to achieve the ''final, fully verified denuclearization'' of North Korea. North Korea agreed to denuclearize following a June summit with Trump in Singapore, but progress has been slow to non-existent. Education Minister nominee Rep. Yoo Eun-hae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea answers reporters' questions in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap By Park Ji-won The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) vowed Wednesday to hold a tough confirmation hearing for Education Minister nominee Rep. Yoo Eun-hae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). LKP lawmaker Kwak Sang-do claimed in a radio interview that Yoo was not appropriate for the position because she lacks experience in education. "About 50,000 citizens have signed a petition asking for withdrawal of Yoo's nomination. They have a reason," Kwak said during a radio interview with Christian Broadcasting System (CBS), Wednesday. Kwak also raised the allegation that she abused her power by running her office at facilities under the supervision of lawmakers. In a Cabinet shakeup, Yoo was nominated as education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs. Other changes included Defense Minister Song Young-moo being replaced by Jeong Kyeong-doo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; while Korea Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Sung Yun-mo was named the minister of trade, industry and energy. Lee Jae-kap, former chief of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, was appointed as minister of employment and labor. And the DPK's Rep. Jin Sun-mi has been named head of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Yoo has served as a member of the National Assembly Education Committee for the past seven years while serving as a spokeswoman for Moon's presidential campaign. Regarding the LKP's attacks, Yoo said, "Serving as a chief of the education committee in the Assembly, I have been coming up with education policies by listening to people from various educational fields." Other LKP lawmakers also condemned Yoo's nomination saying they were poised to launch a fierce attack on her at interpellation sessions which will be held soon. "Rep. Yoo, who abused her power against the weak, was nominated as a minister. It is a huge challenge against the people," LKP floor leader Rep. Kim Sung-tae said. "We will remove the easygoing custom of soft-handed hearings for lawmakers nominated for ministerial jobs." His remarks referred to lawmakers refraining from aggressively attacking co-lawmakers in confirmation hearings. "Yoo's nomination is stirring controversy over her education policies against public opinion such as the ban on English classes for after-school activities, and the employment of education officials as teacher," said Rep. Kim Han-pyo, chief of the LKP Education Committee. "I am going to question her thoroughly at the Assembly hearing." Chung Eui-yong, center, national security advisor to the President Moon Jae-in, walks with South Korea's spy chief Suh Hoon, right, as they prepare for a visit to Pyongyang in a military air base in Seongnam, outskirt of Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul President Moon Jae-in is not a distant bystander. He is taking the role of mediator as Seoul is desperate to revive the momentum for denuclearization talks by sending a five-member delegation to Pyongyang. The special envoys arrived in Pyongyang at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday after an 80-minute flight from Seoul Air Base. The South's delegation used the West Sea in direct air route. The envoys were welcomed in the North Korean capital by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North Korean committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs. The delegation held a 20-minute meeting with Ri and Kim Yong-chol, the North's counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in arranging the June summit in Singapore, presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan said. The envoys moved to another place for "an official meeting," but the delegation didn't inform Seoul when and where, press secretary Yoon said, adding no information was available as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on whether or not the delegation would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "Sending the envoys was President Moon's decision because he believes it's something he can do to help break the current impasse in North Korea's nuclear disarmament talks with the United States," a Cheong Wa Dae source said, asking not to be identified. Seo Jae-chul, second from right, with the Green Korea United workers / Courtesy of Green Korea United By Park Ji-won Amid the fast changing political landscape on the Korean Peninsula, an environmental activist has become one of most cited persons in the media and at seminars when it comes to talking about the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). "I am spending of the busiest days of my life participating in seminars to talk about the DMZ recently," Seo Jae-chul, a senior ecological activist with Green Korea United with about 20 years of experience, told The Korea Times at the National Assembly, Tuesday. He was visiting the legislature to take part in a seminar on preserving species of wild animals. As one of the civilians who has visited the DMZ more than 200 times from the end of 1990s up to the present, and the only person who has walked along the DMZ from end to end, he has become one of the most summoned experts when talking about unification and peace. Since April 27 when leaders of two Koreas signed the Panmunjeom Declaration which seeks to end the war on the Korean Peninsula, a peace agenda has been attracting public attention, getting people to be involved in discussions to come up with measures to implement the agreement. Under the changing atmosphere, Seo has been stressing the preservation of the DMZ as a symbol of peace for many years. "The DMZ symbolizes the result of the Cold War and separation. It is one of the most curious places in the world." Civilians have been restricted from entering the 250-kilometer border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula, according to the armistice between the two Koreas. In order to visit the DMZ, an individual must obtain permission from the government. One of the executives of the 27-year-old Green Korea United since Seo joined it in 1996, he has been focusing on the environmental protection of mountains, the DMZ and species of wild animals; and providing the government with results of environment assessments and proposals to improve it. He emphasized the importance of the DMZ's environmental and historical value as it has been sealed off from the rest of the country for many years, without people's intervention. "If people touch nature, it is destroyed. The DMZ's creatures don't avoid people as they haven't been exposed to them. The zone is a rare place where nature restores itself." He highlighted the rarity of the DMZ's existence. There was a similar restricted demilitarized zone, the "Grunes Band" in Germany, but he noted that "it didn't experience a killing war between the same people as we did for three years during the Korean War which broke out in 1950." Seo added that's why it is meaningful to designate the area, not only because it is a secret place but also because it holds many undiscovered stories of the Korean War. "I wonder what happened in the land from the past war to the present; what the U.S. and the two Koreas did there." When asked about the government's role, he said that it must make it a tourist site under the condition of preserving the area as it is. "When you think about tourism, people construct buildings first. It is a waste of taxes and devalues the DMZ. The Gyeonggi provincial government should help the local people participate in tourism. Also, the tourists should be responsible in the area." He is now paying attention to how climate change, with the deadly hot weather this summer, has affected the DMZ. "People never experienced this kind of hot weather. But there was an omen in the past. Needle leaf trees are dying in the national park in the South. It is the beginning of the effects of climate change. But, there is no countermeasures for them. We just keep recording the changes." A group of South Korean special envoys led by Chung Eui-yong, the top security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, departed for NorthKorea on Wednesday (September 5) to discuss the leaders' third summit later this month. Chung said on Tuesday (September 4) he would deliver a letter from Moon to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when he visits the North, without elaborating on its contents. The planned inter-Korean summit follows Trump's cancellation of a visit to Pyongyang by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month after Pompeo received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official. By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS Myanmar's minority Rohingya population faces a "climate of fear and persecution" as a year of unrelenting human rights abuses and forced expulsions continues by the country's Beijing-backed military rulers. As U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told a stunned Security Council meeting, "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." Much of the world is still not watching. Perhaps it's crisis overload, perhaps it's resignation. In an impassioned address to delegates, Guterres, himself a former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, warned, "Last month, I visited Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh and heard stories of horrendous persecution and suffering." The special meeting came just a day after the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva issued a withering report on Myanmar's ruthless campaign against the Rohingya minority which highlighted "patterns of gross human rights violations and abuses" committed by the security forces, which "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law." The U.N. report says that six senior military officials in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, should be investigated for genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. The document equally faults the country's de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize laureate, for failing to stop the attacks. The Buddhist majority military regime denies formal citizenship rights to the Rohingya. In the past year over 700,000 Rohingya have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Myanmar and into neighboring Bangladesh. Mass killings and burning of villages triggered what U.S. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called "ethnic cleansing." In a memorable and compelling address, actress Cate Blanchett, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who recently visited the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, stated, "I am not here as an expert. I stand before you today only as a witness. As someone who has seen and cannot look away." She recounted, "Nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of the suffering I saw." "The many refugees that I spoke with consider Myanmar their home but they have real, deep fears about returning there Refugees move back home when it is safe and secure to do so," added Blanchett. Indeed as the United Kingdom's Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs Lord Ahmad intoned, "But the solution to this crisis, let us be clear, lies in Burma. The Rohingya deserve justice." He added, "The Rohingya must be able to return home to Rakhine safely, voluntarily and importantly, with dignity. That means more than returning to IDP camps on the Burmese side of the border, but real progress towards a more just long-term solution and state of affairs in Rakhine." Myanmar's military has suggested that Rohingya are free to return under specific conditions. Presently there are over 700,000 Rohingya refugees, who join an additional 300,000 displaced persons from previous rounds of fighting. Myanmar, a country of 55 million people, has long battled various minority groups including the Christian Shan and Karen people and more recently the Muslim Rohingya. Current U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction plans are woefully underfunded. Secretary General Guterres warned, "It is clear that conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice." Since seizing power in 1962, the Myanmar military has been supported by China allowing for a climate of human right abuses, economic corruption and a dutiful deference to China. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate and once the "goddess of democracy" who won reasonably fair elections in 2015, remains the country's de facto leader, though true power rests with the generals who have placed the once revered politician into political checkmate. China calls the shots in this resource rich Southeast Asian state. Back in 2007, both China and Russia used a rare double veto to torpedo a human rights draft resolution on Myanmar. Moreover getting a serious human rights resolution through the Security Council is near impossible given Beijing's diplomatic cover fire for Myanmar's rulers. Myanmar's delegate blamed the current tragedy on domestic terrorists; "These events were well planned and executed with the support of foreign terrorist organizations." U.S. Ambassador Haley stated forcefully, "We are now all armed with the devastating eyewitness accounts of the Rohingya the attacks were planned, premeditated and coordinated. The perpetrator was the Burmese military and security forces." Amb. Haley added, "The whole world is watching what we will do next, and if we will act." Washington must keep the pressure on Myanmar's generals. John J. Metzler ( jjmcolumn@earthlink.net ) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China." By Doug Bandow John McCain was a brave man, from his time spent as a POW in Vietnam to his final battle against cancer. May he rest in peace. However, his public career warrants a harsher judgment. Indeed, we should bury his aggressive, militarized foreign policy along with him. Had he been elected president in 2008 many more Americans and foreigners likely would have died unnecessarily. McCain was one of the Senate's most ferocious advocates of military intervention, almost irrespective of circumstance. Over the last quarter century McCain favored aggressive war against Serbia, an endless democracy crusade in Afghanistan, the disastrous invasion of Iraq, the equally counterproductive destruction of Libya, a combat role in Syria's horrific civil war, and military aid for Saudi Arabia in its brutal aggression against Yemen. He recklessly promoted Georgia against Russia in their short-lived war, advocated striking North Korea militarily, and sang about bombing Iran in a little ditty set to the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann." McCain suggested that support for terrorism could justify attacking Iran, Libya, Syria, and even North Korea. He proposed creating a "no-fly" zone in Sudan and intervening in Nigeria against the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. Last year he urged the Trump administration to "choose the Kurds" against Iran and Iraq, since for decades America "has protected them from attacks, both from within and outside Iraq." Ukraine was a disappointment, causing him to lament: "I do not see a military option and that is tragic." His militaristic vision was flawed in multiple ways. First, he treated war as just another policy option, an answer to any number of problems from the mundane to the monstrous. He exhibited no reluctance to visiting death and destruction on other peoples and nations. In none of the conflicts he backed was the nation's security seriously threatened. In most U.S. intervention actually increased the resulting humanitarian tragedy. McCain also failed to appreciate the ill consequences of promiscuous intervention. For instance, the Iraq War predictably unleashed a virulent insurgency and sectarian conflict. These, in turn, spawned ISIS, which spread death and failed to understand that the American people believed wars should have a point. As Iraq imploded, he advocated years more of combat despite what he admitted would be the high cost in lives and wealth; he later urged an occupation of 100 years if necessary. McCain defined success in Afghanistan and Iraq as "the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists." Yet a few locals with AK-47s and IEDs had a different vision, and after years of war Washington still has failed to meet McCain's test. Good intentions are not enough to transcend history, culture, religion, ethnicity, geography, and ideology, as well as other people's determination to rule oneself. McCain's support for democracy and human rights was largely rhetorical. McCain promoted a potpourri of dubious opposition/insurgent groups. After fomenting war in Libya, he acknowledged human rights abuses by the victorious rebels, who he previously termed "my heroes." He was a particular partisan of repressive Saudi Arabia, regurgitating Saudi talking points absolving Riyadh of the well-documented slaughter of civilians in Yemen. He was lauded for his fierce support for Israel, but showed little concern for millions of Palestinians living under military occupation. In 2011 McCain predictably advocated war against Libya. Yet two years earlier he enjoyed a pleasant visit with Moammar Gadhafi, discussing potential rewards for the regime's shift westward. McCain reported his "interesting meeting with an interesting man" in a tweet. Despite his exaggerated support for military action, McCain was otherwise quite conventional in his foreign policy approach. Most importantly, he did not recognize how American policy might result in blowback, encouraging the very behavior which he claimed threatened America. For instance, the only reason North Korea might target the U.S., which McCain argued would justify a preventive attack, is because the U.S. is in Northeast Asia, threatening the North. Yet the Korean War ended 65 years ago and South Korea has raced past the North, giving it the means to defend itself. Sen. John McCain has been lauded as a foreign policy giant by more than his usual press advocates. However, he invariably chose the most confrontational position, resulting in almost inevitable failure and war. Celebrate John McCain's courage and fortitude. But reject his foreign policy. There is no better way to commemorate the life of yet another American serviceman who suffered in an unnecessary, counterproductive war. Doug Bandow ( chessset@aol.com ) is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of "Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire." By Mark Peterson The process by which Korea came to be the "most-Confucianized" country in the world was a long, drawn-out process that requires careful observation and careful definitions of terms. Confucianism, as an alien ideology, came into Korea from China in the Three Kingdoms Period. Its introduction was not as dramatic, nor as successful as was that of Buddhism Buddhism had many more adherents in the early days. But gradually, over the centuries, Confucianism grew until, with the founding of the Joseon Kingdom in 1392, Confucianism was the ideology openly advocated by the new rulers. Confucianism is good for rulers. It is mainly a set of "governing" principles and is concerned with engendering a happy and harmonious society. Confucianism is concerned with the here-and-now, unlike Buddhism that is focused on the next life. Confucianism is not much concerned with a god or with heaven; it is society and government in the present that is most important. If Confucius had had a name card printed up for himself, on the line where it would say one's position (president, CEO, chairman, etc.), his would likely have said "political consultant," or "moral advisor," or "social critic." It would not have said "religious leader" or "God's spokesman." Confucius himself, as well as his followers, was concerned with creating a good social order with good governance. Like all great religions, there lies therein great contradictions. Confucius was asked about "spirits" and he said, "Stay away from spirits" implying to stay away from spiritual worship and rituals. Yet, the primary ritual in Confucianism is the offering of a sacrifice to ancestors. The ancestors had been assumed to have gone on to another place, a heaven perhaps. But when Confucius was asked about the next life, he said to pay attention first (and last and always) to this life. Therefore, Confucianism is called a "this worldly" religion (and there are those who quickly add that it's more of a philosophy than a religion), whereas Buddhism is called an "other worldly" religion. Confucianism came with its own baggage. The society in which Confucius lived was one where inheritance, and all the family practices that came with it, were governed by the rule of primogeniture. In other words, the eldest son played a major role, sometimes the only role, in social behavior in Confucianism this included the hosting and conducting of ancestor ceremonies. Such a society was male dominant in many ways, such as where marriages were held and in which household the newlyweds would live the husband's house, and that of his father and sometimes grandfather. When Confucianism came to Korea, it found a completely different setting. Korean society, unlike Confucius' Chinese society, was not male-dominant. Inheritances were divided equally between sons and daughters. Marriages and the place where the newlyweds would live, was not pre-determined to be that of the husband's house and that of his father, but rather marriages could be held at either the husband's house or the wife's house, and the newlywed couple could live at either place, according to which was better on a number of criteria sometimes the wife's house was better suited for the couple, sometimes the husband's house was better. When Confucianism first came to Korea in the Three Kingdoms Period, Korea made all kinds of accommodations and in effect, created "Korean-style Confucianism." Ancestor ceremonies were not hosted by the eldest son, but rather all sons, and even the daughters, took turns hosting the ceremonies. As an American, I can understand that. When we have holidays in America, we go to different houses to celebrate sometimes to an aunt's house, sometimes to an uncle's, sometimes on the father's side, sometimes on the mother's side. We don't have ancestor ceremonies, but we have family celebrations and the place they are held is in a kind of rotation. In Korea, they had a word for hosting the ceremonies in rotation, it was yunhaeng (). When, in the late 17th century, families began to accept patrlilinealism (), male dominance, they began to write in their inheritance documents, that the largest share was going to the eldest son, for he had to take responsibility for the ceremonies, and no longer would "yunhaeng," or taking turns in rotation, be acceptable. There was a sea change. It affected inheritance and ancestor ceremonies, but it also affected marriage practices, residence practices, and even the recording of the genealogical tables changed in all these areas women were either left out, or started to play a greatly diminished role. That this all happened is knowable. It is not a mystery. There was a full-scale acceptance of Confucian ideology, whereas prior to this, Korean Confucianism was just that a Korean version of Confucianism, without all the features of male dominance. This is a documentable, knowable fact. There is no mystery about when Korea fully immersed in Confucian practice. The mystery is why this is not taught in schools? Why is it not in the textbooks? Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah. Economic revitalization should be top priority Korea's second-quarter economic growth data are raising concerns the economy might have lost steam. The Bank of Korea said Tuesday the country's gross domestic product (GDP) edged up 0.6 percent in the April-June period this year. The GDP growth rate certainly dealt a setback to the already sluggish economy. It was down from 1 percent growth in the first quarter. It also paled in comparison to a 2.8 percent rise in the second quarter of last year. The central bank attributed the poor performance to a sizable fall in facility investment and sluggish private consumption. Facility investment plunged by 5.7 percent, the worst since the first quarter of 2016. Private consumption increased slightly by 0.3 percent, an 18-month low. Another negative factor is exports which rose by a mere 0.4 percent in the second quarter, a sharp fall from 4.4 percent growth in the first quarter. If exports, which account for around 50 percent of the GDP, continue to slide, the country could suffer a further setback to its economic growth down the road. Asia's fourth-largest economy will likely find it difficult to meet its 2018 growth target of 2.9 percent. The government and the central bank are under mounting pressure to lower the figure again after they revised it down from 3 percent. More worrisome is that there is little sign of an economic turnaround anytime soon. It is also hard to expect the country's exports to swing back to robust growth in the coming months. The nation's GDP growth has relied too heavily on a few industrial sectors such as semiconductors, which may slow down in the face of fluctuating global demand. An escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, the currency turmoil in Turkey and other emerging economies, and soaring oil prices are adding insult to injury. Domestically, President Moon Jae-in's income-led growth initiative has also contributed to the economic slump although he and his policymakers are only trying to defend the ill-timed inclusive growth policy. As many economists point out, it is much more difficult to see the economy regain growth momentum once it has lost steam. In this regard, it is imperative for the Moon administration to change its policies in a bid to prevent the economy from sliding into recession. In fact, the Korean economy has already been mired in low-growth trap because it has increasingly lost competitiveness. Thus, it is urgent to regain this by finding new growth engines. For this, the Moon government should promote entrepreneurship and innovation. Most of all, Moon and his policymakers must take the current economic situation more seriously. They should not ignore the warning signs of an economic recession, and not believe that the income-led growth drive is the only policy option to achieve sustainable growth. Arrogance and bigotry are only a recipe for failure. Felix Heck, left, who heads Samsung Design Europe, and Yeo Hong-ku, deputy head, explain the design of the Samsung Odyssey gaming PC during a meeting with Korean reporters at the office in London, Monday. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics By Jun Ji-hye LONDON Samsung Electronics has operated a design lab in London the heart of fashion, culture and economics since 2000 with the aim of looking for new value to be reflected in the firm's various products. Yeo Hong-ku, deputy head of Samsung Design Europe, said London, which was rebuilt after the large fire in 1666, is a city where designs of the past, present and future all meet. "London has become a gathering of many different cultures and ethnicities," he told Korean reporters who visited the office, Monday. "There are a number of world-class design schools here as well." Yeo said the office, in which about 40 designers are working, studies the lifestyles of consumers in Europe and reflect it in the designs of Samsung products. The office analyzes the trend of diverse areas ranging from architecture to anthropology to forecasting the demand of future consumers, he noted. The representative products of the office include the Samsung Odyssey gaming PC and the Family Hub refrigerator 3.0. Samsung Design Europe is one of the seven global design offices operated by Samsung Electronics, including those in San Francisco and China. Especially, Samsung opened the trend lab within Samsung Design Europe in 2013 after recognizing that consumer electronics are now fashionable products that reflect personality. Technology has evolved to become something beyond functionality, said Camille Hammerer, who heads the Trend Experience Group. "The value of understanding cultural and lifestyle trends have never been more critical in the design of a product," she said. Citing a socio-cultural survey conducted by her group this year, Hammerer said the group noticed behavioral changes among the young generations. "In this new digitized and dematerialized paradigm, we saw these users play effortlessly between physical and digital realities," she said. "They were building their personal worlds with their own rules and relationships with this technology, we called them transformers in day to day life." She noted that the generation called "millennials," referring to those who were born between 1980 and 2000, are significantly affecting industries including the one for games. "One of the key trends we are seeing is people living in flux," she said. "People are valuing experience over ownership and that will impact how we design our products." Felix Heck, who heads Samsung Design Europe, explained the strengths of designs of the Samsung Odyssey gaming PC and the Family Hub refrigerator 3.0, saying the design of the Odyssey gaming PC is not aggressive and male-centered but stresses androgynous appeal. The office keenly cooperated with the PC business team of Samsung Electronics to produce the gaming PC, he added. "The Screensaver (of Family Hub 3.0) is similar to that of the frame of TV," he said. "Instead of a black, cold black screen in your kitchen, the screen can show different modes such as a clock or calendar that blend into the environment." Evan after the concept approval stage, the offices continued to work together to implement it in the actual production model, he said, adding, "We even created some of the actual assets for clocks, calendars or visual imagery used today." By Baek Byung-yeul Samsung SDI will supply cylindrical cell batteries to Jaguar Land Rover's electric vehicles (EVs), industry sources said Wednesday. To supply its cylindrical cell batteries to the British carmaker, industry sources said the Korean battery maker will construct a production line for producing "21700" cylindrical batteries at its plant in Hungary. Samsung SDI fiercely competed with other battery makers including LG Chem and Panasonic to win a contract from the British carmaker since last year. The company declined to confirm, saying "we cannot offer information related with our customer companies." Jaguar Land Rover will use the 21700 batteries for its next EVs scheduled to be on the market in 2020. The 21700 battery is next-generation battery technology. It is 21 millimeters in diameter and 70 millimeters in height with the capacity that is 50 percent larger than 18650 battery technology. Samsung SDI is expected to initially supply EV cells of 5 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year, which will be about 300 million cylindrical cells. Samsung SDI is known to have battery manufacturing capacity of about 80 million cells a month. Compared to the pouch or prismatic batteries, a cylindrical cell battery has its strength in power efficiency. The cylindrical cell battery is gaining popularity as Tesla began adopting it in its EVs. Also there have been growing demands for the cylindrical cell battery as more products such as electric power tools and electric vehicles go cordless. According to market researcher B3, the demand for cylindrical batteries last year was 3.75 billion, accounting for 55 percent of the entire small battery market, and the figure is expected to surpass 4.6 billion this year. Samsung SDI, the leading player in the small battery market, is expected to post an operating profit of more than 400 billion won ($356 million) in its small battery business, according to reports from Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Daewoo. In Alaska, the dangers that can be found in the wilderness are readily discussed, with mention of bears, moose and tough topography and weather often at the forefront of the conversation. For Michailia Massong, though, a simple walk along a trail - no bears or moose in sight - was what landed her and her best friend in an awfully precarious position. "It was very, very scary," Massong said. "I was trying really hard to hold it together when she was in there." The 'she' Massong was referring to is her 13-year-old horse Luna, who managed to get stuck in a Chugiak-area swamp a few days ago. "We were just riding around on trails we ride on all the time," Massong said. "We stepped in a mud puddle, like usual, and all of a sudden she froze and then took off." Luna and Massong, who happens to be Miss Rodeo Alaska 2017 and has been riding horses for 20 years or so, landed in a deep, boggy pool about 30 feet from the main trail they had been on. "She was thrashing around," Massong said, "and I ran out there and grabbed her head and tried to get her better situated and see if I could help push her out. But she was in a bit too deep at that point." While Massong was able to jump off of Luna before being entangled in roots and other threats of nature, Luna - weighing in at more than 1,000 pounds - was completely stuck. "At one point, she closed her eyes and she almost quit breathing on us," Massong said. "She was really lethargic and shocked and not really moving too good." This story, though, doesn't end there, in large part because of Good Samaritans from across the community who answered Massong's distress calls. "We just had so many people I had never met before just show up when they heard that call for help," she said. Local fire and rescue crews, neighbors and even total strangers from well outside of town flocked to Massong and Luna's spot on the trail to help free the horse by hoisting her out of the mud. "Horse rescue is not something we usually do," said Chris Steeves, an area firefighter. "But we built a pad to put the excavator down in the mud, and then we used fire hose to rig up a harness to put around the horse's chest." After three hours or so, Luna was freed from her boggy trap. "Everyone just rallied together," Massong said. "They're all heroes. They all saved her life." Because of that teamwork, Luna is back home, safe and sound. "I'm amazed," Massong said. "That's a God thing. I had so many angels showing up in flesh form, saving her... She had angels watching over her in the other realm, making sure she didn't break anything. "It is a miracle," she continued. "She's healing up good now. Very happy to be alive and safe, thanks to our amazing community." South Korea's new coronavirus cases spiked to over 2,600 on Wednesday, two days after the country began its "living with COVID-19" scheme as part of a broader plan to gradually lif... It is common for companies to organize various informal events where workers can come with their partners. One of those... Harry Crosby is the longest current resident of La Jolla. At 83 years and counting, frankly, he may be the longest this town has ever had. (His parents moved here from Seattle in September 1935, when he was 9, into a house that still stands at 215 Avenida Cortez.) But thats not nearly Crosbys greatest distinction. It isnt even on his list of Top 20. In 1963, Crosby was a chemistry teacher at La Jolla High School, from which he graduated in 1944. It was a job he had grown bored of after five years and wanted to quit. So he did. Crosby enjoyed taking photographs especially on the extracurricular trips to Mexico he took with his chemistry students. So he bought some professional gear, and some books about photography, and trained himself. By 1967, he was hired to illustrate the book The Call to California by the Commission of the Californias. Retracig the route of the original Portola missionary expedition of 1769, Crosby rode 600 miles on a mule. Being involved in compiling that book made Crosby realize he wanted to write his own books and become a historian. So he did those things, too. His four books address the missionary history and cave paintings of Baja, California. He even published a novel, 2001s Portrait of Paloma, which he said he spent three months doing in his spare time. Harry has the character of Abraham Lincoln and the folksy humor of Will Rogers, says his friend Dennis Willis, owner of D.G. Wills Books. But also, we may as well throw in Lewis and Clark. Hes an honest-to-goodness explorer. Were not even close to finished mentioning the fields in which Crosby made a name for himself. In 1979, he designed and built his own house in La Jolla, on a portion of the lot on which George Webster Heald built the very first house in La Jolla in 1887. Yes, an amateur architect designed his own house. Its the one he greets the Light out the window from on Prospect Street, where he still lives with his wife of 68 years, Joanne. Not to mention Crosbys stint hybridizing orchids or coming within one heat of making the U.S. swim team at the 1948 Olympics, because other stories need to fit in this newspaper issue, too. Harry is many people, Wills says. Harry Crosby greats the 'Light' from the window of the La Jolla house he designed and built in 1979. COREY LEVITAN Crosby even has a place in pop culture by blood association. Hes no relation to Bing Crosby, but his only son was the late guitarist for the multiplatinum hair-metal group Ratt. (Robbin Crosby died in 2002 at age 42, from what was reported to be a heroin overdose and pneumonia with complications from AIDS.) To get this interview, the Light had to spend the day walking all around La Jolla with Crosby lunching at Barbarella, stopping at D.G. Wills Books (which stocks all of Crosbys books), and getting his six-week trim at Alex Salon because, even at age 92, sitting in one place too long bores him. I might not look good walking, Crosby says defiantly, but I can still walk. How do you feel about being called a Renaissance Man? Whatever you wish to call me. So you became a historian just because you just decided to become one? I became one not because I was thinking about it, but in order to write the captions for all the photos I was taking for the book about the expedition that founded San Diego and Monterey. Nobody else had been to those places Id been to. And you designed and built your house with absolutely no experience? Well, I have to admit that I had already designed and built a house before that, at 6996 Via Valverde, around 1970. I based it on two of those houses Id seen in Mexico. Frankly, I dont really see what the problem is with designing a house when you have photographs and you know what you want. Its not a problem. But it is unusual. You chose to ignore the barriers that most people see when it comes to what to dedicate their lives to. Most people say, I cant do that, I dont have the training or the experience. You said, Whats so hard about that? and then trained yourself. Well ... I had help. I was lucky enough to be friends with (architects) Bob Mosher, Fred Liebhardt and Gene Weston, and I could go and look at house plans of every kind you can think of. They would encourage me. Whats funny is that one of them would usually explain to me why they wouldnt do something one of the other architects I knew had suggested. Did you know Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss)? No, but my parents did, I dont remember how. But I remember going to his place several times up on Mt. Soledad in the 40s or 50s. Back then, it was the only house for blocks. He was amusing and outgoing as a host. But I wasnt very aware of his world. I mean, I had read some Dr. Seuss and thought it was kind of a kick, but I was into other things. What do you miss most about La Jolla the way it used to be? Well, I dont regard some of the buildings that have been torn down as being inferior to the ones that have taken their places. Im not saying theres anything wrong with the new buildings. The younger generations will appreciate them, but I wont. In certain ways, I liked it much better the first 20 or 30 years we were here. But you have to remember, when I moved here, La Jolla had 3,500 people, less than a tenth of the population it has now. But there also have been elements added that have been significant. The change is continuous. Its been changing ever since I came here. Its sort of like living in a progression of places. Crosby gets his six-week haircut from Alex Ashirob, owner of Alex Salon. COREY LEVITAN Is there anything you blame yourself for regarding Robbins death? I dont know. Robbin was very complicated. He was a character and everyone always loved him at school, but he lived in his own world. He confessed to having done stupid things. It was sad but it was also rewarding to have had a family member who was so smart. He was very devoted to the idea of doing everything that he wanted to do and accomplishing what he set out to accomplish. He got that from you, didnt he? Well, it would have been in an entirely different way. How does it feel to be 92? Im finding out whats it all about, this business of coming unglued. Theres all kinds of things Ive taken for granted that now, for all practical purposes, I cant do. Im realizing that a huge amount of what I was able to do, I cant do anymore. But Ive never been a pessimist. Ive never thought of suicide or any other negative action. Its more like, well, if that wont work, then what will? So what I tend to concentrate on is family. I have two daughters, four grandchildren two boys and two girls and three great-grandchildren that I think the world of. How would you like to be remembered? I guess it would be as someone who encouraged everyone to know more about where they live. What I, unfortunately, have discovered in a lot of people Ive met over the years is not really knowing that much about their town, and not even caring to learn. Despite the passage of an ordinance regulating short-term vacation rentals (STVR) that was cleared by the San Diego City Council in July, the battle over the controversial home-sharing practice might not be over. In the days following the ordinances passage on July 16 and approved second reading Aug. 1 those opposed to the regulation took to the streets with petitions in hand to nullify the ordinance. This effort could result in the ordinance being scrapped or putting the fate of short-term rentals into the hands of San Diego voters. Those organizing the effort had 30 days from second reading to collect 35,000 legitimate signatures from San Diego voters. They submitted 62,000 signatures to the City Registrars office for verification on Aug. 30. But the methods by which these signatures were collected raised eyebrows. A press conference was held Aug. 28 in Point Loma with representatives from short-term regulation advocates Save San Diego Neighborhoods and City Council members Barbara Bry and Lorie Zapf, at which they accused the signature-gatherers of using false information to mislead signers. Save San Diego Neighborhoods president Ronan Gray (at podium) speaks about the negative impact rescinding the ordinance may have. Ashley Mackin-Solomon The ordinance in question was drafted by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and amended by District 1 City Council member Bry. The amendment she said she was proud to make restricted short-term rental to ones primary residence only. It passed 6-3 and is slated to go into effect July 1, 2019. Bry explained: You can rent out a room in your house every night of the year as long as you are on site. The ordinance allows you to rent out your whole house when you go on vacation, up to six months a year. In addition, the ordinance has (mechanisms for) enforcements, fines and the requirement that home-sharing services share their data with us. This has legalized the home-sharing economy in San Diego. Any alternative, she argued, would create open season for investors to snap up properties in residential neighborhoods and turn them into mini-hotels. Questionable methods Accusations of fraudulent signature-gathering have been reported locally and to the Secretary of State in a request to have these signatures thrown out. At the press conference, Save San Diego Neighborhoods president Ronan Gray said: Now that this ordinance has passed, Airbnb has a problem. Instead of accepting the outcome of our democratic process, Airbnb has launched this fraudulent campaign to rescind the ordinance. Airbnb has hired these out-of-town petitioners whove been tricking people into signing the petition. We have received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls about this. Zapf added that she personally has witnessed it: Ive approached signature-gatherers and asked them questions; one was here from Florida and just staying for the month to make money gathering signatures. He gave me completely false information. If your side has merit, you should not have to lie to get signatures. Some reported hearing that gatherers said the petition was to support affordable housing, others said they heard it was to overturn the City Council ban on short-term rentals. Zapf added the California Election Code imposes criminal penalties for abuses related to the circulation of petitions and prohibits circulators from misrepresenting the purpose or content of the petition to potential signers. The local San Diego Community Working Group on STVR, an umbrella organization that includes the San Diego Coalition of Town Councils (Clairemont, La Jolla, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach), Neighborhoods for Residents, University City Community Association and Pacific Beach Planning Group, sent a letter to the California Secretary of State asking for an investigation into the matter. According to Elections Code 18600-18602, a circulator is breaking the law and can be fined or put in jail if he misrepresents the contents and purpose of the petition. It is imperative that these underhanded petition signature gathering tactics be shut down and all illegally obtained signatures be thrown out, the letter states. We humbly ask your office and its election fraud investigation to conduct an immediate investigation into this matter and take swift action to correct this injustice. Claims are completely absurd Speaking for the coalition between Airbnb, HomeAway and Share San Diego spearheading the effort to overturn the ordinance, La Jolla resident Jonah Mechanic said he sees the regulations as a de facto ban on short-term rentals. The opposition is painting all the signature-gatherers as being from out-of-state and paid. There are paid signature-gatherers out there, which is quite common, but there are numerous volunteers out there, he said. As for the claims that signature-gatherers are using fraudulent information to get enough John Hancocks, its completely absurd, he said. We have not seen any evidence of this happening, and in a day and age where everyone has a camera on their phone, the fact that we havent seen any evidence leads me to believe this is just a claim. Further, Mechanic said all the signature- gatherers paid or volunteer are trained in what to say and how to gather signatures, and carry a booklet with the ordinance in for anyone who asks to see it. If the signers want to sign without doing research, we cant stop them from doing that, he said. City Council member Scott Sherman poses with the signatures gathered to overturn the short-term vacation rental ordinance. Courtesy Whats next? Once the signatures are submitted and verified, the City Clerk will send a notice of sufficiency (or insufficiency) to the proponents of the effort. For a sufficient petition, the City Clerk must present it, with certification, to the City Council at the next regular meeting at which the matter can be heard. The City Council must reconsider the issue within 10 business days. "Practical achievement of the target of a world free of cluster munitions demands great dedication, concerted vision and collective initiatives and responses", stated Ambassador A.L.A Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to UNO in Geneva, at the closing session of the 8th Meeting of the State Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva today, in acceptance of the Presidency of the 9th Meeting of the States Parties (9 MSP-2019). During the three-day meeting that commenced on 3rd September 2018, Sri Lanka was specially commended for joining this key humanitarian disarmament Convention aimed at banning production, storage, transfer and use of cluster munitions. Sri Lanka acceded to the Convention on 1 March 2018, as the 103rd State Party. Referring to the progress achieved in advancing reconciliation and sustainable peace in the country, following a three-decade long armed conflict, that ended in May 2009, Ambassador Azeez stressed; "Our leadership, built on the strength of national accomplishments, could serve as a catalyst for and inspire other countries to appreciate the value of peacebuilding and national advancement in realizing sustainable, peaceful and inclusive societies." Ambassador Azeez was elected the President of the 9th Meeting of State Parties, in an year that marks the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the Convention. The year of Sri Lankas leadership is an important transitioning point, building momentum for the Second Review Conference to the Convention to be held in 2020. The presidency of Sri Lanka will run through till September 2019, involving an intensive process of advocacy, consultation, coordination and strategic direction, on a multi-stakeholder platform, consisting of civil society and defense establishments in the promotion of the objectives and norms of the Convention. Highlighting the policy initiatives taken by the Government of Sri Lanka since 2015 in the humanitarian disarmament arena, Ambassador Azeez emphasized that accession to the Ottawa Convention on Anti-personal Landmines further strengthened the positive image of Sri Lanka worldwide, as a country balancing civilian needs and national security imperatives. Sri Lanka delegation included Major General Kumara Peiris, Chief Field Engineer, Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya, Deputy Permanent Representative and Ms. Shashika Somaratne, Minister Counsellor. Sri Lankan Civil Society was represented by Mr. Vidya Abeygunawardena, Coordinator, and Ms. Yanitra Kumaraguru, Campaigner for Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines. The Convention on Cluster Munition (CCM) is a humanitarian imperative-driven legal instrument with 104 States Parties as of date, that prohibits all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. In addition, it establishes a framework for cooperation and assistance to ensure adequate assistance to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk reduction education and destruction of stockpiles. Statement delivered by Ambassador Azeez Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva 5th September 2018 CBS Corp. board members and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone have engaged in on-again, off-again settlement talks in recent weeks to resolve a nasty legal dispute and pave the way for the departure of longtime Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, according to several knowledgeable people. The settlement would end a lawsuit over control of CBS that has consumed the media company since it was filed in May. It would also hand a victory to Redstone, who has been agitating for change at the top of CBS, and mark a stunning reversal of fortune for one of Hollywoods most prominent and successful executives. Moonves, 68, has run the CBS broadcast network since 1995 and has been the media companys chief executive since 2006 during a period of upheaval in the media industry. Moonves, a former actor and former Broadway producer, transformed CBS from a laggard to a leader it has been the nations most-watched TV network for more than a decade with such fan-favorite fare as Survivor, NCIS and The Big Bang Theory. Discussions have focused on the size of a severance package for Moonves a payout could be in excess of $200 million and whether he would segue into a producer role, two people familiar with the talks said. His contract, which was renegotiated last year, was due to expire in June 2021. It contains a provision that would allow Moonves to remain affiliated with CBS with a production deal financed by the company. Advertisement The talks, however, have been complicated by allegations contained in a New Yorker article in late July that Moonves made unwanted sexual advances toward several women decades ago. Moonves has expressed regret for past behavior but has denied forcing himself on women or hurting their careers. After that report, CBS hired two high-profile attorneys former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White, whos now with Debevoise & Plimpton, and Nancy Kestenbaum of Covington & Burling to investigate the allegations and complaints about CBS workplace culture. The findings of the investigation could determine how large a settlement Moonves receives. Who knows what these two law firms are going to come up with but [Moonves] may well suspect that it is not going to be good, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management. It would be wise for him to step down before any certification of misconduct by one or both of the firms. It is certainly time for a change. CBS and a representative for Redstone declined to comment. Redstone and CBS independent board members have been at odds since May, when the board took the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit in Delaware to strip the Redstone family of its voting control. The board members were worried that Shari Redstone was angling to replace several of them in an effort to merge CBS with the weaker media company Viacom Inc., which her family also controls. The board members approved a special dividend to dilute the Redstones voting control of CBS to 17% from nearly 80%. In addition to the broadcast network, the company owns a string of television stations, a growing television production studio, the Showtime premium channel, the Simon & Schuster publishing house and a 50% stake in the CW network. The Redstone family investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc., quickly changed CBS bylaws to require that any major board vote receive the approval of 90% of the board. Because Shari Redstone has two allies on the board, the move ensured that Redstone would have effective control. The lawsuit was headed for an October trial, which has given urgency to the settlement discussions. Any settlement would probably provide a dramatic overhaul of CBS board by installing new directors who might be more closely aligned with Redstone. CBS board currently is divided over how any settlement with Redstone would be structured, according to two people familiar with the matter. There is a chance that no deal could be reached. Another person familiar with the matter said the parties were interested in crafting a global settlement that would end the disputes that have consumed the company for much of this year. Finding a solution to the thorny disputes has added to the complexity of reaching a deal, that person said. Redstone, who is vice chair of CBS, has been pushing for several board members to step down as part of the settlement, another person said. As part of any deal, CBS board members want a commitment from Redstone that she would not force a merger with Viacom unless CBS board agrees that it would be in the best interests of the company, another person said. The board, in turn, would abandon its effort to strip the Redstone family of their voting control. A resolution will only occur with a global settlement of all of these issues, said C. Kerry Fields, a finance professor at the USC Marshall School of Business. Its clear that Moonves will be out, the independent directors will mostly be out and there will be a stand-down agreement between CBS and National Amusements, in which National Amusements agrees to leave CBS alone for a period of perhaps two to three years. The Redstones have good reason to avoid a trial that would invite more scrutiny into the condition of the ailing 95-year-old Sumner Redstone, who still controls National Amusements. The Delaware judge has already expressed skepticism about the moguls mental state, concerns that were heightened after he viewed a video taken in January by a CBS board member. The video showed that Redstone could not answer such basic question as who controls CBS. meg.james@latimes.com Twitter: @MegJamesLAT UPDATES: 4:50 p.m.: This article was updated to include more information about settlement talks and add analyst commentary. This article was originally published at 2:05 p.m. Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS Corp. and Showtime Networks were sued by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who claims the satirist tricked him into appearing on his Who Is America? show and made Moore look like a pedophile and sex offender. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington with claims of defamation and fraud. It seeks $95 million in damages. Moore says in his complaint that he has suffered extreme emotional distress by being falsely portrayed, mocked and defamed as a sex offender and pedophile. In Who Is America? Baron Cohen adopted personas such as a far-right conspiracy theorist and an ex-convict while interviewing political figures, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, former presidential candidate Jill Stein and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa). Many of the interview subjects later criticized Baron Cohen for misleading them. Advertisement Showtime, a CBS unit, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore alleges that Baron Cohen and his agents lured him onto the program in February just two months after the Republican judge was narrowly defeated in his race for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. He was dogged by allegations in the election that hed inappropriately touched underage girls while he was in his 30s, allegations that he denied. Moore claims he was told that the appearance was sought by an Israeli program called Yerushalayim TV and that during it hed receive an award for his strong support of Israel, spurring him and his wife to fly to Washington. Yerushalayim TV turned out to be fictional. Once there, Baron Cohen in character as former Israeli anti-terrorism agent Erran Morad mocked Moore and even subjected him to scanning with a fake army device that he said was meant to detect pedophiles. The program, which aired July 29, was televised over Moores subsequent protests to CBS once he learned the truth. Baron Cohen is no stranger to controversy. The British comedian has had his greatest successes inhabiting personas such as wannabe rapper Ali G, Kazakh journalist Borat and gay Austrian fashionista Bruno. Two college students sued Baron Cohen over his film Borat, and a charity worker sued him over his film Bruno. Moore is represented by conservative political activist and lawyer Larry Klayman. Small business owners could avoid a new federal limit on state and local tax deductions after the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that rules it released last month to prevent efforts in California and other states to circumvent the cap apply only to individuals. Businesses will be allowed to claim a full federal tax deduction for contributions to charities or government programs particularly those offering school choice scholarships that offer state tax credits, the IRS said. The IRS Aug. 23 rules cracked down on that option for individual filers after some high-tax states moved to turn state and local tax payments into deductible charitable contributions so residents could avoid the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions in the Republican tax law that took effect Jan. 1. Those states which also include New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are controlled by Democrats, and officials there objected to the cap as a partisan move to penalize their residents. Advertisement But the IRS ran into problems from a Republican constituency when it issued the rules last month. There are more than 100 charitable tax-credit programs in dozens of states including red ones such as Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina that could be adversely affected by the new rules. Many of those programs offer tax credits for contributions to fund private school scholarships. School choice advocates objected to the IRS rules, which reduced the federal tax incentive for contributions to such programs. On Wednesday, the IRS clarified that so-called pass-through businesses, whose owners file taxes through the individual code, could take a full deduction for such contributions because they still qualify as a business expense. The IRS rules, likely to be in place by the end of the year, said individual filers had to reduce the federal charitable tax deduction they would claim by the amount of any credit they receive on their state and local taxes. The IRS clarification makes clear that the long-standing rule allowing businesses to deduct payments to charities as business expenses remains unchanged under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Wednesday. The recent proposed rule concerning the cap on state and local tax deductions has no impact on federal tax benefits for business-related donations to school choice programs, he said. The clarification means that pass-through business owners now could use contributions to those types of tax-credit programs to reduce their federal tax liability in a way that individuals cannot. The $10,000 cap does not apply to corporations. Pass-throughs include small businesses such as mom-and-pop operations, but also privately held manufacturers and large partnerships such as law firms and hedge funds. Theres potentially the opportunity for partnerships or some other pass-through businesses to claim deductions above what theyd be able to do with the capped state and local tax deduction, said Jared Walczak, a senior policy analyst at the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. California state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), who has been pushing legislation allowing residents to work around the cap, criticized the latest IRS move. This just shows how poorly thought out this proposed regulation is and whats really driving it, partisan efforts to punish states like California that didnt vote for [President] Trump, he said. Worse, they seem to be encouraging private school donations while denying those same benefits to our public schools and universities. Mr. Mnuchin is making such a mess of this, Congress may have no alternative but to step in and repeal the state and local tax deduction cap. De Leons bill, which passed the state Legislature and awaits Gov. Jerry Browns signature, would allow California residents to circumvent the $10,000 deduction limit through a 75% tax credit for donations to an existing state program that funds college tuition scholarships. Similar legislation has been enacted in New York and other states. De Leon and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, have threatened to sue to block the IRS rules. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera House GOP leaders are forging ahead with a plan to vote on a second phase of tax cuts this month, despite dissension from Republicans in high-tax states who say the measure would hurt their voters. The legislation would make permanent all the individual changes in the 2017 tax law, including the $10,000 annual cap on the federal income tax deduction for paying state and local taxes. The decision to hold the vote shows leaders have decided they can sacrifice the support of some Republican lawmakers in New York, New Jersey and other high-tax states and dont mind putting them in the tricky spot of having to either support the cap or vote against tax cuts backed by their party. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that largely because of that dilemma, House Republicans were hitting the pause button on tax reform 2.0 legislation, according to three GOP aides who requested anonymity to speak about the matter. The lawmakers had wanted to weigh the political benefits and risks of a vote. Advertisement On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., responded yes when reporters asked if the vote was still planned for later this month. Ryans comment signals House leaders believe using a second bill to highlight the tax cuts in the two months leading up to the midterms will do more good than harm, even though some Republicans have steered away from campaigning on the law. The tax laws approval has consistently hovered below 40% in recent polls. Were not resting on our laurels, said House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Were seeing this great economic growth, and so were starting to put together tax cuts 2.0. House Republicans have enough members to pass the bill without the support of the 11 lawmakers from high-tax states who voted no on the 2017 tax overhaul and are likely to do so again. The legislation isnt expected to win over any Democrats, who unanimously opposed last years tax bill. And it has slim chances of passing the Senate, where it would need Democratic support which is why the effort has largely been viewed as a political messaging tool for Republicans. Some Republican lawmakers in New York and New Jersey have urged leaders to strip the provision on state and local tax deductions known as SALT from the bill so they wouldnt have to take a difficult vote ahead of the midterm elections. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday: Im hoping to just let it sunset. I think a lot of other members would be open to that. So far theres no sign House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady would support the effort. Doing so could open the floodgates for members to start requesting tweaks to other tax breaks that the 2017 law scaled back and which are set to expire in 2026, such as decreasing the cap on the home mortgage interest deduction. Fixing the provision Several House GOP members from high-tax states weighed in to show their displeasure. I will not vote for anything that makes the SALT cap permanent, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday. Others I have spoken to feel the same way. They are more against it now than they were last November and December. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) said he would look at the tax cut 2.0 legislation only if they fix SALT. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country. Still, most voters have state tax bills that fall under the $10,000 threshold and dont feel the pain of the provision, according to Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.). Its tough. Im in a high-tax state, Hultgren said. But there are just a few high-tax states. Brady is scheduled to brief members on the legislation Thursday, and his panel is set to start making up the legislation next week. Davison, Basu and Versprille write for Bloomberg. Theranos Inc., the Silicon Valley blood-testing company accused of defrauding investors, will formally dissolve, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company will seek to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash in coming months, the Journal said, citing a shareholder email. The move comes after founder Elizabeth Holmes settled a shareholder lawsuit in July aimed at recovering whatever can be salvaged from the fallen blood-testing start-up. Holmes, who reigned briefly as the worlds youngest female self-made billionaire over her promise to revolutionize blood testing, was criminally charged in June with defrauding investors along with the Palo Alto-based companys former president, Ramesh Sunny Balwani. Both executives have denied the charges, according to the Journal. The indictment by the U.S. attorney in San Francisco alleging wire fraud follows claims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Theranos, Holmes and Balwani lied about its technology while raising more than $700 million to build the medical-testing start-up. Alphabet Inc.s Google posted what it called testimony for a Wednesday congressional hearing on social media companies efforts to thwart election meddling in advance of Novembers midterm races only it doesnt appear anyone will be there to deliver it. The Senate Intelligence Committee has said it rejected Google Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker as a witness because he wasnt high-level enough in the company to testify at Wednesdays hearing, which will feature testimony from Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Walkers prepared testimony lists the four new types of disclosure the company promised concerning election advertising in his last congressional appearance in the fall of 2017. Those include databases listing election ads on Google search, YouTube and across the web, as well as a verification program and disclosures on political ads. Google has insisted that Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Google CEO Sundar Pichai wouldnt be the best officials to appear despite the Intelligence committees desire to hear from decision makers. Advertisement Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a tweet Tuesday that Dorsey and Sandberg will testify and that Larry Page should be there, too. Its not too late for @Google to step up. The result appears to be a stalemate and testimony that no one will deliver. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have increased pressure on technology companies after Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and other election meddling as well as issues including alleged anti-conservative bias and antitrust questions. Google said in a statement that Walker will be in Washington on Wednesday, where he will deliver written testimony, brief members of Congress on our work, and answer any questions they have. We had informed the Senate Intelligence Committee of this in late July and had understood that he would be an appropriate witness for this hearing, Google said. Walkers prepared testimony focuses on security measures that Google rolled out in the last year, such as a tool to prevent email phishing scams and a program, from the Alphabet unit Jigsaw, to protect political campaigns from cyberattacks. Walker has assumed increasing responsibility at Google, where the lawyer oversees the companys sprawling legal and policy efforts. Earlier this summer, Google promoted Walker to oversee a larger portfolio, including the units that monitor security and abuse on its services, what Google calls trust and safety. Walkers ascent came under the tenure of CEO Pichai, who has focused more on Google products and shied away from addressing political issues. Eric Schmidt, Googles former CEO and chairman, was far more willing to be the companys political ambassador. He previously testified before the committee. Schmidt stepped down from his role as chairman of Google parent Alphabet last year. Facebook and Twitter In her prepared testimony for the Intelligence Committee, Facebooks Sandberg highlighted efforts by Facebook to prevent election interference, including the use of artificial intelligence to detect bad content and bad actors, removing fake accounts and implementing stricter policies for advertising. We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act, Sandberg said of Facebooks performance in 2016. Thats on us. This interference was completely unacceptable. It violated the values of our company and of the country we love. In prepared testimony for a hearing later Wednesday of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Twitters Dorsey emphasized his companys role as a global town square and the importance of a diversity of voices. We know the way to earn more trust around how we make decisions on our platform is to be as transparent as possible, Dorsey said. He said the Twitter platform itself does not take sides, even as President Trump and some Republicans are asserting a bias against conservatives on social media platforms. Dorsey said Twitters data scientists did a study of all tweets sent by House and Senate members for the 30-day period that ended Aug. 13. While Democrats on average sent more tweets and had more active followers, after adjusting for that, he said, a single tweet by a Republican will be viewed as many times as a single tweet by a Democrat, even after all filtering and algorithms have been applied by Twitter. Serial, the wildly popular investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, will return for a third season on Sept. 20, producers announced Wednesday morning. The first two episodes will drop on various podcast apps, including Apple and Google, and additional episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays. This seasons subject matter is much broader than in previous seasons, as Koenig and reporter Emmanuel Dzotsi delve into the Cleveland criminal court system, telling multiples stories at once, instead of just one. Serial has been downloaded more than 340 million times across two previous seasons an ongoing record. Season 1, released in 2014, unleashed a fan frenzy when it scrupulously told the tale of the 1999 murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee and the subsequent murder trial of her onetime classmate and boyfriend, Adnan Syed. Syed was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, but Koenigs reporting and the Serial podcast resulted in a public outcry that justice had not been served and that the real killer had not been found. Advertisement The show went on to become the first podcast to win a Peabody Award. It also won a National Edward R. Murrow Award. Season 2 was released in 2015 and focused on the court-martial of Sgt. Bowe Bergdhal, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years and was later charged with desertion. From its inception, Serial has explored themes of justice: What it is, who gets to decide it, and how it looks when it is fair or miscarried. For Season 3, the shows creators are taking those notions one step further by examining the many ordinary cases that flow through a typical criminal court on a regular basis from minor criminal proceedings like drug possession and disorderly conduct to serious felonies like murder and armed robbery. Koenig, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, and Dzotsi, a former fellow at This American Life, were given extraordinary access to record inside courtrooms, judges chambers and attorneys offices. The result, they say in a news release, is a show that examines an often troubled system where large gaps can often be found between the crimes people commit and what they ended up being punished for. Every case Emmanuel and I followed, there came a point where we thought: No, this cant be how it works, Koenig said in a statement. And then we were like, Oh! Oh my god. This is how it works! This is how it happens! People who work in the system, or have been through the system, they know this. But millions more people do not. And for the past year Ive had this urgent feeling of wanting to kind of hold open the courthouse door, and wave people inside. Because things are happening shocking things, fascinating things in plain sight. jessica.gelt@latimes.com @jessicagelt ALSO: Day 7: Alfonso Cuarons Roma and other riches from Venice enthrall TIFF A scene from the film Roma. (Netflix) You could feel the excitement in the air before the packed Toronto premiere of Roma, the much-anticipated new movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron. A beautifully composed memory piece that conjures the faded Mexico City of the directors 1970s childhood, the film was easily one of this 10-day events most breathlessly anticipated attractions. Roma arrived having already earned rapturous reviews at festivals in Telluride, Colo., and Venice, where, mere days earlier, it had won the Golden Lion, the top prize. The bestower of that prize was the director Guillermo del Toro, Cuarons pal and countryman, who served as the president of the Venice competition jury. (Del Toro promised beforehand not to do any friendly favors for Cuarons film, and Romas unanimously glowing reception certainly made the choice beyond reproach.) Notably, Del Toro himself had won the Golden Lion just a year earlier for his period fantasy The Shape of Water, the first piece of hardware he collected en route to winning the Academy Award for best picture. None of this necessarily means that the Golden Lion has suddenly become some hot new harbinger of awards-season glory; this is a prize, after all, that has in the past gone to more recondite pictures such as Alexander Sokurovs Faust, Gianfranco Rosis Sacro GRA and Lav Diazs The Woman Who Left, none of which were made with dreams of Oscar in mind. Read more If you are feeling particularly anxious, concerned or upset by the cultural and political moment, the Toronto International Film Festival is here for you. Though perhaps not exactly to mellow any troubled minds. This years festival, which runs Sept. 6-16 and has a longstanding reputation as an awards season launching pad, brims over with movies that reflect a charged sense of unease and uncertainty. These films may not provide easy answers, but they do give voice to questions that audiences are already asking themselves. And as the first edition of the festival to convene since the revelations of the #MeToo/TimesUp era began, the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival feels mobilized and making the effort to properly read the moment. Among the most anticipated world premieres at Toronto is Widows, director Steve McQueens first film since the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, adapted from a 1980s British TV drama by McQueen and Sharp Objects author Gillian Flynn. Advertisement With a deep cast that includes Viola Davis, Colin Farrell, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson, the film manages to be both a sharp, sleek crime thriller and a deeply nuanced take on the intersections of gender, race and class in modern life. Few films are likely to hit the target of feeling more exactingly 2018. We very much wanted to keep things very current, we wanted to make a film about our times, said producer Iain Canning. Every detail in there is about being set in 2018, Canning added, noting the work of production designer Adam Stockhausen. I think the film does feel very contemporary, and thats a real special aspect of it. Elizabeth Debicki, left, Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo in a scene from Steve McQueens Widows. (TIFF) The sense of social engagement and political awareness pulses through numerous other world premieres across the festival, including the special presentation of Barry Jenkins adaptation of James Baldwins If Beale Street Could Talk. The film, about an African American woman fighting to free her falsely accused husband from prison, serves as Jenkins follow-up to the Oscar-winning Moonlight. Also among the special presentations are Gloria Bell, Sebastian Lelios English-language remake of his own Chilean film about a mature womans path to self-discovery, starring Julianne Moore, and Amma Asantes World War II coming-of-age interracial romance Where Hands Touch. Nicole Holofceners piercing comic-tragic examination of class privilege, The Land of Steady Habits, starring Ben Mendelsohn, will play as a gala, as will Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly, the story of an African American concert pianist (Mahershala Ali) being driven on tour through the 1960s American South by a white chauffeur (Viggo Mortensen). The discovery-oriented Platform section opens with Tim Suttons Donnybrook, a brawling thriller starring Jamie Bell, Margaret Qualley and Frank Grillo that explores the devastating effect of drugs and poverty on a rural community. Even the genre-oriented Midnight Madness section will include films such as Peter Stricklands macabre take on loneliness and consumerism, In Fabric, and David Gordon Greens new sequel to Halloween, with Jamie Lee Curtis returning to the franchise for what has been billed as a story about grappling with the aftermath of trauma and abuse. Michael Moores much-hyped Fahrenheit 11/9, about the buildup to and fallout from the 2016 presidential election, is only one of the charged movies debuting in the documentary section, along with Alexis Blooms Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes. Errol Morris American Dharma, based on an extended interview with controversial former Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon, will come to Toronto after premiering in Venice. Algee Smith and Amandla Stenberg in The Hate U Give. (TIFF) Playing as a gala presentation, The Hate U Give is directed by George Tillman Jr. and adapted by Audrey Wells from the popular young adult novel by Angie Thomas, involving an African American high school girl named Starr (Amandla Stenberg) who finds her life turned upside down when she witnesses the shooting death of a friend at the hands of a police officer. I always felt like its so great to tell a story that has something to do with whats happening now, Tillman said, but finding the way that you can still do what you expect when you go to the theater, to be entertained and to laugh and to find emotion in the material. We just dont really see it from an African American teenage girls perspective, dealing with these kind of things that you see on the news every day, said Tillman. And as a filmmaker, thats what you love, to be in the now. TIFF has also long been a key stop for foreign-language films looking to make their way to theaters across North America, and this years themes of social awareness and political awakening have crossed borders all around the globe. There will be a world premiere of a new, combined version of Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentinos two-part Loro, in which The Great Beauty star Toni Servillo plays controversial Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi. (Parallel connections to any current American elected officials are likely invited.) Another world premiere is Maya, from French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Lve, the story of a war correspondent (Roman Kolinka) who was held hostage in Syria. After his release he heads to India, where he rebuilds his spirit with the help of a young woman (Aarshi Banerjee). Aarshi Banerjee and Roman Kolinka in Maya. (TIFF) Hansen-Lve has attended Toronto multiple times and has come to appreciate the encouragement from audiences who know and support her work. Its not the same as when you are somewhere and it just feels like people dont know about anything youve been doing before, Hansen-Lve said. When Im there I started feeling some kind of link between my films and the audience in Toronto. Even though I dont know who these people are exactly or where they come from, I feel some kind of connection to the audience there. In a year when the festivals selections feel particularly aware of their social and political aspects, organizers also have acknowledged the ways in which the press corps and industry attendees have a role to play in how those films are received, discussed and disseminated to the world. Ahead of the festival, TIFF launched an initiative to increase diversity in its press corps, with a goal of accrediting 200 new journalists from underrepresented groups. The festival also has signed a pledge for 50% gender parity and inclusion by 2020. (This year 122 films in the festival are directed or co-directed by women, making up 36% of the program.) There will be an official womens rally on Sept. 8, featuring Asante, Geena Davis, Stacy L. Smith, Keri Putnam and other prominent industry figures as speakers and guests. I think it was a number of things happening in fairly close sequence, said Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of the festival, of Torontos more activist stance this year. Bailey said that he and other TIFF organizers had begun to notice a disconnect between the way films were being discussed by the select press attending festivals and the way those same titles were being talked about and received once they reached a more diverse general audience upon wider release. And the more you notice that disconnect, Bailey said, the more you notice that what happens at festivals maybe needs to shift and get a little bit closer to the general reaction to movies. So we thought, Lets try to bring these things together more, Bailey noted. We like when there are a real range of opinions and conflicting opinions on movies. We think that debate is really healthy. But lets have it be one debate as much as possible, not one that happens at festivals and then a different one that happens afterwards. And just as TIFF itself is changing, a slate of films that does not shy from downbeat reflection, angered realizations and flashpoints of friction also reveals a desire to move forward to something else, something better. When asked if movies can actually make a difference in the world, American Dharma director Morris pointed toward his own earlier The Thin Blue Line, which screened at TIFF in 1988 and eventually resulted in its subject being released from prison. I made a movie that overturned the conviction of an innocent man from murder. Clearly, movies can make an enormous difference, Morris said. Some movies are investigations into the real world and, hopefully, we can learn something something that can help us think about whats going on in the world. And if we dont like it, what we could do about it. SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter Mark.Olsen@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus On a cool night in August 2016, two UCLA students went to a fraternity party, got drunk and hooked up. The young woman said that the young man had sexually assaulted her, and she pushed his fraternity to take action. Six months later, she filed a Title IX complaint with UCLA. The university corroborated her claims, expelled him and in February rejected his appeal. To the young woman, UCLA had removed an immediate campus danger. But she wanted to do something that would force campus fraternities to do much more to change what she saw as a culture of alcohol abuse and sexual transgression. So last month, as Jane Doe, she filed a civil complaint, naming her alleged abuser. Her lawsuit sues not only Blake Lobato for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress but also three fraternity organizations for negligence. She says Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the UCLA Interfraternity Council, a student-led governing body for 22 social fraternities with more than 1,600 members, routinely failed to protect her against sexual assault. Advertisement Lobatos attorney, Mark M. Hathaway, is seeking a court order to remove his clients name from the complaint though it already has appeared in articles in the Daily Bruin and other newspapers. He says the sex was consensual and the UCLA investigation flawed, and last week asked a Superior Court judge to order the University of California to overturn the findings and sanctions against him. The three Greek life organizations declined to comment on the litigation but said they had beefed up safeguards against misconduct. The womans complaint alleges that Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Alpha Epsilon are particularly notorious. Chapters nationwide, it says, have been repeatedly sanctioned or closed for incidents involving alcohol abuse, sexual assault, racism and underage drinking at campuses including Cal State Long Beach, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Yale, Cornell and Northwestern. Despite that history, the complaint alleges, fraternities do little-to-nothing to protect their members and guests from harm, failing to adequately train their members about the risks of sexual and alcohol abuse, to warn their guests about potential dangers or to intervene in dicey situations. The complaint alleges that Sigma Alpha Epsilon members continued to ply Jane Doe with booze although she was visibly drunk at the fraternitys house party on Aug.12, 2016. It also alleges that the fraternity failed to provide security or supervision. When she ended up at Zeta Beta Tau early the next morning and ultimately wound up in bed with Lobato, members failed to intervene, the complaint alleges, even though she obviously was intoxicated. She says Lobato sexually assaulted her despite her pleas for him to stop; his attorney maintains that she consented. UCLAs Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house is also named in the lawsuit. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Text messages included in the petition to make UCLA reverse its decision show she complained later that day and the next day that he had bruised her entire body and taken advantage of her. Hathaway confirmed the messages were between Jane Doe and his client. You physically hurt me and I am messed up from this, read her Aug. 15 text message. We were both seriously intoxicated. I have bruises where you grabbed me. You need to accept what happened and what you did. I know you would never actually mean to hurt me or anyone, she added. She did not file a police report, said her attorney, Keith A. Fink. He later advised her that a Title IX proceeding would be more expeditious in removing Lobato from campus and protecting other women from possible harm. The UCLA Title IX investigator, after interviewing both students and 16 witnesses, concluded that Lobato overcame Jane Does will by use of force, and by intentionally taking advantage of her incapacitation, touching her breasts and penetrating her without her consent. Hathaway said UCLA didnt provide evidence of the alleged assault to his client before making its finding or allow questioning of Jane Doe. UCLA spokesman Tod Tamberg declined comment on the case, saying Title IX investigations are confidential, but that all sexual misconduct allegations are handled carefully and impartially under the UC systems transparent, consistent process to ensure fairness. Fink and others say broader and stronger action is needed to protect students. David Easlick, a Virginia-based lawyer who specializes in risk management involving fraternities, said universities need to step in with stricter oversight and discipline. As at UCLA, most fraternities are governed by independent, student-run councils. Other universities have taken stronger steps than UCLA, Easlick said. More colleges, he said, should follow the example of Penn State, which took over disciplinary oversight from the Greek governing council after a 19-year-old student died last year during a pledge night party at the Beta Theta Pi house. Penn State also publicly posts annual scorecards for all sororities and fraternities, listing violations of rules involving sexual abuse, alcohol and other misconduct. You need to have some kind of school enforcement because youre not going to get it out of fraternities, Easlick said. Fink said fraternities should hire house managers to oversee conduct one of more than two dozen reforms being considered by Louisiana State University after a student died from binge drinking while pledging Phi Delta Theta last year. Outside security guards should be required at parties to police underage and excessive drinking, he said, and pregaming getting drunk before a party should be discouraged if not banned. UCLA also should widely publicize sexual assaults that occur at fraternities to warn students, Fink said: You cant have an entirely safe campus, but you can take rational, sane measures to protect the student body. A UCLA spokesman said university staff trains all fraternity and sorority members to identify and prevent sexual assault and harassment, holds workshops on healthy drinking habits and provides education on how to intervene in potentially harmful situations. The UCLA Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life works closely with the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to integrate UCLA student conduct policies and True Bruin values into their respective councils and chapters. The goal is to continually strengthen student safety within the Greek community, Ricardo Vazquez said in a statement. UCLA could not provide data on how many sexual misconduct claims there have involved Greek life organizations. The Title IX office received 601 complaints between July 2016 and June 2017, about half of them from students and three-fourths of them involving allegations of sexual harassment or sexual violence. UCLA launched formal investigations in 41 cases and substantiated violations of university policy in just over half of them, with a handful more still in process. Noah Mayer, president of the UCLA Interfraternity Council, said his organization launched several reforms this year to strengthen student safety. Following an alleged sexual assault by a fraternity member, the council in January imposed a six-week ban on alcohol at house events while it created a new risk management policy. The council now requires fraternities to hire licensed third-party security guards to check IDs at the doors of house parties and issue wristbands to those who are legally allowed to drink. The new policy bars house members from taking visitors to private quarters unless preregistered. At least two fraternity members must patrol each party as sober monitors to take care of those who are drunk and make sure that rules are being followed and food and nonalcoholic beverages are available, Mayer said. The council also requires new fraternity members to attend seminars on such topics as sexual misconduct prevention, the dangers of toxic masculinity and how to prevent hazing. Mayer said the council has worked with campus sexual assault specialists on a new guide that tells fraternity presidents the steps they must take when they receive complaints of sexual misconduct. The reforms have created a new line of accountability for fraternity parties as well as created a safer environment, Mayer said. They are a large step in the right direction for the fraternity community at UCLA. Last week, the North-American Interfraternity Conference approved a ban on hard liquor at house events unless served by a licensed third-party vendor, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The conferences 66 members, which includes Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau, voted to implement the ban by September 2019. One UCLA sorority member, who asked for anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly, said the fraternity sexual assault issue was overblown. During her two years at UCLA, she said, no one has ever pushed drinks on her or sexually harassed her during any of the beach outings, parties, tailgaters or dinners her sorority has held with fraternities. She said she doesnt know anyone who has been sexually assaulted and only occasionally hears stories. These are really rare incidents and its not fair to assume this is a regular thing in Greek life, she said. She conceded that recent reforms are easy to get around. Despite the door checks, she said, younger students can get drinks from older ones once inside. They can drink outside which could be worse, she said, because they might arrive at parties already drunk and vulnerable to predators. The best defense against sexual assault, she said, is for women to attend parties in groups and watch out for each other. Its pretty easy to prevent it by staying with friends, she said. It just falls on girls shoulders. Other students are pushing for stronger action. In an editorial last month, the Daily Bruin student newspaper, citing the recent lawsuit, urged the university to ban Greek life houses that repeatedly violate Title IX policies, starting with Zeta Beta Tau. The time for lip service is over, the editorial said. UCLA can either take a firm stance against a brutish culture of sexual assault and sexual harassment or sit on its hands as it has done before. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com Twitter: @teresawatanabe Times staff writers Sonali Kohli and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde contributed to this report. UPDATES: 8:10 a.m.: This article was updated with details about a ban on hard liquor at house events. This article was originally published at 5 a.m. Actress Asia Argento, who is under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department following allegations she had sex with a minor, is now accusing the young actor of sexually attacking her in 2013. Mark Jay Heller, Argentos lawyer, said in a statement that the Italian actress was the real victim of the sexual encounter, contradicting accusations made by Jimmy Bennett, who said he was 17 when Argento had sex with him in a Marina del Rey hotel. For the record: An earlier version of this article misspelled Rain Dove Dubilewskis last name as Dubliewski. Asia at no time initiated a sexual encounter with Bennett and in fact as she stated in her response to the New York Times article, concerning their past history, I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett but rather the relationship was a long distance friendship over many years, Heller said. The lawyer said the encounter with Bennett in May 2013 was not consensual for his client. Asia chose at the time not to prosecute Bennett for sexually attacking her, he said. Advertisement A New York Times story in August revealed that Bennett was paid a $380,000 settlement after accusing Argento last fall of sexually assaulting him in 2013 when he was 17. In California, the age of consent is 18. The Times story said that on May 9, 2013, a teenage Bennett arrived with a family member for a reunion with Argento at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, and Argento asked the family member to leave. When the two were alone, she kissed him, removed his pants and performed oral sex before having intercourse with him, Bennetts lawyer said. The actress issued a statement after the story, saying she had not had a sexual relationship with Bennett and she agreed to the settlement only after her boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain the culinary and travel personality who killed himself in June put up the money and made the arrangements. The actress is characterizing the incident that led to the settlement in a different light. In text messages provided to TMZ.com, Argento, who was 37 at the time of the alleged encounter, reportedly said, The horny kid jumped me. I had sex with him and it felt weird. In the texts, which were sent to model Rain Dove Dubilewski, Argento also said, I didnt know he was a minor until the shakedown letter. It wasnt raped but I was frozen, according to TMZ. Dubilewski said she turned the messages over to law enforcement. A sheriffs spokeswoman said the department has not had contact with either Argento or Bennett regarding the latest allegations. Heller said his client will cooperate with any investigation. Bennett could not be reached for comment Wednesday but previously said he was traumatized by having sex with the actress when he was so young. I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself, Bennett said in a statement about the settlement. I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative. I didnt think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy. On the day of the alleged encounter, Argento posted a photo on Instagram showing her hugging Bennett, referring to him as My son, my love, and included the month and year. Argento insisted the settlement was paid last year at the behest of Bourdain to avoid bad publicity. Bennetts lawyers had threatened to sue Argento, who had become a leading figure in the #MeToo movement after she said last fall that she was raped by producer Harvey Weinstein when she was a young actress. Weinsteins attorney Benjamin Brafman has said that all of the relationships between the former Hollywood mogul and his accusers were consensual. As part of a potential lawsuit, Bennetts attorney sent photos of the pair in bed together. In the settlement, the copyright for the pictures was secured so he could not use or show them to others. The payout to Bennett, which was made in small portions, has now stopped, Heller said. The lawyer said, This is the Phase Two of the #MeToo movement, and he called for victims with a negative history to have the courage to come forward and say me too, I was a victim of sexual assault. Asia believes no sexual predator should be granted a pass simply because the victim has some gray area in their background. The statement accuses the media of giving an unfair impression of the victim. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes Even as it cracked down on immigration from predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa, the Trump administration stressed that the safety of Christians in the region would be a priority. In recent months, however, dozens of religious minorities from Iran have seen their asylum claims denied despite a decades-old program designed to help them. Many have been left stranded in Austria, unable to go home and unsure whether theyll ever make it to the U.S. The administration in February rejected the cases of 87 Iranian refugees an unprecedented move for a program with a near 100% acceptance rate, attorneys said. The government did not provide a reason for the denials, saying it was a matter of discretion. Some of the refugees, who had traveled to Vienna as part of the asylum process, and family members in the United States filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In July, a judge ordered the government to reconsider those cases and said it must disclose individual reasons for the denials, which would allow the applicants to file an appeal. The government estimates it will make final decisions in the reopened cases this month. Advertisement Our clients have faced serious persecution in Iran due to their religion, said Kate Meyer, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project. Its impacted their ability to work, to go to school, to seek medical care for themselves or their children. Applications under the Lautenberg-Specter program began stalling in late 2016, Meyer said. Enacted in 1989 to facilitate resettlement of Jews from what was then the Soviet Union, the program later was expanded to include non-Muslims from Iran. Run in partnership with the Austrian government, it requires refugees to have a U.S. sponsor who will cover the costs associated with their travel as well as the typical three- to six-month stay in Vienna. Many eventually move to California, advocates said, because of the large Iranian and Armenian diaspora. More than 10,100 Iranian religious minorities have resettled under the Lautenberg program since the 2004 fiscal year, the government said. Although admissions from Iran to the U.S. have not completely come to a halt under the Trump administration, they have slowed from 1,061 in the first quarter of the 2017 fiscal year to 29 in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, court records show. A total of 35 Iranian refugees have been admitted this fiscal year as of July 31, according to data from the Refugee Processing Center. Goharek Garmemasihi shares a photograph of family members she sponsored to come to the U.S., covering their faces to protect their identity. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) Februarys denials left Goharek Garmemasihis family separated. She moved her brother, sister-in-law and niece to Los Angeles last year. But her nephew, who had traveled from Iran with them, is stuck in Vienna. You let the father, mother and sister come, but you tell the son, No, you have to stay? Garmemasihi said, amazed. In 2007 she helped her sister resettle in Southern California, using the same program without issue. I wouldnt have ever thought it would be this hard, Garmemasihi said of the familys latest effort. Last year, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said that it was easier for Muslims to enter the U.S. than for Christians and that he planned to make a change. Asked whether persecuted Christians overseas would be a priority, the president said, Yes, theyve been horribly treated. We are going to help them. The greater number of Lautenberg denials is the result of changes to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program made under President Obama in 2016, according to a State Department official who declined to give further details. It has nothing to do with Trumps executive orders on immigration, the official said, adding that the administration remains committed to supporting the Iranian people. In court filings, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project, the government has said that enhancements to security check techniques led to the increase in denials. But the religious refugees limbo has drawn bipartisan concern. In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence earlier this year, Reps. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said that the situation makes no sense. The co-chairmen of the Houses Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission told Pence that he had been eloquent in his defense of Christians in Iran and throughout the Middle East. The vice president had made it clear that the administration would take the lead in helping to end their persecution, they noted. But they said the case of the Iranian refugees was reaching a crisis point. The law is clear: These applicants should be presumed eligible for refugee status, they said. Matt Saria, one of a handful of USC law students who helped the International Refugee Assistance Project with research during the lawsuit, said the Iranians he spoke with in Austria had let their guard down and assumed they would make it to America. Then they face a whole other nightmare in Vienna and they dont know what to do, because theyre separated but cant go back because theyve been outed as refugees, Saria said. Garmemasihi said the separation had taken a toll on her 24-year-old nephew, a student who hopes to pursue a career as a veterinarian in the U.S. When they video chat, he tells her that two years of his life have gone to waste. He says, My life is going by without me having accomplished anything, she said. In addition to Armenian Christians such as Garmemasihi, others resettled under the program include Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahais and Mandaeans. One Mandaean applicant has been waiting in Vienna for 16 months, court documents show. In a sworn statement, she said she and her son fled Iran because of constant persecution. Mandaeans, who are followers of John the Baptist, face discrimination in many ways, she said including having people throw rocks at them during baptisms. Her son was expelled from school because of his faith and was unable to enroll in another for nearly two years, she said. The woman, who did not want her name used for fear of retribution, left her husband behind in Iran. She hoped to move to San Jose, where much of her family has been resettled. Her status as a refugee and her ties to the lawsuit would only increase her chances of being retaliated against by the Iranian government should she be forced to return, she said. Before she left the Islamic Republic, the woman and her husband gave up the apartment they were renting and sold their appliances. Her husband now lives with his family. I have no home left in Iran, she said. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini #LASD Seek Publics Help in Loc Missing Person, Adam Michael Buckley. 27 year-old White male, 510, 165lbs, brown hair, & brown eyes. Last seen Tue, 8/28/18, in LA, wearing a brown and white plaid shirt, with gray pants. HIs family very worried. pic.twitter.com/JolfRsD49c LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) September 4, 2018 The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department is asking for the publics help in finding a missing man after he was misidentified as dead by the Los Angeles County Coroners office. Adam Buckley was last seen Aug. 28 after he was released from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles, according to a Twitter post from the Sheriffs Department. A few days after Buckley was released, the L.A. County Coroners office issued a statement about the misidentification. Advertisement We would like to publicly apologize to the family of the man who was misidentified as the decedent, and also express our regrets to the community we serve, the statement read, before going on to chronicle the events that led to the error. The Sheriffs Department alerted the coroners office about a body found in Lancaster on July 2. The coroners office said it was unable to identify the remains because they had been badly burned. About a week later, the coroners office determined the body was male, but it still couldnt obtain fingerprints or bone DNA. On July 26, sheriffs deputies told the coroners office the remains could be those of Buckley, who according to a Facebook post, had been missing since June 12. After X-ray comparisons, the coroners office said the body was Buckleys, according to the statement, and notified his family. Buckley, however, was arrested and booked into a downtown L.A. jail on Aug. 25. He was released three days later, at which time an unnamed agency alerted the coroners office that Buckley had been located and was alive, according to the statement. As forensic tools and strategies continue to be developed, we are reevaluating our processes in identification to help keep incidents like this from happening again in the future, the coroners statement said. These types of mistakes are unacceptable to us and run counter to our mission of looking after and protecting the decedents of Los Angeles County. The body still has not been positively identified. Buckley disappeared from a group home, according to a Facebook post on the page of his mother, Angela Winters. Friends and family members started two online funding campaigns one after he was reported dead to raise money for his funeral, which is now closed, and the second on Go Fund Me to offer a reward for anyone with information about his whereabouts. Buckley suffers from schizophrenia and could be in the Los Angeles or Santa Clarita areas, according to the Sheriffs Department. Authorities launched a homicide investigation early Wednesday after a mans body was discovered inside a burned car in an industrial complex in Westminster. Orange County Fire Authority and Westminster police were called to a parking lot in the 6400 block of Industry Way shortly before 3 a.m. because a Honda Civic was on fire, police told reporters at the scene. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, they discovered the body between the trunk and the back seat, said Cmdr. Cameron Knauerhaze. Homicide investigators are canvassing the area for witnesses and other evidence, Knauerhaze said. Advertisement Anyone with information is asked to call the Westminster Police Departments detective bureau at (714) 898-3315 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry UPDATES: 6:55 a.m.: This article was updated with news that a homicide investigation has been launched. This article was originally published at 6:15 a.m. Three years ago, Angelenos voted overwhelmingly to switch their local elections to even-numbered years, part of a larger effort to reverse years of dismal voter turnout. Voters agreed to hold a June 2020 primary and a November 2020 runoff for City Council and school board elections, combining those races with state and national contests. But then state lawmakers moved the 2020 primary to March 2020, leaving the city once again out of sync. Now the council is looking to change the schedule again, sending voters two more election schedule ballot measures to bring L.A.s 2020 primary back in line with the state. Doing that, however, will cost taxpayers an estimated $3.1 million. City Clerk Holly Wolcott said thats the price of placing the two measures on Los Angeles Countys Nov. 6 election ballot. Advertisement David A. Holtzman, who heads the group Los Angeles Voters For Instant Runoff Elections, called the expensive do-over vote the result of an obvious drafting error by city leaders in 2015. Charter Amendments 1 and 2, which moved local elections from odd- to even-numbered years, should have been written in a way that did not tie the 2020 primary election to a particular month, he said. Instead of specifying a specific date, they should have said, We will always have the primary election when the state has them, he said. Holtzman opposes Charter Amendments E and EE, which would move the city and school board primary to March 2020, arguing that city lawmakers should have come up with more comprehensive changes, such as ranked-choice voting. He warned the date change will cause the citys runoff campaigns to last much longer than they did under the previous system. Under L.A.s odd-year election schedule, primary elections were held in March and a runoff, if needed, was conducted in mid-May. If voters pass E and EE, any runoff campaign would last eight months and provide an advantage to establishment candidates and well-funded incumbents, Holtzman said. In addition, any candidates who win the March 2020 primary outright would then have to wait nine months before they are seated. Kathay Feng, who co-chaired the 2015 campaign for even-year elections, acknowledged the city had made an expensive mistake by putting a specific month in Charter Amendments 1 and 2. But she argued that Charter Amendments E and EE will ensure that the voters original intent boosting voter participation in local elections is carried out. Little did we know the state Legislature was going to move the primary to March, said Feng, who is the executive director of California Common Cause, a nonprofit election watchdog group. So really this is a cleanup bill to synchronize the election with the state election. Feng said Charter Amendments E and EE have been written so that if the Legislature moves the primary back to June in 2022, the council could do the same without having to consult voters again. Political science professor Fernando Guerra, another backer of the two measures, questioned the notion that an eight-month runoff election campaign would benefit better-funded candidates. Having a longer runoff campaign would give challengers more time to reach voters without having to raise money, said Guerra, who is director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University and also a registered City Hall lobbyist. The push to change the citys election schedule was spearheaded by Council President Herb Wesson and featured one major side benefit for the citys elected officials: an extra year and a half in office. Vanessa Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Wesson, referred questions about the 2015 ballot language to City Atty. Mike Feuer. Rob Wilcox, a Feuer spokesman, said the state Legislature changed the date two years after L.A. voters had rescheduled its elections. State lawmakers changed the date of the primary in hopes of increasing Californias clout in the next presidential campaign. Asked about the $3.1-million cost of an election date do-over, Rodriguez said in an email that engaging the citizenry is the most important element of a functioning democracy. L.A.s 2020 election ballot will offer races for seven council seats and four school board seats. At least two city campaigns are expected to be highly competitive one in Wessons district, the other in the downtown-to-Eagle Rock district represented by Councilman Jose Huizar. Both men are being forced out by term limits. Huizars wife, Richelle Huizar, is widely expected to run for the seat held by her husband. For more than a year, shes been appearing with her husband at district events and popped up regularly in the councilmans social media messages. Richelle Huizar did not return calls from The Times. But Jose Huizar, while declining to describe her plans, noted that a lot of support is coming her way. People are excited about having her be the next council person, he said. Huizars seat has also drawn interest from Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), who lives in Boyle Heights. Santiago chief of staff Jackie Koenig said her boss will make a decision in November. In Council District 10, which stretches from Koreatown to Leimert Park, Wessons son, political aide Justin Wesson, has been considering a campaign. Another possible candidate is Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), who previously worked at City Hall in the Department of General Services. A campaign consultant for Jones-Sawyer said his client is keeping all options open after the November election. Attorney Grace Yoo, who waged an unsuccessful challenge against Wesson in 2015, said she intends to run for the seat again in the 2020 election. david.zahniser@latimes.com Twitter: @DavidZahniser UPDATES: 2:30 p.m.: This article was updated to say that Richelle Huizar did not return calls from The Times. This article was originally published at 5 a.m. Brothel owner and Republican Nevada Assembly nominee Dennis Hof is being investigated by state authorities in connection with sexual assault and rape allegations made over Labor Day weekend. The Nevada Department of Public Safety confirmed the investigation Wednesday, but wouldnt comment on any specifics. Based on a request from the Carson City Sheriffs Office, the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Investigation Division, is conducting an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Dennis Hof, the department said in a statement. As this is an ongoing investigation, no further information can be provided at this time. But Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his detective interviewed a woman who showed up at a local hospital Sunday alleging Hof had raped her. Advertisement Furlong said that after the detective conducted an initial interview with the woman, the department turned the case over to state authorities to investigate. Hof locked up the Republican nomination for a seat in the Assembly, Nevadas lower legislative house, in a district that spans three rural counties when he upset incumbent James Oscarson in the June primary. In November, he will face Lesia Romanov, a Democrat who is considered an underdog in this deeply Republican area of the state. But his nomination has been fraught with controversy, including revelations from former sex workers who contend that Hof sexually assaulted them while working in his brothels in the past. Hofs campaign released a statement Wednesday saying the candidate has spoken with investigators and is cooperating fully with state authorities. While he has his suspicions, at this time Mr. Hof does not know exactly what the allegations are, who made them or when the alleged incident supposedly took place, the statement read. Nevertheless he completely and totally denies that any such incident occurred and believes the allegations are groundless and politically motivated. Hof said via text message that he couldnt comment further on the new allegations. The brothel owner and reality TV personality on Cathouse has billed himself as the Trump of Pahrump, the town west of Las Vegas, and has run as a political outsider. He has been at odds with some of the established Republican candidates in Nevada, several of whom have refused to endorse his candidacy. U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, the Republican incumbent locked in a tight race with Democrat Jacky Rosen, refused to endorse him, as has Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for governor. Still, Hof recently hired trucks to drive around Pahrump with billboards that read, Laxalt. Hof. Heller. The winning team. Hof, 71, has also regularly battled with officials in Nye County, where his Love Ranch brothel is located. Last month, the Love Ranch was closed after the county determined he had been late paying his brothel license fees. But a federal judge ordered the county to restore Hofs license and reopen the business after he decided the countys actions were in retaliation for an existing 1st Amendment lawsuit Hof had filed against two county commissioners. The Nevada Independent, an online publication, first reported the rape investigation Tuesday night. david.montero@latimes.com | Twitter: @davemontero Tropical Storm Gordon barreled toward the north-central Gulf Coast late Tuesday, unleashing torrential rain and gusty winds as it threatened to pick up enough power to become the first hurricane to strike the mainland United States in 2018. By Tuesday evening, Gordon was about 75 miles southeast of Biloxi, Miss., moving northwest at about 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph just 4 mph short of hurricane strength. A roughly 150-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast from the mouth of the Pearl River near the Louisiana-Mississippi border to Alabamas border with Florida was under a hurricane warning as the center of Gordon was forecast to make landfall Tuesday night before moving inland over the lower Mississippi Valley on Wednesday. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Advertisement In addition to the hurricane warning, a storm surge warning is in effect from Shell Beach, La., to Dauphin Island, Ala. Stretches on both sides of that area are under a less serious storm surge watch. The governors of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have declared states of emergency as the storm lurched toward their coasts. This storm will produce 70-80 mph winds and 3-6 feet of surge, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant warned residents on Twitter. Be prepared. Although the center of Gordon is on track to reach the Mississippi coast, large bands of rainfall are spanning out to the east, National Hurricane Center director Ken Graham said in a video presentation. Gordon is expected to drop about 4 to 8 inches of rain over the western Florida Panhandle, southwest Alabama, southern and central Mississippi, northeastern Louisiana, and southern Arkansas, the Hurricane Center said. Officials warned of flash flooding, with some coastal areas potentially seeing up to 12 inches of rain through late Thursday. Florida is not under a hurricane warning, but tropical storm warnings were in effect for Escambia County and coastal portions of Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. With heavy rainfall and isolated tornadoes expected in the western Florida Panhandle, Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged coastal residents to be prepared. It is critical for everyone to listen to local news reports and weather alerts, Scott said in a statement. We are now in the peak of hurricane season. It is time to get a disaster plan in place. Stay vigilant and stay safe. This years hurricane season is expected to be less active than the one in 2017, when Harvey, Irma and Maria caused widespread destruction in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Climate Prediction Center recently downgraded its May forecast, saying conditions in the ocean and atmosphere had changed. The center lowered its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season, saying it expected nine to 13 named storms and zero to two major hurricanes for the year. The Gulf Coast experienced its last hurricane in October, when Hurricane Nate, a Category 1 storm, made landfall at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A combination of winds, storm surge, flooding and tornadoes caused about $225 million in damage to property and agriculture, mostly in southwest Alabama. Many schools along the Gulf Coast were shuttered Tuesday and prepared to remain closed on Wednesday. In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered City Hall and city government offices to close Wednesday morning for nonessential personnel, and urged residents to stay off the roads and shelter in place in their homes. In August last year, storms overwhelmed New Orleans drainage system and caused widespread flooding. But the low-lying citys Sewerage and Water Board said this week that 116 out of 120 pumps were available and that it had more power than it needed to run the citys entire drainage system. We are all in this together, Cantrell said in a statement, urging residents to check on neighbors, family and friends. Im asking all residents to do their part in getting ready for this storm. The citys absolute, number one priority is to ensure the safety of our residents. Weve worked all weekend to ensure that were prepared. Together, were ready for Gordon. jenny.jarvie@latimes.com @jennyjarvie Police detained a ranting man accused of crashing a pickup truck into a Fox affiliate television station building Wednesday morning in downtown Dallas during a live newscast. KDFW posted details on Facebook showing photos of the front of the vehicle rammed into windows near an entrance. The man paced and scattered numerous handwritten papers outside. He was not able to enter the building and was soon arrested. Anchors who continued on the air through the 7 a.m. newscast, despite the crash, say nobody was hurt. The truck hit an unoccupied administrative side of the building before office workers arrived for the day. A KDFW statement says, a man crashed a truck into the side of our building this morning and jumped out and started ranting. Advertisement Anchor and reporter Brandon Todd, who witnessed the man pacing outside the station before he was arrested, said the man was yelling about high treason, and that he believed he had clearly been wronged and that someone was trying to kill him. Its not real clear to what his message was, according to Todd. The man started crying when police took him into custody, Todd said. Police havent replied to phone messages seeking further details, including a possible motive. A remote-controlled police robot later Wednesday searched the area near the station, which was closed to the usual downtown business foot and vehicle traffic, following the incident. Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be back for a second day before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and its expected to be even more contentious. TOP STORIES Your Guide to the Kavanaugh Fireworks Day 1 of the confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, was not the sleepy affair typical of such openings. Instead, Senate Democrats repeatedly tried to halt the hearing, saying the process has been hurried and unfair, and shouting protesters were escorted from the audience. One moment that went viral: a failed attempt by a Parkland, Fla., school shooting victims father to shake Kavanaughs hand. What will todays action bring? Here are 10 things to watch for from the Democrats, Republicans and Kavanaugh himself. Plus, follow along with our live chat featuring The Times experts. Advertisement Judge Brett Kavanaugh arrives for his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Peace Through Punishment? Trump has called it the ultimate deal: a plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Two months ago, its unveiling seemed imminent. Instead, the proposal hit a wall of opposition from Persian Gulf Arab states, which have called it pro-Israel and out of line with traditional U.S. policy and international law. The latest Trump strategy: punishing Palestinians in an effort to change their tune, including cutting off U.S. funding for the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees. Curiouser and Curiouser Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego County and his wife stand accused of spending $250,000 in campaign funds on family fun and extravagance, including paying to fly their pet rabbit to Washington, D.C., for vacation. But that hasnt stopped the Republican from continuing to run for Congress, leading in the polls and getting a supportive tweet from Trump. Columnist Steve Lopez goes down the rabbit hole. More Politics -- Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III told Trumps lawyers in a letter Friday that he will accept at least some written answers from Trump to questions about whether his campaign coordinated with Russia to tilt the 2016 election in his favor, according to two people briefed on the communication. -- Bob Woodwards new book paints a harrowing portrait of the Trump presidency. Trump has claimed its possibly made up or the product of embittered aides. -- Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed fellow Republican Jon Kyl, a retired three-term U.S. senator, to fill the seat of the late John McCain. But Kyl wants to do it only until January. Irans Stranded Religious Refugees Early in Trumps presidency, he said persecuted Christians overseas would be given a priority to enter the United States. (At the time it created an uproar about a religious test.) Yet in recent months, dozens of religious minorities from Iran, including Christians, have seen their asylum claims denied despite a decades-old program designed to help them. Whats going on? Read on. Taking Scooters for a Spin Depending on your point of view, electric scooters are either amazing or awful or perhaps a bit of both. In the same way, policing their use has been like the Wild West. Now, the L.A. City Council has approved its first set of temporary rules for the companies that have plopped thousands of scooters on the streets. The rules include a 15-mph speed limit and encourage use in low-income areas. Sign up to get Todays Headlines delivered to your inbox. MUST-WATCH VIDEO -- The sounds of Mexico City, which sings or screams depending on your mood. FROM THE ARCHIVES During a drought 30 years ago this week, the water level in the Bridgeport Reservoir in Mono County dropped so low, anglers used archery equipment for their catch. Meanwhile, the Department of Fish and Game tried to rescue as many fish as possible, but thousands perished. Sept. 1, 1988: Angler Jim Reed uses a bow and arrow to fish for carp from the drain of the Bridgeport Reservoir. As an indication of the droughts severity, the drain was often 40 feet underwater. (Thomas Kelsey / Los Angeles Times) CALIFORNIA -- A federal appeals court has ruled that prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on public property when they have no access to shelter violates the Constitutions ban on cruel and unusual punishment. -- The L.A. County district attorneys office has declined to file charges against actors Kevin Spacey, Steven Seagal and Anthony Anderson, who were accused of sexual abuse with the arrival of the #MeToo movement. --Former President Obama will drop into Southern California on Saturday, holding a rally to boost seven Democratic candidates. HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS -- After 25 years, The Joy Luck Club is still a captivating Hollywood movie about Asian American identity. And finally, film critic Justin Chang writes, its no longer the only one. -- Beyond the joke: Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner discuss the origins of modern comedy and the new home video set Sid Caesar: The Works. -- Members of Aretha Franklins family have criticized the Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., saying he did not properly eulogize the Queen of Soul at her funeral last week. -- Danny Elfman will reprise his live performance as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas at the Hollywood Bowl in October. NATION-WORLD -- Russian jets began an intense barrage on Syrias northwest, pounding rebel-held areas in Idlib province, hours after Trump warned in a tweet that Syrian President Bashar Assad must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. -- Tropical Storm Gordon could gain strength to become the first hurricane to strike the mainland United States in 2018 as it heads toward the Gulf Coast. -- Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeos expected visit to Pakistan this week may have prompted the Taliban to report the death of a leading militant. -- Seven years after Libya was liberated, the only thing certain there is the uncertainty. -- Much of Brazils National Museum was destroyed by fire. Here is a glimpse of what was lost. BUSINESS -- A new deal to collaborate on an inhalable hypertension drug will let Southern California drugmaker MannKind breathe a little easier about its finances. -- Tesla shares fell after Mercedes unveiled an all-electric SUV and a Goldman Sachs stock analyst gave Elon Musks company a sell rating. SPORTS -- The Lakers have set themselves up to add another superstar to join LeBron James. How? Columnist Bill Plaschke says it was so quiet, you may have missed it. -- At the U.S. Open, defending womens champ Sloane Stephens fell. On the mens side, Rafael Nadal prevailed in a five-set tiebreaker with Dominic Thiem to reach the semifinal. OPINION -- Want the Purple Line, a.k.a. the subway to the sea, running by the 2028 Olympics? The feds need to show us the money. -- Gustavo Arellano says he used to be a skeptic of Chicano studies, before he taught a class and learned its real agenda. WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING -- Listen to Bob Woodward speak with President Trump about the book Fear: Trump in the White House before its publication. (Washington Post/YouTube) -- The biblical basis for investigative reporting: How a reporters Christian faith made him a better journalist. (ProPublica) -- How Indian Americans came to dominate the motel business in the U.S. (National Geographic) ONLY IN L.A. In the capital of car culture, some people could use reassurance its not weird not to drive. For them, theres BUSted, a monthly showcase of storytellers recounting tales from the front lines of L.A.s buses, trains and sidewalks. The cast of characters is diverse, with stories that include humor and pathos. But organizer Scott Schultz says one thing unites them: taking pride in being a non-motorist. If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com. Once again a Supreme Court nominee has insulted the intelligence of the American public by likening justices to umpires. Echoing the language used by John Roberts at his confirmation hearings in 2005, Brett Kavanaugh declared Tuesday before the Senate: A good judge must be an umpire a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy. I dont decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. But justices are not umpires at all. Umpires apply rules and have little leeway in determining how those rules should be interpreted. The Supreme Court creates the rules and justices have enormous discretion how to interpret the law. By likening himself to an umpire, Kavanaugh was contending that his views dont matter at all. That is false. How a justice votes is very much a result of his or her ideology and views. Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor disagree in virtually every major case entirely because of their differing ideologies. This is not new; Supreme Court decisions have always been a product of those sitting on the bench. How a justice votes is very much a result of his or her ideology and views. Advertisement The Constitution was written intentionally in broad, open-ended language that rarely provides guidance for issues that must be resolved by the Supreme Court. Justices are obligated to give meaning to ambiguous words written almost 230 years ago. What is speech? For example, should spending money in an election campaign be regarded as a form of speech? This is the issue at the heart of whether campaign spending limits violate the 1st Amendment. The text of the Constitution cannot answer the question of whether spending money is speech. Nor did the founders think about this in 1789, when campaign spending did not exist as it does today. One of the most controversial parts of the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Is this a right to have guns only for militia service or does it create a more general right of individuals to possess firearms? On this question, the court split 5-4 exactly along ideological lines in District of Columbia vs. Heller in 2008 and declared unconstitutional a 32-year-old ordinance prohibiting ownership or possession of handguns. The conservative majority chose to read the 2nd Amendment as a right of individuals to possess handguns in their homes for the sake of security, while the liberals argued that the 2nd Amendment is a right to have guns solely for the purpose of militia service. Either is a plausible reading of the text supportable by the amendments history. No constitutional right is absolute and constitutional cases constantly involve balancing of the governments interest against the claim of a right. A justices own ideology and life experiences inevitably determine how he or she strikes the balance. To pick an easy example, the 4th Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and arrests. But what is reasonable or unreasonable cannot be answered from the text of the Constitution or any original understanding. When the court considered whether the police can take a DNA sample from a person arrested for a serious crime to see if it matches DNA from an unsolved crime in a police database, the court explicitly balanced the benefit to law enforcement of obtaining the information against the intrusion to privacy and ruled, 5-4, in favor of the government. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Under constitutional law, the court frequently weighs whether the government has a compelling or important or a legitimate interest. For example, in cases involving affirmative action in college admissions, the central question is whether diversity in the classroom is a compelling government interest. In deciding the constitutionality of laws prohibiting same-sex marriage, the court had to decide, at a minimum, whether they serve a legitimate interest. But whether something is a compelling or an important or a legitimate government interest demands a value choice. It never can be answered by the text of the Constitution or its original understanding. President Trump, senators and the public all know that justices are not like umpires, which is exactly why the confirmation of Supreme Court nominees are so contentious. Kavanaugh obviously knows this, too, and should not have presented such a misleading sense of constitutional law to the Senate Judiciary Committee or the American public. Erwin Chemerinsky is dean and Jesse H. Choper distinguished professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh began at least a three-day run on Tuesday, and just as detractors warned, it was the congressional version of kabuki drama: plenty of ritual but not much suspense. Each side played its assigned role. Democrats demanded that the proceedings be suspended until the Senate Judiciary Committee had more documents about Kavanaughs political career. Republicans denounced the Democrats as obstructionists. Pink-clad protesters shrieked until they were led away. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the dyspeptic chairman, lost his temper (as usual). Amid it all, Judge Kavanaugh sat silent and stone-faced, except for the occasional trace of a smile. It was the kind of day that led Elena Kagan, when she was a law professor, to call judicial confirmations a vapid and hollow charade. But Justice Kagan was only half right. This weeks hearings, like the entire confirmation process, are hollow: The outcome is in no doubt. The Senate will confirm Kavanaugh on party lines; the only question is how many endangered red-state Democrats will join the Republican majority. Advertisement If nothing else, we will get a fair idea about whether Republicans can effectively use Kavanaughs ascension to mobilize their voters in November. But the debate along the way will still be well worth watching, not only on the substance of the issues but on the political fallout as well. If nothing else, we will get a fair idea about whether Republicans can effectively use Kavanaughs ascension to mobilize their voters in November, or whether Democrats will find that the new justice adds oxygen to the fire fueling their base instead. And which of the many rising stars on the Senate committee, including at least four potential Democratic presidential candidates, will succeed at using their turn on the hearings national stage to audition for higher office? (Tip sheet: Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California made good use of their time on Tuesday, but keep an eye on two brainy dark horses, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.) The substantive stakes are high. If when confirmed, Kavanaugh will replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the courts unpredictable swing vote. Kavanaugh is a far more reliable conservative. He will push the court well to the right. The hearings should prepare Americans for significant changes in important legal questions. Abortion: Last fall, Kavanaugh praised one of his mentors, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, for his dissent against Roe vs. Wade. Rehnquist believed that court decisions had to be rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people, Kavanaugh said, and given the prevalence of abortion regulations [Rehnquist] could not reach such a conclusion about abortion. So does Kavanaugh agree that Roe was a bad decision even though he has also reportedly called it settled law? Guns: In 2011, Kavanaugh, as an appeals court judge, voted to strike down a District of Columbia law banning military-style semiautomatic rifles because, he said, such guns have not traditionally been banned. The majority on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed with his ruling and his reasoning, and so did nine other appeals courts. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Regulation: This one is wonky but important: Since 1984, under a decision involving the Chevron oil company, courts have generally allowed regulatory agencies to determine the bounds of their powers as long as their interpretations are reasonable. Kavanaugh doesnt like it. The Chevron doctrine encourages agency aggressiveness on a large scale, he said in a speech last year. Democrats fear he would turn the courts into a tool for wholesale deregulation. (This is what corporate capture of the courts looks like, Whitehouse said on Tuesday.) Presidential immunity: After working for the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton, Kavanaugh concluded that no president should be subjected to criminal prosecution while in office. He has even questioned whether a president can be investigated at all, except by Congress under its impeachment power. He may not believe a prosecutor has the power to compel a president to hand over evidence in a criminal inquiry as the Supreme Court unanimously decided Richard M. Nixon must do during the Watergate inquiry in 1974. Democratic and some Republican senators will struggle to force Kavanaugh to reveal his legal thinking on these issues. The nominee will claim that he shouldnt be asked such questions, but a skilled questioner can sometimes elicit useful clues. There wont be a Perry Mason moment, but viewers who pay attention will get a preview of where the Supreme Court is headed. Last week, Variety called the hearings must-see TV. I might not go that far, but even though we know how the plot turns out, the drama is worth watching. Theres nothing vapid about the process at all. Doyle McManus is a contributing writer to Opinion. mcmanus.columns@gmail.com. Twitter: @DoyleMcManus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Californias new law, Senate Bill 10, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last week, abolishes money bail but actually undermines genuine criminal justice reform. Because it depends on risk assessment tools that use opaque algorithms, the law may increase pretrial incarceration and even exacerbate racial and class biases in the current system. The risk assessment tools purport to estimate the likelihood of a person getting re-arrested, or missing a court date. They draw on facts about that person without considering context to create a profile. Exactly what facts the tools take into account isnt defined in the new law, but presumably they will include arrest records. The tools produce a score based on the past behavior of others with matching profiles. Jailing someone because others with some similar characteristics have failed in the past is wrong, especially because this process will perpetuate discrimination in the criminal justice system. Police bias in stops, searches and arrests is well documented so tools that use previous arrests to estimate the likelihood of re-arrest will assign higher risk to people of color and poor people. This inherent bias is reason enough to reject these tools and seek fairer ways to reform the bail system. And there are other reasons to fear them. Advertisement Along with other community representatives, we attended a presentation to Los Angeles County policymakers by UC Irvine criminology professor Susan Turner, who designs these types of risk-assessment tools. She acknowledged that bias in policing and society can be embedded in the scoring system. Moreover, she pointed out, policymakers must divide the scores into low-, medium- and high-risk buckets. The big question for judges and administrators in every jurisdiction will be how big to make the buckets. Real reform would uphold the presumption of innocence by reserving pretrial detention only for those accused of serious crimes. The implications of the adjustability of the scoring are troubling. The tools yield a score, but it doesnt categorize that score; the size of each bucket is a policy decision. If judges and court administrators want to decrease incarceration, they can shrink the high-risk bucket; if they want to jail more people, they can make it bigger. Under the new California legislation, nothing prevents courts from putting 90% of all presumptively innocent people awaiting trial in the high-risk bucket and thus in jail. This danger is not hypothetical it is essentially what the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency did under the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy. ICE used risk assessment tools and adjusted them to score all detainees as ineligible for release: It put everyone crossing the border into the high-risk bucket. Californias new law provides no meaningful oversight or checks against manipulation of the scoring. It provides no definition of what factors the tools may consider in estimating risk and no effective way to mitigate their bias. There is no mechanism to even see the risk scores and the data behind them, let alone to challenge the scores. Politicians say we need to trust the judges, who will control the process. But judges are the ones who have long misused money bail to keep people in custody and pressure them to plead guilty quickly. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Human Rights Watch has documented that between 70% and 90% of people in custody accused of misdemeanors and low-level felonies plead guilty before their first possible trial date. While it is impossible to quantify how many of these people are wrongly convicted, every one of them faced the choice: If you say you are guilty, you can go home, but if you assert your innocence you stay in jail, often for months at a time, losing jobs, leaving children and other responsibilities unattended. These people get criminal records, with lifelong consequences, but not because courts fairly judged them. SB 10s use of risk assessment tools gives judges a powerful method to continue the coercion, while pretending their decisions are based on science. Instead of replacing one unfair system with SB 10, pretrial incarceration must be thoroughly revised. Real reform would uphold the presumption of innocence by reserving pretrial detention only for those accused of serious crimes who are proven to be dangers to the community or flight risks. Proof would come through hearings with defined standards that must be met with evidence, with facts considered in context, and with fair procedures, not through biased statistical estimates. California can do better than SB 10. Other states considering much-needed bail reform should reject this dangerous example and these biased risk assessment tools. John Raphling is senior researcher on criminal justice for Human Rights Watch, and Pete White is executive director of Los Angeles Community Action Network. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook To the editor: Critics of Senate Bill 10, Californias new law ending cash bail, are correct that many risk-averse judges, concerned about election challenges by ambitious prosecutors, may substitute preventive detention orders for the current practice of setting high amounts that violate the constitutional prohibition on excessive bail. However, the state Judicial Council will prepare Rules of Court that establish preventive detention protocols, and the Legislature will adopt amendments that reduce the likelihood that defendants who do not present a flight risk or threat to public safety will remain in custody prior to the adjudication of charges. The regressive ballot initiative by the bail bond empire to repeal this landmark law should be rejected. George Eskin, Santa Barbara Advertisement The writer, a retired Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge, served on the Judicial Councils Pretrial Detention Reform Workgroup. .. To the editor: The Times editorial board is under the delusion that pretrial detention will be the exception to the rule. Do you honestly think the vast majority of judges are going to feel comfortable simply releasing people who are accused of crimes? That should bode well for their reelection campaigns. I suggest you spend one morning in arraignment court in downtown Los Angeles and see how often judges are releasing people on their own recognizance rather than setting monetary bail. Furthermore, the suggestion that now is the time for everyone to work together on a law that has already passed is absurd. The time to do that was when it was being drafted. You dont build a house and then draw up the plans for it. You heard it here first: This rushed and unjust law will be repealed, because as Woodrow Wilson famously said: Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. Lou Shapiro, Los Angeles The writer is a criminal defense attorney. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: The Republican rush to secure the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court before the midterm election, despite Democrats requests for more information and more time, is not well thought out. While on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh will be under a cloud of suspicion. Sooner or later, a Democrat will be president and the documents will come out. If the papers from Kavanaughs time in the George W. Bush administration are innocuous, why not release them now? Either way, the Republicans could still confirm President Trumps nominee. If what we already know about Kavanaugh isnt enough to cause a few Republican senators to vote against him, what will? Besides, delaying the Kavanaugh hearings doesnt have to hurt the Republicans. Even if they lost the Senate, something thought to be unlikely, they would have time to confirm the nominee before the new senators are sworn in. Rick Dunn, San Diego Advertisement .. To the editor: While holding confirmation hearings may seem unfair to Democrats, it is not a threat to democracy, contrary to what one loud and terribly misinformed protester shouted. Our duly elected president (hate him or not) has the legal authority to select Supreme Court justices. Then, it is up to the Senate to either approve or reject his nominee. There is no threat to democracy here. The only possible threat is to the liberal agenda of appointing activist judges who love reinterpreting the Constitution and making the judiciary the most powerful branch of the government. Rick Solomon, Lake Balboa .. To the editor: Most of us are aware that life is full of surprises. Kavanaughs development as a Supreme Court justice may very well turn out to be one of those surprises. Watching his two daughters grow up as he sits on the court may change him on womens issues. Kavanaughs intellect is widely acclaimed, and knowing that he has a life-long appointment, that for all intents and purposes cannot be rescinded, gives him the freedom and flexibility to grow his thinking. Kavanaugh may very well surprise us all, as Chief Justice Earl Warren did in his time; hopefully, we are in for many pleasant surprises. J. David Knobler, Winnetka .. To the editor: If anyone still doubts the incivility and derangement of the Democratic Party, all one has to do is watch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to see it for themselves. The Democrats have made a mockery of Senate decorum and embarrassed themselves and their country in front of the entire world. What shameful and inexcusable grandstanding. Bob Wallace, Las Vegas .. To the editor: I am watching with disgust and horror as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his colleagues hijack the judiciary. There should be no confirmation hearings for anyone until after the November election. Thats the way McConnell played it in the last full year of Barack Obamas presidency, and thats what should happen now. Susan Broder, Encino Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: As I read Michael Longs piece on the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshalls unflattering view of the framers of our Constitution, vis-a-vis todays debate on originalism, it occurred to me that an originalist is akin to a fundamentalist Christian who believes in the literal interpretation of the Bible. Scholars have long taught that the Bible was never meant to be read literally, and yet many Christians today insist on doing just that. Originalists are making similar errors. The Constitution needs to be a living document free to be responsive to the demands of an ever-changing nation, lest we remain mired in the past. Rigidity does not allow for the creativity needed to serve the diverse citizenry that makes up our country today. John Beckman, Chino Hills Advertisement .. To the editor: If Marshall were one of our framers, we never would have had a Constitution. Of course the Constitution was defective from the start what document isnt? However, better to have a defective Constitution than no Constitution at all. One brilliance of our Constitution is that it allows for change not by a couple of activist judges, but by amendment. Thus, the 13th Amendment removed the defect of slavery that Marshall used to denigrate the Constitution. Finally, Marshall did not seem to understand the nature of our rights. The Constitution enumerates most of our rights; it doesnt grant them. Rights are natural and thus not dependent on the actions of others. My right to free speech does not depend on others doing anything. However, a right to healthcare implies I should have the power to force someone to give it to me. One may think it is a great idea to have universal healthcare, but that does not make it a right. P.J. Gendell, Beverly Hills .. To the editor: Originalist is a misnomer because no sane person would say that things are to be the same today as they were in the late 1700s. Rather, the thinking that created the Constitution was based on pragmatism. Womens rights did not exist then, and slavery did a stroke of the pen could not change those facts of life. Trying to upend longstanding norms in the late 18th century would have resulted in such tumult that the very purpose of enacting a Constitution would have been undermined. So, the only way to get a Constitution ratified by the states was to accept largely what was already in place while also providing for an amendment process that could add to or change the original document. Larry Kirschenbaum, Newport Beach .. To the editor: In Longs telling, Marshall was indeed a respecter of the Constitution. Interpreting it as meaning just what the framers intended, he judged it to be badly in need of a corrective, the 14th Amendment. This is a far cry from the postmodern approach, in which an ameboid document changes shape with the times. Presto chango, jurists can pull rights and authorizations out of a hat, no amendment necessary. I would say this wasnt what Marshall had in mind. William D. Eisenhower, Beaumont Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook In a political stunner, Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano conceded defeat in Tuesdays primary to Ayanna Pressley, a Boston city councilor who is virtually assured of becoming the first black woman to serve Massachusetts in Congress. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker won his partys nomination for a second term, defeating Scott Lively, a conservative minister and staunch supporter of President Trump who frequently called Baker a frequent critic of the president a RINO, or Republican in Name Only. Baker will face Democrat Jay Gonzalez. Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren sailed through the primary unopposed. Shell face Geoff Diehl, a state representative who served as co-chair of Trumps 2016 campaign in the state and defeated two other Republicans for his partys nomination. The race between Capuano and Pressley was perhaps the most closely watched contest in Massachusetts. The challenge from Pressley, the first black woman to serve on the council, had drawn some comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated 10-term New York Rep. Joe Crowley in a stunning upset in a Democratic primary in June. Both races highlight rifts within the Democratic Party, with many younger voters embracing new and more diverse political leadership. Advertisement The Associated Press has not yet officially called the race based on partial results. The congressional district is the only one in the state where minorities make up a majority of the population. This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy, Pressley said Tuesday while campaigning in the district. And a reliable vote is not good enough. MORE: The latest political news from Essential Washington Capuano is considered one of the most liberal members of the Massachusetts delegation, and Pressley had acknowledged she had few major policy quarrels with him. There is no Republican on the November ballot in the district, meaning Pressley is virtually assured of entering Congress in January. Another veteran congressman, Democratic Rep. Richard E. Neal, faced a spirited primary challenge from Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a black attorney from Springfield who, if elected, would be the first Muslim to serve in Congress from Massachusetts. Neal, the dean of the states House delegation, was first elected in 1989. Two other Democratic House incumbents, William Keating and Joseph P. Kennedy III, fended off primary challenges Tuesday. Kennedy, the grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, delivered the Democratic response to Trumps State of the Union address this year. Another Democrat, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, is retiring at the end of this term, and the open seat touched off a political scramble with 10 candidates on the Democratic primary ballot. Baker, a moderate who has been popular with voters in what is perceived as one of the nations bluest states, will face Gonzalez, who served as secretary of administration and finance under Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. Neither Gonzales nor his primary opponent, Robert Massie, a longtime political and environmental activist, was well known outside party activist circles. Both contended that Bakers support among voters was soft and that his administration had failed to make significant strides in many areas, particularly the problems besetting the Boston-area transit system known as the T. Diehl defeated John Kingston, a businessman who once tried to fund a third-party challenge to Trump, and Beth Lindstrom, who served in Republican Gov. Mitt Romneys administration. The Republican nominee probably will try to suggest that Warren is out of touch with Massachusetts voters as she mulls over a possible bid for president in 2020. Secretary of State William Galvin, the longest-serving constitutional officer in state history, held off his strongest Democratic primary challenge in years from Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim. Among other races, comedian Jimmy Tingle was trying to shift from political humor to political office as he runs for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor against Quentin Palfrey, a onetime aide to President Obama. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III told President Trumps lawyers in a letter Friday that he will accept written answers from Trump to questions about whether his campaign coordinated with Russia to tilt the 2016 election in his favor, according to two people briefed on the communication. Mueller did not rule out interviewing the president as part of his wide-ranging inquiry. His letter indicated that he may revisit his long-running request to pose questions to Trump directly about Russias activities during the campaign after reviewing his answers. And the special counsel left open the possibility that he may still try to press Trump in person about a second piece of his investigation: whether the president has sought to block the probe since taking office. On potential obstruction of justice issues, he said hed assess it down the road, said one person familiar with Muellers letter who requested anonymity to discuss private communications. Theyre essentially saying, Well deal with this at a later date. Advertisement Trumps personal attorneys, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, declined to comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsels office, declined to comment. Muellers decision to accept at least some written responses represents a concession to Trumps legal team, which since December has resisted the special counsels efforts to interview the president. In March, Mueller raised the prospect of subpoenaing Trump if he refused to be questioned voluntarily. MORE: Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington Some of Trumps advisors viewed Muellers new letter as a sign of begrudging acceptance that he would lose a legal battle to compel the president to testify. But others saw it as just another volley in a 10-month-long legal tussle. The White House counsels office, led by attorney Emmet Flood, has been girding to fight a subpoena for Trumps testimony under oath. The team has argued that the executive has broad powers he is allowed to exercise without fear of prosecution and without risk of being subject to a grand jury investigation. In his letter, Mueller did not address whether he had ruled out the idea of subpoenaing Trump or might push for a voluntary interview later. The letter was first reported by the New York Times. Mueller has been seeking to press Trump about two broad topics: what his campaign knew about efforts by Russian operatives to disrupt the 2016 campaign and whether actions he has taken as president, including the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, were aimed at thwarting the investigation of Russian interference. Mueller first indicated to Trumps lawyers in December 2017 that he wanted to interview the president in a face-to-face session to complete his investigation. After weeks of back-and-forth, Mueller warned Trumps legal team in a tense March meeting that he could subpoena Trump if he refused to grant an interview voluntarily. This month, Trumps attorneys rejected Muellers proposal to ask Trump questions he had about his actions as president and said they would consider having him answer some questions about the campaign period in writing. Trumps lawyers said that they fear Mueller could accuse Trump of perjury because the president remembers key events differently than other witnesses. The most important discrepancy relates to a meeting he had with Comey. Giuliani has said Trump does not recall asking Comey to drop an investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and Giuliani does not want the president to be accused of lying about the episode. A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday rejected a request from a group of Republican-led states to suspend the Affordable Care Act, but he extensively quizzed attorneys involved in the latest challenge to the 2010 healthcare law about which provisions should survive. That raised the prospect that U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor, a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush, may seek to roll back at least some of the consumer protections at the core of the law, often called Obamacare. At the same time, by signaling he would issue a ruling soon, OConnor ensured that the lawsuit Texas vs. Azar and its attempt to wipe out the 2010 law would continue to shadow political campaigns ahead of Novembers midterm congressional election. The foundation of the lawsuit brought by 20 mostly conservative-leaning states, led by Texas and Wisconsin, is a provision in last years mammoth tax bill that eliminated the penalty on Americans who dont have health insurance, but still preserved the technical requirement that people have coverage. Advertisement The requirement and the penalty were once considered integral parts of the healthcare law. Insurers, state regulators and other experts believed that unless there was a penalty for going uninsured, younger and healthier people would not buy health plans until they got sick, leading insurance markets to collapse. The penalty was also critical to the healthcare laws survival when it first came before the Supreme Court in 2012 in a lawsuit that alleged the laws insurance requirement was unconstitutional. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the courts four liberal justices to uphold the law, but only after concluding that the requirement could stand because it was enforced with a tax penalty. Now in the Texas case, the 20 governors and attorneys general argue the requirement is no longer constitutional because the tax penalty has been eliminated. And, they continue, because the requirement is so central to healthcare law, the whole law cannot survive without it. The entire ACA should fall, Wisconsin Solicitor Gen. Misha Tseytlin told the judge Wednesday in a federal courtroom in Fort Worth. Tseytlin and an attorney for the state of Texas further urged OConnor to immediately enjoin the law, arguing that it is causing widespread damage to states and undermining their authority to regulate health insurance. OConnor did not issue a preliminary injunction, which even the Trump administration had opposed, even though it supports some elements of the Republican states case. OConnor appeared most interested in whether at least some parts of the law should be invalidated if the insurance mandate is deemed unconstitutional because it is no longer a tax. During the hearing, OConnor returned repeatedly to arguments that architects of the healthcare law made in 2010 and afterward that requiring people to have insurance was crucial to the popular consumer protections in the law, including bans on insurance companies turning away sick customers or charging them higher premiums, practices that were commonplace before the law was enacted. OConnor noted that the Supreme Court had relied on those arguments both times the healthcare law came before the court. Every single justice looked at this, OConnor said. At another point, he asked whether the Obama administration had been wrong to argue that the mandate was essential to the consumer protections. The Trump administration earlier this year elected not to defend the law, an unusual departure from the Justice Departments traditional responsibility to safeguard federal law. But attorneys for the state of California which has joined with 15 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia to defend the Affordable Care Act urged OConnor to instead focus on the intent of the lawmakers who wrote the 2017 tax law. Those lawmakers chose to eliminate only the tax penalty, while preserving protections for Americans with preexisting medical conditions, noted California Deputy Atty. Gen. Nimrod Elias. Congress wished to leave this law in place, Elias said, quoting several senior Republican lawmakers who said during debate over the tax law that they did not want to eliminate patient protections. That should be the guidepost. The consumer protections are among the most popular parts of the healthcare law, with three-quarters of Americans in one recent nationwide poll saying they believe it is very important to preserve the guarantee that people who are sick can get coverage. If successful, however, the Texas suit would also eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal assistance that has made it possible to extend coverage to some 20 million previously uninsured Americans through expansions to state Medicaid programs and through subsidies available to low- and middle-income people who buy coverage on insurance marketplaces around the country. Scores of patient advocates, physicians and hospital groups and other healthcare experts have warned that such a retrenchment would be catastrophic. Invalidating the guaranteed-issue and community rating provisions or the entire ACA would have a devastating impact on doctors, patients and the American healthcare system as a whole, said a coalition of physician groups that included the American Medical Assn., the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Also opposing the lawsuit are leading national groups representing patients, including the American Diabetes Assn., the American Lung Assn., the American Heart Assn., the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society. OConnor did not say Wednesday when he would issue a ruling, but promised action as quickly as I can. Obamacare 101: A primer on key issues in the debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The latest from Washington More stories from Noam N. Levey noam.levey@latimes.com Twitter: @noamlevey Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday defended his broad view of gun rights and skepticism of federal regulatory agencies, but left uncertain his position on abortion and refused to detail his views on executive power, including whether a president can be ordered to answer questions in a criminal investigation. Facing senators during a second day of his confirmation hearing that began in the morning and stretched well into the night, President Trumps Supreme Court nominee proved adept at giving lengthy answers without fully revealing his views on matters of controversy. Youre learning to filibuster, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told him when he steered around her question on whether the president is shielded from being investigated or questioned while in office. As the evening wore on, none of the exchanges seemed to have changed the vote count in favor of Kavanaughs narrow confirmation. At only one point during the hearing faced with questions about his knowledge of emails allegedly stolen from Democratic senators during the George W. Bush administration did the otherwise well-prepared nominee appear flustered. Advertisement On presidential power, in particular, Kavanaugh seemed to come armed with a well-honed set of responses to questions about his previous writings. In law review articles in 1998 and 2009, Kavanaugh said the president should be excused from some of the burdens of ordinary citizenship while serving in office and should not be subject to investigations or questioning. The Constitution seems to dictate that Congress, not a special prosecutor, should investigate a president for lawbreaking, he wrote. But when pressed repeatedly by Democrats on Wednesday, Kavanaugh contended that he has never taken a position on whether the Constitution allows for indicting or investigating a sitting president for criminal wrongdoing. He did say a president could be tried and convicted after leaving office, whether at the end of a term or because of impeachment. I dont think anyone thinks of immunity for a president, he said. The issue has taken on new significance because Trump is caught up in special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and could be called to answer questions from a grand jury. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), joining other Republicans in trying to help the nominee articulate his views, asked Kavanaugh whether you have any trouble ruling against a president who appointed you. Youre correct. No one is above the law in our constitutional system, Kavanaugh said. The executive branch is subject to the law, subject to the court system. Kavanaugh passed up a chance to show his independence from Trump when Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) asked him whether he thought it was appropriate for the president to attack Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions for his prosecutors indictments of two GOP congressmen Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of Alpine ahead of the November election. Trump said it might endanger their reelection, ignoring the serious criminal charges against the men. Kavanaugh declined to offer his opinion. He also rebuffed a request from one Democratic senator that he recuse himself from any future cases involving the Mueller investigation of Trump and his campaign. When Feinstein asked, Can a sitting a president be required to respond to a subpoena? Kavanaugh would not answer. Thats a hypothetical question, he said. I cant give you an answer to a hypothetical question. Kavanaugh did endorse as correct the Supreme Courts 1974 ruling in United States vs. Nixon, which required President Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes. It was one of the greatest moments in American judicial history, he said. But he refused to give a similar endorsement for the 1973 ruling in Roe vs. Wade, which established a womans right to abortion. Feinstein tried to get him to say whether the ruling was correct; Kavanaugh said only that it was entitled to respect as a precedent. Most legal experts predict that Kavanaugh, if confirmed, will provide the fifth conservative vote on the court to at least restrict abortion rights, if not overturn Roe. During his campaign, Trump promised to appoint only judges who would vote to overturn the abortion ruling. But Kavanaugh seemed eager to raise some doubts about those predictions. I understand the significance on the issue, he said Wednesday. I dont live in a bubble. I live in the real world. Kavanaugh noted several times that the 1973 abortion decision had been repeatedly affirmed, and that a 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which affirmed much of Roe, in effect created a precedent on precedent. And he made an analogy to the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquists decision not to overturn the so-called Miranda rights disclosure requirement for criminal suspects. Rehnquist had long opposed the Miranda ruling, but then decided it was too late to overturn it, he noted. Its also true, however, that Rehnquist found ways to narrow the rulings impact. Kavanaughs remarks about Roe may have been largely directed at two female Republican senators, who support abortion rights and whose votes will be key to his confirmation. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have not announced how they will vote. But Kavanaugh gave no assurances about how he might vote, and nothing he said committed him to any particular outcome. In the past, some Supreme Court nominees have spoken about the importance of respecting precedents, and then once on the court voted to overturn them. Feinstein, for one, seem unsatisfied. We cant accept vague promises from Brett Kavanaugh when womens reproductive freedom is at stake, she said on Twitter. Live chat: Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in the Senate Last fall, Kavanaugh was involved in a dispute over whether a migrant teenager in Texas could be released from immigration custody to obtain an abortion. A federal judge cleared the way, but Kavanaugh wrote a 2-1 decision siding with Trump administration lawyers and blocking the abortion for up to 10 more days. The full appeals court intervened and overturned his ruling. In dissent, Kavanaugh faulted his more liberal colleagues for wrongly creating a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention to obtain abortion on demand. He defended that ruling Wednesday, stressing that the girl was 17 and not yet an adult. If she had been an adult, she would have had a right to obtain an abortion immediately, he told Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). Durbin rejected the distinction, noting that the teenager had appeared before a state judge in Texas who decided she was sufficiently mature to make the decision on her own. On guns, Kavanaugh stuck fast to his support of a broad 2nd Amendment right to possess many types of weapons, including a semiautomatic rifle with a large magazine of ammunition. He dissented alone in 2011 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a D.C. ordinance that prohibited semiautomatic assault weapons. Three years before, the Supreme Court in District of Columbia vs. Heller struck down a law prohibiting possession of a handgun at home and established a 2nd Amendment individual right for gun ownership. Feinstein asked why Kavanaugh believed semiautomatic weapons could not be banned, when appellate judges across the country had upheld such restrictions. I had to follow precedent, Kavanaugh replied. He said the late Justice Antonin Scalia said the 2nd Amendment did not protect weapons that are dangerous and unusual, and semiautomatic rifles are not unusual, he said. They are widely possessed by millions of gun owners, he said. Kavanaugh did not back off, even when Feinstein spoke about the wave of mass shootings at schools using assault weapons. He stuck to the same position later when pressed by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. On the question of presidential power, Kavanaugh said that no one is above the law, a standard response by nominees. But he declined to answer questions about whether Trump could pardon himself or pardon someone in exchange for an agreement not to testify against him, saying those were hypothetical questions that he couldnt answer without potentially prejudging issues that might come before the courts. The one issue that seemed to throw the nominee came from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who confronted him with what the senator said was evidence that a Republican staff member during George W. Bushs administration had supplied Kavanaugh who was then helping to confirm judges with information that had been stolen from Democratic files. Leahy said the information detailed what the senator planned to ask nominees during confirmation hearings. Leahy, whose emails were stolen, quizzed Kavanaugh on whether he knowingly used the stolen documents, noting that Kavanaugh was included in an email chain discussing the information. Kavanaugh said he did not recall. I dont really have a specific recollection of any of this, he told lawmakers. Leahy said later Wednesday that Grassley agreed to release documents related to the materials he said were stolen, which are now confined only to lawmakers on the committee. Grassleys office didnt make the same pledge. Spokesman Taylor Foy said Grassley would do his best to accommodate this last-minute request, adding that waiving the classification would require input from the White House and former President Bush. Some of the most robust exchanges came near the end from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has developed a reputation for her tough questioning of Trump nominees during confirmation hearings. Harris referred back to Kavanaughs remark about a precedent on precedent concerning Roe vs. Wade, and asked if it were not true that any five justices could overturn a precedent if they wanted. Theres a reason why the Supreme Court doesnt do that, Kavanaugh responded. There are times when the justices do, he said, but its rare. She also pressed Kavanaugh on whether he had any conversations about the Mueller investigation with anyone at a law firm founded by one of the presidents lawyers. Kavanaugh avoided answering the question several times, finally saying he remembered no such conversation. A Democratic aide said that Harris staff was continuing to investigate the matter. Kavanaugh was pressed repeatedly to explain his relationship with Judge Alex Kozinski, the former chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals who retired last December after he was accused of sexually harassing female law clerks. In 1991, Kavanaugh moved to Pasadena to work for one year as a law clerk for Kozinski. And he continued to consult with Kozinski over the years. Kavanaugh said he had never heard of Kozinski harassing laws clerks or engaging in improper behavior until it was revealed last year in news stories. It was a gut punch for me, he said. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said she was skeptical of his response. It was an open secret, and it went on for 30 years, she said. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had a combative exchange with Kavanaugh while trying to pin the nominee down about his views on affirmative action. Booker asked if Kavanaugh believed that having a diverse student body is a compelling government interest that would justify considering race in admissions. Kavanaugh would not comment on his views, instead focusing on the Supreme Courts precedent on affirmative action. I know what the law is now, Booker said. Im worried about what the law is going to be when you get on the court. david.savage@latimes.com jennifer.haberkorn@latimes.com sarah.wire@latimes.com UPDATES: 7:05 p.m.: This article was updated after Harris spoke. 5:30 p.m.: This article was updated with Bookers comments and other new details. 4:55 p.m.: This article was updated with more details from the hearing. 3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with more comments from Feinstein, Kavanaugh and others. 9:50 a.m.: This article was updated with details about Miranda, presidential power and Leahys questions. 8:15 a.m.: This article was updated with Kavanaughs comments about gun rights. This article was originally published at 8 a.m. Nearly 30 years after California became the first state to ban the sale of assault weapons and embarked on a path toward the strictest firearm laws in the nation, legislators have sent Gov. Jerry Brown nine new gun-control bills in response to a surge in mass shootings. The action by the Legislature was applauded more than 3,000 miles away in Parkland, Fla., where a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 students and employees at a high school in February. Among the legislation waiting approval by Brown are proposals to lift the age for buying rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21, and to prohibit the purchase of more than one long gun a month. If we had these bills in place in Florida, then I would not have had to go through this tragedy and lose some of my friends, said Sari Kaufman, 16, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who is now an activist with Students Demand Action, a part of the national group Everytown for Gun Safety. Im proud to see California pass this kind of legislation, and I hope to see other states follow suit, she said. Advertisement Legislators also approved bills that would create lifetime bans on gun ownership for those convicted of domestic violence or who are involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness twice in a year; make it tougher to be licensed to carry a concealed firearm; and strengthen a law prohibiting multi-burst trigger devices called bump stocks, used in 2017 by a gunman in Las Vegas who killed 58 people and injured hundreds more. Lawmakers also approved a bill that would allow teachers and employers to petition the courts to have guns confiscated from people who are a danger to themselves and others. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) said lessons learned after the Parkland shooting helped him draft that bill. Coverage of California politics Prior to Februarys mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, teachers and administrators expressed increasing concern about the gunmans behavior at school, Ting said. We need to give California schools more tools to prevent another campus tragedy. Republican lawmakers advocating for gun owners said the proposed laws were an overreaction to isolated incidents that will not reduce gun violence, and will infringe on constitutional rights. State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said during one floor debate that the majority party was engaging in a larger campaign to disarm the law-abiding. He was particularly opposed to Tings bill. Nielsen said the proposal raises the possibility that people will seek restraining orders based on bias or irrational fear of a co-worker. I view this as another attack on our 2nd Amendment rights, he said. Sen. Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) said he agrees with concerns raised by the American Civil Liberties Union that the proposal failed to give gun owners a right to first argue their case for keeping firearms to a court. This bill poses a significant threat to our civil liberties, Anderson said. The bill that would prohibit Californians from buying more than one rifle or shotgun in any 30-day period drew opposition from groups including the National Rifle Assn. and Outdoor Sportsmens Coalition. Firearms ownership by individuals is a constitutionally protected right of all adults, the coalition said in a statement to lawmakers. Limiting all adults to a maximum of one rifle or shotgun purchase per month will not solve crime and mental health problems. A measure sent to the governor that would require those seeking concealed weapon permits to complete at least eight hours of safety classes and pass a live-fire test was denounced by the Firearms Policy Coalition, which advocates for gun owners. The requirement casually enacts a burdensome new mandate and then leaves it up to hundreds of different law enforcement agencies to determine how it should be interpreted and applied, the policy coalition said. California has the strictest gun laws in the country and has pioneered many rules, becoming the first state to ban assault weapons in 1989 after a shooting at a Stockton elementary school left five students dead. In 2016, lawmakers expanded restrictions on assault weapons amid public outrage over a terrorist attack a year earlier that left 14 dead and 24 injured in San Bernardino. Brown, who has acknowledged owning a rifle, has approved stricter rules in the past on assault rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines, but he vetoed a bill in 2015 that would have barred the purchase of more than one long gun a month. Given Californias stringent laws restricting gun ownership, I do not believe this additional restriction is needed, he wrote that year. During hours of debate by the two legislative houses on the various bills, California legislators specifically credited the student activists from Parkland and elsewhere who marched in Washington, D.C., and at statehouses across the country to demand that more be done to reduce gun violence. In introducing the bill that would raise the age limit for buying long guns, Sen. Anthony Portantino (D- La Canada Flintridge) gave credit to the activists such as Sari. Out of respect for young people across our country who are demanding action we must answer their plea for help, he said. The rifle used in the Parkland shooting is already restricted in California as an assault weapon. The approval of the age limit bill followed the lead of Florida, which enacted a similar law in March, shortly after the Parkland shooting. Sari was part of a group of Parkland students who went to the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee and successfully lobbied legislators to pass the new age limit for gun purchases. She said she hopes Brown, who is a Democrat, follows the lead of Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott in enacting stricter gun laws. My message to [Brown] would be that he should encourage other states to the do the same and be sure that he signs the bills because its really how to increase safety, Sari said. patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Twitter: @mcgreevy99 In his first major foray on the campaign trail ahead of Novembers midterm election, former President Obama will drop into Southern California on Saturday, holding a rally to boost seven Democratic candidates running in competitive House districts across the state. His appearance, one of just a few overtly political events hes held since leaving the White House, is a sign of the high stakes in this years election as Democrats try to wrest back control of the House. Its also an indication of Californias considerable role in Democrats hoped-for path to victory, with all seven Democrats competing in Republican-held districts that supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. Democrats need to capture 23 seats to take back the House. Details of the time and location of the rally have not yet been released. Obama had already thrown his weight behind most of the candidates in August, when he released an early wave of endorsements. Advertisement Since leaving office, Obama has attended about half a dozen high-dollar fundraisers for groups such as the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He has also hit the campaign trail to help Democrats win governors seats in Virginia and New Jersey last year and recorded a robocall to help underdog Democrat Doug Jones capture a U.S. Senate seat in an Alabama special election. But this weekends rally will mark his first stump speech this election season. A spokeswoman for Obama said Saturdays event was just the beginning of a focused, strategic lineup of fall campaign appearances. Aside from battleground House districts, spokeswoman Katie Hill said, Obama will also campaign in down-ballot races and contests crucial to the next round of redrawing political districts. Potential stops include Ohio and his home state of Illinois, both holding competitive gubernatorial campaigns, and Pennsylvania, where newly drawn congressional districts have opened up a slew of opportunities for Democrats this fall. Obamas plans are notable in part because of criticism he did too little as president to bolster the Democratic Party and its candidates. During his two terms, Democrats lost control of both the House and Senate and more than 1,000 legislative seats nationwide, leaving the party at its lowest standing in statehouses since 1920. Obama plans to appear in Orange County on Saturday alongside Democrats Josh Harder, who is running against Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock; T.J. Cox, whos challenging Rep. David Valadao of Hanford; and Katie Hill, who is opposing Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale. Hill is no relation to Obamas spokeswoman. Also planning to attend are Democrats Gil Cisneros, whos looking to replace retiring Rep. Ed Royce of Fullerton; Katie Porter, whos challenging Rep. Mimi Walters of Laguna Beach; Harley Rouda, whos opposing Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa; and Mike Levin, whos hoping to replace retiring Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista. Like most past presidents, Obama has largely stayed above the political fray, though his pointed remarks last weekend eulogizing the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona seemed obviously aimed at President Trump. So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage, Obama said. Its a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. Also like many presidents, he has enjoyed a post-presidency bump in popularity, something that could help fellow Democrats this fall. Times staff writer Mark Z. Barabak contributed to this report. Coverage of California politics christine.maiduc@latimes.com For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc. Irvine will receive police helicopter services from Huntington Beach under a three-year contract. The Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved providing air support on a per-call basis at an hourly rate starting at $770 for the first year. Rates will adjust annually. The contract could generate $300,000 a year for Huntington Beach, according to a city staff report. Huntington Beachs Air Support Unit helps with patrol and traffic operations, search and rescue, aerial photography and more, according to the city website. Huntington Beach also provides the service to Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Police Department is awarded $550,000 grant The City Council also approved a $550,000 grant to the Police Department from the California Office of Traffic Safety to reimburse costs associated with sobriety and drivers license checkpoints, a full-time DUI officer, traffic enforcement and computers for motor officers. The one-year grant will help the department implement progressive and innovative enforcement techniques to step up efforts against driving under the influence, according to Police Chief Robert Handy. Councilman Patrick Brenden said he was happy that money is available to us and put to good use in Huntington Beach. Permit parking approved for Royalist Drive and Willett Lane The council also approved adding 27 addresses along Royalist Drive and Willett Lane to a residential permit parking district. Some residents petitioned the city to be included in the district because they said vehicles were blocking their driveways and their ability to park in front of their homes. City staff investigated the issue and determined that unrestricted parking hinders the availability of on-street parking for residents and guests. Three residents urged the council to table the matter to collect more input from community members. Linda Tierno said parking is a huge issue but that designating the area for permit parking would affect residents of a nearby apartment building. The area is near Circle View Elementary School, Marina High School and an apartment complex. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that there is enough evidence for Newport Beach resident Samuel Woodward to stand trial on a charge of murder in the January stabbing death of his former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein. Judge Karen Robinsons decision followed an hours-long hearing at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach in which prosecution witnesses detailed evidence against Woodward, 21, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and has denied sentencing enhancement allegations of a hate crime and personal use of a knife. The evidence presented includes DNA that prosecutors say links Woodward to the crime, a blood-spotted knife found in Woodwards bedroom and the presence of several anti-gay messages and images on his cellphone, as well as material related to a neo-Nazi organization. Prosecutors believe Woodward killed Bernstein, 19, because Bernstein was gay. Woodward clean-shaven and wearing a blue suit and white button-down shirt was in the courtroom throughout Tuesdays testimony, occasionally scribbling something on a notepad or exchanging words with his attorney, Edward Munoz. Craig Goldsmith, an investigator with the Orange County Sheriffs Department, testified that investigators recovered quite a few images from Woodwards phone that were homophobic in nature. Goldsmith also said investigators found more than 100 items on his phone related to Atomwaffen Division, which authorities say is an armed fascist organization that seeks to overthrow the U.S. government using terrorism and guerrilla tactics. The wallpaper on Woodwards phone was an insignia for the group, Goldsmith added. According to a report published in January by nonprofit news organization ProPublica, three people who knew Woodward said he was part of Atomwaffen Division. However, Munoz said Tuesday that it is not a crime to have reprehensible or objectionable material in a persons diary. It is not a crime to download literature that is offensive or, in some cases, despicable. Prosecutors allege Woodward stabbed Bernstein and buried him in a shallow grave at Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch in early January. Bernsteins body was found Jan. 9 with more than 20 stab wounds, including 19 to his neck area, according to testimony Tuesday. Bernstein, a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania, was visiting his parents in Lake Forest during winter break when his family reported him missing Jan. 3. On Tuesday, investigators testified that Woodward told them he picked up Bernstein from his parents house around 11 p.m. Jan. 2 after a conversation on Snapchat and drove him to the parking lot of a shopping center in Foothill Ranch. Woodward later drove Bernstein to Borrego Park, according to authorities. Investigator Dylan Jantzen testified that Woodward said Bernstein kissed him that night while they were sitting in the parked car. Jantzen said Woodward told him the kiss was unwanted and that he pushed Bernstein away. Woodward added that he wanted to call Bernstein a faggot, Jantzen testified. According to Jantzen, Woodward told investigators that after he and Bernstein arrived at Borrego Park, Bernstein walked off alone, ostensibly to find another, unidentified person. Woodward told investigators he waited for Bernstein for some time but eventually grew frustrated and left to see his girlfriend in Tustin. When pressed, however, Woodward could not provide the last name or address of the woman he said he visited, Jantzen said. After a court hearing last month, Munoz said his client has been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome a developmental disorder that can hinder a persons ability to socialize or communicate and claimed theres going to be some evidence that comes out to say hes very confused about both his sexual identity and his own identity. Woodward is being held in Orange County Jail with bail set at $5 million. If convicted as charged, he could face up to life in state prison without parole. His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 17. luke.money@latimes.com Twitter @LukeMMoney The 1st Amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. We forget, sometimes, how grateful we should be for those words. This is perhaps one of those times, as our highly polarized political climate has called into question how deeply committed we are to the open expression of differing points of view and the importance of an independent press. There is a reason these most-basic of human rights have been clearly enumerated and enshrined in the Constitution since 1791. Even in our nations earliest days, the framers understood the need to check those who would use their authority to try to silence dissent, muzzle critics and stifle the free flow of information. For the past few years, my work on the forthcoming book, A Boy Named Courage: A Surgeons Memoir of Apartheid, has made me more keenly aware of just how precious is our right to free speech and how crucial it is that we protect this right from our own worst impulses. The book chronicles the story of my friend and coauthor, Dr. Himmet Dajee, a Newport Beach resident who struggled against the scourge of institutional racism in his native South Africa, to achieve his dream of becoming a cardiac surgeon and American citizen. If anyone understands what its like to live without the freedoms that we hold so dear, it is someone who experienced life under apartheid. In South Africa, growing up, we were told you cant talk to this person or that person because they might be a spy, Himmet told me. You could be in a crowd and be afraid to talk. The only nonwhite student in his class at the University of Cape Town, Himmet was plagued by anxiety that he might inadvertently say something that would jeopardize his academic standing or land him in trouble with authorities. At university, no matter how friendly the other students were, every word you said had be very calculated to make sure you didnt slip into a political arena, he recalled. There was always the fear that you would be reported to the authorities, called up, questioned, put under house arrest, or put in jail for expressing anti-apartheid or anti-government viewpoints. Living like that puts a lot of stress on you. The press in apartheid South Africa was also subject to government censorship. Book, magazine and newspaper publishers operated under constant threat of government ban. They werent allowed to quote banned organizations, report on conditions inside prisons or expose information on security forces. Reports on demonstrations and other anti-apartheid activities were also restricted. Only government-controlled radio stations were allowed to broadcast, and television was outlawed for many years under apartheid. Journalists were censored or subject to outright bans, and foreign reporters were routinely denied visas. In spite of this suppression, books, magazines and newspapers became a lifeline for Himmet and his family. They consumed every foreign publication they could get their hands on, such as Life magazine; subscribed to the Indian Opinion, a publication founded by Mohandas Gandhi; listened to BBC radio broadcasts and became adept at reading between the lines in domestic reports. A lot of papers toed the line so they wouldnt be banned, Himmet explained. Because of this, rumors were rampant; often news of political arrests and nefarious government activities came by way of hushed whispers in dark corners. The fear of being caught was ever present. That fear led Himmet and his brothers to burn about 200 books they had hidden away in an attic crawl space. All the books had been banned by the government for their political themes and being found with them could have led to dire consequences. Even individual people could be banned. This was akin to a house arrest without walls, a way to silence protestors by prohibiting them from being quoted in the press or attending meetings. Himmet knew people who had endured such a fate, and it was crushing. After he left South Africa, Himmet attended medical school in Ireland and continued his medical and surgical training in Canada. But the United States always beckoned. Despite its complicated and frequently compromised history, America stood as the beacon of freedom that he so desperately sought. Himmet tells me that when he first arrived in the U.S. in the 1980s, he feasted upon the many publications that were abundantly available, attended lectures and films, avidly watched television newscasts and engaged in vibrant discussions and debates over politics and history all the activities that hed been restricted from in South Africa. It was like an overflowing banquet of information to rival the copious servings of food on American plates. After all this time, he has never lost his sense of gratitude for the ability to speak his mind without fear. Its critical that we recognize, now and always, that we must not take for granted this liberty, this foundation upon which all other freedoms stand. As George Washington said, If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. This is a truth that my friend Himmet knows all too well. Patrice Apodaca is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach. A nonprofit supporting the Glendale Public Library is halting used-book donations through the end of the year as it attempts to reduce its backlog through monthly sales. We want to stay current for the community and in order to do that, we cant have a large surplus of older material, according to Maria Sundeen, Glendales principal library, arts and culture administrator. Its all about expanding our collection. The Friends of the Glendale Library had been accepting donations daily until Sept. 1, Sundeen said, adding that books and other materials began piling up faster than they could be sold. Purchasing books and DVDs at the recurring sales, typically held the second Saturday of every month, will allow the library to turn over its older collections to the community, so it can begin replenishing and refreshing its offerings. Shoppers can buy books and films individually or buy a tote bag from the Friends for $10 and fill it up with items of their choice. Sundeen said she nabbed a copy of The Short and Bloody History of Knights, Spies and Pirates by John Farman for her daughter at a recent sale, as well as a book about film. Funds generated go back to library programming, including its childrens summer reading program as well as author and artist talks. Thats the great thing its all going toward useful, vibrant cultural programming, Sundeen said. Recent speakers at the library have included Los Angeles Times writer Chris Erskine and actor Bryan Cranston. Until the Friends group begins accepting books again, residents can take donations to other local nonprofits, including Goodwill or Salvation Army, Friends administrators suggested. The next Friends sale is slated from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday at the loading dock area of the Downtown Central Library, located at 222 E. Harvard St. A concurrent sale will be held at the Central Park Paseo, located at 216 S. Brand Blvd., next to the Museum of Neon Art. The Glendale sale doubles as a live music event, furthering the Friends mission to promote arts and culture, Sundeen said. A special sale spotlighting art and music books will be held Sept. 29 at the Brand Library and Art Center, located at 1601 W. Mountain St. lila.seidman@latimes.com Twitter: @lila_seidman On Saturday, medical professionals and motivational speakers will address the stigma surrounding the topic of suicide and shed light on Californias End of Life Option Act, as USC Verdugo Hills Hospital hosts its third annual Suicide Awareness and Prevention Conference. Held in conjunction with Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day, which falls on Sept. 10, the inaugural event was started in 2016 to respond to community members grieving the deaths of local teens in La Canada and La Crescenta who took their lives, according to hospital officials. Every three years we do a needs assessment to determine the needs of the community, and behavioral health is generally in the top five issues that affect our community, said Keith Hobbs, chief executive of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. When we did the first one, we were surprised by the turnout we were basically at capacity. Today, the conference draws hundreds who take part in discussions led by health experts and professionals who work with at-risk individuals. This years talks focus on the theme Communities Fight Stigma Together: Having Courageous Conversations about Preventing Suicide. The program begins with an 8 a.m. registration and continental breakfast. At 9 a.m., Dr. Alex Crosby, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will discuss using data to reduce suicides. Author and teen motivational speaker Jeff Yalden follows with his discussion, Why teens die of suicide, from 10 to 10:50 a.m. Robert Stohr, from the Loss and Healing Council for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, will speak on suicide and loss in the LGBTQ community from 11 to 11:50 a.m. Following a free lunch, an afternoon panel discussion from 1:15 to 3 p.m. will discuss Californias End of Life Option Act, a 2016 law that allows certain terminally ill adult patients to be prescribed an aid-in-dying medication if certain conditions are met. Intended mainly for medical professionals, the panel will be led by USC Verdugo Hills Hospitals Dr. Talin Dadoyan, who specializes in psychiatry and neurology. Hobbs said the event should be informative and uplifting. Its a packed house the energy is high and people are very concerned about the topics and how they can use [this information] in their lives, he said. Space is limited and attendees must RSVP by calling seminar coordinator Purnima Panchal at (818) 952-3592. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine Major earthquakes and lava eruptions from the Kilauea volcano have kept most of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park temporarily off limits to visitors for the last three months. Now that volcanic activity has subsided, and the park on Hawaii Island plans to reopen in a few weeks time. Volcanic activity has trailed off in recent weeks, leaving park superintendent Cindy Orlando optimistic that portions of the park closed since early May will reopen Sept. 22 in time for National Public Lands Day when admission is free. I expect opening weekend well be swamped, Orlando said. She expects visitors will be eager to see the incredible changes that have happened here. The lava lake within Halemaumau Crater within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has disappeared amid recent volcanic activity. Left behind is a massive caldera as much as 1,500 feet deep in places. (U.S. Geological Survey) Advertisement The prime attraction will be Halemaumau Crater, which consistently has drawn large crowds to witness its glowing, sputtering lava lake. With the red-hot lava sucked out in recent months, a massive, gaping hole 1,500 feet deep in places has formed. The reopening will mark the first time in many years that visitors will not see molten lava. Viewing of the crater will shift from the west to the east side, since the overlook at Jaggar Museum, and the museum itself, were badly damaged by volcano-related earthquakes. Orlando said the rim will be accessible by a one-mile walk along a road that has been closed to vehicles for several years. A National Park Service scientist, left, evaluates earthquake damage along Crater Rim Trail. The park superintendent said some trails will reopen Sept. 22, but others may never reopen because of safety concerns. (National Park Service) There are very large cracks throughout the road, so well be determining how best to bridge those gaps so that people can walk out to see the view, she said. Chain of Craters Road, a winding road that passes through old fields of hardened, black lava, will be open all the way to the Pacific Ocean. However, most of Crater Rim Drive will be off-limits due to major damage. Vehicles weighing more than 15,000 pounds will not be allowed in the park. Huge masses of cooled lava rock have created a new land mass at the point at which rivers of red-hot lava splashed into the sea for nearly three months this summer. (U.S. Geological Center) Fissure 8, the crack in the earths surface from which huge amounts of molten rock flowed beginning in early May, has been mostly quiet since early August. Geologists using drones have seen only slight amounts of bubbling lava within the large cinder cone that has formed. It is only visible on tours operated by various helicopter companies. Its an amazing, amazing landscape, the entire park, Orlando said. Id like for visitors to come and have a much more contemplative experience than driving up to an overlook, looking over and getting back in your car and leaving. Hopes are high that tourists who canceled plans at resorts as far as 100 miles away from the volcano will return. The Hawaii Tourism Authority recently released figures that show hotel occupancy on Hawaii Island dropped 4.7% in July. ALSO But why cant you sit in that empty premium-class seat? Maybe because its stealing Viking makes it official: Kids no longer welcome on cruises Cosmopolitans new Las Vegas food hall shuns mainstream eateries in favor of regional gems travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo used face-to-face meetings with Pakistani leaders on Wednesday to renew demands that they do more to stamp out Islamist militants and support a fledgling U.S. peace effort with the Taliban in Afghanistan. In a six-hour visit to Islamabad, Pompeo and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tried to shore up a troubled relationship that has been further strained by the Trump administrations suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance. Pompeo met with Pakistans new prime minister, Imran Khan a longtime critic of U.S. military policy in the region who recently said he would seek a mutually beneficial relationship as well as with the foreign minister and army chief. Im hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward, Pompeo told reporters after the meeting. Advertisement But the meetings were brief less than half an hour at Khans official residence and an additional 40 minutes at the Foreign Ministry and appeared to have achieved little of substance. Asked whether Pakistani leaders had made any firm promises that would allow for the resumption of security assistance, Pompeo said, Weve still got a long way to go, lots more discussion to be had. As the Trump administration attempts for the first time to open direct talks with the Taliban on ending the war in Afghanistan, it has sharpened demands for cooperation from Pakistan, which it accuses of covertly supporting the insurgent group. Pakistan denies the allegations and says the U.S. is attempting to deflect blame for its failures in Afghanistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued a conciliatory statement after Pompeo left. The two sides agreed that present conditions in Afghanistan were conducive to intensifying efforts for a political settlement, it read, adding that the Taliban leadership should seize the opportunity for talks. For the first time in 17 years, there seems to be momentum toward a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has offered amnesty to Taliban leaders who sit down for peace talks, and declared two temporary cease-fires with the militant group this year, one of which the Taliban reciprocated. In July, the Taliban said it met with Alice Wells, the top State Department official for South Asia, in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, the highest-level contact between the U.S. government and the militant group it has been battling since 2001. The talks were described as preliminary but useful. But the most challenging factor in any peace bid remains Pakistan, where the powerful military establishment is widely believed to have orchestrated the neophyte Khans election victory to ensure it retains authority over security affairs, including any resolution in Afghanistan. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the important role Pakistan could play in bringing about a negotiated peace in Afghanistan, and conveyed the need for Pakistan to take sustained and decisive measures against terrorists and militants threatening regional peace and stability. Despite the rancor toward Pakistan displayed by President Trump who accused the country of lies & deceit in a New Years Day tweet Pakistani officials described the visit as cordial. There was nothing negative in todays meetings, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters afterward. There was an environment of understanding and it is a great step, in light of the relationship during the past year. Other Foreign Ministry officials said that Pakistani leaders pushed back when Pompeo asked them to take more serious steps to crack down on militant groups based on their soil. Pakistan has long used proxy Islamist groups to enforce its strategic interests in Afghanistan and India. We have categorically told them that Pakistan is not simply surrendering to the Americans demands only, said one Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the private meeting. Pakistan has been stung by the reduction in security assistance, part of which it describes as reimbursement for costs it has incurred in supporting the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. Some commentators noted that when Pompeo and Dunford landed at the airport, they were greeted not by their counterparts but by a lower-level Pakistani Foreign Ministry official. US SoS Pompeo not received by the PM or President but some low ranking official from the Foreign Office. I don't even see the Pakistani Foreign Minister in this photo. Obvious messaging by Pakistani govt.. pic.twitter.com/nyYwO316EM F. Jeffery (@Natsecjeff) September 5, 2018 Pompeo said before arriving in Islamabad that the U.S. hasnt seen Pakistan take actions that would be sufficient for us to have advocated for turning back on that financial support. Hamayun Khan, a foreign policy analyst in Islamabad, said Pompeos visit was about little more than theatrics. It was a repetition of the same old from the U.S., and Pakistan reiterated its stances and sacrifices its made in the war on terror, and its help in Afghanistan, Khan said. In my opinion we should have not very high hopes from this visit. Special correspondent Sahi reported from Islamabad and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report. shashank.bengali@latimes.com Shashank Bengali is South Asia correspondent for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @SBengali Russian jets began an intense barrage on Syrias northwest, pounding rebel-held areas on Tuesday in Idlib province and surrounding regions that have become the last sanctuary for the opposition to President Bashar Assad, activists and a war monitor said. The onslaught came hours after President Trump warned in a tweet that Assad must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Dont let that happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018 Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also tweeted: All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib. #NoChemicalWeapons, a reference to the Syrian governments use of chemical weapons against its rebel adversaries. Advertisement The White House later issued a statement saying that if Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its Allies will respond swiftly and appropriately. Russia is Assads top international backer; its support, including aircraft, special forces and mercenaries, enabled him to reverse the course of his countrys seven-year civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more. Iran has long dispatched military advisors and paramilitary cadres to bolster the Syrian governments exhausted troops. Successive Russian-backed campaigns over the last two years have seen the government retake every major opposition bastion, offering fighters who refused to lay down their arms safe passage to Idlib. But with no other enclaves remaining, the government has massed its forces in recent weeks for a campaign to retake the province, which is dominated by hard-line Islamist groups, including an estimated 10,000 Al Qaeda affiliated local and foreign jihadis, and others factions under Turkeys control. Smoke billows from buildings that were hit by reported Russian airstrikes in the rebel-held town of Muhambal, southwest of Idlib city in Syria, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Omar Haj Kadour / AFP/Getty Images) Tuesdays strikes, the first in 22 days, were seen as the routine escalation that precedes every ground offensive on rebel enclaves, endangering what the United Nations estimates are Idlibs 2.9 million residents. More than half of the province have already been displaced at least once before. Hundreds of thousands are expected to flee, but with Idlibs border with Turkey sealed, there is no exit except to government-controlled areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition U.K.-based monitoring group with a network of activists in Syria, said Russian warplanes had conducted about 45 strikes on rebel areas in Idlib, the Ghab plains and the mountains of neighboring Latakia province. The attacks had killed 12 people, including a number of children, and wounded 30 others, the Syrian Observatory group said. In recent weeks, Russia and Turkey have engaged in intense discussions to avert what the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said would be a bloodbath in Idlib. On Tuesday, he appealed to Turkey and Russia to find a soft solution that would protect civilians, according to a U.N. report of a news briefing in Geneva. He added that news reports indicated the assault would begin Monday, and securing protection for residents was urgent. Meanwhile, the Syrian pro-government Al Watan newspaper reported fresh troop movements, with convoys of new T-72 tanks and armored vehicles positioning themselves for what Damascus has dubbed Operation Idlib Dawn. Moscow has dispatched additional ships to Syrias Mediterranean coast, where a Russian flotilla ran naval drills this week. Ankara has bolstered its presence in Idlib as well, sending in tanks to reinforce two Turkish army observation posts, many of them set close to the jihadis positions. Turkey, fearing additional refugees, is adamant that an offensive be averted. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke on Tuesday with Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to a statement by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, and agreed that any Assad regime military offensive in Idlib would be an unacceptable, reckless escalation of the conflict in Syria. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Trumps warning in a news briefing, according to Russia Today, the state-funded English-language news broadcaster. A nest of terrorism has formed there, Peskov said. This leads to general destabilization and undermines the attempts to steer the situation to diplomatic and political settlement. He added that rebel groups had launched drone attacks on Russias air base in Latakia and posed a substantial threat. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report. nabih.bulos@latimes.com Twitter: @nabihbulos Dozens of people have been killed after days of violent clashes in the suburbs of Tripoli, with rival militias fighting fierce street battles for control of the Libyan capital. The upheaval is the latest setback in the long running and highly chaotic effort to cobble together a government and restore stability after strongman Moammar Kadafi was toppled from power during the height of the Arab Spring in 2011. Since Kadafi was ousted, dozens of militias and an Islamic State affiliate have engaged in turf wars for control of Libyas cities, even as countries including France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt tried to intervene their efforts usually only fueling the turmoil. But the latest conflict is less about government authority than a power play for resources. Advertisement A Libyan police officer walks through the now-empty Mitiga International Airport on Tuesday in Tripoli. (Mahmud Turkia / AFP/Getty Images) WHATS HAPPENING NOW Last week, a militia calling itself the 7th Brigade mobilized from its base in Tarhunah, a city about 40 miles southeast of Tripoli, and stormed the capitals southern suburbs. Billing itself as Libyas national army, it attacked local militias working with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord, or GNA, and accused them of taking public money and stealing peoples livelihoods. In response, the GNA ordered factions from neighboring towns to come to its defense. It also declared a state of emergency, saying the attacks threatened the security of the capital and safety of its citizens. Despite two truce agreements (which were almost immediately violated), the fighting left almost 50 people dead and 130 others injured in the last week, the World Health Organization said Monday. More than 1,800 families have fled their homes and thousands more are expected to follow if the clashes intensify, the countrys Ministry of Displaced Peoples Affairs reported. Those who remain risk being trapped in the midst of the violence. Adding to the chaos, 400 inmates on Sunday broke out of Ain Zara, a prison in Tripoli, and the citys only functioning airport was closed. On Saturday, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N.s secretary general, decried the violence around the capital and the indiscriminate shelling by armed groups that seemed to be targeting civilians, including children. Echoing the U.N., the United States, France, Italy and Britain issued a joint statement Saturday condemning the attacks. These attempts to weaken the legitimate Libyan authorities and hamper the course of the political process are not acceptable, the statement read. We urge armed groups to immediately cease all military actions and warn those who tamper with security in Tripoli or elsewhere in Libya that they will be held accountable for any such actions. A day later, the U.N. invited concerned parties to hold an urgent dialog on Tuesday. Ghassan Salame, the representative of the U.N.s secretary general in the country, arrived on Tuesday for what the U.N. described as a meeting on the security situation. Later, it declared Salame had brokered a cease-fire agreement to end all hostilities, protect civilians, safeguard public and private property + reopen [Mitiga] Airport in #Tripoli #Libya. But its unclear how long the truce will hold up. HOW DID IT COME TO THIS Little has been straightforward in Libya since the overthrow of Kadafi, who ruled the country for almost 42 years before he was pushed from power in a revolt backed by a North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing campaign, with the U.S., France and Britain in the lead. Kadafi was later killed and the rebels declared Libyas total liberation. Instead, the country descended into chaos. Various groups, divided by tribal, regional, ideological and linguistic considerations, vied for power and frustrated repeated attempts to pull together a functioning government. Eventually, two rival authorities emerged, each with its own state institutions. The GNA, which has U.N. backing, controls the countrys western regions while the east is in the hands of the House of Representatives, the other government led by strongman Khalifa Haftar. (Islamic State also had a presence near the town of Surt and a slice of the countrys Mediterranean coast until 2015, when Haftar launched an offensive and scattered the jihadis.) Last year, France shepherded a political plan that called for both governments to establish a framework for elections that would be held this December. It is unclear whether the elections will held. In the meantime, the lawlessness in the country and its proximity to Europe, have made it a transit point for thousands of migrants. Libyans swim to cool off in the Mediterranean Sea in Tripoli, where power outages are frequent and daily hardships mount. (Mahmud Turkia / AFP/Getty Images) WHATS IT LIKE IN TRIPOLI? In Tripoli, multiple rounds of fighting have resulted in four militias affiliated with the GNA being put in charge of the capitals security. But that relative stability has come at a price. According to a recent report by the Small Arms Survey, the de facto security forces have now morphed into a functioning cartel with powerful links to politicians and influential business executives. The effect on Tripolis residents has been profound, with the militia controlling ports, airports, oil infrastructure and banks. It also impacted the availability of food, medicines and even currency. Withdrawing what is worth $50 of money from a bank has become a dream for citizens, wrote Libyan commentator Abdul Razzaq Sarqan on the Libya al Khabar website on Tuesday. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? As rival forces continue to assemble around Tripoli and its environs, European governments, particularly Italy, fear the unrest could unleash another wave of migrants. Meanwhile, the GNA is desperate to safeguard its presence, even from some of its supposed allies; GNA head Fayez Serraj has given militias loyal to his government until the end of the month to help secure Tripoli and then leave the capital. But Haftar, with Egypt behind him, may take advantage of the chaos to sweep away his opponents and take over the government, analysts say. nabih.bulos@latimes.com Twitter: @nabihbulos The community is invited to travel to various Caribbean islands at the Lehigh Acres Senior Center through tasting food and listening to music of the islands. Its going to be a lot of fun. Everyone is welcome, Ana Quesada, who is organizing Island Affair, said. We had one before and it was a lot of fun. A lot of music and food, it was great. The event will be held at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept, 6, at the Senior Center, 219 Plaza Drive. We are providing the food and the music. Everything is free, Quesada said. Attendees will have the opportunity to taste cuisine from such areas as Puerto Rico, Haiti, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Virgin Islands and Barbados. People have signed up to bring food. They are members that either are born in those countries and migrated to the United States, or born here and their parents were born in that country, she explained. We are having music from those countries and food tasting from different countries. Quesada, who is originally from Cuba, said she will be preparing an authentic Cuban dish for the event. Ive been here since I was 12 years old. I cook what my mom used to, she explained. Quesada said they are planning on doing an international event sometime this winter when the snowbirds are in town. For more information, call (239) 369-5355. Join the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce and the Lehigh Acres Senior Center for an Expo featuring local businesses and nonprofit organizations, as well as a job fair. The Expo will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Lehigh Senior Center, 219 Plaza Drive. The Expo has free admission. Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce Chairman Ed Moore said the annual event is held to gather members, nonmembers and anyone who wants to set up a table and display information for the community. Its a good way for all the businesses to get to know each other and what each other provides . . . different types of services. The community can come in and meet a bunch of different businesses all at the same time, Moore said. Its kind of a one stop shop. Kind of like window shopping without all the windows. Those interested can do so by visiting the chambers website, at lehighacreschamber.org. Vendor pricing is $50 for Chamber members, $85 for nonmembers and $25 for nonprofit organizations. Moore said they will continue to sign up businesses three, or four days prior to the Expo. In addition, it also gives employers the opportunity to participate in a job fair. We set up rooms for a job fair, so some employers can come to do interviews with anyone who wants a job, Moore said. Although the number of businesses who participate in the job fair changes from year to year, he said last year Seminole Casino was the sole business. Moore said he would venture to say that there will be more businesses looking to do interviews. It is hard to find good people these days with the job market the way it is, he said of why he believes there will be more employers. He said last year they held a resume writing class during the expo, and this year they are offering a class where individuals can learn how to build their own affordable website. There will be a lot of different pieces of information, Moore said. The event will also feature raffles, and prizes given away every 30 minutes. The Senior Center will provide lunch for a nominal fee with all the proceeds going back to the center. Moore said the Expo will most likely feature between 30 to 40 businesses. We should have a good turnout. I would be shocked if we didnt, he said. For more information, call 239-369-3322. The first Bank of America Community Financial Center in Lehigh Acres had a grand opening, ribbon cutting ceremony last week. Bank of America Senior Vice President Market Manager Carina Guillard said they held a ribbon cutting last Wednesday morning for their Bank of America Lehigh Acres Community Financial Center, which opened approximately three weeks ago. She said the capabilities of the center are endless, which allows them to really be able to service their customers. The Bank of America Lehigh Acres Community Financial Center is located at 1360 Homestead Road North. Although this is the first one located in Lehigh Acres, Bank of America has 23 financial centers in Lee County. The center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The center aligns with our strategy to connect all of our capabilities and financial solutions to the clients we serve in this community, she said. The financial centers are unique because they cater towards the communities that have more needs. One of the features are interactive touchscreens equipped with Better Money Habits, which are located in each lobby. The touchscreens, Guillard explained can take the client through a learning session of how to save, budget for college and own a home. We provide them the tools to be able to walk through everything they possibly need, she explained, adding that there are always associates there to help guide them. So far, the feedback has been all positive, with the interactive screens being a favorite Another service includes Wi-Fi for clients, providing them with the opportunity to download and access the Bank of America mobile app without using their own personal data plans. The center also includes new ATMS with such updated features as cardless access, cashing checks, making credit card payments, as well as selecting bill mix with withdrawing cash. She said associates are nearby showing the customers how to use them if needed. There are also online banking kiosks inside the lobby, providing access to accounts, check balances and paying bills. Guillard said they center will offer quarterly classes where financial literacy will be taught. She said associates will offer the classes in Spanish as well, on topics the community has shared they want to learn more about. We would love for them to come in, she said of anyone in the community. Even if they are not a client we will help with financial literacy to help them with the tools they need. We want to help them meet their financial goals. Guillard said the center also has a community wall where it highlights different activities going on in Lehigh Acres, as well as art by local artists. The Lehigh Acres Community Councils monthly meeting held on Aug. 20 focused on an agenda item that pertained to the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services and Improvement Districts upcoming public vote on their right to take over signage powers. Council President Rick Anglickis reported that the board met with LA-MSID Chair David Deetscreek and District Manager, David Lindsay in regards to the wording in the agreement with the county. The resolution was supposed to only allow for five monumental welcome signs to be placed on Lee Boulevard also on Homestead Road. David Deetscreek said he would provide the council with the agreement signed by the county commissioners confirming this agreement, said Anglickis. Anglickis went on to report that the agreement had been received and did not limit the signage powers as reported during the executive board meeting. The resolution, which will be on the November ballot, brought out a discussion on how the residents of the community might be confused by the language used. We met with in an executive session with the chairman of LA-MSID. They did not word the things on the ballot as explained during meetings. The council took the position to not let them do all the signs. There are many concerns such as where is all the money going to come from to pay for it, said Council Vice President Mohammed Yasin. A motion was set forth by the majority of the members to stand against the resolution. The motion passed unanimously. The motion was aimed towards the council taking action to inform the residents of Lehigh Acres behind the true meaning and impact of the resolution. I encourage people to vote against it. Eventually we will be taxed. Currently the county is paying this fee. We are not a city yet, said Yasin. The monthly meeting opened with a public hearing for the proposed construction and development order to construct a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses Worship Center on Lee Blvd. TDM Consulting and JW Congregation supporters presented the council with a complete and detailed plan on the sites construction and landscape designs. While there were a few questions in regards to traffic, buffering, need, and location, the project was eventually approved. There were a few questions in regards to the use of the space, but in the end council members approved the motion on the project, explained Yasin. The council recommended the approval of the development order for the construction of a 3793 square foot Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses Worship Center to be located at 4716 Lee Boulevard in Lehigh Acres. This space is currently zoned within a 22,000 square foot parcel of land for commercial/retail use. According Anglickis and other council members, the recommendation for approval was based on the presentation made at the meeting and that the project aligns with all county codes including zoning, construction, landscaping and setbacks. In the end we decided to approve the project. They met all the requirements currently held by the county, said Yasin Lee County District 5 Commissioner Frank Mann was in attendance to swear in two new members. Gwyn Gittens and Robert Antiewica are now seated on to the councils board. The council will hold its next meeting on Sept. 17 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Lee County Sheriffs Office East District substation, at 1301 Homestead Road N. All meetings are open to the public. For more information, visit online at: www.lehighacrescommunitycouncil.com. The race for the U.S. Representative District 17 seat produced two primaries for the first time in years. 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 vacated by Tom Rooney, who chose not to seek re-election. Freeman, who was the Democratic choice to run against Rooney two years ago and who ran in 2014 in D-19, got an unexpected primary challenge from Bill Pollard. 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). U.S Congressional District 17 encompasses northern Lee County including North Fort Myers, Babcock Ranch, Alva and parts of Lehigh Acres and Buckingham as well as parts of Polk, Highlands, Hardee, Hillsborough, DeSoto, Okeechobee, Charlotte, Manatee, and Glades counties, making it one of the largest districts in the state in terms of geography. 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. In 2002, Florida voters approved what sounded like a great thing for children. Reducing class sizes to prescribed caps, advocates said, would increase student achievement and create more manageable classrooms for teachers. By many measures, the class size amendment has been a resounding success as Florida climbed in academic rankings and school classrooms were no longer packed wall-to-wall with students. However, the class size reduction initiative created a financial problem Florida school districts didnt have the cash on-hand to build thousands of new classrooms. Through the 2007-08 school year, the Florida Legislature covered operating and facilities costs to keep school districts in line with the class size amendment. Then in 2008, facilities funding stopped, and it has remained at zero for the past decade. That amounts to billions of dollars that school districts have paid from their own pockets to be compliant with a state law. Unfortunately, Lee Countys pockets are empty. According to the school districts tentative budget, Lee is heading into the 2018-19 school year with $412 million in outstanding debt. Borrowing money to build new schools helped Lee comply with class size requirements, but now the district is bogged down with debt. Lees problem is much more severe than other counties because of the districts steady enrollment growth, about 2 percent annually for the past decade. The district forecasts enrollment this fall to eclipse 94,000 students. District leadership will continue finding ways to build new schools, and the new Bonita Springs High School is a shining example of that commitment to a strong educational environment for students. But there is only so much money to go around, and if the district is devoting its limited capital dollars toward new school construction, thats leaving less money for renovations, routine maintenance, school security and technology. The proposal to increase the sales tax from 6 percent to 6.5 percent would ensure its not an either-or proposition. Lee County could build new schools AND maintain the facilities it currently has. Vehicle owners recognize that regularly scheduled maintenance like changing oil, replacing air filters and checking fluids will help extend the life of a car. The same holds true for a school building, and even your house. Regular maintenance is critical in maximizing a facilitys use and preventing roof leaks, equipment breakdowns and malfunctions to air conditioning systems. The extra sales tax also would provide funding for technology upgrades, furniture replacement and security features, including new camera systems, lockdown panels and hardened doors that are critically important in ensuring school safety. I encourage all voters to educate themselves about the proposed sales tax increase by visiting leeschools.net/change-for-change. We are on the path to providing a high-quality education system for the children and taxpayers or Lee County, and we need facilities to match. -Bill Tubb is principal at Tubb & Associates in Cape Coral, and previously served as executive director of financial services for the School District of Lee County. Once, the site of the Mound House was home to an ancient people. Now, the jewel of Fort Myers Beach is home to hands-on education. The entire sixth-grade class of Oasis Middle School spent the last two weeks visiting the Mound House in groups to learn more about the colorful history of this area. Dexter Norris, an education program coordinator, said Oasis students started coming to the Mound House for a field trip last year when one of the sixth-grade teachers wanted to bring her class. The school administration liked it so much, Oasis sent all of its sixth-graders. There are about 300 sixth-grade students at Oasis; they visited in groups of 45 to 50. On Aug. 29, Ceel Spuhler led the tour to the Beneath Our Feet exhibit. Becky Werner led a talk about archaeology. Norris spoke to the students about Calusa jewelry and artwork, using some of the replicas. The highlight for most of the students was trying their hand at the atlatl the spear-throwing tool the Calusa used for hunting. It was Nikita Shchevyers first visit to the Mound House. He said it was amazing. His favorite parts were the underground exhibit and the atlatl-throwing. Jill Frank also liked the archeological exhibit underground. You could see where people used to live, she said. They explained it really well. Matt Clark, the sixth-grade teacher at Wednesdays trip, said making a visit to the Mound House aligns with the students curriculum. Its really cool. They can see it hands-on, he said. They can see how archeology works and learn about ancient people with no written record. Amelia Koralik appreciated the creativeness of the Mound Houses programming, and said it was tons of fun to experience how the Calusa may have lived. It was very educational, Koralik said. I recommend people coming here, its pretty darn cool. Marshall's football team got its most complete effort of the 2021 season, taking care of the football and limiting big plays in a 38-0 win over FIU on Saturday afternoon at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. On June 28 2018 the Zimbabwean authorities published a document entitled the Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Policy and Implementation Strategy. For those who have witnessed the economic decline of Zimbabwe, the document is almost plaintive. It acknowledges that Zimbabwe is in "dire need of a National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy." It puts extraordinary faith in intellectual property. According to the document, IP will "turn around the economic fortunes of the country" and "transform Zimbabwe from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy." The policy will create a country with "high levels of IP awareness, IP consciousness and IP literacy." It will create a country that has a "culture of creativity, innovation and inventiveness." It will ensure that there are "reliable IP laws and enforcement measures." Zimbabwe is not the first country to publish an official IP policy. In 2016, Ghana published its National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy (NIPPS). This document recognises that "globalization and technological advancement are changing the landscape of the world economy." It recognises that "trade in high-value added and intensive goods and services has become central to many economies." It recognises that "knowledge-based industries are becoming the drivers of economies." It shows ambition too. The policy will bring Ghana's IP system in line with "international best practices." It will place Ghana "amongst the leading countries in the utilization of IP as a tool for rapid national development." It will allow Ghana to achieve the status of "an advanced human society with a better quality of life reflected in all aspects of socio-economic and environmental conditions." The IP policy that really made the headlines was the one in South Africa, first introduced in 2013. Unlike the two described above, this one had a far stronger developing world flavour to it, with suggestions that South Africa should follow developments in "similar economies such as Brazil, India and Egypt". This issue attracted criticism from a leading IP judge, who suggested that this would do little to "engender confidence and attract investment." He also suggested that some joined-up thinking was in order, alleging that the Department of Science and Technology was pro-IP, whereas the Department of Health and the Department of Education were anti-IP. Much water has flowed under the bridge and now one of the central pillars of that policy, patent examination, an issue strongly linked to concerns about evergreening of pharmaceutical patents, is seemingly imminent. In February 2018, three trainee patent searchers employed by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), published an article in a South African legal magazine. In it, they confirmed that South Africa would be phasing in patent examination, starting with certain sectors as well as local applications. They said that this would lead to an increase in costs, but promised that "the quality of the patents granted by the CIPC will increase as well." It is quite clear that a number of African governments now take IP very seriously. Margaret Le Galle The material on this site is for law firms, companies and other IP specialists. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs. Share this article Africa House, Castle StreetSt Helier, Jersey JE4 9TWChannel IslandsTel: +44 1534 838000Fax: +44 1534 838001 info@spoor.co.uk www.spoor.com Thiruvananthapuram : Finance Minister Thomas Issac has made it clear that the government employees in Kerala will have to contribute a month's salary for flood relief. He also added that those who don't accept the government decision will have to give their objection in writing. Meanwhile, the organisations allied with the opposition United Democratic Front argued that the government should deduct an amount that the employees have consented to. The Minister also said that those who are willing to contribute the leave surrender money can opt for that. Option is available also for donating a month's pay in 10 installments. The Philippines and Israel have signed three fundamental agreements on labor, science, and trade as a way of strengthening their bilateral ties. They signed the deals even as Malacanang said Tuesday the Philippine government was scheduled to sign an agreement with the Israeli oil firm Ratio Petroleum Ltd. that would cover energy exploration in Palawan. We are expecting an agreement on exploration to be signed between the Philippines and a company in Israel, Ratio Petroleum Limited, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters in Israel. Its another foreign investor helping us to explore for energy in an effort to provide energy security. In a speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the signing of the three bilateral agreements as he expressed gratitude to the historic visit of President Rodrigo Duterte. Were going to sign here today three important agreements in trade, in science and, no less important, in caregiving, Netanyahu told Duterte, adding his father had received compassionate care from a Filipino caregiver. There has been a remarkable phenomenon in Israel where thousands and thousands of families have taken heart from the support given by Filipino care workers to the elderly. I am one of those families, Mr. President. I, like many, many Israeli families, am deeply moved by this show of humanity. And today were going to sign an agreement that will knock off as much as $12,000 from the cost of every caregiver.This is money that is taken away from the caregivers and the families, the Israeli families who so want their service. This is an exceptional agreement and I think it heralds the kind of friendship that we are developing. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III signed the Bilateral Agreement on the Temporary Employment of Filipino Home-Based Caregivers in Israel. According to a statement posted online on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the labor agreement will completely cancel all fees paid to agents and save thousands of shekels. Meanwhile, the Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific Cooperation, signed by Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, will encourage and establish scientific cooperation programs between Israels Ministry of Science and Technology and the countrys Department of Science and Technology. Lastly, the Memorandum of Intent on the Collaboration on Promotion of Bilateral Direct Investments, signed by Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen and Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, encourages bilateral investments between the two countries. With the forged agreements, the Philippines expects a more suitable employment of Filipino caregivers in Israel, a further cooperation on the field of science and a progressive economy through investments. President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he anticipates more terrorist attacks in the south following the two deadly bombing incidents in Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat. Theres a lot of terror attacks going on, not only here but all over the world and my country is not an exception, Duterte said as he and Philippine Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon witnessed Magen David Adoms response demonstration to a terror attack. We just had about two explosions in one of the provinces in Mindanao, and we expect more, Duterte told Israels national emergency service. Im sure your government would be willing to help us. Duterte highlighted the importance of developing the countrys emergency response to calamities and attacks. On Sunday, a bomb was detonated inside an Internet shop in Barangay Kalawag 2, in the town of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, at past seven in the evening, leaving two people dead and several others wounded.On Aug. 28, an improvised explosive device was also detonated during the Isulans Hamungaya Festival, killing three people and injuring more than 30 others. Following the recent bombings in the south, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said there was a possibility martial law would be extended in Mindanao. He said the extension was an option. Malacanang has already assured the local government of Isulan that it is in control of the situation, saying the government will defend democracy and the public. Following the back-to-back incident of bombing under their watch, Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde has already ordered the relief of the provincial police officials. Private holdings block public access to nearly 10 million acres of federal land in the West, hampering growth in the recreation economy, a new report says. The federal program that could help purchase access expires September 30. By Bryce Oates *** Unlocking The Wests Inaccessible Public Lands Off Limits, But Within Reach In partnership with onXMaps http://www.matr.net/article-84489.html Public Access being locked up in Montana: In Litigation and Behind Gates http://www.matr.net/article-84265.html Montanas public lands drive economic growth, give state recruiting advantage http://www.matr.net/article-83310.html Video of run-in revives worries caused by Texas billionaires Idaho land purchase http://www.matr.net/article-78200.html Class war in the American west: the rich landowners blocking access to public lands http://www.matr.net/article-81002.html Montana Governor Steve Bullock Increasing Access to Your Public Lands http://www.matr.net/article-80437.html Texas Billionaire Brothers Offer a Cautionary Tale for Public Lands http://www.matr.net/article-79992.html 2018-09-10 16:00:00 Social Science Building Room 344 Contact: The University of Montana will host three Vietnamese delegates who will present a special seminar on Monday, Sept. 10, about tourism, reforestation and human-wildlife conflicts in their country. "Conservation and Education in the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam" will be held at 4 p.m. in Social Science Building Room 344. The seminar is free and open to the public. Presenters will be Dr. Huoung Tu Vu, director of the Vietnam Forestry University, and the vice directors of the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, Huong Lan Dinh and Tam Minh. A potluck dinner with the delegation will follow at 6 p.m. at 2300 Hilda Ave. The seminar is sponsored by the Drollinger-Dial Family Foundation, UMs Broader Impacts Group, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, and Environmental Studies. http://news.umt.edu/2018/09/090518viet.php High school students in the Magic Valley are participating in apprenticeships to help them learn manufacturing skills. Similar to the software engineering apprenticeship program and the healthcare apprenticeship program the Department of Labor also offers, the manufacturing apprenticeship program focused on the food processing industry in the Magic Valley is intended to help those industries find skilled workers, especially during historically low unemployment rates. By: Sharon Fisher KABUL Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani met with the Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China to Kabul, Mr. Liu Jinsong. Mr. Jinsong informed of the increase in the number of Afghan soldiers to be trained by China and talked about the mechanism of border security between the two countries. Hinting at the importance of Chinese cooperation in various areas, Minister Rabbani stressed the expansion of ties between the two countries. Both sides discussed and exchanged views on: the trilateral meeting between Afghanistan-China-Pakistan, bilateral relations, the peace process and regional cooperation. KABUL Foreign Minister H.E Salahuddin Rabbani met with Mr. Tadamichi Yamamoto the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan. Mr. Tadamichi Yamamoto provided information on the international meeting in Geneva for Afghanistan and emphasized UNs continuous cooperation with Afghanistan. The Foreign Minister appreciated UNs efforts for stability and development of Afghanistan. Both sides exchanged views on the political and security situation of the country, holding of elections, the Peace Process, and sideline meetings of the Afghan Delegation to New York in the UN General Assembly. Photographer: Ray Boren Summary Author: Ray Boren Visible over vast distances, Montanas Chief Mountain rises like a sentinel where the Great Plains of mid-North America meet the Rocky Mountains and also just south of the topographic boundary shared by the United States and Canada, along the 49th Parallel. The blocky peak, shown here in a photograph taken on the stormy evening of June 15, 2018, from rolling foothills and ranch lands to the north in the Canadian province of Alberta, also marks a boundary between Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and is just a hop and a skip from Canadas Waterton Lakes National Park. The mountain, which summits at 9,085 feet (2,769 m.), is described geologically as a klippe structure, an isolated erosional remnant that has tectonically shifted from its original location. The National Park Service reports that this is due primarily to thrust faulting, in this case by way of the 200-mile-long (320 km) Lewis Overthrust underlying mountains in Montana and Alberta. Because of this type of tectonic shifting and slipping, remarkably old rocks have been forced over considerably younger ones at Chief Mountain. The blocky upper layers, primarily limestone and dolomite, are composed of ocean sediments of the Precambrian (600 million years ago). They're piled atop Cretaceous sedimentary formations that are younger by 400 to 500 million years. Chief Mountain, called Ninaistako, with much the same meaning, by the Blackfeet people, is considered sacred by them and by other Native American and First Nations peoples and is said to possess great power. Ritual ceremonies have been performed there for thousands of years by members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, which includes the Siksika, or Blackfoot; the Kainah, or Blood; and the Pikuni, or Blackfeet. The Blackfeet in Montana jointly manage the mountain with Glacier National Park, though the parks eastern boundary is disputed by them. Photo Details: Camera: NIKON D3200; Exposure Time: 0.0025s (1/400); Aperture: /11.0; ISO equivalent: 400; Focal Length (35mm): 360. KABUL Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Filippo Grandi and his accompanying delegation. Mr. Grandi expressed his satisfaction of the reduction of pressure on Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran in terms of forcefully returning them, and informed of the preparations made for providing support to returnees. He also appreciated the initiative of Afghanistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs for registering and issuing passports to Afghan refugees in Iran. Hinting at the ongoing severe drought in the country, the Foreign Minister said: We have the highest number of refugees in the two countries Iran and Pakistan - considering the sensitive situation in Afghanistan, return of refugees should be on voluntary basis and in consideration of their dignity. Mr. Rabbani deemed the travel of Mr. Grandi and his delegation of high significance and called for further cooperation of UNHCR with regards to Afghan Refugees in the neighboring countries as well as the internally displaced persons. Both sides discussed and exchanged views on the holding of the international meeting in Geneva on Afghanistan, UNHCRs future activities in the country and emergency humanitarian aid provision. KABUL Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani met with the Ambassador of the United States of America to Kabul, Mr. John Bass. In this meeting, Mr. Rabbani talked about the international meeting in Geneva and the possibility of putting the issue of peace as the main agenda of this meeting. The US Ambassador also mentioned that peace was a larger regional debate and stressed the need for serious cooperation of the countries in the region for realizing peace in Afghanistan. Similarly, the Foreign Minister emphasized the free and fair holding of elections that is followed with satisfaction of the people. [September 05, 2018] KORE to Provide Insight on Navigating the Complexities of IoT at Mobile World Congress Americas KORE today announced the details of its significant presence at Mobile World Congress Americas (MWCA), occurring September 12-14 in Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert). The organization will exhibit at stand S.2536. KORE President and Chief Executive Officer Romil Bahl will deliver the keynote address for MWCA's flagship IoT event, IoT 101 - Digital Transformation University, on Thursday, September 13. Romil will share insight on how enterprises of all sizes can utilize IoT to maximize ROI from their investments. Based on his insight working with KORE's 6,200 customers and their approximately nine million devices around the world, Romil will provide attendees with thoughts on overcoming the challenges of IoT deployments, accelerating time-to-market, generating new revenue opportunities, and gaining additional competitive advantages through IoT. What: The Importance of Managed Services in IoT Who: Romil Bahl, President and Chief Executive Officer, KORE When: Thursday, September 13, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m. PT Where: Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) Americas JW Marriott LIVE! LA Gold Ballroom 1 KORE Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Sue Holub will also speak at MWCA, participating in a panel discussion titled "Delivering Mobile IoT at Scale" on Wednesday, September 12. With the rapid growth of IoT solutions and deployments, there is increased pressure on network operators to deliver affordable, low-power connectivity solutions. For IoT to truly scale around the world, enterprises need a network that is designed for IoT applications - global, simple to integrate, and very secure. The panel, part of MWCA's Fourth Industrial Revolution theme and its day-long IoT Conference, will discuss how enterprises need a global, secure network designed for IoT applications. What: Delivering Mobile IoT at Scale Who: Moderator Ricardo Tavares, CEO, Techpolis Speakers Sue Holub, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, KORE Dave Mayo, Senior Vice President and Business Chief of 5G and IoT, T-Mobile (News - Alert) Steve Szabo, Head of Global Products and Solutions, Verizon Ludovico Fassati, Head of IoT, Vodafone (News - Alert) Americas When: Wednesday, September 12, 2018, from 2:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. PT Where: Mobile World Congress Americas Los Angeles Convention Center Room Petree C For those not attending MWCA, KORE will provide live updates from the event on its Twitter and LinkedIn channels as well as through its blogs on www.korewireless.com. About KORE KORE Wireless Group ("KORE") delivers transformative business performance through the Internet of Things (IoT). KORE is the largest independent provider of secure managed IoT networks, application enablement, and location based services, and focuses on combining our capabilities and expertise into business-centric IoT solutions. With operations in the USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, UK, Netherlands, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, KORE serves as our customers' trusted advisor and partner-of-choice for simplifying the complexities of IoT. KORE serves thousands of customers and partners who integrate our services into diverse, industry-specific applications including fleet management, healthcare, utilities, field services, asset management and tracking, and many more. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180905005133/en/ [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] The off-year elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey tend to receive outsize attention, and the results are mined for deeper meaning about what they portend for the midterm elections the following year that determine which party controls Congress. Rox United U12 Raiders get tripped up by Palumbo September 05, 2018 The Strange Timestamp In The New Novichok 'Evidence' - UPDATED Please read the Update highlighted below. --- Today, in a politically convenient moment, the British government released new information about the poisoning of the British spy Sergej Skripal, his daughter, and three other persons. It claims to have identified two men with Russian passports who arrived in London from Moscow on March 2, went to Salisbury on March 3 on a 'reconnaissance' trip, came back to Salisbury on March 4 to put Novichok poison on the doorknob of Skripal's home and flew back from London to Moscow on the same day. The names of the men were given as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov which are Russian language equivalents of Joe Smith and Sam Jones. These names are likely false. The police says that CCTV pictures were taken at several steps of the men's travel. The British news agency Reuters seem to distribute these. Several media have picked up copies. Here are screenshots of two CCTV pictures, taken from an 18 picture gallery in a report by The Independent headlined Salisbury poisoning suspects are Russian state assassins, Theresa May tells MPs. These are pictures 7 and 8 of a 18 picture gallery within that piece. , Pic 7 of 18 - full, uncropped screenshot , Pic 8 of 18 - full, uncropped screenshot The pics are also available at the Metropolitan police site: 1, 2. Notice that the time stamp on both pics is identical, 02/03/2018 16:22:43. But the pictures show two different men, each walking alone through the same part of a jet bridge as they arrive in Britain. How can it be that both of these pictures were taken at the exactly same second? And who tilted the permanently installed CCTV camera between the two shots? How did the camera angle change between picture one and two which were apparently taken at the very same place and at the very same time? If these two pictures can not be trusted how much can one trust the other CCTV pictures the Met showed to support its claims? --- UPDATE Sept 6 - 5:20 UTC Here is the answer to the above questions. In the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport, at the northern end of arrival level zero, there are several parallel and apparently identical gates leading into the airport. Each of these has a camera. , Thanks to Bruce Leidl who found the above picture in Google maps. The two pictures above with identical timestamps were taken in two of these gates with each of the 'Russian assassins' passing through one of them at the same time. Aeroflot flights from Moscow are serviced at the North Terminal. End of the Update - the original text continues below. --- The full statement of the Metropolitan police is here. Excerpts of Prime Minister Theresa May's statement are here. While May claims the two men were send by Russia's military spy service GRU, the Metropolitan police makes no such claims. Theresa May does not say on what evidence she based her conclusion. There seems to be none. It also seems a bit curious that a 'Russian assassin' team, allegedly from a highly professional secret service, would travel together and use direct flights from Moscow to London and back. That seems extraordinary careless. Why not fly separate and via a third country? And why would a professional assassin team drop a cellophane wrapped, unopened perfume bottle with the same poison into a charity bin behind shops in Catherine Street in Salisbury where Charlie Rowley would find it some 14 weeks(!?) later? The police says that it found traces of Novichok in the crappy hotel the 'Russian agents' stayed in between March 2 and March 4. It found those traces on May 4 but it waited until today to publicly ask other guests at the hotel to contact the police? If the incident was a professional assassination attempt with a highly potent 'Novichok' compound why did 4 out of 5 people who came into contact with it survive? The 80% failure rate is inconsistent with the scary tale about the highly potent 'Russian' Novichok poison. A decent dose of Megachok is probably more lethal. Sergej Skripal has not been seen in the public or even on video since the incident happened. His daughter Yulia Skripal appeared in a British government hostage video but then vanished. The Russian Embassy in London says that it has no access to them. The policeman, who allegedly was also injured during the incident, also never reappeared in public. Why are these people held incommunicado and under arrest? --- Previous Moon of Alabama posts on the Skripal case: Posted by b on September 5, 2018 at 17:33 UTC | Permalink Comments next page 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. Yelp Reviews Helping Home Prices? Will appraisals soon need to indicate a home's driving distance to the nearest cold-brew drive-through? Could be. According to a new study by the Harvard Business School, when an outlet for Starbucks opens in a community, home prices in that ZIP code rise by 0.5 percent within one year. The information emerged from a larger study on gentrification which was conducted using census data as well as data from Yelp. The study's authors say that Yelp may be a potential new tool for policymakers to monitor gentrification, the process of rebuilding homes and businesses in an area followed by an influx of more affluent residents. As this is often at the expense of earlier, often less well-off residents, it tends to be a volatile subject. The researchers say one big issue is the lack of consistent data to determine the ultimate effects of the trend, positive or negative. According to Harvard professor Edward Glaeser, it isn't clear whether housing prices are rising due to the Starbucks opening itself or simply because more affluent customers that would go to the coffee chain have moved into the area. While the price increase associated with a new Starbucks is modest, the study found that for every 10 reviews posted on Yelp there appeared to be 1.4 percent appreciation within the ZIP code. The paper states, "The most natural hypothesis to us is that restaurants respond to exogenous changes in neighborhood composition, not that restaurant availability is driving neighborhood change," and that gentrification is associated with increased numbers of grocery stores, cafes, and bars. The Business Schools Michael Luca told CNBC's Thomas Franck that Yelp has advantages over the government data from the Census Bureau or the Bureau of Labor Statistics usually employed in such studies. While the app isn't a replacement, it can augment older methods with real-time updates on local stores as well as ways in which neighborhoods change during gentrification. It also provides data on things like menus, prices, and ratings not otherwise available. It doesn't really seem as though the near-by availability of Pumpkin Spice Latte is driving home price increases, but Glaeser notes that causality is somewhat uncertain. Designer coffee probably isn't causing gentrification, but a new store may confirm the trend. In fact, he says, "This variable is likely to be a proxy for gentrification itself. Berlin Reporter A week of rescues keeps local first responders busy by Jody Houle REGION New Hampshire Fish and Game and other responders had a busy week with a number of rescues last week. Two OHRV accidents occurred in Berlin, and rescues occurred in Randolph and Franconia. On Sunday, Aug. 26, a 14-year-old male was injured in a dirt bike accident. At around 1:30 p.m., the teen, from Pembroke, was operating his dirt bike on the Brook Road Trail in Jericho Mountain State Park when he crashed into the back of another dirt bike operated by someone in his riding party. He was ejected from the dirt bike and sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries according to Fish and Game. Members of his riding group and an off duty Emergency Medical Technician attended to the teen first and a call was made to a third party. Berlin Fire, Berlin EMS, Berlin Police and Fish and Game conservation officers all arrived at the scene. The teen was transported by Berlin Ambulance to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Fish and Game said in a statement that, upon investigation, inattention appears to be the main contributor of the crash. A hiker was rescued in Franconia on, Tuesday, Aug. 27. At about 2 p.m., Fish and Game received a report of a man who was injured on the Falling Waters Trail in Franconia. Karl Hurtubise, 30, of Kennebunk, Maine, sustained an injury to his leg which prevented him from hiking back down the trail. 25 rescue members, including Fish and Game conservation officers and members of the Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team located him at about 5 p.m. in the vicinity of Shining Rock which is almost three miles from the trailhead. After medical attention was given to his leg, he was carried out the trail which is very steep and slippery said Fish and Game. The crew arrived at the trailhead with Hurtubise at around 9:45 p.m. He was taken by family members to a hospital in Maine for treatment. "Outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged to purchase a Hike Safe card at wildnh.com/safe.,"Fish and Game encouraged in a statement. "The card helps support Fish and Game search and rescue activities. For safe hiking tips and a list of essential gear, visit hikesafe.com." On Tuesday, Aug. 28, a woman was serious injured in Berlin due to an ATV accident. At around 10:30 a.m., Jonathan Gesin, 23, of Alexandria, Va., was operating an ATV on the Lake Loop Trail and tried to turn around but miscalculated the turn and he struck a tree. His passenger, Brittany Gesin, 22, also of Alexandria, Va., was ejected from the ATV and sustained injuries. Members of their riding group called 911. Berlin Police, Berlin Fire, Berlin EMS, a Coos County Sheriff's Deputy, and a Fish and Game conservation officer all responded to the scene. Brittany Gesin was taken to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment of her injuries. The next day, on Wednesday, Aug. 29, a woman was rescued from Mount Madison in Randolph. At about 1:41 p.m., a call was made to 911 concerning a hiker, Caroline G. Eyman, 22, of Manchester, Vt., was found by a hiking partner about a mile up from the Appalachia Trailhead and Eyman was unconscious and unresponsive. The location is at the intersection of the Beechwood May Trail and Airline Trail. Three Fish and Game conservation officers ran up the hill and Conservation Officer James Cyr arrived at the scene first at around 2:29 p.m. Gorham EMS was next to arrive. Gorham EMS and and the conservation officers gave Eyman first aid and stabilized her. She was carried out by Fish and Game and by a Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue crew, and members of the Appalachian Mountain Club. The crews brought her down the trail in about 12 minutes. "This is a great example of a team of rescuers recognizing a potential life threatening issue and working together to complete the mission effectively and timely," Fish and Game stated in a press release. Eyman was taken to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment. There was also a rescue after an UTV accident occurred on the Webster Highway in Temple on Aug. 26. REGION New Hampshire Fish and Game and other responders had a busy week with a number of rescues last week. Two OHRV accidents occurred in Berlin, and rescues occurred in Randolph and Franconia.On Sunday, Aug. 26, a 14-year-old male was injured in a dirt bike accident. At around 1:30 p.m., the teen, from Pembroke, was operating his dirt bike on the Brook Road Trail in Jericho Mountain State Park when he crashed into the back of another dirt bike operated by someone in his riding party. He was ejected from the dirt bike and sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries according to Fish and Game.Members of his riding group and an off duty Emergency Medical Technician attended to the teen first and a call was made to a third party. Berlin Fire, Berlin EMS, Berlin Police and Fish and Game conservation officers all arrived at the scene. The teen was transported by Berlin Ambulance to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment of his injuries.Fish and Game said in a statement that, upon investigation, inattention appears to be the main contributor of the crash.A hiker was rescued in Franconia on, Tuesday, Aug. 27.At about 2 p.m., Fish and Game received a report of a man who was injured on the Falling Waters Trail in Franconia.Karl Hurtubise, 30, of Kennebunk, Maine, sustained an injury to his leg which prevented him from hiking back down the trail. 25 rescue members, including Fish and Game conservation officers and members of the Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team located him at about 5 p.m. in the vicinity of Shining Rock which is almost three miles from the trailhead. After medical attention was given to his leg, he was carried out the trail which is very steep and slippery said Fish and Game. The crew arrived at the trailhead with Hurtubise at around 9:45 p.m. He was taken by family members to a hospital in Maine for treatment."Outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged to purchase a Hike Safe card at wildnh.com/safe.,"Fish and Game encouraged in a statement. "The card helps support Fish and Game search and rescue activities. For safe hiking tips and a list of essential gear, visit hikesafe.com."On Tuesday, Aug. 28, a woman was serious injured in Berlin due to an ATV accident. At around 10:30 a.m., Jonathan Gesin, 23, of Alexandria, Va., was operating an ATV on the Lake Loop Trail and tried to turn around but miscalculated the turn and he struck a tree. His passenger, Brittany Gesin, 22, also of Alexandria, Va., was ejected from the ATV and sustained injuries.Members of their riding group called 911. Berlin Police, Berlin Fire, Berlin EMS, a Coos County Sheriff's Deputy, and a Fish and Game conservation officer all responded to the scene. Brittany Gesin was taken to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment of her injuries.The next day, on Wednesday, Aug. 29, a woman was rescued from Mount Madison in Randolph.At about 1:41 p.m., a call was made to 911 concerning a hiker, Caroline G. Eyman, 22, of Manchester, Vt., was found by a hiking partner about a mile up from the Appalachia Trailhead and Eyman was unconscious and unresponsive. The location is at the intersection of the Beechwood May Trail and Airline Trail.Three Fish and Game conservation officers ran up the hill and Conservation Officer James Cyr arrived at the scene first at around 2:29 p.m. Gorham EMS was next to arrive. Gorham EMS and and the conservation officers gave Eyman first aid and stabilized her. She was carried out by Fish and Game and by a Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue crew, and members of the Appalachian Mountain Club. The crews brought her down the trail in about 12 minutes."This is a great example of a team of rescuers recognizing a potential life threatening issue and working together to complete the mission effectively and timely," Fish and Game stated in a press release.Eyman was taken to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital for treatment.There was also a rescue after an UTV accident occurred on the Webster Highway in Temple on Aug. 26. Berlin Reporter Soccer boys win on senior day, look ahead to playoffs Housing needs discussed at North Country Council's annual commission meeting Recent Jody Houle State funding cuts force closure of Brown School 2019-Jan-23 Grenier testifies in support of House Bill aimed at overturning education cuts 2019-Jan-23 Film made in Berlin now available for purchase 2019-Jan-17 School board continues to discuss reorganization of grades 2019-Jan-17 AVH hosting forum on addiction treatment services 2019-Jan-09 Police apprehend armed man following standoff 2019-Jan-09 More... Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com Coos County Democrat WSPA marks 35th anniversary by memorializing two members by Edith Tucker WSPA board member Kathi Govatski, left, of Jefferson dedicated the newly installed granite bench to key volunteer, the late Iris Baird of Lancaster, on Thursday, Aug. 24, at Weeks State Park in Lancaster. WSPA president, Sally Pratt of Lancaster, served as the evening's master of ceremonies. (Photo by Edith Tucker) (click for larger version) LANCASTER The important contributions of two key members of the Weeks State Park Association (WSPA) were permanently commemorated on Thursday evening, Aug. 23, at an outdoor ceremony in the shadow of the stone Fire Lookout Tower on Mt. Prospect (elevation 2,058 feet) in Weeks State Park. WSPA president Sally Pratt of Lancaster served as master of ceremonies at its annual meeting, this year designed both to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the nonprofit organization's first annual meeting and to honor the late Philip F. Quinn, Jr. of Whitefield and the late Iris Baird of Lancaster. Quinn founded the WSPA, and a plaque will now inform visitors his leadership role in having the Park avoid what likely would have been its permanent shuttering. When a 20 percent state Parks budget cut was put in place under Gov. Hugh Gallen of Littleton, Quinn mobilized a group of local citizens and negotiated with the-then Division of Parks Director Paul Doherty of Gorham to kept the Park open. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the all-volunteer WSPA, formalized in 1983, which continues to play an important role as an advocate and a financial supporter of on-site programs and amenities. A granite bench with a sweeping view to the east was dedicated to Baird, who worked tirelessly to advance the Park's well-being. Baird worked hard to gain the fire tower's entry into the National Historic Lookout Register. She and her husband, Bill, had a deep affection for Mt. Prospect, and both enthusiastically carried out many volunteer activities. Baird was a wildflower expert and could identify any plant in the Park. The back of the bench not only has her name etched into it but also pictures of both the fire tower and (yellow) lady slippers. The evening also included the 10th and last indoor summer program, featuring the Comfort Country Band. The annual autumn wildflower walk is set from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9. Besides organizing the summer program schedules, the WSPA provided $15,000 to help pay for the much-needed stucco repair work and other expenses: $1,400 to restore and frame photographs in the Lodge and $500 to print a new geology brochure. The WSPA also paid for new wooden guard rails, assisted by the Coos Economic Development Corporation (CEDC). Pratt noted that the financial support of over 30 area businesses has played a very big part in keeping the WSPA in good financial shape. UNH Cooperative Extension provides considerable logistical support. Both Director Phil Bryce of the state Parks and Recreation Department and Director Ben Wilson of the Bureau of Historic Sites within that Division were on hand on Thursday evening along with Parks manager Rachel Bruce, several state employees and WSPA board members. Governor and Council will meet in the Weeks Lodge at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, at the request of District I Executive Councilor Joe Kenney of Wakefield. LANCASTER The important contributions of two key members of the Weeks State Park Association (WSPA) were permanently commemorated on Thursday evening, Aug. 23, at an outdoor ceremony in the shadow of the stone Fire Lookout Tower on Mt. Prospect (elevation 2,058 feet) in Weeks State Park.WSPA president Sally Pratt of Lancaster served as master of ceremonies at its annual meeting, this year designed both to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the nonprofit organization's first annual meeting and to honor the late Philip F. Quinn, Jr. of Whitefield and the late Iris Baird of Lancaster.Quinn founded the WSPA, and a plaque will now inform visitors his leadership role in having the Park avoid what likely would have been its permanent shuttering.When a 20 percent state Parks budget cut was put in place under Gov. Hugh Gallen of Littleton, Quinn mobilized a group of local citizens and negotiated with the-then Division of Parks Director Paul Doherty of Gorham to kept the Park open. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the all-volunteer WSPA, formalized in 1983, which continues to play an important role as an advocate and a financial supporter of on-site programs and amenities.A granite bench with a sweeping view to the east was dedicated to Baird, who worked tirelessly to advance the Park's well-being. Baird worked hard to gain the fire tower's entry into the National Historic Lookout Register. She and her husband, Bill, had a deep affection for Mt. Prospect, and both enthusiastically carried out many volunteer activities. Baird was a wildflower expert and could identify any plant in the Park. The back of the bench not only has her name etched into it but also pictures of both the fire tower and (yellow) lady slippers.The evening also included the 10th and last indoor summer program, featuring the Comfort Country Band. The annual autumn wildflower walk is set from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9.Besides organizing the summer program schedules, the WSPA provided $15,000 to help pay for the much-needed stucco repair work and other expenses: $1,400 to restore and frame photographs in the Lodge and $500 to print a new geology brochure. The WSPA also paid for new wooden guard rails, assisted by the Coos Economic Development Corporation (CEDC).Pratt noted that the financial support of over 30 area businesses has played a very big part in keeping the WSPA in good financial shape. UNH Cooperative Extension provides considerable logistical support.Both Director Phil Bryce of the state Parks and Recreation Department and Director Ben Wilson of the Bureau of Historic Sites within that Division were on hand on Thursday evening along with Parks manager Rachel Bruce, several state employees and WSPA board members.Governor and Council will meet in the Weeks Lodge at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, at the request of District I Executive Councilor Joe Kenney of Wakefield. Winnisquam Echo Hundreds turn out for annual celebration of Native American heritage by Donna Rhodes write the author Gerard Dulac was pleased to welcome Chris, "The Butterfly Man," to the 48th year of the Laconia Indian Heritage Association's Labor Day Weekend Powwow, which is held at the Dulac Land Trust in Sanbornton each year. (Photo by Donna Rhodes) (click for larger version) SANBORNTON The Laconia Indian Heritage Association held its annual Labor Day Powwow in Sanbornton last weekend, and among the hundreds of participants and guests was none other than Sanbornton resident Gerard Dulac himself, the owner of the approximately 100-acre Dulac Land Trust where the Powwows and other Native American events organized by LIHA have now been held for 48 years. Both of Dulac's grandmothers were of Indian descent, he said, and when his offering for use of the property to other local civic groups was turned down, he jumped on a suggestion that he allow LIHA to utilize the land. "I was so happy when someone mentioned them. There's so much beauty out here, and I wanted some group to just come out here and enjoy it. This was the best I could ever ask for," he said. Throughout the years, that offer has been greatly appreciated by LIHA, which then shares that appreciation with others. Scouting groups are invited to hold special activities on the property and in the early summer LIHA also hosts a Learner's Weekend for people interested in discovering more about the Native American culture. People who are members of the organization are able to camp seasonally on the property, and then of course, there is the annual Labor Day Powwow in September. Richie Corso of Meredith is the vice-president of LIHA, and was excited about the upturn in the organization this year. "We've been so active this year and hitting the fundraising aspect hard," he said. "We have our 50th anniversary coming up here soon and we want to be ready for it." Among those initiatives was LIHA's sponsorship of the concession stand at two of the Hartwell Summer Concert Series events in Tilton this summer. In addition to that and other fundraising, he said the group is always working on the land that Dulac has provided. There are the Arbor and vendor areas available for Powwow weekends, a kitchen, craft buildings and bath facilities that all require regular maintenance. In addition to that the property includes numerous campsites, memorials walking paths, roadways and a pond that must be kept up to snuff. Those countless hours of maintenance are worth it all, though, Corso said. During the Labor Day Powwow each year, they have not only attracted many Native Americans from near and far, they have also drawn in hundreds of others who simply want to learn more about their ancient culture. "It's amazing! Through the years, we've seen over 4,000 license plates come through here from all over," said Corso. Last weekend's annual Powwow once again attracted interested individuals and families from near and far. Among the many events they observed or took part in were a Mourner's Feast on Friday that included a candlelight vigil for loved ones lost. There was a Grand Entry each day at noon, dancing under the Arbor to the sounds of Four Wind Drums, along with vendors offering countless Native American crafts, books, hand-woven goods, rhythmic instruments and traditional regalia. From 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday and Sunday, children were also invited to take part in a wide array of craft projects. Under the guidance of LIHA members, boys and girls could learn to make things such as models of tipis, dance sticks, dream catchers and leg bells. They were even given lessons on how to do intricate beadwork. Each night over the weekend a second session of drum/dance sessions were held once again and on Sunday, all in attendance were welcomed to join together for a turkey feast. Russ Shetenhelm and his wife Elly-O of Atkinson were dressed in beautiful Native American regalia, Russ's made by his grandmother he revealed, and were among the many who took part in this year's Powwow. "We support all their activities and their Powwow each year because it helps preserve the heritage and keep the traditions alive," Elly-O said. Corsi, who is not of Native American descent himself, said the traditions of Native Americans is the real focus of LIHA and anyone interested in their culture is invited to join them. "I got involved in this through my wife and fell in love with it. The one thing I do now every year is make sure I get out there for at least one session of the dancing," he said. "It's an amazing culture. We have a good crew and a great board of directors who are working hard to preserve the Native American culture." For those who want to learn more about LIHA, its history, scholarship programs that are open to all, or any upcoming events, please visit their Web site, SANBORNTON The Laconia Indian Heritage Association held its annual Labor Day Powwow in Sanbornton last weekend, and among the hundreds of participants and guests was none other than Sanbornton resident Gerard Dulac himself, the owner of the approximately 100-acre Dulac Land Trust where the Powwows and other Native American events organized by LIHA have now been held for 48 years.Both of Dulac's grandmothers were of Indian descent, he said, and when his offering for use of the property to other local civic groups was turned down, he jumped on a suggestion that he allow LIHA to utilize the land."I was so happy when someone mentioned them. There's so much beauty out here, and I wanted some group to just come out here and enjoy it. This was the best I could ever ask for," he said.Throughout the years, that offer has been greatly appreciated by LIHA, which then shares that appreciation with others. Scouting groups are invited to hold special activities on the property and in the early summer LIHA also hosts a Learner's Weekend for people interested in discovering more about the Native American culture. People who are members of the organization are able to camp seasonally on the property, and then of course, there is the annual Labor Day Powwow in September.Richie Corso of Meredith is the vice-president of LIHA, and was excited about the upturn in the organization this year."We've been so active this year and hitting the fundraising aspect hard," he said. "We have our 50th anniversary coming up here soon and we want to be ready for it."Among those initiatives was LIHA's sponsorship of the concession stand at two of the Hartwell Summer Concert Series events in Tilton this summer.In addition to that and other fundraising, he said the group is always working on the land that Dulac has provided. There are the Arbor and vendor areas available for Powwow weekends, a kitchen, craft buildings and bath facilities that all require regular maintenance. In addition to that the property includes numerous campsites, memorials walking paths, roadways and a pond that must be kept up to snuff.Those countless hours of maintenance are worth it all, though, Corso said.During the Labor Day Powwow each year, they have not only attracted many Native Americans from near and far, they have also drawn in hundreds of others who simply want to learn more about their ancient culture."It's amazing! Through the years, we've seen over 4,000 license plates come through here from all over," said Corso.Last weekend's annual Powwow once again attracted interested individuals and families from near and far. Among the many events they observed or took part in were a Mourner's Feast on Friday that included a candlelight vigil for loved ones lost. There was a Grand Entry each day at noon, dancing under the Arbor to the sounds of Four Wind Drums, along with vendors offering countless Native American crafts, books, hand-woven goods, rhythmic instruments and traditional regalia.From 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday and Sunday, children were also invited to take part in a wide array of craft projects. Under the guidance of LIHA members, boys and girls could learn to make things such as models of tipis, dance sticks, dream catchers and leg bells. They were even given lessons on how to do intricate beadwork.Each night over the weekend a second session of drum/dance sessions were held once again and on Sunday, all in attendance were welcomed to join together for a turkey feast.Russ Shetenhelm and his wife Elly-O of Atkinson were dressed in beautiful Native American regalia, Russ's made by his grandmother he revealed, and were among the many who took part in this year's Powwow."We support all their activities and their Powwow each year because it helps preserve the heritage and keep the traditions alive," Elly-O said.Corsi, who is not of Native American descent himself, said the traditions of Native Americans is the real focus of LIHA and anyone interested in their culture is invited to join them."I got involved in this through my wife and fell in love with it. The one thing I do now every year is make sure I get out there for at least one session of the dancing," he said. "It's an amazing culture. We have a good crew and a great board of directors who are working hard to preserve the Native American culture."For those who want to learn more about LIHA, its history, scholarship programs that are open to all, or any upcoming events, please visit their Web site, www.lihanh.org Winnisquam Echo Winnisquam falls in playoff battle of the field hockey Bears Police investigate untimely death in Sanbornton Recent Donna Rhodes Fundraiser celebrates former Alexandria residents love for animals 2021-Oct-29 Fundraiser planned to benefit local animal lovers family 2021-Oct-13 New business helps clients enjoy the outdoors at their own pace 2021-Oct-13 Bristol Falls Park marred by vandalism 2021-Oct-07 Ashland library celebrates 150th anniversary 2021-Oct-07 Reinartz steps down after 22 years as Tiltons Town Clerk 2021-Oct-07 More... Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com Winnisquam Echo Public feedback sought on efforts to revitalize downtown Tilton by Donna Rhodes write the author TILTON Selectmen heard last week from Juliet Harvey-Bolia, a representative from the town's recently formed First Impressions Committee, which is working with the UNH Cooperative Extension on ways to improve the look and atmosphere of downtown Tilton. The committee, Harvey-Bolia told the board last Thursday, will be holding an update on their research on Sept. 27, and will open a conversation up to the public in hopes of getting not only feedback on their findings but fresh ideas for the improvement of the downtown business district. First Impressions is under the umbrella of the UNH Cooperative's Vibrant Community project, which seeks to assist communities in finding new ways to draw more people and more business to their downtown sectors. "It's a tested and vetted national program that I think can really help our town," said Harvey-Bolia. The Tilton committee, she said, was formed early this year and has been working hard over the past several months to gather as much information as they can. In the initial phase of the First Impressions initiative, Tilton was to be paired up with a similar local community. The Co-op determined that the Town of Pittsfield, which had also reached out to the Cooperative for assistance, was a suitable match due to size and other logistics. Each town's First Impressions committee then sent Secret Shoppers to the alternate community. While there, committee members recorded their thoughts and reactions to the experiences they had in the other town's business district. "We each noted the strengths and weakness on the downtown area then submitted the data we collected," said Harvey-Bolia. That data will be revealed at the upcoming Community Conversation and people in attendance will also be asked to express their own thoughts on downtown Tilton. Following the open discussions, smaller groups will then be formed to discuss how the town might improve a variety of the aspects of Main Street Tilton. "This is open to anyone, whether they live in Tilton or not. If they live here, shop here, work here or come here for any other reasons, we'd love to hear their thoughts and ideas," Harvey-Bolia said. "It all happens here (at the Community Conversation). If you have issues, if you have ideas, this is the place where it will all be recorded." Town Planner Dari Sassan also attended the meeting with selectmen, and said his hope is that the Downtown Conversation will help the committee identify the next steps that need to be taken. "This is also something we can talk to Jeanie Forrester about," he said. Forrester is a former New Hampshire State Senator, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and on the local level, helped the towns of Meredith and Plymouth achieve a Main Street U.S.A. status. Next month she will take over the role of Town Administrator in Tilton. "She'll be a great help to the town," Harvey-Bolia agreed after the meeting. The First Impressions committee is made up of 12 local residents from all walks of life, she added. Among them are the Chief of Police, town staff members, three youth representatives and other residents. The Downtown Tilton Update and Community Conversation is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Tilton School Chapel on School Street. The event will begin at 5:30 for a valuable Networking/Greeting session while the meeting itself is scheduled to take place from 6-7:30 p.m. There will be complimentary refreshments and coffee served and people from all walks of life, from not only Tilton but surrounding communities, are encouraged to attend. TILTON Selectmen heard last week from Juliet Harvey-Bolia, a representative from the town's recently formed First Impressions Committee, which is working with the UNH Cooperative Extension on ways to improve the look and atmosphere of downtown Tilton. The committee, Harvey-Bolia told the board last Thursday, will be holding an update on their research on Sept. 27, and will open a conversation up to the public in hopes of getting not only feedback on their findings but fresh ideas for the improvement of the downtown business district.First Impressions is under the umbrella of the UNH Cooperative's Vibrant Community project, which seeks to assist communities in finding new ways to draw more people and more business to their downtown sectors."It's a tested and vetted national program that I think can really help our town," said Harvey-Bolia.The Tilton committee, she said, was formed early this year and has been working hard over the past several months to gather as much information as they can.In the initial phase of the First Impressions initiative, Tilton was to be paired up with a similar local community. The Co-op determined that the Town of Pittsfield, which had also reached out to the Cooperative for assistance, was a suitable match due to size and other logistics. Each town's First Impressions committee then sent Secret Shoppers to the alternate community. While there, committee members recorded their thoughts and reactions to the experiences they had in the other town's business district."We each noted the strengths and weakness on the downtown area then submitted the data we collected," said Harvey-Bolia.That data will be revealed at the upcoming Community Conversation and people in attendance will also be asked to express their own thoughts on downtown Tilton. Following the open discussions, smaller groups will then be formed to discuss how the town might improve a variety of the aspects of Main Street Tilton."This is open to anyone, whether they live in Tilton or not. If they live here, shop here, work here or come here for any other reasons, we'd love to hear their thoughts and ideas," Harvey-Bolia said. "It all happens here (at the Community Conversation). If you have issues, if you have ideas, this is the place where it will all be recorded."Town Planner Dari Sassan also attended the meeting with selectmen, and said his hope is that the Downtown Conversation will help the committee identify the next steps that need to be taken."This is also something we can talk to Jeanie Forrester about," he said.Forrester is a former New Hampshire State Senator, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and on the local level, helped the towns of Meredith and Plymouth achieve a Main Street U.S.A. status. Next month she will take over the role of Town Administrator in Tilton."She'll be a great help to the town," Harvey-Bolia agreed after the meeting.The First Impressions committee is made up of 12 local residents from all walks of life, she added. Among them are the Chief of Police, town staff members, three youth representatives and other residents.The Downtown Tilton Update and Community Conversation is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Tilton School Chapel on School Street. The event will begin at 5:30 for a valuable Networking/Greeting session while the meeting itself is scheduled to take place from 6-7:30 p.m. There will be complimentary refreshments and coffee served and people from all walks of life, from not only Tilton but surrounding communities, are encouraged to attend. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday announced that the Central government is working on a relief package for crisis-ridden domestic airlines, which would focus on reducing the carriers operational costs. Air India will raise Rs 2,100 crore in government-guaranteed borrowing. The loan will be extended by the State Bank of India. The government has approved Rs 860 crore as equity infusion for the state-owned carrier for the ongoing financial year, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Chaubey told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi. According to sources, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week and deliberated at length about the financial health of domestic airlines, including that of Air India. Officials said that both the ministries had put rising prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) as one of the reasons behind mounting losses. As bringing ATF under the GST slab had not been possible so far, the ministers had talked of reducing excise duty from 14 per cent to 8 per cent. Moreover, the aviation ministry also wanted to allow overseas loans for working capital requirements. Rising oil prices and a weak rupee have badly affected the financial health of domestic airline companies in the country. Many airlines have reported losses in their recent financial results. While Jet Airways posted a loss of Rs 1,323 crore in the June quarter of the current financial year, budget carrier SpiceJet, after seeing profits for 13 consecutive quarters, reported a loss of Rs 38 crore during the same period. Similarly, IndiGo, the countrys largest commercial airline, reported 97 per cent decline in profits during the quarter. The Civil Aviation Ministry, which has closely observed the results, is of the view that bringing ATF under GST would help the loss-making carriers. According to Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the Indian airline sector is expected to report $1.65 billion-1.90 billion in losses in FY 2018-19, up from its own previous estimate of $430 million-$460 million. Sources said Prabhu had also talked about growth plans for the aviation sector, including construction of 100 airports at an estimated cost of $60 billion (about Rs 4.2 lakh crore) in the next 10-15 years through public private partnership. Burdensome policies IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac on Tuesday said government policies are imposing excessive costs on airlines in India and infrastructure constraints are limiting growth. He said GST on international air tickets violates ICAO principles. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Board of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which met on Tuesday to decide on the modalities and timelines for increasing stake in the debt-ridden IDBI Bank to 51 per cent, is seeking market regulator SEBIs approval for making an open offer to minority shareholders of the bank. Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who is also a member on the LIC Board, said that the time table has been decided and an open offer is being explored. They (LIC) are exploring an open offer. It will either be an exemption or an open offer, Garg told reporters after the Board meeting, adding that SEBI will take a call on the same. The Securities and Exchange Board of India will decide whether it (open offer) has to be accepted or if an exception will be granted, Garg added. Meanwhile, LIC is in the process of picking up additional 7 per cent stake in IDBI Bank through preferential shares. With this, its total holding in the bank would rise to 14.9 per cent. At present, LIC holds 7.98 per cent stake in the public sector bank. The stake hike will help IDBI Bank meet the immediate capital requirement that will enable it to meet the regulatory norms at the end of second quarter. In August, the Union Cabinet had approved LICs proposed acquisition of up to 51 per cent stake in the debt-ridden lender. The bank, in which the government holds 85.96 per cent stake, had posted a net loss of `2,409.89 crore in the quarter ended June 2018. It had posted gross non-performing assets to the tune of `57,807 crore. By PTI MUMBAI: In the largest ever flash sale, cash-strapped private carrier Jet Airways Tuesday put 25 lakh seats up for grabs at almost one-third of the normal fares for travel across its domestic and international network under a limited period offer. The bookings of flights under the six-day offer starts Tuesday and covers both business and economy class travel, Jet Airways said in a statement. The travel period starts from September 10 onwards, it added. "Jet Airways offers an up to 30 per cent savings on 25 lakh (2.5 million) seats on travel within India and beyond to and from the UK/Europe and Canada, Gulf and South Asian countries," the airline said. The offer will be available through all booking channels of the airline till September 7, the airline said, adding customers bookings their tickets through the company's website and mobile can avail it till September 9. Selling inventory in advance helps an airline generate working capital. Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways, which posted a whopping Rs 1,300 crore loss in June quarter owing to high jet fuel prices, rupee depreciation and lower fares, is facing cash crunch and looking for ways and means to raise capital. "Guests can explore a whole gamut of destinations across the globe using this travel opportunity, as also make considerable savings on their bookings," said Raj Sivakumar, senior vice-president for worldwide sales and distribution, Jet Airways. The Jet Airways offer comes a day after budget carrier IndiGo announced sale of 10 lakh seats at fares starting Rs 999 for its domestic and international flights. In a similar move, Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Berhad had Saturday offered fares as low as Rs 1,399 for the group airlines international network and Rs 999 for travel within India on its subsidiary, AirAsia India, flights. The Jet Airways' global fare sale is available to guests booking their one-way and return tickets, for either business or economy travel, the statement said. Guests from India can choose to travel to any of the airline's 66 destinations, including international ones, the airline said, adding guests booking their tickets from cities in the Gulf can book their travel to destinations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Far East. By UNI BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy today launched a new portal that will remove the hurdles that students face in accessing scholarships in time. The newly developed State Scholarship Portal (SSP), which replaces the old Scholarship Management Information System (SIMS), will ensure that over 3 lakh students in schools and colleges across the state get their State funding directly in their bank account. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kumaraswamy said "We in Karnataka realise that the education system needs to be upgraded to meet the challenges of today, and to deliver better quality education to students. As befits the most technologically advanced state, our government has created the new State Scholarship Portal. I am confident this will ensure no deserving student or beneficiary is left behind. " The SSP has been developed by the Department of e-Governance. The portal has incorporated the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) - a unique id given by the Department of Primary and Secondary education, to all school children from Class 1 to 10 at the time of admission. The Chief Minister also said that the new portal will cover all welfare departments - namely Social Welfare, Tribal Welfare, Backward Classes Welfare, Minority Welfare, as well as the Education department. Scholarships will be disbursed through implementation of DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), as per the Government of India norms. Deputy Chief Minister, Dr G Parameshwara, who is also Minister for Bengaluru Development, in a message said "Every year, bright students from across this state face a hard choice: whether to continue education, or drop out for lack of support or delay in support. It is heartening to know that with the help of our government these students will never have to face that dilemma again. " The Deputy Chief Minister noted that the first scholarship to be disbursed will be the Pre-matric scholarship, and further programmes and schemes will be rolled out soon. He also expressed desire that every department works pro-actively to identify and bring more deserving students and citizens into the scholarship ambit. Minister for Social Welfare said Social Welfare Department Priyank Kharge distributed total of Rs.62736 lakhs scholarships to 16.02 lakhs students in the year 2017-18. Out of this 11.56 lakhs students belonging to SC and 14947 students belonging to ST community. Rs.47789 lakhs to SC and Rs, 14947 lakhs has distributed in the year 2017-18, through RTGS and the old SIMS. "We would like to see this number go up, and more students benefit, once we fully roll out the SSP," he added. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asserted that schools cannot refuse admission to students for lack of Aadhaar, and termed denial on such grounds as "invalid". It has also exhorted schools to co-ordinate with local banks, post offices, state education department and district administration, to facilitate special camps in their premises for Aadhaar enrolment and updation. According to an official circular addressed to the Chief Secretaries of States, the UIDAI has said that it is aware of instances where some schools are refusing admission in absence of Aadhaar. "It must be ensured that no children are deprived/denied of their due benefits or rights for want of Aadhaar," said the circular seen by PTI. Warning that such denials are "invalid and not permitted under the law", the Aadhaar-issuing body has said that "no child should be denied admission and other facilities for lack of Aadhaar". The move by UIDAI is expected to come as a major relief to parents and students who have been facing difficulties due to schools insisting on Aadhaar number during admission. "Till Aadhaar number is assigned or biometrics are updated for such students all facilities should be extended through alternate means of identification.," UIDAI has said. Ashwini M Sripad By Express News Service BENGALURU: Two years ago, most of the children studying at the BBMP Higher Primary School in Shivajinagar were struggling to write words and some even struggled with alphabets. Today, they can not only read and write difficult words, but can pronounce them with a proper accent, all thanks to the efforts of their teacher. Meet Radha Kumari K S , English teacher at BBMP Higher Primary School at Tasker Town in Shivajinagar where 121 students are studying from Classes 1 to 7. Her teaching methods go out of the textbook so that every single child recognises words and understands the meaning. A Bachelors degree holder in Arts (BA) with English Major, followed by a Diploma in Education, Radha studied in Kannada medium till PU II, all through in government schools and colleges at Kolar. Radha just learnt English like any of her classmates to read, write and pass exams. When I opted for BA with English Major, I was scared. Initially, it was very difficult to understand. But then slowly, I started reading with the help of a dictionary and I started enjoying the language, she said. Radha adores her teacher Deepa who taught her while she was studying DEd. Deepa would teach us English teaching methodology with a passion. I then decided to take tips from her. This is my seventh year at the BBMP school. I make sure the children like me first. Once they like the teacher, they will start loving the toughest of subject, she added. When this reporter visited the school, she was teaching the chapter How do Bees Make Honey to Class 6 students. Instead of just reading and explaining the meaning, Radha had drawings of the bee on the blackboard. She even got her students to make beehives using cardboard and asking them to cut it in hexagonal shapes while another set of children drew honeybees. Children learnt the word hexa (six) and even started explaining how honey is made. Needless to say, they explained in English. Chose profession to help kids achieve their dreams Radha uses simple methods. She teaches English words along with Kannada meaning. She also teaches them rhyming words which help children recognise different words with similar pronunciation. What makes her job all the more challenging is that the children studying here, who are from an economically poor background, speak different languages Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Urdu. This is the most challenging when I am teaching them pronunciations, she says. I too had dreams like these children to become a doctor engineer or lawyer, but could not become one. But I have chosen a profession that can lay the foundation to help these children achieve their dreams, she beams. Twelve-year-old Steven told TNIE that his father is a cab driver and mother a domestic help. He wants to become a lawyer and travel across the globe. I need to learn English to study law. If I travel to different countries, I need English again. I like the way Radha maam teaches us. Mogan Kumar, who speaks Tamil at home, wants to become a software engineer. Both his parents are tailors. After Radha maams class, I try to converse in English with my friends to improve my language, he says. Ganesh, a Class 7 student whose father works as a watchman at a shop on Cunningham Road, said, Radha maam makes us feel that English is an easy language, he said. By Express News Service BENGALURU: The HAL police have solved a civil dispute case within 24 hours, after a 30-year woman techie approached Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy during his Janatha Darshan. The woman had purchased a flat in an apartment and the owners of VKC Builders were called to the police station to settle the issue. The police officer said that Vandana Kukreja, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, working as a software engineer, was residing in Kaverappa Layout in Marathalli and had purchased a flat from VKC Builders at Panathur and paid full payment of `65 lakh in January 2018. The owners Vijay Kumar Chaurasia and his brother Vijay Prakash Chaurasia had assured her that they would give possession before August 28 this year. When Vandana went to meet the builders repeatedly, they started avoiding her. Upset over this, she finally decided to meet the CM and on Saturday Kumaraswamy asked the city police commissioner to look into the matter. Abdul Ahad, DCP-Whitefield directed the Marathahalli police to take up the case on priority. The inspector brought the brothers to the station and filed a case of cheating against them. According to police, the builders had pledged the flat to some other buyer. On Monday, the police took them to jurisdictional sub registrar office and got the property registered in the name of Vandana literally handing over the ownership of the flat to her. Ramah Srinivasan By Express News Service CHENNAI: The name Mahabalipuram on a backflip brings back the memories of school picnics that were spent meanininglessly amongst endless sculptures and stone carvings on hot and grimy days. However, having committed to taking my cousin Kalpana and her children Sanjana and Shreya and my daughter Sharanyah from abroad on a site seeing tour of Mahabalipuram last week, it was with great hesitation that I started gathering material about the history of the famous tourist spot of the Chennaites. I went about pulling out my old history books and UNESCO related material to bring myself abreast of Mahabalipurams fame and name. It was with great astonishment and surprise that I realised how fortunate we are to own this tourist spot which is a treasure trove of sculptures and carvings all steeped in ancient history. The place was named after the Demon King, Mahabali. The city flourished and was brought to limelight only in the 7th to 9th Century under the Pallava Rule. The city was renamed Mamallapuram after the Pallava King, NarsimhaVarman I who was also known as Mamallan because of his wrestling skills. The Pallava kings made Mamallapuram their capital and adorned the city with countless artistic styles of stone carved sculptures, stunning rock carved temples and unbelievable man-made carvings. With this preface, we made our entry into Mamallapuram by having a darshan of the Sthala Sayana Perumal Koil in the city. It happens to be one of the 108 Divya Desams. We entered the temple on Thiruvaadi Puram day when the famous Azhvar Aandaal was born. The temple was teaming with devotees and the Aandaal Sannaddhi was beautifully decorated. Having had a splendorous darshan of Sthala Sayana Perumal who is in a sleeping posture, Thayaar, Aandal, Narasimha Perumal, Aanjaneyar and Boodhathazhvar the second of the first three Alwars, was born here, we began our site seeing tour. We first visited the Shore Temple on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. You are simply smothered by the vastness, spread and size of the temple. Though barricaded, we were able to catch a glimpse of the broken Shiva Linga in one temple. The Sayana Perumal temple has been cordoned off, fearing vandalism by tourists. The nandhis, horses, elephants and the variety of sculptures and carvings on every rock there is breathtaking and mesmerizing. If only you can visualize King Narsimha Varman I, periodically sauntering around the unfolding sculptures and encouraging the sculptors by his very physical presence there, you will realize the enormity of those sculptures and carvings and the attention he paid in turning them out best in the Country, which they really are till date. We then moved on to the Descent of the Ganges and the Arjunas Tapas sculpture. The ancient story about Rishi Bhageerathan praying and doing penance for the holy Ganges to descend on earth and enrich the Indian sub-continent is well portrayed here. The Descent of the Ganges and Arjunas Penance are portrayed in stone at the Pallava heritage site. The relief is more of a canvas of Indian rock cut sculpture at its best and not seen anywhere in India. It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuramthat were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. It is astonishing that the entire sweep of the carving is on a single rock. The intricate detailing and sculpting leaves one dumbfounded. There are rishis in yogic posture, animals and birds in their natural habitat, men and women also meditating or praying. I was also drawn to the hairdo of the rishis and men in these sculptures which bear very close resemblance to the Buddhist hairstyle. This made me wonder about the underlying influence of Buddhism on the later dynasties. In one corner away from all the frenetic activity, sits one monkey holding another monkey in an affectionate posture. From here, we climbed up to the Rock cut Ganesha Ratha The final ratha is the Dharma ratha which is also very artistically carved. Just outside the Draupadi Ratha is the Nakula Sahadeva Ratha with a circular body and a curved dome similar to the back of an elephant. There is also the sculpture of a huge elephant near it, carved with such minute details that you are almost fooled into seeing a real elephant. I would like to end with a note that Mamallapuram holds so many mysterious secrets of cruel plundering, brave wars and successful reinstatements of the Pallava Raj. If only we had the patience and time to sieve through all the history and schemes and struggles that went into the building up of this great Dynasty and go there to behold their toil and sweat, then we are the winners. For nothing but your actual physical presence there, can let you experience the struggle and passion that has gone into the making of this iconic Pallava city and great legends and sad battles that speak volumes about the people behind it. (The writer is a journalist and the wife of K Srinivasan, Assistant Commissioner GST) By Express News Service CHENNAI: Five classrooms of the Department of Geology in Presidency College have turned to smart classrooms with financial support from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Cauvery Basin, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. ONGC has offered Rs 8.09 lakh to the department. The classrooms have projectors, screens, ceiling mount kits, HDMI Cables, almirahs, laptops, PA systems, electrical accessories, and their installation. The smart classrooms will enable the department to adopt modern and effective multimedia-based teaching methodologies. In the last seven financial years, ONGC has spent more than Rs 30 crore on CSR programmes in Tamil Nadu and contributed Rs 2,364 crore as royalty and VAT to Tamil Nadu states exchequer. ONGC also provides support for the welfare of most deserving sections of the society through its special component plans and scholarship schemes. Jayanthi Pawar By Express News Service CHENNAI: On August 31, 15-year-old Karthik was seated inside the Secretariat Colony police station wondering why he was brought there. A few minutes later, Balamurugan, the Ayanavaram Assistant Commissioner of Police, with a choking voice, informed the boy that his mother had been murdered. Karthik broke down. He lost his only hope. His father had died 10 years ago. But sometimes, goodness and help comes from the most unexpected quarters. The ACP on Monday along with his wife Kala Rani,15-year-old son Vishal studying in class 8, and daughter Jeeva Sri studying in class 2, met the boy and offered to be his guardians. Though we cannot legally adopt him, we will sponsor his education and everything else required for him. For now, he is admitted to a childrens home in Raja Annamalaipuram and is studying in class 8 in a nearby school, said the officer. On August 31 midnight, Secretariat Colony police station received a call that a woman was murdered by her neighbour. As in any murder case, I visited the spot and conducted inquiries and informed the police to call the son to inform him about the news. The next day, as I entered the station, I saw the boy seated on the chair staring at the roof. He walked up to my table. I had to break the news of his mothers death. Though, I could not tell him anything the same day. I returned home but had a sleepless night. I informed my wife and we decided to foster the boy, he said. The entire family bought clothes, books and other necessary items for him and dropped him at the hospital. The officer said that from now he would be the point of contact for any decisions regarding Karthiks life. On August 31, Karthiks mother, Parimala, was alone at her house on the first floor when her neighbour from the ground floor came to her house and tried to make sexual advances. When she refused, he was angry. They both got into a verbal duel. In a fit of rage, he stabbed her ten times and tried to escape, said a police source. Hearing screams, the neighbours rushed to the spot and found Parimala dead. They immediately informed the police who arrived and recovered the body, which was sent to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital. A few hours later, the police arrested the suspect Surya. Parimala lived alone and her 15-year-old son who studied in a boarding school in the city would visit her often. Recently, Suryas mother Bagyalakshmi had a fight with Parimala and on Friday the man had come to Parimalas house and picked up a fight and later tried to make sexual advances, said a police officer. The police suspect the accused is under the influence of drugs. A case has been registered. Meanwhile, Surya has been remanded in judicial custody by a magistrate court. By IANS NEW DELHI: A Delhi woman has alleged that a Kashmiri man, purportedly a Jammu and Kashmir Police Constable, raped her and robbed her of Rs 14 lakh after a false promise of marrying her, police said on Wednesday. According to the complaint details filed with the Vasant Kunj police station, the two first met through a dating site, BigoLive, in January 2017 and quickly fell in love with each other after Adil Hasssan told her that he was a businessman from Kashmir and traded in shawls and crafts from the valley. They then exchanged numbers and began chatting over WhatsApp messenger. The accused expressed his desire to marry her after seeing her pictures and promised to meet her in Delhi once he talked to his family members. He came down to Delhi in April 2017 and stayed at a hotel in Mahipalpur. The two met for the first time and got physically intimate. They kept meeting in Delhi on his every visit to Delhi till February 2018. She alleged that he told her that his family was not willing to allow him to marry a Hindu woman. But he promised her that he would still marry her even if he had to leave his parents but wanted to set up his business first. He sought financial help from her to start up and took her credit card details and asked her to transfer her savings to his bank account. He also took some of her gold ornaments. The total amount, including that of ornaments, was Rs 14 lakh, according to the FIR details. However, the woman, who lives in Chhattarpur area of south Delhi, got suspicious during one of their meetings in Delhi when she saw him talking to other women on his phone. She noted down the phone numbers and spoke to the women, unravelling his other secrets. She found that he had been cheating quite a few women in Mumbai, Dehradun, Bengaluru and Delhi. When she questioned him about it, Hassan refused straight answers and asked her not to call him again. He also tried blackmailing her, saying he had her personal pictures with him that he would leak on social media. The woman found that Hassan was actually a Kashmiri policeman. She learnt about this from another woman he had promised to marry. Along with the chat details, the complainant has also submitted Hassan's police I-Card signed by the Anantnag district police chief in south Kashmir. His designation is shown as Constable, bearing belt number EXK-098156. "We are verifying with Jammu and Kashmir police about Hassan details," a police officer told IANS. By PTI NEW DELHI: A 38-year-old man, who was absconding for 14 years, was arrested here, police said Wednesday. The man, identified as Laxmi Prasad, was arrested from his brother's residence in Delhi's Madanpur Khadar on charges of cheating and forgery, they said. During interrogation, the accused revealed that in February 1996 while working as an office boy in a bank at Nehru Place, he fraudulently prepared a forged letter of his employer regarding application to the assistant manager of the bank for issuing a new cheque book, said Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast). The bank staff confirmed from the employer of the accused and it was learnt that no such request was made by the employer, he said. Subsequently, when the accused went to withdraw money from the bank he was arrested on charges of cheating and forgery, the DCP said. After a month, he was released on bail. During trial, the accused stopped attending court proceedings following which he was declared as a proclaimed offender by the Patiala House Court on January 8, 2004. The accused told the police that he was staying at his in-laws place at Chatra in Madhya Pradesh. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: In a chilling incident, a 25-year-old woman tried to set herself ablaze in broad daylight in front of the Bowenpally police station on Tuesday. Mother of two children, M Babitha has been hospitalised with over 45 per cent burns. Visuals from CCTV cameras showed Babitha running towards the police station carrying fuel in a bottle. She is then seen flinging her handbag, dousing herself in the liquid and setting fire. From the handbag, police have reportedly recovered a note in which she said that she would kill herself and one Venkatesh should be punished for torturing her and ruining her life. Police say Babitha was in love with Dinesh and married him four years back and the couple has two daughters. Few months ago, one Venkatesh started stalking her and allegedly took pictures of her while bathing. He then blackmailed her with the pictures and demanded sexual favours. He forced her into a sexual relationship that continued for more than two months, till her husband found out about it. This led to disputes and Dinesh allegedly assaulted Babitha on a couple of occasions. Babitha then lodged a complaint against Dinesh at Begumpet police station. The couple were counselled and things went back to normal between them, but that did not last long. Once again Venkatesh started blackmailing her for sexual favours. Again, Dinesh noticed it and Babitha took her daughters and went away to her maternal home about two months ago. What pushed Babitha to take the extreme step on Tuesday still remains unclear. On noticing her in flames, cops tried to douse it. A suicide case has been registered and based on her declaration, probe will proceed. She is still under observation, inspector P Vijay Kumar said. Aihik Sur By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The theft of the Nizams artifacts from the Nizams museum has taken the State by storm and made people question whether the States treasures were safe. As soon as the news broke, museum officials were blamed for letting such a brazen burglary happen. On Tuesday, speaking to Express, security officials at the museum agreed that the current protection detail was not enough, perhaps indicating the inevitability of what happened. READ | Diamond-studded gold tiffin box, other priceless antiques stolen from Nizam's Museum A security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that they had been asking the Nizams Jubilee Pavillion Trust, which manages the museum, to beef up security but to no avail. We have been asking the trust for better security infrastructure for a while now. We need at least 30 CCTV cameras, as opposed to the 10 we have now, he said. Moreover, there should be solar fencing along the wall and near the openings to ward off future intruders, he said. Solar fencing, as the name suggests, works on solar energy and zaps any object or animal that touches the fence with an electric shock. Also, presently there are eight security guards and we have to hire more. The management has always been noncommittal about our demands, he said adding that a meeting would be held soon to discuss how many more security guards should be hired. Mohammed Rubab, a security guard at the museum said that the museum needed to be technologically equipped considering the vast amount of priceless treasures housed in the museum. Rubab, who mans the gallery where the wardrobes of the Nizam VI Mahbub Ali Khan are displayed, pointed towards the ventilators and said, These ventilators are not even steel guarded like the ones in the gallery from where the artifacts got stolen. These are barricaded by wood and are easily breakable. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Swedish furniture brand Ikea has temporarily suspended the sale of vegetarian biryani and samosa at its store in Hitec City. The move comes after social media was abuzz with pictures of caterpillar being found in biryani sold at the Ikea store. In a statement, Ikea spokesperson said the brand was voluntarily stopping sales of two of its most appreciated products. It added that this was in view of food quality and customer health because a customer had encountered a foreign object in the dish he ordered. It further said: IKEA follows strong internal processes to secure quality and takes full responsibility for its supply chain. IKEA India has initiated an internal review in order to take any corrective actions as needed. Our team of health inspectors and other officials inspected the food court at Ikea. Food samples have been collected and will be sent for testing, informed V Mamatha, Deputy Commissioner, Serilingampally zone, GHMC, had then told Express. Even plastic used in the food court were less than 50 microns, which is a violation and we imposed a fine of `11,500, she had said. E Sudershan Reddy, assistant food controller - GHMC, had then observed that the food court had no mechanism to segregate waste generated in its kitchen. The dry and wet waste is being dumped together which also amounts to violation of our waste segregation regulations. The company has shown negligence and we will be issuing a show cause notice after analysis, he said. Even the food handlers were found to be unhygienic according to GHMC as they did not trim their nails. By PTI KOLKATA: Some people could still be trapped under the debris of the fallen Majerhat bridge, officials said Wednesday, stepping up search and rescue operations a day after a portion of the 50-year-old structure in south Kolkata collapsed. A part of the bridge on the arterial Diamond Harbour Road caved in Tuesday evening, killing one person, trapping several people and crushing many vehicles. Rescuers used drillers and cutting machines to barrel through concrete slabs and engaged sniffer dogs to ensure that they reach out and rescue anybody who might be trapped under the rubble. "There could be a few trapped underneath the collapsed bridge. We are trying to locate them. We are using cutters and drill machines to cut through the concrete slabs of the bridge. Till now, we have been unable to locate anybody. We are trying our best," an official of the rescue team said. The area near the site has been dug up for a metro railway project and construction material is strewn all over the place. Labourers working on the metro project claimed two of their co-workers, who were probably inside a temporary shelter underneath the bridge, are missing. Rescue work by the Kolkata Disaster Management Department, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the state fire department continued through the night. The bridge in crowded Alipore area runs over the Majerhat Railway Station and connects the city centre with the heavily populated Behala, vast areas of the southwest suburbs and neighbouring South 24 Parganas district. Police said Tuesday evening that 27-year-old Soumendu Bag had died in the collapse while 21 people, including three women, were injured. An official of the Kolkata Traffic Police said, "We expect traffic jams because the Majherhat bridge has collapsed. It is the main link between Behala and the further south areas of South 24 Parganas district. "To avoid traffic congestion, Behala-bound buses and other vehicles availing Diamond Harbour Road from Hastings crossing will be diverted via Khidderpore crossing CGR Road, Hide Road, Brace Bridge, Taratala Road Taratala crossing further South." Tram services have been completely suspended along CGR Road-DH Road and Judges Court Road, he said. With the area virtually out of bounds, traffic was diverted away from the Diamond Harbour Road, affecting thousands of people. Traffic snarls were reported at various points. The situation is likely to worsen as the day progresses. Train movement was also partially hit. West Bengal Transport Principal Secretary B P Gopalika said additional state buses have been pressed into service to mitigate the problems being faced by the people in these areas. "Wherever there will be need for more buses, we will provide," he said. Oishiki Mukherjee, who travels to her college at Park Street from Behala, said the longer distance and excess travel time that may continue for months, will impact her studies. BJP MP Roopa Ganguly visited the site Wednesday morning. Blaming the Trinamool Congress-led government for the collapse, she alleged the bridge was not maintained properly. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is now in Darjeeling, is expected to return the city today and visit the site. This is the third bridge collapse in the city since 2013. A flyover under construction had collapsed in crowded Burrabazar area, the wholesale business hub of the city, on March 31, 2016, claiming 26 lives. On March 4, 2013, a road bridge had collapsed in Ultadanga area in the northern part of the city. There were no casualties. Phanindra Papasani By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: With three chain-snatching incidents having been reported in just two days, residents of Vijayawada, especially women and elders, are very concerned about their safety while walking on roads. Though the Vijayawada cops claim that the crime rate has reduced in the city with their effective policing initiatives, they have pressed the panic button and are on the hunt to nab the chain-snatching gangs. Sources in the police say the gangs operate in a precise and discreet manner. They commit crimes during odd hours of the day when the police are less active. While a member of the gang conducts recce of an area, others zero in on a person, follow him/her and snatch ornaments and valuables. They communicate with each other through mobile apps, a source says. On Sunday afternoon, two men on a motorcycle snatched a gold chain from an elderly woman while she was walking alone on the busy BRTS Road under Satyanarayanapuram police limits. However, the entire incident was recorded as a CCTV camera installed in the vicinity. The cops have sent their photos to all police stations and media for the early identification of the accused. In another incident that took place in Gollapudi on Monday night, two men robbed a gold chain from a 60-year-old man, Kandula Satyanarayana. I was sitting on a chair in front of my house. All of a sudden, two men, in their 20s, approached me and asked the address of MLA Gadde Rammohana Rao. When I told them that the MLA lives in Patamata, they left only to return a few minutes later and snatched my gold chain, Satyanarayana says. Shilajit Mitra By BNS The maze-like city walls of Old Delhi form the setting of Manoj Bajpayee's upcoming film, Gali Guleiyan. Directed by LA-based filmmaker Dipesh Jain, the film follows a lone wolf electrician named Khuddoos (Bajpayee) who places clandestine CCTV cameras to observe the lives of his neighbours. One day, he discovers the violent cries of a young boy suffering abuse at the hands of his father. And thus begins an atmospheric and deeply psychological drama about a loner's struggle to free a child from oppression. In this interview with Express, Manoj Bajpayee opens up about his love for playing intense characters and his need to balance commercial outings with artistic endeavours: The space of a psychological thriller is home ground for you. Your roles in Aks and Kaun are considered landmarks in the genre. Did Gali Guleiyan take you back to the same zone? It was a little different, as the film is more of a psychological drama than a thriller. We are not playing with the mind of the audience but with the mind of a character. He is mentally entrapped in his own world. There are endless thoughts and questions colliding in his mind; he is constantly questioning his reality. And then, he hears the cries of a small boy and feels compelled to rescue the child. It was a very difficult character to play, perhaps the most difficult of my life. Internalisation is a big challenge for any actor. You are known to explore your characters from within, sometimes at the risk of your own sanity. That's a journey every actor has to take. Internationally, we see great actors going very deep into their characters and later visiting a rehab to come out of it. In India though, chaos is a part of everyday life. So you are naturally trained to deal with complex mental situations and come out unscathed. But was there ever a specific character you played that took a toll on your mental well-being? (Ram Gopal Varma's) Shool left me in intense psychological turmoil. I couldn't sleep for days after doing the film. A psychiatrist friend of mine warned me against using such a method ever again. But since I come from theatre, method acting comes very instinctively to me. I applied it in Gali Guleiyan too, but I managed to snap out of it later. When a serious actor of your stature does films like Baaghi 2 and Satyameva Jayate, there's criticism that you have sold out. You must understand that one Satyameva Jayate enables me to do five films like Gali Guleiyan. More importantly, I thoroughly enjoy working with a filmmaker like Milap Zaveri who is so convinced about making massy, entertaining films. He even took me to theatres to see people whistling at my dialogues. That's a very gratifying feeling for an actor. I enjoy playing to the gallery from time to time and then returning to my own zone. Your co-star in Gali Guleiyan, Neeraj Kabi, has received widespread acclaim for Sacred Games. His roles in Hichki, Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Ship of Theseus have also been appreciated. How was the experience of working with another powerhouse actor in this film? Neeraj has an impeccable method towards his craft. He picks his parts carefully and delves very deep into them. He is interested in challenging himself and putting out a performance that is remembered. These are the actors who will be counted among the greats of Indian cinema. On the whole, how would you describe the cinematic experience of Gali Guleiyan? Our director, Dipesh, is a creator of pure and compelling cinema. He gives importance to each and every department, which shows in the film. It has been edited by Chris Witt (Kavi, Catching Fireflies) and mixed at Skywalker Sound in Hollywood. It has an immersive and experiential feeling to it that youll experience only in theatres. A Sharadhaa By Express News Service Achyuth Kumar is getting a first-hand experience of the working of a kitchen, and not to mention a chance to sample some traditional Iyengar goodies, never mind that he was watching his weight for his upcoming film Bheema Sena Nala Maharaja, directed by Karthik Saragur. The director, whose film is themed around food, will see Achyuth donning the role of an Iyengar bakery owner. Besides getting a first-hand experience about the kitchen tales, he tells us that he also sampled. Bheema Sena... chronicles the history of the Iyengar bakery. My portions were shot in a 150-year-old historical bungalow that belonged to John Taylor, the founder of the KGF Factory. The film also brings back the history of the Imperial Bakery, a British brand. When I went to these locations, I got to see the old-time kitchens. Secondly, being a Tamil Iyengar, I had to bring in Tamil to make it look authentic, says the actor. Achyuths character in the film will represent Bitter taste. The father figure is often misunderstood in the family, because he is looked at as a patriarch whose word is final. I play the role of an authoritarian father whose child perceives him to be Hitler. By the time, they understand the reason for the behaviour, they are fathers themselves. Thats an interesting part of Bheema Sena..., which the director has layered well through his narration, explains Achyuth. The film, a joint between Pushkar Mallikarjuanaiah, Rakshit Shetty and Hemanth M Rao stars Aravinnd Iyer, Priyanka Thimmesh and Aarohi Narayan Bheema Sena... has music by Charan Raj and cinematography by Ravindranath Sajin Shrijith By Express News Service A casting coup of this sort was last witnessed a decade back, in Joshi's Twenty: 20. In what is seen as his biggest project yet, director Aashiq Abu has assembled some of the most incredibly talented and well-known names working today in Malayalam cinema for his next titled, Virus.Revathy leads a distinguished cast comprising Parvathy Thiruvoth, Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Rima Kallingal, Kalidas Jayaram, Remya Nambeesan, Soubin Shahir, Dileesh Pothan, and Chemban Vinod Jose. The film, which is not an anthology, will revolve around multiple characters dealing with the Nipah outbreak. The script is jointly written by Muhsin Parari (co-writer of Sudani from Nigeria) and Suhas and Sharafu (writers of the upcoming Amal Neerad film Varathan). Suhas and Sharafu have worked as assistant directors on Sudani from Nigeria. Muhsin Parari, who made his directorial debut with KL10 Pathu, has assisted Aashiq on 5 Sundarikal. He was working on another project titled Kaakka921 (with Sudani... director Zakariya) when Aashiq suggested the idea of Virus. "Me and Zakariya were in Kozhikode around the time of the outbreak. We got a good sense of the city's mood at the time." Muhsin managed to get a first-hand account of the situations that happened in Kozhikode city from some of his doctor friends. "I've always held a fascination for those in the medical profession. We felt we could structure a narrative around the Nipah outbreak based on the things we heard from the medicos I knew," says Muhsin. Virus is essentially a survival drama, reveals Muhsin. "It explores human psychology when faced with a phenomenon we have no clue about. How do we deal with something that tests our survival mechanism, knowledge and endurance levels? How much can our own ignorance scare us? How do we overcome a disaster of that magnitude? It poses a lot of thought-provoking questions." Virus is produced by Aashiq Abu under the banner of OPM. Sushin Shyam (Maradona, Varathan) will be composing the music while Sameera Saneesh (Mayaanadhi, Kammara Sambhavam) will be handling the costumes and Saiju Sreedharan (Mayaanadhi, Maheshinte Prathikaram) the editing. Rajeev Ravi has been roped in as the cinematographer. The Kammattipadam director, who is known for his long and fruitful association with director Anurag Kashyap, told us he wasn't aware of the film's subject when Aashiq approached him about it. "Aashiq had asked me whether I can shoot a film for him and I said yes," says Rajeev. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: In an incident of brutal attack, a retired cop was mercilessly beaten up with sticks by three persons on a street with passersby remaining mute spectators to the assault in Allahabad on Tuesday. However, the incident was caught on CCTV installed in an adjoining house. When the culprits left the victim lying beside the road thinking him to be dead, someone informed his family which rushed him to the hospital where the doctors declared him dead upon arrival. The daughter of the deceased retired cop lodged an FIR and named 10 persons in the attack case. Taking the cognizance of the video which went viral and the media reports, the Allahabad High Court treated it as a Public Interest Litigation and asked the state government to explain what action was taken in the case. Notably, after court's intervention, the district police swung into action and had arrested four accused by the time of filing this report. The video footage of the incident shows retired sub-inspector Abdul Samad Khan entering a street in Teliyarganj locality of Allahabad on a bicycle when he was confronted by a man in red shirt who came from behind. He attacked the cop with the stick raining blows on him merciless following which 70-year-old Khan slumped to the ground in the narrow lane. As per a count, the retired cops was hit around 49 times in the 90-second video. Initially, the retired policeman resisted the attack but when the attacker was joined by two more persons, he gave up. In the CCTV video clip, several people on foot, cycles and on two-wheelers were seen passing by but no one came to the rescue of Khan being assaulted. The footage shows the attackers escaping after the assault. Khan was later taken to hospital where he succumbed to injuries. According to city police chief Brijesh Srivastava, the case was registered on a complaint of Khan's daughter who had implicated 10 people in the case and four persons were arrested by the evening. All those held were accomplices of the prime suspect Junaid Kamal, who had several cases registered against him. "The issue is related to land dispute between both the parties who are neighbours. The history-sheeter Junaid Kamal and his brother Javed, named in the FIR, are among those on the run. Teams of Crime Branch and Shivkuti police are carrying out raids to nab all accused," Srivastava added. Meanwhile, the division bench of Allahabad High Court comprising Chief justice DB Bhosale and Justice CD Singh, took notice of the media reports regarding the incident and issued notice to state government to explain to the court through Additional Advocate General Manish Goel as to what action was taken in the case. The police were ordered to submit a report on Wednesday outlining the steps taken to arrest all the accused named in the FIR. Anand ST Das By Express News Service PATNA: A new dress code approved for convocation ceremonies in the universities of Bihar has bid goodbye to the "colonial legacy" of black gowns and caps in favour of the Malaviya pagdi (turban), kurta-pyjama and shalwar-kameez. In a move that has prompted the Opposition RJD and some educationists to cry "saffronisation of higher education," the office of Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon has ordered that all universities in the state must adopt the new set of attire during convocation ceremonies. As the state's Governor, Tandon is the ex-officio chancellor of all universities in Bihar. As per the notified guidelines, everyone attending the convocation ceremony - chancellor, guests and passing-out students - has to wear a Malaviya turban. While the chancellor will wear a white turban, the guests and students will wear turbans of lemon-yellow shade. The new dress code for gentlemen graduates has to be either white kurta pajama or white dhoti kurta. For lady graduates, it has to be either white salwar and lemon-yellow kurta or a lemon-yellow sari. A yellow angavastram has been made mandatory for everyone on the convocation podium - chancellor, vice-chancellor, chief guest and the graduating students. This new set of attire was recommended by a three-member committee that was formed by Tandon's predecessor, Satya Pal Malik, in July to suggest a "swadeshi dress code" for convocation ceremonies. Sources said Malik could not peruse the recommendations as he got transferred as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir last month. Tandon, who took his place on August 23, approved the new dress code and ordered for its implementation. Sources said the Malaviya turban was the idea of Malik, which the committee retained. Madan Mohan Malaviya, eminent educationist and founder of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), always wore the turban. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2014 by the NDA government. The committee, comprising vice-chancellors of three varsities in Bihar, reportedly arrived at the final list of attires after several rounds of consultations with the faculty members of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna."The idea behind this dress code is to Indianise the convocation ceremony attire by giving up the sartorial baggage of the colonial era. The Malaviya turbans may sport motifs from Sujani artwork that originated in Bihar," said a senior official of the Governor's office. Opposition RJD leader Bhai Birendra termed the order for the new dress code as a "Talibani diktat". "Such interferences indicate that the government is going forward with its formula for saffronisation of higher education. They are keen to implement the agenda of RSS," he said. While BJP leaders unanimously praised the new dress code, JD(U) appeared to have reservations. "Although there is no harm in wearing Malaviya turbans during convocations, the chancellor's office should focus more on the development of higher education in the state," said senior JD(U) leader and MLA Shyam Razak. By PTI NEW DELHI: The armed forces and the Defence Ministry are steadfastly behind all officers who have conducted operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, Army Chief Bipin Rawat said Tuesday. His comments come in the backdrop of nearly 700 Army officers and soldiers approaching the Supreme Court against the alleged dilution of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, also known as AFSPA. Sources said if the officials lose the case, it will be a major embarrassment. They said the Army chief, during an interaction with officers last week, had disapproved of the Army personnel approaching the apex court. When asked about this, Rawat declined to comment, saying the matter was sub judice. "This case is sub-judice and I would not like to speak on that," he told reporters in response to a question. "The armed forces and the government, the Defence Ministry and everybody are steadfast behind all the officers who have conducted operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast or anywhere we are countering terrorism or insurgency," he said. Rawat said the Army will support them in whatever way it can. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Congress Tuesday demanded a court-monitored probe into the alleged leak of a letter purportedly written by Communist hardliners with 'Naxal-links', which the BJP has cited to accused the opposition party of compromising national security for political gains. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari termed the matter "very serious". "There has to be an independent court-monitored investigation, that even before the alleged papers are presented in a court of law, how come they become instruments of vilification in the hands of a blind BJP," he told reporters here. He said the BJP is "trying to run a narrative, which they find will not be substantiated in a court of law." Tewari alleged that all norms and traditions of governance have collapsed under this NDA government. "It seems that the BJP has become the police in this country. How come papers which are allegedly with an investigating agency leaked. God alone knows whether they are true or untrue, correct, incorrect, for all you may know they may be fabricated and contrived planted papers," he said. Tewari wondered when the documents have not been presented in a court in the form of chargesheet, how come they are with the BJP. "This is what needs to be investigated. This is what fascism is all about. This is what an undeclared emergency is all about. This is when there has been a collapse of the Chinese wall which separates state from the political party," he said. Earlier Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Congress of compromising national security for political opportunism. He said the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council was a "supporting ground for Naxalites" during the UPA government and some party leaders "romanticised" Naxalism. He sought to question opposition party leaders such as Digvijaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh for what the BJP said was indicative of their alleged support to people with "Naxal links". Patra also alleged the Congress tried to "mainstream maoism and Naxalism" during its rule amd the party should, therefore, call itself the "Congress Party of Maoists" or the Indian National Congress (Maoists). Showing a letter, which, he said, was written by one 'comrade' to another, Patra said it talked about the Congress willing to fund their activities and contacting Singh for assistance. By Express News Service MUMBAI: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray came down heavily against the BJP on Wednesday over one of its party MLA's remarks and took a sarcastic swipe at Prime Minister's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" slogan, wanting to know whether it has been turned into "Beti Bhagao" by the party workers. Thackeray interacted with media after conducting a meeting of party leaders from all over the state. While he indicated that the party would not quit the governments at the centre as well as the state, he criticized the BJP over issues ranging from demonetizations, urban Naxalism to BJP MLA Ram Kadam's statement that he would help a youth rejected by a girl abduct her. Thackeray termed Kadam as low level person and demanded that Chief Minister and the BJP should take action against him and deny him ticket. No other political party should offer him ticket, he added. Thackeray also referred to similar incidents in the past wherein BJP MLC Prashant Paricharak and BJP's Ahmednagar deputy Mayor Shripad Chindam got their party into trouble with their uncontrolled tongue. "Nitin Gadkari had boasted that the BJP has a capacity to turn 'Valya' (the dacoit) in to 'Valmiki' (the Sage). But, after all these incidents it appears that the BJP is insulting Valmiki," Thackeray said. "If the new Ramayan by these new Valmikis is to be considered, the BJP should now change their program. I'd like to know whether they have given any new program named "Beti Bhagao"," he added. Thackeray also supported Hardik Patel. "Today is the 12th day of Hardik's fast. I've appealed him to end his fast. I also appeal the BJP government to speak to him. The government that is ready for talks with Pakistan should have no inhibitions to speak to young men from our own country like Hardik," Thackeray said. While replying to questions on Sanatan and Urban Naxalism, Thackeray appealed police to, "produce viable proofs than to just addressing press conferences." Talk of Hindu Terrorism during the tenure of this government is unfortunate, he commented. "Whether the government would take the responsibility for the failure of demonetization," Thackeray asked adding that the RBI statement regarding going through the process of demonetization again if needed, won't be tolerated by the people. While replying to questions regarding Shiv Sena accepting appointments of its leaders on the state run corporations, Thackeray said that the list was over one and a half year old. "We are not expecting anything. We are resolving more issues by staying in the power than we could have done by being an opposition party," Thackeray said indicating that the party is unlikely to quit the government soon. Regarding the meeting, Thackeray said that after touring Vidarbha, he felt like it would give a clear picture of the political situation if leaders from all across the state come together in a single meeting. By PTI NEW DELHI: India and the US will aim to further solidify their global strategic partnership in the inaugural two-plus-two dialogue on Thursday with a focus on significantly boosting military ties and ironing out differences over India's defence engagement with Russia and crude oil import from Iran, official sources said. The two sides will also seek to finalise a pact on encrypted defence technologies, deliberate on ways to boost counter-terror cooperation, look for increasing engagement between their navies in the Indo-Pacific region and try to resolve tariff-related issues. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold the twice-postponed talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford will also be part of the US delegation. As Secretary Pompeo arrives here tomorrow from Islamabad, India will also try to get his view about his engagement with the new government in Pakistan headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the sources said. They said the focus of the talks will be to lift the strategic engagement between the two countries to a "whole of government approach" covering a wide range of areas for cooperation. "The two-plus-two dialogue is core of the whole of the government approach and is the highest level political engagement between the two countries this year," said a source. In the talks, the sources said, India will also try to "sensitise" the US that any cut in import of Iranian oil in compliance with the US sanctions may impact the country's overall economy as the crude oil from that country is much cheaper. India is also expected to apprise the US about the importance of the Rs 40,000 crore deal it is about to finalise with Russia to procure a batch of S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems. The US has been indicating that it does not want India to finalise the deal with Russia. The sources said both sides will also discuss the long-pending Communications, Compatibility, Security Agreement (COMCASA). The COMCASA will help India obtain critical and encrypted defence technologies for Indian defence platforms from the US. "Both sides are discussing the COMCASA. We cannot prejudge the outcome," said a source. The two sides are also likely to deliberate on overcoming differences over issues relating to tariffs on still and aluminium besides trying to evolve ways to bridge trade deficit. Talking about deepening trade ties, the sources said India is expected to procure oil and gas worth USD 2.5 billion in the current calendar year. India is also expected to raise its concerns over the Trump administration's decision to make changes in the H1B visa programme. The sources said the US delegation will arrive here on Wednesday. Swaraj will have a separate bilateral meeting with Pompeo while Sitharaman will have a one-on-one meeting with Mattis on Thursday morning before the delegation-level two-plus-two talks. Twelve officials from each side are expected to attend the talks which will be followed by a working lunch. In the afternoon, Swaraj, Sitharaman, Pompeo and Mattis will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On import of Iranian oil, the sources said India may also convey to the US that some of its refineries are dependent on certain kind of crude oil and making technical adjustments in them may require huge investments as well as time. "We will take an independent decision on import of Iranian oil. It will not be under any compulsion. We are in touch with many other countries. We are examining various instrument for continuing to import petroleum products from Iran," said a source. After withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the US has imposed sanctions on Iran. It has told India and other countries to cut oil imports from the Gulf nation to "zero" by November 4 or face sanctions. As ports in Iran also comes under the ambit of US sanctions, the sources said India was hopeful that it will be allowed to continue its engagement in the development of the Chabahar port as it is a major link for trade with war-ravaged Afghanistan. Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The US's sanctions on the import of Iranian petroleum products will be effective from November 4. On the possibility of the US granting a waiver to India on S-400 missile deal, the sources said it was for the Trump administration to take a call on it considering the strategic dimension of its relationship with the country concerned. The US has imposed military sanctions against Russia under the stringent CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) law for its annexation of Crimea. India's position on the issue has been that it will go ahead with the deal notwithstanding American sanctions on military transactions with Moscow. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: An IPS officer posted in Kanpur as Superintendent of Police (SP), City, was rushed to a hospital after he allegedly consumed a poisonous substance on early Wednesday morning. Surendra Kumar Das, who is SP (east) of Kanpur Nagar, was taken to the Regency hospital in a critical condition. As per the hospital sources, his condition was stated to be "very critical" and the doctors had given 48 hours' time to observe him. The reason behind the alleged consumption of poison is so far unknown. While the sources attributed it to the discord in the family, DIG (Law & Order) Praveen Kumar refrained from divulging further details saying it would be known only after the hospital released a bulletin."We have got this information that Das is admitted to a hospital. However, we are not able to comment anything on this as we don't know if it was a poison or anything else. Wait for the hospital report to come. The hospital might release a bulletin and only after that we would know what exactly has happened to Das," DIG Kumar said. Das was a 2014 batch IPS officer and was posted in Kanpur as SP (east) only last month on August 3. Das is also an Electrical Engineer and is known to be an upright officer. However, as per the local sources, doctors at a Regency hospital said Das had been put on ventilation for respiratory support in ICU and that the next 48 hours would prove to be very critical for the officer. Das allegedly attempted suicide at his official residence and was rushed to the hospital by his staff. The parents of the officer, who hails from Ballia district in eastern UP, live in Lucknow and have since rushed to Kanpur to be with Das. Das has been admitted to the hospital where his wife is a doctor. According to Kanpur SSP Sanjiv Suman Das's health had deteriorated in the last few hours. He also claimed that the IPS officer was tense for the last few days possibly due to some issues in the family. -"We got information around four in the morning today. His health deteriorated suddenly. Medical reports are awaited," said the SSP. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: At least three died and 20 others were reported missing after a machine boat sank in the Brahmaputra river on Wednesday. According to survivors, the mishap occurred at around 1:30 pm when the boat hit a concrete structure of an ongoing water project. Over 30 people, including students, were on board the boat which was sailing from Guwahati to North Guwahati. Three persons are confirmed dead. We have retrieved their bodies. There are reports that another body is lying somewhere. We are heading to the site, Kamrup (rural) deputy commissioner (district magistrate), Kamal Kumar Baishya told TNIE. He said that a dozen people were either rescued or they managed to swim ashore. Four of them were rushed to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Officially, there were 22 people on board. However, we learnt that more than 30 people were travelling, Baishya said. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are carrying out search and rescue operations. Earlier in the day, nearly 90 hours after a car went missing with five people aboard in Dikhow river in Upper Assams Sivasagar district, the rescuers retrieved the vehicle and the bodies of the victims. The recovery was made by a joint team of divers from Indian Navy, NDRF and SDRF. At 9 on Saturday night, the car went missing with Guwahati businessman Haren Bora (52), his wife Phunu (45), mother Punou (85) and the couple's two daughters Simpi (21) and Munmi (18). It was recovered from a place close to the site of the mishap at around 11:30 am on Wednesday. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had sent SOS to the Prime Ministers Office and the Defence Ministry to help the Assam government in tracing the vehicle. The search team used modern technologies including side scan sonar and magnet in the operations. The vehicles presence at a depth of 20 ft was detected with the help of a magnet, a senior SDRF official told TNIE. By PTI JAMMU: Terming resumption of dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad as "inevitable" for peace in south Asia, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the hand of friendship to his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for skae of Kashmir. The Peoples Democratic Party president also appealed to the Prime Minister to follow the steps of late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to revive the peace process between the two neighbours. Peace in south Asia will only be possible if it is ensured in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP president said, addressing a public meeting in border district of Rajauri. Urging Modi to extend the hand of friendship to Khan and pick up the peace process from where Vajpayee had to leave it, Mehbooba said, "It will usher a new era of growth and tranquillity in the two countries." If it's done, the people would no longer live in constant fears and heave a sigh of relief, she said. She said opening new roads between "divided Jammu and Kashmir" and strengthening the people-to-people contact would lower the tension across the border. Terming dialogue and reconciliation between India and Pakistan as "inevitable for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, Mehbooba said, "The two countries need to rise above ego and exhibit the political astuteness to help realise the people's dream of a peaceful and tranquil Jammu and Kashmir." Asserting that economic packages alone would not usher peace in the Valley, she said consistent and earnest efforts aimed at taking youths into confidence are needed "to stop them from going adrift". The economic packages alone are not going to resolve the issue. The roads, bridges and electricity are vital for the people, but unless there is dialogue aimed at the resolution of the conflict, no relief can be ensured for the masses, she said. She said after the 2014 polls yielded fragmented mandate, PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed decided to form government with the BJP with "the sole motive to reincarnate the Vajpayee era" in the state and to stop the vicious cycle of unabated killings and violence. As I told my father that the decision to join hands with the BJP has more risks than rewards and would decline party's popularity, he said he was ready to sacrifice everything including his life, if that resolves the decades-old conflict, Mehbooba said. Her father was confident that the reconciliation and dialogue would be initiated, and the measures taken during Vajpayee's era would be replicated once again, she added. However, when Prime Minister Modi addressed a rally in Srinagar on November 7, 2015 , he announced Rs 80,000 crore package but exhibited no willingness for a thaw between India and Pakistan for the peace in the state. This disheartened everyone including the people who had come from far-flung areas to listen to him," she said. The PDP chief said even after witnessing hurdles in his way, her father remained adamant to get the two countries closer and always pitched for the dialogue which were desperately needed for peace in the state. When I took over as the Chief Minister and headed the state for two years and two months, I did not compromise on my stand and stood like a rock before the Central government to protect state's special interests. Had I shown any laxity in my approach, the BJP would not have toppled the government. They did not succeed in any way to make me barter the interests of the state for petty power and I can tell you with all certainty that I kept the honour and dignity of my people intact," she said. Referring to the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua district in January this year, Mehbooba said she went to New Delhi and made it clear that the PDP cannot be the part of the government unless the two ministers who had openly supported the rapists were sacked and a transparent probe was allowed. As the Chief Minister of the state, I remained in the forefront to thwart attempts to intimidate Gujjars and Bakerwals in the state and took every measure to ensure that no one harms them, she said. Mehbooba said preserving the secular character of the state has been the top most priority of the PDP since its inception. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear next week a plea seeking a stay on the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submissions of advocate M L Sharma that his plea be listed for urgent hearing. In his petition, Sharma has alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought a stay on it. Sharma has claimed in his plea that the inter-government agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an "outcome of corruption" and not ratified by Parliament under Article 253 (Parliament has the power to make any law for implementing any inter-government agreement) of the Constitution. The petition has also sought FIR and prosecution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former defence Minister and present Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, business tycoon Anil Ambani and French armament firm Dassault with the recovery of the amount. A similar plea was filed in the apex court in March this year seeking an independent probe into the Rafale deal and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament. The plea, filed by Congress leader Tehseen S Poonawalla, had sought issuance of a direction against the Centre as to why the Union Cabinet's approval was not sought as part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) before signing the procurement deal with France on September 23, 2016. Rafale deal is a defence agreement signed between the governments of India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircrafts in a fly-away condition as a part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. Indian Air Force had advanced a proposal to buy 126 fighter aircraft in August 2007 and floated a tender. Following this, an invitation was sent to various aviation companies to participate in the bidding process. Poonawalla had claimed in his plea that the MoD had withdrawn the 2007 tender for procurement of 126 fighter planes, while the deal announced for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft was altogether a fresh procurement. His plea said that in 2012, the deal for 126 fighter aircrafts was proposed by the then UPA government, and out of the total of 126 number, 18 Rafale fighter jets were to be delivered by Dassault Aviation company in a fly-away condition, while the remaining 108 were to be manufactured in India at the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under a transfer of technology agreement. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Rafale is a beautiful aircraft which will give India "unprecedented" combat capabilities, the Indian Air Force said Wednesday amid escalating controversy over the Rs 58,000 crore deal. Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S B Deo also said those criticising the Rafale deal must understand the laid down norms and procurement procedure. "It is a beautiful aircraft...It is a very capable aircraft and we are waiting to fly it," he said on the sidelines of an event when asked about the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal. The air marshal said Rafale jets will give India unprecedented advantage over its adversaries in the region. India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019. The Congress has raised several questions about the deal, including rates of the aircraft, while the government has rejected the charges. By IANS NEW DELHI: Claiming that the crackdown on rights activists was a result of the "fascist Modi governments desperation", activists on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners and the repeal of the "draconian" laws like the UAPA and the AFSPA. Speaking at the "Campaign Against State Repression on Right Activists" event here, they called the Modi government fascist and demanded that 10 activists arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence on January 1 as also wheelchair-bound Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba, among others, be released. Speaking on the occasion, Delhi University Professor S.A.R. Geelani said there was a "pattern" behind the arrests and it was done with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "There is a pattern to what is happening, it's not haphazard. First, they arrested Saibaba on fake charges, then came the arrests of five activists including lawyer Surendra Gadling and activist Rona Wilson who were endeavouring to get Saibaba released," said Geelani, associated with the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners. "After the second round of arrests of five activists in June, they have gone for more arrests. Arun Ferreira and Vernon Fernandes and others were ensuring legal help to Gadling and others," he said. Geelani, convicted in the Parliament attack case by the lower courts but acquitted by the Supreme Court, said the crackdown on rights activists was aimed at polarising society and stifle dissent before the 2019 polls. Kavita Srivastava of the People's Union for Civil Liberties alleged that an emergency under a fascist regime was in force wherein every dissenting voice is being thrown into jail. She claimed that the arrests were meant to discredit the growing Dalit uprising in the country as well as divert the country's attention from the failures of the Modi government. "As much as to put down dissent, this is also being done to cover the Modi government's gross incompetence, its failure to fulfil poll promises and divert public attention from burning issues like economic mismanagement, growing unemployment and increasing agrarian crisis," said Srivastava. Expressing alarm over the abuse of law to stifle dissent, the activists demanded immediate repealing of what they said were draconian laws. They also dismissed the "urban naxals" term used for political dissenters, saying that the government was desperately trying to use such labels for those opposed to it. Rajesh Asnani By Express News Service JAIPUR: In a huge embarrassment to the Vasundhara Raje government, the Rajasthan High Court has ordered that no government functions should be carried out simultaneously with the Chief Minister's 'Gaurav Yatra'. The High Court had earlier heard the petition involving exchequer's money being wasted in the Gaurav Yatra but had reserved its decision. On Teacher's Day, however, the Chief Justice's bench ordered an immediate stop to all government programs taking place along with Raje's poll Yatra. The court verdict comes on a PIL filed by advocate Vibhuti Bhushan Sharma and social activist Sawai Singh. The PIL had argued that the 'Gaurav Yatra' was being carried out by the Chief Minister to promote the BJP's electoral fortunes but its expenditure was being passed on to taxpayers money. The petitioner, Sawai Singh claimed that government PROs were appointed during the Chief Minister's rallies which meant further misuse of government money and even though the matter is in court, the BJP government continues to spend lavishly on its Yatra. The controversy over misuse of public funds has persisted right since the start of Raje's yatra, touted as the 'poll yatra'. The Congress Chief in the state, Sachin Pilot, accused the BJP government of wasting public funds for organizing this political rally. Pilot had shared a copy of the PWD order with the media which stated that the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department( PWD ) was instructed to arrange tents, loudspeakers, podiums etc. for all of Raje's 40-day tour. The Congress had alleged that despite High Court reservations, the PWD Department had gone ahead and issued a high-valued tender for the Yatra. Earlier on 16th August, the Raje Government had cleared its position on the matter with a statement which claimed that the Yatra was being conducted by the BJP party funds and that there was no misappropriation of official funds as the Yatra had nothing to do with the Government. It was a rally taken out to make the public aware of various schemes of their tenure and as the Chief Minister was a part of it, the security and other protocols needed had to be taken care of. "Our Chief Minister's security protocol arrangements had to be made by the government departments. As such, it is not possible to keep 'Gaurav Yatra' separate from other government programs", state government's Attorney General, N M Lodha, had said. The case related to the alleged misuse of government funds was heard by the bench headed by Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and it had ordered the BJP to submit a detailed account of the Yatra expenses. In the last hearing BJP had presented the affidavit of its expenses in the court. After the High Court order, the opposition Congress has hit out against the Raje government and said that if they have any shred of morality, they must apologise to the people of Rajasthan for wasting public funds for their political gains. Rajasthan state Congress president, Sachin Pilot, said at the 'Sankalp' rally in Barmer, "High Court has shown a mirror to the government by telling them that no government functions can take place with 'Guarav Yatra' . I want to thank the High Court and the people of the state." Chief minister Vasundhra Raje's Gaurav Yatra is being conducted to galvanize party workers for the upcoming assembly polls. The yatra was flagged off by the national party president Amit Shah on 4th August from Jaipur. By PTI LUCKNOW: Taking strong note of frequent competitive exam question paper leakages, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed investigating bodies to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against those involved in such acts and "blacklist" agencies responsible. "The exams should be transparent and corruption-free. The government will not tolerate those trying to play with the future of youths. Strict action will be taken against those who pollute the examination process," an official spokesman said Wednesday quoting the chief minister. "The NSA will be invoked against those involved in paper leaks and if discrepancies are committed by the agencies involved in the process, they will be blacklisted and legal action will be taken against them," said the chief minister, according to the spokesperson. The CM is of the view that the exam system should be made foolproof and directed officials heading recruitment boards to ensure vacancies in their departments are filled without much delay. "The posts in any department should not remain vacant for longer duration. They should be filled timely," the CM said. Last week, the UP Pradesh Special Task Force had arrested 11 people for their alleged roles in the leakage of questions papers for tubewell operators recruitment tests, which is organised by the UP Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC). The leakages led to the cancellation of the examination and the UPSSSC had said it will prepare "at least two sets of question papers" as a corrective measure. "We are planning to have at least two sets of question papers so that in case of leakage of a particular set another set of questions can be given to the examinees," UPSSSC Chairman CB Paliwal said. "A proposal will be sent to the state government suggesting two examinations -- screening and mains. This will help in weeding out chances of possible leakage of question papers in the future," Paliwal had said. In the past, leakages of questions papers of various examinations were reported from the most populous state of the country, earning it a bad name and giving tough time to both the job aspirants and the cops. On July 29, as many as 51 people were arrested by the UP Police from different parts of the state for facilitating cheating during a recruitment examination for assistant teachers. On June 18 this year, 19 people were arrested for allegedly aiding cheating through hi-tech devices, such as spy-mics, and placing "solvers" impersonating aspirants in the Uttar Pradesh police constable recruitment examination. On August 23, 2017, seven members of a gang allegedly involved in leaking a question paper of the online examination for sub-inspectors (SI) were arrested by the STF. Express News Service By NEW DELHI: With the Congress trying to build a narrative around alleged corruption in the Rafale deal, the government on Wednesday rejected the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the purchase of the fighter jets, with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely saying its not an option just to satisfy the ego of an ill-informed gentleman (meaning Congress president Rahul Gandhi). Jaitelys remarks came after Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval made a detailed presentation at a Cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Rafale deal. The presentation came in the backdrop of BJPs strategy to arm party leaders with adequate information to counter the Congress campaign on the issue. Jaitley, who refused to reveal the details of the presentation, launched a scathing attack on the Congress saying the party had proved that ignorance is contagious in a dynastic party. One individuals innocence and lack of knowledge have led to the whole party becoming ignorant. I gave out statistics and posed questions to them. Its very unfortunate for the president of a national party to launch into a debate while giving figures from `500 crore to `1,600 crore (cost of each jet), he added, reiterating that the NDA government had been able to get the jets cheaper. At a meeting called by party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday, the BJP had decided to counter the Congress campaign on Rafale. The meeting was attended by Jaitely, Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior leaders. With top officials briefing ministers on the Rafale deal, the BJP will be better equipped to counter the Congress campaign, said a party source. K Jayakumar By Though waters have receded in the districts of Kerala, normalcy is yet to return to the lives of tens of thousands of people affected by the floods. The week-long rescue operations were a testimony to the innate willingness of the people to save others while risking their own lives: the daring fishermen who ventured into dangerous waters and the selfless service of our armed forces and police. The commendable role of political leadership and civil administration cannot be overlooked. The relief operations that started simultaneously brought to fore dedication of the millennial generation in organising and dispatching relief materials. Without a demur, the youth worked night and day, making full use of their social media networks to bring succour to those in distress. Generous offers of help came in from people from all walks of life, from within the state, from all over India and from several other countries. Kerala is overwhelmed by this solidarity. Each stage in the process of rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction makes the preceding one look simple. Rehabilitation and reconstruction pose greater challenges than rescue and relief. The task of rehabilitation poses a web of problems that defy standardisation. To appreciate the complexity of rehabilitation, it would be useful to visualise the reality of the night when floodwaters gushed through the hitherto-safe havens of houses. Within a few minutes, the water not only carried away the possessions acquired over decades, but invalidated the peoples idea of the future. The flood made no distinction between classes, castes or social positions. Some losses can be made good but there are several that cannot be compensated. In assessing the damage and losses, governments tend to follow certain norms and standardisation. In a situation like this, assessing the damage becomes so complicated that any attempt at standardisation will be a mockery. There could be claims which the government has no means to verify. A middle-class family could have lost all their possessions worth many lakhs, but the losses of a relatively poor family in the neighbourhood may be much less. When the government decides on compensation, there could be allegations of unfairness, corruption and partisanship. There are instances where currency and gold could be lost. New houses constructed with borrowed money have been destroyed. Older people who need their medication and sometimes valuable medical equipment find themselves totally helpless. How do we assess, leave alone compensate, the small, accumulated savings, prized possessions bought with hard-earned money, cattle, crops, vehicles, furniture, clothes, books and documentsall gone in a jiffy? Small and medium traders who had stocked their shops with merchandise, some paid-for and some bought on credit, in anticipation of Onam sales have lost it all. Leo Tolstoy has made this insightful observation in the opening sentence in Anna Karenina that all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Nothing could convey the situation of post-floods Kerala better than this. The floods have impoverished families in diverse ways. It ranges from losses that can be compensated to those that cannot be. Every family has many issues to tackle. And every problem calls for a different response. The effectiveness of rehabilitation can be judged only by the extent to which the post-rehabilitation state approximates the pre-calamity situation. Unless the complex mix of the problem is fully understood and empathised with, rehabilitation will be an unfinished or shoddy work. How to minimise the trauma of every family in distress is the question. Government action by definition is characterised by insensitive procedures, lengthy waiting periods and cruel rejections. Delays can make any boon a curse. Condescending attitudes of officials can convert any assistance to alms. Corruption can exacerbate the situation; rigidities can make it impossible to resolve. With the best of intentions, the governments usual methods have to be discarded in favour of a responsive and flexible approach. But flexibility is a dreaded word. It is common knowledge in bureaucracy that flexibility is the Achilles heel responsible for corruption. So even when the value of flexibility is understood, the fear of the possibility of corruption that flexibility might cause (or at least the fear of allegations of corruption), makes governments cringe at the suggestion of a flexible approach. So in the interest of safety, flexibility is sacrificed at the altar of efficiency. The moot question is whether such thinking can be allowed to spoil the show. Is not the scale of this calamity so colossal that the small risk of corruptibility should be taken? Bureaucracy is not an alien entity but consists of people belonging to this very society. But when organised into a system, it is trained to play safe. Yet the corrupt ones take all precautions and safely engage in corruption; while the non-corrupt, out of fear of being targeted with corruption allegations, become almost pathologically rule-bound and rigid. Essentially, this leads to the deadening of our sense of compassion. Transparency in decision making is an effective antidote to insulate honest officers from allegations. The system should have the mandate to take any decision necessary for total rehabilitation, within a set of broad parameters, in a transparent fashion. It should have the freedom to seek the help of specialists, follow innovative practices, offer packages that will hasten rehabilitation, engage civil society and voluntary organisations. It is in the chrysalis of compassion a new Kerala waits to be born. K Jayakumar Former Chief Secretary to Government of Kerala and currently Director of Institute of Management in Government at Thiruvananthapuram Email: k.jayakumar123@gmail.com By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said the State is marching ahead on all fronts despite getting a raw deal from the BJP-led Union government. The Centre has done grave injustice to the State by denying special category status, giving only `3,900 crore against `16,000 cr towards revenue deficit, releasing meagre funds for capital city construction and delaying implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, Naidu alleged. We are number 1 in ease of doing business and several investors are coming forward to set up shop in the State, he said.Participating in the Grama Darshini, Grama Vikasam programme at Chintalapudi in West Godavari district on Tuesday, Naidu launched a broadside against the Centre over Vizag railway zone and Kadapa steel plant. In the same breath, he took potshots at the YSRC and Janasena, which, he said, were working at the behest of the saffron party. Describing Polavaram project as a boon to the twin Godavari districts and a lifeline to the State, he asserted that completion of the project was his life ambition and that he would complete the project at any cost and dedicate it to the nation. Claiming that his government is committed to the welfare and development of Kapus, he said his government had already passed a Bill in the Assembly extending 5 per cent BC reservation to Kapus and sent the same to the Centre for approval. The TDP government will stand by the Kapus to ensure that they get BC reservation, he asserted. On the debt redemption scheme, he said the government had already cleared three instalments by depositing money in the accounts of farmers, adding it would soon clear the remaining two instalments. Dont take extreme step, defeat BJP Expressing concern over the suicide of a youth for the cause of SCS, the Chief Minister appealed to people not to take such extreme steps. We will have to show our wrath by defeating the BJP in the coming elections, he said. Despite odds, the government is focusing on development, welfare and infrastructure, he said, adding, When the government is working for people, you should also reciprocate accordingly. For Chintalapudi By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: Farmers in the villages surrounding the Raiwada reservoir took their problems to the notice of Opposition Leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra on Tuesday. The YSRC supremos padayatra resumed at Jogannapalem village in Madugula area and passed through Ramachandrapuram, Bottavanipalem, K Santhapalem, Chandrayyapeta, Sudivalasada cross road, Ayyannapalem and reached Pendurthi constituency by evening. A large number of people came to see Jagan on the 254th day of his padayatra. When the Opposition Leader reached Raiwada, farmers informed him that even though reservoir is in their area, it is not catering to their irrigation needs. They said there is severe water crisis. Meanwhile, a few outsourcing employees working in water supplies department at Raiwada told Jagan that even though they had been working for the last 21 years, their jobs have not been regularised. When Jagan entered Ramachandrapuram, a few TDP leaders, including former sarpanch Aadireddy Ramu Naidu joined YSRC. Chetana Belagere By Express News Service BENGALURU: On September 5, 2017, four bullets were pumped into journalist Gauri Lankesh. Now, a year on, the Karnataka police claim to have almost cracked the case. With 14 arrests so far across Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of about 23 officers is set to submit its official report to the Karnataka government. READ | SITs done well in pretty much cracking Gauri Lankesh case, says former husband Chidanand Rajghatta After the crime was committed, police recovered a few CCTV camera footages of two bike-borne men wearing a black jacket and a helmet. While the images showed one man pumping bullets at Gauri, the other waited for his accomplice to be back. The government soon after constituted an SIT to investigate the case. To rule out any professional or personal rivalry, police began to interrogate different people. Once this was ruled out, a team of about 200 SIT officers and others began to track right-wing groups to look for the link between Gauris killing and the Kalburgi case. READ | Gait analysis helps nail Parashuram Waghmare as Gauri Lankesh killer The CID team, which had worked on Kalburgis case, was also made part of the probe and asked to compile a list of all the possible men from right-wing groups operating in Karnataka. The list threw up over 300 people. A majority of them were from groups like Sri Rama Sene, Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti operating in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. Police then set out to track the killers and soon realised there must be a link to the killings of Gauri, Kalburgi, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and author Govind Pansare. READ | I have lost my lifeline with her death, says Gauri's mother Indira Lankesh We analysed over 1.5 crore calls but got nothing. It was then we realised that Gauris killers were not using mobiles. Our interception of phone calls around that time did give one important lead, said an SIT officer. The first lead On November 2017, we picked up a conversation between one K T Naveen Kumar (37) alias Hotte Manja and a friend, said an SIT officer. Naveen, based in Chikkamagaluru district and the founder of Hindu Yuva Sene, had participated in programmes of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the Sanatan Sanstha. He had told his friend that he had gone underground after Gauris murder. READ | Gauri Lankesh Patrike renamed; to be relaunched on death anniversary They tracked his activities and monitored his calls from mid-November, 2017 to February 2018. They found that he was talking to another friend Praveen, who used only coin booths to talk to Naveen. The police, during the interception of calls, realised that the next target was Mysuru-based rationalist K S Bhagawan. The SIT, however, wanted to wait till both the men met and then arrest them. But once the plan to kill Bhagawan was set in motion, the SIT was forced to arrest Naveen. Meanwhile, Praveen was supposed to attend a wedding of an activist, Mohan Gowda, of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti in Brahmavar on February 25. Unfortunately, a media channel broke the story of Naveens arrest and the SITs plan to arrest the other accused at the wedding. Or else, we would have cracked the case at least three months earlier, an officer said. The vital diaries A police inspector with Upparpet police station arrested Praveen alias Sujeet Kumar in connection with an illegal arms case in May, 2018. This was the major breakthrough after Naveens arrest in February, said a police source. A diary was recovered from Praveen in which police found several phone numbers and code names alluding to others involved in the plot. The diary also had sketches of routes to Gauris house. and other bits of information mentioning Amol Kale alias bhaisab, Amit Degwekar alias tamatar and Manohar Edave. READ | Gauri Lankesh is no more, but her words are etched in our minds: Prof VS Sreedhara Based on a tip-off that they were travelling in a Toyota Innova from Pune towards Karnataka, police chased and arrested the trio in Davangere. All three were unknown to the police. Naveen Kumar, according to SIT, met Kale and Edave at the Sanatan Sanstha conference in Goa where he reportedly claimed to have ammunition and guts to do anything for the sake of Hindutva. When Kale found that Naveen didnt have ammunition, he was assigned to do a recce of Gauris house. READ | SIT gets clinching evidence against Parashuram Waghmore Police were shocked to find nearly 28 mobile handsets, all dismantled, in Amol Kales car. They also found two diaries: one from Kale and the other from Edave. These diaries led to major arrests and also helped the Maharashtra ATS and local police crack the killings of Dhabolkar and Pansare and arrests of five right-wing leaders who had allegedly planned terror attacks in Mumbai. Kale, along with dada, who is yet to be arrested, would look for innocent young boys who are fanatical about Hindutva, but are not so popular amongst police. The men went to Sindagi to meet Parashuram Waghmare, 26, who was out of prison after being accused of hoisting a Pakistani flag in Sindagi. He was shown videos of Gauri and was indoctrinated that she is anti-Hindu and should be killed. He was trained along with others at a resort in the jungles of Chikkale and Kanakumbi. Accused in Gauri Lankesh case being taken to Magistrate Court (File | EPS) After Waghmares arrest on June 11, police were surprised to see that he wasnt shocked at all. He told us I knew you would come for me and yes, I was the one who killed Gauri, recalled the officer. It was then that all four murders were linked and the CBI investigating Dabholkars killing and the Maharashtra SIT probing Pansares murder, were involved along with Karnatakas CID probing Kalburgis killing and Gauri murder case by Karnataka SIT began working together. Later, Sachin Prakashrao Andure from Maharashtra was arrested. Later came the arrests of five right wingers in Maharashtra wherein a huge cache of explosives were recovered. Following this arrest, Dabholkars murder was reportedly cracked. The CBI now has taken custody of Kale. The SIT has recovered 17 pistols along with one black pistol, which they suspect could be the weapon used for the killings of Gauri, Kalburgi and Dhabolkar. One bike was also recovered from Pune. By Express News Service KOCHI: Pointing out discrepancies in the government order fixing compensation for flood victims, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday suggested devising a scientific formula for determining minimum amount for them.A Division Bench issued the directive on a petition filed by Youth League leader P K Firoz seeking to set up a special tribunal for effective distribution of compensation to flood victims. According to the petitioner, it was imperative that a proper mechanism is put in place to ensure the magnanimity and benevolence of the donors are not short-changed and the amounts collected reach the actual victims. ALSO READ | Kerala Floods: Reliance Foundation donates relief worth Rs 71 crore As per the government order, officers of the revenue department have been authorised to carry out the distribution of compensation to the affected people. It also empowers them to ascertain the damages and determine the quantum of compensation payable. This was not a foolproof mechanism. Hence, it was highly necessary the state was directed to constitute tribunals district wise for the settlement of the claims of victims. The Bench orally observed the government should pay minimum compensation to the victims so as to start lives afresh. Lepto surge: Health Sec blames docs A fortnight after the first reported case of leptospirosis and 13 confirmed deaths later, Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan told our reporter Gopika I S on Tuesday the scourge surged because doctors failed to follow the treatment protocols and erred in prescribing prophylaxis in time. Ex-irrigation mins call for judicial inquiry TPuram:Former water resources ministers N K Premachandran, P J Joseph and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan have called for a judicial inquiry to find out the reason for the floods in the state. They made the call while jointly addressing the media at Cantonment House on Tuesday. The former ministers blamed dam mismanagement for the floods, which wreaked havoc across the state. They alleged that the government had procrastinated in regulating the release of water from dams. By Express News Service KOCHI: A tweet by actor Mohanlal about his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set rumour mills spinning hard about his political entry. The actor met the Prime Minister on Monday to invite him to a function organised by Viswa Shanti Foundation set up by Mohanlal in memory of his father Viswanathan Nair and mother Shanta Kumari, to launch various projects, including a Cancer Care Institute in Wayanad. The foundation has been actively involved in flood relief and rehabilitation work along with Seva Bharati, the social service wing of the Sangh. Modi also acknowledged his meeting with Mohanlal through his Twitter handle. Yesterday I had a wonderful meeting with Mohanlal Ji. His humility is endearing. His wide range of social service initiatives are commendable and extremely inspiring, Modi wrote. As the pictures of Mohanlal meeting Modi appeared, social media was rife with discussions about his possible political entry. There were claims RSS was pushing him to contest Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket from Thiruvananthapuram, where BJP stands a chance to win. However, party sources said they were unaware of the development. The Viswa Shanti Foundation has been actively involved in social activities in Wayanad along with Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a voluntary organisation of the RSS. But I am not aware of any discussion within the party regarding his joining politics, said BJP state general secretary K Surendran. Toby Antony By Express News Service KOCHI: Since the floods, 219.7 tonnes of relief materials worth Rs 25.5 crore have arrived from foreign countries via airports in the state by availing of Customs duty exemption. As the Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery, was closed following the floods, a majority of the relief goods from foreign countries reached the state via the Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports. The data provided by the Customs Department said 200 tonnes of relief materials worth Rs 25. 29 crore arrived through Thiruvananthapuram till September 4, while 19.7 tonnes worth Rs 28.93 lakh arrived from the Kozhikode airport.The relief goods have been classified into two categories based on the notification by the Central and state governments. ALSO READ | Imported relief materials piling up at airports The Central notification (148/94) waives off Customs duty on food, blanket, medicines and clothing brought for relief. The state government notification (59/2018) permits only the Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode District Collectors to receive such imported relief materials and distribute it among people in distress. The state government notification (59/18) said 192.71 tonnes of relief materials worth Rs 25.19 crore landed in Thiruvananthapuram. Under the Centres notification food, blankets, clothing and medicines worth Rs 50 lakh were received from private agencies. Our units are working round-the-clock at airports to clear the relief consignments. The Customs duty exemption is already provided on relief goods. We are clearing the consignments and handing them over to representatives of the district administrations posted at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports. Since the Cochin airport has restarted operations, we have deployed our personnel to clear relief goods received there, said Sumit Kumar, Customs Commissioner. ALSO READ | Kerala floods: Kochi airport suffers estimated loss of over Rs 220 crore Another Customs officer said since the state government notification directed handing over relief consignments availing of the exemption to District Collectors only, some agencies decided to pay Customs duty. Some private agencies wanted to distribute the relief goods which availed of the duty directly. Since the state government notification bars them from doing so, they paid Customs duty for the import of relief goods. So the exact quantity of relief goods arriving from abroad would be a little higher, he said. 17 tonnes of materials at Cochin airport Since the reopening of Cochin airport on August 29, 17 tonnes of relief materials arrived there till September 4. Of them, water pumps sent from Dubai to pump out water from Kuttanad was received after paying Customs duty. The water pumps alone weigh around 16 tonnes. Seven foreign consignments reached through the airport, including three from Dubai, two from Kuwait one each from Bahrain and Germany. By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid heated debate over whether ministers should travel abroad or not to mobilise funds for post-flood reconstruction, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran is all set to tour Japan, Singapore and China to attend travel and tourism expos. The General Administration Department had issued orders on September 1 sanctioning the ministers triple trips which will be spread over September, October and November. The government order further states that the full expense of the official trips will be borne by the state. From September 20 to 23, the minister will be in Tokyo, Japan, for the JATA Tourism Expo which boasts the tagline The Power of Travel. From October 17 to 19, the minister will fly to Singapore for ITB Asia, a leading travel trade show slated to be held at the Marine Bay Sands.In November, the minister will again leave Kerala, this time for the China International Travel Mart. The mammoth tourism fair is slated to be held in the city of Shanghai from November 16 to November 18. ALSO READ | Government will follow Central norms on ministers trips: Industries Minister E P Jayarajan The Tourism Minister called the trips routine affair and justified them saying that the direct presence of the government was desirable in view of the sharp hit taken by the states tourism sector in the aftermath of the Ockhi cyclone, Nipah virus outbreak and, lately, the flood calamity.Personally, I have no wish to go. But there is immense pressure from the industry which is ailing. Fifteen lakh people are employed in the tourism sector contributing a large chunk to the GDP. But whether I should go or not will be decided after talking with the Chief Minister, said Kadakampally. The minister said he had only left the country twice before on official trips, though numerous invitations had come his way. Moreover, after Tuesdays order banning government-sponsored celebration came out, Kadakampally was quick to respond that the Kerala Travel Mart planned for September end in Kochi was not a celebration, but a business enterprise. ALSO READ | Tuning the notes of compassion to those ravaged by the floods Nevertheless, on Wednesday, the ministers travel plans drew criticism from Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. There is no problem in going, but ministers should think twice about leaving the state in such a situation, he said, referring to the state of affairs after the flood. Kadakampallys foreign trips are also coming at a time when such journeys themselves have been hit by controversy. Recently, CPI minister K Raju had drawn flak from the public and his own party for choosing to fly to Germany while the state was battling the disastrous floods. Raju subsequently faced a public censure from the CPI. Ministers itinerary September 20-23 JATA Tourism Expo, Tokyo October 17-19 ITB Asia, Singapore November 16-18 China International Travel Mart, Shanghai By Express News Service TIRUCHY: Following a request from the State government, a team of Army engineers from Bengaluru on Tuesday inspected the regulator across Kollidam at Mukkombu. Sources said Army engineers were satisfied with the progress in the work done by PWD in plugging the breach and that they would primarily advise the district administration in providing connectivity to people in villages situated on both sides of the river as the bridge on regulator used to serve as a road link. Since the collapse of Upper Anaicut a fortnight ago, people in villages situated on Namakkal road and Karur road could not reach either side. They have to travel to Tiruchy to reach the other side. Many college students used to cross the bridge on a daily basis. In order to provide them with transportation facility, the Army engineers may be suggesting ways like construction of steel bridge or other temporary structures, sources added. It has been two weeks since the structure across Kollidam collapsed and PWD officials are grappling to arrest the water flow. Work on building a sand-bag bund is on round the clock and PWD officials hope the work will be completed by Wednesday night and water flow arrested. The Butterfly Park in Melur near Srirangam is still closed for public as PWD has taken over the road enroute to the park for transporting boulders. A steady stream of trucks and earth movers have been transporting mammoth sized boulders used to reinforce the bund. Mounds of boulders have been lined up till the department have filled rock piles the tenth pier of the regulator. With this, the restoration works are nearing completion and there are just three more vents left to be shut with boulders. Sources in PWD said Army engineers hailed the restoration works. Once the breach is plugged, farmers relying on Cauvery would be assured of copious water flow for irrigation. Ministers Vellamandi N Natarajan and S Valarmathi during their visit to Mukkombu on Tuesday said the works to plug the breach would be completed within Wednesday night. CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan who visited Mukkombu on Tuesday charged the State government with failing to manage water resources, adding several old regulators are still left unattended by the government. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday received the first copy of the Tamil publication of the book Exam Warrior, written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Governor Banwarilal Purohit released the book at the Raj Bhavan. The book is written in simple language that everyone can understand and will help students crack the State and Central competitive exams, said Palaniswami speaking at the launch. He added that the book would play the role of a mother who counsels her ward during stressful exam time. In the introduction of the book, the PM has elaborated why he wrote the book, why the PM of a country has to write a book like this, he said adding that this shows Modis interest in children and youth of India. Releasing the Tamil version of Exam Warrior, Purohit said, It is a matter of great happiness for me to be releasing the Tamil publication of the book Exam Warriors. The book drives home the point that when it comes to examinations, there is no need to worry excessively or become nervous. The book is a collection of strategies called mantras meant to ease stress and improve performance. One will also find a repository of information on yogasanas and breathing exercises which can be used while preparing for exams, Purohit said, adding that the book offers solutions for students experiencing nervousness, stress and breakdowns. The book targets a very important sector of the society: children and youth, said Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam commending Modis efforts. Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, P Dhanapal, Assembly Speaker, KA Sengottaiyan, Minister for School Education, KP Anbalagan, Minister for Higher Education, Girija Vaidyanathan, Chief Secretary, R Rajagopal, Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor, Pradeep Yadav, Principal Secretary, and Srinivasan from Alliance Publications were also present. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Defending her complaint against S Lois Sofia, hailing from Thoothukudi and pursuing higher studies in Canada, who raised slogans against BJP government on the flight to Thoothukudi on Monday, BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday raised suspicions that some movement might be behind Sofia and it should be investigated. The way Sofia expressed herself and the way she conducted herself was not that of a common passenger. So I had a suspicion that some movement might be behind her. So, I lodged a complaint with the airport authorities about the slogan-raising incident, Tamilisai told mediapersons at the Chennai airport. ALSO READ | Unconditional bail granted for jailed scholar S Lois Sofia who raised 'anti-BJP' slogan at Tamilisai She said, I went to Thoothukudi by the 10.20 am flight to take part in the event where more than 1,000 Devendrakula Vellalas joined the BJP. The flight landed. My seat No was 3 and Sophias seat No. was 8. When I crossed her seat, she stood up, raised her hands and shouted a slogan, fascist BJP govt down down. First time, I just ignored her slogan. But she raised the same slogan again. But I kept quiet. Tamilisai said when she came to the airport reception, Sofia passed through that way staring at her. At that time, I asked her whether it was proper to raise slogan within the flight and she said she had freedom of expression to do that. I asked her if it was proper to express that freedom within the flight, she added. On the charge that only because of the pressure given by Tamilisai, Sofia was arrested, Tamilisai denied that, saying Had I thought of exerting pressure, I could have done that through some other means too." Condemning DMK president M K Stalins tweet in support of Sofia, Tamilisai recalled Stalin slapped a person in Metro train last year. Would all political leaders agree to such slogans raised against them on flights? I did not violate any rules. I have the same rights like them as a woman leader. Can leaders of two political parties having differing views quarrel in the flight because they have freedom of expression ? Had it been a slogan against me, I would have ignored it Q: Would you be OK if Sofia had raised the slogan somewhere else? A: Yes. Had Sofia raised this slogan somewhere else, I would have ignored it. See, very often we go for public meetings and there are such incidents and we just leave it at that. She should not have raised the slogan within the flight. Further, I strongly feel that it is not an emotional outburst. Within flight, such slogan-raising should not be encouraged. I suspected that Sofias slogan-raising would have been a preplanned one. Now, it has been proved with her tweet. The way she behaved created suspicion that she may be associated with some organisation. Q: How does saying fascist BJP down become a personal attack on you? A: If she had raised a slogan against me, I would have ignored it. I am the State president of the BJP and any attack on the party is personal to me. People are posting umpteen number of memes against me every day. I am not fighting with them. Q: Wont this incident affect the image of their party in Tamil Nadu? A: Definitely not. I have not done anything to damage the image of my party. When someone is belittling my party, I have the right to protect my party. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The State Cabinet is likely to meet on September 6 and recommend the dissolution of the State Assembly. After the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to meet the Governor to hand over the copy of the Cabinet resolution. A series of fast-paced developments took place on Tuesday indicating that the State is heading for early polls to the Assembly. Governor ESL Narasimhan had a meeting with Chief Secretary SK Joshi and other officials and discussed the Constitutional procedure to be initiated in case the Council of Ministers recommend dissolution of the House. Sources said, the Governor reportedly enquired whether any Legislative business was pending with the Assembly and the officials informed him that nothing was pending. Tuesdays developments started with Chief Secretary meeting the State Legislature secretary followed by some more meetings. During his meeting with the Chief Secretary at the Secretariat, State Legislature secretary V Narasimha Charyulu reportedly discussed issues relating to the dissolution of the Assembly and others. State governments chief advisor Rajiv Sharma and Chief Ministers secretary S Narsing Rao were also present at the meeting. Rajiv Sharma recently met Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi with regard to early polls. Later, Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar also called on the Chief Secretary. Both of them discussed the preparation of electoral rolls. After the meetings, the Chief Secretary along with Rajiv Sharma and Narsing Rao called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan. Who will present Budget? When the then AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu had dissolved the Assembly on November 14, 2003, the EC did not conduct elections immediately. The caretaker government under the leadership of Naidu approved the Budget and sent the same to the Governor who issued an ordinance approving the Budget. In case, the polls are not held in TS before March 31 after the Assembly dissolution, TS may have to face a similar situation in presenting the Budget. But, the sources averred that the EC may conduct the polls before March 2019 and there will be no problem for presenting the 2019-20 Budget Ramananda Sengupta By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Two days before the 2+2 dialogue with the US begins September 6, sources in New Delhi described it as the biggest diplomatic engagement of the year. The dialogue, which has been postponed twice earlier, will see External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holding extensive talks with their US counterparts Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis. "This is the highest level of political engagement that we have with the US, and it will be an annual affair, replacing the earlier strategic and commercial dialogue, though coincidentally on the Indian side, the people have remained the same, with Nirmala Sitharaman being commerce minister earlier," said a senior source in New Delhi. "This dialogue, which the US has with its key strategic partners like the Australia and Japan, reflects the strategic importance that we have for the US, and from the Indian side, it reflects the pre-eminent position that US has in global affairs," he said. "It is a recognition that we are an independent and independent player. So while there is convergence in several areas, there are differences in other areas, and hence the need to engage with us on a regular basis."According to the source, bilaterally the main issues on the agenda would be counterterrorism, defence and trade cooperation and immigration-related issues, while the two sides would also share perspectives on important global and regional issues like the Indo-Pacific region. Noting that Prime Minister Modi had made India's position on the Indo-Pacific clear in his address at the Shangri La Security Dialogue in Singapore June 1, the source said that while the Americans had made several public pronouncements on the subject, "We have not heard directly from either of them on this, so we are awaiting their thoughts on the Indo-Pacific. Pompeo is coming from Islamabad, so we would want to hear his views on engagement with the new government in Pakistan. Issues like national security and terror straddle both ministries, so 2+2 helps bridge that gap. The four leaders will discuss all these issues in a period of great global change," he said. Insisting that India did not usually discuss its bilateral dealings with other nations with third parties, the source said that the implications of US sanctions on arms purchases from Russia as well as oil purchases from Iran would be discussed since it impacted other nations as well. However, the final decision would be taken "independently by the government of India, and it's not going to be made by US or Iran compulsions on us."Box: The two US secretaries, as well as the chairman of the US Join Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph F. Dunford, will arrive separately in New Delhi Wednesday evening. Pompeo will arrive from Islamabad, after talks with Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan. On Thursday, there will be bilateral meetings between Swaraj and Sitharaman with their counterparts at their respective ministries in South and North Block, which will be followed by a delegation level meeting at the MEA office in Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan. This will be followed by joint press conferences, after which Pompeo will leave for Washington. Mattis will stay on for a dinner hosted by Sitharaman, and leave early Friday. By PTI BEIRUT: Israeli missile strikes targeted Iranian military positions in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Tartus on Tuesday, killing three Syrian soldiers, a monitoring group said. Syria's state news agency SANA said its air defence systems downed several missiles launched from Israeli warplanes. The Observatory said missiles struck Wadi al-Oyoun in the central province of Hama, near a scientific research centre which was already targeted by Israeli strikes in July and last year. Iranian military positions in the coastal region of Banias, in the province of Tartus, were also targeted, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Three Syrian soldiers were killed and 23 people injured -- 14 Syrian and nine Iranians, according to the Observatory. "The air defence system responded to an Israeli aggression carried out by aircraft that targeted some of our military positions in the provinces of Tartus and Hama," SANA said, quoting a military source. "Some of the missiles" were downed, the agency said, reporting an initial casualty toll of one dead and four wounded. A spokesman for the Israeli army refused to comment on the new raids, but an Israeli military official, in a rare confirmation, said the army had carried out some 200 strikes in Syria over the past 18 months against mainly Iranian targets. Israel has pledged to prevent its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran is backing President Bashar al-Assad in the ongoing civil war. A series of strikes that have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel in recent months, but the Israeli military rarely confirms them. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's election commission Wednesday officially declared Dr Arif Alvi as the 13th president of the country after an official count showed he had secured 352 votes -- 44 more than his two rivals could collectively obtain. Dr Arif Alvi, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, defeated Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and the Pakistan Muslim League-N nominee Maulana Fazl ur Rehman in a three-way contest. The 69-year-old dentist secured 352 votes while his rivals Rehman and Ahsan clinched 184 and 124 votes respectively, Dawn reported, citing the Form VII issued by the returning officer. The results of Tuesday's election were prepared in the presence of the representatives of the three candidates at the election commission headquarters Wednesday, with Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza serving as the returning officer, the paper said. The election commission has sent the official results to the federal government, which will notify Dr Alvi as the 13th president of Pakistan. The newly elected president will take oath of the office on September 9. Outgoing President Mamnoon Hussain's five-year tenure ends on September 8. Of the 430 votes cast via a secret ballot in the National Assembly and Senate, Alvi received 212 votes, Rehman bagged 131 and Ahsan garnered 81; six votes were rejected. Alvi is one of the founding members of PTI. He served as the party's secretary general from 2006 to 2013. He won the National Assembly elections from NA-247 (Karachi) during the July 25 polls. He was also elected member of the National Assembly in the 2013 general election. In Pakistan, the President is considered as a symbol of the federation and head of the state and exercises all powers on the recommendations of the prime minister. Prime Minister Khan, who is said to have the backing of the powerful military establishment, has consolidated his grip over power by nominating the governors of the all four provinces and appointing his key ally as the chief minister of the most populous and politically crucial state of Punjab. With his close ally Alvi as President, Khan can smoothly implement his agenda, according to observers. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the alleged involvement of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister in a Rs 3,500 crore money laundering and fake bank accounts case, according to a media report. In July, the Supreme Court listed Zardari, 63, and his sister Faryal Talpur as beneficiaries in the alleged scam "running into billions of rupees" that led to the arrest of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman's close aide and famous banker Hussain Lawai. While hearing the case regarding a delay in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) probe into the case, the apex court had earlier deliberated over the formation of an investigation team, but said that it would only be constituted once the defence and prosecution lawyers concluded their arguments, Dawn newspaper reported. The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, however, has not decided who will be a part of the JIT. The apex court is also in favour of halting the proceedings in the trial court. The case has been described as a "big corruption case", the report said. "It is necessary to have a mega corruption case probed by a JIT," Nisar said while noting that the court had constituted JITs to probe a number of similar cases. A Federal Investigation Agency JIT has been investigating the 2015 case regarding the fake accounts and fictitious transactions conducted through 29 'benami' accounts in the Summit Bank, the Sindh Bank and the United Bank Limited, the report said. Seven individuals, including Zardari and Talpur, were said to be involved in using those accounts for suspicious transactions which were initially found to have totalled Rs 3,500 crore. The accounts were allegedly used to channel funds received through kickbacks. Earlier, Nisar had hinted at constituting a high-power JIT- similar to the one formed in the Panama Papers case against Nawaz Sharif - to probe the money laundering allegations against Zardari and his sister. By AFP MANILA: A Philippine mayor on President Rodrigo Duterte's list of allegedly narcotics-linked officials was shot dead in his own office on Wednesday, police said. Mariano Blanco, mayor of the southern town of Ronda, is the latest in a spate of local officials to be slain in recent months, some with and some without alleged links to the illegal drug trade. The Philippines has a violent and often deadly political culture, but watchdogs have expressed concern Duterte's narcotics crackdown may be emboldening assailants. Blanco, 59, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen after midnight in his office, the local police chief said. "Witnesses said four armed persons alighted from a white van and entered the municipal hall... The mayor was there as he was sleeping in his office," Senior Inspector Jayr Palcon told AFP. It was unclear why Blanco had decided to stay in his office overnight. The mayor was pronounced dead at the hospital and the motive for the killing is under investigation. Palcon said the mayor was on Duterte's so-called narco-list of officials involved in drugs, which was confirmed by a spokesman for the Philippines' Drug Enforcement Agency. Blanco's killing comes nearly a year after the National Police Commission stripped him of control over the local police for allegedly being "engaged in illegal drug trade activities," the agency said. Another recent high profile killing came in July when mayor Antonio Halili was shot by a sniper during a flag raising ceremony at the town hall in Tanauan, south of Manila. Blanco and Halili are among at least six mayors or vice mayors killed in the Philippines since May. Blanco's nephew and town vice mayor Jonah John Ungab was also shot dead by unidentified gunmen in February after attending a court hearing, police said. The killings come as authorities are pursuing Duterte's deadly crackdown on narcotics. Police say 4,410 alleged drug dealers or users have been killed as part of the anti-drug campaign that Duterte launched since winning elections in mid-2016. Rights groups charge that the actual death toll is three times higher and that the police and shadowy vigilantes are murdering people even without proof they are linked to drugs. By PTI SOFIA: India and Bulgaria on Wednesday signed four MoUs, including one on civil nuclear cooperation, as President Ram Nath Kovind held talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev and invited the Balkan nation to become a key partner of India in the defence sector. Kovind arrived here on Tuesday from Cyprus on the second leg of his eight-day three-nation visit to Europe to continue India's high-level engagements with European countries. The President held detailed talks with Radev and later the two leaders witnessed signing of four MoUs between India and Bulgaria on investment, tourism, civil nuclear cooperation and the establishment of Hindi Chair at Sofia University, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. A programme of cooperation was also signed to enhance scientific cooperation, he said Kovind also invited Bulgaria to become a key partner of India in defence sector, IT sector under 'Make In India' programme, the MEA spokesperson said. Bulgaria is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) member country with a large indigenous defence industry. It is ranked as a "medium" small arms exporter according to the Small Arms Survey. Bilateral trade between India and Bulgaria has grown 76 per cent during 2016-17, but there is a lot of scope for expanding the current bilateral trade basket as well as for enhancing the quantum in the existing items of export and import, the Indian Embassy in Bulgaria said on its website. Last night, Kovind hailed the Indian diaspora in Bulgaria for acting as a "living bridge" between the two nations and welcomed the community's participation in India's transformative journey. Addressing the Indian Community here, the president also said there is a "new vigour" in India's diaspora policy and outreach. Praising the Indian community, Kovind said, "The Indian Diaspora in Bulgaria constitutes a living bridge between our countries. Your numbers may be small but you have made appreciable contribution to fostering bilateral ties." The Indian community in Bulgaria is very small numbering around 250 permanent residents who are engaged in small business or work in companies. In addition, there are around 400 other Indians, mostly students and IT professionals, who come on a temporary basis and leave the country when their courses or job assignments are over. By PTI WASHINGTON: Arizona's governor on Tuesday named former US senator Jon Kyl as the temporary successor to late senator John McCain, appointing a respected and powerful former Republican lawmaker to the post. "There is no one in Arizona with the stature of senator Jon Kyl. He is a man without comparable peer," Governor Doug Ducey told reporters in Phoenix, with Kyl at his side. "Senator Kyl is prepared to hit the ground running." Kyl, 76, was to fly to Washington to be sworn in possibly just days before a high-stakes Senate vote on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's pick to be the next US Supreme Court justice. Ducey insisted his appointment was not political, despite Kyl working closely with the White House in recent months on getting Kavanaugh confirmed in the Senate, where Republicans hold a razor-thin one-vote majority. "Now, senator Kyl can cast a vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation." Kyl, 76, served for 18 years alongside McCain in the Senate, until 2013, and said he would be "honored" to return to the chamber. But he only committed to serve until January 2019, raising the prospect of requiring Ducey to again appoint a replacement until the seat is up for re-election in November 2020. "I'm hoping that the senator will consider serving longer" than this year, Ducey said. Widow Cindy McCain said it was a "great tribute" to her late husband that their close friend Kyl will return to public service by assuming McCain's seat. McCain died late last month at age 81 following a yearlong battle with brain cancer. His funeral service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral was in many ways a stern rebuke of Trump, with presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama eulogizing McCain as an iconic statesman who embodied passionate but civil debate, bipartisan compromise and a commitment to American values. By PTI YANGON: US Vice President Mike Pence called on Myanmar to immediately release two journalists who were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on charges of possessing state secrets in connection with their reporting on massacres against Rohingya Muslims. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from the Reuters news agency were sentenced Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair. ALSO READ | UN calls for release of jailed journalists; Reuters denounces 'false charges' They had reported about the army's brutal counterinsurgency campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military's human rights abuses, which it denies. Pence on Tuesday tweeted the two should be "commended -- not imprisoned -- for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings." "Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy," he wrote in back-to-back tweets. "We call on the Gov't of Burma to reverse this ruling & release them immediately." Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commendednot imprisonedfor their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings. Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy. We call on the Govt of Burma to reverse this ruling & release them immediately. Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) September 4, 2018 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged Myanmar authorities to review their decision, noting with concern the conviction and sentencing of the two. "The right to freedom of expression and information is a cornerstone of any democracy. It is unacceptable that these journalists were prosecuted for reporting on major human rights violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine state," Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement. The case drew worldwide attention as an example of how democratic reforms in long-isolated Myanmar have stalled under Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government, which took power in 2016. Although the military, which ruled Myanmar for a half-century, maintains control of several key ministries, Suu Kyi's rise to government leader had raised hopes for an accelerated transition to full democracy, and her stance on the Rohingya crisis has disappointed many former admirers. Wa Lone's wife, Pan Ei Mon, told reporters that she was saddened and hurt that Suu Kyi had taken a legalistic position in a June interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK by saying that the two reporters were arrested for breaking the Official Secret Act, not because they exposed the army's abuses. "I am very sad about what she answered because she was the one whom we always admired and respected," Pan Ei Mon said Tuesday. "We loved and respected her so much," she said. "We feel very sad as our respected person has the wrong opinion about us." She said that she never expected such a harsh punishment "because everyone knows that they didn't do anything wrong." The two men testified that they had been framed by the police. Pan Ei Mon gave birth to the couple's first child in Yangon on August 10, but her husband has not seen their daughter. "After I gave birth, I continued to keep strong with the hope that my daughter and her father will meet soon. But I felt like my hope was broken after the verdict yesterday. I am hopeless now," she said. Kyaw Soe Oo's wife, Chit Su, also said she had expected her husband would be coming home. They have a 3-year-old daughter. "I believed he would be free, he felt the same," she said. "But it didn't happen, I felt like I am a crazy person." She said she still hopes for mercy from the state. At the same time, she remains proud that her husband did his duty as a journalist. The lawyers for the journalists told the news conference that they would do whatever they could to get their clients freed. They can file an appeal or ask for a pardon, or hope the reporters could be freed under a general amnesty for prisoners. Reporter/Columnist Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth). Reporter Tim Mitchell is a reporter at The News-Gazette. His email is tmitchel@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@mitchell6). 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). Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. 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). One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Cobb makes W-W history On Friday October 29, during the gritty game against the Commerce Tigers, Washington-Wilkes football quarterback Dalen Cobb made Wilkes County football history as the first player to ever have 1,000... Anderson achieves sweeping win; Cullars and Hill retain seats Despite a relatively low voter turnout for this years city council election, Colonel Andy Anderson managed to sweep District Two, winning by a large margin. Larry Hill and Nathaniel Cullars... Monument unveiled at Smyrna Methodist Church honoring past Wilkes County patriots On October 30, after many delays, the Sons of the American Revolution and company unveiled a monument at Smyrna Methodist Church cemetary honoring four men who served in the American... He said as the speaker responsible for receiving motions he has always been ready to get any proposal on electoral reforms but the only attempt that was ever made towards electoral reforms came from the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) which sadly had no concrete clauses on what needed to be changed and how the changed clauses should read. ZIMBABWE is looking to secure at least $2,5 billion in lines of credit from major Chinese banks for on-lending to the private sector, Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC), Minister Chimanasa, who is part of the Presidential delegation attending the conference, said the lines of credit are for on-lending to critical sectors of the economy. We are looking for lines of credit, and we have been having those discussions on the sidelines of 2018 FOCAC, but there is nothing that we can tell until they have come to fruition. We are looking at $2, 5 billion lines of credit to support the entirety of the productive sectors, tourism, mining, industry, agriculture and manufacturing among others. We (Minister Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr John Mangudya) did not go to FOCAC today, we have spent the day engaging a number of Chinese financial institutions. For instance, we have met ICBC and others, which we would not want to mention at the moment, said Minister Chinamasa. We have also met Afrixembank officials who are here. Notwithstanding the move to secure new lines of credit, Minister Chinamasa said Zimbabwe was looking to take advantage of the $60 billion facility for African countries announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the official opening of FOCAC 2018 on Monday. The $60 billion facility will be provided in the form of Government assistance as well as investment and financing by financial institutions and companies. He said the concessionary loans will help grow the economy as they do not increase the countrys level of indebtness. We have to come up with bankable plans (to access the $60 billion facility). The lines of credit will build our capacity to honour our obligations, so yes, temporarily it will have an effect on our indebtedness but what our economy is looking for right now is foreign currency to retool our manufacturing sector, to supply raw materials, to re-equip our mines, to modernise our agriculture through mechanisation. Once that is done then you have more production and with more production, these problems fall by the wayside, said Minister Chinamasa. Meanwhile, FOCAC 2018 closed yesterday (Tuesday). Today, President Mnangagwa is set to have bilateral meetings, first with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, to be followed by meetings with some African Heads of State. Herald 'Today Is a Monumental Day In the Course of This Pandemic' We use cookies. By Clicking "OK" or any content on this site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. Read more in our privacy policy (Newser) Viking Cruises says it has listened to its customers and given them what they asked for: no children. The Switzerland-based company, which restricted its ocean voyages to people over 18 when it launched the service in 2015, says it will no longer accept bookings for children on its river cruises, which had previously allowed those 12 and over. This gives the company one of the strictest age policies in the industry, though since it already had very few children on its cruises, which are generally marketed to people over 50, it is unlikely to cost it much business, Orlando Weekly reports. story continues below "Viking has always offered experiences that are designed for travelers who are 50 and older, with interests in history, art, culture and exploration. Its what were known for," a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "Previously, we had allowed a degree of flexibility in the minimum age for travel, but increasingly our guests have told us how much they appreciate an environment where they can travel without children." (Read more cruise ships stories.) (Newser) The lawyer for a homeless man in Philadelphia whose selflessness led to donations of over $400,000 said Tuesday that all the money is gone. Johnny Bobbitt's attorney, Chris Fallon, said he learned that the cash was gone during a call with lawyers for Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico, the couple accused in a lawsuit brought by Bobbitt of mismanaging donations they raised for him through GoFundMe. Fallon said he was "shocked. Shocked." "They raised this money to help Johnny Bobbitt get money for food." The couple, who started the campaign after Bobbitt used his last $20 to help McClure get gas after she ran out late at night, deny the claims in the suit, saying they're wary of giving Bobbitt large sums because they fear he will buy drugs. GoFundMe rep Bobby Whithorne says the company is working with law enforcement to ensure that Bobbitt gets the money raised for him, the AP reports. The crowdfunding site says it will guarantee any misspent money, 6 ABC reports. story continues below "While we assist law enforcement with their ongoing investigation, GoFundMe is also working with Johnny's legal team to ensure he's receiving support while the remaining funds are being recovered," Whithorne said in a statement, adding that the company gave $20,000 to an account set up by Bobbitt's attorney "to provide assistance" to him during the investigation. McClure and D'Amico's attorney, Ernest Badway, told the AP they have no comment. They have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. D'Amico has said Bobbitt, a Marine veteran, spent $25,000 in less than two weeks in December on drugs, in addition to paying overdue legal bills and sending his family money. They say they've given Bobbitt about half the money raised, but Fallon says Bobbitt has only received about $75,000, including a camper and a 1999 Ford Ranger. The New Jersey judge in the case ordered the couple to transfer the money into an escrow account by Friday and hire an accountant to review records within 10 days; per NJ 101.5, they missed that deadline. A hearing is set for Wednesday. (Read more GoFundMe stories.) (Newser) The NYPD has been accused of "testilying" in the past, and now a Harlem restaurant owner and two of his workers are suing over an incident last year. Clyde Pemberton, who owns the high-end MIST Harlem, says in his lawsuit that he was arrested June 1, 2017, for being "a conscientious business owner while black," along with employees Christian Baptiste and Thomas Debnam, per the New York Times. It started when Pemberton, now 68, saw two women in his eatery dragging a third, unconscious woman (the suit says cops noted she was drunk or on drugs) out of the bathroom, spurring him to ask what was going on and suggest they put her in a chair. One woman uttered a racial slur and punched him, per his complaint, while the second hit Baptiste in the head with her purse. When the cops arrived after a 911 call, the three men faced more trouble than the three white women. story continues below One of the women was arrested and charged with assault, among other infractions, but the three men were charged with unlawful imprisonment: One cop said he saw them blocking the exit and that they told him they were trying to keep the women from getting out, which the men deny in full. Pemberton and his workers "did nothing wrong, and no reasonable police officer would have believed they did anything wrong," the suit says. In addition to the $15,000 the men say they've paid in legal fees, Pemberton says since the arrest ICE has given him grief while traveling and cops have increased their presence at his restaurant. The men remain "deeply shaken," the suit notes, per the New York Post. The charges against them were dropped in November. An attorney for the men tells the Times, "You don't just arrest everybody on the scene and sort it out later." (Read more Harlem stories.) (Newser) British prosecutors charged two Russian men Wednesday with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. The Crown Prosecution Service said the men, known to British investigators as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, and use of the nerve agent Novichok, reports the AP. Russian law forbids extradition of its own citizens, but Britain has issued a European Arrest Warrant, meaning the suspects can be detained if they leave Russia for another European country. Assistant police commissioner Neil Basu conceded it was "very very unlikely" police would be in a position to arrest them any time soon. Police say the men, both about 40, flew to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned March 4. Basu said they were probably using aliases. story continues below Basu appealed to the public "to come forward and tell us who they are." Police released images of the men as they traveled through London and Salisbury between March 2 and March 4. Police say the two men flew back to Moscow from Heathrow on the evening of March 4, hours after the Skripals were found collapsed on a park bench. Police believe the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals was smuggled to Britain in a perfume bottle and applied to Skripal's front door of Sergei Skripal's house. The bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley, in June; he was hospitalized and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, died. Police haven't determined where the bottle was between poisonings, and aren't ready to bring charges in the second poisoning. Basu wouldn't say whether cops believe the suspects worked for Russian security services but called it "a sophisticated attack across borders." (Read more Sergei Skripal stories.) (Newser) Asia Argento has already strongly denied the story of Jimmy Bennett, the man who says she sexually abused him when he was a teenand now she says Bennett was the abuser, not the victim. Mark Jay Heller, the #MeToo advocate's lawyer, tells TMZ it was Bennett who sexually assaulted Argento five years ago, when he was just 17 and she was 37, and that text messages from Argento publicized by TMZ prove it. "The horny kid jumped me I had sex with him it felt weird," read one Argento message to a friend, ostensibly about the alleged 2015 encounter between Argento and Bennett at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, Calif. "I was frozen. He was on top of me," she wrote in another message, though she noted, "It wasn't [rape]." "Asia chose at the time not to prosecute Bennett for sexually attacking her," Heller tells TMZ. story continues below He adds the $380,000 payout offered to Bennett by Argento's boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, was because Bennett tried to extort Argento, and Bourdain simply wanted to protect her, even though the pair contended Argento did nothing wrong. Per E! News, Heller also notes in a statement that Bourdain paid Bennett $250,000 before he died earlier this year, and that Bennett won't be seeing a cent more from Argento. Also in Heller's statement: accusations that the 22-year-old himself was charged by the LAPD in 2014 with "stalking" and "unlawful sex with a minor"though, per what Heller calls "Phase Two" of the #MeToo movement, Bennett should still have the right to accuse others of sexual misconduct, even if some of his own alleged behavior has been inappropriate. Meanwhile, per Deadline, Rose McGowan made the rounds in UK media this week, saying she felt "betrayed" by Argento. (Read more Asia Argento stories.) (Newser) The injustice of it all is staggering: A Northwestern University PhD student who survived lymphoma as a teen was shot dead in Chicago on Sunday evening just four hours after landing in the city; Shane Colombo was in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the city's north side buying hangers, his mother tells ABC News. Chicago police say the 25-year-old was essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time: He was struck once in the abdomen as two males engaged in a gunfight just before 8:30pm, reports the Daily Northwestern. No arrests have been made. "I put him on a plane that morning at 10am [California time] and I kissed him good-bye, and that was the last time I saw him alive," says mother Tonya Colombo. "He was killed within four hours of being in the city, four hours of stepping off that plane." story continues below ABC News reports the San Francisco State University grad had spent the past two years doing research at Columbia University's Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab in New York and planned to get his PhD in clinical psychology. The Chicago Tribune reports he had been in a long-distance relationship with his fiance, Vincent Perez, while he was in New York and Perez in California. The men, who met in a fraternity, were to live together in a condo they had just purchased. Perez tells the Tribune he discovered Colombo was in the hospital by tracking Colombo's cellphone: It showed he was at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, and an ER doctor ultimately told him Colombo had died. A GoFundMe campaign has raised $15,000 to help send Colombo's body back to his native California. (Read more Chicago stories.) (Newser) Bill Cosby's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was found vandalized early Tuesday, the words "serial rapist" written on it with black marker. Los Angeles police are investigating, reports the Los Angeles Times, which has a picture of the defaced star. Cosby, 81, received the star in 1977. In 2014, amid a number of allegations of sexual assault at his hands, someone wrote "rapist" three times across the star; after he was convicted in April of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, notes reading "guilty on all 3 counts!" were taped to the star, Mic reports. Even so, the star isn't going anywhere: As the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president explained in 2015, "Once a star has been added to the Walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, we have never removed a star from the Walk." (Read more Bill Cosby stories.) (Newser) It costs nearly $50,000 a year to send your kid to Friends Seminary, a private Quaker school in Manhattan founded in 1786. Two words uttered there cost Ben Frisch much more. While teaching a Feb. 14 pre-calculus class, he lifted his right arm up and down during a demonstration on angles of depression and elevation. Realizing his movement was mimicking the Nazi salute, he was "mortified," writes Jonathan Mahler for the New York Times Magazine; Mahler notes that two of Frisch's great-grandmothers died at Auschwitz. Fumbling for a way to bring levity to the situation, Frisch settled on two poorly-chosen words: "Heil Hitler!" Mahler writes that Frisch, seeing his students' surprised reaction, realized his "stab at Mel Brooks-style parody" had flopped and he tried to explain that jokes about Nazis were once not so taboo. story continues below That was then, this is now: After 12 days of meetings, Frisch was told by school principal Bo Lauder and a number of board members that he could resign or be fired; he ultimately refused to resign. The case is now in arbitration, with a decision in the coming weeks as to whether to return Frisch to his position or stick with the termination. But Mahler's piece is about much more than just the various schools of thought on Frisch's case: It's about being a Quaker institution that is increasingly going toe-to-toe with other posh NYC schoolsand possibly sacrificing its Quaker values in the process. With Frisch being the only Quaker teacher at the school and one whose firing didn't involve the community at large (as Quaker decisions are historically made), "the fight over Frischs termination became a proxy battle in this larger war," writes Mahler. Read his full piece here. (Read more Longform stories.) New Delhi: Online shopping giant company Amazon.com on Tuesday became the second US company after Apple to reached 1 trillion US dollar milestone in stock market value, according to sources. Amazon shares traded at $ 2,050.27 on Tuesday afternoon, which gave the worlds dominant online retailers market valuation over $ one trillion, said sources. Apple topped the worlds $ one trillion mark early this August. Also Read | Typhoon Jebi hit western Japan, eight killed, several injured The Seattle-based company which started as selling books online, has over the years cemented customers loyalty through its services like echo voice devices Alexa and the Prime membership program, that offers fast and free shipping as well as music and video streaming perks. From a profitless bookseller to a disruptive force of commerce, Amazon joined the trillion-dollar club in just 21 years, whereas it took Apple 38 years, sources said. Meanwhile, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, a top American daily, was recently named this years worlds no. one on Forbes billionaires list. Read More | Reliance Home Finance in exclusive talks with an overseas investor for equity investment According to reports, Amazon has also emerged one of the major FDI investors in India in the past few years. This year alone, Amazon stocks have jumped 75 per cent adding $ 435 billion to its market capitalization. This is combined market capitalization of Americas top three retail stores - Walmart, Costco and Target. The Wall Street Journal said investors rewarded Amazon because of it demonstrating better financial discipline in recent quarters. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a major breakthrough to a month-old murder and extortion case in Sant Nagar area, the Special Cell of Delhi police on Wednesday arrested three wanted members of Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuria gang. The visuals from the site of the encounter between Delhi police and miscreants went viral on social networking sites. "Delhi: Visuals from the site of encounter between Special Cell of Delhi police and criminals which took place in Alipur area, earlier this morning. 3 members of Sunil alias Tillu gang, wanted in the murder case of a member of a rival gang and extortion cases, have been arrested," the news agency ANI reported. Delhi: Visuals from the site of encounter between Special Cell of Delhi police and criminals which took place in Alipur area, earlier this morning. 3 members of Sunil alias Tillu gang, wanted in the murder case of a member of a rival gang & extortion cases, have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/UKicz1s1iT ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 Read | Uttar Pradesh BSP leader Dilshad shot in Delhis Batla House Earlier in June, in a shocking incident, a shoot-out between two rival gangs left three dead and two injured in Delhi's Sant Nagar area. According to reports, the miscreants involved in the shootings were part of rivals Jitendra Gogi gang and Tillu Tajpuria gang. While Sunny and Raju - two members of Tillu and Gogi gang lost their lives in the incident, an innocent bystander identified as Sangeeta also became a victim of the gunfight. The bullets also hit two more bystanders while another person was injured during the stampede caused by the shoot-out. New Delhi: In yet another tragic incident, a section of the 50-year-old Majerhat bridge on the arterial Diamond Harbour Road in south Kolkata collapsed on Tuesday evening, leaving one dead, trapping several people and crushing many a vehicle. The search and rescue operation is still underway to clear the place. The Majerhat bridge, which runs over the Majerhat Railway Station and connects the city centre with the heavily populated Behala, vast areas of the southwest suburbs and neighbouring South 24 Parganas district, caved at around 4.45 pm during rush hour. Following the mishap, police confirmed the death of one person while declared 21 others, including three women injured. Read | Mumbai: Part of bridge collapses at Andheri station, five injured Here are the highlights on Majerhat bridge collapse: # 01:36 pm: Suo-motu case registered at Alipur police station against unknown responsible persons (maintenance agency) under sections 304, 308, 427 and 34 of IPC. Kolkata's Majerhat bridge collapse: Suo-motu case registered at Alipur police station against unknown responsible persons (maintenance agency) under sections 304, 308, 427 and 34 of IPC. #WestBengal (file pic) pic.twitter.com/HDMRmV2w2T ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 01:07 pm: 1 death is confirmed. 2 people are feared trapped in debris. Rescue operations underway. Beams of flyover are really heavy so it's taking time to cut them and rescue people. Case will be registered against those responsible: DC (south) Meeraj Khalid on Majerhat bridge collapse. 1 death is confirmed. 2 people are feared trapped in debris. Rescue operations underway. Beams of flyover are really heavy so it's taking time to cut them&rescue ppl. Case will be registered against those responsible: DC (south) Meeraj Khalid on Majerhat bridge collapse. #Kolkata pic.twitter.com/BmmxvMV26V ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 11:12 am: My brother worked here. 2 people, including him, are trapped under debris. I told the police officers about it but they have not taken any step: Partho Deb, brother of a metro construction worker allegedly trapped under the debris of Majerhat bridge in South Kolkata. # 07:05 am: Latest visuals of search and rescue operations at the spot where part of Majerhat bridge collapsed yesterday. Clearance work is also underway. Kolkata: Latest visuals of search & rescue operations at the spot where part of Majerhat bridge collapsed yesterday. Clearance work is also underway. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/E4GcegtQDR ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 The victim, who has been identified as Soumen Bag, was a resident of Thakurpukur Bag and returning home from College Street in central Kolkata when the tragedy took place. The injured, on the other hand, have been shifted to nearby SSKM and CMRI hospitals. One minibus, four cars and a few motorbikes were also hit by the Majerhat bridge collapse in the crowded Alipore area. Read | Himachal Pradesh: 6 injured after bridge collapses in Chamba Meanwhile, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is currently in Darjeeling, ordered a probe into the incident. She has also announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the family of the dead and Rs 50,00 each to the injured. Banerjee said she will cut shot her Darjeeling tour and flew to Kolkata to take a stock of the situation. New Delhi: Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday released a book Experiential Learning Gandhijis Nai Talim, in the national capital, marking the occasion of Teachers Day. The book, which was released simultaneously in 13 languages, contains basic principles of Gandhis Nai Talim, along with the work and education curriculum for schools, D.Ed, B.Ed and faculty development programmes for teachers, according to a government statement. The Curriculum was brought out in 13 languagesAssamese, Tamil, Bengali, Odiya, Kannada, Malyalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi and Englishin consultation with the state councils of educational research and training. Also Read | Millennials ditching corporate jobs for teaching: Study Javadekar, speaking on the occasion said, We would like to take experiential learning to all levels of education involving all states and all stakeholders, adding Gandhijis Nai Talim or basic education was a holistic approach of developing body, mind and soul, by making a productive art, craft or community engagement activity as the centre of learning. The HRD minister lauded the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education for having involved all stakeholders in bringing out the curriculum. The book seeks to supplement the efforts of a movement which is being carried out across educational institutes to promote Nai Talim, work education and experiential learning, the statement said. This book is expected to inspire this movement to cover progressively 25 crore students of educational institutes at different levels in the country covering 80 lakh primary school teachers and 20 lakh secondary school teachers, spread over 17.5 lakh primary schools and 2.5 lakh secondary schools across the country, the statement added. Also Read | On Teachers Day over 6,000 Punjab college teachers go on mass leave The book and the project were a joint effort of the Universities in the state, state SCERT and Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education (MGNCRE), under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. For all the Latest Education News, Books News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Over 6,000 Punjab government and non-government college teachers under Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (PFUCTO) proceeded on mass casual leave on Teachers Day protesting against the "apathetic attitude" of the Congress-led government towards their long pending demands, including raise in pay scale, on Wednesday. "We have been demanding implementation of recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) with regard to the seventh pay commission report. Several states, including Haryana, have given the UGC pay scale to teachers of colleges and universities but the Punjab government has failed to do so yet," General Secretary of PFUCTO, Jagwant Singh said. Also Read | Teachers Day 2018: History of the celebration in India The agitating teachers also condemned the state government for not hiring regular teachers in the government colleges. The PFUCTO general secretary also demanded that the services of 1,925 contractual college teachers who were hired in 2015 be regularised. "With fresh recruitment not being made, imparting education in government colleges has been hit. Only 30 per cent regular teachers, including professors, have been working in the government colleges," Singh said adding that more than 1,300 posts of teaching staff in 60 government colleges were lying vacant. Also Read | 10 Bollywood films that celebrate teachers who challenge, motivate and inspire us "According to UGC guidelines, 90 per cent of the teaching staff should be regular, but in Punjab the situation is different," Singh added. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Millennials in India are increasingly saying goodbye to their high-flying corporate jobs and taking the teaching route to utilise their skills and impart knowledge to young students, a study has found. The study conducted by Bengaluru-based education technology start-up, Cuemath, on over 3,000 teachers reveals that there has been an upswing in the number of millennials opting for a career as an educator, especially by the workforce in corporate jobs. Millennials are those born after 1980 and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to the analysis, 50 per cent of the teachers come from experience in a corporate job. Also Read | UK universities group calls for new post-study visa to attract Indian students The data further reveals that over 58 per cent of teachers fall in the 20-35-year age bracket, a drastic change from the scenario a decade ago. The study also shows a majority of the teachers list ME, M.Tech, M.Com, MBA and PhD as either their first or highest qualification (53 per cent) followed by BE, B.Tech, B.Sc (44 per cent). A lot of working professionals are turning to teaching today because of the satisfaction teaching as a career can offer, said Manan Khurma, Founder & CEO, Cuemath. Read More | Teachers Day 2018: History of the celebration in India In fact, in our study, a mere three per cent of the teachers actually chose to do a B.Ed initially, reflecting how teaching might not have been their plan A but is a career of a choice today, Khurma said. The millennial workforce returning to the classrooms brings with them the realities common to their generation, such as flexible learner-centred models, researchers said. These teachers are more likely to support situations that allow students to pace their learning outcomes, they said. For all the Latest Education News, Jobs News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Actor Daniel Craig has signed on as a lead in the murder mystery, Knives Out. The indie thriller will be directed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi fame Helmer Rian Johnson, reported Deadline. Craig, 50, best known for playing famed British spy James Bond in four films, will portray a detective who is assigned to solve a murder case in the new movie. The script has been penned by Johnson who will also produce the project alongside partner Ram Bergman. The new film will mean that Craig's fifth outing as James Bond in another film will be delayed further. The as-yet-untitled film is likely to miss its release date of November 8, 2019 in the US after the departure of director Danny Boyle over "creative differences". Johnson said Boyle's exit from Bond 25 gave him the opportunity to pursue Craig for his film. "I have been a huge fan and always wanted to work with him and as I worked on the script, trying to get it right, Ram and I were wringing our hands over who could be the detective," Johnson said. "Then, serendipitously, we heard Daniel might have a small window, and it worked out. He's an actor of extraordinary range, and we are looking forward to the fun of finding that modern detective, and collaborating with Daniel on creating a new Poirot," he added. Knives Out will begin shooting in November this year. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Adil Hussain has been an acclaimed actor within Bollywood but now he's garnering praise for his out of the box film roles all around the globe. Hussain has announced that his film What Will People Say has been declared as the official entry of Norway for the 2019 Academy Awards. Iram Haq-directed film has made it among the nominations for best foreign language film at the prestigious Academy Awards. The 54-year-old actor took to Facebook to share the news. "Our film #WhatWillPeopleSay is just been declared as the #Norwegian official entry into #Oscars 2019. "Big Congratulations to Iram Haq, Maria Mozhdah, Ekavali Khanna and cast and Crew members! We hope that our film will finally be one of the films to be Nominated in Foreign Film Category at the Oscars in 2019," Adil wrote. The film, which is a joint production of Norway, Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark, had its world premiere last year at the Toronto International Film Festival. The story plot revolves around a 16-year-old girl Nisha who is caught with her Norwegian boyfriend by her conservative parents and sent against her will to a small town in Pakistan to live with the extended family. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Bigg Boss 12 is all set to return to Indian television with new surprises. The show features celebrity as well as common contestants locked inside a luxurious house with no contact with the outer world. But, the main attraction of the show remains its host Salman Khan, who has been a key player of the Bigg Boss show since the last eight years. At a press conference of Bigg Boss 12 in Goa, Salman revealed that the one who was considered to sign 'Bigg Boss' before him was Shah Rukh Khan. He didn't know about this. ''Shah Rukh was the original choice for 'Bigg Boss''. Also Read | Happy Teacher's Day: Five Bollywood flicks that depict special teacher-student bond "Earlier he had shoulder injury and he was shooting somewhere in Prague so, he couldn't make it... and he couldn't do the show. That's how I got 'Bigg Boss'', he added. Both Salman and Shah Rukh recently appeared on Dus Ka Dum's finale episode and their fans loved it. Salman Khan spoke about working together with Shah Rukh Khan in a project and said, "We will work together if we get a good script. He was generous to appear in 'Tubelight'. You will also see me in 'Zero'''. New Delhi: The Maharashtra government, which has been criticised for its crackdown on five rights activists over their alleged link with Bhima Koregaon violence, on Wednesday filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, saying the activists were not arrested for their dissenting views but due to the cogent evidence linking them with the banned CPI (Maoist) party. "They are involved in not only planning and preparing for violence but were in the process of creating large-scale violence, destruction of property resulting into chaos in the society as per the agenda prepared by the Communist Party of India (Maoist)," the affidavit added. The affidavit also states 'They are involved in not only planning and preparing for violence but were in the process of creating large scale violence, destruction of property resulting into chaos in the society as per the agenda prepared by the Communist Party of India [Maoist].' https://t.co/5mWqYDf3nf ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 Earlier on August 29, the apex court while ordering the house arrest of the five activists till September 6, had categorically said that dissent is the safety valve of democracy. The counter affidavit, filed by the Maharashtra police on a plea of historian Romila Thapar and others challenging the arrest of these activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, alleged that they were planning to carry out violence in the country and ambush the security forces. Read | Bhima Koregaon violence: Court grants three-month extension to Pune Police to file charge sheet The state police said there was sufficient evidence to dispel the claim that they were arrested for their dissenting views. It also questioned the locus of the petitioners, Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, sociologist Satish Deshpande and legal expert Maja Daruwala, and said they were strangers to the investigation in the matter. On August 28, Maharashtra Police in a coordinated raid across India arrested five prominent Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders. While prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from Delhi. Read | Claims of PM Modis assassination plot an attempt to gain sympathy: Congress 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 Maharashtra's Bhima-Koregaon village during the 200th birth anniversary celebration of a British-era war. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Parts of Delhi turned red on Wednesday as thousands of farmers, demanding loan waivers and increase in minimum wages, hit the streets in the national capital. The massive Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally, organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), began from Ramlila Maidan and culminated at Parliament Street. The protests by farmers have increased sharply over the last four years. The most recent one was in Maharashtra where farmers marched to Mumbai from Nasik, covering a distance of 180 km on foot over five days. However, the Central government has been claiming that its policies are pro-farmers. The farmers plight in India - how deep is Indias farm crisis? India is an agrarian country. Over 50 per cent of Indians are into farming. According to estimates, the agriculture sector accounts for 18 per cent of Indias total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, this trend is declining and if you go and talk to a farmer and ask him about agriculture, he will say it is no more profitable as it used to be. Also Read | DMK Family Feud: Miffed Alagiri all out to wreck Stalin's prospects in Tamil Nadu politics According to a study by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), farming in India is not profitable for over two decades. And this is one of the reasons farmers across the country are forced to leave their fields and take to the streets every now and then. The OECD is a grouping of 26 countries and India is the only nation among them where the agriculture sector is not profitable. Its is not because the country is alien to farming. The history of agriculture in India dates back to as early as the Indus Valley Civilisation. Despite it, the country is still lagging in agriculture growth. In 2016, the National Commission of Farmers headed by MS Swaminathan had said that something very serious and terribly wrong is happening in the countryside. In 2012-13, the agriculture growth rate of India was 1.5 per cent and rose to as high as 5.6 per cent during the UPA rule. However, it dropped to 0.2 per cent in 2014-15 after the Narendra Modi government came to power in the Centre in 2014-15. In 2015-16 the agriculture growth rate was at 0.7 per cent, a sharp 4.9 per cent fall from the year 2014-15. Also Read | Modi government on GDP high must take care of pitfalls ahead of polls One cant deny the pressure of rapidly rising population as one of the major issues for Indias agrarian crisis. According to government data, Indias average farm size was very small at 1.15 hectare in 1970 and since then the landholding has been declining steadily. Seventy-two per cent farmers in India are small and marginal landholders with less than two hectares of the farm field. Unlike big farmers who own big lands, they have a little bargaining power and almost no say over prices. And if their crop production gets affected due to weather and disaster, pests, diseases or shortage of inputs like seeds and irrigation, they are left with indebtedness that leads to suicides. Another major issue the farmers face is the absence of marketing infrastructure due to which they are forced to approach middlemen which adds salt to injury. Both the BJP and the Congress had governed the country for almost equal period in the last two decades, so none of them can blame the other and the poor state of agriculture is their collective failure. The farming sector is the backbone of the Indian economy but it is vulnerable like any other sector and the government needs to make sure the farmers get sufficient and deserving prices for their produces. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a coordinated raid at around 40 locations across Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, carried out searches at the residences of state's health minister and the director general of police, in connection with a multi-crore Gutka scam case. However, police did not reveal the exact locations of the raids, saying it may hamper the ongoing investigation process into the case. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, DGP TK Rajendran, and a former senior police officer are among the people, raided by the CBI in the gutka scam involving bribes given at the top to skirt a ban on chewing tobacco. Besides that, the residences of several food-safety department officials are being searched in connection to the same. Tamil Nadu: CBI has launched a massive search operation in 40 places in Chennai in connection with Gutkha scam. Houses of Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran at Mogappair, ex-DGP S George near Maduravoyal, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar & other police officers are also being searched. ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 Read | In Dawood Gutka business CBI sends judicial request to pakistan The multi-crore Gutka scam came to notice last year in July after income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutka manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. During the raids, the department had seized a diary containing names of those who allegedly took bribes from the gutka manufacturers. Post that the case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader. In 2013, the Tamil Nadu government prohibited the manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutka and pan masala. Read | Trendy hookahs not safer than cigarettes, can trigger heart problems | Know what experts say The agency had registered an FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a major breakthrough of law and security in Jammu and Kashmir, one hardcore over-ground worker of Hizbul Mujahideen was on Wednesday arrested in Kishtwar district, a police official said. Touseef Ahmad Gudna alias Abu Bakar, a hardcore motivator of youth to join the terror group, was nabbed following specific information, a police spokesman said. Also Read | Delhi police arrests two members of Tillu Tajpuria gang A police team headed by Manoj Kumar, Dy SP DAR under the supervision of SSP Rajinder Gupta raided a hideout and arrested Gudna, the police said. Gudnas name came to the fore after a case was registered against him on July 1 following the arrest of his associates along with arms and explosive devices, and a terror plan was thwarted. With his (Gudna) arrest, there is likelihood of decrease in terrorist activities and reduction in the number of youth indulging in anti-national activities, the spokesman said. Read More | Hyderabad Twin Blast Verdict: Aneeq Sayeed, Ismail Chaudhary convicted; two set free Gudna, a close associate of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Mohammad Amin alias Jehangir, was also involved in a militancy-related case registered in police station Parimpora in Srinagar last year, the police said. Gudna was also in contact with another terrorist named Latti in 2017 as well as was a conduit for transferring money to Jehangirs wife, the official added. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (September 6) will pronounce a crucial verdict on Article 377 - a controversial provision in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), that states homosexuality and consensual gay sex a punishable offence in India. During the hearing, the Supreme Court had observed that "societal morality changes from age to age and no one should live in fear due to their sexuality." A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had asked a larger bench to review the constitutionality of Section 377, a British-era law that criminalises consensual sexual activities "against the order of nature". The SC washearing a bunch pleas challenging Section 377 filed by prominent petitioners. They argued that they were living in fear of being punished due to the discriminatory law. Also Read | Centre leaves validity of Section 377 on 'wisdom' of Supreme Court The apex court had also pointed out that "choice can't be allowed to cross the boundaries of law but the confines of law can't trample or curtail the inherent right embedded in an individual under Article 21, the right to life and liberty." What is Article 377? All about the law that makes homosexuality a criminal offence Section 377 of the IPC refers to unnatural offences and makes carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, a punishable offence. Those found guilty of violating the law shall be punished with imprisonment for life or up to 10 years and a fine. As the apex court hears the petitions challenging Section 377, a look back at the history of the timeline of the case. Also Read | Veteran actor Dilip Kumar hospitalised due to chest infection Introduction of Section 377 Section 377 which makes homosexuality a criminal offence was first introduced by British India in 1861 and was modelled on Buggery (anal intercourse) Act of 1533. Section 377 of the act was drafted by Thomas Macaulay in 1938 but was brought into effect after 22 years in 1860. The act described buggery as a criminal offence against the will of God. The act made anal penetration, bestiality and homosexuality a crime. Naz Foundations challenge to Section 377 In 2001, Naz Foundation, an NGO which provides various services to gays, lesbians, transgenders, filed a petition against the Section 377 before the Delhi High Court. The NGA had challenged the constitutionality of Section 377. The NGA had sought the courts order to allow consensual homosexual relations between two adults. Also Read | On rising fuel prices, Congress gives it back to BJP - Bahut Hui Mahangai Ki Maar Delhi High Court decriminalises homosexuality In a historic judgment, the Delhi High Court in 2009 decriminalised homosexuality among consenting adults. The court, in its landmark judgment, had said that Section 377 was illegal and unconstitutional and violated Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Supreme Court reverses Delhi High Court order The landmark verdict of Delhi Court didnt go down well with a section of our society and various petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, challenging the formers authority to change a law. The Supreme Court, however, reversed the high courts order and homosexuality again became a punishable offence in India. The apex court found HCs order legally unsustainable and said that the court had overlooked the fact that a minuscule fraction of the countrys population constitutes LGBT. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Days after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader MK Stalin was elected the party president, MK Alagiri, the elder son of late Karunanidhi on Thursday hold a silent rally to pay homage to the former Tamil Nadu chief minister at Marina beach in Chennai. In 2014, Alagiri was expelled from the party at the height of his fight with Stalin over establishing supremacy in the party. Meanwhile, hours before Alagiri's silent rally in Chennai, thousands of his supporters gathered at Wallahjah Road to participate in the march to Karunanidhi's memorial at Marina Beach. With Karunanidhi's memorial decked up for popularity contest between Stalin and Alagiri security has been tightened and police personnel in strong numbers have been deployed at Marina beach. Here are the highlights onA MK Alagiri silent rally: # 01:10 pm:A One Lakh people came here to support me today. Will they send all of them out? You ask them and let me know: MK Alagiri. One Lakh people came here to support me today. Will they send all of them out? You ask them and let me know: MK Alagiri, Expelled DMK leader when asked 'people who support you are being removed from the party...' #Chennai pic.twitter.com/fyeNaouxLz a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 12:44 pm:A Expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri pays tribute at Karunanidhi memorial in Chennai. Tamil Nadu: Expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri pays tribute at Karunanidhi memorial in Chennai. pic.twitter.com/39AsYaJlLD a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 11:34 am: Expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri and his supporters hold a rally to the Karunanidhi memorial at Marina Beach in Chennai. Tamil Nadu: Expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri and his supporters hold a rally to the Karunanidhi memorial at Marina Beach in Chennai. pic.twitter.com/XxuycTIKyh a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 11:15 am:A DMK cadres who received Alagiri at the airport were suspended from the party. Today lakhs of cadres are here to attend the peace march, how many will be sacked? Although we've been sacked we'll be DMK cadres only: PM Mannan, Madurai Corporation Ex-Dy mayor and aide of MK Alagiri. DMK cadres who received Alagiri at airport were suspended from party. Today lakhs of cadres are here to attend the peace march, how many will be sacked? Although we've been sacked we'll be DMK cadres only: PM Mannan, Madurai Corporation Ex-Dy mayor&aide of MK Alagiri #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/44VZFCbXBB a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 10:16 am:A Supporters of expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri gather at Wallahjah Road in Chennai to participate in the march to Karunanidhi memorial at Marina Beach. Tamil Nadu: Supporters of expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri gather at Wallahjah Road in Chennai to participate in the march to Karunanidhi memorial at Marina Beach. MK Alagiri will hold a rally at the memorial today. pic.twitter.com/YnoEODjzTg a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 # 09:27 am: Visuals from M Karunanidhi's memorial at Chennai's Marina beach. Expelled DMK leader and M Karunanidhi's son MK Alagiri will hold a rally at the memorial today. Tamil Nadu: Visuals from M Karunanidhi's memorial at Chennai's Marina beach. Expelled DMK leader & M Karunanidhi's son MK Alagiri will hold a rally at the memorial today. pic.twitter.com/M4pjPxTfWm a ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2018 The clash between the two brothers over DMK's succession came to light ever since Alagiri threw an open challenge to his brotheras leadership skill days after Karunanidhi's death on August 7. Despite Karunanidhias decision to elevate Stalin as his successor, Alagiri claimed that time would prove that he had the backing of his fatheras 'true loyalists'. However, in a move to make a peace offering, Alagiri later expressed his willingness to accept DMK president MK Stalin's leadership with a rider to readmit him into the party. Alagiri's silent rally, which will pay homage to his late father at Marina breach on Wednesday, is also a show of strength by his supporters. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has triggered a controversy with his remark on Jammu and Kashmirs constitution. Speaking at the launch of a book on Vallabhbhai Patel, Doval on Tuesday said that having a separate constitution for Jammu and Kashmir was an aberration. "The thing was that, to make a sovereign state in which there was the sovereignty of the people, was established in the Constitution, which is applicable to the whole of it. Probably with Jammu and Kashmir, where the Constitution was... in a truncated form... another constitution of J&K continued to exist, which is an aberration," Doval said. The remarks of the countrys National Security Advisor has come in the backdrop of the Supreme Courts hearing on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35-A, which provides special privileges to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir. Also Read | On rising fuel prices, Congress gives it back to BJP - Bahut Hui Mahangai Ki Maar Dovals remarks didnt go down well with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference two regional parties of the Kashmir, which asked if the statement was at the behest of the central government. "If the government does not take notice, it will be proved that Doval is saying this at the behest of the government," NDTV quoted National Conference leader Mustafa Kamal as saying. PDP leader Rafi Ahmad Mir termed Dovals remarks irresponsible and said that such statements were altering people mindset in the Valley. Suggested Read | Then and now: BJP leaders on fall of rupee "I think for a person in such a responsible position, Ajit Doval's statement is irresponsible. Statements like this are altering the mindsets of the general public about Kashmir," Mir said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Cyprus: President Ram Nath Kovind took time off from official business during his visit to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus to go to the beach. The president strolled along the shore with his daughter at Fig Tree Bay, one of the islands most beautiful beaches, as a police helicopter and snipers maintained security, according to reports. One of the ministers accompanying Kovind took a dip in the turquoise waters of Fig Tree Bay designated a Blue Flag beach because of its clear sea reports said, without identifying the swimmer. Read | India-US 2+2 dialogue holds hope of good beginning in ties Twenty sunbeds were reserved for the Indian entourage although it was not immediately clear if any in the party took or were afforded -- the opportunity to lounge around. Away from the beach, Kovind held what were described as wide-ranging talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who said the two countries shared a vision of peace and democracy and historical bonds of friendship. The bonds between our countries stretch back to the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, following the end of Indias and Cyprus struggle against colonialism, Anastasiades said. During the visit, the two countries signed two memorandums of understanding one on combatting money laundering and the other on the environment. Kovind, in an address to a special session of the House of Representatives, hailed the joint values and close relations between India and Cyprus. Cyprus is not only a friend but one of our staunchest supporters, he said. The president spoke glowingly of the friendship between late Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios and Mahatma Gandhi, while inviting Cypriots to invest in India. India has opened for business. It is open to Cyprus. Come and come quickly, he said. Also Read | Rising from fathers shadows, Stalin chooses to fight for secularism Kovind also laid a wreath at a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, which was installed at the legislature in 1972 during the visit of President V V Giri. The three-day stop-over in Cyprus marks the first leg of Kovinds three-nation tour of Europe, which will also take him to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. On the final day of his visit on , Kovind unveiled at the University of Cyprus a bust of eminent Indian poet and Nobel literature laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, before giving a lecture to students entitled Youth, technology and ideas: shaping the contours of the 21st century. The president in his address told students that although technology has opened a new world of learning and has made it easier to accomplish tasks, they should continue to work hard without expectation of immediate reward in pursuit of excellence, the Cyprus Mail reported Kovind said that Tagores bust will give students the opportunity to learn about the first non-European to win the Nobel prize in Literature. It will be a stimulus for discussion of literature, social sciences and the importance of culture in general, he said. Read More | Rahul's Kailash Mansarovar yatra: Promises to keep and miles to go Kovind is the first Indian president to visit Cyprus since Pratibha Patil in 2009. It follows a visit last year to India by Anastasiades. Relations between the two countries go back to 1962, when they established diplomatic ties. Bilateral trade is weighted heavily in Indias favour, with figures given by the Indian High Commission in Nicosia showing that Indian exports to Cyprus in 2015 totalled $51.11 million, and imports from Cyprus totalling $22.82 million. No more recent figures were immediately available. Major items of exports from India include organic chemicals, oil seed, oleagi fruits, fish, vehicles and iron and steel. Imports from Cyprus include aluminium, wood pulp, machinery, boilers and plastics. The high commission listed Cyprus as the seventh largest FDI investor in India, mainly in the construction and real estate activity sectors. On a personal front, Lilla Erulkar, daughter of Abraham Erulkar, an Indian-born Jew and personal physician to Mahatma Gandhi, became the first lady of Cyprus, married to Glafcos Clerides, who was Cypriot president between 1993 and 2003. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Cyprus in 1983 while Atal Bihari Vajpayee followed in 2002. President R Venkataraman also briefly visited the strategically-placed island in 1988. There is no record of any of these illustrious leaders taking time off, as Kovind has, to enjoy Cypruss main attraction: its pristine beaches. Read more Opinion New Delhi: It is not all hunky dory as India and the US sit down for the twice-postponed 2+2 dialogue in New Delhi on Thursday with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman representing the India side and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis the US side. The main bone of contention will predictably be Indian import of oil from Iran in the light of the US imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over the countrys nuclear programme. Crude oil imports are a dominant element in the Indo-Iran bilateral relationship and India will seek to sensitise the US on how energy import-reliant country India is. ALSO READ: Sunbeds and snipers as President Kovind goes to the beach in Cyprus The development of Chabahar port in Iran with active Indian participation has heightened Indias interest in dealing with that country because New Delhi sees the Iranian port as a counterpoise to the Gwadar port in Pakistan with Chinese help as an outlet for exports. Since the Chinese thrust in developing strategic ports is aimed at establishing hegemony over key trade routes, India hopes that the Trump administration in the US would appreciate the need to build Chabahar to ensure freedom of the seas for vessels carrying goods to locations in the rest of the world. Considering that if India snaps oil import deals with Iran, the Chabahar venture would be jeopardised, it would indeed be in US interest too to let India continue with oil trade within certain set limits. What stand the two key representatives of President Trump would take on Iran is, however, steeped in uncertainty. ALSO READ: Modi government on GDP high must take care of pitfalls ahead of polls Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and counter-terrorism efforts will form the fulcrum of the positive side of the dialogue in which there is strong mutuality of interests. Indeed, the Americans aver that Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US has got a fresh impetus under Trump and the dialogue will show how far this is true. The 2+2 dialogue replaces the earlier strategic and commercial dialogue and is set to become an annual affair which is happy augury. The 2+2 dialogue is followed by the US with Australia and Japan too so Indias inclusion in that process enhances its strategic importance. ALSO READ: Show of warmth between Pranab and Khattar may greatly amuse Congress While US has labelled leaders of Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad as specially designated global terrorists, much to Indias satisfaction, New Delhi has likewise labelled al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent and the Islam State-Khorasan as terrorist organizations. On Indo-Pacific cooperation, India would like to know the US perspective and how India can step in more proactively. India has also started oil and gas imports from the US after many years with an import target of $2.5 billion, and is expected to address the bilateral trade deficit issue which is largely tilted in Indias favour. Defence has also emerged as an important pillar of bilateral ties, with the US designating India as a major defence partner in 2016. However, India has signed only one of three foundational agreements needed for interoperability with the USthe Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in 2016 -- and not the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. These agreements are likely to come up for assessment and deliberation during the 2+2 dialogue. According to a report by Bloomberg, there are prospects of a potential deal to build advanced Lockheed Martin Corps F-16 fighter jets in India. Sale of US arms, associated parts and logistics support to India have grown from zero in 2008 to $15 billion in 2018. The amount could rise by an additional $3 billion by 2019, as per the report. Indias purchase of four S-400 missile systems from Russia at a cost of more that Rs 40,000 crore is likely to come up in the talks but India is firm that this countrys deals with third countries cannot be questioned at an Indo-US bilateral forum. Ahead of the dialogue, top homeland security officials of the two countries have worked on a draft plan related to six areas, including anti-terror cooperation in intelligence sharing, terror financing and cyber security. All in all, the 2+2 dialogue would hopefully be a good beginning which can be built upon. Bengaluru: The war in the DMK first family has been simmering since the passing away of M Karunanidhi. It escalated after ousted Alagiri's pleadings to rejoin the party failed to cut any ice with younger brother Stalin. Failing to make a breakthrough, Alagiri on Wednesday mounted his mega show of strength with a silent rally at Marina Beach in Chennai. It was a successful rally in an attempt to prove his relevance, with some 10,000 supporters joining the two-km-long march. Earlier too, there were instances where Alagiri proved his relevance and strong support for him ever since the family feud in the DMK began. In 2016, given the cyclical nature of electoral outcomes in Tamil Nadu, it was the turn of the DMK to enjoy power for the next five years. But the then Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa, with a clever strategy, pipped the DMK to the winning post. The margin was close, a mere two percentage points in vote difference between the AIADMK and the DMK. Jayalalithaa sprung a superior strategy and got vote against her splintered in many directions and scraped through, albeit the numbers in assembly gave her absolute majority. Also Read | Homosexuality a crime or not? Supreme Court verdict on Section 377 tomorrow The War in the DMK Family One of the reasons for the electoral defeat of the DMK, which was guided by its patriarch M Karunanidhis chosen political heir MK Stalin, were its inability to forge alliances with forces ranged against Jayalalithaa. In fact, Stalin had by 2016 taken complete control of the party organisation and his brother was expelled from the party by his father just before the Lok Sabha general elections in 2014. A smarting Alagiri then took his revenge when he frustrated the DMK by fielding candidates in the Assembly elections and ate into what could have only been DMK vote. In an election where at least 10 seats were won with a margin of less than 500 votes, Alagiri showed he was relevant. Besides where were another 10 assembly seats that saw margin of victories that were narrow. As Alagiri has some support, in southern districts, his nuisance potential was immense as Stalin and DMK found out. With this playing in the background, it comes as no surprise that Stalin refused to entertain any pleas of his sisters on behalf of Alagiri to be allowed to rejoin the party. So, Alagiri mounted the mega show of strength in a rally in Chennai on Wednesday. The estranged elder brother had pleaded with Stalin to take him back into the party. But a close associate of Stalin told NewsNation that the door is firmly shut and there was no question of taking him back into the party. Every supporter interviewed by media persons had only one request: that Annan (Alagiri) be taken back into the party. Alagiri himself told media persons that he wanted to join the DMK to strengthen the party ahead of elections. I am ready to work under Stalins leadership, he had said but to no avail. In fact, Stalin had ordered party leaders and cadres not to have anything to do with his elder brother or his activities. Also Read | Sunbeds and snipers as President Kovind goes to the beach in Cyprus Which is why a DMK Chennai city functionary M Ravi was suspended for receiving Alagiri at the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning. Even Alagiri knows that as far as the DMK was concerned, it was a closed chapter, but he still has to make a show of it to stay relevant in Tamil Nadu politics. Helping him do just that were forces opposed to a resurgent DMK. The party sources suspect the BJP, the AIADMK and even rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran to have supported Alagiri to weaken the DMK. It may be recalled that even in 2014 after Alagiri was expelled from the DMK, many leaders of political parties like the BJP, VCK and even Congress had called on him in Madurai. Alagiri had then also met superstar Rajinikanth, sparking of rumours, but it was only in connection with a film deal. The importance of being Alagiri was very clear. In multi-cornered assembly election contests in Tamil Nadu there are at least six parties in fray and three more getting added in future assembly elections any person with say few thousand supporters here and there can make or mar the chances of candidates. Political analyst Prof Ramu Manivannan of Madras University believes that even after depletion of strength, Alagiri could be having 500 to 1000 supporters in different assembly segments and could cause damage to the DMK. Read More | Rahul's Kailash Mansarovar yatra: Promises to keep and miles to go In 2001, Alagiri had fielded rebel candidates and sabotaged the chances of the DMK in several constituencies that added to the victory of the AIADMK in the elections then. What was predicted by political analyst Cho Ramaswamy in 2014 general elections, This family feud will cost the DMK dear, could be as relevant today as it was then. In 2014 Lok Sabha general elections, the DMK drew a blank. But in the last four years, Stalin has covered much more ground and captured the DMK completely. And today, there is no more any confusion. A confident looking and sounding Stalin has brushed aside Alagiri and his challenge and is concentrating his energies on mounting a big challenge to the AIADMK and the BJP-led central government. As per the assessment of senior DMK leaders, Alagiri is now a spent force. So, for the present, the doors are completely shut for Alagiri's return to the DMK. We have passed another major turning point in our noble anti-geoengineering movement. Chalk up another huge W for Dane Wigington at GeoengineeringWatch.org. The man is on a tear.On the 16th of last month, Dane published an interview with a retired U.S. Air Force Major General named Richard H. Roellig. Major General Roellig expressed that he is aware of and concerned about the current, ongoing large-scale uncontrolled climate geoengineering experiments.Outdoing even this, on the 21st of last month, Dane posted an interview with a former employee of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named Michael Davis. Mr. Davis is an expert who has firsthand knowledge of the hard scientific evidence proving that we are being sprayed with massively destructive substances that work synergistically with the so-called fluoride in our drinking water to make us die and ruin our planet.Davis expounds upon the abject cowardice and selfishness of the legions of chair-warmers at the EPA who are willing to watch the world burn so that they may receive a big paycheck. People like that are anathema to a healthy and prosperous society. Television controls their minds. The corporate superstate is their mother and father. Complimenting Davis revelations, Wigington breaks protocol and names names of people in important positions of power who are fully aware of the geoengineering situation, but do nothing about it. Listen to the tension in their voices and how carefully they choose their words. They are both fully aware of just how crucial this information is.I dont want to hear any more complaints about cuts to the EPAs budget. The EPA does not protect us. They protect the corporate establishment and make sure that the citizen is effectively murdered. The entire agency should be abolished.Im so glad I never ever said a bad word about Dane Wigington. Ive heard lots of them spoken about him to me by fellow anti-geoengineering activists; people I trust and respect. There may still be some validity to what they say, but the proof is in the pudding. My response to criticism of the man has always been to say that the bottom line is that he is doing good work by raising awareness. Before I cancelled my account, I criticized Alex Jones on Twitter for only ever having Dane as a guest to the exclusion of all other anti-geoengineering activists, but that was a criticism of Jones only, not Wigington. And everybody knows Alex Jones is an asshole anyway, so who cares?Im kind of jealous to tell you the truth. Dont worry, though, my upcoming essay Chemtrails Exposed: The Deep State and the New Manhattan Project is on track and poised to be the definitive work exposing exactly WHO is currently responsible for this wholesale, industrial strength wrecking of our environment. Brennans disclosure at Pratt House was particularly telling. God willing, the article will be made available before the end of the year.See morehttps://www.activistpost.com/2018/09/epa-whistleblower-exposes-the-ongoing-geoengineering-omnicide-audio.html A Bahraini citizens heroic act saved the lives of five members of a family, who were on the verge of drowning off Demistan coast. However, the life of four-yearold Fatima Jaffer Aali could not be saved as she died later at the hospital following complications after the incident. The child was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Salmaniya Medical Complex. Her condition suddenly started deteriorating and we could not save her life, medical sources at the hospital said. Meanwhile, Bahraini sailor Jaffer Ahmed Yousef was showered with praises for his valiant act across all social media networks. Many commented on social media that the authorities should honour him with a medal for bravery. Sources said the sailor was on the beach when he saw the family being thrown into sea by strong currents of water. He instantly swung into action and began rescuing one by one, the sources added. Blockchain technology is a true mark of progress and Bahraini talents and companies must take full advantage of it, a senior minister has pointed out. The blockchain technology is one of the most important advancements in recent years and Bahraini talents must familiarise themselves with it and companies must take advantage of it, said Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs, Dr Abdulhussain Mirza who is also part of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology. He was speaking as he inaugurated the SmartSec Cyber Security and Blockchain Conference 2018 yesterday at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay. Cyber-security issues facing the region as well as the threats and opportunities from the development of the blockchain technology are being discussed during the conference which will extend till today. Technologies such as blockchain take us a huge step forward in finding a secure way to facilitate transactions. Blockchains ability to protect users data is a true mark of progress, especially due to the fact that it can be applied in different companies from different industries including cyber security, he said. This is the kind of initiative that we would like Bahraini companies to have so that innovation can arise amongst the great minds of this community. Cyber-security is an essential part of our lives because most of our daily lives involve the use of technology in one way or another. He said that the threat of international global cyber-attacks must not be taken lightly. These global cyber-attacks affected more than 60 countries including Bahrain last year and the Central Bank of Bahrain recently issued a warning to banks and financial institutions of orchestrated attacks planned at ATMs around the world. The question of information security is very important when we conduct more of our lives digitally, we must ensure that the electricity supply that makes all this digital technology work safely and immune against cyber-attacks. The Yemeni woman sentenced after being convicted of torturing her husbands nine-year-old girl to death will hear the verdict on her appeal on September 25. The woman was earlier sentenced to seven years behind bars for committing the crime. The sentence handed down to the Yemeni woman was the maximum punishment for the charge of death caused by beating. Nine-year-old Zahra Al Hasisi was pronounced dead at the King Hamad University Hospital on July 30 last year after suffering internal bleeding from being brutally assaulted. She also had injuries that suggested she had suffered during the years of abuse, including burns to her back and neck. The medical examiner who carried out Zahras autopsy previously revealed horrific details of the abuse in court, saying that the injuries the child suffered suggested she endured years of mistreatment. Zahra lived with her father, stepmother, three siblings and two step-siblings at an apartment in Hidd since 2013, after the father was granted custody by a Yemeni court. The girls father, a Bahraini of Yemeni origin, was also put on trial for the same charge, but judges acquitted him due to lack of evidence. Mohammed Shahid, President of Brave Combat Federation awarded Fans Fight of the Night for Brave 14 hosted in Tangier, Morocco. In an epic fight night which marked the entry of the first global mixed martial arts promotion to the continent of Africa, seven of the nine fights ended in the very first round with three of the fights ending within the very first minute. Ottman Azaitar, Jeremy Kennedy, Felipe Efrain and Djamil Chan were shortlisted in the final list of nominees. The final phase of the winner was made by the audience of Brave Combat Federation who voted for their favourite athlete over the social media. Felipe Efrain received the highest number of nominations there by claiming the peoples choice with a clear margin. This marks the second time the bantamweight fighter from Brazil has claimed the fight of the night accolade. Earlier, Efrain had claimed the fight of the night bonus at Brave 9: The Kingdom of Champions hosted in Bahrain. During Brave 14, Efrain faced Arnold Quero in the bantamweight division. Efrain was making his return after the first round loss at the hands of Frans Mlambo. The Financial Sector is the second largest contributor to Bahrains GDP, estimated at around 16%, second only to the oil and gas sector. As of 2016, the estimated value of the Banking sector assets was close to $193 billion. The Financial Sector being crucial to Bahrains economy, it becomes pertinent to assess the impact VAT will have on the industry. The GCC VAT Agreement (the Agreement) prescribes a VAT exempt treatment of financial services performed by banks and financial institutions in the GCC region. Based on the Agreement, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) VAT legislations have exempted the financial services subject to certain exceptions. As per the VAT laws of the 2 countries (KSA and UAE), financial services are subject to VAT where the consideration in respect of a service is by way of an explicit fee, commission or commercial discount. Thus, only those cases where consideration is received based on an implicit margin or spread or interest, financial services will be exempt from VAT. An illustrative list outlining the VAT treatment in KSA and UAE has been provided hereinbelow: Impact on the Financial sector: One of the clear impact is that the financial services sector will have a mixed bag of taxable and exempted products (revenue streams). So, the first step is to identify the taxable products out of the total list of products / services provided by the Bank / financial institutions. As regards the exempted products, at first glance this may seem beneficial for the sector, as no VAT is applicable when services are provided to the customer. However, on the flip side since suppliers of exempt services cannot avail the benefit of claiming an input tax deduction, whatever VAT is paid by the banks / financial institutions on services or goods purchased for the exempted business, will become a cost for the companies. Further, since financial institutions will be engaged in both taxable and exempted services, the companies will have to come up with a method to apportion the input tax deduction in relation to their taxable and non-taxable activities. Such processes can be highly cumbersome depending on the size/scale of operations which a financial institution undertakes. Accordingly, it is advisable that appropriate measures to account for the same be made prior to the introduction of VAT. One of a very interesting point is whether Bahrain will follow what KSA or UAE has done as regards the VAT treatment of specified financial services (exempt status). While the GCC agreement prescribes the exempt treatment, it also leaves the discretion in the hand of each country to decide the taxability of such services in their own country. Bahrain, conceptually, can provide a better treatment (such as zero rated supplies) for the financial services. This will make it a more attractive destination for Financial sector organisations to base their operations in Bahrain. VAT is a transaction tax and is based on billings done to the customer. However, in the beginning there will be revenues billed and / or collected in pre-VAT period but the service period extending beyond the VAT implementation date. For instance, a credit card provider charges an annual fee to its customer for a one-year period, i.e. October 2018 to September 2019. Assuming VAT is introduced from 1st January 2019; the service provider will have to ascertain the taxable amount from Jan19 to Sep19, and accordingly pay VAT on the same. Similar for motor or general insurance products. One challenge will be how will these companies able to collect the VAT from customer for the post VAT period? The other interesting aspect is taxability of Islamic products. The law states that its taxability will be based on the effective result these products seek to achieve when compare with the conventional banking products. Hence each product needs to be examined and its taxability determined. What will happen in case of Hire purchase or Murabahah products. It is likely be exempted due to implicit margin or interest. If yes, the how will the VAT charged by the vendor from whom the equipment/ machine / car is bought will it be cost or can be passed on the final customer who is effectively the buyer? A major issue for the financial sector will be the invoicing requirement for all fees/commission/charges which are subject to a standard rate of VAT (i.e. 5%). For instance, currently no separate invoices are raised for late fees on credit cards/fees for electronic money transfer/ATM withdrawal fees, etc. All these services will now need proper documentation for VAT purposes. Further, when such fees/commission/charges are levied on B2B transactions, raising of invoice to the recipient becomes important, since the VAT paid on the fees/commission/charge will be available as input tax deduction to the recipient. Therefore, requisite changes would have to be made in the IT-systems/ERP of financial institutions for invoicing of such fees/commission/ charges. The abovementioned issues clearly showcase the mammoth task which financial institutions have ahead of them as the date for implementation of VAT nears. In such circumstances, the industry must ensure that their IT-infrastructure is ready for facing the challenges which will be posed by the coming VAT regime. In addition, sufficient representations before the Ministry of Finance must be made by the industry to bring out the practical difficulties which will be faced during the implementation of VAT, and accordingly seek appropriate remedies for the same. This would be in the mutual benefit of both the Government and the taxpayers, as the financial sector plays such a vital role in the countrys economy. Riyadh : Qatar attempted to lobby 250 individuals whom they deemed influential in the Trump administration by offering them trips to Doha, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The newspaper reported that New York restaurateur Joey Allaham and his lobbying business partner Nick Muzin courted those individuals, including Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and attorney Alan Dershowitz who travelled to Doha. Dershowitz had written a column supporting Qatar after his trip there, which was funded by the Qatari Amir, although he did say in the article that he was reluctant to accept because he has heard that Qatar was contributing to Hamas, which is a terrorist group, and that it was supporting Iran. Dershowitz told The Journal that he felt tricked because he was unaware that the purpose of the trip would be to use him for political gain. If I had known their purpose with me was maybe to impact the president, I would not have gone, Dershowitz told the Journal. Huckabee was reportedly paid $50,000 by Allaham.He did not respond to a request for comment. Mucat : Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil & Gas of the Sultanate of Oman, and Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil of the Kingdom of Bahrain, officially opened the 2018 edition of the World Heavy Oil Congress and Exhibition (WHOC) at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre, Muscat, yesterday. More than 3,000 industry professionals are deliberating on the transformation of the heavy oil value chain and the future of the worlds energy mix during the three-day event. In his opening remarks, Al Rumhy said, Oman did not slow down during the 2014-2018 oil drop. The fear was always that the reduction in investment, specifically in exploration, was going to hit us hard but we stayed the course and proceeded with our previous plans with the support of the government, shareholders, and oil and gas companies operating in the country. As a country, we took the right decision to focus on investment and that has helped us in the end. He added, Both the public and private sector have a responsibility. With greater private sector participation and the optimization of ecosystems of our economy versus prioritizing profits, we can together further advance our industry forward. Shaikh Al Khalifa said, Within the region, Oman was the first to invest in heavy oil and we have a lot to learn from them. Heavy oil could be in heavy demand, at least in the short term, as a result of implications of the light tight oil phenomenon in North America. The Ministers along with a high-level delegation from WHOC toured the exhibition, which will run until Wednesday, where regional and international NOCs, IOCs, service and technology providers are showcasing the best technologies, products and services for the heavy oil sector. Notable exhibitors include Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Eni SPA, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Bahrain Petroleum Company, Kitsnet, Badr EOR, Albpetrol, RGL Reservoir Management Ltd, SoluForce, HP Well Screen, and Salamander to name but a few. More than 3,000 stranded people are spending the night at Kansai International Airport in western Japan after a typhoon caused a tanker to crash into a bridge connecting the airport with the mainland. The airport operator says about 2,600 people are staying in the 2 terminals and 350 are in commercial facilities and hotels. The passengers have been given snacks. Several hundred airport workers are also unable to go home. The operator says it will inspect the bridge on Wednesday morning and if no problems are found, it will transport the passengers by bus. The airport, which is built on a manmade island, has been closed since Tuesday afternoon because of flooding. Workers will inspect the runways and taxiways throughout the night. But the operator says the airport will remain closed on Wednesday. - NHK The number of rubella patients reported by medical institutions in Japan in the week through Aug. 26 stood at 84, nearly twice the 47 reported for the preceding week, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. The cumulative number of patients since the beginning of the year came to 273, which is almost three times the 93 for the whole of last year, the institute said. Warning that the infectious disease may spread further, the health ministry urged people to consider vaccination if they have never contracted rubella or been inoculated. Patients in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures--Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama--accounted for over 70 pct of the year-to-date total. The number of patients stood at 84 in Chiba, 72 in Tokyo, 24 in Kanagawa and 18 in Saitama. Elsewhere, Hiroshima had 10 cases, Aichi and Fukuoka nine, and Hokkaido and Hyogo seven. There is something very romantic about the Far East, especially Japan. To travelers from the west, it represents a culture which mimics so many aspects they may be familiar with in terms of fashion, technology, and architecture. But it also retains a lot of mystique, with ancient customs such as the tea ceremony, temples set against tranquil surroundings, beautiful art and traditional cuisine. There are so many interesting and charming locations for any visiting couple. So if you met on a singles site and are keen to explore Japanese dating by immersing yourself in different culture, here are some of the more romantic things to do in Japan. Disneyland in Tokyo Sprawling for over 115 acres, Tokyo Disneyland is a captivating theme park situated near Japan's capital city. The first Disney outlet to be opened outside the USA, it is designed along the same styles as its counterparts in Florida and California. There are seven themed areas, each offering a multitude of rides which accommodate the tastes of visitors young and old. Tokyo Tower Rising over 300 m above ground level, Tokyo Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, it's lattice structure painted in eye-catching white and orange. When you visit this stunning location, you will be following in the footsteps of more than 150 million visitors who have already been drawn to the tower's museums, shops and eating outlets. The observation decks offer stunning views of the surrounding area. Visit Mount Fuji The highest mountain in Japan, rising to 3,700 meters, the snow-capped peaks of Mount Fuji are one of Japan's most iconic images. This scene of outstanding beauty has featured prominently in numerous films over the years and has inspired artists and poets the world over for centuries. As a romantic location, it is second to none in this part of the world. There are numerous trails to be explored with your loved one, and if you are feeling truly adventurous you can even go paragliding here. Sunbathe or snorkel in Okinawa Okinawa is another romantic destination which is crying out to be visited. This coastal location is popular for all sorts of watersports, from kayaking to swimming, but because the water is here is so clear it is most widely known as a paradise for snorkeling. You and your partner can hire the appropriate kit and then immerse yourself in a truly wondrous underwater dimension. The tropical fish which glide around the reefs in vast shoals come in every color under the sun, and you can also wonder at the majestic sea turtles. www.globosurfer.com Enjoy a spa on Enoshima If you want to escape hustle and bustle of Tokyo, a recommended romantic location is Enoshima Island. Here you can truly get back and relax, enjoying a variety of spa treatments. With the white peak of Mount Fuji dominating the horizon, you and your partner can enjoy aromatherapy treatment, shiatsu-type massages, all the time benefiting from the island's mineral-rich natural hot springs, pumped to this location from 1000 meters below the surface of the sea. With firework events and a choice of dining experiences, this is the perfect location for any romantic couple visiting Japan. Go-karting in Chiba City While Japan is bursting at the seams with what could be termed traditionally romantic locations such as Mount Fuji, there is nothing wrong with reawakening your inner child! At Chiba City, you can hire a go-kart and then spend the next while careering around an indoor circuit at breakneck speeds. The white-knuckle ride is perfect for those moments when you just feel like some out and out escapism. Typhoon Jebi forced Kansai airport to shut down on Tuesday. Concerns are mounting that if the closure continues, it could have a significant economic impact. The airport is a major hub for both travelers and cargo. It connects Japan with at least 80 cities worldwide. Its operator says an average day in the last fiscal year that ended in March saw about 460 passenger flights land and take off there. That's more than 78,000 domestic and international passengers per day. The number for fiscal 2017 hit a record high, up 12 percent year-on-year to more than 28 million. This comes as the Kinki region, including Kyoto, is attracting a growing number of foreign tourists. A low-cost carrier that flies to destinations in Thailand and Hawaii has expressed concerns. AirAsia Group officials say it's unclear when the airport will open again. - NHK The Coalition of 39 United Political Parties has alleged that President Muhammadu Buharis rejection to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law is a deliberate ploy to derail the 2019 general elections.The CUPP in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by its Spokesman, Mr.Ikenga Ugochinyere said Buhari and the All Progressives Congress were afraid of losing the election and were against the bill.He said, The CUPP views the deliberate last-minute rejection of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the President Buhari-led APC government as a clear indication that Buhari and the APC want to destroy the chances of free and fair election in Nigeria simply because they are afraid of losing the 2019 general election.Buhari and APC are scared of the compulsory use of card readers for accreditation and transmission of election results which the new electoral law provides for.The CUPP urges National Assembly to use a joint sitting whenever they return from recess to handle the INEC budget issue and Electoral Act observations and send the clean copy back to President Buhari so that he will have no excuse to ruin our desire for credible elections. Elder statesman and former Federal Minister of Information, Edwin Clark, has threatened to take legal action over the raid on his home by ... Elder statesman and former Federal Minister of Information, Edwin Clark, has threatened to take legal action over the raid on his home by men of the Nigeria Police on Tuesday. Recall that officers from a unit called the IGPs Special Tactical Squad, stormed his residence in Abuja, with a warrant to search for weapons. Giving an account of the incident, Clark said, At about 12:30 pm some people came to me that policemen were waiting for me, I asked, what for? They said they had a warrant to search my house. I asked them to come in. Some were outside and I learned they came with two vans. I asked them, do you know me? I am an old man going to 92, I have been a Federal Minister of Information, been a senator and you think that Im piling weapons? I told them to go ahead with their search. They searched all the rooms but found nothing. They wrote their report and asked three of my people to sign and they left, he said. Clark described the incident as an embarrassment, adding that he would not be intimidated by anyone. Presidential aspirant of the Africa Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has promised to legalise marijuana, popularly known as Igbo, if he... Presidential aspirant of the Africa Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has promised to legalise marijuana, popularly known as Igbo, if he is elected president in 2019. He said he would make the plant a major export commodity that would contribute to the growth of the countrys economy Speaking at a function recently, the SaharaReporters publisher said that his promise should serve as an advance notice to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to stop its clampdown on citizens growing the popular weed. His words: We have to start taking care of our weed, Igbo, such that we can also contribute to the GDP of the world. Some of the best weed in the world are grown in Ekiti State. And people are making billions out of that particular plant that is very potent in Nigeria. We should be focusing on it. The Nigeria police have apologised to Edwin Clark, an elder statesman, over the unauthorised raid of his residence in Abuja by four police... The Nigeria police have apologised to Edwin Clark, an elder statesman, over the unauthorised raid of his residence in Abuja by four policemen. NAN reports that Jimoh Moshood, police spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja. Moshood said a police delegation had been sent to Clarks house, comprising of the DIG operations and some commissioners of police. Recall that on Tuesday, NigerianEye reported that policemen invaded Clarks residence around 1:30pm, after presenting a search warrant to the elder statesman. The Niger Delta leader said that nothing incriminating was found in his house. There was no notice before the search. The policemen just walked in and demanded to search the house, he had said. After the incident, Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, had ordered the detention of the policemen responsible for the invasion. Moshood had said the policemen acted without approval. There is a lot going on at the Lee County Arts Center. It just had a very successful inaugural Art Walk, is planning for another one in October, and this past week got some very good news in that it has received designation as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization from the IRS. The 501(c) (3) status, which the arts center has been working on for nearly a year, will allow for donations made to it to be tax deductible, which makes fundraising easier. Previously it had been a 501(c) (4), which meant donations were not tax deductible. The Lee County Arts Center has numerous events planned for the next few months. It has scheduled its second Art Walk for Saturday, Oct. 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hancock Bridge Square Shopping Center. Maryanne Howard, president of the Lee County Arts Center, said the change in hours was something the vendors suggested. They said the last one was too long and that they wanted to start up and finish earlier because of weather conditions, Howard said. Hancock Bridge Square hosted the first event, which was a success, with 33 vendors and hundreds of patrons coming to see the artists works. Howard said she hopes more artists will come as it gets closer to season and rain becomes less of a factor. Were also going to be contacting the colleges and schools in the area. Ive reached out to North Fort Myers High School and the Academy for the Arts to let them know about the event to see if any students would be interested in painting on our campus material, Howard said. Howard said she is looking for another venue in the future. She contacted Marinatown for an event in February, but was told parking would be an issue. She is now looking at Merchants Crossing, which has plenty of parking as well as new stores and greater visibility now that all the trees have been cut down. In the meantime, the arts center is going to hold an event where children can create ornaments for the community Christmas Tree at the North Fort Myers Recreation Center on the first weekend of November from 1 to 2:30 p.m. All supplies will be provided. Howard also said they plan on holding a cocktail reception in January as a fundraiser for the Lee County Arts Center Building Fund. A location has yet to be determined. After a lifetime of serving churches all over the country, Les Morgan decided it was time to come home to his roots to not only serve his church but also those who may need a little of Gods word to help them through the tough stretches. Morgan was named the new pastor at North Fort Myers First Baptist Church at 75 Evergreen Road in May. He brings 30 years of experience and knowledge of Gods word to a small but growing flock. I wasnt surprised because I grew up in the area. We have some great things happening at the church and we have great potential with three buildings and eight acres of land, Morgan said. He also helps others solve their problems through the word of God as a pastoral counselor, which he has done for the past 30 years. He also wrote weekly religious columns in local newspapers for many years. Morgan is a fourth-generation Floridian. It was his great grandfather who built the pier for Thomas Edison. After growing up in the area, Morgan left for about 30 years, serving in Georgia and the Ashville, N.C. area before coming home in 2007 to take over a church in Labelle for around eight years. Morgan, who was also working at the Christian Counseling Center, helped out another pastor in Felda for a little while before the opening came up in North Fort Myers. Morgan said the church has great potential and has a three-point plan for success; love the people, love the people, and love the people. We have a lot of work to do because the church is a little run down. It needs to be painted and cleaned up and have yardwork done, Morgan said. Were getting things more presentable and then will find creative ways to share the love of Christ. When Morgan started, the church had 40 members. It now has 60, which isnt bad during a time when people tend to go north. People know we are very concerned about them. Its contagious and thats what we intend to do, Morgan said. We share the love of Christ and encouraging them to bring people and so far people are responding well, for which we are grateful. Morgan currently works for Royal Palm Christian Counseling in Fort Myers, where he works with people on everything from addictions to marital and family issues and much more. Morgan received his Bachelor of Science degree from Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry from Simpson Graduate School in California, and a Doctor of Ministries from Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale. He also successfully finished the biblical counseling training program at Royal Palm Ministries. His hobbies include bicycle riding. He has done two long-distance rides, from Georgia to Vermont and then on another from North Carolina to Colorado. He also enjoys playing piano and guitar in worship services. Well, the primary election is behind us and now, on to the general election. While Nov. 6 seems a long way off, the vote by mail (formerly absentee) ballots go out 45 days before that, Sept. 22. So I know its hard to believe we are less than three weeks away from casting a ballot. That is, if you registered to vote by mail. I recommend it. The ballot will be long with a variety of offices up for grabs as well as several Constitutional Amendments, and you never know about the weather or long lines. Our Lee County Supervisor of Elections encourages it. For you voters, getting the ballot at home gives you time to read it, including the complex amendments, get information from friends, family, political parties, Google or wherever, and make an informed decision. I expect that will be better than throwing a dart into a chart or guessing. For the Supervisor of Elections, fewer poll workers are required and lines are shorter. It is a win-win and recommended. And, if you decide at the last minute you really want to vote at the polls you can exchange your mail ballot at your polling place and pick up a regular ballot, go into the booth, and vote! Tip: You may want to fill out your mail ballot, make a copy for your reference, and take the copy into the booth. Thats not cheating! It is encouraged. So, you keep open all options when you register to vote by mail. Any questions call the Supervisor of Elections at 239-533-8683. Next meeting of your North Fort Myers Civic Association is Sept. 10. The Civic Association will consider what can be done to extend LeeTrans service out to Tara Woods. There are a host of retirees who do not drive and transit service would be invaluable. Of course the Civic association has no power to make it happen but can reach out to those that can. It is certainly a discussion that needs to be had. Sidestepping to the Lee County Arts Center (LCAC), two things. The LCAC will hold its second Art Walk Oct. 13. Again at Hancock Bridge Square. The owner has kindly given permission. And the Arts Center is still looking for a home in that shopping center, possibly at the Quilt Lovers space, as it is relocating across the street. Ill tell you a little more about the Art Walk and progress renting a space for the Arts Center in my column end of September. If you missed the first event you definitely have to come Oct. 13. If you came out in July and spent some time (and money) I know youll be back! Second thing. The LCAC is now a 501(c) (3) tax exempt organization. The IRS moved the application along quickly, given its workload, and was very helpful clearing up an overlooked issue. Ive been filing for tax exemptions over 40 years and can say this IRS analyst was professional, supportive, and easy to work with. We filed end of February and it usually takes a minimum of six months. The LCACs exemption was granted slightly under that wire. And now, any donations will be tax deductible. The NFM Civic Association will be filing its application shortly. So, one down, one to go. All good news. The North Fort Myers Community Pool is no longer. The pool was closed for repair and renovations in March, but the County decided a new one was in order. Now it is gone! But not forgotten. If youre about to shed a tear or two, do it quickly since a new pool will be built in the (hopefully) not too, distant future. And it may be part of a twofer, including a new boat ramp. The county is in negotiations for 1.8 acres adjacent to the southbound span of the Edison Bridge on U.S. Business 41 if youre interested in checking it out. Please remember I said negotiations. So, time will tell if we get a new boat ramp. But the pool, thats going forward, a done deal! Talking about new things, were still waiting for the new library. Sure, some walls are up but construction seems to move in fits and starts, hardly at gangbusters speed. Our County Commissioners announced they had so much money collected for its construction wed get a small (tiny) tax reduction on our county taxes; $20, maybe $30 on your next tax bill. So theyve got the money. Lets get a roof up and finish the project. Please. Thats it for now. Next meeting, and I hope to see you all there, is Sept. 10 -yeah, I know I said that up above at 6:30. 2000 N. Recreation Park Way, North Fort Myers (the North Fort Myers Recreation Center). To the editor: Florida needs Open Primaries. An effort was made to add a referendum to the 2018 election ballot to establish Open Primaries in Florida. Unfortunately, the current Constitutional Revision Commission failed to approve the measure. So we are at it again for the 2020 election cycle. Currently, Florida is one of only 14 states that have closed primaries. In closed primaries, the parties hold independent elections for their partys candidates. Only registered Republican or Democratic voters may participate in their respective balloting. Independents are not allowed to voice their selections, although Independent registered voters make up almost 30 percent of the voting public. In Open Primaries, all candidates are placed on a single ballot in the Primary. The candidates can be identified by their party affiliation, but all are included. And Independent voters get to be included in the final ballot choices. Generally, the top two vote getters in the Primary for each office are included in the final election. There is a group currently working to gain the necessary petition signatures to get the proposal on the 2020 ballot. Everyone should agree that all Floridians, regardless of their party affiliation, or lack thereof, should be allowed to participate in the primary election process. So the first petition seeks to establish open primaries. The second petition is considered only if the first fails to get enacted. Since primaries in Florida are publicly funded, but nearly 30 percent of the public cannot participate, the second petition says if the open Primaries fails, then public funds may not be used to fund the primaries. I urge everyone to go to FloridaFairAndOpenPrimaries.org and get involved. Go to the Petitions tab and read over the petitions there. If you agree, print them out, sign and send them in. We need your help to bring Florida into line with most other states. And if you agree with this effort, we ask your help to make it happen. This is a totally volunteer effort, so please sign the petitions and ask all of your friends and contacts to do the same. And if so inclined, please volunteer or donate to support this cause. We need your help. Jon Hale Cape Coral 05/09/2018 - Finland should offer labour-market-oriented integration support to all migrants, strengthen efforts to identify and address early vulnerabilities, and work more closely with employers according to a new OECD report. Working together Skills and labour market integration of immigrants and their children finds that, over the last 25 years, Finland has seen one of the fastest growth rates in the migrant population recorded in an OECD country. In parallel, the gap in the labour market outcomes of native- and foreign-born has diverged. And, with limited opportunities for low-skilled employment, labour market integration is increasingly challenging. Women, in particular, are struggling to integrate; many are locked into inactivity, and face incentives to stay in the home. Early integration support in Finland sends the inactive, including many immigrant women, down a separate track from those who are actively seeking employment. This is unusual among OECD countries and risks increasing the distance between the inactive and the labour force, locking them into inactivity. On top of this, women eligible for the Child Home Care Allowance may find that staying at home is as financially advantageous as engaging in training or paid employment. The OECD recommends that the incentives engendered by these policies be re-examined. The employment gap between migrant and native women is substantially larger among those with children under 18 than among those without. Even after five years in Finland, migrant women with children see employment rates that trail 47 percentage points behind those of native-born women with children. Policy needs to do more to support the early integration of immigrant women said Mari Kiviniemi, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, presenting the report in Helsinki with Finlands Minister for Labour, Jari Lindstrom. Since 2015, we have implemented a number of measures to improve the integration of immigrants, said Mr Lindstrom. I am glad to notice that the OECD, too, recognises that we are on the right track. However, the work continues. We must find better ways to promote especially the integration of women and children. If immigrant mothers stay at home for many years there may be long-term consequences for their children; in terms of reduced enrolment in preschool during the critical early years, limited exposure to the Finnish language, and the concomitant implications for their chances of succeeding in school. As in many OECD countries, the children of immigrants do worse in school in Finland than children with native-born parents. In Finland, however, these differences are particularly striking. According to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, mathematics performance among native-born children with foreign-born parents lags that among those with native-born parents by equivalent to close to two years of schooling. Alongside Mexico, this is the largest gap of all surveyed countries. Efforts should be enhanced, says the OECD, to identify and address early language and learning difficulties before initial setbacks have the chance to compound. The large number of asylum seekers that arrived in Finland in 2015 put integration squarely on the agenda, and the country was quick to develop a number of innovative integration policies in response. In particular, the report stresses Finlands commitment to policy innovation and rigorous evaluation, such as the Social Impact Bond; a programme, funded through private investment, with the ambitious goal of moving recent migrants into employment within four months of the beginning of their participation. With a recovering economy and an integration infrastructure that has been modernised into a modular and more flexible structure, Finland is rather well equipped to integrate recently arrived migrants with heterogeneous needs. According to the report, it is important that this flexibility is accompanied by monitoring and exchange of information on training and outcomes to ensure that no migrant falls through the cracks and resources are targeted to where they are most needed. Across the OECD, knowledge of the host-country language is a key factor in determining the speed and success of integration. The Finnish language, in particular, is both highly complex and rarely spoken outside Finland. In this context, Finland has placed much emphasis on language training and taken the unusual step of publicly financing language courses for all new migrants who are outside employment. However, more should be done to combine language learning with workplace experience, and the report suggests that there is more scope to work with employers to facilitate early labour market contact. Enabling employers to offer apprenticeship should be a priority in this context. The OECD report also recommends that authorities share information on migrant skills and widen eligibility to wage subsidies to make them available to migrants immediately upon finishing their integration training. The report is available at http://www.oecd.org/finland/working-together-skills-and-labour-market-integration-of-immigrants-and-their-children-in-finland-9789264305250-en.htm. For more information on Working together Skills and labour market integration of immigrants and their children - Finland, journalists should contact Thomas.Liebig@oecd.org or Emily.Farchy@oecd.org of the OECDs International Migration Division. Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. - : , - , , : - , () ? : - , 1930 . , . , . , , . : - . , , 2030 . . . - . - , - . - . , - -. -. : - ? : , , . 6 . , , - , . - . , , . , , . , , 17 . 1978 - , , . , , , , . - . . , , . - .. . , 10-12 , . - , , , . : ? : - . , , - ? - . , . , - , . 1801 . , . - 1801. , . , , 24 , 5 . , , 12 . . - , , , - , - . . : ? : . - . , - , , . , , - . - , , , . , , , , 8, , , . , , , . - . , , New horisont, . : ? : , , - . , , , . , , , . . . : 800 , , . , . , , , . , , , , . , , , . 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. Graphic Packaging Holding Company Publishes Sustainability and Social Responsibility Report The 2017 Sustainability and Social Responsibility Report provides an extensive overview of Graphic Packaging's activities with references to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards. Sept. 4, 2018 (Press Release) - Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), (the "Company"), a leading provider of packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies, today released its 2017 Sustainability and Social Responsibility Report. The report highlights the robust initiatives the Company has implemented and is continually pursuing to preserve the environment and invest in the communities where it operates. The report is available on the Sustainability tab at www.graphicpkg.com . Since establishing sustainability goals in 2008, the Company has made significant progress on its initiatives. The 2017 Sustainability and Social Responsibility Report provides an extensive overview of the Company's activities with references to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards. In preparing the report, the Company engaged third parties to generate the energy, carbon emissions and water metrics. The Company also responds to the CDP's (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) Supply Chain, Climate Change, Water and Forestry questionnaires each year. The report outlines three key community pillars on which the Company is focused: Preserving the Environment, Putting Food on the Table, and Investing in Education. The report also highlights Graphic Packaging's Sustainability Vision 2025, which notes both the historical progress toward reducing the Company's environmental footprint and the goals Graphic Packaging is committed to achieving by 2025. The report includes numerous examples of the accomplishments the Company is making with environmental and social initiatives as well. "We are proud to formally present our 2017 Sustainability and Social Responsibility Report, which clearly lays out the strides Graphic Packaging has made on key sustainability and social initiatives and what we will continue to focus on for many years into the future," said President and CEO Michael Doss. "Sustainability and social responsibility are at the heart of what we do at Graphic Packaging. This includes the renewable and recyclable paperboard-based cartons and foodservice containers we produce for our customers from renewable wood fiber, our focus on continually reducing our raw material consumption and environmental footprint, and our significant involvement in the communities where we operate. We look forward to keeping our stakeholders updated on our continued progress on these initiatives in the future." Graphic Packaging Holding Company, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a leading provider of packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer products companies. The company is one of the largest producers of folding cartons and holds a leading market position in coated-unbleached kraft and coated-recycled board. To learn more about Graphic Packaging, please visit: www.graphicpkg.com . SOURCE: Graphic Packaging Holding Company In the chess game of front row seating there is one undisputed queen: Vogue EIC, Anna Wintour. Everyone else, mere pawns. Famous or otherwise, an attendee's proximity to AW is a measure of their standing at that very particular (and fleeting) moment in time. Usually, Wintour's direct seatmates are her Vogue colleagues Grace Coddington, Hamish Bowles, Tonne Goodman or occasionally an actress who happens to be on the cover that month. Often it's usually an actress or celebrity the brand showing is promoting; which is to say, all highly orchestrated. However, for as many shows as Wintour has attended in her 30 years at the helm of Vogue probably in the 10s of thousands there are bound to be some surprises (or pairings that are, shall we say, outliers). Some, like Nicki Minaj at Carolina Herrera in 2011, are now iconic images; there are others though, with the benefit of hindsight, that strike a much stranger tone (Donald Trump at Marc Jacobs). Herewith some of the most memorable and major moments of Anna's + 1s. Queen Recognize Queen Photo via Getty The most recent one for the books was at last season's Richard Quinn show in London where none other than Queen Elizabeth II was seated next to (Dame) Anna Wintour. The two had met at least once before in 2017 when Her Majesty The Queen presented AW with the Order of the British Empire. It was one of those moments, looking at the two, where one can say with absolutely certainty... yes this makes complete sense. Rare anymore at a fashion show. Related | The New Royals Anna, Cardi. Cardi, Anna Photo via BFA The best part about this picture is imagining Anna listening to "Bodack Yellow" for the first time, which is what we guess happened right after she met Cardi B at Alexander Wang last season. Despite Cardi's predilection for Louboutins and Anna's unwavering allegiance to Manolos, it seems like they were able to put their differences aside for the duration of the Wang show. Related | Cardi B Is Still Real Same TBH Photo via Getty It was an admirable (if ambitious) gesture of mom Kim Kardashian to think that her 2-year-old (at the time) North West would be able to withstand the sensory overload of a fashion show and the hurry up and wait confines of a crowded venue. Seated between Anna and Beyonce at the Fall 2015 Yeezy show, naturally North got a little antsy, and like any toddler, eventually had enough and let everyone know with a mini tantrum. Been there! AW and Queen B remained characteristically unbothered. Hey Yo, Anna! Photo via Getty The strangest part about this picture to me is that it took place at... Carolina Herrera? Anyway, it's truly iconic. Also... Nicki is still waiting on that Vogue cover 7 years later. Book the bad guy! Our Hearts Go On Photo via Getty Remember that couture season that Celine took Paris by storm and we were never the same? Well, of course, she was seated next to Anna at Dior and there was a glimmer of hope there would be a Celine (in Celine) cover but alas... Drizzy at Serena Williams for HSN Photo via Getty In your feelings? Can't relate. The Donald Photo via Getty Kim Kardashian West might be an unlikely political lobbyist, but you can't argue she's an ineffective one. In June, President Trump commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson basically because Kim told him to. Now the KKW mogul has returned to Washington, campaigning for the release of another non-violent drug offender facing a lifetime behind bars. Kardashian's new cause is 30-year-old Chris Young, who received a life sentence after three arrests for marijuana and cocaine possession. He's already served ten years. "His prior conviction to get him to his three strikes was marijuana, and then marijuana with less than half a gram of cocaine," Kardashian explained to podcast host Jason Flom on an episode of his show Wrongful Conviction, released yesterday. "It was just a crazy there's so many people like him." Today Kim shared photos of a White House "listening session" on clemency and prison reform headed up by Trump's son-in-law and self-proclaimed prison reform enthusiast Jared Kushner. Other activists attending included former Obama adviser Van Jones and human rights attorney Jessica Jackson Sloan. Would this news story have seemed normal a year ago? No. But actually we're pretty glad Kim's on the case. If her last visit to DC is any indication, Young has reason to feel optimistic about a shortened sentence. According to Vanity Fair, she's been making "near daily contact" with the White House to push for more commutations. More generally, her return invite ignites an ember of hope that prison reform legislation could pass sooner rather than later. Especially as Jared Kushner has indicated that new laws are a priority. It isn't confirmed whether Kim will meet with Trump himself this time around which means we might not get a recreation of this creepy photo. Photo via Twitter The Coyote Ugly and Covert Affairs actress, Piper Perabo, was reportedly arrested today while protesting the Supreme Court Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. Perabo announced on Twitter, that she had been arrested for "civil disobedience" while at the hearing and posted a clip of her and other women being forcefully escorted out of the chamber by police. Perabo has been an outspoken critic of Kavanaugh's nomination since it was announced in July and attended today's hearings with organizers of the Women's March. Related | Women Show Up at Brett Kavanaugh's Hearing Dressed as Handmaids "Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women" Perabo tweeted, "I can't be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away." I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings. Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I cant be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.#StopKavanaghpic.twitter.com/f3SG7gmVam Piper Perabo (@PiperPerabo) September 4, 2018 Kavanaugh's nomination for Supreme Court judge has been highly contested due to his record on women's reproductive rights. Kavanaugh in the past ruled to deny the right to an abortion for an undocumented teenager and has been critical of criminal investigations into sitting presidents (like the one he was a part of that investigated Bill Clinton). Before the hearing began today, 40,000 documents that had previously been withheld were released to Senate Democrats causing even more outrage at what appears to be a rush to confirm Kavanaugh before the fall mid-terms. Photo via Getty Images According to retired founder and CEO of TSMC, Apple's supplier of processors, the global chip industry risks losing out to Chinese rivals who are exploiting generous government subsidies to invest in emerging technologies. In his first major public appearance since stepping down from the world's largest contract manufacturer semiconductor in June, the industry veteran warned that only massive investment in major innovations would guarantee that today's chipmakers would still be relevant tomorrow. Dr. Chang stated during his keynote at the annual SEMICON Taiwan fair earlier today that "We see innovative business models heavily subsidized by governments such as China's, even without knowing if they are sustainable." He identified 3D chip packaging, extreme ultraviolet chip equipment, artificial intelligence and machine learning as among technologies that could create new opportunities for the semiconductor industry. In the bigger picture, Dr. Chang was upbeat about the outlook for the industry, saying he expected growth to be double that of the world economy over the next 20 years. "I think global GDP growth will be around 2.5% to 3%, while the semiconductor industry could continue to grow faster, at around 5% to 6% over the next two decades," said Chang. Chang's sentiments come as the industry finds itself under scrutiny by countries concerned about national security, notably evident in the current U.S.-China trade dispute, which is escalating into a technology cold war between the two powers. China has been using government funds to bolster its semiconductor sector to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers, a key component of its "Made in China 2025" initiative. The U.S. hopes to curb this through tariffs and by closely monitoring Chinese investments in American tech companies. For more on this, read the full Nikkei Asian Review report here. In January, Patently Apple posted a report titled "U.S. Government Attempting to Stop Apple Smartphone Competitor Huawei from Entering the U.S. Market via AT&T." It was noted in that report that two congressional aides had told Reuters that the "U.S. lawmakers are urging AT&T to cut commercial ties to Chinese phone maker Huawei and oppose plans by telecom operator China Mobile Ltd to enter the U.S. market because of national security concerns." This week it was reported that the Trump administration could hit China with $200 Billion worth of new tariffs on Chinese goods while China eases economic pressure on North Korea to undercut the U.S.. China's state media has warned that China could use Apple as a bargaining chip to help curb the proposed U.S. tariffs.That's what nervous Apple investors are keeping an eye on. While the U.S.- China cold war may be necessary to put the U.S. on a fairer playing field with China, the short term pain will have the media and tech companies endlessly complaining. For now it's good to hear that the retired founder and CEO of TSMC is making the Chinese threat real for those attending the SEMICON Taiwan trade show. 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. Earlier today Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Won 49 Patents Today Covering a Major one for a Folding iPhone," wherein it was noted that Samsung's mobile chief had told the press in August that they were close to launching the world's first dual display smartphone. Now we're learning that Samsung will unveil details of a foldable smartphone later this year, the CEO of its mobile division told CNBC. DJ Koh said that "it's time to deliver" on a foldable device after consumer surveys carried out by Samsung showed that there is a market for that kind of handset. After watching CNBC's technology correspondent talk about his chat with Samsung's mobile chief Koh above, I'm not sure whether Arjun Kharpal got the story right or if Koh just can't keep his story straight. In the report that we linked to above, Koh very specifically talked about a dual display smartphone in the press scrum in New York after the Samsung Note 9 was unveiled not a bendable display. He made that point very clear. Yet that contradicts the CNBC reporter's tale of Koh describing a single bendable display for a smartphone. The NBC report further noted that Koh has hinted (not confirmed) that "more details of the device could be unveiled this year at the Samsung Developer Conference in November in San Francisco, but gave no indication of when a full launch would take place or when it might go on sale." How vague a statement can you get? Why is Koh forecasting a foldable smartphone display when the company has just created a task force to examine mass production of such a phone? More importantly, why is a Samsung official contradicting Samsung's mobile chief on this front? Further into the CNBC's written report, Samsung's mobile CEO reportedly admitted to NBC's Kharpal that while the development process is "complicated," the company has "nearly concluded" it. Nearly concluded it? This has been an ongoing rumor since 2017 and yet Samsung is only at the phase of "nearly concluding" it? The funny thing is that I would like to see a dual display infotainment smartphone come to market to shake things up. Yet until we hear more from Samsung's November 2018 developer conference, confusion still remains as to what Samsung may or may not do. While NBC's latest video report is an excitable one with more guessing than facts, yesterday's NBC report by the same reporter titled "Samsung is packing more tech into its mid-priced smartphones to appeal to millennials," seems to represent a more realistic Samsung strategy. While Samsung has clearly been under pressure by Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Huawei for most of 2018, they've gotten the message loud and clear. The mid-market is where millennials are living and Samsung is about fine turn their focus on this market with new mid-range smartphones with high-end features to that market back from the Chinese vendors. CNBC's technology correspondent Arjun Kharpal noted that "Instead of introducing new technology into the flagship Galaxy S and Note series of devices, Koh said Samsung will look to bring in cutting-edge features to its cheaper models first. The first of these devices will come later this year. In the end, new smartphones based on those parameters are more likely to become a reality later this year than a dual display model in the coming months ahead. 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. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Professor Ehsan Yarshater, founder of Encyclopedia Iranica: April 3, 1920 - September 2, 2018 09/04/18 Joint announcement by The Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University; The Persian Heritage Foundation; and The Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Ehsan Yarshater on September 2, 2018 in Fresno, California. Endowed with a rare combination of a bold and broad scholarly vision, immense erudition, and unfailing determination, Professor Ehsan Yarshater transformed Iranian studies, creating an enduring legacy at Columbia University which advanced the scholarship and understanding of the histories, cultures and accomplishments of Iranian peoples. Ehsan Yarshater was Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University and Director of its Center for Iranian Studies until 2016. He was born in Hamadan on April 3, 1920, but grew up mostly in Tehran, where he finished his secondary education at the top of his class. This earned him a scholarship to study at the Faculty of Literature and the Teacher's College of the University of Tehran, from which he graduated in 1941. He entered the service of the Ministry of Education in 1942 as a teacher at Elmieh High School in Tehran and two years later was appointed Deputy Director of the Preparatory Educational College (Danesh-sara-ye Moqaddamati) in Tehran. In the meantime, he studied at the Faculty of Law and received a B.A. at the Legal Branch from that Faculty. At the same time he pursued his study of Persian literature at the University of Tehran and received a Doctorate in this field in 1947. A year later, he received a scholarship from the British Council to continue his study in England. He opted to study Old and Middle Iranian Languages with the great German scholar W.B. Henning, received an M.A. in 1953 and returned to Iran the same year. He began to work on his doctoral dissertation and received his second Ph.D. from the University of London in 1960 by defending his dissertation, titled Southern Tati Dialects, during the meeting of the Congress of the Orientalists held in Moscow that year. In 1953, he founded The [Royal] Institute for Translation and Publication (Bongah-e Tarjomeh va Nashr-e Ketab - BTNK), which went on to publish some 500 volumes of books before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, consisting of the Persian text series; the Iranology series, comprising translations of major works of Iranologists into Persian; translations of world classics works intended for young people and books for kindergarten children; and a series of books offering general knowledge in various fields. Many innovations of the BTNK were adopted by other publishers, such as the use of a logo and blurbs on all its publications. The BTNK was the most important publisher to come into being in Iran and continued in that role as long as it operated. Upon his return to Tehran in 1953, Dr. Yarshater was appointed first as an Assistant Professor of Persian Literature and the following year of Old Persian. In 1958, he was invited by Columbia University as Visiting Associate Professor of Indo-Iranian for two consecutive years. In 1960, he succeeded Professor Ebrahim Pourdavoud as Professor of Ancient Iranian Culture at the University of Tehran. In 1961 he was invited back by Columbia University to occupy the newly founded Chair of Iranian Studies, endowed by Hagop Kevorkian, a well-known Armenian art collector, and to develop the field. In 1968, he founded the Center for Iranian Studies at that University. Professor Yarshater authored several books and served as the Editor or General Editor of numerous scholarly works. His books include Persian Poetry in the Second Half of the 15th Century (in Persian, 1953), and Southern Tati Dialects(1970). He edited the third volume of Cambridge History of Iran, in two parts, covering the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods (1983, 1986), and Persian Literature (1988). He was the Founding General Editor of the Persian Text Series, the Persian Heritage Series, the Persian Studies Series, and the Modern Persian Literature Series. The annotated translation of Tabari's History in 40 volumes was completed under his General Editorship. He was also the Founding Editor of the Encyclopdia Iranica, arguably the world's most extensive scholarly, groundbreaking, and comprehensive reference work authored by multiple scholars. It is dedicated to the broad and inclusive study of all aspects of Iranian civilization in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, offering a comprehensive and detailed overview of its subject. He was also the Founding Editor of A History of Persian Literature. This 22-volume, authoritative survey was designed to reflect the status and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian people through its long history. It includes extensive, and carefully selected specimens of poetry and prose with translations and commentary by prominent scholars. Professor Yarshater was an honorary member of Societas Iranologica Europaea and of the Association for Iranian Studies, which he served as President as well. He was also a life member of the American Institute of Iranian Studies. Lecture series in his name have been instituted at the University of London, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Paris, the University of Maryland and existed, up to 2005, at Harvard University. In 2012, he established the Ehsan Yarshater Fellowship Fund at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. In 2014 Yale University established a Lecture Series on Iranian Studies in his name. In August 15, 2018 Columbia University received a $10 million gift from the Persian Heritage Foundation to endow the Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies. We offer our deepest condolences to his niece, Ms. Mojdeh Yarshater, and her husband, Mr. Tony Jebian, and to his millions of admirers around the world. Read related article by Iranian daily Ghanoon Zarif, Assad say Western pressure will fail to stop Iran-Syria terror fight 09/04/18 Source: Press TV Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif say Western pressure on Tehran and Damascus will fail to deter them from fighting terrorism. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) with Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif In a meeting in Damascus on Monday, Zarif and Assad asserted that Western countries would not be able to deter Iran and Syria from defending their principles, the interests of the two nations, and the security and stability of the entire region. The two sides emphasized that Western policy of threat and pressure against Syria and Iran shows the West's failure to achieve its goals in the Middle East. The Syrian president and Iranian foreign minister hailed the current level of relations between the two countries in various fields and agreed to further continue consultations and coordination, particularly in the light of the rapidly-shifting regional and international issues. They also discussed the latest developments in Syria and other regional countries as well as a planned summit of Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents in Tehran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will host his Turkish and Russian counterparts Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, respectively, on September 7 in an attempt to find ways to end the ongoing crisis in Syria. The three presidents have previously held summits in the Russian resort city of Sochi in November 2017 and in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in April. Earlier in the day, the top Iranian diplomat held separate meetings with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem and Prime Minister Imad Khamis. Zarif and Muallem discussed regional issues and the latest developments in Syria, including the return of the displaced people to their homeland. The top Iranian and Syrian diplomats stressed the importance of strengthening economic cooperation and the participation of Iranian firms in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria as well as cooperation in international organizations, particularly the United Nations. Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami on August 26 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 in a meeting with President Assad in Damascus. Also in a meeting with Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi in Damascus in May, the Syrian president said the development of economic cooperation with Iran and all the countries that insist on defending their sovereignty and independence is one of the most important ways to confront Western plots. He added that Western powers are resorting to sanctions and coercive economic measures as a means to impose restrictions on nations and obliging them to bow to their hegemonic policies. Related News: Kremlin Rejects Trump's Warning Against New Offensive In Syria UK minister: We seek no covert operation in Iran, plan to build ties 09/04/18 By Mohammad Ghaderi & Payman Yazdani, Tehran Times TEHRAN - UK's Minister of State for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, in an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times, reaffirms his country's support to the 2015 nuclear deal following the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the agreement, saying the UK, along with the European Union, are doing all they can to provide the mechanism by which they can continue trade transactions with Iran. UK's Minister of State for the Middle East, Alistair Burt He also stressed that the UK is prepared to pay the costs of maintaining economic relations with Iran in the face of U.S. extraterritorial sanctions, noting the importance of having an independent foreign policy from that of Washington. "We will make our own decision," he said. However, he added, finding a technical mechanism to allow the continuation of banking transactions with Iran would not be an easy task and it would take time. The British diplomat further maintained that the EU and the U.S. will remain "good friends", but the UK is committed to maintaining a relationship with Iran. About a belief among Iranians that Britain is seeking to stir up unrest in Iran, especially through media outlets such as the BBC Persian, Burt said the UK is not seeking to do "covert operation" in Iran. Instead, Burt said he is being given the mission by the prime minister and foreign secretary to "build relationship" with Iran. The following is the text of Tehran Times' interview with Burt: Would you please tell us that what issues were raised during your talks with Iranian officials in Tehran? This is my third visit to Tehran in round about a year. The fact that I've been here three times means that the relationships I'm building gets stronger each time. I have lost count of the number of meetings I had with Deputy Foreign Minister Araghchi because we meet here, we meet in Europe, and we speak on the phone. Dr. Kharrazi, whom I met again this morning, I met him before. And I met, for the first time, the chairman of foreign relations committee. So the familiarity that we gain with each other is important to the United Kingdom and my approaches on behalf of the prime minister and foreign secretary are much about building relationship and being able to have through that relationship and the ability to look at those things that we share in common which are more than what people would think sometimes. And also provide the right platform for what we do disagree to be able to talk it through. And this is a region that matters a great deal to the United Kingdom, and Iran matters to United Kingdom. In terms of the questions that they covered, as you would imagine, they covered JCPOA and United Kingdom's position and relations to that, bilateral relationships which covers issues like consular matters, visas and issues such as that a look around in the region and what's happening in terms of events in Syria, Yemen, the Middle East peace process. I was able to see a little bit of culture when I met the director of the national museum because the cultural relationship between the United Kingdom and Iran is very good. At a very sensitive time in our relationship indeed, when we did not have diplomatic relations, I was responsible for signing the order to release the Cyrus Cylinder for the exhibition here. Because for me, personally, it was very important to our cultural relations continued even at a difficult time between nations. So the questions on the discussions and international issues came up; these were the main topics of conversations as we went round the discussions. Any special achievements? How successful do you assess your visit? I don't think you build a relationship on a series of outputs. The fact that I count my contacts as friends, those who I would meet in street anywhere and exchange word with. I think it is extremely important the fact that we understand each other. I think trust is important. And we will say things about which we disagree. That's inevitable. But that we say those things with sincerity, and the position is accepted as not being hostile but in explanation of position, I think is important. Now if you measure success in terms of building relationships, then those are positive outcomes and achievements from the conversations we have here, I go away with a clear sense of what is very much on the mind of the government and I hope my interlocutors have a clear sense of the responses of the United Kingdom. And we have all channels open as we look at a region and look forward to what we can do to deescalate tensions in the region and build on things that we can work on together. What is the approach of London toward the JCPOA and President Trump's withdrawal from the agreement? We made very clear both before the American announcement and after, that we regarded the JCPOA as a commitment to honor. We recognized that Iran has met the compliance conditions in relation to its nuclear program. We strongly support the work of the IAEA. We regarded as significant that Iran has met its obligations. I'm also regarded that it's extremely important that Iran continues to meets its obligations; that's fundamental to relationships built around it. We are doing all we can in the European Union to make sure we can provide the mechanisms by which our trade can continue. This is not easy. We know that there is frustration. It is not an easy time for the economy in Iran, we understand this. There are other issues going on, there are reforms that are needed in banking. The decision of the United States doesn't make it easier. We are very determined in the European Union to find mechanisms and at the same time we are still encouraging our businesses to be involved. They have difficult commercial decisions to make; I understand that but our determination remains as it was when we signed JCPOA. This matters and when you give support to something, then you should stick to it. What are the economic, political and security importance of the JCPOA for the UK and EU? It is very important. We are all aware that this was not an agreement signed in haste as a whim; it took years of negotiation. There were difficult calculations on both sides but nuclear proliferation is fundamental to the security of the world. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been a success at a time when the world is looking for international norms to cling on to, like the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which of course must mean a great deal to Iran having suffered from that during the Iran-Iraq war. So the Non-Proliferation Treaty is important. Making sure that nations abide by it, to have access to peaceful use of nuclear energy but do not do anything else, is really important. So for us the signing of this treaty was very important and I know that for my EU colleagues as well. The meetings we had since the American decision and recently in Vienna with Foreign Minister Zarif and Deputy Foreign Minister Araghchi where we recommitted our political determination to keep things going. So it is of great importance to us both in economic and security terms. To what extent is the UK ready to pay for the costs of keeping the JCPOA alive despite the U.S. pressure? On this issue the UK as the U.S. ally pays the costs of the disagreement. It is very clear that the U.S. would like all to follow their lead and abandon the JCPOA and we are pressed to do so. It is not our view so we are very clear that we will make our own decision and we are very determined to do so. We are working on the economic side of it. We are working to find a technical mechanism that will allow the banking system to continue. This is not an easy process. It does take time. It cannot be achieved very quickly. We are working very honestly on that. We have realized that there is cost in our relationship but we are prepared to pay the cost because it is the independence of foreign policy matter. Why do you think that this process is not easy? I am not a technical expert to talk about this. They are trying to put together a banking mechanism in Europe. And remember that the world banking system is interconnected, and the reach of American financial institutions is very long, and people have mutual obligations trying to find a path through those that secures those banking arrangements to make sure that they can be fulfilled in relation to European, and Iranian connections outside the reach of any U.S. sanctions is not technically easy. Does the UK exit from the EU affect the UK relations with the U.S.? Not really. There is a difference of opinion and difference of policies between the United Kingdom and the EU and the United States. It is not the end of relationship between the EU, the UK and the United States. It must not be considered as a possibility of that. We disagree with our partners on important issues. The United States is still a great partner of the United Kingdom in a whole variety of ways. But when we think something is wrong, say the example of United States' moving of its embassy to Jerusalem. At a time when there is not a conclusion to the Middle East peace process, we thought that it was wrong. We are prepared to say so. But the EU and the United States will remain good friends. But this is not a zero sum game. Remaining in a close relationship with the United States is not at the expense of the relationship we wished to have with Iran. And we will work on that. That relationship is dependent on the whole series of other things. So, do not confuse the two. We can maintain relationships with the United States and relationship with Iran. And that is what we will continue to do. How do you see the future of the JCPOA and relations between Iran and the EU, especially with the UK? Firstly, my sense is that there is a determination all around to work to keep the JCPOA in place. I think it is understood here as in London how important it is. It is under pressures and restraints; we know that. Iranians are doubtful of the will of the EU to keep the JCPOA alive. Given all these obstacles that are on the way, how feasible is it to keep it alive? And, how do you see the future of the agreement? I would suggest your readers, if they doubt the sincerity of the EU. We had weeks to walk away. We could simply have accepted the Americans' leaving the agreement and it would have no longer mattered. We could have said there and then, well we are very sorry there we are. We did not, we have had time over the last few weeks. We could have said, well we worked very hard, we are not going to continue. But we have not. There is no reason to doubt the sincerity and the determination of the EU to fulfill as China and Russia. But it remains fundamental. We must all do our best to fulfill the provisions. That includes compliance with the nuclear arrangements as certified by the IAEA. But there is no reason to doubt the sincerity and the determination of the EU to continue with this. I see no evidence; I see a lot of hard work by my colleagues trying to find the mechanism that will assist in terms of the economies. I do not see any lack of will. I do not think that will be detected by any of your readers. Germany and France have announced that they are going to establish a new financial mechanism to deal with Iran. Does the UK support it too? We are working collectively to find mechanisms to support our businesses. Yes. How do you see the future of the relations between Iran and the UK? In which way do you think it can be much better than now? Good, remember it is not that long ago I could not have been sitting here to have this interview as you know. It has been within my time as a foreign minister that we have been up and down and back up again. So it is good that I am here. I like my conversations here. I like an opportunity to discuss with a state with a country that has such an extraordinary history, three thousand years of history and influence in the region. How it sees the region and how that history is used in contemporary sense, bearing in mind the nature of the government here and the nature of the government in state roundabout. I have colleagues in the parliament who have been here regularly. The Anglo-Iranian business and corporation, we have the cultural relationship. And, you know, we have a first rate ambassadorial team and colleagues who work right across the board in the things that we can do together. These are all fundamental of relationship. So the short answer to your question is that "how do I see the relationship": good. If we could not talk about things we do not see the same way, well that would be illustration of poor relationship. It is not illustration of poor relationship to have disagreement. It is the illustration of poor relationship if you cannot talk about them. And we can. But we should not magnify those, we should look at those areas of conflict in the region and say what we can all do to try to deescalate the conflict and the risks that we share together. As you know the relations between Iran and the UK has had ups and downs and this relationship has been suffering from historical distrust. In recent years, many believe that the UK tries secretly to affect Iranian internal affairs in different ways like supporting unrest in Iran by media outlets like the BBC Persian to weaken Iranian establishment and pave the way for regime change. What do you think of this? Is there a program in London to boost trust between London and Tehran? Well, firstly, let me give a short answer to the allegations that are made and be very clear. We do not do what was alleged in your question. We have no plans to do so and we have no covert operation to do it. And we reject very fundamentally allegations in relation to specifically BBC Persian Service. It does a first rate job. It works to convey the news to people. And there is no evidence and no desire in the United Kingdom to do anything that would fuel these concerns that people have, quite the contrary. So you ask "what's our program to build up trust". You know, I suppose you can. My engagement, the engagement of Boris Johnson and when he was the foreign secretary to make a visit here and see foreign minister Zarif. There is the upcoming visit of my own foreign secretary who would be coming in here with the opportunities in New York when people get together. These are opportunities where people meet up and discuss their opportunities to build trust. And we should all do our best and try to deescalate the allegations of mistrust that are too easy to run these days. We live in a world of fake news and everything else where it is easy to run suspicions. Let's look at facts and evidence and I would ask readers to say. There is no evidence to suggest that this sort of worries, that people may have, have any foundation. Are there any differences between the U.S. and the UK regarding the developments in the Middle East, I mean Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and the Deal of Century? Well, look! We can have half an hour on each one of those. There are, to trying answer it shortly, differences of policy between United Kingdom and United States but there are many areas of agreement. We'll want to see a stable and secure Middle East. We are very aware of the potentials of confrontations now between different elements in the region. And we all want to work actively to deescalate those tensions. And they are different in each place. Two or three as an example; Syria: Syria will come to a conclusion. The fighting is likely to be ended relatively soon. We strongly support a political agreement and settlement that would mean the future of Syria for its people and those refugees returning will be secure. That would mean the present regime cannot operate as it did prior to 2011, and has got to operate in a way which its people feel secure and safe, and we would look to friends to support that in Yemen. It's essential that conflict comes to an end as quickly as possible. We strongly support the efforts of the UN special envoy, Martin Griffiths, and again, everyone knows the conflict has been deeply distressing for the people of Yemen, and we must do all we can to end the conflict. All of us with influence on different parties there should seek to do so. Middle East peace process is fundamental to the United Kingdom. Of course, we have a long engagement with Israel and the Palestinians, as is well known. So it matters to us fundamentally that there is a just settlement to the issues between them. We support the two-state solution. The issue of Jerusalem is for negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. We do not accept the United States position that is somehow off the table. We will continue our support to the Palestinian people through bilateral programs. But we don't regard the Middle East peace process as something that has been going on a long time and can go on forever; it's essential to us that it comes to an early conclusion, and we will work really hard for that. Now in each of these areas, we join with the United States in a broad determination that these areas should be secure and conflict should end. We may have some differences in position, but essentially we see that the same. But we don't see that our partners in Iran are fundamentally in a different place. We all want to see a resolution of the conflict, and an opportunity where extremism and terrorism does not flourish, as it threatens us all. And we want to work together. And we are very keen to see when that can be done. You talked about Yemen, but I know that the UK government continues to sell weapons to the Saudi regime. There is a difference between the statements of the UK regarding Yemen and the human rights issues and the European country's behavior. And what is the general approach of London toward the developments in Bahrain and the democratic demands of its people? Bahrain has been in the process of reform for many years and prior to the events of 2011; since 2011, we have worked with the government of Bahrain on this reform program with providing technical assistance; we believe it is important how that reform program goes on; it is important that the process goes without violence being directed against the Bahraini government and against the Bahraini people; and we will continue to work with Bahrain as a good partner and strong partner of the United Kingdom; and we want the reform program will continue to make sure that Bahrain's government works with all its people who count on their identity strongly as Bahraini rather than anything else; we will continue to support that. Is there anything else that you like to add at the end of this interview? No. I think you asked a good question at the beginning that gave me the opportunity to express my thanks to our interlocutors here in the government; they have been very generous as I see a lot your minister in different places and I appreciate that and that's good and I was also able to make references to the other meetings that I had here; so I am going to see the programs in Iran to talk about the works done here for the Afghans which again is not easy for your government. So you gave me good opportunity to answer your questions, thanks you very much. The Deputy Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Julian Kingsley Opuni, has reiterated the banks support for healthcare delivery in the country. The health sector is very important to Fidelity Bank as we have been engaged in various healthcare related partnerships through USAID, funding of the Medical Credit Fund, various hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry, he stated. Speaking at the presentation of ventilators to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital by Fidelity Bank, Mr. Julian Opuni said it is impossible to make inroads in the health sector if the bank does not partner with an institution like KATH. We engaged the management of KATH and identified that ventilators were urgently needed by the hospital. We have come to present the ventilators and also find out what other assistance we can give to the hospital. He disclosed that a few years ago the bank partnered KATH with the aim to collaborate and assist to create uniformity and structure around collection of monies and also make it easier to monitor funds. In addition, he said the bank also had customer service training for the hospital to help in the delivery of service to patients. Receiving the ventilators, The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KATH, Dr. Oheneba Owusu-Danso, stated, The hospital currently needs six ventilators and this noble gesture from Fidelity Bank comes at the right time and we very much appreciate it. He continued that we will deepen our relationship with the bank and also request them to give more support to the hospital. Aside the health sector, Fidelity Bank has over the years initiated projects to support other key areas of the economy like the education and agricultural sectors. 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 Government has indicated that it will offer incentives to both local and foreign carmakers in Ghana to access the ECOWAS market. Government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with VW to establish an assembly plant in Ghana. Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister disclosed this at the opening of the two-day Ghana Economic Forum (GEF), which started yesterday in Accra. We shall offer identical incentives to all such initiatives in the country whether foreign-owned or locally-owned. Thus, whatever incentives that are advanced to support VW shall be advanced to local initiatives such as Kantanka Automobile Company Limited. Mr Osafo Maafo, therefore, appealed to local operators to take advantage of governments initiatives and find innovative ways of being competitive. Fiscal responsibility council The senior minister revealed that Ghana had experienced inconsistent growth in her development over the years, saying We make progress at certain times but fail to consolidate the gains. As a result of the fiscal slippages and inconsistencies in growth, government is working on establishing the Fiscal Responsibility Council to implement the Fiscal Responsibility Act to be enacted. The objective is to ensure that government pegs its deficit to a maximum of 5 percent of GDP. The law is also to prescribe possible sanctions for violating the provisions of the Act. Achievements so far Mr Osafo Maafo trumpeted governments achievement since coming into office. These include a reduction in the inflation to 9.6 percent in July, this year (the lowest since December 2012; cedi depreciation of 2.4 percent from January to June (the lowest in the first 18 months of every government in the fourth republic) and the first-ever positive primary balance of 0.7 percent in 2017 (the first time in a decade). Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has told the business community in China that their preferred investment destination in Africa should be Ghana, because the country is a haven of peace, security and stability, and because she protects legitimate investments. Speaking at the Ghana-China Investment Forum, on Wednesday, 5th September, 2018, in Shangdong Province, President Akufo-Addo urged the Chinese business community to take advantage of the growing business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana. Our flagship agricultural programme, Planting for Food and Jobs, our renewable energy sector and ICT growth are all areas of considerable opportunity. These are all sectors you can profitably partner with Ghanaian companies, some of whose representatives have come all the way from Ghana to be here with me, he said. Having taken the decision to walk hand-in-hand with China and her business community, because we desire to walk far, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that China has, since 2015, been Ghanas largest trading partner, with total trade amounting to some $6.7 billion in 2017. However, with the majority of exports from Ghana to Shangdong, for example, being crude oil, bauxite and its concentrates, sawn timber, i.e. raw materials, the President told the Chinese business community that we want to stop being mere producers and exporters of raw materials, and, thereby, deal with China, and, indeed, Shangdong province, on the basis of things we make. It is for this reason that he commended to Chinese business community his governments flagship policy of 1-District-1-Factory. Thus far, companies that have established factories in Ghana, under this policy, are importing machinery and equipment duty-free, are not paying import duty on raw materials imported for production, and are enjoying a corporate income tax holiday for five years, the President said. He indicated that, additionally, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has attached two technical experts to provide free advisory services to these companies. Touching on the countrys infrastructural deficit, President Akufo-Addo said his government is embarking on an aggressive public private partnership programme to attract investment in the development of both the countrys road and railway infrastructure. We are hopeful that, with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages and with the potential to connect us to our neighbours to the north, i.e. Burkina Faso, to the west, i.e. Cote dIvoire, and to the east, i.e. Togo, he said. The President continued, We believe that this is an area where Chinese technology and expertise would be very welcome, and we are happy to note that some important Chinese companies are, in fact, making efforts to enter the rail sector of our economy. We will know the result shortly, but I am confident that there will be Chinese participation in the development of the Ghanaian rail sector. He told the business community that there are several projects in roads, water, housing, transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of Ghanas mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold, amongst others, which are being structured to attract private sector financing. President Akufo-Addo, thus, urged them to invest in Ghana either through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre or set up as a Free Zones enterprise. Regardless of where the investment is, government has instituted a number of incentives for the investor, depending on the nature of the activity, or the location of the investment, the President added. These incentives, he said, include exemption from payment of import duty for plant and machinery; 25 per cent tax rebate for companies located in regional capitals; 50 per cent tax rebate for companies investing outside regional capitals in the regions; and 0% corporate tax for ten (10) years, and, thereafter, 8% for companies in the Free Zones enclave. President Akufo-Addo, in conclusion, stressed to the Chinese business community in future, when you are deciding to invest in any part of the world, certainly in Africa, Ghana should be your preferred investment destination. As I have said, we are keen on establishing a business-friendly economy to attract foreign direct investments to exploit our countrys great potential on mutually satisfactory terms. I can assure you, once again, that your investments will be protected in fact and in law. 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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that Ghana aims to replicate Chinas development model in the last three decades that has led to the creation of progress and prosperity for its people. Chinas aggressive development of the market economy on the wheels of industrialisation has lifted over half a billion people out of poverty, thereby creating the world's largest middle class in the process. The President said this when he addressed a roundtable meeting of Presidents and Heads of State at the third Summit of the Forum on China Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) in Beijing, China on Tuesday. Ghana inspired President Akufo-Addo said Ghana was inspired by the Chinese model and was trying to replicate same through its industrialisation policy of One district One factory, and an increase in agricultural productivity through the Planting for Food and Jobs pragramme. He congratulated President Xi Jinping for holding the summit and noted that both China and Africa recognised that a win-win situation for their respective peoples would be the desired outcome. The President indicated that China was the largest trading partner of Ghana and most countries in Africa. He added that the continent was grateful for the support of China, especially financial and technical, given to African countries over the years, and the implementation of the commitments made by China at recent FOCAC Summits, which had benefitted the peoples of Africa considerably. We believe that the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping, will further intensify Chinese commitment to Africas development. Last nights message from President Xi, in his opening statement at this years summit, involving the allocation of a comprehensive package of support for Africas development, including a $60 billion fund, is a powerful reinforcement of that commitment. I have urged others not to ignore Africa, and I am glad that China is, most certainly, not ignoring our continent," the President added. Value addition President Akufo-Addo explained that the resolve of his government was to build a value-added, industrialised economy with a modernised agriculture, trading in the global marketplace on the basis of products produced, and chart its own self-reliant, independent path within the world economic order. We believe that effective co-operation with China will help us attain this goal. Indeed, we want our relations with China to be characterised by an increase in trade and investment co-operation, and not by the export and import of raw materials, he said. The President believed that the way foward was to develop healthy relations between Ghana and China to put Ghana at the high end of the value chain and create jobs for the teeming masses of Ghanaians, particularly the youth. President Akufo-Addo told his colleague Presidents that, We are determined that this new era of Ghana-China and Africa-China relations will reaffirm the principles of solidarity, mutual trust and respect, which have anchored those relations, and which will assist us deliver progress and prosperity for our peoples. 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 Mr John Peter Amewu, the Energy Minister, on Tuesday, assured domestic and commercial power consumers that, government would provide the requisite infrastructure and conducive business environment for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to meet their power generation capacity. He said energy was an important component in every countrys industrialisation drive and gave the assurance that the government would provide reliable and affordable natural gas supply for generation of electricity. He said government was aware of the frequent gas interruption from Nigeria, which affected the IPPs daily power generation, saying; Government has, therefore, decided to make gas available as one of the cheapest sources of fuel for power generation. Currently, Sunon Asogli Power Plant receives averagely between 58 and 60 million standard cubic feet of gas/per day (scfd) from Nigeria, which is far below its daily requirement of 120 million scfd, which makes the plant to perform below its maximum generation capacity. Mr Amewu gave the assurance when he led a delegation from the Energy Ministry to visit some Independent Power Producers in the Tema power enclave on Tuesday, to familiarise himself with their work and challenges. The Minister visited the Sunon Asogli Power Plant Station, Cenpower Generation Power Plant, West African Gas Pipeline Gas Interconnection Facility and Offices of the West African Gas Pipeline Company. He was accompanied by Mr William Owuraku Aidoo, a Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Power, Dr Benjamin Asante, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company and some engineers and technocrats from the Ministry. Mr Amewu said it was governments priority to ensure regular and reliable supply of electricity at all times and promised to work collaboratively with the power producers to meet their targets. He said a team had been formed to ensure re-direction or reverse flow of natural gas from the ENI Oilfield in the Western Region to the Tema power enclave so that there would be sufficient gas for power generation. This will bring in about 70 to 80 million standard cubic feet of gas/per day from Takoradi to Tema and I think its going to help most of the power plants, and I ask for your collaboration so that this thing is done promptly. Governments role is to make sure that we create the infrastructure and business environment friendly for people of your nature to invest in Ghana. For any developing country like Ghana to achieve its target and make the people comfortable, energy is key because when you talk about industrialisation, education and social lives of the people, energy is very key, Mr Amewu emphasised. The Energy Minister said there was between 170 and 175 million scfd surplus of natural gas from the ENI Oilfield and assured that, in the next three to four months, the gas would be made available. Mr Amewu said the Karpower Plants, which is currently located in Tema would be relocated to Takoradi so that they would be fed on natural gas and to reduce the cost involved in buying light crude oil for power generation. 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 Mr Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, the Deputy Minister of Transport has called on all stakeholders in the shipping industry to help mobilse the requisite revenue for the country to enhance her development efforts. He said to ensure port efficiency, there was the need to allow tracking devices and other efficient administrative systems to operate in order to avert diversion of containers and evasion of duties. Mr Titus-Glover gave the advice at the Sixth Maritime Seminar for Journalists and was jointly organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) in Accra on Tuesday. The event was held on theme: Contemporary trends and developments in Ghanas Shipping Industry. Topics treated were The implementation of paperless transaction in Ghana: An impact assessment on cargo clearance at the ports, The effects of demurrage on the cost of doing business at the port, Improving trade facilitation via port expansion and port efficiency and Transit trade through Ghanas corridor-implication for the economy. The seminar brought together media practitioners, representatives from the Custom Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Ghana Shippers Authority and Ghana Maritime Authority. Mr Titus-Glover advised importers to disclose and pay the right amount of duties to avoid paying multiple penalties. He cautioned that he would not shield importers who would be caught up in fraudulent dealings but would allow the law to take its cause. 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 Sinotruk International, Chinas first heavy duty truck manufacturer, has signed an agreement with the Government of Ghana to establish an assembly plant in Ghana, to serve both Ghanaian and West African markets. This was after the Ministry of Trade and Industry, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sinotruk International, on Wednesday, 5th September, 2018, at the Ghana-Shangdong Business Conference, for the establishment of the plant. Speaking to the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, after the signing ceremony, Mr. Zhang Yuzong, the General Representative of Sinotruk International, indicated that the company has a proud history of being manufacturers of a wide range of heavy duty trucks, buses, special trucks, engines and their sets, parts and special chassis. The assembly plant in Ghana, when established, Mr. Zhang Yuzong said, will, initially, have the capacity to assemble some 1,500 trucks per year for sale in Ghana and West Africa. Having produced some three hundred thousand (300,000) trucks in 2017, and possessing an employee strength of forty thousand (40,000) people, the Sinotruk Representative was confident that the establishment of the plant in Ghana will create jobs for Ghanaians, as well as rake in significant amounts of revenue for the country. The establishment of the assembly plant, he added, will result in the training of Ghanaians to assemble the trucks, and the transfer of technology. On his part, President Akufo-Addo expressed his delight about Sinotruk Internationals decision to establish the assembly plant in Ghana. We are very appreciative of your interest in our country and its development, and whatever we need to do to grow your business in Ghana, we are prepared to do it, the President said. He assured Sinotruk International that Ghana is a peaceful and stable country, and we are strong believers in the rule of law, adding that the agreements that have been reached between the Government of Ghana and Sinotruk will be respected. With West Africas current population of some 350 million people set to reach some 500 million in 20 years, President Akufo-Addo described Ghana as an ideal place to have your base for reaching the West African market. 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 Apart from your freedom that is denied you, life in Ghana prison is like living in hell, says ex-convict Emmanuel Odoom. The food you are given in the prison isnt food that you eat at home; it is food that is cooked by prison standards..and as for meat and fish, we eat them once in a blue moon, Emmanuel narrated on The Sonto Show on Agoo TV. Emmanuel explained he was arrested for stealing a car he has no idea about; a fellow left the vehicle in his care which later turned out to be a stolen vehicle and was arrested for that. He ended up in prison after the fellow told the police the stolen vehicle is with him. Emmanuel revealed some intriguing things to host Akua Sonto about his stay in prison. The food served there was so terrible that it was not fit for a dog. The banku had no salt and the soups were so light that you could see your reflection in it," Emmanuel stated. For a little comfort and some money to get by, one had to make the hard choice of sacrificing their anus for their fellow mens pleasure he explained. An older man or serving inmate with money will have sexual intercourse with an inmate who allows it in exchange for giving him good food and basically providing a comfortable life for him. He furthered said that the state of the prison is a very disturbing sight to the eye, people are arranged like sardines making it difficult to breathe. He noted that, the prisons are overcrowded and he has video recordings of it. In short Ghana prisons are overcrowded making it difficult to breathe and I have video recordings of it, you can just imagine when there is disease outbreak," he added. Gambo, Another ex-convicts confessions on The Sonto show will give you a glimpse of life in Ghanas prisons and ultimately, the schemes and activities of an armed robber. Wee in the prison cells, yes, the hard drug wee and other illegal materials prohibited in the cells were smuggled somehow by inmates into the cells. Asked whether he has evidence to what he is saying he answered emphatically yes and will provide them upon request. He furthered that, the Prisons are a place where little or no attention is paid to inmates health; inmates are left to their own fate when they fall ill. Gambo recounts how he his manhood no longer erect as a result of excessive beatings from the prison officers. He stated that, he called a journalist friend to narrate the ordeal they go through as inmates and unfortunately for him, after the stories was aired the officers find out what he did and as a result of that, he was beaten mercilessly and this left him impotent. He added that Nurses and Health Aides who operate infirmaries and clinics within the prison facility are quack and not qualified. Nurses and Health aides who operate infirmaries and clinics are quack and unqualified, thats how I will like to call them. They are inexperience and dont know drugs very well, I was once given a bad injection and that worsen my situation resulting in chronic pains all over my body, Gambo noted. He indicated that, he sometimes had to prescribe drugs for himself. Speaking to host Akua Sonto on the issue, human right lawyer, Lawyer Mary Ohenewaa Afful noted that, its unlawful and illegal for a prison officer to brutalize or assault an inmate thus an action can be taken against such officers and the inmates be compensated. Lawyer Afful added that, inmates through their families can sue prison officers, the prison center, and the ministry of health, among others bodies who take the law into their own hands. She indicated that, there are competent human rights lawyers who will be willing to carry the case. She furthered that, she will also avail herself for the justice and fair treatment of inmates should she be called upon. Source: Kasapafmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The government has initiated processes to lift the ban on the export of labour to countries in the Gulf Region, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has stated. He said proposals for bilateral agreements for the lifting of the moratorium had been presented to the Attorney-Generals Department for scrutiny before it would be forwarded to the Cabinet for approval. Currently, we are developing bilateral agreements with countries in the Gulf Region because some of them have brought proposals for better labour relations. But we have forwarded the proposals to the Attorney-Generals Department. Given the work that has been done so far, I believe that when a memoir is sent to the Cabinet, it will be approved so that the ban can be lifted to enable us to send some of our labour to other countries, he said. Job fair Mr Awuah made this known when he spoke to journalists at a two-day job fair organised by the German Development Co-operation and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations in Accra on Monday. The job fair formed part of the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (MAC), an initiative to tackle unemployment among the youth which has been identified as a major cause of irregular migration of the youth to the Gulf countries. Scores of unemployed youth are participating in the job fair that will see about 100 of them get ready employment, while others will also be trained in entrepreneurial development and linked with industry players. Present at the fair were representatives of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), as well as ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). No compromise In July last year, the government placed a ban on the export of local labour to countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar because of widespread reports of maltreatment of Ghanaians in those countries. Some of the migrants, who were mostly females, were made to do caretaking and service jobs, during which some of them were subjected to all forms of maltreatment, leading to loss of lives in some cases. Mr Awuah observed that even though bilateral agreements were being considered towards the lifting of the ban, the government would not compromise the safety of Ghanaian workers both locally and abroad. We believe in the dignity of Ghanaian workers in the country and in other parts of the world, so we will ensure that they are accorded decent work ethics, dignity and decency in line with International Labour Organisations (ILO) standards, he stressed. Consolidated Bank brouhaha Touching on the laying off of some workers by the Consolidated Bank, Mr Awuah said he would engage officials of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and other key stakeholders this week, to look at the plan for workers of the bank, who were reportedly being laid off, following the merger of five local banks. I will meet officials of the BoG, the Consolidated Bank, worker unions and other relevant stakeholders this week to think about what should be done. My duty will be to get information on the way forward from the horses own mouth on what the labour plans are for the Consolidated Bank. If there is the need for any labour restructuring, I would want to know how it will be done to ensure that no one is unfairly treated, he said. German support The German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Christoph Retslaff, in his remarks, reiterated the commitment of the German Government to support Ghana to create more employment opportunities for the youth. He said efforts would be made to support the country to implement initiatives that would help achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. One of the big challenges for this country that has to be tackled is the high rate of unemployment, especially among the youth, since it is sparking the transnational migration of young people, he said. Source: Daily Graphic 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 Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Isaac Adongo, has boycotted parliaments probe into the collapse of some seven local banks. Parliament scheduled Wednesday, 5 September 2018 to begin investigations into the circumstances that led to the collapse of the banks. However, Mr Adongo, a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament decided to walk out of the first meeting. According to him, the parliamentary probe is a rubber stamp process, it will deliver no value [and] I am not willing to be part of it. The Minority MP pointed out that the documents that the committee members were given were statements from the banking sector and press releases by the Bank of Ghana (BoG). He further stated that documents from audit firm, KPMG, only contain conditions and opinions on uniBank. There were five asset quality reviews at uniBank, there were four of them in one month; we dont even have the report. They claim that there was a preliminary work done by KPMG to take a decision to go into it [but] we dont have that report, he added. He further revealed that the committee members do not know the terms of reference of the job that KPMG did, and we dont even know the full report of Boulders [Advisors], except an executive summary of Boulders work. For him, the committee has not been provided with all the relevant documents and other materials to constitute an independent and credible work, hence his decision not to take part in rubber stamp meetings. Officials of the BoG and the Finance Ministry are expected to be questioned by parliaments Finance Committee about the roles they played in the collapse of the banks. In August 2017, UT Bank and Capital Bank went under, and all their assets and liabilities were taken over by state-owned GCB Bank. A year later, Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) Limited was formed after the central bank fused the Sovereign Bank, The Construction Bank, The Beige Bank, The Royal Bank and uniBank together after they all ran into liquidity problems. Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, had told Class News earlier that the committee will meet first with PricewaterhouseCoopers and then with KPMG and then the new Consolidated Bank officials. On Friday, the committee will meet other regulators like the Security and Exchanges Commission and the National Insurance Commission. Dr Assibey noted that: We have to get firsthand information, we cannot rely on media commentaries to make informed opinions, so, were meeting with the institutions. Source: classfmonline.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 Former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ejisu Juaben Municipality Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh has served notice that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) when it comes to power in 2021, will deliberately collapse Databank Financial Services, which is owned by Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta. The firebrand politician, has accused the NPP government of deliberately collapsing uniBank owned by former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffour all because he is a member of the opposition NDC party. The BoG on August 1, announced that it had merged Unibank and four other banks under a new name Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG), with government committing 450 million cedis to support these banks. According to the governor of the Central Bank Ernest Addison, the merger was crucial because the five banks including Unibank were in critical financial distress and that it will help ensure that the banking sector maintains a strong indigenous presence. But speaking on Abusua FM, Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh slammed Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta and the NPP government for dealing with Dr. Kwabena Duffour as an enemy as far as the collapsed of Unibank is concerned. He indicated that the Finance Minister will have a taste of his own bitter medicine given to Dr. Kwame Duffuor when the NDC returns to power in 2021, where he [Ofori Atta] will see his Databank financial services going down. Im sure Ken Ofori Attas Data Bank is still there, tell him that I say in 2021, we will collapse Databank, come what may in 2021, Databank will be collapsed. If a policeman is burnt on arresting you, he will ensure that out of the 99 laws, you fall guilty of one of them. As we speak over 800 staff have been sacked over the collapse of the bank. When we talk of performance, Databank comes no where near uniBank, you talk of assets, etcetera, and yet someone who feels powerful in government has caused uniBanks collapse. And hes sitting there jubilating over the collapse of uniBank, he eats and laughs beating his belly. I tell you, [Ken Ofori Atta] well also collapse your Databank when we come to power. Source: kasapafmonline.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 What would have passed out as a bragging right for the Akufo-Addo government was on Wednesday, boycotted by senior ministers in-charge of the countrys security, as well as the top hierarchy of the Police administration, including the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Appeatu. Government three days ago, presented a total of 105 vehicles as part of retooling the Ghana Police Service to combat crime in the country, but there are fears that government, as well as the Police administration, would rather leave the cars to gather dust and rust, while the state finds money to settle its US$9.1 million indebtedness to Amalgamated Security Service Limited owned by one Joseph Kwabena Boateng-Aidoo. The presentation of the car to the Police Service, was done by a jittery looking-Deputy Minister of Information with the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery and his Deputy, Henry Quartey, the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, Bryan Acheampong, minister of State at the National Security and Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere, National Security Advisor, staying away from the event. The Director-General /Public Affairs Directorate, ACP David Senanu Eklu, who received the vehicles from Nana Dokua Asiamah-Adjei on behalf of the Police Administration at the Police Headquarters Operations in Accra, stated that the vehicles would be used as expected of the Service. The Deputy Minister of Information, announced that 95 more of the vehicles would be arriving this evening, making a total of 200 vehicles for the Ghana Police service. The 105 vehicles supplied made up of Toyota Corolla and Camry, The Herald is informed were part of the vehicles gotten from the renegotiated 43 specialized security cars bought for President Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Dr. Bawumia, their spouses and security details. But strangely, both the Presidency and the Police Service, refused to take delivery of the cars until Wednesday, when the police did after a long battle between it and the suppliers, although same institution, had been complaining about lack of tools to fight crime. The police cars since March this year, were left at the Tema Habour, because the government does not want to go near it. Strangely, the 34 vehicles, including bullet proof ones some of which have been allotted to the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and the Second Lady, Samira Bawumia, have also been left at the car park of the National Security Secretariat popularly called Castle Annex or Blue Gate rusting away. The cars, including Mercedes Benz saloon cars, arrived on a Global African Airlines cargo plane many months ago, but The Herald is informed that, the President was also yet to use any of them for his official duties. In February this year, then-Minister of Information, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, explained to journalists at a press conference that the Akufo-Addo government renegotiated the terms of purchase of some 43 VIP fleet meant for the Presidency, to make room for the purchase of 100 Toyota Corollas. The Mahama administration upon agreement with the incoming Akufo-Addo government, ordered the bullet-proof cars at a cost of $9.1 million on January 3, 2017, days before handing over power after the 2016 polls. This was because conventionally a new President, hardly use the official vehicle used by his predecessor. There was, however, a storm after the Akufo-Addo government refused to use the cars, following a public outcry because it had promised austerity measures. The deal was renegotiated with the police administration cars getting 200 cars to fight crime but strangely, they have refused to take the cars and use them. It is not clear, whether the 105 police Toyata cars attracted demurrage at the Tema Habour and who pays for them. At that press conference last year, Dr Abdul-Hamid said: I hereby report to the Ghanaian people, through you, that government has accepted the VIP fleet, having come to the conclusion that: 1. Government is bound by the terms of the contract signed with Amalgamated Securities Limited. 2. Abrogating the contract may incur significant liabilities for government. In doing so, government has, however, made sure to obtain maximum gain for the public purse and also for ensuring the security of the state. He said: We have renegotiated the terms of the contract in the following manner: 1. We have reduced the number of vehicles ordered from 43 to 34, which is nine short of the original number. 2. In place of the nine, we have acquired 100 Toyota Corolla cars for use by the Police Service in line with our commitment to retool the Police Service to enable them play effectively, their role of protecting the Ghanaian people. 3. We have done all this with a total amount of 8.8 million United States Dollars. Dr. Hamid, explained that, with the risk of a judgement debt hanging over its head, government renegotiated with Amalgamated Securities Limited, purchasing only 34 of the initially agreed 43 cars, saving about three hundred thousand dollars in the process. With the vehicle not in use, it is clear government might not pay Amalgamated Security Service Limned, thus landing itself in a lawsuit and huge judgment debt awarded the company. Source: The Herald 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 Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joseph Ade Coker, is proposing a rather outlandish idea that he wants the Chinese government to take up in dealing with its nationals who abuse their rights when they travel to other countries, most especially Ghana. He wants the Chinese government to create a compulsory exit visa for its citizens who travel to Ghana as a sign of their commitment in the fight against galamsey practices. They [Chinese government] sometimes direct us to deal with their citizens who go against the laws of our country, but I know they will fight us in a silent way should we adopt such a strategy, he said. Chinese nationals are known to be one of the main culprits in illegal mining in Ghana. Scores of them have been arrested in the last 18 months after the government launched a significantly more intense campaign against illegal mining than in previous years. Despite scores of Chinese being arrested for illegal mining, President Akufo-Addo assured that Chinese nationals were not being stereotyped. We are not acting against Chinese. There is no anti-Chinese policy in Ghana. But we do have a quarrel with those who will get involved in this illegal mining. Speaking at a meeting with the Ghanaian community in China as part of his visit to that country, President Akufo-Addo said he had been able to hold frank discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the matter. He further revealed that the Chinese government is fully backing the countrys uncompromising stance towards illegal mining. Tensions over reportage In April 2017, the Chinese mission in Ghana expressed its displeasure with the way Ghana was dealing with the issue of illegal mining. It also criticized the media for targeting China in their reportage on the matter. The mission in a letter addressed to John Peter Amewu, the Ghanas Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, said if nothing changes about the nature of campaigns against illegal mining in the country, bilateral relations between Ghana and China would be affected. NDC Regional Elections Ade Coker, who was retained for a record third time in the NDCs regional elections held over the weekend, dismissed suggestions during a panel discussion on UTVs Adekye Nsroma show, that his popularity has waned since the margin of his electoral victory compared to previous elections decreased. the number of votes does not matter for now because i would as well be the winner had i won with a single vote. The end of the matter is that I had the greater portion of the votes amongst my other three contestants making me the winner in the race, he pointed out. Source: Elizabeth Semiheva/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 Brong Ahafo Regional Representative for this year's Ghana's Most Beautiful, Lisa Ahenkan with the stage name Ohema, is confident that she will win the crown for her region. For 11 consecutive times, since the inception of the GMB pageant, the Brong Ahafo region has never received the first place. However, Ohema stated that she is hopeful to win this year's event. Ohema, who hails from Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region, will be battling with nine other beauty Queens from the other regions of Ghana who are also eyeing the crown. In a brief but encouraging message during a grand durbar in her honour, Lisa Ahenkan said, I encourage all my partners, who are hungry for change, to support me with your votes to help Brong Ahafo win the crown this time around," she said. Addressing the chiefs and townfolks at the durbar, Lisa Ahenkan promised to make good use of the opportunity to showcase the rich culture and goodwill of the people of Brong Ahafo Region. She added that her main project will focus on road safety campaign which others have taken the lead but believes with the GMB platform she will help with the campaign adding that she will constitute a fund to deal with accident victims 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 TORONTO, Sept. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CO2 GRO Inc. (CO2GRO or GROW) (TSX-V:GROW) announces that it has entered into an agreement with Dr. Luc Duchesne (Duchesne). Dr. Duchesne, PhD., Plant Biochemistry, is the former Chief Scientific Officer and Quality Assurance Person for WeedMD as well as the Lead Scientific Advisor, Board of Advisors for illumiPure Corp. Dr. Duchesne, with 85 peer-reviewed publications and 30 years of experience in the research, production, and commercialization of natural products, possesses a unique understanding of regulatory compliance, production and experimental research matters. Duchesne has been retained by GROW to review and complete the analysis of the effect of GROWs CO2 foliar spray on cannabis plants. Duchesne will review GROWs research, documentation and ongoing trials to assist in discussions with legal cannabis plant growers. As compensation for his services, subject to TSXV approval, Duchesne will be paid with the issuance of up to $100,000 of common shares of the Company. About CO2GRO (GROW.TSXV) or "GROW" GROW's mission is to accelerate all indoor and outdoor value plant growth naturally, safely, and economically using its patented advanced CO2 foliar technologies. GROW's global target plant markets are retail food at $8 trillion per year (Plunkett Mar 2017), retail non-food plants at an estimated $1 trillion per year and legal retail cannabis that may reach $50 billion per year by 2022 (Bay St Analyst estimates). GROW's sole focus is working with its plant grower and Agri-industrial partners in proving and adopting its CO2 technologies for specific growers plant yield needs. The CO2 technologies work by transferring CO2 gas into water and foliar spraying across the entire plant leaf surface area, which is a semi permeable membrane. The dissolved concentrated CO2 then penetrates a leaf's surface area naturally like nicotine naturally dissolves through human skin from a nicotine patch. Foliar spraying natural nutrients and chemicals on plant leaves has been used for over 60 years by millions of indoor and outdoor plant growers. To date, outdoor growers have not had any way to enhance plant CO2-gas uptake for faster growth. Indoor use of CO2 gassing has enhanced plant yields for over 60 years. However, over 50% of the CO2 gas is typically lost through ventilation. Current greenhouse CO2 gassing levels of up to 1500 PPM are also not ideal for worker health and safety. GROW's safer dissolved CO2 foliar spray can be used by indoor and outdoor plant growers with minimal CO2 gas lost. GROW's CO2 technologies are commercially proven, scalable and easily adopted into existing irrigation systems. GROW's proven crop yield enhancements and revenue model is compelling for growers and Agri-industrial partners. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on GROW's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, unless otherwise required to do so by 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. FILE - This June 11, 2012 file photo shows former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward speaking during an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Watergate in Washington. Details are starting to come out from journalist Bob WoodwardAos forthcoming book on President Donald TrumpAos first 18 months in office. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file) To the editor: As I begin this message, I want to offer my sincere thanks to the community, which supported my reelection to the District 1 seat on the Lee County School Board! I am honored and humbled to continue to serve. Education is such a dynamic process I call it my adventure! With this appreciation comes my commitment to continue to advocate for our students, staff and our partners in education, while supporting our mission: to ensure that each student achieves his/her highest personal potential and our vision: to be a world-class school system. The world of our business survives on leadership skills and even more on the commitment and dedication of amazing students, passionate employees, involved parents and supportive community partners. John F. Kennedy once said, Children are the worlds most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. Lets appreciate our kids, teach them to appreciate their opportunities, and provide them with a safe place to learn while involving them in their own goal setting. We need to thank our employees. Just a few words are enough to boost employee morale and overall productivity. Taking responsibility for our own attitude is the first step to success. Creating a school culture of respect starts with the well-being of all along with continued development of relationships. Here in Lee County, we continue to be honored to partner with parents and other stakeholders in the education of our children. Thank you for your continued interest in education. Board members make a commitment to set policy to make system changes to meet the evolving needs of the community. Rituals and traditions celebrate student accomplishment, teacher innovation, and parental commitment. Look at the School District of Lee County and you will note that there is a balance of strengths and success: great students, highly qualified educators, state of the art equipment but also many challenges: budget shortfalls and social issues. In essence, our schools are a reflection of the diverse general society! Education is the key economic driver for our community, therefore it is incumbent upon us to focus on the education of youth, and this must be done in collaboration with parents and community. The synergy resulting from such partnerships creates greater benefits than each group working individually. Towards this end, we welcome students, parents, along with business and arts community members to join with us as we focus on success. I will continue to lead in advocating for students and staff to have the tools they need to succeed. It is my goal to eliminate waste, to spend your tax dollars wisely and for every student to be safe, healthy and ready to learn! My motto, Connecting School, Family and Community, is my commitment to working together with you to keep the focus on our youth who hold the key to the future. Mary Fischer Lee County School Board District 1 SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are advised by Kiip that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release "Kiip Receives Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) Certification as It Continues to Fight Mobile Ad Fraud" issued September 04, 2018 over GlobeNewswire. Jon Adler, President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation Look, up in the sky, it ain't a bird, a plane, or Superman; it's a remotely piloted aerial video crime fighting thing-a-ma-jig. It's capable of supporting many vital law enforcement functions, and doesn't cost much. In fact, they're so cheap the bad guys are using them, too. The bad guys are exploiting this technology for criminal purposes at an unrestricted pace, undeterred by laws, costs, or public perception. Law enforcement must put on its cape with the big "S" and prevail in this video star wars. The Kryptonite for police remotely piloted aerial video isn't bad guy jamming devices, training complexity, or legal hurdles. It's potentially treacherous optics. You will note that I have not called these aerial devices "drones" or "unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)." The optics associated with these names are negative. There is public distrust of drones, and critics see them as death from above or Big Brother spying from the sky. Branding is important, and it is important for the name of these aerial law enforcement vehicles to reflect their positive police mission. Unlike the bad guys, law enforcement must be mindful of the imperative of winning community trust. Yes, program transparency and strong agency policies are important, as well as thorough training. But in the end, law enforcement must conquer the optics challenge and win the trust of the American citizenry. A good example of how to accomplish this was illustrated in Michael Hamann's "How to Implement and Justify a Drone Program" (POLICE, January 2018). In his opening paragraph, Hamann describes a real example of how a remotely piloted aerial video vehicle was used to quickly locate children that went missing in a park. Positive life-saving stories can conquer a thousand criticisms. As POLICE Magazine Editor David Griffith discussed in his article "Drone Vs Drone" (POLICE, January 2018), drones can be used against law enforcement." While Griffith advocates correctly for police capacity to counter bad guy drone use, it is also important that these examples be cataloged and shared with the community. Law enforcement needs to illustrate the dire consequences of the good guys doing nothing in response to criminal aerial video engagement. The Police Foundation has created a guide for law enforcement agencies seeking to build strong aerial video programs. And the International Association of Chiefs of Police has issued Recommended Guidelines for the Use of Unmanned Aircraft. These resources are invaluable when building department aerial video programs. They properly stress the need to be mindful of public Fourth Amendment and privacy concerns, as well as the need to implement strong policy for aerial video use. As technology continues to evolve, and as criminals seek to exploit it, law enforcement needs to be out front and not in the rear. Reference books and guidelines are critical for sharing best practices for building integrity-driven programs, but they have a limited purpose. Once an agency launches its aerial video program, it has to sustain and constantly validate it. Given the relatively low cost of aerial video vehicle acquisition and officer training and certification, all departments will inevitably initiate a remotely piloted aerial video program. This isn't a passing fad. How does law enforcement sustain public confidence in how it administers a public safety aerial video program? To help guide a unified law enforcement approach to administering unmanned aerial video services, I recommend the creation of a national center for police aerial video engagement. This resource could support department efforts to both stand up and sustain aerial video programs. A national center would have the capacity to catalog all positive instances of law enforcement deploying life-saving aerial video. Of equal importance, the center could capture real incidents that disclose criminal schemes that are exploiting this technology. The center could provide guidance on sustained community engagement, and arm departments with a library of aerial video life-saving success stories. The center would help law enforcement overcome public distrust with real examples in support of their program. If law enforcement can convince communities that their aerial video program is for saving lives and not Big Brother spying, they can advance their public safety missions. With the real-time support of a national center, law enforcement can defeat optics challenges and sustain community trust. With the right support, police can clip the bad guys' video wings, and use this technology to keep communities safe. Jon Adler is the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the city of Phoenix and Chief Jeri Williams, claiming officers violated the rights of thousands of people who were protesting outside President Donald Trump's August 2017 downtown rally. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix on behalf of activist groups Puente Arizona and Poder in Action, and four named residents, claims police used excessive force while dispersing crowds outside of the Phoenix Convention Center on Aug. 22, 2017. Officers fired more than 590 projectiles "indiscriminately" into a crowd that "included children, elderly people, disabled people, and pregnant women," the lawsuit says. The lawsuit was filed by the Arizona chapter of the ACLU, Los Angeles-based law firm Hadsell Stormer & Renick LLP and civil rights attorney Dan Pochoda. Plaintiffs are requesting a court bar Phoenix police from using excessive force against protesters in the future and are also seeking financial rewards. A Phoenix police internal investigation found officers could have better communicated with protesters, and Williams said she accepted the community criticism that followed the event, AZCentral reports. Officer Keith Baggett of the Jonesboro (AR) Police Department helped save a 1-year-old hit by a car over the weekend. (Photo: Jonesboro PD) A Jonesboro, AR, infant is fighting for his life after being struck by a car this weekend. That fight may have ended days ago had it not been for the actions of a Jonesboro police officer. The little boy was playing in his yard and in a split second got away from his mother and ran out to the road. Thats when a car hit the baby. Officer Keith Baggett was dispatched to the 1-year-olds home Saturday. I did a quick assessment on the child and determined he was not breathing and did not have a pulse, so I immediately began CPR, said Baggett. It was the officers first time to perform CPR on a baby in his career. I was told sometime in transit to the hospital or after he arrived at the hospital they were able to resuscitate him, said Baggett. Dallas police arrested Michael Fry after he reportedly rammed a Fox TV station with a truck. (Photo: Dallas PD) A man is in custody Wednesday after slamming his pickup truck into the Dallas FOX television station, ranting and throwing leaflets before surrendering to officers, police say. At about 6:15 a.m., a man, identified by police as Michael Fry, crashed his pickup into the downtown Dallas TV station multiple times before he jumped out of the truck and began yelling, police said. Fry then grabbed a bag out of the truck and placed it near the building, police said, which prompted a bomb squad investigation. Fry eventually surrendered to police and his bag and truck were later cleared with no threatening devices found, police told NBCDFW. Dallas police later said the papers Fry had with him were about an officer-involved shooting in another city and that he wasn't directly targeting the media with his attack. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer fatally shot his wife before killing himself after an altercation in a strip mall in Martell, Calif., the Amador County Sheriffs Office reported Tuesday. Sheriffs deputies received a call about 10:45 p.m. Monday from the owner of Get Ripped Nutrition, a vitamin and supplement store, who said a man he knew to be a CHP officer and later identified as Brad Wheat was banging on the door, demanding to be let in, authorities said. The owner of the business was inside the store with Mary Wheat, 42, the mans wife. Brad Wheat, 45, shot through the window to get inside the business, and an altercation between the Wheats and the shop owner began, sheriffs officials said. During the struggle, the business owner was shot in the shoulder, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Wheats continued arguing and moved into the parking lot, where Brad Wheat shot his wife multiple times before turning the gun on himself, the sheriffs office reported. Bitcoins, although called "coins," are not objects, merely lines of encrypted data. (Photo: Getty Images) Many times an investigation has been solved by using the strategy of "Follow the money." That' s now much more difficult because of cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency is an encrypted piece of data that can only be read by someone with the "keys," which are usually kept in a digital wallet on a phone. There's a reason why these coded currencies are so popular with crooks: They are pretty much untraceable unless you have the public and private keys or specialized knowledge about the blockchain. The most famous cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which last year experienced a near exponential runup in value before stabilizing this year in a range of around $6,500 per coin. A decade ago cryptocurrencies were nothing more than curiosities for computer geeks. Now they are going legitimate, but despite all of the moves toward legitimacy, cryptocurrencies remain the favored money for criminal activity online and especially on the Dark Web. They have become the financial instrument of choice for ransomware attack payments; scams; money laundering; sale of stolen, counterfeit, or illegal merchandise; human trafficking; selling of illegal drugs; sale of unlawful weapons; financing of terrorism, and many other criminal acts. Cybersecurity subject matter expert Eric Janson recently told me, "Clearly there is a marriage between cybercrime and cryptocurrencies. Their use has and will continue to grow as cryptocurrencies, ransomware, and the Dark Web rapidly evolve." Criminals are drawn to cryptocurrencies because they are widely thought of as being untraceable. To some extent, there is truth to that belief. But since cryptocurrencies are not issued by banks or nations, their authenticity must be determined through a complex ledger of encrypted transactions called a blockchain. A blockchain records every cryptocurrency transaction, so the transfer of cryptocurrencies can be traced by skilled digital forensics specialists. Last year more than 400 investigators who work cybercrime, cybersecurity, and money laundering gathered in Doha, Qatar, specifically to discuss the growing popularity and use of cryptocurrencies. Their report stated that "all countries should increase training initiatives in this field." Currently, many in American law enforcement are behind the curve when it comes to understanding cryptocurrencies, their current state, and the implications of this digital money being used in illegal transactions. "Law enforcement needs to stay abreast of all cryptocurrencies, knowing how they are being used and manipulated," says Marty Cheliak, retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) chief superintendent. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last October, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed his concern over the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in criminal activity. In fact, he called Bitcoin "a big problem." He went on to mention the Dark Web marketplaces and how cryptocurrency is used in those online e-commerce sites. There is no doubt that this is a growing problem and it impacts law enforcement at all levels. The question has been raised, is law enforcement prepared? And the answer is clearly: No. Every law enforcement officer must stay well informed these days about the rapid and dramatic changes that are projected to accompany the multiple emerging technologies that will become mainstream in the next few years. It is now essential that organizations more rapidly respond to developments like cryptocurrencies. The criminal use of cryptocurrencies is in its early stages and growing. Its future expansion is a sure thing. That expansion brings with it the risk of cryptocurrencies being used in more and more criminal and terrorist activities. Many believe law enforcement must rapidly come up to speed on this subject matter. Clearly, that is the major reason why Law Enforcement Learning recently announced a virtual course on the subject (that I teach). "As cryptocurrencies become the value transfer mechanism of choice for an increasing number of criminals and criminal groups, law enforcement officers must understand cryptocurrency basics and recognize when these virtual currencies are used in furtherance of fraud, theft, extortion, drug and weapons sales, and other criminal acts," says Timothy Bonadies of Law Enforcement Learning. "Our course provides officers with an essential foundation that will enable them to recognize how criminals are currently using cryptocurrencies, how these uses can be investigated, and what laws govern this rapidly evolving area." While meaningful metrics that reasonably measure the criminal use of cryptocurrencies currently don't exist, looking at the projected growth rate of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies, we know it is significant and will grow. There have been two substantial criminal cases involving Dark Web marketplaces, one involving $4 billion in cryptocurrencies and the other $1 billion in cryptocurrencies. These clearly are indicative of a trend. But don't think that just because the owner of a Dark Web marketplace that delivers illegal items in return for cryptocurrency is being prosecuted that the problem is solved. As fast as one criminal cryptocurrency marketplace is shut down, one or two more open up on the Dark Web and that perpetuates the value of this digital money. Michael Coleman is a 30-year technology industry veteran with a wide range of business and government experience. His passion is working with new technologies to create solutions to the issues facing professional users. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veritas Pharma Inc. (CSE: VRT; OTC: VRTHF; and Frankfurt: 2VP) (Veritas or the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Lorne Mark Roseborough as a Director of the Company. Lui Franciosi commented: We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Roseborough to Veritas Board of Directors. He has knowledge of our growing industry and his experience in equity markets will be a significant asset to us as we continue to advance our corporate objectives. Mr. Roseborough brings a wealth of talent and expertise to the Company. Hes currently the CEO of SunVault Energy Inc. (OTCBB: SVLT) in Kelowna, B.C., which focuses on bringing cost effective energy generation and storage to the solar industry. He previously held the position as a Start-up Lead Executive for Dow Cornings $1.2 billion Semiconductor plant in Clarksville, Tennessee. Mr. Roseborough was a director of EPOD Solar Inc. from October 2007 to January 2010. He also held management positions with EPOD Solar from 2003 and was promoted to vice-president and held that position from June 2008 until July 2009. From 1992 to 2003, Mr. Roseborough worked at Belkorp Industries, Inc. where he was vice-president of Manufacturing, having direct responsibility for the operations of three pulp and paper mills and one small oil refinery. These operations had approximately 350 employees and $300 million in revenues. From November 1999 to 2003, he also held the position as President and CEO of Bluewater Fiber in Port Huron, Michigan (on behalf of owners Merrill Lynch and Cerberus Capital Partners) which was a large recycle pulp mill. Mr. Roseborough commented: I am pleased with Veritas mission and vision in addressing the critical need for scientific evidence in the medical cannabis industry. I am especially looking forward to sharing my experience from a different research industry with the Companys team of scientists. The Company wishes to announce that it has accepted the resignation of Linda Sampson from its Board of Directors. The Company would like to thank Linda for her services and wishes her success in her present and future endeavors. About Veritas Pharma Inc. Veritas Pharma Inc. is an emerging pharmaceutical and IP development company, who, through its 100% owned subsidiary Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd. (CTL), is advancing the science behind medical cannabis. It is the Companys aim, through its investment in CTL, to develop the most effective cannabis strains (cultivars) specific to pain, nausea, epilepsy and PTSD, solving the critical need for clinical data to support medical marijuana claims. CTLs unique value proposition uses a low-cost research and development model to help drive shareholder value, and speed-to-market. Veritas investment in CTL is led by a strong management team, bringing together veteran academic pharmacologists, anesthetists & chemists. The companys commercial mission is to patent protect IP (cultivars & strains) and sell or license to cancer clinics, insurance industry and pharma, targeting multi-billion-dollar markets according to Deloittes Insights and Opportunities. Veritas Pharma Inc. is a publicly traded company in Canada, on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the ticker VRT; in the United States, on the OTC under the ticker VRTHF; and in Germany, on the Frankfurt exchange under the ticker 2VP. For more information, please visit our website: veritaspharmainc.com On behalf of the Board of Directors " Dr. Lui Franciosi" Dr. Lui Franciosi President and Chief Executive Officer Further information about the Company is available on our website at www.veritaspharmainc.com or under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the CSE website at www.thecse.com. Investor and Public Relations Contact Veritas Pharma Inc. Sam Eskandari Telephone: +1.416.918.6785 Email: ir@veritaspharmainc.com Website: www.veritaspharmainc.com The CSE has not reviewed, nor approved or disapproved the content of this press release. TORONTO, Sept. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neo Lithium Corp. (Neo Lithium or the Company) (TSXV: NLC; OTCQX:NTTHF; FSE:NE2) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated July 19, 2018, the Company has filed a National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical report in connection with its updated resource estimate for the Tres Quebradas lithium brine project in Catamarca Province, Argentina (the 3Q Project). Waldo Perez, President and CEO of Neo Lithium, commented on the +227% resource upgrade for the 3Q Project: In just over two and half years since discovery and with only two seasons of drilling, we have demonstrated that the 3Q Project is one of the largest lithium brine discoveries with one of the best brine chemistries in the world. Resource upgrade confirms the 3Q Project as one of the largest and highest-grade lithium brine deposits in the world with potential for resource expansion at depth: Significant resource estimate at 400 mg/L Lithium cut-off: Measured and indicated resource estimate of 4,005,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 614 mg/L Lithium Inferred resource estimate of 2,917,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 584 mg/L Lithium High-Grade Resource at 800 mg/L Lithium cut off in the northern portion of the salar: Measured and indicated resource estimate of 746,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 1,007 mg/L Lithium Inferred resource estimate of 186,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 1,239 mg/L Lithium Average combined impurities for Magnesium/Lithium and Sulphate/Lithium continue to be among the lowest in the world The independent NI 43-101 technical report entitled Updated Mineral Resource Estimate Technical Report on the Tres Quebradas Lithium Project, Catamarca Province, Argentina was prepared by Canadian-based Groundwater Insight, Inc. The technical report is available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Companys profile and will soon be available on its website at www.neolithium.ca. In October 2017, the Company announced the positive results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) conducted on the 3Q Project, based on the Companys initial resource estimate. The Company has not yet completed an economic study of the 3Q Project taking the new, larger mineral resource estimate into account. The Company continues to advance the project in terms of process refinement, weather data collection and hydrogeological model completion. New information from this ongoing work, combined with the increase in the mineral resource estimate and developments in the lithium market from the effective date of the Companys previously filed technical report to the date hereof, may result in the re-evaluation of certain economic and other parameters that apply to the PEA. While the Company believes that the PEA may still provide an indication that the 3Q Project has potentially positive economic parameters based on the assumptions and parameters applicable thereto, for the reasons described above, the Company is not treating the PEA as a current preliminary economic assessment of the 3Q Project or as material information relevant to the 3Q Project. The Company advises that investors should do likewise. Mark King, Ph.D., P. Geo., Geologist, of Groundwater Insight Inc., has read and approved the contents of this release related to preparation of the resource estimate. Mr. Perez, Ph.D. and P.Geo., and a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101, supervised the preparation of and approved the contents of this news release. About Neo Lithium Corp. Neo Lithium Corp. has quickly become a prominent new name in lithium brine exploration by virtue of its high quality 3Q Project and experienced team. Already well capitalized, Neo Lithium is rapidly advancing its newly discovered 3Q Project - a unique high-grade lithium brine lake and salar complex in Latin Americas Lithium Triangle. The 3Q Project is located in the Province of Catamarca, the largest lithium producing area in Argentina. The project covers approximately 35,000 ha and the salar complex within this area is approximately 160 km2. Surface exploration results indicate a high-grade lithium target in the northern portion of the salar complex extending for approximately 20 by 5 km with low magnesium and sulphate impurities. Low impurities are a key factor in traditional low-cost evaporation techniques for final lithium carbonate production. Hot springs on the property with elevated lithium content are part of the recharge system of the salar complex. The technical team that discovered this unique salar complex is one of the most experienced in lithium salars, having discovered and led the technical work, including resource definition and full feasibility study, that established the Cauchari lithium salar as one of the largest lithium brine resources in the world. Additional information regarding Neo Lithium Corp. is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile and at its website at www.neolithium.ca, including various pictures of ongoing work at the project. For further information, please contact: Neo Lithium Corp. Carlos Vicens cvicens@neolithium.ca Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements - Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements as to lithium brine grades at depth being consistent with surface results, the potential for resource expansion at depth, the potential of the northern salar sediments, and deeper sediments, for hosting brine, the ability to proceed to scoping studies quickly, proceeding with continued work for additional economic studies the potential for production expansion in the Companys assessment of the economic potential of the 3Q Project and that test results are indicative of future results. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or is expected, scheduled, estimates intends, anticipates, believes, or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results can, may, could, would, should, might or will, occur or be achieved, or the negative connotations thereof. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. These risks include, without limitation, risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms, political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration activities, including environmental regulation, risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill and sample results, risks related to the uncertainty of cost and time estimation and the potential for unexpected delays, costs and expenses, risks related to metal price fluctuations, the market for lithium products, and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Companys disclosure record. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions and has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Israel-Australia research centre involving a major collaboration with Monash University will be officially launched today in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Sagol Center for Epigenetics of Metabolism and Aging cements the relationship between Monash University and the Tel Aviv Medical Center, Israel's largest health institution, where the centre will be based. The initiative was made possible by the generosity of the Sagol family in Israel and is the vision of philanthropist Sami Sagol. It is part of a collaboration that began last year, and will embed scientists from Monash's Department of Diabetes, while Israeli scientists will be trained at Monash. Paul Zimmet AO, Professor of Diabetes at Monash, will become the centre's Co-director (honorary) with Professor Naftali Stern, Director of the Institute of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Hypertension at Tel Aviv Medical Center. Epigenetics, a burgeoning new field, refers to changes in the genetic material surrounding genes that are induced by the environment. Professor Zimmet, an international leader in diabetes research, believes some of these translate into adult disorders such as ageing, obesity and type 2 diabetes and may be passed down between generations or acquired during a lifetime. "If you think of type 2 diabetes, for example, everyone thinks it's all genetic," Professor Zimmet said. "But only about 20 per cent of risk of type 2 diabetes has been shown to be associated with genes. There's a whole belief now that the role of environment makes up a considerable part of that risk." The centre will aim to reveal epigenetic changes in body organs that contribute to ageing and disease, attempt to discover which changes are experimentally reversible then strive to develop practical therapies to reverse such changes to delay ageing and diseases such as type 2 diabetes. It is part of a network of research centres established in academic and medical centres by the Sagol family, focusing on the advancement of research on longevity and quality of life. Ambassador of Israel to Australia, Mark Sofer said the project catapults Australian-Israeli scientific medical collaboration into a new era. "One cannot commend highly enough the initiative of the Sagol Family and the amazing professionalism of Professors Paul Zimmet and Mark Cooper and their team at Monash University in Melbourne and of Professor Naftali Stern and his team at the Tel Aviv Medical Center," Mr Sofer said. Victorian Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy, Philip Dalidakis, said it was wonderful to see Monash University spreading its knowledge and expertise all over the world. "Monash is a world leader in medical research and we're proud to see this great University collaborating with other world leaders and further strengthening our relationship with Tel Aviv," Mr Dalidakis said. The initiative was made possible by the generosity of the Sagol family in Israel and is the vision of philanthropist Sami Sagol. "Sami Sagol is a visionary philanthropist and a strong believer in the interchange of information and research between nations to strengthen relations between nations, as well as to improve scientific knowledge," Professor Zimmet said. "We are now trying to raise funds from Australian philanthropic donors here to further support the Monash side of the program." Dignitaries attending the opening include: Professor Ronni Gamzu , Director General, Tel Aviv Medical Center , Director General, Tel Aviv Medical Center Mr Ron Huldai , Mayor of Tel Aviv , Mayor of Mr Chris Cannan , Australian Ambassador to Israel , Australian Ambassador to Mr Yuval Rotem , Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the former Israeli Ambassador to Australia , Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the former Israeli Ambassador to Mr Ken Ryan AM Agent to the United Kingdom Commissioner to Europe and Israel Commissioner to and Professor Naftali Stern , Director of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Hypertension, Tel Aviv Medical Center , Director of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Hypertension, Tel Aviv Medical Center Professor Paul Zimmet AO, Monash University and Honorary President, International Diabetes Federation Professor Mark Cooper AO, Head of Department of Diabetes, Monash University Professor Stephen Jane , Head of Monash University's Central Clinical School , Head of Monash University's Central Clinical School Professor Sam El-Osta , Department of Diabetes, Monash University. Professor El-Osta, recognised internationally for his work in epigenetics, will play a large role in overseeing the research The Monash professors, and scientists from Tel Aviv University, will speak at a scientific symposium held after the opening ceremony. Professor Stephen Jane said, "This represents a wonderful opportunity for Monash University to establish meaningful collaborations with Tel Aviv Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, further enriching the rich relationships between Israel and Australia. Professors Zimmet and Cooper have been instrumental in this process, and further discovery into the causation of diabetes through the study of epigenetics has enormous therapeutic potential." -ENDS- MEDIA ENQUIRIES Tel Aviv, Israel Professor Paul Zimmet AO Contact details: +61 439 651 502 or Paul.Zimmet@monash.edu Australia Media, Monash University Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu For more Monash media stories, visit our news and events site Looking for a Monash expert? Search Expertline Related Links https://www.monash.edu SOURCE Monash University NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of CV Sciences, Inc. ("CV Sciences" or the "Company") (OTCMKTS: CVSI). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether CV Sciences 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 August 20, 2018, Citron Research ("Citron") published a report addressing a CV Sciences patent application for CVSI-007 titled "Pharmaceutical Formulations Containing Cannabidiol and Nicotine For Treating Smokeless Tobacco Addiction" (the "Patent"). According to the Citron report, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") made a non-final rejection decision and mailed CV Sciences a letter indicating the non-final rejection status of its Patent on June 6, 2017, and then made a final rejection decision and mailed CV Sciences a letter indicating the final rejection status of its Patent on December 20, 2017. The Citron report alleged that CV Sciences never disclosed to investors the USPTO's decisions concerning the Company's Patent. On this news, CV Sciences' stock price fell $2.40, or 36.31%, to close at $4.21 on August 20, 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 Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com SOURCE Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of JD.com, Inc.. ("JD" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: JD). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether JD 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 August 31, 2018, JD's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Qiangdong Liu was arrested in Minnesota for alleged sexual misconduct. Following this news, JD's American depositary receipt price fell $1.87 per share, or 5.97%, to close at $29.43 per share on September 4, 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 Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com SOURCE Pomerantz LLP VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. ("Naturally Splendid", NSE or the Company) (FRANKFURT:50N) (TSX-V:NSP) (OTC:NSPDF) announces it has reached out to Clearstream Banking AG (Clearstream) to request that they remove NSE from Clearstreams restricted cannabis related securities list. Clearstream previously announced that, effective September 28, 2018, they would no longer be settling and safekeeping securities whose main business is connected directly or indirectly to cannabis and other narcotics products. Naturally Splendids current business activities are limited to hemp-based food and health products for people and pets. Naturally Splendid does not deal in marijuana or marijuana related products. Industrial hemp products are currently permitted in Canada pursuant to the Industrial Hemp Regulations (Canada). Although Naturally Splendid is exploring the development and distribution of cannabinoid (CBD) based products, it is limiting its activities in this area only in those jurisdictions where such products are legally permitted. Naturally Splendid is not in the business of producing, distributing, or dealing with high THC (above 0.3% in Canada) products, either for medicinal or recreational purposes. As such, Naturally Splendid has requested that Clearstream remove NSE from its list of restricted cannabis related securities. This follows after the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) has independently reached out to Clearstream similarly requesting that Naturally Splendid, along with four other industrial hemp companies, be removed from Clearstreams restricted list. Naturally Splendid CEO and Director Douglas Mason states, "We immensely value our German and European shareholders that have been affected by the Clearstream decision to delist cannabis related securities, and we are taking every possible step to address this issue. NSE will provide further updates as they develop." About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. Naturally Splendid is a biotechnology and consumer products company that is developing, producing, commercializing, and licensing an entirely new generation of plant-derived, bioactive ingredients, nutrient dense foods, and related products. Naturally Splendid is building an expanding portfolio of patents (issued and pending) and proprietary intellectual property focused on the commercial uses of industrial hemp cannabinoid compounds in a broad spectrum of applications. Naturally Splendid currently has four innovative divisions: (1) BIOTECHNOLOGY Focused on three major platforms: Proprietary HempOmega encapsulation Extraction and formulation with Cannabidiol (CBD) Hemp and plant-based proteins (2) CONSUMER PRODUCTS NATERA - brand of retail hemp and superfood products distributed throughout North America, Asia and Europe. - brand of retail hemp and superfood products distributed throughout North America, Asia and Europe. NATERA Sport - brand of plant-based performance focused products. - brand of plant-based performance focused products. NATERA FX - a practitioner focused line of health & wellness products. - a practitioner focused line of health & wellness products. The Bar Makers (Prosnack Natural Foods Inc.) makers of (Elevate Me) - lifestyle brand of healthy meal replacement products distributed throughout North America. (Prosnack Natural Foods Inc.) makers of (Elevate Me) - lifestyle brand of healthy meal replacement products distributed throughout North America. Chi Hemp Industries Inc. (CHII) - e-commerce platform for natural and organic hemp products. (CHII) - e-commerce platform for natural and organic hemp products. PawsitiveFX - pet care and food products. - pet care and food products. NATERACBD - retail hemp-based cannabinoid nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products distributed in Asia. - retail hemp-based cannabinoid nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products distributed in Asia. NATERASkincare - brand of retail hemp based cosmeceutical products. (3) NATERA Ingredients - bulk ingredients including HempOmega. Naturally Splendid Hemp Processors Ltd. - is a science-based, industrial hemp seed processing business located in Abbotsford, BC. Listed as the only strictly organic hemp seed processor in North America. (4) Co-Packaging/Toll-Processing - packaging for house-brands (NATERA,CHII and Elevate Me ) and third-party partners. For more information e-mail info@naturallysplendid.com or call Investor Relations at 604-673-9573 On Behalf of the Board of Directors Mr. Douglas Mason CEO, Director Contact Information Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. (NSP TSX Venture; NSPDF OTCQB; 50N Frankfurt) #108-19100 Airport Way Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2 Office: (604) 465-0548 Fax: (604) 465-1128 E-mail: info@naturallysplendid.com Website: www.naturallysplendid.com Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Naturally Splendid cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Naturally Splendid's control including, Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; the ability to complete the sales of all bulk hemp seed purchase orders; and the risk that any of the potential applications may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. 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, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK) ("MacDonald Mines" or the "Company") has received assay results from 24 grab samples taken on its Jovan Property, located near Sudbury, Ontario. The sampling was conducted to validate the metal content of the known showings on the property and to test the surrounding geology. Highlights: High-grade mineralization exists on the property with gold equivalent (AuEq) grades up to 83.8 g/t in selective grab samples*; Some of the mineralized zones of the property are polymetallic with enrichments in silver (Ag), gold (Au) cobalt (Co), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni); and Multiple mineralization corridors exist on the Jovan Property. Table 1 Highlights of grab sample* assays at the Jovan Property Sample No Rock Type Area X Y Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Co (wt. %) Cu (wt. %) Ni (wt. %) AuEq (g/t) 712001 Brecciated albitite Brady showing 536253 5165232 26.1 8.69 0.01 3.78 0.016 15.03 712002 Albitite Brady showing 536253 5165232 3.2 0.855 0.015 0.2 0.005 1.48 712003 Brecciated albitite Brady showing 536253 5165232 15.3 4.76 0.064 4.52 0.034 13.25 712004 Brecciated albitite Brady showing 536253 5165232 19 24.2 3.44 0.73 0.32 83.8 712005 Albitite Brady showing 536253 5165232 1.22 0.33 0.013 0.17 0.002 0.85 712007 Pyroxenite Brady showing 536243 5165195 1.06 4.78 0.008 0.12 0.06 5.32 712010 Brecciated albitite Palkovitcs Showing 536599 5165906 2.93 0.041 0.029 0.049 3.83 712011 Massive sulfide Palkovitcs Showing 536595 5165872 1.33 0.012 0.046 0.17 2.19 712023 Brecciated albitite Powerline South 528328 5162774 0.023 0.051 *The reader is cautioned that grab samples are selective by nature and do not represent the true metal content of the mineralized zone. The AuEq grade was calculated using metal prices from the London Metal Exchange on August 29th, 2018 - cobalt $64,500 US/tonne, copper $6118 US/tonne, gold $1208.3 US/oz, nickel $13460 US/tonne and silver $14.88 US/oz. Geology of the Jovan Property MacDonald Mines sampling at the Jovan Property and the compilation of exploration data from historic operators suggest that multiple kilometre-long corridors of mineralization exist on the property. These corridors are structurally controlled and were identified using a combination of various sources of data: aeromagnetic surveys, grabs samples from historic operators and MacDonald Mines, historic drilling, Ontario Geological Survey Mapping and localized soil surveys. Across the Jovan Property, the available geological data indicates that the potential corridors of mineralization are characterized by the presence of albitites with variable amounts of structural deformation and brecciation. Mineralization appears to be typically hosted in disseminated sulfides and sulfarsenides within quartz, iron carbonate and chlorite in brecciated albitites. The characteristic attributes of the mineralized zones of the Jovan Property are similar to the mineralization zones at the historic Norstar Mine (57,150 tonnes @ 7.2 g/t gold and 0.9% copper), located approximately 525 metres north of Macdonald Mines Jovan Property. The rich gold mineralization at the Norstar Mine is also hosted in brecciated albitites with chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite. The reader is cautioned that the mineralization observed in the Norstar Mine may not be representative of the mineralization present on MacDonalds Jovan Property. MacDonald Mines is earning a 100% interest in the Jovan Property. Under the terms of the option agreement, the Company is earning the 100% interest over a three-year period by making cash payments of $140,000, issuing commons shares valued at $80,000 and incurring exploration expenditures on the Jovan Property of $400,000 over the option period. Update on the Wawa Holdsworth Project Oxide Sands update at the Wawa-Holdsworth Project An acid-based accounting (ABA) evaluation of the Oxide Sands is required in order to receive a certificate of approval to process the sands. MacDonald Mines has engaged SGS and Golder Associates to conduct the analysis. Sage Gold Property On July 30, 2018 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Commercial List (the Court) issued a Court Order (the Order) against Sage Gold Inc. and appointed Deloitte Restructuring Inc. as receiver over all its assets, undertakings and properties. This order effectively puts on hold the option between MacDonald Mines and Sage Gold Inc., announced on July 4, 2017, to purchase the Soocana Claims (Sage holdings). Until a resolution is issued on the standing of these grounds, MacDonald Mines will cease all exploration in this area. The planned drilling and trenching programs have been cancelled and the Companys focus will now be directed to its newly optioned and staked grounds east of Sudbury, Ontario the Jovan and Powerline Properties. On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Measures Grab samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed. Qualified Person Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release. About MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. is a mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario focused on gold exploration in Canada. The Company has built a portfolio of safe-jurisdiction, infrastructure-rich projects that demonstrate the greatest market potential for return. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "BMK". To learn more about MacDonald Mines, please visit www.macdonaldmines.com For more information, please contact: Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-4986, qyarie@macdonaldmines.com Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-4986, mboiridy@macdonaldmines.com Cautionary Statement: 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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. The foregoing information may contain forward-looking statements relating to the future performance of the Company. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the Companys plans and expectations. These plans, expectations, risks and uncertainties are detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with the TSX Venture Exchange and securities regulators. MacDonald Mines does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 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 From the Introduction Religious conversion goes to the heart of the Pietist movement and exemplifies the value it placed on lived experience in the Christian faith. Conversion aimed to distinguish the true Christian from the lukewarm believer, the ardent follower of Christ from the nominal adherent. Yet, almost from the start, conversion experiences and their accounts were fraught with difficulty for Pietists. Questions about their authenticity, orthodoxy, and stability proliferated, as did attempts to control and even constrain the process and narration of conversion. Conversion plays such a prominent role in the historical imagination surrounding Pietism that it is tempting to see such experiences as a neat resolution that both provided confirmation and assurance to those who doubted their salvation and allowed Pietists to separate neatly the unconverted from the converted. Yet in practice, conversion and conversion narratives proved deeply problematic in eighteenth-century Germany, not only for Pietist leaders but also for everyday Christians. This book is an account of that uneasy history.Emerging in the second half of the seventeenth century, Pietism became the most important renewal movement within German Protestantism after the Reformation. Pietists sought to revitalize Christianity through renewed emphasis on the Christian life and innovative practices of devotion and community. Most Pietists chose to remain inside the existing Protestant churches and reform them from within, though some left and formed new communities of faith. Even at the height of the movement in the eighteenth century, Pietism never encompassed a majority of Protestants in any German territory or region, but the movement did leave profound marks on modern Protestantism. It shaped how people read the Bible, interpreted religious experiences, and judged authentic Christianity. And central to much Pietist discourse on the Christian life was discussion of conversion and related terms of regeneration and rebirth.We will deal predominantly with how Pietists described the experience of conversion. Accounts of conversion appeared quite late in German Protestantism, especially when compared with the English Puritan tradition. In part, this had doctrinal roots. Early German Protestantism, especially Lutheranism, understood conversion not as a discrete event in the believers life, but as a lifelong process tied closely to repentance, a view that tended to preclude narrative description until Pietists reframed the understanding of regeneration, repentance, and conversion at the end of the seventeenth century.The dramatic story of August Hermann Franckes conversion in 1687 dominates descriptions of Pietist conversion and often stands as the paradigmatic case. In the turning point of his autobiographical account, Francke described how, amid many tears and atheistic doubts, he fell to his knees in intense spiritual travail and suddenly found himself transformed: My doubt vanished as quickly as one turns ones hand; I was assured in my heart of the grace of God in Christ Jesus and I knew God not only as God but as my Father. All sadness and unrest of my heart was taken away at once, and I was immediately overwhelmed as with a stream of joy so that with full joy I praised and gave honor to God who had shown me such great grace. I arose a completely different person from the one who had knelt down. Yet, although no history of conversion narratives in Pietism can avoid dealing with Franckes narrativeone of the most compelling from the early Pietist movementit is unlikely that Franckes experience was well known during his lifetime or indeed during much of the eighteenth century, and its current prominence in the historiography obscures other ways of describing conversion in Pietist periodicals and publications. These other narratives recounted experiences that occurred in places ranging from the gallows in Wernigerode to conventicles in Pomerania and had far greater currency in the eighteenth century than did Franckes narrative. What do we mean by conversion in this early modern context? At its most basic, religious conversion refers to a profound turn or change in ones life, a reorientation with regard to the world as well as to the divine. Language of conversion has deep roots in Christian scriptures and tradition. In the modern study of religion, especially after William James, it has become one of the central terms for exploring fundamental changes in a persons affiliation and experience. Yet the semantic field of conversion is extraordinarily broad, and historians employ the term to describe a wide swath of religious changes and transformations that often have little apparent affinity.There are three overarching categories of conversion in early modern studies. First, conversion can refer to the change in religious identity from one tradition to another, as when a Jew is baptized and adopts Christianity, or when a Christian becomes Muslim. In the Middle Ages, this form of conversion could be a mass phenomenon, as rulers and missionaries induced entire communities to adopt Christianity, sometimes with the threat of force. By the early modern era, conversion in Europe had largely become synonymous with individual religious experiences, though the expansion of Western Christianity beyond Europe afforded new opportunities for group or mass conversion, at least in the Western imagination.Second, the Reformation in the sixteenth century and the ensuing division of Western Christendom created a new mode for religious conversionthe cross- confessional conversion. Here an individual could reject a previous Christian identity and affiliate with a new confessional group, as when a Lutheran became Roman Catholic or a Catholic was rebaptized and joined an Anabaptist community. Turning from one Christian confessional community to another often entailed dramatic social or political consequences for prominent figures as well as ordinary laypeople. Conversion in this sense almost never refers to changes among the major Protestant confessions, from Lutheran to Reformed, for instance, but rather signifies more fundamental changes in affiliations that contemporaries perceived as incompatible with one another.Third, conversion can represent an inward change of heart or powerful transformation in a nominal Christian, whose faith subsequently becomes qualitatively different. This type of conversion shared elements of the medieval understanding of the conversio in se, which signaled profound growth in interiority and spirituality, but such conversions could also manifest themselves in marked changes in morality and comportment in the life of a Christian that echoed a conversio vitae. Protestants obviously lacked the opportunity to enter religious orders, a decision that often signaled a conversio vitae in the Middle Ages. Puritan conversions, with their long- standing tradition of published narratives, are the best- known Protestant variety of this mode of conversion, and this is the form most often associated with Pietism. Yet German Pietists would have described all three modes as Bekehrungen (conversions).Modern scholars of religion have created typologies that can help historians categorize conversion in the early modern world. Lewis Rambo, for instance, identifies five types of religious conversion: (1) tradition transition, the move from one worldview, ritual system, or symbolic universe to another; (2) institutional transition, movement from one community to another within a tradition; (3) affiliation, in which one who has minimal or no commitment becomes involved with a community of faith or institution; (4) intensification, in which one who has a previous affiliation undergoes a revitalized commitment within this faith; and finally (5) apostasy or defection, the rejection of one religious tradition without the acceptance of another.Without great difficulty, Rambos typology can encompass the three aforementioned forms of conversion as tradition transition, institutional transition, and intensification. Given the compulsory nature of religious identity in the early modern period, the mode Rambo describes as affiliation would have little significance and could be incorporated as part of intensification. Historians rarely treat apostasy or defection as a form of conversion in the early modern period, but the rise of un-conversion narratives in the eighteenth centurysuch as the autobiography of Johann Christoph Edelmann, who described his rejection of Christianity in favor of reason as a form of conversionsuggests that Rambos last type may also have historical utility.Rambo recognizes the limitations of his typology for the modern context, and the difficulties for the historian are even greater. Categorization of conversion can depend largely on ones point of view. Many Pietists would have rejected an interpretation of their personal conversion as merely a kind of intensification, instead seeing it as a fundamental move away from their former atheism and unbelief to true faith and complete rebirth, even though they remained in the same tradition and confession. Indeed, a trope in a number of Pietist conversion narratives was the rejection of a prior atheism in favor of true Christianity. For many Pietists, conversion from utter unbelief would have represented a transition as significant as that of a Jew baptized into Christianity. Likewise, both Protestants and Catholics viewed the conversion to or from Catholicism not as a matter of selecting a new institutional expression for their faith, but rather as a statement about the nature of true Christianity and interior conviction. For others in the early modern world, the gap between Protestant and Catholic ritual systems and their symbolic universes may have appeared as large as the gap many twenty-first- century observers perceive between distinct religions today. This does not invalidate the usefulness of a typology, but it does suggest that we should recognize their analytical limits and avoid reifying these as discrete types that have little to do with one another, at least in the eyes of historical subjects.Studies of early modern conversion often focus on one type of conversion to the exclusion of others. Even in collections on conversion broadly conceived, individual contributions tend to treat one specific form of conversion. In recent years, examinations of cross-confessional conversion in early modern Germany have been especially prominent. A major study by Duane Corpis, along with an extensive collection of essays edited by Ute Lotz- Heumann and others, have given this aspect of conversion detailed attention in the historiography on early modern Germany, though both explicitly exclude from their analysis the intensification form of conversion typical of Pietism. JewishChristian conversion in early modern Europe in both directions has received attention, but conversion among Pietists much less so.Dealing with a distinct variety of conversion has a methodological clarity that can yield strong conclusions, but the exclusion of the intensifi cation mode of conversion typical of Pietism is striking. In part, this reflects a linguistic division in contemporary German between Konversion and Bekehrung that does not exist in English. Th ere has been a semantic shift in the term Bekehrung since the early modern period, and today it carries connotations in German that conversion does not in English. Scholars frequently employ the term Konversion for the alternation between Protestant and Catholic adherenceand now increasingly between Judaism and Christianitywhereas they tend to reserve Bekehrung for the inward form of Christian transformation and intensifi cation of religious sensibility. There are, of course, confessional connotations to these terms, but Konversion appears in recent years to be gaining ground as the accepted term to cover all forms of conversion in a social-scientific contextapart from the Pietist variety. Historians of Christianity as well as Germanists continue to use Bekehrung to designate conversion within a Christian tradition, especially the tradition associated with Pietism, although some recent studies seem to use the two terms synonymously. It is telling, perhaps, of the conceptual fuzziness in Germany that some Protestant German pastoral theologians today are hesitant to apply Bekehrung to the process of inner- Christian transformation, identifying it as tainted, trying, [and] diseased, and preferring the ostensibly more neutral and less loaded term Konversion.[Excerpt ends here.] VANCOUVER, Washington, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), a biotechnology company developing a novel humanized CCR5 monoclonal antibody for multiple therapeutic indications, announces its plan to develop PRO 140 (leronlimab) as a therapy for triple-negative breast cancer that has metastasized as its initial cancer indication. Previously announced findings from preclinical studies showed the ability of PRO 140 to block human breast cancer cellular invasion in a surrogate assay for metastatic breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cells test negative for estrogen receptors (ER-), progesterone receptors (PR-) and HER2 (HER2-) and thus do not respond to hormonal therapy or therapies that target HER2 receptors. Women with this breast cancer subtype typically have a very poor prognosis and new therapies are needed, said Richard G. Pestell, Ph.D., M.D., Interim Chief Medical Officer of CytoDyn. Our findings indicate that CCR5 is a crucial receptor in the growth and invasiveness of human malignancies and CCR5 antagonists such as PRO 140 may play a vital role in inhibiting cancer cell invasion and metastasis. PRO 140 may offer an important new therapy for women with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have limited therapeutic options. We plan to aggressively pursue the development of PRO 140 as a therapy for women with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, which is in keeping with our strategy to evaluate PRO 140 in certain cancers and immunological indications where CCR5 antagonism has shown initial promise, said Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., CytoDyns President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition, we are continuing to move forward with plans to assess PRO 140 in metastatic colon cancer and remain committed to concurrently advancing our clinical programs with PRO 140 in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). We are pleased with our recent progress toward filing a Biologics License Application (BLA) for PRO 140 as a combination therapy for HIV and are confident that two thirds of our BLA submission will be completed by the end of 2018 and the last section, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), by first quarter of 2019. About PRO 140 PRO 140 is a humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody that blocks CCR5, a cellular receptor that plays multiple roles with implications in HIV infection, tumor metastasis, and immune signaling. In the setting of HIV/AIDS, PRO 140 belongs to a new class of therapeutics called viral-entry inhibitors; it masks CCR5, thus protecting healthy T cells from viral infection by blocking the predominant HIV (R5) subtype from entering those cells. At the same time, PRO 140 does not appear to interfere with the normal function of CCR5 in mediating immune responses. PRO 140 has been the subject of seven clinical trials, each demonstrating efficacy by significantly reducing or controlling HIV viral load in human test subjects. PRO 140 has been designated a fast track product by the FDA. The PRO 140 antibody appears to be a powerful antiviral agent leading to potentially fewer side effects and less frequent dosing requirements compared with daily drug therapies currently in use. In the setting of cancer, research has shown that CCR5 plays a central role in tumor invasion and metastasis and that an increased CCR5 is an indicator of disease status in several cancers. Moreover, researchers have shown that drugs that block CCR5, can block tumor metastases in laboratory and animal models of aggressive breast and prostate cancer. CytoDyn is conducting additional research with PRO 140 in the cancer setting and plans to initiate Phase 2 human clinical trials when appropriate. The CCR5 receptor also plays a central role in modulating immune cell trafficking to sites of inflammation and it is crucial for the development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and other inflammatory conditions. Clinical studies by others have shown that blocking CCR5 using a chemical inhibitor can reduce the clinical impact of acute GvHD without significantly affecting the engraftment of transplanted bone marrow stem cells. CytoDyn is currently conducting a Phase 2 clinical study with PRO 140 to further support the concept that the CCR5 receptor on engrafted cells is critical for the development of acute GvHD and that blocking this receptor from recognizing certain immune signaling molecules is a viable approach to mitigating acute GvHD. The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to PRO 140 for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). About CytoDyn CytoDyn is a biotechnology company focused on the clinical development and potential commercialization of humanized monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of HIV infection. The Company has one of the leading monoclonal antibodies under development for HIV infection, PRO 140, which has completed Phase 2 clinical trials with demonstrated antiviral activity in humans and is currently in Phase 3 development. PRO 140 blocks the HIV co-receptor CCR5 on T cells, which prevents viral entry. Clinical trial results thus far indicate that PRO 140 does not negatively affect the normal immune functions that are mediated by CCR5. Results from seven Phase 1 and Phase 2 human clinical trials have shown that PRO 140 can significantly reduce viral burden in people infected with HIV. A recent Phase 2b clinical trial demonstrated that PRO 140 can prevent viral escape in patients during several months of interruption from conventional drug therapy. CytoDyn intends to continue to develop PRO 140 as a therapeutic anti-viral agent in persons infected with HIV and to pursue non-HIV, inflammatory indications where CCR5 and its ligand CCL5 may be involved. For more information on the Company, please visit http://www.cytodyn.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including statements regarding the proposed transaction with ProstaGene, the likelihood of closing the proposed transaction with ProstaGene, the Companys clinical focus, and the Companys current and proposed trials. Words and expressions reflecting optimism, satisfaction or disappointment with current prospects, as well as words such as believes, hopes, intends, estimates, expects, projects, plans, anticipates and variations thereof, or the use of future tense, identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The Companys forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance and actual results could differ materially from those contained in or expressed by such statements. In evaluating all such statements, the Company urges investors to specifically consider the various risk factors identified in the Companys Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2018 in the section titled Risk Factors in Part I, Item 1A, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the Companys forward-looking statements. The Companys forward-looking statements reflect its current views with respect to future events and are based on currently available financial, economic, scientific, and competitive data and information on current business plans. Investors should not place undue reliance on the Companys forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things: (i) the sufficiency of the Companys cash position and the Companys ongoing ability to raise additional capital to fund its operations, (ii) the Companys ability to complete its Phase 2b/3 pivotal combination therapy trial for PRO 140 (CD02) and to meet the FDAs requirements with respect to safety and efficacy to support the filing of a Biologics License Application, (iii) the Companys ability to meet its debt obligations, if any, (iv) the Companys ability to identify patients to enroll in its clinical trials in a timely fashion, (v) the Companys ability to achieve approval of a marketable product, (vi) design, implementation and conduct of clinical trials, (vii) the results of the Companys clinical trials, including the possibility of unfavorable clinical trial results, (viii) the market for, and marketability of, any product that is approved, (ix) the existence or development of vaccines, drugs, or other treatments for infection with HIV that are viewed by medical professionals or patients as superior to the Companys products, (x) regulatory initiatives, compliance with governmental regulations and the regulatory approval process, (xi) general economic and business conditions, (xii) changes in foreign, political, and social conditions, and (xiii) various other matters, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties develop, or should underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially and adversely from those anticipated, believed, estimated, or otherwise indicated by the Companys forward-looking statements. The Company intends that all forward-looking statements made in this press release will be subject to the safe harbor protection of the federal securities laws pursuant to Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, to the extent applicable. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements to take into account events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release. Additionally, the Company does not undertake any responsibility to update investors upon the occurrence of any unanticipated events which may cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. CONTACTS: Investors: LHA Investor Relations Jody Cain 310-691-7100 jcain@lhai.com Mount Sinai Queens Opening New Infusion Center The last week of October was marked by an expansion of health care capacity in the borough, as Mount Sinai Queens celebrated the opening of... The Unofficial Election Results The unofficial election results from the general election on November 2, 2021, with well over 90% of scanners reported: MAYOR: Eric Adams (D) decisively... 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... Pune, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global conveyor systems sales market was valued at around $12,500 million in 2016 and is expected to grow up to $13,225 million, growing at a CAGR of about 5.80% by 2022, according to Progressive Markets report, Global Conveyor Systems Sales Market Report 2017. Request Sample Report: https://www.progressivemarkets.com/request-sample/conveyor-systems-market The report provides a thorough study of the conveyor sales industry, incorporating the market size, market share, market dynamics, market forecast, and market trends for the period, 2016-2022. It discusses the scope of the market, key segments, regional analysis, revenue comparison, manufacturers profit analysis, cost analysis, marketing strategies, and the challenges in the market. This analysis is important for entry-level organizations, stakeholders, and business players as it helps gain a profound knowledge of the industry and turn their investments into profits. The report provides a detailed analysis of present market trends and forecasts, vital marketing strategies, and exclusive summary of the conveyor system market. An executive summary of the global conveyor market is provided based on the latest trends, main attractions, and chronological assessment. The market drivers and challenges help evaluate the factors impacting the global conveyor systems industry. The study assesses the level of competition in the market and helps figure out various strategies to enhance business growth. The market share analysis assists in gauging how the players are performing as compared to their competitors. The report includes the drivers and challenges of the global conveyor system sales market. The market is growing due to advancements in big data analysis and increased efficiency of the machinery. As the conveyors reduce human involvement and hence human error, they are widely accepted in the transportation industry. A constant digitalization of information and processes, the introduction of the internet of things (IoT), and machine-to-machine communication and coordination are the prime factors contributing to the growth of the conveyor systems sales market. On the other hand, there are some factors which are restraining the growth of the market. They include economic fluctuations in China, U.S., and other key markets, recent market risks, reduction in cost, and commercialization. Get 20% Discount On Customization: The report includes the segmentation of global conveyor systems based on product type, application, and geography. Based on product type, the market is divided into roller conveyors, belt conveyors, overhead conveyors, and pallet conveyors. According to the report, belt conveyors were responsible for the maximum market share of more than 28% in 2016. Geographically, the report splits the conveyor systems market into regions such as North America, China, Europe, Japan, and South America. In 2016, a revenue of over $2,000 million was solely generated by China, and it is predicted that the country will give a return of more than $3,050 million by 2022. The in-depth analysis of the region-wise market growth plays an important part in determining the opportunities in the market. The report provides a clear growth comparison of the market based on its applications in automotive, food & beverages, engineering machinery, and retail. The global conveyor systems sales market revenue is expected to reach over $16,000 million by 2022. The study offers a detailed analysis of the key market players in the global conveyor sales market. It includes a comprehensive analysis of each key player to identify new opportunities and investments in the market. In addition, financial & business segments and their recent developments are offered in the study. The key market players of the conveyor systems industry include Daifuku, Ssi Schaefer, Dematic Group, Bosch Rexroth, Caterpillar, Murata Machinery, Vanderlande, Swisslog, Hytrol, Buhler Group, Shuttleworth, Siemens, BEUMER Group, Eisenmann, Emerson, Flexlink, Interroll, and Dorner Conveyors. Alleged murderer of Moscow police officer detained for 2 months TASS, Maxim Grigoryev 14:34 05/09/2018 MOSCOW, September 5 (RAPSI) Moscows Cheremushkinsky District Court on Wednesday ordered detention of Nurlan Muratov, who had allegedly killed a police officer at a Moscow metro station, until November 3, RAPSI reported from the courtroom. The defendant pleaded not guilty and asked the court not to detain him, while investigators petitioned for placing Muratov in jail for 2 months. Muratov is charged with infringement on the life of a law enforcement officer. According to investigators, late in the evening on September 2, a police officer stopped a person for checking documents. Later, the policemans body with a firearm wound to the head was found in one of maintenance rooms at the Kurskaya metro station. The suspect was identified, a criminal case over the murder was opened. Several examinations including physical and chemical, ballistic and dactyloscopic are to be conducted as part of the case, the Investigative Committee said. Freelance labor leader arrested on suspicion of $60,000 embezzlement RIA Novosti, Sergey Pyatakov 15:53 05/09/2018 ST. PETERSBURG, September 5 (RAPSI) The leader of the Labor union of freelancers Vladimir Soloshenko has been arrested on suspicion of stealing 4 million rubles ($60,000) belonging to the organization, the St. Petersburg Directorate of Russia's Investigative Committee has told RAPSI. According to the press office of the Federal Security Services Directorate for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, Soloshenko is also a founder of OneShopWorld company registered in Great Britain. Investigators claim that between May 2016 and July 2017 the defendant acting as a founder and chairman of the freelance labor union embezzled the organizations funds worth at least 4 million rubles. Searches were conducted as part of the case in the unions office and premises of Soloshenko and his alleged accomplices. Moscow Commercial Court refuses to seize ex-Probusinessbank managers assets RIA Novosti, Maksim Blinov 16:42 05/09/2018 MOSCOW, September 5 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court has dismissed a motion filed by the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) seeking the seizure of assets of nine former governing board members of Probusinessbank totaling to 68.5 billion rubles ($1 billion), according to court records. The asset seizure motion has been lodged by the DIA as part of a petition for recovery of the banks debts from ex-top managers. The court ruled that the claimant had not furnished proof of necessity to adopt seize the defendants assets. According to the DIA, the banks bankruptcy examination revealed that Probusinessbank top managers funneled fluid assets out of the organization by lending companies, which did not carry on business consistent with credit levels and did not have their own property and corresponding incomes. Moreover, the bank management did not take measures to prevent the financial organizations bankruptcy. In August 2015, the Russian Central Bank revoked the license of Probusinessbank, acting upon the results of an inspection revealing that the banks management carried out large scale operations having markings of assets stripping of the bank. In April 2017, ex-chief of the banks corporate finances department Nikolay Alekseyev was given 4 years in prison for embezzling 2.4 billion rubles (about $35 million at the current exchange rate) from the bank. Additionally, he was fined 1 million rubles (nearly $15,000). A court also granted a lawsuit filed by Probusinessbank seeking to collect over 2.4 billion rubles from the defendant. In June 2017, ex-head of Probusinessbank department responsible for interaction with shareholders and subsidiary companies Marina Krylova was sentenced to 3.5 years in a penal colony for assisting with embezzlement of 2.4 billion rubles. In December, Moscows Ostankinsky District Court returned the case against former vice-president of Probusinessbank Vyacheslav Kazantsev and 7 other persons allegedly involved in embezzlement to prosecutors. According to investigators, from September 2014 to July 2015, the defendants conspired to embezzle funds belonging to Probusinessbank. Accomplices are believed to be unidentified managers and employees of the bank. They allegedly used their office positions to enroll their subordinates, employees of the financial group Life, and heads of sham companies. Ex-manager of Moscow recreation park receives suspended sentence for abuse of office flickr.com/Blogtrepreneur 17:44 05/09/2018 MOSCOW, September 5 (RAPSI) Ex-director of Moscows Fili park for recreation and leisure Pavel Strizhov has received a 2-year suspended sentence for abuse of authority, the press service of the Moscow prosecutors office reports Wednesday. The Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow has also prohibited Strizhov from holding senior positions in state-financed institutions for 2 years, the statement reads. According to investigators, Fili concluded contracts with contracting companies on work performance in the park on a long-term basis. However, required equipment was not supplied and the works were not fulfilled. Nevertheless, Strizhov acting as the parks director paid delivery of equipment and performance of work in excess of 26 million rubles ($380,400). Russian Communications Ministry proposes punishment for altered e-signature RAPSI 13:25 05/09/2018 MOSCOW, September 5 (RAPSI) Russias Ministry of Communications and Mass Media has drafted a bill on punishment for forgery of digital signature. The document has been published on the federal website of draft laws and regulations. Amendments are proposed to the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offenses and the law on electronic signature. The bill has been drafted because of stepped-up cases of creating and using encrypted digital signature without its owner's knowledge or consent. The initiative stipulates introducing to the Criminal Code fines of up to 300,000 rubles ($4,400), community service for up to 2 years and ban on holding certain positions for 3 years for officials of qualified trust service providers found guilty of violating a procedure of issuing a qualified certificate of the key for verification of digital signature. Moreover, prison terms of up to 5 years are proposed for intentional issuance of a qualified certificate containing knowingly false information on its owner and deliberate violation by officials of procedures of digital signature key storage and e-signature creation with the use of that key by the order of the certificates owner. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses envisage fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($7,300) for qualified trust service providers guilty of violating the order of storage and creation of e-signature. Fines of up to 50,000 rubles ($730) are proposed for officials refusing to accept electronic documents with an appropriate qualified electronic signature. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX-V: EQX, OTC: EQXFF) (Equinox Gold or the Company) is pleased to announce positive exploration drill results from the Tatajuba target (Tatajuba) at the Companys 100%-owned Aurizona Gold Mine (Aurizona) in Brazil. Tatajuba is the western extension of the main Piaba Trend that hosts Aurizona. Previous exploration work has defined a target more than 4 kilometres in length. This drill program focused on a 600-metre (m) long portion of Tatajuba where historical drilling identified significant gold mineralization in the shallow saprolite zone. Each of the 12 drill holes (1,804 m) intersected the gold zone, extending gold mineralization to depths up to 150 m from surface and confirming continuity of mineralization into the deeper fresh rock. Tatajuba Drill Highlights 1.25 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) over 44.0 m and 4.37 g/t Au over 38 m in hole D644 1.36 g/t Au over 37.0 m in hole D645 1.17 g/t Au over 29.0 m and 2.06 g/t Au over 5.0 m in hole D646 1.96 g/t Au over 35.0 m in hole D647 1.11 g/t Au over 22.2 m in hole D648 2.18 g/t Au over 8.0 m in hole D650 1.42 g/t Au over 19.0 m in hole D651 2.55 g/t Au over 10.4 m, 1.07 g/t Au over 9.8 m, and 1.66 g/t Au over 6.0 m in hole D652 1.11 g/t Au over 28.4 m in hole D653 2.09 g/t Au over 20.0 m in hole D654 For a map of Tatajuba drill results, click here For two cross sections of Tatajuba drill holes, click here For a table of Tatajuba drill results, click here Tatajuba drilling has delivered excellent results with continuity and grades typical of the Piaba gold deposit, said Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration for Equinox Gold. Only about 15% of the 4-kilometre-long target has been tested to date, highlighting the potential for significant resource expansion along strike from existing reserves and confirming our belief in the potential of the Aurizona camp. Gold mineralization at Tatajuba is characteristically the same as that at the Piaba gold deposit that is currently being mined. North-northeast crosscutting structures appear to enhance gold grades and add a new structural control in this portion of the Piaba Trend. The Aurizona exploration team is undertaking detailed surface mapping to integrate with oriented core data collected during this recent program to update the Tatajuba structural model and plan for additional exploration in 2019. On behalf of the Board of Equinox Gold Corp. Christian Milau CEO & Director About Equinox Gold Equinox Gold is a Canadian mining company with a multi-million-ounce gold resource base and near-term and growing gold production from two past-producing mines. Construction is well advanced at the Companys Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil with the target of pouring gold by year-end 2018, and the Company is advancing its Castle Mountain Gold Mine in California with the objective of commissioning Stage 1 operations by the end of 2019. Further information about Equinox Golds current portfolio of assets and long-term growth strategy is available at www.equinoxgold.com or by email at ir@equinoxgold.com. Equinox Gold Contacts Christian Milau, CEO Rhylin Bailie, Vice President Investor Relations Tel: +1 604-558-0560 Email: ir@equinoxgold.com Qualified Person and Disclosure Statement Scott Heffernan, M.Sc., P.Geo., the Companys EVP Exploration and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified that the technical information contained in this news release is accurate and approves the written disclosure of the same. Drill composites were calculated using cut-off values of 0.3 g/t, 1.0 g/t or 5.0 g/t gold as specified in the drill table and contain no more than 5 metres of internal waste. Drill intersections are calculated using uncut assays and are reported as drilled thicknesses. True widths of the mineralized intervals are interpreted to be 60 to 90 percent of the reported lengths. All samples were submitted to ALS Chemex in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for sample preparation. Sample pulps were then sent to ALS Chemex in Lima, Peru for geochemical analysis for gold by fire assay of a 30-gram charge with an Atomic Absorption finish (AA) and for a 33 multi-element geochemical suite by 4-acid digestion and Inductively-Coupled Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Samples with AA gold values over 10.0 g/t are re-assayed by Screen Metallics fire assay. Control samples (accredited standards, blanks and duplicate samples at the field and preparation stages) were inserted on a regular basis. Results were monitored upon receipt of assays. Cautionary Notes and Forward-looking Statements Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This document contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively forward-looking statements). The use of the words will, potential, objective, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements regarding planned exploration and development activities at the Companys projects. Although Equinox Gold believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and/or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since Equinox Gold can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in Equinox Golds periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators, and assumptions made with regard to the Companys ability to complete construction at Aurizona and commence production, the timing to achieve production at Aurizona, and the ability to achieve the results anticipated in the Aurizona feasibility study; the ability to restart production at Castle Mountain, timing of the anticipated restart of production, and the ability to achieve the results anticipated in the Castle Mountain prefeasibility study; the impact of current and future exploration at Aurizona, and the ability to expand the Aurizona resource base and extend the mine life with exploration success. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and Equinox Gold does not undertake any obligations to publicly update and/or revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of additional information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 'If India has to emerge as the world's laboratory and a global innovation hub, the minds of our youngsters must get an opportunity to flourish.' 'Their new ideas need to be encouraged; more importantly, they have to be provided with a comprehensive ecosystem to convert their ideas into world-class products.' 'And this is where the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements framework comes in, says Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, Union HRD ministry. The Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements framework, which was recently launched by the human resource development ministry to rank higher education institutions based primarily on their ability to innovate, is truly unique, apart from having a great potential and a huge futuristic value. By measuring institutions on the quality and quantum of support they offer for building an innovation ecosystem, both for faculty and students, the ARIIA framework can transform India's higher and technical education landscape by compelling all major institutions to make 'innovation' their primary focus. In doing this, ARIIA will reorient the institutions' focus and encourage them to invest more in ideas, projects and technologies that can be patented, licensed and commercialised, thus earning revenue. In other words, a true 'Sangam of Lakshmi and Saraswati'! India currently ranks 57th among 130 nations on the Global Innovation Index, moving up from 81 a few years ago, but this is still quite low. Purely as a comparison, China ranks 17th, with even countries like Malta, Croatia, Mongolia, Cyprus, etc way ahead of us. The most innovative country in the world, of course, is Switzerland. India has 1.3 billion people; in other words, we have 2.6 billion hands and, more importantly, 1.3 billion brains, so the billion rupee question is, despite this wealth, why does India still rank so low on innovation? Why are we not producing disruptive, game-changing technologies? One reason for this could be our education system that places less emphasis on creativity, new ideas generation and innovation. If India has to emerge as the world's laboratory and a global innovation hub, the minds of our youngsters must get an opportunity to flourish. Their new ideas need to be encouraged; more importantly, they have to be provided with a comprehensive ecosystem to convert their ideas into world-class products. To achieve this, our systems need to be reoriented, and every stakeholder must be sensitised to support innovation. Although a concerted effort is being made through initiatives like Atal Tinkering Labs, Higher Education Funding Agency, Smart India Hackathon etc, much still needs to be done to promote a culture of innovation. The ARIIA framework is another major, concrete, step in this direction. It will measure the achievements of each stakeholder -- the institution, management, faculty and students. Globally, the ranking systems used for education institutions only focus on the 'outcome', but in India, where the innovation ecosystem is still evolving, we need to measure our institutions using three parameters: Input The quantum of investment and infrastructure offered to support innovation. Processes The mechanism for ensuring ideas generation, along with systematic pre-incubation and incubation support. Actual Outcome The number of technologies transferred for commercialisation, the revenue generated by licensing patents to industry, the number of sustainable start-ups created, etc. The ARIIA framework will analyse the support offered by an institution's management for promoting innovation, support in the form of investments and infrastructure created to support the ecosystem. It will also consider innovations done by the management in the day-to-day governance of the institution, along with special courses and electives offered in areas such as IPR and entrepreneurship development. For measuring the ability of faculties to support an innovation ecosystem, ARIIA gives special weightage to faculties involved in creating and nurturing start-ups. Although ARIIA measures inputs and processes, it also places a high emphasis on 'output' and, more importantly, on 'outcome'. The outcome is measured in terms of quality and quantity of innovation, for which the key matrix is the revenue generated by an institution by licensing patents to industry, exits from successfully incubated start-ups, and technology transferred for commercialisation. Some thought leaders may ask if a majority of our institutions are ready for an ARIIA-like assessment The answer is, they need to get ready very soon. The ARIIA framework will ensure that the culture of innovation penetrates deep into every educational institution's DNA in the next few years. In a competitive education market, market forces will give only two options to institutions: Innovate, or perish. Dr Abhay Jere is Chief Innovation Officer with the Union ministry of human resource development, Government of India. Sowing had started on a sluggish note in several parts of the country because of delay in the onset of the monsoon but has picked up pace subsequently as the rains progressed and performed appreciably well in August. The retreat of the southwest monsoon might be delayed this year, for the third year in the row, because of a lot of moisture in the air in west Rajasthan, where the withdrawal begins, said Met official. A fresh low-pressure area is developing over the Bay of Bengal. This might also cause rain over north India, if its moves along the monsoon trough. At least for the next 3-4 days, the monsoon withdrawal might not start from the western part of Rajasthan, as there is considerable moisture in the atmosphere there, though it might not be raining. Also, there is a possibility of rain in the north, said D S Pai, director of long-range forecast, India Meteorological Department (IMD). He said though the delay might be beneficial for the coming rabi sowing season, as the soil would retain the moisture, more rain over north India in the next few days might adversely affect the standing kharif crop, which is ready to be harvested. The Central Water Commission (CWC) has issued heavy to very heavy rain alerts for some districts of Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad and Balrampur. Usually, southwest monsoon starts withdrawing from September 1, from the farthest part of west Rajasthan. The process is usually complete by end-October, but for the past few years, the process has been delayed. Withdrawal signals the end of the four-month-long monsoon that starts from June. I feel the monsoon will start withdrawing from September 10-12 this year, said IMD director general K J Ramesh. In the days to come, humidity levels would go down and monsoon withdrawal will start, Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at private weather forecasting agency, Skymet, said. Till now, southwest monsoon has been around 6 per cent deficient. There is little chance of this being reversed. The rains have been fairly normal in 26 out of the 36 meteorological subdivisions and deficient in the remaining 10, including west Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, Jharkhand, north interior Karnataka, and Rayalseema. Sowing of kharif crops concluded with less than 1 per cent drop in acreage, as compared to last year, which was a record. The water levels in 91 major reservoirs across the country were 134 per cent more than last year and 114 per cent more than the 10-year average. On a cumulative basis, the southwest monsoon has been fairly normal this year. It has been well-distributed, as has been predicted by IMD in its April forecast. "The water level in reservoirs and the acreage of kharif crops is a testimony to that, Ramesh said. Among major crops, the area under rice was 0.57 per cent more than last year, pulses was 2.55 per cent less than last year, coarse cereals were 3.85 per cent less, oilseeds were about 2.51 per cent more than last year. Sowing had started on a sluggish note in several parts of the country because of delay in the onset of the monsoon but has picked up pace subsequently as the rains progressed and performed appreciably well in August. Photograph: Reuters Only 50 per cent land acquisition consent received by August 31 deadline, despite state government's offer of thrice the circle rate The Jewar International Airport project in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh continues to hang fire as farmers in six villages of Jewar tehsil play the hardball over land acquisition. The project, estimated to cost around Rs 16,000 crore, needs about 5,000 hectares, and the airport alone would need more than 1,300 hectares to become operational by 2022-23. So far, 1,700 landowners have submitted their consent letters, and 650 hectares have been acquired even five days after the tentative deadline of August 31 from the concerned farmers. Recently, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also advised farmers to cooperate with the state government for the project, which is touted to give a major fillip to the socioeconomic development of the region, lest it is forced to be shifted to some other state such as Haryana. While the state government has offered about three times the applicable circle rate for the land, amounting to Rs 2,300 per sq mt, the farmers have been pressing for at least four times the circle rate, apart from other benefits. Last week, the Adityanath government had allocated Rs 8 billion for land acquisition in the supplementary budget, which was tabled and later approved by the state legislature. The proposed airport is one of the state's flagship projects, apart from the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor, Purvanchal Expressway, Bundelkhand Expressway. Meanwhile, considering the importance of the project, Jewar legislator Dhirendra Singh has joined the district administration and the Yamuna Expressway Authority officials to negotiate with the farmers. District magistrate B N Singh told Business Standard talks were on with the landowners. While, most landowners have been supportive, the compensation amount continues to be a thorny issue since farmers expect the prices of surrounding land to increase exponentially once the mega project becomes operational. Therefore, they want to be adequately compensated to secure their future. The administration had already identified plots for resettling the farmers, especially those who are set to lose their entire land and property for the project. The project, to be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, had been in limbo over the last 17 years after it was first conceived in 2000, owing to regulatory and clearances issues. Photograph: Davi Pinheiro/Reuters 'Everything will be decided by the Centre.' 'Universities will have no autonomy to start a new course or introduce a new syllabus.' IMAGE: With the Higher Education Commission of India Act 2018, the central government is aiming to redraw the map of higher education in India. Photograph: Ravikumar/Reuters The ministry of human resources recently came up with a draft of the Higher Education Commission of India Act 2018 to replace the University Grants Commission Act. But many educationists like Professor M Ananthakrishnan, former vice-chancellor, Anna University, and former chairman, IIT-Kanpur, are strongly against the new Act. "Higher education in India will be controlled by a single agency at the Centre. After Independence, it was believed that higher education will flourish as an intellectual enterprise in the country, independent of bureaucracy and other controls. All that will be gone now," Professor Ananthakrishnan tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier. Will replacing the University Grants Commission with the Higher Education Commission of India be a cosmetic change or do you see a lot of changes happening if the new Act is implemented? No, it is not just a change of name; it has deeper implications. What the government is planning is going to be quite significant for higher education in the country. Will it be good or bad? It is bad because the powers the states have over higher education will be taken away by the new Act. Until 1976, education used to be a state subject as per our Constitution. In 1976, with the 42nd Amendment, it became a concurrent subject. What this government wants to do is to take away the concurrent status and make higher education a central subject. IMAGE: The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Photograph: Kind courtesy Sheeju Chandran/Wikimedia Commons Some educationists feel the new Act will result in centralising and bureaucratising higher education. I will tell you in what way. Nobody will be able to establish a private or public university like they are able to do now. If the Act is implemented, you will have to get permission from the central government. Not only can the state not start an institution, but without permission from the central government, they can't even start a new course. Also, all institutions including those supported by the Centre will have to now disclose everything about the courses, plans, etc. Any falsification will attract a jail term and even closure of the institution. The bill proposes an advisory council chaired by the HRD minister, with representatives from state councils of higher education. This body will meet once in six months to identify issues for co-ordination and, in case of any disagreement, the central government's decision will be final. That means the central government is taking over all the functions relating to higher education. So, from being a concurrent subject, higher education will now be totally under the Centre. Does that mean the states will not be able to take a decision even about the syllabus? Yes. Everything will be decided by the Centre. The universities will no longer have the autonomy to start a new course or introduce a new syllabus. Another issue is that the Higher Education Commission will have the authority to give degree-granting powers to colleges if they satisfy certain conditions. Today, only universities can give degrees. Just imagine, today we have 40,000 colleges in India and even if half of them satisfy the conditions, the proliferation of degrees in India will become enormous. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi chats with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani. The Reliance Foundation's yet-to-be-launched Jio Institute is among the three private institutes granted 'eminence' status by the HRD ministry. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters Today, we hear everyone complaining about the quality of students that come out of Indian universities. Do you feel that, with colleges granting degrees, it will deteriorate further? Yes, the quality will go down even further. Then comes the question of giving grants to the universities. The UGC was the regulatory and funding body, giving grants to both central and state institutions and, in some cases, to some private institutions too. With the new bill, funding has been removed from the purview of the Higher Education Commission. How are the universities going to get funds? On July 23, there were many questions in Parliament about what happens to the funding of universities once the Higher Education Commission comes to existence. The HRD minister said there would be a concurrent body called the Higher Education Funding Agency to give funds to universities. This will be a non-banking financial institution that will raise about Rs 10,000 crores (Rs 100 billion) from banks, the private sector and corporate bodies. The catch is, this body will provide funds to universities as loans and not as grants like the UGC used to do. This loan has to be paid back by the institution. Are universities supposed to raise money only through fees? This aspect is not very clear. They don't talk about how the institutions are supposed to raise the money. Also, the loan amount can only be used for development purposes like building a stadium or a library and not to pay salaries. While the principal amount will be repaid by the institution, the interest will be borne by the central government. Here, too, there is a hitch. The state universities will not be able to avail this loan unless they get the permission of their state government. The state governments may not easily give the permission as they will have to repay the loan in case the universities fail to do so. This means the state universities will not benefit from HEFA. So, eventually, there is going to be a regulatory body called the Higher Education Commission of India and a funding body called the Higher Education Funding Agency. Unnecessarily, a lot of confusion has been created. The HECI's governing body will consist of bureaucrats, not educationists. That is why we feel higher education will be bureaucratised. IMAGE: 'Powers the states have over higher education will be taken away by the new Act.' Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters why does the government want to abolish the UGC when it has been functioning quite well? The UGC was functioning as an autonomous, independent body. It does not bow down to the dictates of the central government as it functions by a Parliamentary Act. They could not control the UGC the way they wanted to, so they wanted a body that would obey their wishes. Do you feel the government is trying to hijack higher education in India? Exactly. The autonomy of all universities will be totally gone with the new Act. With the private sector and corporate bodies as members in the HEFA, do you feel there would be more cooperation between academia and industry? What will happen is that the corporate players in the funding agency will dictate which university will get the loan and which university will not. In other words, the interests of the private agencies will play a role in the funding of higher education. In what way will this affect the higher education scene in India? Higher education in India will be controlled by a single agency at the Centre. After Independence, it was believed that higher education will flourish as an intellectual enterprise in the country, independent of bureaucracy and other controls. All that will be gone now. IMAGE: 'They could not control the UGC the way they wanted to, so they wanted a body that would obey their wishes.' Photograph: PTI Photo Doesn't this bill need approval in Parliament? Of course, Parliament will have to pass the bill. I hope it will not. So far, the state governments have not reacted to the bill. Only the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has written a letter to the prime minister that the UGC should not be abolished. Do you feel no debate is happening in the country? No debate. No pressure. I think the state governments have not realised the implications of the bill. They have not understood that an invasion of the central government into the powers of state government will happen with this bill. As an academician, what is in your mind? I hope by the time it comes to Parliament, there will be more awareness in the country. My feeling is that it will not become an Act. IMAGE: Social activist-lawyer Arun Ferreira brought back to his residence and placed under house arrest, in Thane. Photograph: PTI Photo Five rights activists were arrested due to the cogent evidence linking them with Maoists and not because of their dissenting views, Maharashtra government claimed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The apex court while ordering the house arrest of the five activists on August 29 till Thursday had categorically said that dissent is the safety valve of democracy. The counter affidavit, filed by the Maharashtra police on a plea of historian Romila Thapar and four others challenging the arrest of these activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, alleged that they were planning to carry out violence in the country and ambush the security forces. The state police said there was sufficient evidence to dispel the claim that they were arrested for their dissenting views. It also questioned the locus of the petitioners, Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociologist Satish Deshpande and legal expert Maja Daruwala, and said they were strangers to the investigation in the matter. Maharashtra Police had on August 28 raided the homes of the prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for their alleged Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outrage from human rights defenders. While prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. 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 Bhima-Koregaon village. The apex court had on August 29 directed to keep them under house arrest at their homes till tomorrow. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will hear the matter on Thursday. Contrary to expectations, not a single DMK functionary was present. Sacked Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Alagiri's rally, billed as a 'massive show of strength' to press for his re-induction, was a tame affair on Wednesday with the usually abrasive son of M Karunanidhi sparing party chief M K Stalin any criticism, a move seen as extending an olive branch to his younger brother. Alagiri, a former Union minister who was expelled from the party by his father and the then DMK boss Karunanidhi in 2014 at the height of the siblings' tussle for supremacy, was expected to breathe fire and brimstone at the rally ostensibly called to show his strength but the event ended not with a bang but a whimper. The once strongman of Madurai, clad in a black shirt and dhoti as a mark of mourning for his father, was said to have mustered around 10,000 people for the rally that began from Wallajah Road junction and concluded at Karunanidhi's mausoleum on the Marina beach, 1.5 km away. He stood on an open-top van with his loyalists holding banners hailing him as 'Anjanenjar' (braveheart). Alagiri's close family members -- son Durai Dayanidhi and daughter Kayalvizhi -- besides a few hardcore loyalists, including former deputy mayor of Madurai Corporation P M Mannan, also wore black for the occasion, and followed him to Karunanidhi's grave where they paid floral tributes to the DMK stalwart. Contrary to expectations, not a single DMK functionary was present. The DMK had recently sacked a village-level leader Ravi for shaking hands with Alagiri. No speeches were delivered nor any grand action plan announced, but Alagiri showed some of his characteristic belligerence when he dared the DMK leadership to sack partymen supporting him. "Over 1.5 lakh people attended the rally. You ask them (the DMK) if they will act against all of them," Alagiri told reporters. "There is no intention behind the rally other than paying homage to Kalaignar," he said. Karunanidhi was often referred to as 'Kalaignar' (the artiste) or 'Thalaivar' (the leader) by his ardent supporters. Days ahead of the rally, Alagiri, locked in a running feud with Stalin over succession, had made a climbdown and said he was ready to accept his younger sibling as his leader if the party re-inducted him. The Karunanidhi family projected a united picture when the DMK chief was fighting a battle for life in a Chennai hospital for 11 days before his death on August 7. However, days after his death the bitter succession war erupted again with Alagiri claiming 'all true and loyal supporters of Kalaignar' were with him. Alagiri, who was leading a life of political exile in Madurai away from media glare, had even warned that the DMK will dig its own 'grave' if it did not take him back. However, Stalin's election as DMK president on August 28 apparently made Alagiri rethink his plans and end political grandstanding. Sending out a signal that he was prepared to bury the hatchet just two days after Stalin's elevation, Alagiri said he was ready to accept the leadership of his younger brother if he was readmitted into the party. "When we desire to be inducted into the party, we must then accept the (Stalin's) leadership. Isn't it?" Alagiri had told reporters. He, however, blew hot and cold and seemed to question Stalin's elevation in the same breath. "Is the general council alone the party? Do 1,500 members of the council alone represent the DMK? The cadres are on my side. After next month's rally more will come to my side," he said. Before his expulsion at the height of his succession battle with his brother, Alagiri, known for his mercurial temper, had famously questioned if the DMK was a 'mutt' where the pontiff could anoint his successor, an apparent reference to their father. Though Alagiri was effectively out of politics since his expulsion, few had any doubt about the leader trying to reclaim the space he once had in Tamil Nadu politics after his father's death. Alagiri wielded considerable clout in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu as the DMK organisation secretary for the region. Whether he retains that clout after four years of political hibernation remains to be seen. The DMK had failed to open its account in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and lost to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the assembly polls in 2016 when Stalin helmed the campaign after Karunanidhi began keeping indifferent health. Now, as he leads the party into the Lok Sabha polls next year, he is up against a formidable opponent in the ruling AIADMK besides the fledgling Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) of former AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran. Actor Kamal Haasan's 'Makkal Needhi Maiam' is likely to make its election debut, and so possibly would the proposed party of superstar Rajinikant. With so many claimants for a share in the electoral pie, Stalin would have to strain every sinew to ensure the DMK finishes at the top of the table. If Alagiri succeeds in mobilising even a chunk of DMK cadre in his favour in southern Tamil Nadu or persuade them to be passive during the polls, he could mar the party's chances at the hustings. TORONTO, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Platinex Inc. (CSE:PTX) (Platinex or the "Company") announces the appointment of Robert Blake as Co-CEO and Director, subject to standard regulatory approvals. Following the Companys press release August 2, 2018, where Robert Blake III was announced as a Director of the Company, the Company Board of Directors is please to announce the appointment of Bob Blake as Co CEO. Walter Henry, President and Co-CEO stated, "We are pleased to add a seasoned businessman with the breadth and depth of business experience that Bob holds across many states in the U.S.A particularly Oregon. We look forward to Bobs knowledge of the business environment in Oregon, to his input and direction given his impressive hands-on businesses successes as the Company evaluates alternatives to the mining segment. Bob Blake has been an advisor to physicians, manager of health care operations, and a health care investor for more than thirty (30) years. In 2013 with the passage of new legislation and after months of research regarding the medicinal benefits off cannabinoids, Bob invested in the Oregon cannabis industry. His investments began with vertically integrated operations of a grow facility, an extraction processor, and a dispensary. His Oregon cannabis holdings now include multiple grow facilities and dispensaries, an extraction processor, and a wholesale operation. Bob was raised in New York City where he graduated from The Collegiate School. He has a B.A. Economics degree from Brown University and an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. About Platinex Inc. Platinex is focused on developing various strategies to capitalize on the lucrative growth of the cannabis sector in North America. At the same time, Platinex has been focusing its mining business efforts in assembling a very large property in the Shining Tree gold camp, which has received little modern exploration compared to other gold camps in the Abitibi greenstone Belt. Shares of Platinex are listed for trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "PTX". For further information, please contact: Walter Henry, President and CEO 416-414-5825 Email: info@platinex.com David Posner 647-985-6727 Email: dposner44@gmail.com To receive Company press releases, please email lparadis@platinex.com and mention Platinex press release on the subject line. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. 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. Such statements include submission of the relevant documentation within the required timeframe and to the satisfaction of the relevant regulators, completing the acquisition of the applicable assets and raising sufficient financing to complete the Company's business strategy. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Investing into early stage companies, inherently carries a high degree of risk and investment into securities of the Company shall be considered highly speculative. Furthermore, the Company seeks to enter the cannabis market in the United States, where some states have legalized cannabis for medical or adult recreational use, while cannabis remain illegal under United States Federal law. As such, the Company may become subject to additional government regulation and legal uncertainties that could restrict the demand for its services or increase its cost of doing business, thereby adversely affecting its financial results. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any province in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities issued, or to be issued, under the Private Placement have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange 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. A year after Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru, many other journalists continue to face death threats, attacks and false charges, Amnesty International India said on Wednesday, asserting it is a 'dangerous' time to speak truth to authorities in India. Meanwhile, a senior Special Investigation Team officer probing the murder case said the investigation is in final stage and a chargesheet will be filed in two months. The Special Investigation Team, under the leadership of Additional Commissioner of Police (West) B K Singh, has arrested 12 people in connection with the killing of Lankesh, known for her strong anti-Hindutva stand. Some of the people arrested in the case are allegedly linked to Sanatan Sanstha and its allied outfit Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. "The case is in final stage of investigation. We will file a chargesheet in the case in two months," Investigating Officer M N Anucheth said. The Gauri Memorial Trust and her supporters organised a series of events in Bengaluru to mark the first anniversary of her death. The Gauri Balaga and Gauri Lankesh Memorial Trust submitted a joint six-point memorandum to Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala. The memorandum demanded that Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliates be declared 'terror organisations'. Earlier, a large number of activists led by Lankesh's sister Kavitha and playwright Girish Karnad staged a march to Raj Bhavan to mark the journalist-activist's first death anniversary. Other activists, who participated in the march, were freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, social activist Swami Agnivesh Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani and lawyer Teesta Setalvad, among others. A 'Freedom of Expression' meet was held on the occasion. The Trust also released a pen with a photograph and signature of Lankesh. Mevani alleged that there was a connect between the killings of four progressive and rationalist writers. He also alleged that without the involvement of state machinery, such murders could not happen. Wife of late professor M M Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh's mother Indira, and Meghna Pansare, daughter of Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare also addressed the gathering. Writers, thinkers and journalists released a copy of newly launched Kannada tabloid Nyaya Patha during the meet. Lankesh was shot dead on the night of September 5, 2017, from close range in front of her Rajarajeshwari Nagar house around 8 pm. Amnesty International India said attacks on journalism not only stifle the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression but also have a 'profound silencing effect'. It cited the house arrest of civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha and Left-leaning poet Varavara Rao on charges of having ties with Maoists as examples of crackdown on free speech. "Gauri Lankesh's death anniversary is an occasion for us to introspect on how people who expose the truth, including journalists and whistle-blowers, are increasingly under attack in India. "While it is heartening that the investigation into Gauri Lankesh's murder seems to be progressing, investigations into several other attacks on journalists and whistle-blowers have yielded precious little. It is a dangerous time for anyone who speaks truth to power in India," said Aakar Patel of Amnesty India. According to Reporters Without Borders, in the first six months of 2018, at least four journalists have been killed in India and at least three more have been physically attacked. Several other journalists have received threats for journalism that is critical of the State. In August, two journalists were arrested in a nationwide crackdown on human rights defenders, Amnesty India said in a statement. "Journalism cannot be suppressed by those refusing to acknowledge the truth," Patel said, adding, "This occasion is also a good time to call for investigations into all attacks on journalists." Amnesty India said Lankesh's killing is part of a growing pattern of attacks on journalists in the country. The SIT got a breakthrough in its probe when a Gujarat-based forensic lab confirmed that Parashuram Waghmare shot and killed her. The SIT, formed by then chief minister Siddaramaiah, has arrested suspected mastermind Amol Kale and shooter Parashuram Waghmare, among others. A few others are yet to be nabbed. Sanatan Sanstha has claimed that those arrested were not its members. Investigations revealed that Lankesh was among 26 people including Prof K S Bhagwan, Girish Karnad and Chandrashekar Patil, were in rightwing extremists' list, as they were critical of Hindutva ideology. Kavitha Lankesh has said rightwing outfit Sanatan Sanstha should be treated like any other terrorist organisation if its involvement in killings of rationalists, including that of Narendra Dabholkar, was proved. In a counter move, members of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, some of them lawyers fighting for the accused, have criticised the SIT for invoking Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act against the accused. The issues around trade gaps, especially around steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the US, will be addressed separately, reports Subhayan Chakraborty. The United States and India will give a wide berth to trade in the 2+2 dialogue beginning on Thursday, and instead focus on defence and foreign affairs. The issues around trade gaps between the two countries will be addressed separately. The inaugural edition in New Delhi will have US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The ministry of external affairs has refused to include some trade issues in the talks. Both nations have decided to keep trade issues separate, and plan to discuss them under their trade agencies. Some grievances on trade, from both sides, might come up during the talks, but the discourse will firmly be about foreign policy and defence, a senior MEA official said. The predecessor to the current talks, India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, had started in 2015. However, after two annual rounds, a decision was taken to carve out trade issues into a separate annual discussion -- India-US Commercial Dialogue. In the first edition of the trade talks, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu had gone to Washington, DC, in October last year. No plan for talks this year has materialised as yet. This year, US President Donald Trumps administration has dragged India to the World Trade Organization multiple times over New Delhis export-promotion schemes and restrictions on solar cell imports. India, too, has lodged a case against steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the US. In July, US tariffs led to India announcing retaliatory duties on 29 key agricultural products. This will come into effect on September 18, and will add $240 million (Rs 1,725 crore) to the exchequer. This is the exact amount India will lose because of the US tariff hikes on steel and aluminium. Apples, almonds and walnuts from the US will attract 50 per cent higher tax. Some industrial products and steel will also be hit. India is the largest destination for these goods. Despite three trade talks between the two nations, no deal has been reached. We are discussing the tariff, as well as other issues with the US on a regular basis. That will continue separately, a senior commerce department official said, adding a broad consensus on annual trade talks has not been reached because of current tensions. Trade experts have advised India to be cautious while responding to the US tariffs. Imports will become unaffordable because of increase in Customs duties. With the new trade barriers, this increase will make domestic manufacturing more attractive, said M S Mani, indirect tax partner, Deloitte India. During his election campaign, Trump had targeted white-collar technical workers from India immigrating to the US and working for software and information technology companies. The resulting visa issues will be discussed in the talks. A senior US diplomat said removing trade issues, which often lead to difference of opinion provided space for strengthening the strategic interests of both nations, which are mostly aligned. China is increasingly leveraging its economic and military assets across the Asia-Pacific region to gain strategic advantage. The talks will help to co-ordinate more closely on Afghanistan, the Indian Ocean and also in the Middle East (West Asia), he added. Chief Justice Of India Dipak Misra will retire on October 2 this year. However, in the span of less than a month that he has in office, Justice Misra is expected to pronounce verdict on several crucial cases, which, if not disposed of by the incumbent CJI, will have to be heard afresh by a new bench. Apart from high-profile cases like the validity of Aadhaar Act in light of the right to privacy judgment and Ayodhya land dispute, the CJI is also heading various benches that are expected to decide cases related reservations to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotion in government jobs, the alleged dilution of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code -- which stipulates punishment against harassment of women by husband and in-laws -- and framing of guidelines to check violence and vandalism by a protesting mob. Here's a list of big cases that the incumbent CJI is likely to decide: 1) Ayodhya land dispute and whether offering namaz in mosques is an integral part of Islam A three-judge bench headed by the CJI had reserved its order on whether to refer to a larger Constitutional Bench its 1994 order which said that 'offering namaz at mosques is not an integral part of Islam'. This is part of the court's judgment on pleas against the 2010 verdict of the Allahabad high court that divided the disputed land into three parts. However, a plea by Sunni Waqf Board sought the SC to reconsider its 1994 judgment as the Allahabad HC verdict was based on observations in that case. All parties have so far maintained that the decision of the top court on the land dispute would be acceptable to them. 2) Validity of Aadhaar Act The verdict in this case also has been reserved by a five-judge bench headed by the CJI. The original pleas were filed in 2015 challenging collection of biometrics by the Unique Identification Authority of India. However, as the Adhaar Act was passed in Parliament, after being categorised as a Money Bill, fresh petitions were filed challenging the constitutionality of the Act and its passage as a Money Bill. The verdict of nine-judge Constitutional Bench declaring privacy a Fundamental Right will certainly have a bearing on this case. 3) Entry of women in Sabarimala Temple Interestingly, the lawyer representing People for Dharma and NGO Chetna in this case relied on the right to privacy judgment to argue that allowing women inside the temple of the 'eternal celibate' deity would be a violation of his right to privacy. The lawyer said that Lord Ayyappa of the Sabarimala is a 'juristic person' for the purposes of property ownership and taxes and hence, he equally has rights under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty), 25 (freedom to practice religion) and 26 (freedom to manage religious affair) of the Constitution. Though the SC termed the arguments 'impressive', it maintained that women have a Constitutional right to enter the temple. The case an interesting conflict between the right to religious practise under Article 25 or prohibition of gender-based discrimination under Articles 14 and 15. The verdict was reserved on August 1. 4) Punishment for adultery Responding to the case against Section 497 of the IPC, which punishes a man for having extra-martial sexual ties with the wife of another man, the Centre had said that scrapping the section would 'destroy the sanctity of marriage'. The SC, however, disagreed with the Centre, saying that though matrimonial sanctity is an issue, the penal provision on adultery is apparently violative of the right to equality under the Constitution as it treats married men and married women differently. Section 497 of the IPC says: 'Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery.' The bench termed this aspect of Section 497 'manifestly arbitrary' and said it treated married women as 'chattel' on the ground that their relationship with other married persons depends on the 'consent or connivance of her husband'. However, the Centre's affidavit sought the dismissal of the plea challenging, saying that Section 497 'supports, safeguards and protects the institution of marriage'. The verdict was reserved on August 8. 5) Decriminalisation of homosexuality It is another case in which the right to privacy verdict will play a crucial role. The SC had reinstated Section 377 of the IPC, which punishes homosexuality, in 2013, reversing the Delhi high court order which struck down the section in 2009. During the hearing, the SC said the right to sexual orientation is not a fundamental right but indicated that the right to choose a sexual partner is a fundamental right. Hence, it is widely expected that the SC may strike down the section in its judgment that was reserved on July 17. Other important cases in which judgments have been reserved by benches headed by the CJI involve disqualification of charge-sheeted politicians from contesting elections, live-streaming of proceedings of the apex court and plea seeking to restrict elected legislators from practising law. NSA Doval, defence top brass brief Union ministers on the deal to help them counter Opposition charges. The Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday gave a strong endorsement of the Rafale fighter jets, saying it will give India an 'unprecedented' combat advantage, as the Supreme Court agreed to hear next week a plea seeking a stay on the controversial deal with France. As the government remained under attack from the Congress and other opposition parties on the escalating Rafale row, the country's top security brass also gave a briefing to the Union Council of Ministers in a bid to provide the National Democratic Alliance leaders with facts to counter the allegations of favouritism and corruption levelled against it. Describing Rafale as a 'beautiful' aircraft, Air Marshal S B Deo, the Vice Chief of the IAF, said those criticising the deal must understand the procurement norms. Deo said 'all discussions on the deal' were taking place as people do not have adequate information about the procurement procedure. "We are waiting for the aircraft to come. It is a beautiful aircraft. It is a very capable aircraft. It is a capability that we need quickly," he said on the sidelines of an event when asked about the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal. Asked about allegations relating to the Rs 58,000 crore deal, Deo said 'all the discussions are taking place as people do not have information'. "They should read DPP (defence procurement procedure) and offset policy," he said, adding the jets will give India 'unprecedented' combat advantage. India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019. The Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal, claiming the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,600 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government. The government has rejected the charges. At the Supreme Court, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submissions of advocate M L Sharma that his plea on the Rafale deal be listed for urgent hearing. In his petition, Sharma has alleged discrepancies in the jet deal and sought a stay on it. Sharma claimed in his plea that the inter-governmental agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an 'outcome of corruption' and not ratified by Parliament under Article 253 (Parliament has power to make any law for implementing any inter-government agreement) of the Constitution. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. During their briefing at the meeting of the Union Council of Ministers, the country's top security brass said the cost of the Rafale jet is based on equipment and weapons that will be married to the jet. A senior official said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Secretary, Defence Production, Ajay Kumar highlighted various aspects of the deal at the meeting, which lasted nearly three hours. The ministers were informed that the Rafale contract was a deal between two governments involving no private party, leaving little scope for corruption. The security brass also highlighted the aircraft's capability which would strengthen the IAF and make the fighter jets an asset for it. The presentation underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to take all his allies, who are represented in the council of ministers, on board as the government works to counter the opposition on the issue with the Lok Sabha election being less than eight months away. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi accused the Modi government of adopting 'double standards' in approving offset contracts for defence deals asking why it did not adopt the same yardstick in the Rafale deal when it had disapproved Russia's move to grant offset contracts to a private player for AK-103 rifles. Singhvi said a 'fallacious argument' of the Modi government on Rafale has been nipped in the bud by its own recent negotiations in another defence deal with Russia for manufacturing AK-rifles. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while refusing to get into the details of what transpired in the meeting, took a dig at the Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi over the fighter jet deal. Responding to a question, he said, "Congress has proved that in a dynastic party, ignorance is contagious... if one lacks information, all are ignorant." Jaitley said questioning the deal is the 'biggest ignorance'. He said a basic aircraft is of 'no use' as it can only fly the pilot. He said cost escalation and currency variations between 2007 and 2016 have to be considered. He also pointed out that a weaponised jet is 20 per cent cheaper now after the negotiations. Since it is a government-to-government deal, no private party or a PSU is involved. "The 36 jets will come in a fly away condition and not even a bolt will be fitted here ... during UPA (rule), they did not believe in transfer of technology but preferred to buy (hardware) from foreign buyers ...," he said. Referring to Bofors howitzer gun deal, he said while bribes can be taken, the weapons could not be manufactured here. Jaitley said after increasing Foreign Direct Investment to 49 per cent several international defence major are tying up with Indian companies to manufacture defence hardware here. He said the government has also ensured that defence PSUs get sufficient orders. He said side by side the government also believes in helping the private sector. The functionary, meanwhile, said the presentation in the meeting also underscored Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to take all his allies, who are represented in the council of ministers, on board, as the government works to counter the opposition on the issue in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections which are less than eight months away. The presentation was made before the ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, who will reach out to the people all across the country on the achievements of the government under a week-long campaign. *** IAF carries out first ever mid-air refuelling of Tejas light combat jet The Indian Air Force said on Wednesday it has successfully carried out the first ever mid air refuelling of the indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft, a major milestone in its development cycle. A Russian-built IL-78 MKI tanker transferred fuel to a Tejas MK I aircraft on Tuesday. "The tanker was launched from IAF's base in Agra while the fighter was launched from Gwalior. The specially modified Tejas aircraft carried out a series of test profiles including a 'dry contact' with the tanker," the IAF said. It said a second Tejas aircraft was deployed to observe the exercise closely. The mid-air refueling of Tejas came three months after it successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual (BVR) range missile. The IAF had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version and a request for proposal (RFP) was issued to HAL by the IAF in December for procurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000 crore. "All flight parameters of Tejas aircraft were transmitted live to a ground control unit set-up at Gwalior airbase, wherein ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency) scientists constantly monitored the technical parameters of the mission," it said. Prior to the test flight, extensive ground trials were conducted in all possible conditions under the supervision of ADA scientists. "The success of these trials is a major leap for the indigenous fighter.The ability to carry out air-to-air refuelling is one of the critical requirements for Tejas to achieve 'final operational clearance'," said the IAF. From Typhoons soaring over the snowy mountains of the Falkland Islands to Red Arrows flying over Buckingham Palace, the images submitted in the Royal Air Force Photographic Competition captures the heroics and skills of Britains frontline fighters. Over 1,000 photos and 25 videos were submitted by military and civilian photographers alike across 13 categories before being whittled down by a panel of judges. Here are some of the favourites. For those who would like to cast their vote, visit the RAF website. Selfie RAF photographer Cpl Tim Laurence captured a Selfie during a routine training sortie over the coast of Anglesey, Wales in an RAF Hawk T2, from IV Squadron based at RAF Valley. Photograph: Cpl Tim Laurence/Crown Copyright 2016 Flaring up A RAF Puma HC2 flying over the city of Kabul, Afghanistan as part of a sortie in support of Operation TORAL. The Puma is the main source of transport between different camps within Kabul. Photograph: Cpl Lee Matthews/Crown Copyright 2016 Perfection A pair of Typhoon FGR4 aircraft from the RAF Typhoon Display Team, 29 Squadron, RAF Coningsby. The aircraft are performing a dynamic crossover on their arrival at the RAF Cosford Air Show. Photograph: Sgt Paul Oldfield/Crown Copyright 2016 Parallels Image taken during the transit from Kuwait City to Doha, Qatar as part of the RAFAT Eastern Hawk Tour 2017. Photograph: SAC Hannah Smoker/Crown Copyright 2016 RAF Centenary The RAF100 parade and flypast took place over London on July 10, 2018 in the Royal Air Forces centenary year. Thousands of people gathered along the Mall and around Buckingham Palace to witness over 100 aircraft take part in the flypast. The finale was the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows. Photograph: Cpl Tim Laurence/Crown Copyright 2016 Remembrance East Kirkby Aviation Museum in Lincolnshire was the venue for a night shoot with Lancaster Just Jane and a group of re-enactors to re-create a wintery night scene. The event is a tribute to the airmen who gave their lives carrying out the bombing missions during WWII. Photograph: Cpl Tim Laurence/Crown Copyright 2016 OP RUMAN- First in Sergeant Stephen Hardwick, a Medic from RAF Brize Norton based Tactical Medical Wing embarking on-board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The TMW is destined for Barbados as part of the UK Government Task Group deployment which travelled to help those affected by Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean. Photograph: Paul Crouch/Crown Copyright 2016 This Way Up A Chinook CH-47 Weapons System Operator from 27 Squadron, RAF Odiham preparing his aircraft for the loading of military troops during a training exercise in Lorient, France as part of a joint UK-French interoperability exercise. Photograph: ACSSU/Crown Copyright 2016 Tunnel Vision RAF engineer Sergeant Danny Wass, inspecting an engine on a Tornado GR4, from IX Squadron in support. RAF Tornados are currently deployed on Operation SHADER. Photograph: SAC Phil Dye/Crown Copyright 2016 Fire Corporal Emma Pook, one of two female Fire Fighters at RAF Benson Fire Section. The photo was taken during section fire training. RAF Fire Fighters provide 24/7 fire and crash rescue protection. Photograph: Fire Sgt Rachel Malthouse/Crown Copyright 2016 Avro Legacy The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight from RAF Coningsby practice over Lincolnshire the evening before the RAF100 parade and flypast. Pictured here is their Avro Lancaster Bomber. Photograph: Cpl Tim Laurence/Crown Copyright 2016 Smoke In The Sun Thousands of farmers and labourers from across the country held a massive protest in the national capital on Wednesday against what they called 'anti-people' policies of the Modi government, and demanded higher prices for farm produce, waiver of loans and better wages. IMAGE: Workers and farmers of various unions raise slogans during Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally at Parliament Street. Photograph: Arun Sharma/PTI Photo The protesters, holding placards and shouting anti-government slogans, marched from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament in Central Delhi, and warned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that it will have to pay a 'heavy price' in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for 'ignoring' the demands of the disadvantaged people. The 'Mazdoor Kishan Sangharsh Rally', organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All-India Agricultural Workers' Union (AIAWU), also demanded concrete measures to generate jobs, minimum monthly wage of Rs 18,000 for workers, halting 'forcible' land acquisition and stopping changes in labour laws. The organisers claimed nearly 1.5 lakh farmers and labourers from at least 23 states have participated in the protests, preparation for which had started several months back. The protest has thrown the traffic out of gear in several parts of Delhi. "The massive protest is a warning to the BJP government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as for the last four years it has ignored the demands of the farmers and the workers. The BJP will have to pay a heavy price for it," said Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU, a leading trade union. IMAGE: The workers marched from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament Street, carrying red flags and chanting slogans against the government. Photograph: Arun Sharma/PTI Photo Carrying red flags and wearing red caps, the marchers raised slogans against the policies of the BJP government and assailed the ruling party's 'communal and divisive' agenda. The organisers said this was the first time after Independence that farmers and workers jointly participated in a rally against the government. The farmers in various parts of the country have been holding protests demanding loan waiver and better prices for farm produce. Addressing the rally, AIKS leader Vijoo Krishnan claimed 36,000 farmers have committed suicide over the last few years and said the BJP government is piling up miseries on the marginalised section. IMAGE: CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury looks on during the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally. Photograph: Arun Sharma/PTI Photo "For the last four years, this BJP government has fooled us. It has never done anything for the farmers. The government should give farmers remunerative price as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee. The government policies are anti-people and we will not tolerate this any further," AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah said. "We will continue our struggle till our demands are met," he said, adding the struggle will continue till 'we change the central government'. He said all other farmers' organisations will hold a long march and come to Delhi on November 30. "Trade unions will also hold a two-day strike by the end of the year," he said. The rally was also supported by a large number of artists, academicians and left-wing intellectuals. A large number of protesters arrived in Delhi around three-four days ago. "Workers and farmers coming together has enthused the other sections of the society. Now the Youth Federation has decided to organise a rally on November 3 protesting against unemployment in the country. Before that, they will hold a 24-hour dharna in front of all central government offices in all districts," said Sen. One body was recovered from the debris of the collapsed Majerhat bridge in south Kolkata on Wednesday, taking the toll in the incident to two. IMAGE: Rescuers clear the debris at the site of a bridge that collapsed. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who visited the site after returning from Darjeeling, told reporters that two persons were missing and one body was recovered from the debris. Police said the body recovered might be of one of the missing persons. Operations to locate those who might still be trapped in the debris were stepped up. Police and National Disaster Response Force personnel continued their rescue work at the accident site with cranes, earthmovers and drilling machines. "It may take another two days to cut through the concrete slabs. The people engaged in the work are trying hard to cut them," said Meeraj Khalid, DC South, Kolkata Police. "It is God's grace that many people were not killed," Banerjee said, adding a committee headed by Chief Secretary Malay De will investigate the cause of the collapse. One person, identified as Soumen Bag, was killed when a part of the 50-year-old bridge on the arterial Diamond Harbour Road caved in on Tuesday evening trapping several people and crushing many vehicles. Banerjee said the police and administration have done well in carrying out the rescue work and an emergency meeting has been convened on Thursday to take stock of the situation. She said papers of old bridges were not available. "Still we are trying to conduct regular survey of those bridges with available technical experts," she said, adding work by Metro Railways in the area during the past nine years had caused vibration and resulted in many problems there. IMAGE: People stand next to the wreckage of vehicles at the site of a bridge that collapsed in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters The area near the site had been dug up for a Metro Rail project and construction material is strewn all over the place. Opposition parties in the state have alleged that the Trinamool Congress government's 'callousness' towards the repair of old bridges was the main reason behind the collapse. Banerjee sought cooperation of the people in the area and said that they might face hardships due to collapse of the bridge. Those who did good work during the rescue operations would be rewarded, she added. The bridge in Alipore area in south Kolkata runs over the Majerhat Railway Station and connects the city centre with the heavily populated Behala, vast areas of the southwest suburbs and neighbouring South 24 Parganas district. With the Diamond Harbour Road being closed, thousands of commuters were stuck in jams. A traffic police officer said vehicles that usually move to and from the city through Majerhat bridge have been diverted through various other roads. Train movement below the Majerhat bridge was normal on Wednesday after being stopped as a precautionary measure on Tuesday, Eastern Railway spokesman R N Mahapatra said. "Train services of Circular Railway from Dum Dum to Majerhat have resumed this morning," he said. However, services in the Circular Railway portion of railway track between New Alipore and Majerhat stations that passes under the bridge are temporarily suspended, he added. Eastern Railway had stopped movement of trains on the track on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. Tram services have been completely suspended along CGR Road-DH Road and Judges Court Road, a Kolkata Traffic Police source said. The Kolkata Disaster Management Department, the NDRF and the state fire department conducted search operations through the night, officials said. IMAGE: Local residents and rescue workers clear the debris at the site of the bridge. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters The rescuers tried drilling the concrete slabs, used sophisticated cameras and engaged sniffer dogs to ensure anybody trapped under the rubble could be reached and rescued. Intermittent rains complicated the operation. Additional lighting arrangements were made to aid rescue work at night, the officials said. A team of senior officials of CESC, responsible for power supply in the city, visited the site last night to ensure adequate power supply in the area. A mini bus, four cars and a few motorcycles that were damaged in the bridge collapse were removed using cranes, the official said. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Roopa Ganguly, who visited the site Wednesday morning, held the TMC-led state government responsible for the collapse and alleged that the bridge was not maintained properly. The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said. This is a third bridge collapse in the city since 2013. The railways had alerted the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) about weak support beams, exposed reinforcements and even cracks on piers of the 50-year-old bridge. IMAGE: An injured victim is carried to SSKM hospital after a section of Majerhat bridge collapsed in Kolkata. Photograph: PTI Photo The road bridge runs over the Majherhat Railway Station on the Sealdah-Budge Budge line. In the letter to KMDA, dated July 27, the Eastern Railway Zone's Deputy Chief Engineer had highlighted the need for inspection of sections of the bridge, flagging several concerns regarding its structural efficacy. A copy of the letter was marked to the railway Senior Deputy Engineer, Sealdah. KMDA is the statutory planning and development authority for Kolkata metropolitan area and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim is the chairman of its board. 'The condition of RCC beams of the bridge which supports utility services, are not in good condition and it requires suitable replacement in a programmed manner at the earliest,' the letter to the Superintending Engineer, South Circle, KMDA said. A copy of the letter is with PTI. Sources in the railway ministry said soon after the collapse of the Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai in July, an inspection of a section of the Majerhat Bridge above the Sealdah-Budge Budge line was conducted which revealed these deficiencies. The letter urged the KMDA to make preparations at their end so that railway could initiate maintenance work. It also raised concerns over a nearby span of the bridge towards Mominpur, which they found to be 'visibly deflected'. 'This needs to be a complete inspection from your side and necessary action thereof,' wrote the Eastern Railway Zone's Deputy Chief Engineer. Further, the bridge engineer listed out the anomalies detected in the road over bridge -- weak RCC and steel beams which needed replacement, locations with exposed reinforcements, and some cracks in piers over isolated locations. After the collapse of the Vivekanada flyover in the city in March 2016, the state government had mandated Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RiTES) to survey the conditions of different bridges in Kolkata. The under-construction flyover came crashing down in crowded Burrabazar area, the wholesale business hub of the city, on March 31, 2016 claiming 26 lives. After the tragedy, the KMDA and the state PWD had entrusted a team of consulting engineers with the task of auditing flyovers and rail overbridges in the city. IMAGE: United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pakistan. Photograph: Kind courtesy @SecPompeo/Twitter Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday and pressed him to take 'sustained and decisive measures' against terrorists threatening the regional peace and stability, days after the United Sates cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for failing to rein in the terror groups operating from its soil. Pompeo, Mattis arrive for 2+2 dialogue US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to hold the inaugural two-plus-two talks with their Indian counterparts, focus of which will be to deepen strategic ties and resolve differences over India's defence engagement with Russia and crude oil import from Iran. Reflecting the importance of the talks to be held on Thursday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj received Pompeo, while Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman welcomed her US counterpart Jim Mattis at the Palam airport. Swaraj and Sitharaman will hold the twice-postponed dialogue with Pompeo and Mattis. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford is also part of the US delegation. 'In a special gesture symbolising our warm and friendly relationship, EAM @SushmaSwaraj received United States Secretary of State @SecPompeo at the airport on his first visit to India,' MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. The external affairs minister will have a separate bilateral meeting with Pompeo while Sitharaman will have a one-on-one meeting with Mattis on Thursday morning before the delegation-level two-plus-two talks. 12 officials from each side are expected to attend the talks which will be followed by a working lunch. In the afternoon, Swaraj, Sitharaman, Pompeo and Mattis will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As Secretary Pompeo arrived in New Delhi from Islamabad, India will also try to get his view about his engagement with the new government in Pakistan headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, official sources said. In the talks, the sources said, India will also try to 'sensitise' the US that any cut in import of Iranian oil in compliance with the US sanctions may impact the country's overall economy as the crude oil from that country is much cheaper. India is also expected to apprise the US about the importance of the Rs 40,000 crore deal it is about to finalise with Russia to procure a batch of S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems. The US has been indicating that it does not want India to go ahead with the deal. The sources said both sides will also discuss the long-pending Communications, Compatibility, Security Agreement. The COMCASA will help India obtain critical and encrypted defence technologies for Indian defence platforms from the US. The sources said text of the agreement is almost ready. They said both sides will also explore ways to enhance engagement between their navies in the Indo-Pacific region and try to resolve tariff-related issues. On import of Iranian oil, the sources said India may also convey to the US that some of its refineries are dependent on certain kind of crude oil and making technical adjustments in them may require huge investments as well as time. Pompeo, the former Central Intelligence Agency chief who was on his first visit to Pakistan as the top American diplomat, told Khan that he was 'pleased' with his meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier in the day. But at the same time, Pompeo asked Khan 'to do more' at the meeting, which was also attended by Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Qureshi, Geo TV reported, citing diplomatic sources. This was the US' first high-level dialogue with Pakistan since the new government of Prime Minister Khan assumed office after the July 25 elections and comes days after the US cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil. Talking to reporters travelling with him, Pompeo said, "We made clear to them that -- and they agreed -- it's time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitments, right." "So we've had lots of times where we've talked and made agreements, but we haven't been able to actually execute those. "And so there was broad agreement between myself and Foreign Minister Qureshi, as well as with the prime minister, that we need to begin to do things that will begin to actually, on the ground, deliver outcomes so that we can begin to build confidence and trust between the two countries," he added. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that in all of his meetings, Secretary Pompeo conveyed the need for Pakistan to take 'sustained and decisive measures against terrorists and militants threatening regional peace and stability'. Later, Qureshi told reporters that the Pakistani perspective was presented responsibly to the US delegation. "We tried to understand their wishes and put forth our own expectations and concerns," he said, adding, "Ice has been thawed." "Today, we felt that we have created an atmosphere to reset our relations, and the lack of trust that was present has been broken which is a very positive development. "Believe me, if our narrative had not set in with them, the atmosphere would have been different...," he said. "I told them that if you want to proceed with Pakistan, the foundation lies in trust, frank and candid conversation. And until and unless we address concerns from both the sides, progress is not possible," he said. Regarding the US delegation's meeting with Prime Minister Khan, Qureshi said: "During the meeting at the PM House we all sat down and exchanged views. In the past, they used to come, meet the PM and then went to the GHQ (Army headquarters). Today's meeting sent a clear message that we are all on the same page." Qureshi said he decided against raising the US decision to scrap the $300 million in aid. "That decision was taken before this govt took charge. I gave this matter some thought then I decided against raising it because free nations think along the lines of self-sufficiency. We will take a new direction," he said. "The meeting has created environment to reset the relations and removed the hiatus," he added. The two sides also discussed the Afghan peace process. Pompeo, who along with US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Gen Joseph Dunford had arrived on an official visit to Pakistan, earlier met Qureshi and discussed 'bilateral, regional and international issues'. In a statement, the Foreign Office said Qureshi highlighted that the priority of the new Government was socio-economic development and for the success of people centered agenda and economic reforms, an enabling regional security environment was imperative. He said improving relations with neighbours was a priority, in an apparent reference to strained ties with India and Afghanistan, which often accuses Pakistan of providing safe havens to militants to conduct cross border attacks. Qureshi also reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to continue efforts for promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan. 'The two sides agreed that present conditions in Afghanistan were conducive to intensifying efforts for a political settlement. They underscored the need for the Taliban to seize the opportunity for talks in response to President Ghani's offer for an unconditional dialogue,' the statement said. Pompeo stated that US fully supported the reform agenda of Prime Minister Khan and wished the government success in its implementation, it said, adding that Pompeo conveyed the US desire to work with Pakistan in furthering the shared objectives of peace and stability in Afghanistan. The ties between the two sides strained after President Donald Trump, while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August last year, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to 'agents of chaos' that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has 'much to lose' by harbouring terrorists. He had also slammed Pakistan for its support to terror groups and warned Islamabad of consequences if it continues to do so. In January, Trump suspended all military assistance to Pakistan accusing it of rewarding past assistance with 'nothing but lies and deceit'. The ties between the two 'allies' are passing through a difficult period as the US is upset over what it calls lack of cooperation from Islamabad. Pak seeks US help to ease tensions with India Pakistan on Wednesday sought US help to ease tensions with India, saying it wanted peace on the Eastern border in order to concentrate on the Western border with Afghanistan. "We want ease on the Eastern border if we have to look towards the Western side," Qureshi told reporters while briefing them on the outcome of his talks with Pompeo. Stating that people suffer due to ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, he said, it was 'important that we should look at it and see how we can improve that who can help us to bring the improvement (on Eastern border)'. He reiterated that Pakistan wanted peace with all its neighbours and had never shied away from negotiations, but 'we need two hands to clap'. Qureshi said the LoC ceasefire was a very good Confidence Building Measure but when it gets violated, people suffer. The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016. India has made it clear to Pakistan that terror and talks cannot go together. Qureshi said that the visiting US delegation indicated to have direct talks with the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan offered its full support for a negotiated solution of the Afghan issue. "Pompeo said the State Department will lead the peace effort in Afghanistan. The impression we get is that there is space for (US) direct talks with the Taliban," he said. He said Pompeo assured that the US did not want to keep its foot print for unlimited period in Afghanistan, though there was no timeline for America to pullout from the strife-torn country. "US wants that Pakistan should help to move forward the talks. And we will do and we have offered full support as it is according to our policy. We want peace (in Afghanistan)," he said. Sunshine Schools are looking to attract interest from members of the urban 'aspirational' class -- vegetable vendors, security guards, drivers, etc -- who cannot afford the fees charged by budget private schools. Anjuli Bhargava reports. IMAGE: It wasn't only the middle-class and the rich who were moving from the government school system to the private sector; the poor, too, had woken up to the value of a quality education. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters At 30, with a degree in liberal arts, a satisfactory job in the United States, a green card and the great American dream staring him in the face, Vikas Jhunjhunwala found himself in the midst of a mid-life crisis -- a decade earlier than he would have perhaps liked. While in the US, Jhunjhunwala had been studying, absorbing and finding himself more and more drawn towards what economists and visionaries such as C K Prahalad and Muhammad Yunus were advocating: focusing on the base of the pyramid. The double bottom line concept -- doing well and doing good both at the same time -- was a powerful magnet for Jhunjhunwala. A Marwari baniya by birth, he felt some "defective gene" was playing up. So, in 2005, Jhunjhunwala headed back to India and joined the micro finance sector. He worked with Unitus and learnt the ins and outs of a sector that was in its infancy at the time. "The micro finance sector in India -- the way it unfolded -- was like the poster boy of the double bottom line theory," he says, adding that there was much to learn from being a part of this wave. After eight years in the sector, Jhunjhunwala quit in 2013 and worked with the Aam Aadmi Party for a year. Those were heady days for the party and, like many others, he believed that being a part of it was like being involved in a "second freedom movement". IMAGE: Sunshine School Co-founders Vikas Jhunjhunwala and Joanna Sundharam. Photograph: Kind courtesy Unlimited Delhi Once the nascent frenzy around AAP dissipated, Jhunjhunwala left the political outfit and started eyeing the affordable education sector. On conducting further research on the subject, he soon realised that two fundamental shifts had taken place. One, it wasn't only the middle-class and the rich who were moving from the government school system to the private sector; the poor, too, had woken up to the value of a quality education and were as likely to move their children out of free government schools if they found a better option -- even if it wasn't free. Two, unlike the 1960s and the 1970s when even senior bureaucrats and other successful persons graduated from government schools and the quality of education that they offered was deemed decent enough, this was by and large no longer true. "The system was and is broken," says Jhunjhunwala, now 43. To make things worse, private budget schools, when compared to their private counterparts, weren't doing too well, either -- simply because the bar was so low.